Arcane DPS lower than Elemental Shaman?

[Bollwerk]

So my 4 caster toons are all mostly maxed out with LFR / Valor gear and I'm finding that my Arcane Mage's DPS is always less than my Elemental Shaman's on single target (Boss) fights.
It's not lower by a lot, but I keep seeing other "real" Arcane Mages in LFR doing WAY more DPS than my mage, so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
My macros are essentially straight from Mercurio's "Cataclysm macros at 85".
Any ideas on how to improve my DPS or should I try Fire or Frost?
(although I understand those are harder to do macros for and get good DPS)

Arcane Seqence Macro
/stopmacro [channeling]
/castsequence reset=6 Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage

Arcane Proc Macro
/stopmacro [channeling]
/castsequence reset=6 Arcane Blast,Arcane Missiles
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Mirror Image
/use Mana Gem
/cast Arcane Power

For reference:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/dragonblight/Aquiriel/advanced

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/dragonblight/Alzuriel/advanced

[zenga]

How long are those boss fights? Reason I'm asking is that an ele shaman with 4p T13 and some DS trinkets (like the haste one you have) can do some sick damage during elemental mastery (and lust) with all procs up. That's gonna even out when you fight a raid boss, but on shorted heroic bosses it can look impressive. Also take into account that even if you have to move only a few times during a fight this really affects your arcane dmg, whereas an ele with the glyph keeps casting. Not saying that your mage macro is correct or not, just offering a different view.

[jstanthr]

My main team is 5x arcane mages. Mecurio's macro is ok, but you would do MUCH better by doing; (my opinion of course)

i pop my cd's at start of pull (boss fight single target and multi target are the same rotation for me)
/cast timewarp
/cast mirrorimage
/cast arcane power
/use mana gem (for SP boost)
/use 13
/use 14


Then i do 5 arcane blast
then arcane missles (arcane barrage is a huge dps killer and u get no mana from it, missles regens some mana)
make sure you have focus magic on someone preferable someone with high crit like another arc mage
for long fights use mage armor (the one with mana regen)
and arcane brilliance of course.
Using that rotation I can sustain 25-30k+ average, i only evocate at 20% mana, then when i hit 50% again, mana gem is off cd and i use it + arcnae power and other cd's if they are up, make sure to throw flame orb every time it's up, it helps with mana regen as well, as an arcane mage it's important to keep you mana as high as possible due to the way mastery affects dps.

I hope this wasn't TLDR, but it's what i do for imp fights that are longer than 45seconds. If it's something with relatively low health, i jst nuke it.

[Shania]

I find using 2 step macroes that he dps is always going to be alot lower, i dont know why just is on all my toons.
If I play the toon solo, or use all same class example mages and place on my action bars all their used spells I need and play them that way, its a hell of alot higher.

Like my ele shammys it needs to cycle the macro and this kinda seems to make the proc hang or be delayed before it casts it, and that there is a dps loss.

I think you need to tweak them for yourself some what, tho I gave up using arc mages as its dps was never anything good for me for some reason.

The macros are handy and have there use, but they will never give you an outstanding high dps, compared too manually dpsing with them yourself

[EaTCarbS]

/stopmacro [channeling]
/castsequence Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast
/cast Arcane Missiles

[Cptan]

I keep seeing other "real" Arcane Mages in LFR doing WAY more DPS than my mage

That's because "real" Arcane Mages dun use 2 step macro, IMO. To get high dps, mana burn is needed for arcane mage. The trick then is how to recover mana fast without loosing "fight time" to other dps. This lead to the following point


Also take into account that even if you have to move only a few times during a fight this really affects your arcane dmg

It really depends. For fights like DW kill or Hagara, that requires raid movement from point a to b to kill add, or to jump from platform to platform, I usually seize the chance to evocate and plan the next mana burn phase. The use of trinkets plus whatever means to increase intel/SP with mana burn phase is crucial.

Also, do not forget the aoe spell when there are many adds to kill. So a 2 step macro for the whole raid boss fight is kind of .... boring.

Know thy self, know thy enemy- Sun Tze

[jstanthr]

That's because "real" Arcane Mages dun use 2 step macro, IMO. To get high dps, mana burn is needed for arcane mage. The trick then is how to recover mana fast without loosing "fight time" to other dps. This lead to the following point



which is why i don't use a two step on my mages, i have a macro to blow cd's, and i manually do arc blast x5 then missles, arc blast x5 missles, rinse repeat, making sure my flame orb goes out as much as possible

[Bollwerk]

This isn't really a huge issue, but I'm mainly talking about LFR here, where I box all 5 toons each week for Valor.
I suppose I could not use a 2-step macro, but my only option would be to use a 1-step macro instead.
I'm not sure if that's what EatCarbs is suggesting or if EatCarbs is suggesting I change my "main" macro to that, but still use the 2-step macro.

For what it's worth, I do just as much DPS on my Elemental Shamans using a 2-step macro as I do playing a solo toon and casting each spell manually.
I'm hoping to accomplish the same with the Mage.
I don't care what spec the mage is.
All I care about is doing good DPS with a 2-step macro.

[EaTCarbS]

Using a 2 step macro for an arcane mage isn't neccessary - they are faceroll. I'm not sure why you put barrage in your macro. The only time I feel a mage should use it is when they are moving in order to maintain dps. Also, I like to save my CDs for when I lust, as you get the most out of them.

/stopmaco [channeling]
/castsequence Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast
/cast Arcane Missiles
/cast Arcane Missiles
/cast Flame Orb

[Bollwerk]

Thanks EatCarbs. I'll try your macro and see how it goes.
BTW, is there any reason you have /cast Arcane Missiles in there twice?