Warlords of Draenor Mage Changes

By Wowhead Last Updated: 2016/07/17 Patch: 6.1.0

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Last update: October 23(Note: This guide is intended to be an overview of changes between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Due to its popularity, we have included Patch Note updates for 6.1, but its main purpose is to compare the two expansions.) Highlights

Several spells have been changed to only be available to one spec, such as the armors, , Arcane Explosion, , and Frozen Orb. For ability pruning for mages, unused and niche abilities were removed from each specialization for which they weren't primarily used.

Mage Armors are now passive.

Level 60, Level 75 and some Level 90 Talents have been redesigned.

Mage talents had good specialization distinction for single-target rotation, but utility and area-of-effect spells were heavily shared between specializations.

was extremely strong for instant CC. Rather than completely remove or make it not affect CC abilities, it was made into a base Arcane spell, since Arcane has less CC than the other specs already.

replaces in the talent tree.

Alter Time's DPS element has been removed, but it retains its health effect. It has been made a talent, replacing . Alter Time has a number of clever movement and utility uses, but in practice it was mostly being used for additional uptime of offensive cooldowns.

The Level 75 Bomb talents had some difficulties in MoP. They came with the prospect of multi-dotting which didn't fit Mage gameplay, and to make all 3 Bombs useful to all specializations, they didn't have spec-specific perks. As a result, the 3 Bomb Talents are merged into one that changes based on spec and doesn't rely on DoTs.

The Level 90 talent row for Mages focused on Mana, which only Arcane Mages cared about. This talent row has been revised to be purely about damage with small maintenance cost.

Building upon Frost Mages new PvE viability in MoP, some rough spots were cleaned up pertaining to secondary stats and the amount of instant-cast spells in their rotation. For example, Ice Lance non-frozen damage was doubled to make up for the lack of Fire Blast.

Mage utility was too low, so they have been given a raid cooldown in the form of

Intellect no longer provides an increased chance to critically strike with spells.

Weapon Damage values on all weapons have been reduced by 20%.

The base chance to critically strike is now 5% for all classes. There are no longer different chances to critically strike with melee, ranged, and spells.

Attack Power, Spell Power, or Weapon Damage now affect the entire healing or damage throughput of player spells.

Patch 6.1 Updates

Blizzard

Talents

Alter Time now has a 1-minute cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes).
Comet Storm (Frost) damage has increased by 94% but deals 33.3% less damage in PvP combat.
should now provide protection against many more effects, and function more consistently.
Ice Nova (Frost) now roots the target instead of stunning them, but the root is no longer affected by diminishing returns.
Mirror Image copies of Frost Mages now deal 15% less damage with Frostbolt.

Arcane

can now be applied to Polymorph spells.

Fire

Fireball now replaces Flurry for Fire Mages.

Frost

's stun effect now always breaks on damage from Ice Lance or Ice Nova, but no longer has a chance to break from other damage sources.

Glyphs

Glyph of Frostfire Bolt has been replaced with . causes Ignite to also reduce the target's movement speed by 40%.
effect can now hit targets up to 60% further away from the primary target, but no longer ignores crowd-controlled targets.

Armor Sets

Tier-17 4-piece bonus for Fire Mages is now approximately 0.7 procs per minute (down from 1 proc per minute).
PvP 2-piece set bonus for Frost Mages has been redesigned. Cone of Cold now leaves behind a patch of ice on the target area slowing any enemies caught within it by 50% for 6 seconds.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Frost Mages has been redesigned to increase Frostbolt damage by 30% against unsnared targets, and increases Frostbolt damage by 50% against snared targets.

3D Armor ModelsWarlords of Draenor Transmog Guide

Set Bonuses

Item - Mage T17 Fire 2P Bonus: Inferno Blast now has 2 charges.

Item - Mage T17 Fire 4P Bonus: When Pyroblast! activates, you have a chance to cause all Pyroblasts to have no cast time and be guaranteed critical strikes for 4 sec. (Approximately 1.00 procs per minute)

Item - Mage T17 Frost 2P Bonus: While Frozen Orb is active, you gain Fingers of Frost every 2.5 sec.

Item - Mage T17 Frost 4P Bonus: Each Ice Lance cast while Frozen Orb is active reduces the cast time of Frostbolt by 2% and increases the damage of Frostbolt by 2% for 10 sec. Stacks up to 10 times.

