**ACCEPTED** Innova the Arcane Mage

Real Name (optional) : Derek

Age (not optional) : 22

What time zone do you live in? : PST

Character Name : Innova (on dunemaul.. i am thinking of server transferring)

Class : Mage

Main Spec / Off Spec: Arcane/Frost

What is your offspec's gearscore and how comfortable are you playing as that spec? I only used frost for leveling, so it is not a very good spec to raid with.

Would you be willing to respec? If needed

Link to armory and talents (if you don't have a typical cookie-cutter spec, please explain your talent choices) : http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Dunemaul&cn=Innova

What is your raiding experience? : I have been through ICC up to the blood princes, cleared all of TOC 10/25, been through some uld and some naxx.

What addons do you use in a raid and why are they important : Raid specific addons i use are Recount, Omen, and DBM. DBM is fairly obvious as to why i would use it, Omen makes sure i dont pull aggro and rack up unnecessary repair bills, and Recount is to keep track of how i am performing.

Do you have a working mic : Yes

Do you have working speakers : Yes

Are you willing to talk on vent? : Yes

What is your raid availability? Please include times and ANY potential conflicts.

Sun: all day
Mon: 7-8 server (depends on my job) until whenever
Tues: 7-8 server (depends on my job) until whenever
Wed: 7-8 server (depends on my job) until whenever
Thurs: 7-8 server (depends on my job) until whenever
Fri: 7-8 server (depends on my job) until whenever
Sat: all day

Our raids usually end no later than 12:30 AM EST (usually even before then). Would you be able to stay until approximately this time?: I'd be sad if i couldn't :p

We expect our members to show up to at least 75% - 80% of our raids. Would this be a problem for you?: Weekend, definitely not, and i would do my best for weekday raids.

During raids, do you ever need to go AFK for prolonged periods of time?: No

What were your previous guilds and why did you leave? : Thud and Blunder on Dunemaul. I left because the guild started falling about and not even raiding. Seeing as how raids are my favorite part of wow, i left to pursue a guild that actually runs them.

Do you have anyone in Should Be Sleeping that can vouch for you? : Chloeve

On the surface everything looks nice. You have the typical 57/3/11 PvE spec with the appropriate glyphs; your gear is somewhat below par but it could help the right player get the job done; and everything is gemmed/enchanted.

Now, I don't play an arcane mage, nor do I know much about mages in general, so I may be going out on a limb here but I notice a few oddities. Firstly, you seem to be anywhere between 6-8% over the required hit. I realize that a) you get all that hit from your gear, b) you're not gemming/enchanting for hit and that 3) you are not using the hit + use trinket, unlike most ilevel > utility idiots. Is there anything that you can do or are trying to do in order to lose some hit and gain more useful stats? Also, even though you have a "cookie cutter" build, which at least shows that you have a general idea of what you are doing and that you actually took a minute to google "arcane pve spec", it's so common that it comes off as boring. I'm not trying to insult you or anything because technically it IS the spec to have - but it does not seem like you have modified it in order to fit your needs and play style. ("Does not seem" being the key phrase here.) And why not lose a point from Arcane Focus and maybe get rid of Slow in favor of 2/2 Magic Attunement? I've also seen mages (albeit more geared ones) keep 3/3 AF while completely ditching Student of the Mind (for 2/2 MA). I know it's all preferential/circumstantial (depending on your gear/needs/play-style) but I figured I'd ask anyway. Oh, and pardon my ignorance (because again - I really don't know much about mages, I'm just trying to understand your spec/gem/gear choices and hopefully learn something in the process ) but why are you gemming your blue sockets with haste+spirit gems? I understand that haste is a big thing for arcane mages but I've never seen anyone do that before. Why not use SP+spirit gems?

An actual concern I have is:

Innova wrote: I have been through ICC up to the blood princes, cleared all of TOC 10/25, been through some uld and some naxx.

