welcome to lvl 80, and raiding

[Gnomerman]

I'm going to keep this short, because i don't think you want to read a novel, however us mages are the smart ones right?

table of contents
1-intro
2-requirements
3-tips
-go go magepower!

1-
ok, so you have wrath, and your lvl 80, or close or you just like numbers. here it is

2-
raiding at lvl 80 is not going to be much different than lvl 70. you have a talent build, a spell "rotation" (i use that loosly cuz its not a fixed rotation 95% of the time, thats a silly term for aff locks and sp's who have multiple dots to keep track of), and item stats (or itemizations). all three are important, and a good balance increases your dmg done.

2.1
talents builds

this is the one you should use for max single target dps (as of right now there isn't a comparison)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oZfVc0RhIuVubhstbIccoc
the frostfire spec. It pwns face. it causes the biggest crits in game. period. the crit multiplyer on this is well over 3. Assuming no raid help, all you need to do is keep scorch up (one ever 30 secconds) and living bomb up (every 12 secconds) and spam ffbolt (3 seccond cast). when hot streak procs (and it will) cast pyro. easy as pie.

(there are other raid builds, but i'll go over them at a later date)

2.2 itemization
for this build, a nice distribution of stats is wanted. it is important to hit cap. now, in a 25 man raid situation i am going to assume there is a sp with misery up, and a draini near by, so that gives us 7% passive hit (3% from our talents, 4% from outside sources). you MUST HAVE 263 (spell) hit to be considered to raid. end of story. (for the first few weeks of raiding i won't enforce it).
after hit cap, the priority of points to dps stats is as follows
spellpower>crit>haste> int> spi>spell pen
1.0 >.95> .85>.35>.25>.01(i made it up for spell pen cuz nobody calculates it)

yes, its different that tbc. because this build scales so well with crit, crit is better than haste almost always. im not saying don't get some, because haste will help account for lag, decrease your gcd, and make your evocates quicker (they will be needed). also, if one of our priests gets imp spirit, spirit will outweigh int as far as a dps stat.

2.3 gemming. if your socket bonus isn't anything special. gem pure dmg gems. if the set bonus is useful, gem as follows (assuming you have at least 263 hit)
red- spellpower
yellow- spellpower and crit
blue-dmg and spi ( i hate blue gems)

3- tips

tip one, don't be retarded. yep, i said it. if an item has 5 more spellpower, but 20 less crit and 20 less haste, and 10 less int, its not an upgrade. if items are equal, one has 20 crit and one has 35 haste, take the haste item. if you have 3 blue gem slots (and your meta doesn't require it) and the set bonus is 5 spell power DO NOT GO FOR THAT SOCKET BONUS. the 3 sp gems will more than outweigh your loss of the 5 spellpower.

tara's post on raid eticate is phenominal. read it. in fact i'll not be lazy and link it
viewtopic.php?t=5282

those are rules EVERYONE SHOULD FOLLOW.

if you have questions, talk to me, you all know i have a hard time shutting my mouth. If im condescending, tell me, i'll try and stop, i don't do it on purpose, i just ask that you think before you talk, you know, process the blah that comes out of your brain before you belch it out.

ENCHANT YOUR GEAR! its required to have a useful enchant in all places you can have one. that means... helm, cloak, shoulders, chest, boots, gloves, belt (gem attachment), leg kit, rings if your an enchanter, weapon.

you are required to have the proper glyphs for your spec. (glyph of frostfire, glyph of mana gem, glyph of mage/molten armor are the 3 i reccomend at 80 for this build).

work to get the best gear you can on your own. granted i don't expect you to be fully epic'd when we first start naxx (i won't be), but grind up some mats for some crafted gear, get some rep gear, do some lvl 80 5 mans and some heroics. I can tell if your putting effort into your gear or not. DO IT.

If you show up for raid, and arn't prepared you will be kicked from the raid. being prepared includes, but is not limited to:
-being hit capped
-wearing appropriate lvl gear for our content
-proper gemming
-proper enchanting (what is an AP enchant going to do for you?)
-proper glyphs
-poper mental state (if your all pissed off or emo, take the night off, this is just a game, and we don't need you to bring everyone down)
-having full consumables (pots, food, elixers/flasks (i think they are taking oil out of the game at some point, but until then) lube)
-having a stack of heavy frostweave bandages (yep, they are important)
-having a stack of reagents (arcane dust and portal stones)
-being RESPECTFUL AND CONSIDERATE of your guildies and other raid members
-having an idea of what is contained inside the raid we are in (tell me you know who kel'thuzad is, (not necessarily the exact fight mechanics))
-not being too impared. (can you still tell the difference between left, right, up and down. can you tell the difference between blink and frostfire bolt? (this includes being asleep :p)
-any other reason a DH deems fit


am i going to be strict? not particularly. but i'll be able to tell if you are ready to raid or your not. if you don't know how the fights work, thats fine, id prefer you to read up on them a little bit before hand (say for 5-10 minutes), but if you don't know what to do, that is perfectly acceptable.

[Thesian]

Gnomer, as always, you are say what needs to be said, and it totally makes up for your Gnome-ness

[Gnomerman]

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oZfVcbRhIhVubhctbIccoc

is a slight variation on the build, it takes away dragons breath and blast wave, but you get the extra range on your scorch and Living bomb, which in a raid setting may be more important than mele range aoe, we'll see when i get into the raid content.

[Gnomerman]

this is my lvl 80 build as of right now... with 0 raiding experience....

i'll update after i go through some boss fights

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oZfVcbohIuVubhstbIccoc

[Armanda]

According to alot of Theorycrafting and mage boards on the wow forums, a Frost build is better dps/mana efficient until you have ~1500sp and 25% crit (unbuffed).

if we (mages) do not have those stats, do you still want us to be FFB build?

I'm only at ~1000 sp and 13% crit (self buffed) but will switch to FFB if that is what is required. I do better dps and better mana management ATM as frost though. plus... i cant imagine not having IB hehe. I love that spell so much, especially now that its 3300 hp!!

[Gnomerman]

for 5 man's and heroics frost is a better build than ffb. FFB is a one trick pony, that is highly dependent on crit scaling.

i would also wait to see what 3.0.8 brings to arcane. its getting reworked (so is torment of the weak).

at those stats whatever build you want to use is fine.

[Emmilyn]

Gnomer who?