Item - Mage T17 Arcane 2P Bonus: After using Evocation, the cast time and mana cost of Arcane Blast is reduced by 25% for 15 sec.

Item - Mage T17 Arcane 4P Bonus: When you gain an Arcane Charge, you have a chance to increase the number of missiles your next Arcane Missiles will fire by 5.

Item - Mage WoD PvP Fire 2P Bonus: Casting Scorch reduces the cast time and increases the critical strike chance of Fireball and Frostfire Bolt by 15%, stacking up to 3 times.

Item - Mage WoD PvP Fire 4P Bonus: When you consume Hot Streak, your Pyroblast target has a 15% increased chance to be critically hit by your Fireball or Frostfire Bolt spell for 10 sec.

: Frozen Orb now explodes at the end of its duration, dealing (100% of Spell power) Frost damage to all enemies within 10 yards.

: When you Ice Lance a frozen target, the damage of your next Frotbolt is increased by 5%. Stacks up to 5 times.

Item - Mage WoD PvP Arcane 2P Bonus: Successfully Spellstealing a buff generates a use of Arcane Missiles.

Item - Mage WoD PvP Arcane 4P Bonus: While Arcane Power is active, you can cast Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles while moving.

New Spell EffectsIce NovaSupernovaMeteorArcane OrbComet StormTalentsClick here

Alter Time: Formerly a class ability. Alters the fabric of time, returning you to your current location health, mana, buffs, and debuffsand health when cast a second time, or after 10 sec. Effect negated by long distance or death.

: Fade into the nether, avoiding all attacks against you for 3 sec. Castable while another spell is in progress and unaffected by global cooldown. Replaces Ice Block.

Mirror Image. Formerly a class ability. Creates 3 copies of the caster nearby, which cast spells and attack the Mage's enemies. Lasts 40 sec.

: Conjures a prismatic crystal at the target location, which is attackable by only the Mage, and takes 30% additional damage. When the crystal takes damage, it instantly releases a burst of energy dealing that damage, split evenly between all enemies within 8 yards.

Unstable Magic: Arcane Blast, Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, and Frostbolt have a 30% chance to explode on impact, dealing an additional 50% damage to the target, and to all other enemies within 8 yards.

Arcane Orb: Launches an Arcane Orb forward from the Mage's position, traveling up to 40 yards, dealing 0 (+ 44.4%67.5% of Spell power) Arcane damage to enemies it passes through. Grants the Mage an Arcane Charge when cast and every time it deals damage.

Overpowered: Casting Arcane Missiles extends Arcane Power by 2 sec.

Supernova: Causes a pulse of arcane energy around the target enemy or ally, dealing (200% of Spell power) Arcane damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and knocking them upwards. A primary enemy target will take 100% increased damage. Max 2 charges. Replaces Frost Nova. Additional 15% decrease applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Blast Wave: Causes an explosion around the target enemy or ally, dealing (200% of Spell power) Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and reducing movement speed by 70% for 4 sec. A primary enemy target will take 100% increased damage. Max 2 charges. Replaces Frost Nova..

Kindling: Your Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Pyroblast, and Inferno Blast critical strikes reduce the cooldown remaining on Combustion by 1 sec.

Meteor: Calls down a meteor which lands at the target location until cancelled, dealing 1 (+ 375% of Spell power) Fire damage, split evenly between all targets within 8 yards. Also burns the ground, dealing an additional 0 (+ 8%30% of Spell power) Fire damage every 1 sec for 8 sec to enemies in the area.

Comet Storm: Calls down a series of 7 icy comets on and around the target, each of which does 1 (+ 45%41.25% of Spell power) Frost damage, split between all enemies within 4 yards of its impact point.

Ice Nova: Causes a whirl of icy wind around the target enemy or ally, dealing (200% of Spell power) Frost damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and freezing for 2 sec. A primary enemy target will take 100% increased damage. Max 2 charges. Replaces Frost Nova.

Thermal Void: Casting Ice Lance extends your Icy Veins by 2 sec.

Cauterize: Fatal damage will instead bring you to 50% 35% health and then burn you for 40%28% of your max health over 6 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 min.