How long have you been playing your toon? And the game? Was that an alt or are you just casual/semi-casual? The reason I ask is because I noticed you have only earned 616 emblems. I am not underestimating you because your amount of emblems earned is low - that would not be fair nor would it be a good measure of anyone's skill since an idiot could heroic grind all day and get his 2500+ achievement - but players with a PvE focus tend to acquire more than 616 emblems over the course of 15 months (that averages out to about 41 emblems per month). Also, you have little to none Naxx/Ulduar experience, which again, shows that you don't have much raiding experience...and you have only completed ToC10/25 3 and 4 times, respectively. With no ToGC/Uld achievements, how are we guaranteed that you don't stand on fires, that you have a fast reaction time and are able to keep your numbers up while having situational awareness, and that you have the experience needed for progression? Once again, I'm not saying that you aren't completely capable of performing well, but your experience does not make a strong case for it. Finally, you say that you have cleared up to Blood Princes. That is somewhat misleading, since you haven't downed Putricide and you just got your first Rotface kill a few days ago. So why not state that you've cleared the first wing, Rot/Fester once or twice, and attempted Blood Princes?

I know you're Amanda's friend so I don't mean to drag you through the mud or anything, but I just want to see what you have to say. Also, I'm being somewhat pickier with you because you're transferring servers, so simply saying that everything looks "nice" and that you're welcome to join and expect raid invites (without getting these concerns addressed) would be dishonest of me and potentially bad for you. I'm curious as to what Amanda has to say too.

<3
EGG.

I really don't know what to say because I have idea how to play a mage... still learning on my lvl 43 mage All I can say is Derek when/if you server transfer I would be happy to help you with the gems... I'm a JC so I'm pretty sure I have all the cuts you need. As for the experience... I remember being on The Forgotten "fail" Coast. I had little to no raiding experience there and people can always learn. I think he would be a great addition to our guild and quite possible to our raids.

I guess i should respond in order of importance to your concerns. As far as my raiding experience goes and my experience with the game, you're right. This character is my newest character that i have taken to 80. I do , however, have to other 80s that i have geared and played for the past 3 or so years. This is by far my favorite character, though, and is far and away the best geared, so I would consider it my main even though I have less actual time played. I have been through naxx completely both 10 and 25 man on those characters and by the time Ulduar came around, i was working up my mage and it was out of fashion by the time i'd hit 80. I said some naxx/uld because I was talking about this character specifically, so I guess i could have been clearer. I'm bored with the heroics, so i've only run as many as necessary to get some decent gear and my 2 frost badges a day. and as far as my ICC experience, just because i haven't downed the bosses doesn't mean I havent been in PUGs that fall apart after the first wing. I know the fight mechanics (like not to stand in fire ) very well, and i have watched videos on the rest of them. granted, i do have less playing experience with putricide and the princes. I don't like pugs. they usually consist of a bunch of assholes and they fall apart after one or two wipes, so i tend not to do them. I was in a decent raiding guild for a while, but, like i said in my app, it fell apart shortly after ICC released so i have had very limited guild experience with it having to rely on pugs for my progression. That being said, however, I am not one to bitch and moan when somebody tells me that i can be doing something better. I am always open to advice and I am always trying to be a better player. I also listen, which I've noticed is a skill that more players than there probably should be are lacking.

As far as the spec goes, Magic Attunement is so circumstantial that it is not useful at all. There are only two fights that i know of where either dampen/amplify magic are acceptable to be used. As far as the range benefits go, I've found them to be minimal. This leads into why Student of the Mind is beneficial along with a few of my gemming. Mages have a tendency to go OoM very easily if they are not careful, especially during longer encounters. Arcane Blast is a very mana intensive spell since the amount of mana it consumes multiplies with each cast. A lot of my choices were about mana efficiency and utility. The haste/spirit gems are part of that. A lot of my gear was low on haste for a while, so i to gem for it. So, for my blue gem slots i popped in the haste/spirit gem to help add to my spirit, while also making it a bit tougher to go OoM. Usually, I did this while trying to keep with the gem bonus to add a bit of SP as well, though i realize it is not as much as if i were to gem for SP, but i felt my decisions were warranted. Same with Student of the Mind. Anything that helps me to stay able to cast without having to use Evocation helps my damage output and helps the raid. An OoM mage is a worthless mage.

