The essential Mage thread

Gracious and most heartfelt salutations on this most auspicious of days, my fellow MAGISTERS.

I've never felt the need to go into too much depth on this board, as for a long time we only raided with myself, Biokafroulis and Grayfoxnl both of whom I trust implicitly to know their class inside out. However, now that we've seen an influx of mages recently I thought it would be a good idea to get alot of stuff down on electronic paper just so we're aware of each other's abilities and contributions to the raid. Please ensure that you fill this in before you come to any raids with us, just so I can refer to it at a moment's notice.

A couple of questions may seem blindingly obvious, think of them as mild-retard checks



Mage Name:

Raiding spec:

Talent calculator link to Raiding spec:

Glyphs used for Raiding spec:

~~~

Offspec:

Talent calculator link to Offspec:

Glyphs used for Offspec:


Functional addons you use: (Note: Functional means addons which have a USE in the raid and directly improve your performance. It does not include shiny pretty things that look nice like Xperl, interesting things like recount, or AWESOME things like Grayfox's Quake 2 sounds.)


Please edit your post to put a green YES next to the following as you achieve them so we know who has what:

Tier 7/.5 {2 Set} Bonus :
Tier 7/.5 {4 Set} Bonus :
Tier 8/.5 {2 Set} Bonus :
Tier 8/.5 {4 Set} Bonus :

Do you have a profession which directly benefits your performance through "Bop" creations?, if so what :

Mage Name
Biokafroulis

Raiding spec
19/52/0 - This is the best single target DPS raiding spec, provided that you have enough mana to sustain constant dps in long fights. According to RAWR(DPS emulation program) the combination of 2/3 Student of Mind, 1/1 Combustion grants the most DPS (source: EJ). TotW has the best synergy with other classes' abilities such as the Death Knight's Frost Strike(I think that's how it is called). The Imp Scorch although not used(see below) still grants the passive self buff bonus so it has max points. Focus Magic is primarily used on another mage, and if not present then to a Shadow Priest->Boomkin->Healer. Elemental shamans should be avoided since they have a talent that grants them 100% crit bonus occasionally thus making FM a selfish buff for the mage, which isn't its original intention and thus shouldn't be used that way.
As far as the glyphs are concerned:
Glyph of Living Bomb: Best DPS glyph currently in the game.
Glyph of Fireball: No need to explain.
Glyph of Molten Armor: More crit bonus based on spirit.
The Imp Scorch glyph has been dropped since we are currently having at least one warlock during a raid, who has Imp Shadowbolt whose debuff overwrites Imp Scorch(which in turn overwrites Winter's Chill).

~~~

Offspec
20/0/51 - This spec was first intended to be a pvp arena spec(thanks to Divine for ebaying). For that reason some talents are useless for pve and the glyphs are really messed up. It is subject to change really soon, with a talent point relocation from the arcane to the frost tree(eg.Imp Counterspell is pretty much useless in pve). I use this spec mostly for the XT-002 fight. It grants a)survivability, b) good mana management. What this spec lacks is the chill effect on blizzard for the XT-002 fight.

Functional addons I use
Each addon is supplied with the a link to wow-curse.
i) Xperl - I use this addon not just for the visual. The functions that increase my performance are: a) focus target window, b) Main tanks' targets window(for easy targeting), c) big aggro warning(I know I shouldn't get this in the first place, but well you know me....), d) notification of who is cursed in the raid and his/her distance from me(based on the Decurse spell's distance). I have decursive for it's mouseover macro(keybinded) and mouseover the cursed raid member's frame to decurse. e) needing to know who is dead or low on health even if I am not a healer/raid leader.
ii) Decursive - As already mentioned I use decursive's mouseover macro to decurse and don't use the grids that come along with it. Must have for every mage. Our utility in the raid is diverse not just pewpew.
iii) Dominos - This action bars addon is amazing. Amazing options of customization for every need and playstyle. Ability to keybind every single button making your life A LOT easier. Plus when changing between specs it automatically changes the action bars according to the spec.
iv) Range Colors - Makes your skills red if you're out of range and blue if out of mana. The colors are customizable.
v) BigWigs - I prefer it more than DeadlyBossMods. It's a matter of taste. No need to explain why I use it though.
vi) MSBT - Combat text revisited. It allows you to configure the output(quantity and quality) of the numbers flashing on your screen, along with a very useful option. It declares when your cooldowns are ready, and you can assign them a special sound when that happens. For example, for me whenever Hot Streak procs I have the sound of Clanging Swords. Thus I know with my eyes closed that I can instantly smash the pyro button.
vii) Omen - Yes yes. I have it.
viii) Burnout - Useful addon. It displays in three separate bars your Hot Streak, Living Bomb, Scorch durations so that you can be ready to use/reapply at the best time.
Those are my raiding addons. Don't have any flashy things to display unfortunately.

Tier 7/.5 {2 Set} Bonus : YES
Tier 7/.5 {4 Set} Bonus : no
Tier 8/.5 {2 Set} Bonus : YES
Tier 8/.5 {4 Set} Bonus : no

Professions with BoP recipes that increase performance
i)Tailoring - Lightweave Embroidery. Due to this recipe tailoring is currently in the game the best profession for any caster DPS.
ii)Enchanting - Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower. Thirty-eight (38) bonus spellpower.

Mage Name
Grayfoxnl

Raiding spec
20/51/0 - i dropped flame throwing in the fire tree and got 3 points in student of mind for extra crit when molten armor is used.

Glyph of Living Bomb
Glyph of Fireball
Glyph of Molten Armor

~~~

Offspec
57/3/11 - Been playing around with Arcane as a fun spec, but i have to say that its pretty usefull in bossfights were you have to move around alot (Arcane barrage for example).

Glyph of arcane blast
Glyph of arcane missiles
Glyph of molten armor

Was thinking about giving the FFB spec another go, Blizzard does more dmg in this spec.

Functional addons I use
* DBM
* Omen
* Burnout
* Quake sounds is pretty usefull when you stand next to 2 other fire mages, hot streak gets a different sound.
* Decursive
* Mage fever (for missile barrage in arcane spec)


Tier 7/.5 {2 Set} Bonus : no
Tier 7/.5 {4 Set} Bonus : no
Tier 8/.5 {2 Set} Bonus : yes
Tier 8/.5 {4 Set} Bonus : yes

Professions with BoP recipes that increase performance
* Tailoring - Lightweave Embroidery.

I see that none of you mages use Quartz, this makes me sad

Even I as the lowbie slack dps Boomkin use Quartz. Shame on u mages....

Infectum +1

There is no need of Quartz when you have Xperl and Dominos. Moreover, the extra bars just to keep track of my buffs are unneeded. I have all the CD tracking in the addons listed above. All in all, for each player there is a point where an addon stops becoming an aid, and becomes more of a nuisance/hinderance. I am trying to keep my UI as clean as possible as a step away from my TBC raids where I could only see 1/3-1/4 of my screen.


Set bonuses updated for me btw.

But the lag indicator on Quartz is imba... makes you cast spells so much fastar!

That's in Xperl also. On my youtube boss videos it's the small red bar at the end of my cast bar at the top left.