Mage-Cataclysm Preview
Written by Gazrella.
Mage changes have been finally announced here is the direct link http://blue.mmo-champion.com/t/24262357286/cataclysm-class-preview-mage/ and blue post is below.
In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making lots of changes and additions to class talents and abilities across the board. In this preview, you’ll get an early look at what’s in store for the mage class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.
New Mage Spells
Flame Orb (available at level 81): Inspired by Prince Taldaram’s abilities in Ahn’kahet and Icecrown Citadel, this spell allows the mage to cast a flaming orb that travels in front in a straight line, sending beams that cause fire damage to passing targets. Once it’s cast, the mage is free to begin casting other spells as the Flame Orb travels. While the spell will be useful to any spec, Fire mages will have talents that improve it, possibly causing the Flame Orb to explode when it reaches its destination.
Time Warp (level 83): Grants a passive Haste effect much like Bloodlust or Heroism to party or raid members. It also temporarily increases the mage’s own movement speed. Time Warp will be exclusive with Bloodlust and Heroism, meaning you can’t benefit from both if you’ve got the Exhaustion debuff, though the movement-speed increase will still work even when under the effects of Exhaustion.
Wall of Fog (level 85): Creates a line of frost in front of the mage, 30 yards from end to end. Enemies who cross the line are snared and take damage. The mana cost will be designed to make Wall of Fog efficient against groups, not individuals. This spell is intended to give mages a way to help control the battlefield, whether the mage is damaging incoming enemies (Blizzard can be channeled on top of Wall of Fog) or protecting a flag in a Battleground. 10-second duration. 30-second cooldown.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to introducing new spells, we’re planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you’re familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.
- Arcane Missiles is being redesigned to become a proc-based spell. Whenever the mage does damage with any spell, there is a chance for Arcane Missiles to become available, similar to how the warrior’s Overpower works. The damage and mana cost of this spell will be reworked to make it very desirable to use when available. This change should make gameplay more dynamic for the mage, particularly at low levels.
- We are planning to remove spells that don’t have a clear purpose. Amplify Magic, Dampen Magic, Fire Ward, and Frost Ward are being removed from the game, and we may remove more.
- The ability to conjure food and water will not become available until higher levels (likely around level 40), as we’re making changes to ensure mages generally won’t run out of mana at lower levels. Once mages learn how to conjure food and water, the conjured item will restore both health and mana.
- Scorch will provide a damage bonus to the mage’s fire spells. Our goal is for Scorch to be part of the mage’s rotation and a useful damage-dealing ability, even if someone else is supplying the group with the spell Critical Strike debuff. Scorch will provide the mage with more specific benefits, which can also be improved through talents.
New Talents and Talent Changes
- Arcane Focus will now return mana for each spell that fails to hit your target, including Arcane Missiles that fail to launch. We want Arcane mages to have several talents that play off of how much mana the character has and give the player enough tools to manage mana.
- The talent Playing with Fire will reduce the cooldown of Blast Wave when hit by a melee attack, instead of its current effect.
- Pyromaniac will grant Haste when three or more targets are getting damaged by the effects of your damage-over-time (DoT) fire spells.
- The Burnout talent will allow mages to cast spells using health when they run out of mana.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Arcane
- Spell damage
- Spell Haste
- Mana Adept
Mana Adept: Arcane will deal damage based how much mana the mage has. For example, Arcane mages will do much more damage at 100% mana than at 50% mana. If they begin to get low on mana, they will likely want to use an ability or mechanic to bring their mana up to increase their damage.
Fire
- Spell damage
- Spell Crit
- Ignite
Ignite: All direct-damage fire spells will add a damage-over-time (DoT) component when cast. The flavor will be similar to how Fireball works; however, the DoT component will be much stronger.
Frost
- Spell damage
- Spell Crit damage
- Deathfrost
Deathfrost: Casting Frostbolt places a buff on the mage that increases the damage for all frost, fire, and arcane spells. The only damage spell that won’t be affected by this buff is Frostbolt.
We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we’re looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.
36 Comments so far
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blizz dont nerf us after this ok . dont make it like each and everytime i new expansion comes out . lets be op ….. so what , we r mages we need to be op more and more op , fire fire fire gemme more fire!!!!!
Wall of fog will be one of the new moves that are begining to imply greater strategy requirements in things such as BG’s.
Another move that will be begin a greater strategy capability is the rogues new move.
>Smoke Bomb (level 85)<
http://www.wow-cataclysm.info/rogue-cataclysm-preview#comments
wtf, all you fuckers do is complain
if you’re horrible then you’re gonna get beat point blank, go raid and get gear and quit qq
keep nerfing the mage, and give some of that op to the warlocks out there, fix rain of fire my dps is less then a mage when i use it ??? whats that about, nerf the mage, it makes me happy
WOW SO OP this will make frost mages even more op than they are. frost mages just kite u nd run like pussys with lil dicks nerf them or i quit wow
let the mage be the best
) why ner them? lol , are u crazy ?