: Immediately resets the cooldown of your Ice Block, Frost Nova, and Cone of ColdPresence of Mind (Arcane) Dragon's Breath (Fire), Cone of Cold (Frost), and Frost Nova spells, and heals you for 30% 22% of your maximum health. Usable during most loss of control effects, and unaffected by global cooldown.

: Places a Frost Bomb on the target for 12 sec. triggered by each Ice Lance while the target is frozen. The bomb releasesLimit 1 target.Your Ice Lances that benefit from Shatter will trigger the release of a wave of freezing ice, dealing (258.51%120% of Spell power) Frost damage to the target and (129.375%75% of Spell power) Frost damage to all other enemies within 10 yards.Limit 1 target.

Ice Barrier: Instantly shields you for 1 min, absorbing (4580 + $SPFR * 3.30 + $SPFR * 4.95) damage. While the shield holds, spellcasting will not be interrupted by damage.

: Protects a friendly target for 30 sec. The next 13 melee attackers will trigger a Frost Nova, freezing all enemies within 10 yds for 5 sec.

Incanter's Flow: Places a magical ward on you, absorbing up to (1041 + Spell power * 1.0) damage for 8 sec. Absorbed damage will restore up to 1041% of your maximum mana.When this effect ends, you gain up to 15% increased spell damage for 25 sec, based on the absorption used.Passive:Increases spell damage by 6% and increases mana regeneration by 6%. This effect is deactivated while Incanter's Ward is on cooldown.Magical energy flows through you while in combat, building up to 20% increased damage and then diminishing down to 4% increased damage, cycling every 10 sec.

Living Bomb: The target becomes a Living Bomb, taking 4288 (+ 321.44%(+ 100% of Spell power) Fire damage over 12 sec. When this effect ends, or the target dies, it explodes to deal an additional (80% of Spell power) Fire damage to the target and all other enemies within 10 yards. Limit 3 targets. This spell is strongest when applied to 1 or 2 targets.This spell has a 1.0 sec global cooldown.May be spread by Inferno Blast.

Nether Tempest: Places a Nether Tempest on the target which deals 3900 (+ 292.32% (+ 37.2% of Spell power) Arcane damage over 12 sec. to the target and to all enemies within 10 yards. Limit 1 target. 50% of that damage is also dealt to a random target within 0 yards This spell is strongest when applied to 3 or 4 targets.Nether Tempest's damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge at cast time.

Rune of Power: Places a Rune of Power on the ground for 13 min which increases your mana regeneration is increased by 75% and your spell damage by 75%15% while you stand within 58 yds. You may place up to 2 Runes of Power at one time. Replaces Evocation.

Incanter's Ward: Places a magical ward on you, absorbing up to (1041 + Spell power * 1.0) damage for 8 sec. Absorbed damage will restore up to 18% of your maximum mana. When this effect ends, you gain up to 15% increased spell damage for 25 sec, based on the absorption used.

Presence of Mind is now Arcane only.

Temporal Shield: Envelops you in a temporal shield for 4 sec, reducing all damage taken by 15%. 100% of the damage taken while shielded will be healed back over 6 sec. This spell is usable while stunned, frozen, incapacitated, feared or asleep, and is not on the global cooldown.

GlyphsClick here

: When you successfully Counterspell a target, the remaining cooldown on Counterspell is reduced by 4 sec.

: Increases the damage done by Dragon's Breath by 100%.

: You regenerate 4% of your maximum health every 1 sec for the duration of Ice Block.

: Your Counterspell can now be cast while casting or channeling other spells, but its cooldown is increased by 4 sec.

: Now Arcane only.

: Now Arcane and Frost only.

: Now Frost only.

: Now Fire only.

: Your Icy Veins causes your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, Ice Lance, and your Water Elemental's Waterbolt spells to split into 3 smaller bolts that each do 40% damage, instead of increasing spell casting speed.now grants 30% multistrike instead of spell haste.

: Your Arcane Blast spell applies the Slow spell to any target it damages.if no target is currently affected by your Slow.

: Spellsteal now also heals you for 5%4% of your maximum health when it successfully steals a spell.

Counterspell: and .

Ice Block: and .

SpecializationsClick here

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Ice Block, Invisibility, Arcane Power, Deep Freeze, Mirror Image, and Alter Time abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes.

