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Mage Class Changes: August 11th

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Finally, here is an overview of Mage changes that went live this week on the Shadowlands Beta. General changes include Rune of Power rework, Mirror Images damage reduction, and more.

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Hello Mages. In this week’s build, we’ve made many changes to Arcane as well as a few updates to the other specs to address recent concerns about talents and GCD usage.

General Mage Changes

  • Mirror Image Mirror Images  damage greatly reduced, Frostbolt Frostbolt added to all Mirror Image Mirror Images, and while your images are active, damage taken is reduced by 20%. Taking direct damage will cause one of your images to dissipate.
    • Developers’ notes: The goal is to push Mirror Image Mirror Images away from a DPS cooldown and give it a defensive component. Now, only taking direct damage will cause an image to dissipate and there is an ICD of 2 seconds to ensure at least a 6 second uptime when taking damage.
  • Rune of Power Rune of Power has been reworked to cast at your location when you use one of either Combustion Combustion, Arcane Power Arcane Power, or Icy Veins Icy Veins, depending on your spec.
    • Developers’ notes: This change is aimed to help with the cast time and GCD utilization at the beginning of an encounter, while remaining viable in your opener as a high burst window.

Arcane

The following Arcane changes are focused on reducing ramp up time, as well as opening up more talent options based on the content you’re running.

  • Arcane Power Arcane Power cooldown reduced to 2 minutes (was 3 minutes).
  • Touch of the Magi Touch of the Magi now generates 4 Arcane Charges on cast.
  • New Talent: Master of Time Master of Time – Reduces the cooldown of Alter Time Alter Time by 30 seconds. Alter Time Alter Time resets the cooldown of Blink when you return to your original location.
  • Alter Time Alter Time has been moved to Level 24 for Arcane mages.
  • Resonance Resonance damage per target hit with Arcane Barrage Arcane Barrage increased to 15% (was 10%).
  • Charged Up removed.
    • Developers’ notes: Touch of the Magi Touch of the Magi will now generate 4 charges baseline. This opens up the Level 35 tier for more viable options that focus heavily on dealing AoE damage.
  • New Level 35 Talent: Arcane Echo Arcane Echo – Direct damage you deal to enemies affected by Touch of the Magi Touch of the Magi, causes an explosion that deals [0.15xSP] Arcane damage to 8 nearby enemies.
  • Time Anomaly Time Anomaly now grants Time Warp Time Warp for 6 seconds.
    • Developers’ notes: A simple change, but this should make Time Anomaly Time Anomaly feel more satisfying as a talent since gaining Time Warp Time Warp is always a good thing, but gaining Arcane Charges isn’t something you’d always necessarily want.

Fire

Fire updates are centered around the change that saw Phoenix Flames Phoenix Flames baseline as the Ignite spread.

  • Phoenix Flames Phoenix Flames damage increased and recharge time reduced, but no longer guarantees critical hits.
    • Developers’ notes: Phoenix Flames Phoenix Flames still interacts with Hot Streak Hot Streak, so it can benefit within the Combustion Combustion window, but outside of that, it will primarily function as a way to spread your Ignite.
  • Alexstrasza's Fury Alexstrasza's Fury Dragon's Breath Dragon's Breath now also gains a 50% increased critical strike damage bonus.
  • New talent: From the Ashes From the Ashes – Increases Mastery by 2% for each charge of Phoenix Flames Phoenix Flames off cooldown, and your direct-damage critical strikes reduce its cooldown by 1 second.

More Shadowlands Class Changes

6D5HKWY2GULD1465340163386.png Death Knight KONFY3G21NRT1465340163602.png Mage 4K4NG17DH5OC1465340163651.png Rogue

Death Knight 9.0.1 Class Changes

Mage 9.0.1 Class Changes

Rogue 9.0.1 Class Changes

742W2C4VQJ651465340163518.png Demon Hunter MD3875H6PEN31465340163613.png Monk TGVJ0Y6O051R1465340163670.png Shaman

Demon Hunter 9.0.1 Class Changes

Monk 9.0.1 Class Changes

Shaman 9.0.1 Class Changes

BIML5YS7P8XA1465340163522.png Druid FTPZBBV8LWHM1465340163625.png Paladin Y65BR5SJIAKM1465340163689.png Warlock

