Second Thoughts

[Raimius]

I recently switched to a 5 man team from a Tank / Healer combo. and honestly I'm loving it. BUT, I've run into something that I really don't like and would like a little input on what you all think.
Beings you have been so helpful with everything else already. and Thank You all for that..

Anyway, I'm running a Blood DK , Resto Shaman, and I added 2 Ele Shamans and a Mage atm. my Problem is.. the Mage is oom every pull were the Shamans are still 80-90%. Granted I'm not quite 80 yet.
But from what I've read this doesn't get a whole lot better. Unless I go Frost but that just does appeal to me. the DPS out put isn't what I would like.

So would I be better off adding a Spreist of something now? over one of the shamans? I have a Druid at 80 on the mages account. so I could add him. but I'm just trying to think ahead a little and figure out what might work better.

Thanks in Advance for the Help.

Also is anyone Running Spreist / Boomkin / Ele shaman for DPS? and how does that work out for you?

[Raimius]

I'm fire atm cuz I couldn't come close to the Shaman's as frost or Arcane. even on bosses.
But I do use Mana Gems / Evocation every cooldown.

only reason I choose a Mage if becuz I didn't want a full shaman group. and I thought the Port / Water would be usefull.
But now I'm thinking if I can get way so I don't use as much water. Screw the ports lol

[Bigfish]

Spell rotation or spec might be an issue, as well as gear. It's difficult to pinpoint without more details.

My experience with mages though is that you're very crit-rating dependant for your DPS, and they have a much higher wind-up/tenderizing time than shamans. I mean, shamans just start dumping DPS to the point of being ridiculous. A mage has to start off with scorch. Then some 3 seconds FF bolts, then weaving your Pyros. I've you're fighting anything that takes more than 30 seconds to kill, a mage should perform noticably fine. Less than that, and you see cut offs and the like.

No idea what's wasting your mana though.

[daviddoran]

Arcane is better dps when you aren't geared. They just buffed it last patch, less mana used, more likely to proc missile barrage. My mage is geared, and dual spec Arcane/fire, fire uses less mana than arcane in my experience. Just make a quick macro for 4 arcane blasts and an arcane missiles, and you are good to go. Make sure u use Mage armor, combined with talents you get 100% mana regen while casting, which helps a lot for arcane mages.

[Ualaa]

Frost isn't as good dps, but it gets the team Replenishment.
It's also incredibly easy to macro, Frostbolt is your only spell really.
Water Elemental on another key at every opportunity.
The frost snare/freeze effects give the team more time to nuke things.
But with a tank, the tank holds threat and that's less of an issue then a 5x dps team.

[Phanes]

As lots of people will say play what is fun. :)

These are my Current 80s

Account 1: DK
Account 2: Priest/Shaman
Account 3: Mage/Shaman
Account 4: Mage/Shaman
Account 5: Hunter/Shaman

I have tried all combinations of the above and found I really like.

DK, Preist, Shaman x 3

I find that with a good inn location, Argent Stand minutes away from easy heroics, ToC, and Dalaran, and the 30 minute Hearthstones getting places is never hard. Food/Water really is not a big deal I use freerefills to keep my guys stocked up automatically.

Buffs are awesome with fort, spirit, fear ward, horn of winter, drums, and totems.

In the end though do what you find challenging/fun.

[Raimius]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm trying a few things with the mage.. might get a Spreist up form 70 and see what it has to offer.
I'll play around with my group and see where it takes me. TY all again for the responses.

[Kalros]

Another thing is gear. Though I'm not a Mage expert, I was constantly having mana problems with my Shamen when I started doing Northrend instances. Basically my mana pool was small and I also needed to tweak my specs a little, but it was mostly the gear. Once you start getting some upgrades from Heroics and Emblems, that might help as well.

[Multibocks]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm trying a few things with the mage.. might get a Spreist up form 70 and see what it has to offer.
I'll play around with my group and see where it takes me. TY all again for the responses.

I'll tell you right now you will be disappointed with Spriests dps compared to a mage. I wouldnt advise a priest unless you plan on healing.

[Raimius]

I was told that Spreist would be able to keep up on bosses but will be lacking in over all Dmg due to Trash.
Maybe I was miss informed? I dunno, I'm still pretty new to this, so I've been asking alot of questions to everyone I know.

[Multibocks]

Well average gear a moonkin or mage will easily outdps a spriest and I read a lot that at high end raiding Spriests are about 3k dps behind rogues and mages (depending on fight). Although the new stuff coming to spriests makes me think that they are going to rectify that, but it may not be fixed until Cataclysm.