: You gain 5% more of the Mastery stat from all sources.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Ice Block, Invisibility, Deep Freeze, Mirror Image, Combustion, and Alter Time abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes.

: You gain 5% more of the Critical Strike stat from all sources.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Ice Block, Icy Veins, Invisibility, Deep Freeze, Mirror Image, and Alter Time abilities (0% cooldown reduction). Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes.

: You gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources.

Readiness has been removed.

: Now Arcane only. When activated, your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spell.Thisspell. Does not apply to Polymorph.This spell is not on the global cooldown.

Arcane Explosion: Now Arcane only. Causes an explosion of arcane magic around the caster, dealing (+ 55%49.5% of Spell power) Arcane damage to all targets within 10 yards.

: Now Arcane only. Increases your Mastery by 3000141. The duration of all harmful Magic effects used against you is reduced by 25%. Armor SpellsA Mage can only have one Armor spell active at a time.

Arcane Barrage: Launches bolts of arcane energy at the enemy target, causing (100%67.9% of Spell power) Arcane damage. Consumes all Arcane Charges.Arcane Barrage's damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge, and it hits 1 additional nearby target per Arcane Charge for 50% damage. Replaces Fire Blast Additional 5% decrease applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Arcane Missiles: Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2 sec, causing (22.2%23.5% of Spell power) Arcane damage per wave. Generates an Arcane Charge.Arcane Missiles' damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge.Arcane Missiles has a chance to be activated after each of your damaging spell casts. Limit 23 charges. Additional 5% decrease applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Arcane Blast: 2.0% of base mana, up from 1.7% Blasts the target with energy, dealing 749 to 869 (+ 77.7%100% of Spell power) Arcane damage and generating an Arcane Charge.Arcane Blast's damage is increased by 50% per Arcane Charge, and its mana cost is increased by 150%100% per Arcane Charge. Replaces Frostfire Bolt. Additional 5% decrease applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

: Lasts 15 seconds, up from 10.

: Causes your next Mage spell with a casting time less than 10 sec becomes an instant cast spellto be instant. Does not apply to Polymorph Portal, or Teleport spells. This spell is not on the global cooldown.

Slow: Reduces the target's movement speed by 50% and increases casting time by 50% (25% on player targets) for 15 sec.Slow can only affect one target at a time.

: Instantly deals 953 to 1129 (+ 100% of Spell power) Fire damage and stuns the target for 3 sec. Resets the cooldown on Inferno Blast and combusts your Ignite on the target, burning for additional damage over 10 sec equal to 8 seconds of Ignite's current damage over timeIf the target is currently affected by your Ignite, it also burns the target for additional damage equal to 20% of the damage per tick of the Ignite every 1 sec for 10 sec.

Dragon's Breath: Targets in a cone in front of the caster take 1894 to 2200 (+ 21.5%(86% of Spell power) Fire damage and are incapacitateddisoriented for 4 sec. Any direct damage will cancel the effect. Replaces Cone of Cold.

Fireball: Hurls a fiery ball that causes (135% 165%158.6% of Spell power) Fire damage. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Flamestrike: Now Fire Only, 3.0% of base mana down from 6.0%. Calls down a pillar of fire, burning all enemies within the area for 427 to 522 (+ 77.7% of Spell power) Fire damage and an additional 496 (+ 40.5% of Spell power) Fire damage over 8 sec.

Fire Blast: Blasts the enemy for (60%119.8% of Spell power) Fire damage and spreads your Fire damage effects on the target to up to 3 enemies within 10 yards. Inferno Blast will always deal a critical strike. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Mastery: Ignite: Your target burns for an additional 12% over 45 sec of the total direct damage caused by your Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Inferno Blast, Scorch, Pyroblast, Flamestrike and their multistrikes. If this effect is reapplied, any remaining damage will be added to the new Ignite.

: Now Fire Only. Increases your spell critical strike chance by 5%. Reduces all physical damage taken by 5%.Armor SpellsA Mage can only have one Armor spell active at a time.

Pyroblast: Hurls an immense fiery boulder that causes (163% 230%221.2% of Spell power) Fire damage and an additional (216%247.8% of Spell power) Fire damage over 18 sec. Getting two single-target non-periodic Fire critical strikes in a row will make your next Pyroblast instant cast, cost no mana, and deal 25% additional damage. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Scorch: Scorch the enemy for (83.7%25% of Spell power) Fire damage. Castable while moving.

