Moving from a mage in classic to mage in retail

[Bigkeg-twisting-nether (Bigkeg)]

In retail “always” played MW healer (and a bit of priest healing, tried fereal dps in Legion). Before Classic I run a vanilla resto shaman then in Classic picked mage for extra fun factor. Now I’m also looking at maybe trying to main a mage for Shadowlands if it turns out worth buying… but I have a real problem computing retail class design, maybe you will be able to answer some of my questions/issues…

1. as a MW healer I can self heal for ages, while still doing good open world DPS - wherever ST or melee range AoE via infinite spinning. What’s the value/reason for playing a DPS only class then? If Torgast will be interesting and worth revisiting, even solo frost mage would only work if mobs can be rooted/slowed and kited. MW can just stand there and punch stuff.
2. How often do mobs are resistant to frost nova or slows?
3. Does Blizzard/AoE farming still exists?
4. Rolling a DPS seems like a super inferior for any PUG/alike activities. I did a lot of M+ PUGs, really a lot in Legion, where as now groups sometimes wait for healer, always for a tank, where as DPS is so many that it seems rather impossible to successfully PUG stuff? (running keys with guild would work but my guild is like 1/10th of what it was due to players leaving over BfA, some new players aren’t up at that level too so we can’t do HC efficiently even)
5. How much DPS optimization is hidden behind hard SIMing, requiring very precise rotations/procs decisions full of weak auras and macros (and not just “more or less” rotations/decisions)?
6. How often in Legion/BfA did you have to change your main spec due to previous one turning out really bad?

This was fun and worth some gold On retail it would be soloable as a healer with full HP bar, drop AP, and be in general pointless…

[Papudeath-outland (Papudeath)]

1. I don’t think you asked a question here, but mage playstyle is indeed different. I think frost has the fantasy down the best, since it is mostly about kiting mobs, instead of tanking the hits. Takes some time to get used to, but can be way more effective than melee.

2. Not very often, elite named mobs might be. Normal mobs are not resistant to roots or slows.

3. Depends. What would you be farming? Frost is kind of good for doing that though.

4. Well, there’s always more dps than there are healers or tanks, but good players are taken regardless of their role pretty quickly. Yes, if you go completely solo and pug stuff, it will be harder at the start compared to a tank or a healer, but once you get momentum it gets easier. Kind of same with raiding, though if you’re joining a guild for mythic raiding then getting in as a dps could be easier.

5. Eh, there are always some min-max things you can do that might make the rotation feel harder than what it needs to be, however, for frost especially right now the rotation is not very complicated. I’ve noticed however that weak auras really help you as a mage because certain buffs/resources are a pain to track without. You do in any case need to stay updated on mage theory crafting and things happening if you want to be at the top. Sims are useful for comparing gear, mostly.

6. I never changed because my spec became bad, I changed because my spec became boring (do something for +3 months, you’ll want to try another spec). However, it’s not unusual for the mage specs to be unbalanced: there will often be 1 that is under performing compared to the others. If you’re playing a pure dps class, learn to play at least two of the specs, and don’t mind swapping between, if you care about being competitive that is.

[Minnji-eonar]

@Papudeath-outland

I’ve noticed however that weak auras really help you as a mage because certain buffs/resources are a pain to track without.

Frost mage doesn’t need stuff tracked? Icicles are right there on your head lol.

In regards to 3 and 6, mages are always desirable and it’s easier to get into groups as a mage than most other ranged dps. Having 3 dps specs means you can respec instead of rerole class, there’s always one thats viable if not s tier.