Suggestion on changing Arcane Power

[Tardon]

I posted this on the mage forums, but would like to hear your thoughts on it as well The WoW forum thread can be found here:
If you have any great suggestions, etc, please post them there (too).




Reason:
Currently, Arcane Power is one of those talents that are very hard to balance.
The mages that spec this, remember how much they got owned when they didn't have their cooldowns, and think the other classes are overpowered. They dont remember the 15 seconds they had their cooldown.
The classes that fight the mages speccing this, will not remember the 2 minutes and 45 seconds the mage didn't have their cooldowns, they will remember getting 1-2shotted by mages that had arcane power. And such, think mages are overpowered.
No one likes that.

At the same time, the dev's have to be very carefull about not boosting the mage's damage to high, since Arcane Power will get out of control. Since the talent is not static, its very hard to balance the damage it will do.


Suggestion:
The current Arcane Power:
Deals 30% more damage, while increasing mana cost by 30%. Lasts 15 seconds.

My suggested change would be:
Arcane Power: Increases casting speed by 35%, lasts 20 seconds.



Now, first thing you'll realize, is that your DPS increase will be roughly the same, compared between the two talents. And obviously DpM (Damage per Mana) will also stay the same. So in PvE this wont change much.

HOWEVER, this is where (i) think it gets good. Firstly, while your DPS increase stays the same, it will make insane crits impossible. It has always been AP+crit that was the real killer, and while your dps is the same, the crits wont get as high.
At the same time, the well known AP+PoM+Pyro's wont be as bad, since it wont gain additional power.
It will ALSO make Pyroblast, a spell so far only known to be used with sheep or PoM, usable with AP, since with the decreased casting time, a lot more viable to use in other situations.
Not only does it solve these problems, it also fits PERFECTLY into the utility tree, which is Arcane. It adds fantastic synergy between PoM (an instant cast ability, much like the new AP which increases casting speed), AS WELL as SLOW, which decreases attack and casting speed by your opponents. Slow and Arcane Power now works great together, especially against casters.

And while it does all this, it will enable the other tree's to gain possibly more damage, without the risk of getting "abused" by the current Arcane Power.


I am of course open for suggestions, and its quite possible I missed out some flaw, but so far this seems like a great way (at least in my mind), to:
Decrease whining from other classes
Improve utility of the arcane tree
Make later damage buffs avaliable, without getting overpowered
Add increased synergy in the otherwise somewhat scattered Arcane tree.

[yavimaya]

I have never really played the arcane tree (too much dross in the lower tiers before you get to the good bits), but my thoughts on it are as follows:

I actually like the changes you have proposed to arcane power. The idea of 20 seconds of increased casting speed, to me, is more appealing than the current arcane power (on it's own merits rather than viewing it in combination with PoM+Pyro), both for pvp and for pve.
Quick sheep (which would be a 1sec cast, very hard to counter that speed, especially with the built-in response lag) and frostbolts (1.7sec) quickly would help you to establish control over an arena battle. In PvE likewise, the increased damage would be nice, but also adds benefit through more proc chances. i.e. higher chances for fire mages to be able to roll ignites or get impact procs, frost mages get frostbite procs. Assuming the AP would also work with arcane missiles (I assume channelled spells also benefit from increased casting speed? Never tried tbh.) then there would be some benefit for arcane tree still, potentially proccing clearcasting etc.
These are significant advantages and would make the spell more powerful for general usage, however, I think it's not going to solve the problem, if only because it's replaceable. Instead of AP, you could use priest's power infusion, or a trinket to still get large PoM+Pyro+Trinket proc (then you can use your increased casting speed AP to finish anything else off).

In my opinion, it's not arcane power that is the problem, it's Presence of Mind. PoM seems to only really have value for PvP. And that "value" is what people are complaining about. Why not change PoM to your proposed version of AP instead?
I suspect the only reason you couldn't do this is because the early arcane tree is so weak, in contrast to fire or ice, that PoM is the only talent that makes the tree worthwhile.

But 3 minute mages would earn far more respect from quick accurate casting than from fire+forget PoM tactics. Plus the new talent would appeal to more of the mage community rather than just the PvP goers of the world.

[Tardon]

Nice post Yavi, well thought out, thank you

Your point about PoM is very correct. Arcane Power only becomes grossly overpowered when combined with PoM and Spell Power.
However, Spell Power is needed, to give the Arcane Tree its own version of Ignite and Ice Shards.
PoM adds utility, and is needed to add any useability to Pyroblast.
Also, as you pointed out, early Arcane tree is quite weak as it is. Moreso, adding both version of Arcane Power, would be extremely OP when used together, even worse than PoM and AP is now.

And as I also pointed out, changing Arcane Power does not only remove the oversized crits, but also soves a lot of other problems, as well as add further utility to things such as Pyroblast, utility, and further synergy between Arcane Power and Slow.

[Felbane]

a swap from %damage to cast speed will mean the death of arcane specs in pvp, and looots of whining. arcane mages live on the burst damage AP gives, and will not be able to kill much without that. The rest of us will point and laugh, but the numbers that depend on AP for their entire pvp playstyle is pretty big. I don't foresee this change being liked much.

personally I'd welcome it tho. it'd be changed from an ok ability in pve and overpowered in pvp, to good in pve and decent in pvp.

more pve buffs and pvp nerfs plx! for all classes!

[Tardon]

RAWR! Icy Veins... quite a lot like my suggestion ^^
*proud*

[terridon]

too tired to comment on the, as far as i see it, way more dmg.
Good thing about it will be that mages will be able to cast spells faster, even when they are hit at.
they will still go omg, when they are silenced, stunned or feared through their 20 seconds.. but indeed harder than 15, and they will have 30% faster sheeping..

Edit:
i'm not making sense i think..

[Tardon]

you are not ^^