: Now Frost only. Ice shards pelt the target area doing ( + 36.7%27.525% of Spell power) * 8] Frost damage over 8 sec and slowing enemies by 50%.

: Your Frostbolts have a 10% chance to cause the Brain Freeze effect. Each multistrike increases that cast's chance by an additional 25%.The Brain Freeze effect causes your next Frostfire Bolt to cost no mana, be instant cast, deal 25% 15%85% additional damage, and act as if your target were frozen.

: Now Frost only. Increases your spell haste by 7%Increases multistrike chance by 8% causes enemies who strike the caster to be slowed by 30% for 5 sec.Armor Spells A Mage can only have one Armor spell active at a time.

Frostbolt: Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing (150%119.1% of Spell power) Frost damage and slowing movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Icy Veins: Accelerates your spellcasting, granting 20% spell haste and preventing spell pushback. Lasts 20 sec.

25%100%.

Frozen Orb: Launches a Frozen Orb forward from the Mage's position, releasing Frostbolts that deal (51.1%38.325% of Spell power) Frost damage to all nearby enemy targets for 10 sec. Grants the Mage 1 charge of Fingers of Frost when it first reaches a target. Targets damaged by the Frost Orb are slowed by 30% for 2 sec. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Ice Lance: Now Frost only. Deals (33.5%40% of Spell power) Frost damage to an enemy target.Ice Lance damage is doubled against frozen targets.

Mastery: Icicles: When you damage enemies with Frostbolt and Frostfire Bolt, and their multistrikes, 16% of the damage done is stored as an Icicle with you, for 30 sec. Also increases the damage of your Water Elemental's Waterbolt by 16%.Up to 5 Icicles can be stored at once. Casting Ice Lance causes any Icicles to begin launching at the target. Replaces Fire Blast. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Shatter: Now Frost only. DoublesMultiplies the critical strike chance of all your spells against frozen targets by 1.5 and adds another 50% chance.

Summon Water Elemental: Summons a Water Elemental to fight for the caster.Casting Frostbolt on your Water Elemental will heal it for 1561 (+ 150%0 (+ 270% of Spell power).

Pyromanic: Your Nether Tempest, Living Bomb, and Frost Bomb spells now also apply the Pyromaniac effect.

Class Abilities

Click here to see a full list of Warlords of Draenor Mage class abilities.

: Amplify the effects of helpful magic, increasing all healing received by 12%10% for all party and raid members within 100 yards. Lasts 6 sec.
Polymorph: Transforms the enemy into a polar bear cub, forcing it to wander around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the polar bear cub cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.
Polymorph: Transforms the enemy into a monkey, forcing it to wander around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the monkey cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.
Polymorph: Transforms the enemy into a penguin, forcing it to wander around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the penguin cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.
Polymorph: Transforms the enemy into a peacock, forcing it to wander around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the peacock cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters.

Cone of Cold: 12 sec cooldown, up from 10 Targets in a cone in front of the caster take (31.8%23.85% of Spell power) Frost damage and are slowed by 60% for 6 sec.
: Blasts the enemy for 964 to 11420 (+ 78.9% of Spell power) Fire damage.
Frost Nova: 30 sec cooldown, up from 25 Blasts enemies within 12 yds of the caster for 511 to 592 (+ 18.8%0 (+ 14.925% of Spell power) Frost damage and freezes them in place for up to 8 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect.
Flurry: Launches a bolt of frostfire at the enemy, causing (135%158.6% of Spell power) Frostfire damage and slowing the target's movement by 40% for 8 sec. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip
Time Warp: Warp the flow of time, increasing melee, ranged, and spell haste by 30% for all party and raid members within 100 yards. Lasts 40 sec.Allies receiving this effect will become unstuck in time, andwill be unable to benefit from Bloodlust, Heroism, or Time Warp again for 10 min.

Burning Soul: Reduces the casting time lost from taking damaging attacks by 70%.
Improved Counterspell: Your Counterspell also silences the target for 4 sec.
Conjure Mana Gem: Conjures a Mana Gem that can be used to instantly restore 42750 to 47250 mana, and holds up to 3 charges.

