Changed spec of my mage (arcane->fire), disappointed

[Kulzor]

A few months ago I changed my frost spec mage to arcane, pretty much just kicking off Icy Veins, then nuking Arcane Blast continuously. Her damage went up 40% or more.

I keep reading about how Fire is the "ultimate damage dealer," so I changed her to fire last night and hit heroic Mechanar. Wow, how disappointing. Her damage went back
down between 10-30%.

Her gear isn't great by any means, only 718 +spell damage without buffs, but I can't believe how bad it was.

My (latest) macro does this:

/use 13
/use 14
/cast Icy Veins
/target [target=focustarget,harm]
/castsequence reset=target [target=focustarget,harm] Scorch, Scorch, Fireball, Scorch, Scorch, Fireball, Fireball, Fireball, Fireball

I had tried five Scorches up front to stack the bonus, but the damage was actually worse (not to mention losing out on the stuns from the fireballs, which are worth something in heroics).

I've looked at the wiki and other threads, but there isn't much about optimizing a Fire Mage's damage (without having Tier 4+ gear).

Any suggestions on how to improve the damage output? I like the extended range, stunning ability, and not running out of mana mid-fight that arcane had problems with...

Here's a link to the toon, if it matters:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Windrunner&n=Cyllz

[Dunst]

AB Spam is the highest DPS spell in the game, bar none. It is also the lowest DPM spell, so you go oom really fast. If you don't have 2 pc t5 then Fire will be more dps in the long run, if you do have t5, gem for int and some spi, and have good raid support you can sustain AB spam pretty much indefinitely which means that Arcane is the superior spec. Fire comes back to the top in late t6 gear levels (4pc t6).

[Kulzor]

Any thoughts on a better /castsequence to use then? The damage went down so much I'm not sure I want to keep her fire...

[Dunst]

It's been a long time since I've been fire on my raiding mage, but I think the old rule of thumb was to get a full stack of scorches whenever you expect a mob to last longer than 15secs. Otherwise you'd just want to do fireballs. Also your lack of spell hit is going to hurt alot more as fire as opposed to arcane, you are probably getting alot of resists. Spell hit cap for arcane is 6% (72 rating i think), the cap for fire is 13%(164 rating), frost is 10%(around 124 rating).

[Pringle]

Can you link your armory? You mentioned the stun from fireball. Sounds like you might be taking some talents that aren't related to dps. How much spell hit do you have?
EDIT: just saw your armory link (I'm blind). It looks like you need spell hit. 164 is the hit cap. Spell hit will increase your DPS ALOT. Every fireball that is resisted really hurts because of the long cast time.

As for the mana management. Use your mana emerald AS SOON as it'll bring you back to 99% mana, NOT when you're oom. This way, you'll have a better chance of using it again in the fight. For bosses, I usually use the mana emerald at 70%, then a potion when I get back down to 70%. My emerald is usually ready again at about 55%-60%. The potion will be ready shortly after. After that, as soon as I hit 30% mana, it's evo time and start the whole process over with. Also, don't forget mage armor for the long, mana-intensive fights.

For alot about mage dps, read http://www.l2dps.com

Hope that helps.

[badashh]

Hit is where you are losing your dps, that is 10% of your dps on bosses right there(10% chance to hit with arcane spells).

[Kulzor]

As fire, she didn't run out of mana fast, lasting almost entire heroic boss fights without even the mana emerald. As arcane she used the emerald, a mana potion, and usually the channeled spell to regain 60% of her mana each boss fight.

Thanks for the suggestions on the spell hit. I believe I have a piece of gear or two with it, I'll switch them out and see if it goes up. She does have all the fire damage talents. The extra points from the "deep fire-Icy Veins" spec went into the stun for fireball. (I'll take any free stun I can get in heroics - I don't use CC at this point.)

[Pardall]

Check my armory in signature (Zuldrak), although I am frost specced atm, my gear and enchants are fire (almost 1100 fire damage unbuffed - speccing fire I get some additional fire damage points). I can guarantee you that fire in long fights this is the best DPS and Mid-DPM in the game, I only was below some warlock sometimes.

The best DPM, but lowest DPS (top in some fights) is frost.
And the top DPS and lowest DPM is arcane.

Anyway you need 202 hit rating or 164 + Elemental Precision Talent, if you want to hit almost all spells and explore your potential.