Dont you nerf mages again! We are already the most nerfed class in the game
@MageMaster I agree completely I read the mage notes and was like nooo no more nerfs my mage has always been my main for the years I have played the game I am weary of the new changes.
Honestly nerfing damage based on how much mana you have left thats supposed to get us mages excited. That is a bad idea. Are the other dps classes going to have damage nerfed like that.
@moonwolf I know! Personally I do not see how this is going to help arcane. I have played a mage as my main since 2007, I keep thinking come cataclysm I am going to have to spec fire because arcane just wont be as enjoyable.
frost mages are way to OP atm… they have a 15 second blink get away cd, a ice block that can be used twice in less then 1 minute, they slow attackers down, the slow people who arn’t attacking down, they can shield themselves.. if they have the glygh they can heal almost full in a fight while your frozen or sheeped, they have a feign death attack where they make clones to help out even more dps and take away your ability to target them for atleast a few seconds, a pet, the ability to make free food and portal to all main cities without even the need for a hearth (which is alot of stress if your hearth is down and there are no mages), you can make money off selling portals for 5g more then they are worth, a ONLY 4 MIN CD TO RESET ALL CD’s THAT REQUIRE FROST!!!!!!!!! rogues have a 8 min, and thats after spec’ing… quit your whining you idiots.. mages have it all way to easy.. nerf them to the ground and take frost bolts damage away… should make their ability to kite with a bit of health and armor in cata more hard… atleast allow rogues to beat them… if you disagree with me then your a mage or your server has no good mages.. my server is mage OP galore, cant win againts them.. seen a 5kgs furious mage take down a 5.8k relentless warrior… how is that fair? both have skill aswell, and warriors are meant to beat mages… seriously keep up the QQ so you annoy blizz to the point where they nerf you for it
also if you look at the most greatest dps classes list for icc 25, mages overrule it… give up guys, your time is done for Op everything
The only good thing mages can do is slow fall, only good move….!
Tom, you are a legend.
I look forward to abusing the new talents. Mages are about srtategy and skill. We will find a way to beat other classes even when nerfd. Been mage since before TBC we always found a way to prevail.
hate4mages…..i couldnt agree more
Mages shouldnt be nerfed… AGAIN! oh and if you think mages are so OP then go and MAKE ONE IDIOT! YOU WILL SEE that every class has at least one cheap ability so stop all your whining
i agree with you. personally i think rouges or op cause they just stun you the whole time you are fighting them.
@Mage… I agree with you to some extent as I have had my mage for quite a while now. I do not like the changes to Mages and yes I feel they are a nerf, and am really skeptical. I do hope that I will be able to try the new changes out prior to cataclysm’s release because I would like to get accustom to the “new mage” I have had a couple of my mage friend say it was like relearning their mage all over again. Those two friends I know, know their mage inside and out.
@hate4mages. LMAO U FAIL! Skilled warriors can easily take a mage down. maybe u shuld tell ur frd to read the ‘instructions manual’ nxt time he bids an account off ebay.every class has their own strengths and weaknesses. mages SHULD NOT BE NERFED just coz some retards cnt beat them.
Mages rule and arcane and frost dual spec are the best. Frost and arcane damage are being uped so mages are goin to be the best class try and beat us now warriors
It comes down to skill not gear with every class.
Hate4mages your just mad kuz u suck at this game i can tell, so why dont you scroll up and take toms advice its good for scrubs like you.
fuck up retards, stop qqing about shit all
All of the people who get owned by mages read these pages just to cry and bitch etc etc etc… Frost mages can easily be controlled by a fair bit of classes, if you can play em..
If you wanna bitch moan whine and complain, go roll a paladin and bubble when you see a frosty.
LOL at deathfrost. You get the effect when you cast frostbolt, gain dmg, and what spell do I use to do more dmg? Frostbolt. What spell does Deathfrost NOT affect? Frostbolt. Frost is slowly dying.
Dude hate4mages you are the one QQing here cause u have no skill, im a arcane mage and i beat any class in the whole game. umadbro? Reroll Noob
@hate4mages u idiot you dont even know what yr talking about. Yes blink is a nice spell…warriors have charge that gets them into combat in less than a second. Ice block although helpful is a shitty version of a pallys bubble and i dont see u complaining about that. on yr complaints about frost bolt… almost every class can slow people down. hell some can stop tem from atacking or even moving all together (rogues im talking about you) and everything you refer to is pvp. have you ever considered that if mages are op then it will help you in pve to be in out groupes. ok and anyway were clothies, we need some defensive spelles or we die… thats just how it works. It sounds like you just want your own toon to be better than everyone else. We pretty much just have a couple abilities similar to other classes. besides yr prolly a prot pally or somehin… talk about op… tho u dont see me whining about pallys do you? If you really think something is so op why dont you roll one yourself if you think there soooooo good. You make it sound like were the only class getting any enhancements in cata. that what an expansion is… enhancements for the game and for the classes. Of all the enhancements that the classes are getting mages are on the lower end of the spectrum. Mages are far from op and are one fo the hardest classes to lv. Everyone who says mages shold me nerfed just cant stand to see another class other than the one they rolled have anything good happen to them. grow up guys warcraft doesnt revlove around you.
