Blizzard’s latest patch to World of Warcraft (3.0.9) hit the Arcane tree with the nerf-bat a few times. This was arguably necessary due to 3.0.8 making Arcane a bit more powerful than intended, particularly in PVP. However, one of the changes – specifically putting Arcane Power (AP) and Presence of Mind (PoM) on the same cooldown – has an unforeseen, and quite frankly saddening side effect:
The classic Fire/Arcane spec is dead.
This goes back to Classic WoW (IE: before expansions). Mages specced Fire, then took enough points in Arcane to get Arcane Power and Presence of Mind. The idea was to use these two abilities in tandem, to throw a buffed, instant Pyroblast (that would do a heckuva lot of damage). Normally, Pyroblast wasn’t used in a rotation, as its 6 second cast time and higher mana cost wasn’t worth the slightly better damage it did over Fireball. However, given its higher coefficient (based on its much higher casting time), it gained a lot more from Arcane Power than Fireball, and with Presence of Mind making it instant-cast (once every few minutes), it was a great addition to Fire’s burst.
When I started my mage, this was the spec I played. Sure, Frost was undeniably the “better” leveling spec – but I had a soft spot for Fire (and I love seeing big numbers ;P ). It was fun, and part of the reason I loved playing my mage. I’m sad to see the classic Fire spec die as a side-effect of a PVP nerf.