Hit is tough to get rid of since it seems like all of the end game gear is so stacked with it. Taking talents out of Arcane Focus and Precision isn't really a legitimate option, either, for two reasons. (A) Most importantly, I would lose the decreased mana cost of my spells, which, as i mentioned before, would be significantly detrimental to my performance in raids and (B) they are building blocks in my spec to get me to the next tier of talents.

Hopefully I've been able to address your concerns well enough. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. I won't get over sensitive about it and i understand where you're coming from. It costs a lot to server transfer and faction change I just wanna get in there and kill me some lich king.

Derek

Hi there, and thanks for applying! I, like the others who have commented, know little to nothing about mages, but I read up a little and I do have a couple of comments.

Innova wrote:and as far as my ICC experience, just because i haven't downed the bosses doesn't mean I havent been in PUGs that fall apart after the first wing. I know the fight mechanics (like not to stand in fire ) very well, and i have watched videos on the rest of them.

I would be interested to hear what you think the best strategy concerning Professor Putricide is, what the essential fight mechanics are, and how said mechanics should be handled. If you could reply with that I'd appreciate it.

Innova wrote:Hit is tough to get rid of since it seems like all of the end game gear is so stacked with it.

The most hit % you would need when fully raid buffed (even 10 man) is 11%. You are currently at 16%. That's more than a "little" over cap lol. I get that your gear is heavy on hit, so work on changing some of it.

A few suggestions:

**60 Frost Emblems will get you Circle of Ossus which will help you dump the 51 hit (none of which you need in a raid situation) that is on your current belt.
**If you don't have the emblems/won't for a while/want to use them on something else, another belt option for you is Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner.
**On your boots, you also have the option of changing your enchant from Icewalker to Tuskarr's Vitality. The 15 crit rating that you would lose wouldn't necessarily hurt you, and one can always use a little extra hp. Also, the minor speed boost can come in handy when you're trying to GTFO on some of the more nasty ICC fight mechanics.

Also, when you reply with the Putricide info, please also include a link to your current UI. I'm interested in seeing what set up you currently use when raiding. Thanks again and looking forward to your reply.

switching out the boot enchant to Tusk is a MUST for a caster DPS, its been proven to be a typical 50+ dps increase for casters mainly because if you can get to a spot faster u can dps more and in most boss fights now a days you dont get the luxury of standing in one spot and dpsing (minus Patchwerk), on my warlock about 6 months ago i spent 2 weeks theorycrafting the potential plus/neg sides of Tusk Vit vs Icewalker, Tusk Vit won almost every time in almost every Sim.


Daph

I've actually been waiting for the belt off Marrowgar because I want to save my emblems for the set pieces and as far as Tusk goes, that's an easy fix :p

For Putricide, there are some simple mechanics and some that require a bit more attention. The simple ones are the orange vials and the malleable goo. avoid them. since the goo travels in a straight line, it's not that tough to gtf out of the way and similarly, the orange vials are stationary, so don't walk into them. The abomination/add mechanic is a bit more involved. Have your offtank jump in there and concentrate on eating the slime pools so he builds his slime power. His job, aside from eating slime, is to slow the adds that putricide creates making it easier to kill the adds. The green adds immobilize the target, so it is especially important that the abomination has enough power to slow him, since if he isn't killed before he reaches his target, there is some raidwide damage and knockback.. not good. Basically, just make sure that the adds are burned as a first priority and don't stand in the way of stupid shit, it should be gg.

also.. i'll post a screenshot when i'm back on my good monitor, the one i'm using now makes my setup kind of wonky.. i'm visiting my gf across the state and i don't travel with my expensive things.. lol

I didn't think his gear was necessarily under-par for ICC 10, since I am for sure on my under-geared mage, as long as I know encounters, I could pull CLOSE to ICC-worthy DPS.

Also, his Professor PP explanation was good enough for me.

Overall, taking the time to read Mach's novel (I barely read it myself), and his resulting reply, shows that he at least has the dedication (and a good, clean thought process on his decisions), to become a huge asset to G2, if not G1.

Just my two cents.

Thanks for the replies Innova. We'll make a decision once you've posted your screenshot. =)