Coming back to WoW after a long break. I considered a Shadow Priest cause I like dots but hate pets (quite done with warlocking) but apparently those guys suck absolute donkey right now.
Do you guys know if Mages are looking fun and strong for the Shadowlands? Is it a class worth rolling? I’m generally not an alt-maker so I’m looking for a main I can stick to for the expansion. Love Arcane visually so that’s a plus.
given they’re in the process of changing things and stuff… we wont really know… mages have always been a safe bet in 1 way or a other though… guess it depends if ur fine to Respecc or ur wantging to main a Specific specc.
I see, thanks. Well, I’d like Arcane because I like the theme but I won’t bemoan if I end up having to pick a different one. Although fire is… such an uninspired theme 
If it was at least a funky colored fire!
You can see a list of the current Mage changes here: https://www.wowhead.com/shadowlands-mage-class-changes
Seems like they will be pretty much the same, but with some more baseline abilities to play with.
If you like DoTs you might enjoy Affliction in SL, even though it has a pet. They are receiving some much needed love and are looking to be really nice. I’ll probably be switching my demo to affli to give them a whirl myself.
Honestly i dont remember a time that mages where really bad and they did not have a spot. Its the blizzards all time favorite.
Now shadow in SL… I see shadows ahaid… I would better wait to see the changes 
Last I played WoW I played a Warlock and I spent half the time hating the pets so I’m not gonna risk it I’d rather chill out on DoTs than deal with pets again!
I completely understand, which is why Hunter is my least played class, and why I play with lonely winter as Frost Mage. Though when I play Warlock, I honestly forget I even have the pets there. Also, when doing world content, the Voidwalker is literally the best thing ever.
8.0. One mage in the group for arcane intellect was all we could hope for. True story.
Mage is looking ok in 9.0 imo, frost looks good foor dungeon, fire and arcane look good for raid.
I noticed you posted on a shammy though, they are one of 2 classes that have melee cd kicks with no target caps on their attacks. They could be very popular in m+.
Oh, no it’s just my random Shammy, for some reason most of my characters don’t have portraits on forums, but the Shammy does I’m gonna be playing Horde since friends so I’m quite limited in my choices. As in, I’ve got BElves and possibly the Blueborne after prepatch hits.
I always liked Shamans but alas, I’m one of those dummies who need their character to look appealing to enjoy the game 
Draenei are great but Horde got dicked in Shaman department 
8.1 frost mage top parsing Dps, 3rd from top firemage.
Im pretty sure mage was more than fine in 8.0 but warcraftlogs refuse to cooperate.
Even during ToS that mages where “not that good” which means not top, we still needed like 5 of them for KJ.
Define bad atm they are absolutly awfull playstile wise numberwise fire is insane frost meh arcane okay ish single target like if you want an even worse version of current mage SL seems good but if you want a fun version of mage as before then no sl wont fix it seems 
Bad is,whatever is not a FireMage xD
If the playstyle does not fit to you maybe change class?
I know several people that are having a blast with fire:)
Dont understand that… You have the best spec ingame, you want your OS’s to be topping it too while we still have some specs like WW for example that are absolute crap in raiding whereas you are top?
Highly doubt that mage is not going to be top of the line class, only its Block is always enough to make it a most wanted class + the buffs it carries.
Now if you want all of your specs to be top of the line in terms of damage + your utility… Im afraid you want too much 
One spec will probably end up being good or at least middle of the pack. Hopefully we won’t get another BoD/Crucible where we are stuck being int buffs.
8.1 they sorted out our azerite traits and things got better. ToS was for KJ I think? Blink and ice block countered his knock back, wasn’t raiding much that tier.
Looks not good, but we all know that blizzard will just keep throwing borrowed power at mage until it’s the best, so i’m feeling confident.
It countered his “must soak this” mechanic.
Did you raid in HFC?
Mage’s shine with a 60%+ margin from the rest…
You being to or almost top is ok the HFC arcane zugzug was not ok 
No i want there to be actual choice in what spec i play and atm thats not the case its legit fire fire oh and fire again over the almost the entire expansion and even if its not the best out of the 3 on single target it so often the best aoe/mass cleave and considering how mutch value you can get out of it i find it to be an issue
i know people are having fun with fire but having fun with something does not make it good
and i have played a diffrent class plenty of times during this expansion as i truly hate rune ^^
Frost mage would be preforming better than easily more than half the specs in game if fire wasn’t so meta and demanded by groups. It does a ton of dmg.
