I've always been an Arcane mage at heart. I started out as a pure Arcane Mage and I've been testing out a new Pure Arcane Build 2.0. I must say I'm fairly impressed. I have a base Mana of about 7300 and the arcane missle are hitting level 60's for about 336 to 589 per volley. Min/Max the damage and your looking at about 1680-2945 for a complete Arcane Missle Channel.  I finally feel like I'm getting good utility and good damage from the arcane build.

Arcane Subtlety	Rank 2
Improved Arcane Missiles	Rank 5
Wand Specialization	Rank 2
Magic Absorption	Rank 5
Arcane Concentration	Rank 5
Arcane Impact	Rank 3
Arcane Fortitude	Rank 1
Improved Mana Shield	Rank 2
Improved Counterspell	Rank 2
Presence of Mind	Rank 1
Arcane Mind	Rank 5
Prismatic Cloak	Rank 2
Arcane Instability	Rank 3
Arcane Potency	Rank 3
Empowered Arcane Missiles	Rank 3
Spell Power	Rank 2
Mind Mastery	Rank 5
Arcane Total:	51

Nice!!

if that talent works for ya then go for it. i personally like the defensive attributes down the frost tree. my mage is arcane/frost. i love kiting and being able to round up large mobs with even getting hit =)) permafrost and imp blizzard ftw

So what about pre-60?

My lil mage is about to hit 49, and I've been doign fire because it seemed I was using fire to pull and having fire blast and scorch just made it fricken awesome. But I do use magic missles a lot, and wonder if there's a better way to spec my lil mage.

Is a pure arcane spec good for solo leveling? Better than fire?

I would roll with this build at your level. It has alot of good nasties

All I can say is before I went pure arcane I had problems dealing with Warriors and Druids on the battle field. I can now slow warriors and rogues. Making them almost trivial in most BG encounters. It also works against Onyxia, ,strat Bosses, AV General, and most other folks. Its an expensive spell but I can usually burn a warrior down with Arcane Missle before they can slow the gap using slow. If they do make it to me they are attacking so slow that they are not going to come close to killing me. Same for rogues. I does not seem to be very effective on Hunters seems a little hit or miss and I'm not sure if Druids can break this shifting. I've smacked a couple of them with it I swear it stuck with them through Form change like Daze does.

Arcane Subtlety           (The resistance is a nice addition to "Magic Absorption")	Rank 2
Improved Arcane Missiles         ("Extra damage woot")	Rank 5
Magic Absorption        ("This seems to really help keep my mana bars loaded at 60 everytime I resist a spell I generate 400 mana. Basically a free Arcane Missle Volley")	Rank 5
Arcane Concentration       ("Getting a free spell cast 1 out of 10 spells is also good to keep you up and grinding")	Rank 5
Arcane Impact       ("6% added crit will come in handy. When you are ready to burn from 50 to 60 head to the Tomb in WPL. Go into a room blast the skellies. There are 4 per room. Each one would yield 200XP. There are like 5 rooms. By the time you finish the last room the 1st room is repopping a great grind spot")	Rank 3
Improved Counterspell        ("This is so useful I'm not sure why you would not get it.")	Rank 2
Presence of Mind        ("I rearely use this except when I want to hurl a rank 11 Fireball in a BG its just a necessary evil to get down to Arcane Power, Mind Mastery, and Slow <- Yes slow rocks! I use it all the time FTW")	Rank 1
Arcane Mind        ("15% more intellect, you need mana for grinding... remember every 100 int is 1% more crit")	Rank 5
Arcane Instability       ("3% more crit yeah!")	Rank 3
Arcane Potency       ("30% chance to crit every 1 outta 10 spells plus all the other crit your getting from the other talents")	Rank 3
Empowered Arcane Missiles       ("45% more damage for 6% more cost. Not a problem with the 15% extra mana you have and all the clear casting going on")	Rank 3
Spell Power      ("Why yes I would like to add 50% more damage to all my crits")	Rank 2
Arcane Total:	39
Total
Total Points Spent:	39
Level Required:	48

I would definately recommend going down into Mind Mastery and onto Slow before filling out whatever else you need.

I tend to lean toward Arcane Meditation as being worthless. 15% mana regen while casting. That comes out to a tiny mana savings... just not worth it IMHO. I would much rather have the damage mitigation of Prismatic Cloak and Arcane Fortitude

Anyway smell ya later.

Hmmm - almost wish I had this conversation before I did the wand quest. :0

Awesome information! This almost seems to be similar to the rogue subtlety v dps spec. Very cool - I'll try it out!

BTW - I'm halfway through 50 now!

Okay - I spent my gold to respec and I've played about 3/4 of a level (51 now!), and I have to admit Mugs - I'm not too keen on the spec.I thought I would post up here because I have been playing fire spec for about -- oh -- 20-30 levels, so it's something I became quite comfortable with. With the fire spec, I could typically go about 3 pulls before having to rest for mana:
- Pyroblast (for DoT); scortch (Fire resist debuff); fire ball (for DoT); then alternate fire blast and arcane missles
This would use about 1/3 of my mana in a pull and the target died before getting to me, 75% of the time

Now, with arcane, I seem to have best results with:
- Fireball (distance); slow while fireball is hurtling through sky; then alternate between fire blast and arcane missles, starting off with whichever is active fist.

I can really see the value of arcane in groups, but I'm solo 95% of the time. Am I missing something or playing the spec wrong?

i know that ice is for survivability and fire for Dmg bbut whats arcane for?

Near as I can tell, it causes you to fall into the water.

No - seriously - I really like this build in groups. It provides nice amount of dps in a controlled, lower-aggro fashion. The use of the slow spell is very nice for controlling a particularly heavy-hitting mob that is wailing on the mt or perhaps on a squishy. It is very very group friendly.

The build is growing on me a bit in group situations, but it is still not a very efficient solo spec.

Yeah I'm never going to be in a car with you going over 520 :p

*walk walk walk CLIFF DIVE!*

"..Where's Dhry?"
"Where am I? Why am I down here? OH GOD THE CROC IS EATING ME!!"