Arcane Mage Viability

[wsaedmd 0]

Hello everyone! First of all, thanks a bunch for your awesome guides, I don't know where I would be on my mage or on my shammy main without them :) Secondly, I see that most guides don't yet reflect the changes that the recent nerfs and buffs brought along, so I wanted to ask here about the actual viability of Arcane in a raid environment as of right now. I used to play fire, but I really really didn't like it, and I'd love the possibility to switch to arcane without having to give up my spot :)

[Valks 2,373]

Our guide is currently up-to-date in regards to stat priority etc. for Arcane, so feel free to use that.

Is it viable? Meh, yes and no. Currently, Arcane seems to be hanging on and doing OK. It can pull its weight in EN, but from what we are seeing in regards to projection, you might find yourself getting heavily outclassed in the next raid unless things get patched/changed again.

[wsaedmd 0]

Thanks for your answer! I wasn't sure if the guide reflected the latest changes, thanks for confirming it! And thanks for the information too, I guess I really hope it manages to pull ahead or at least as close as possible to fire... I really enjoy how it plays! 

[Sardon89 0]

I say play what you want to play and not worry about it.  Arcane, whenever it falls behind other specs in DPS, always gets balanced back to where it's competitive...just takes a few weeks usually.  Most people went straight up Fire right at the drop of xpack...it was the "in" thing with the most DPS, so most people have pumped all their AP into that weapon, so many who switch to Arcane are a bit behind on artifact.

I've been Arcane since WoW launch and never had a problem, except in periods like the previous few weeks where Arcane was very low in competitive DPS no matter what you tried.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Sardon89