Abilities now Specializations:

Shatter, now Frost
Ice Lance, now Frost
, now Frost
, now Frost
, now Frost
, now Arcane
Arcane Explosion, now Arcane
Evocation, now Arcane
, now Fire
Flamestrike, now Fire

Draenor Perks

: Each stack of Arcane Charge now reduces the cast time of Arcane Blast by 5%.
: Arcane Power now reduces the cost of your spells by 10% instead of increasing the cost by 10%.
: Your movement speed is increased by 60% for 2 sec after using Blink.
: Reduces the cooldown of Evocation by 30 sec.

: Flamestrike no longer has a cooldown.
: Inferno Blast now spreads the damage over time effects of Pyroblast, Ignite, and Combustion to 2 additional targets.
: After casting Scorch, your movement speed is increased by 30% for 3 sec.
Pyrotechnics: Each time your Fireball or Frostfire Bolt fails to critically strike a target, those spells gain a stacking 5% increased critical strike chance. This effect ends when Fireball or Frostfire Bolt critically strikes a target.

: Frostbolt's cast time is reduced by 0.5 sec. This effect is disabled for 15 sec after you benefit from it.
: Increases the amount of Haste gained from Icy Veins by 10.
: Each time Blizzard deals damage, it reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb by .5 sec.
: Your summoned Water Elemental now also knows the Water Jet spell.

Water Jet
Channels a jet of icy water at the target, dealing 0 (+ 128% of Spell power) Frost damage to the target over 4 sec.

The Mage's Frostbolts that hit the target while it is being blasted with icy water will grant a charge of Fingers of Frost.

Changed Crowd Control

Cone of Cold’s cooldown has been increased to 12 seconds (up from 10 seconds).
Deep Freeze is now available only to Frost Mages.
Deep Freeze can now be broken by damage (same amount as Frost Nova).
Dragon's Breath's now replaces Cone of Cold for Fire Mages and the Disoriented effect now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.
Frost Nova’s cooldown has been increased to 30 seconds (up from 25 seconds).
Ice Ward's Frozen effect now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Root effects.
Improved Counterspell has been removed.
can no longer turn Polymorph into an instant-cast spell.

Blue Tweets

Blizzard has lately been very active on Twitter, posting clarifications on WoD developments in response to user questions. We track all of the significant tweets with our Blue Tweet Tracker, which lets you filter conversations by developer and significance.

These class tweets are grouped by month and topic--some of the earlier tweets are included for archival purposes, but may reflect outdated design choices.

All August 2014 Tweets (Click to view)

All July 2014 Tweets (Click to view)

All June 2014 Tweets (Click to view)

All May 2014 Tweets (Click to view)

All April 2014 Tweets (Click to view)
April 4, 2014

Patch Note Explanations

The Warlords of Draenor Beta patch notes have additional class details scattered throughout each section, but the section copied below explains most of the changes.

Blizzard

Ability Pruning

See the Ability Pruning section for discussion of why we're pruning class abilities. For Mages, we removed several of the unused and niche abilities from each specialization that didn't use them primarily.

Arcane Barrage replaces Fire Blast for Arcane Mages.
Arcane Blast now replaces Frostfire Bolt for Arcane Mages.
Arcane Explosion is now available only to Arcane Mages.
Blizzard is now available only to Frost Mages.
Conjure Mana Gem has been removed.
Evocation is now available only to Arcane Mages.
Flamestrike is now available only to Fire Mages.
Ice Floes no longer has a restriction on base cast or channel times for spells (formerly only worked on spells with a base cast or channel time of less than 4 seconds).
Ice Lance replaces Fire Blast and is now only available to Frost Mages.
Pyromaniac has been removed.
Shatter is now available only to Frost Mages.
is now a passive effect and is available only to Arcane Mages.
is now a passive effect and is available only to Frost Mages.
is now a passive effect and is available only to Fire Mages.
no longer deals direct damage or stuns.