I don’t think mages are OP at all, and I have both a main character mage and a main character rogue. Mages have such little HP. I actually find mages real easy to kill on my rogue. If you are having THAT hard a time killing mages on your rogue then you must be doing something wrong.
That being said, I enjoy playing my mage more now due to the more variety of abilities it offers, however I worry what this mana adept thing will cause. Seems more like you are mastering in something that nerfs your character vs giving it a boon.
Tbh u have a warlock and when I duel mages I win some and I lose some , their a great class which is why I don’t think should be nerfed but I also dont think they should be buffed I like them the way they are
These changes honestly make me fear that I will hate my mage which has been my main forever. The idea of damage done being based on the amount of mana you have left it absolutely retarded, whoever thought of that idea needs to hide in a hole when cata drops because I’m sure MANY people will be seriously pissed when it goes live.
Deathfrost may be the biggest joke ever. Increases ALL spell damage! except on the spell you use most! (ok…really blizz, what are you people smoking that makes you think this is a good idea?)
Ignite is probably the only decent one.
I have a mage and a pally, and the next comment is xposted on the pally changes as well. Blizz is making a ridiculous amount of changes to the came to both dumb it down by removing stats and involve more strategy in play style. They’re basically dropping WoW2 without calling it that. I was excited when wotlk dropped, right now I’m just hoping that i don’t waste $40 to hate the game 2 weeks later.
@hate4mages i do agree with u some parts, but disagree mostly. yes, frost mages got a huge ammount of diffrent spells. may be used well or bad. but its really needed for mages to have them all. a mage is one of the most squishiest of all classes. if they didnt had any1 of these spells, any melee would kill the mage within the first 5 sec of combat.
yeah, they are great kiters! the best in the game. without it they would lose to any melee. a mage isnt a dk or a warrior, huge hp and need to stay near their enemy to deal dmg.
and duels will never be equal! it just wont happend, get over it. all mages beats warriors. unless mage just stop kiting and using all abilities, just to take the warriors lolstorm dmg. sounds fair? right?
and what about frost mages dmg? its worse than rest of the mages spec’s. frost mage doesnt really got any good dmg, just look at destro, ele bursts and hunters. all got alot better.
i agree with that some spells might be op, i would like to see frost mages with a huge ammount of spells. HUGE, but u need to use them good to be of any good. so no screwing around. all must be perfect.
and pls stop QQ about mages if they beat u, just find a weakness and a strat against them. skill up, gear up, grow up!
mages should be op cause they wear cloth. and mages are usually the first to die always!
Mages are an extremely versatile class, but their huge downfall was evasion from a group. Since melee has “ranged” silence abilities, as well as stuns once a mage blinks out of a stun they have no evasion from a group. Between rogue shadow step, warrior charge, and fear, a mage cannot remove themselves from a group even with both frost novas available. The new attack of “Wall of Fog” will allow the mage the ability to control groups in a BG rather than, just being mobbed and die. It will allow them to escape from a group by escaping through the fog, or going invisible, or iceblocking and blinking away. I think this is very ingenious for the mage. Since the spell basically costs 2k mana and has a 10 second duration, I don’t think any mage out there is going to be “spamming” this spell any time soon. Its going to work similarly, like a hunters AOE frost spell, and will allow the mage to get out of a hunters range, as well as slow the “sprinting rogue” thats coming for u and the DK whos just out of range to pull you.
It allows for a regroup, and an execution of what the class is made for. Crowd control of a GROUP. Not of single players. 
Go blizzard A++
lol another nerfing of the mage
) its not enought that dk kick the snot out of ya ,a new twiking of the spells will posibly kill some of the cool aspects of playing a mage…
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Chrysea
September 23rd, 2010 | 10:20 am
I don’t think mages are OP at all, and I have both a main character mage and a main character rogue. Mages have such little HP. I actually find mages real easy to kill on my rogue. If you are having THAT hard a time killing mages on your rogue then you must be doing something wrong.
That being said, I enjoy playing my mage more now due to the more variety of abilities it offers, however I worry what this mana adept thing will cause. Seems more like you are mastering in something that nerfs your character vs giving it a boon.
some rogues are idiots at playing the class jsut don’t mind him
what can i see to idiot rogues don’t enter arena or bg
) op thats so funny rogues have the same abiliti preparation i think that lets theme stealth twice ,they can interupt spell casting ,shadowstep behind the target blind kidney shot ,cheap shot ,if you consider it rogues are also “OP” because they can keep you in stun so long ,nerf the rogues skill thene 
)