Druid 9.0.1 Class Changes

Paladin 9.0.1 Class Changes

Warlock 9.0.1 Class Changes

3AP8QPDFMH191465340163595.png Hunter MMF2M70OD4PY1465340163646.png Priest Q21ASBT2SDXX1465340163697.png Warrior

Hunter 9.0.1 Class Changes

Priest 9.0.1 Class Changes

Warrior 9.0.1 Class Changes

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Actually was better for arcane before the changes.  Rune of power aligned with touch of the magi and arcane power aligned with Deathborne.  Now instead of a 45 sec cooldown and 2 charges on RoP it only gets cast w/arcane power, thats a lot to lose for a 1.5 sec GCD.

The arcane power change to 2 mins was also not a buff as it lasts 10sec instead of 15 (same amount of uptime every 6 mins)..  Seems like a developers attempt to add "skill" to the spec by mismatching our cooldowns, and balancing the talent tree by nerfing talents.  Here's an idea, balance by increasing the pop of the lesser selected talents, NO ONE LIKES A NERF FIX!

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Wait, did any spec actually use Mirror Images? I love the spell but always read it was rubbish compared ot the choices on that row. Had they buffed it before this? Another defensive on a glass cannon spec seems... off

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7 hours ago, CheekyMonkey said:

Actually was better for arcane before the changes.  Rune of power aligned with touch of the magi and arcane power aligned with Deathborne.  Now instead of a 45 sec cooldown and 2 charges on RoP it only gets cast w/arcane power, thats a lot to lose for a 1.5 sec GCD.

The arcane power change to 2 mins was also not a buff as it lasts 10sec instead of 15 (same amount of uptime every 6 mins)..  Seems like a developers attempt to add "skill" to the spec by mismatching our cooldowns, and balancing the talent tree by nerfing talents.  Here's an idea, balance by increasing the pop of the lesser selected talents, NO ONE LIKES A NERF FIX!

Well, no, there are some condouits to buff the CD of AP, so its gonna be like in BfA, 1.5 cd. (So, they change it and came back).

 

Deathborne is a Covenant skill? Then it's not alligned with AP, like, what if I choose a different one? 

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5 hours ago, Bobbis said:

Wait, did any spec actually use Mirror Images? I love the spell but always read it was rubbish compared ot the choices on that row. Had they buffed it before this? Another defensive on a glass cannon spec seems... off

It's a base spell now, so you can use it on the open world (and as a low deffensive I see)

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7 minutes ago, Ravenclaw89 said:

It's a base spell now, so you can use it on the open world (and as a low deffensive I see)

Yeah, just seems off. I guess I'm used to thinking of it as an offensive CD, it makes sense being a more def based one.

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On 8/12/2020 at 10:06 AM, Bobbis said:

Yeah, just seems off. I guess I'm used to thinking of it as an offensive CD, it makes sense being a more def based one.

I think the premise is enemies are less sure which version of you to attack, so their hesitation leads to less damage.

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Changes to Arcane look solid... Touch of the Magi reminds me a bit of Havoc for Destruction Warlock and will be a nice way to hop from pack to pack without worrying about having to save charges all the time.

Changes to Time Anomaly are amazing and further cements that talent as my favorite of the tier (maybe the spec). Really good class/spec fantasy with an awesomely fun example of RNG.

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On 8/13/2020 at 4:50 PM, durdyenglish said:

I think the premise is enemies are less sure which version of you to attack, so their hesitation leads to less damage.

The problem is that your copies attacks with frostbolt and I do it with Arcane Explosion ?

 

On 8/13/2020 at 4:56 PM, durdyenglish said:

Changes to Arcane look solid... Touch of the Magi reminds me a bit of Havoc for Destruction Warlock and will be a nice way to hop from pack to pack without worrying about having to save charges all the time.

Changes to Time Anomaly are amazing and further cements that talent as my favorite of the tier (maybe the spec). Really good class/spec fantasy with an awesomely fun example of RNG.

I like it too, but I still believe OP is a more reliable talent, but TA is great for open world. I like the new talent: Arcane echoes, it's a nice aoe spell. 

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