Class Q&A Series/Mage


 * Posted on the forums 19 June 2009:

Mage Q&A with Ghostcrawler and the World of Warcraft Development Team
Community Team: blizz

blizz

Q: Where do mages fit in the current scope of things, and where do you see them from this point going forward?

Ghostcrawler:
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Q: What is it that makes them unique when compared to other classes?

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

Q: ''In particular, a lot of the newer PvE and PvP mage or caster items seem to favor Fire spec and, to a lesser extent, Arcane. Do you feel as though mages are being forced to focus too much on critical strike rating (crit) over stacking more haste, spell power, and intellect, stats that are much more beneficial to the Frost mage?''

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

Q: Even so, will mages get robes, or at least the option of choosing robes, over tunics going forward?

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

blizz

Q: How do you view these mechanics, and are there any intentions of updating mana recovery capabilities for mages in the future?

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

Q: Do the developers feel that the cost to mages of doing AoE damage is appropriate?

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

Q: Are there any plans to reevaluate the mana cost and functionality of this spell?

Ghostcrawler:
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Community Team: blizz

blizz

Q: How do you feel about revitalizing the Arcane tree to thin out some of these five-point talents?

Ghostcrawler:
 * blizz

Community Team: blizz

Q: Are you concerned at all that Torment of the Weak is considered to be so important to mages, regardless of specialization, that a minimum of eighteen talent points must be spent in the Arcane tree to reap its full benefit?

Ghostcrawler:
 * blizz

Q: Are there plans on the horizon to improve Fire mage representation in PvP?

Ghostcrawler:
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Q: Is threat generation from Fire mages a concern at all given their burst damage is controlled mostly by proc talents and critical chance?

Ghostcrawler:
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Q: Do the developers still consider it an objective to improve Frost damage for PvE?

Ghostcrawler:
 * blizz

Community Team: blizz

Q: While mages do recognize this issue, has there been any discussion about reworking Blink so it's more intuitive and could recognize a mage failing to teleport any distance forward, wasting only a global cooldown rather than the mana and spell cooldown?

Ghostcrawler:
 * blizz