Mages in 3.0.2 - any high dps spec and rotation?

[Kulzor]

Pre-3.0.2 I'd tried all three and using the Arcane spec, just casting Arcane Blast was by far the highest dps. It was costlier on mana usage, but at least the mage was competitive with the elemental shaman and almost up to my hunter's damage done. (Not dps, but overall damage done in a heroic, for some reason the shaman and mage always had a high "dps" rating, but were way behind the hunter on overall damage actually done.)

3.0.2 I tried my mage as deep fire, but even with the glyph that only requires two Scorch spells to hit the 5-stack, her dps fell off the chart. BAD. VERY BAD.

Any suggestions on a spec to go with now, and a spell rotation to use? Being as my mage is only one toon of five, I can't really watch her screen to see if a special procs, and then cast something after the special - so the ideal is to use a /castsequence.

(Currently I'm using /castsequence reset=combat/target [target=focustarget,harm] Scorch,Scorch,Fireball,Fireball,Scorch,Scorch <-- with those scorches there because it seemed like too often she'd be mid-fireball cast and the mob dies)

So I figured I'd ask...

[Rin]

Why not just go back down the arcane line? I did that with both of my mages and the DPS has been insane.

[TheBigBB]

I went arcane spec and have a similar class setup to you. I am rotating between two DPS buttons at my own discretion. I have one which is nothing but arcane blast spam and one which sends out an arcane bolt (and moonfires, shocks, etc on the others). When I need to save mana I alternate between the buttons a lot to reset the debuff. When I just want all out DPS, I do a lot more arcane blasts. I don't know that this is the best possible setup for him in terms of raw DPS, but that extra instant cast arcane move really comes in handy when I need to quickly finish something off that's running away, or when I'm on the run, or what have you. I can use fire blasts with a third button as well. Also, your burst damage will be great if you pop your POM and AP. All that and more threat reduction on the arcane tree have me sold on this spec.

[Kulzor]

TheBigBB - so you send out, what - 2 Arcane Blasts, then lob an an Arcane Bolt (wait, what is this? new spell? Just tried finding it on the web and keep finding a boss spell that does 13k damage, I'm certain WE don't get that... ;P )

So...
Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage,Arcane Bolt, repeat?

[Hat]

edit: ignore this post.. I was wrong

[TheBigBB]

Sorry, maybe I'm calling it the wrong thing. What's the 51 point arcane talent called? I can't search well right now due to being at work. I don't want to surf WoW-related websites.

Anyway, I don't have any rotation I stick to. I just stick instant cast spells and cast bar spells on different keys so I can more effectively manage the battle without worrying about ever casting the wrong spells. The main reason I'm suggesting this spec is because it gives you good DPS and threat management with potentially the highest possible burst damage if you decide to pop arcane power and go nuts on arcane blasts.

[Rudi89]

The talented 51pt spell is Arcane Barrage. You may be thinking of the Missile Barrage talent though, which (at 5/5) has a 20% proc to make your next Arcane Missiles cast a 2.5s channel. I might think that you could do a 'not trying to go OOM from Arcane Blast' spam key something like:

/castsequence [nochanneling: arcane missiles] Arcane Power, [nochanneling: arcane missiles] Arcane Barrage, [nochanneling: arcane missiles] Arcane Missiles

I think that's how you use the channeling macro modifier, though I may be wrong, and I think you can spam this key for good DPS without severe mana issues.

Personally I'm all about group synergy so I went with a Frost spec with Focus Magic: 11/0/50 One-spell debuff stacking with Winter's Chill plus Focus Magic and buffed up Water Ele. It's a strange spec, I admit, and the first one I've made without Ice Barrier. But I figure she'll never be out solo-ing and I find Ice Barrier hard to use in group when multi-boxing.

[Kulzor]

Rudi89, interesting, I wasn't aware of a nochanneling modifier - I'll have to check that out.

Last night I respec'd my mage back to heavy Arcane, with 3 points in Fire for the crit, and the rest in Frost heading toward Icy Veins (but can't reach it yet). Doing the following rotation her dps was back up nicely:

/castsequence [target=focustarget,harm] Arcane Blast,Arcane Blast,Arcane Barrage

With the major Glyph that increases Mana Shield from the normal 30% regen rate to 50% regen rate, and the mana totem, and Judgement of Wisdom being used - she never ran out of mana, even in boss fights.

So my belief in Arcane is back, and I'm much happier with the higher damage output again. Thanks for the ideas guys!