Post by Achloryn
i know the threads, the info, the basic concepts, and bla bla bla
but which is actually, genuinely, more fun to play, fire or arcane? arcane seems stressful because of all the mana management involved, but i imagine when done right its very rewarding. fire seems like it'd get annoying as hell trying to get those procs (which only seem to proc at the end of a fight), but when you do-- "OOOO the big shiny yellow crit :DD OMGROFLBBQ"
so which is more.... enjoyable to yall? i know its a matter of personal preference, but id like to hear some feedback lol
Having spent a pretty decent amount of time as arcane, and only somewhat recently switching to Fire, i think I could give you a pretty fair weigh in on both. As you said, it is gonna be personal preference over anything anyone could tell you.
First off, I think part of the fun and intrigue in playing arcane IS the mana management. If there was no mana issues with arcane, it would be a ridiculously easy spec to play, and hence no fun.. When you can time your CDs right and throw that evocation in at just the right time, and no one notices you having any down time, then it can indeed be a lot of fun.
On the downside, one poorly timed evocate and your DPS is screwed.. it can be stressful, sure, but again, mastering it is part of the fun of playing the spec.
With Fire, it can sometimes take a while to manage all of your things properly. Making sure LB and Scorch are always on the boss, keeping an eye on your hot streak procs, and making sure you don't pull aggro when you have a streak of 10 crits in a row (had it happen... and not just on Loathieb)... That also has a certain degree of stress involved in managing all of that, but when you get into your rhythm there's nothing like seeing all of those numbers flying off the boss at once and having hot streak proc so much it seems like it's overwriting itself (Which, from what I hear, can be an issue when you start getting the t8 set bonus)
The numbers that fire puts out are, without a doubt, higher than what arcane puts out.. Less mana issues, so you may need to gem in a long fight, whereas the arcane mage has to gem 3 times and evocate twice in the same long fight, meanwhile you're just slugging away. Plus, there's a noticable difference in your damage output after
Molten Fury kicks in, something that arcane doesn't have (as far as i can remember.. it's early.. lol)
TL;DR, each spec has ups and downs. i personally have grown a lot more fond of fire than I thought I would.. i was a die-hard arcane person but I tried fire out and once I got the hang of it, those huge numbers are more satisfying than I thought it would be. You'll have to figure out for yourself after a lot of testing which you like better.