Wasn’t till lucid and bracers in 8.2 that fire mage became dominant. Frost was better before that I think with FF, Arcane more so on ST. Also fire was pretty awful in dungeons before lucid this expac.
Also there’s a new 100% crit fire build that using IF if you don’t like rune. Look up preheat on youtube, he has some videos on it.
Left the forum alone for some time and this is what I see after coming back. Would you kindly pass whatever you’ve been drinking? Stuff seems to be too strong for you.
To elaborate: Do you honestly think that 6 GCDs spent buffing yourself while doing NOTHING is “good for raid”? Do you think being a turret with 10s ramp-up before you START dealing damage is viable anywhere apart from a Patchwerk encounter in which you stand in 1 place 100-0, no adds, no movement, no mechanics? I.e. dummies in cities? Because if you do think so, then I will have to look up some words in English dictionary to describe such state of mind(lessness) in accurate & forum-friendly manner.
And did you even notice that some specs NEED specific traits to be halfway working? Like someone cuts off your legs and then dangles a wheelchair before you. Sure it can work - you can move around - but you were way better having your own legs. And you have to get the wheelchair somehow. And then you thank them: oh, they’re so cool, they helped! (Me, whacking you upside the head: But they hurt you first lol!)
Arcane looks grim. Arcane Power is still on GCD AND loses uptime. 50% longer duration vs 100% longer cd. Means 1/9 (10s duration, 90s cd) vs 1/12 (15s duration, 180s cd LOL) of your time spent under AP. And it’s not even enough to make up for uptime lost buffing up.
Charged Up still on GCD.
Mirrors still on GCD, still not very interesting, not doing anything real except probs “more damage per cast than Blast” since they keep casting spells for some time.
“New” i.e. Classic old Focus Magic is in Rune talent row, guess what happens to anything that lands in Rune of Turret DPS row. Hint: There is only one DPS talent in that row. And it’s neither Incanter nor Focus.
Enlightened is the old Equipoise, still mandatory for 1 target. Still no cleave.
Missiles seem to be buffed, but not enough, they still won’t proc enough because they’re tied to “X mana burned” Clearcasting mechanic and not “Your spells have X chance to proc”. Put it this way: In Legion after casting 4 blasts you were pretty much sure to have 2 stacks of Missile Barrage, a good chance to have 3, and sometimes even got 4 procs (overwriting 1st one). In BFA you have to burn half of your mana to get like 0-1 proc. And they’re not changing it in Shadowlands.
Shimmer gets nerfed hard, so mobility will be crap too. Slipstream still not viable because again Missiles won’t proc nearly enough and still are dps loss.
Covenants: go Necrolords and have ANOTHER GCD that is a numeric Blast buff for ST & SOME cleave on cd, or Venthyr for teleport, others meh.
Fire loses Azerite traits & Mechagon bracers that made it working very well if you knew what to do & party/raid catered to your CDs. GPyro goes on cd. Will probably suck as it’s made around big Combustion window that gets considerably worse. Have to admit feeling schadenfreude when they’re brought back to normal.
Not gonna recommend Mage in Shadowlands. Not unless a whole lot of changes happens that don’t make us a turret spamming 0 dps fillers to get BIG DPS proc. Might work in some time, with haste gear and the Newest and Most Improved Current Expansion Crap on a Broken Stick (TradeSnark). For starters Mage will be likely just low dps caster with survivability problems, low DPS, no healing because Azerite traits & essences will be gone.
Edit: Found this post that very accurately describes the state of Mage:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/very-new-to-mage-advice/582876/2
Be prepared to put in twice the effort for half the damage as other classes.
Be prepared to have 90% of your damage fall into a 10s window that you must get perfect.
Be prepared to farm your nards off for those few pieces of gear that make your spec even viable.
Be prepared to take talents you hate, because they’re 30% of your dps.
Be prepared to have 1-2 specs ignored entirely by Blizzard for at least 2 expansions.
Be prepared to play the 1 spec that is actually good. No guarantee’s it’s fun though.
Good post needs more upvotes ^^