Ability Consolidation and Refinement

Most of the Mage abilities required little consolidation. The most notable change here is turning Armor spells into passive abilities for each specialization.

is now a passive effect and is available only to Arcane Mages.
is now a passive effect and is available only to Frost Mages.
is now a passive effect and is available only to Fire Mages.
's damage has been increased by 100%, but no longer deals direct damage or stuns, and replaces for Fire Mages.
Frostbolt can no longer be used to heal the Mage's Water Elemental.
Ice Lance replaces Fire Blast and is now only available to Frost Mages.
Ignite now deals the same total damage with a 1 second period (down from 2 seconds). Base duration changed to 5 seconds so that duration when refreshed remains 6 seconds.
Mirror Image is now a level-90 Talent, replacing Invocation.
Polymorph variants except for Polymorph: Sheep are now all learned as spells and grouped in a flyout on the Spellbook instead of being a Minor Glyph that alters the visuals of Polymorph: Sheep.

Talent Revisions

The Mage class has good specialization distinction when it comes to their single-target rotations, but utility and area-of-effect spells were heavily shared between specializations. Commonly, these spells were redundant as well. We made many of their spells specialization-specific (as described in Ability Pruning above). And probably most significant, we made changes to several existing Talents.

was extremely strong for instant crowd control (CC), which we wanted to curtail. Rather than completely remove Presence of Mind, we made it a base Arcane spell and added a new talent in its place, Evanesce. At first, it may seem out of place for Evanesce to be on a movement- focused talent row. In practice, it offers Mages the option to remain stationary instead of moving away from avoidable damage.

Presence of Mind is no longer a talent, and is now learned by only Arcane Mages.
.
is a new Talent available at level 15, replacing Presence of Mind.

causes the Mage to fade into the nether, avoiding all attacks for 3 seconds. This spell has a 45-second cooldown, replaces Ice Block, is not on global cooldown, and may be cast while a cast-time spell is in progress.

Going along with our goals to reduce cooldown stacking across all of the classes, we decided to remove Alter Time's DPS contribution. Alter Time has a number of clever movement and utility uses, but in practice it was mostly being used for additional uptime of offensive cooldowns. Mages also had many redundant forms of survival utility, so we moved a utility-only version of Alter Time into the Talent tree, replacing .

has been removed and replaced by Alter Time.
Alter Time is now a level-30 Talent, replacing .

Alter Time now lasts for 10 seconds (up from 6 seconds), has a 90-second cooldown (down from 3 minutes), and no longer affects the Mage's mana, buffs, or debuffs.

A few of the abilities reset by were made spec-specific, or could be overridden with Talents, so we expanded what it can affect to compensate.

now also resets the cooldown of , Dragon's Breath, and .

was changed to make it more competitive with the rest of its talent row.
now causes the next 3 attackers (up from 1) to trigger a Frost Nova.

The Mage Bomb level-75 Talent row, the Bomb row, was also problematic. We chose to add the Bombs to all Mages' rotations in order to spice them up a bit, to provide rotational variety. That succeeded, and we're overall happy with how they interact with your rotation in a single-target situation, but they also came with the prospect of multi-dotting (applying your damage-over-time spell to many enemies, individually), which we don't feel is an appropriate fit for Mages. Additionally, in order to make all 3 Bombs useful to all specializations, we had to lose some of their spec-specific perks. And, even more importantly, many Mages did not like DoT gameplay at all.

In order to solve all of these problems, we decided to merge the 3 current Bomb Talents into one that changes based on spec. That allows us to reintroduce spec-specific perks to each Bomb, and makes room for some non-DoT alternatives.

Nether Tempest, Living Bomb, and now all share the left-talent slot and is available based on the Mage's specialization.

has been redesigned.

now lasts 12 seconds, has no cooldown, and explodes every time the target is hit by the Mage's Ice Lance while frozen. The damage per explosion has been reduced by 75% to compensate.

Living Bomb can once again be applied to multiple targets, can be spread by Fire Blast, and has a 1.5-second cooldown. More of its damage has been moved into its explosion.
Nether Tempest can now only be on 1 target at a time (down from unlimited), but its secondary damage now hits all targets in range (up from only 1), deals 100% of the primary damage (up from 50%), and its damage can now be increased by Arcane Charges.

Unstable Magic is a new Talent that's available at level 75, and occupies the middle-talent slot.

Unstable Magic causes Arcane Blast, Fireball, and Frostbolt have a chance to explode on impact, dealing an additional 50% damage to the target, and all other enemies within 8 yards.

