We are into season 2 of WoW’s Midnight expansion and I’m finally benching my Frost Mage. What can I say, I’m stubborn and my mage has been Frost spec long before Frost was cool. Frost Mage has been controversial in the most recent expansion. Sometimes the damage is great, sometimes it is horrible, but all times the spec has been awkward and even frustrating to play. It is all about Shatter now, and tracking Shatter is just bad. I played my Frost Mage last week in the new Venomous Abyss raid and it was just… yep, bad.

That tiny little box (which is modded to make it “easier” to see), is one of the things that makes Frost terrible to play. That box tracks stacks of Shatter, which you need to build and then spend. Almost all of the damage that Frost does comes from Shatter. When you can optimally build stacks and optimally trigger the mechanic, you can do decent damage. The key word there is optimally. You see, one of the main ways you build stacks of shatter is from a channeled spell called Ray of Frost. You cannot cast Ray of Frost while moving. To say that is a horrible design is an understatement. 

Arcane Mages have a talent that allows them to cast their main channeled spell while moving. It would be just that simple to fix so much of what is wrong with Ray of Frost. Would that fix what is wrong with how Frost Mage plays in general? That’s hard to say because you still need to watch tiny numbers build and go away while doing game mechanics to not stand in fire, or I guess in the newest raid, venom.

There’s a new sheriff in town

I’m kind of sad that both of my original WoW characters are being left behind. No more Frost Mage, no more Enhancement Shaman. My Midnight season 2 focus is on my Beast Mastery Hunter, primarily because you can move while doing all of your attacks as BM Hunter. I am so amazingly tired of feeling like the game is trolling me as my Mage. In raids, 90% of the time on my Frost Mage when I cast Ray of Frost, I have to cut it off prematurely because of fight mechanics. Playing Arcane is a lot smoother than Frost, but it feels like capitulating to switch from Frost to Arcane. Even the most recent patch, which gave Frost Mage a 6% across the board damage boost, isn’t enough to keep me invested.  Buh bye Shatter stacks, you will not be missed. Hello Kill Command and a blissfully simple, highly mobile Hunter.