Is blizzard not feasible as AOE boxer vs AE?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I keep seeing everybody using AE, is blizzars with nova and shatter and AE at rhe end not feasible as a dual boxer or AE is just superior?

IMO, the biggest pain in the ass about Blizzard is making sure your mages are all:

* facing the same direction
* same camera angle and zoom level
* ready for mouse-cursor input (yes, it can get stuck occasionally)

And being able to repeat those quickly after you have to move your mages due to aggro, knockback, fear-bomb, or whatever. First cast is easy. Follow-up is more tricky. Some people do it for sure but Flamestrike -> AE spam seems much less error-prone. (caveat: I haven't rerolled my mages since early BC, so my opinion isn't current with Classic per se, not that I've seen anything new lately mind you.)

[Grundel]

Blizzard is more mana efficient imo. However its slower. So then it's a threat battle which I have trouble winning.
During my second cast with blizzard some of the group will switch agro to a mage. So now I'm balancing healing with incoming damage. With AE I can kill stuff faster even though it's not as mana efficient. When the mobs switch to mages I dont care because they will dead so fast. Then everyone sits and drinks while I gather next pull

[nodoze]

IMO, the biggest pain in the ass about Blizzard is making sure your mages are all:

* facing the same direction
* same camera angle and zoom level
* ready for mouse-cursor input (yes, it can get stuck occasionally)

And being able to repeat those quickly after you have to move your mages due to aggro, knockback, fear-bomb, or whatever. First cast is easy. Follow-up is more tricky. Some people do it for sure but Flamestrike -> AE spam seems much less error-prone. (caveat: I haven't rerolled my mages since early BC, so my opinion isn't current with Classic per se, not that I've seen anything new lately mind you.)

If you cast it @Player would that help ?

[Proxxee]

I've been considering going back frost myself and seeing how the shatter spec compares to my deep Fire build. I've been Fire since the low 30's or so and basically just stack my team, cast flamestrike @player, blastwave, and spam flamestrike with an AE at the end to finish off the last bit of hp.

The spec seems to do fairly well and its nice getting a few stuns with the fire build. I do wonder if I could move faster though. Only averaging about 30k xp/hr right now at level 57 in BRD.

[Myth]

I am currently running Magex4+Priest. Fire/Arcane for Pyro for bosses and AE for everything else. I tried a few different specs and mainly do dungeons now once they are the same level or a couple lower than my group of 5.

I wanted Blizzard AOE to work since it is a lot of fun doing solo but I tried using set view scripts and a few different ground target AoE method's that Mirai did a great job of showing. However, in the end the effort was not worth it as 4xMage Arcane Explosion kills just about anything but a boss faster and with much less effort than Blizzard spam. You just have to limit pulls to 4-5 vs. 5+.

Sure the pulls are not as epic but the risk of dying is less but the pace is just as fast. You will have to drink after every 1-3 pulls using AE. But hey... thats why we have mage water/food.

[Lyonheart]

I never find that having to drink after every pull or two to be a big deal.. as i loot everything..by the time im done looting, everyone's mana is topped off

[Homer]

I never find that having to drink after every pull or two to be a big deal.. as i loot everything..by the time im done looting, everyone's mana is topped off

I find my priest lacking in the mana regen department between pulls, at 37 now, sometimes I need a full drink and then some, WTB level 40 for the 35 water.

[Yukzor]

I find my priest lacking in the mana regen department between pulls, at 37 now, sometimes I need a full drink and then some, WTB level 40 for the 35 water.

So right now im specced frost at level 34 with shatter. My gameplan has been nova...flamestrike ae ae..nov ae ae ae ae and everything dies due to 50% crits on flamwstroke andae.....is there anyway to be even more efficient or a better pec? I find that frost shatter gives way better crits than arcane talents....but maybe i missed something and there is a better spec?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

If you cast it @Player would that help ?

If you have something else keeping aggro, and the mobs aren't casting AoE spells/cleaves. @player implies you're in melee range of the mobs. I never had much luck with Blizzard in melee range.

[Mercbeast]

Blizzard is more mana efficient imo. However its slower. So then it's a threat battle which I have trouble winning.
During my second cast with blizzard some of the group will switch agro to a mage. So now I'm balancing healing with incoming damage. With AE I can kill stuff faster even though it's not as mana efficient. When the mobs switch to mages I dont care because they will dead so fast. Then everyone sits and drinks while I gather next pull

Mana efficiency isn't all that important with 3 or 4 mages.