The right-talent slot for level-75 has a new Talent that varies by specialization.

Blast Wave: Cause an explosion of fiery force around the target enemy or ally, dealing Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and dazing them, reducing their movement speed by 70% for 4 seconds. If the primary target is an enemy, they take 100% increased damage. Replaces Frost Nova. Instant cast ability with a 25-second cooldown and 2 charges.
Ice Nova: Cause a whirl of icy wind around the target enemy or ally, dealing Frost damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and freezing them for 4 seconds. If the primary target is an enemy, they take 100% increased damage. Replaces Frost Nova. Instant cast ability with a 20-second cooldown and 2 charges.
Supernova: Cause a pulse of Arcane energy around the target enemy or ally, dealing Arcane damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and knocking them into the air. If the primary target is an enemy, they take 100% increased damage. Replaces Frost Nova. Instant cast ability with a 25-second cooldown and 2 charges.

One of the most problematic Talent rows in the game has been the Mage level-90 row. The primary theme of the row was mana, which only Arcane Mages actually cared about. Bonus damage was added in, making it functional for all Mages, but muddled in its goals. Additionally, some of them just weren't fun to play with. We've revised the row to be purely about damage, and made them have less maintenance cost. Arcane Mages will have enough mana regeneration without these Talents to perform well.

Incanter's Ward has been removed and replaced by Incanter's Flow a new level-90 Talent.

Incanter's Flow: Magical energy flows through you, increasing all spell damage done by 5% per stack. While in combat, the magical energy builds up to 5 stacks over 5 seconds and then diminishes down to 1 stack over 5 seconds. This cycle repeats every 10 seconds.

Invocation has been removed and replaced by Mirror Image.
Mirror Image is now a level-90 Talent, replacing Invocation. Mirror Images now inherit 100% of the Mage's Spell Power (up from 5%) last 40 seconds (up from 30 seconds), and have a 2 minutes cooldown (down from 3 minutes).

Glyph of Mirror Image has been removed and its effects have been incorporated into Mirror Image.

Rune of Power no longer replaces Evocation, no longer increases mana regeneration, and now lasts 3 minutes (up from 1 minute).

Frost Changes

Frost Mages enjoyed newfound PvE viability in Mists of Pandaria, and we intend to continue that into the future. However, we do want to clean up some rough spots, especially around their valuing of secondary stats, and the amount of instant-cast spells in their rotation. The Frost Armor and Shatter changes increase the amount of Haste/Critical chance that they can acquire on gear before they start hitting soft caps. The Shatter change also lowers the value of Critical Strike for a bit. The changes to the level-75 Talent row meant that having a Bomb spell is no longer guaranteed, so we changed the way that is triggered. Ice Lance's non-frozen damage was doubled to make up for no longer having access to Fire Blast and reducing redundancy in the process.

now grants an 8% chance to Multistrike instead of 7% Haste.
Shatter now multiplies Critical Strike chance by 1.5 (down from2).
The Brain Freeze effect now increases Flurry's damage by 25%, and can now stack up to 2 times. It also no longer triggers from the Bomb Talents, and instead has a 10% chance to trigger from Frostbolt casts. Each Multistrike of Frostbolt increases that cast's chance by an additional 25%. (Total of 60% on double-Multistrikes).
Ice Lance's base damage has been increased by 100%, but its damage multiplier against frozen targets has been reduced by 50%.
Fingers of Frost now increases Ice Lance damage by 100% (up from 25%).
is now available only to Fire Mages.
Charred Glyph now causes Icy Veins to provide 35% chance to Multistrike instead of 20% Haste.

Fire Changes

Fire Mage's rotation is looking solid with the new Draenor Perks. However, their cooldown strength could use a buff.

's damage has been increased by 100% and replaces for Fire Mages.

Arcane Changes

In order to make room for more Haste effects to apply to Arcane Blast, we raised its cast time and damage slightly. We also made Arcane Charges last longer, to aid in questing and encounters.

Arcane Blast's cast time has been increased to 2.25 seconds (up from 2 seconds), damage has been increased by 12.5% to compensate.
s now last 15 seconds (up from 10 seconds), and increases mana cost by 100% (down from 150%).
Arcane Missiles can now accumulate 3 charges (up from 2 charges).

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