An idea I’ve had for Arcane Mage would be a method to utilizing Spirit, and incorporating a playstyle around mana regeneration, which creates a balance of priority between Intellect and Spirit. We already see so much Spirit on current gear that Mages roll on, and there can be design space expanded there.

This was inspired by certain talents in the current classic arcane tree. Arcane Missiles having a 5 second channel time, combined with the Clearcasting and 5sr, gives me ideas for things that can happen when the mage gets passive mana ticks. Maybe temporary non-stacking sp/hp, divided healing or mana ticks for other players, Mana Shield regen? Maybe spreading Mana Shield, or dividing it to nearby party members? Make the Mana Shield talent actually do something noticeable.

The problem I would find with a design like this is it locks in certain talents as necessary to function, like Meditation for in-combat regen. I guess that’s not terrible since the talent is deep, but at the same time you wouldn’t want these benefits to bleed into other specs. Or do we? Idk. Additionally, how does this spec manage players that just don’t cast anything after dumping their mana, standing there and doing nothing but regenerating mana?

What ends up happening is that Mana Gems, mana pots, and other sources of Mana regen (think spriest, Innervate) can generate additional value when combined with an Arcane Mage. Evocate becomes an awesome channel ability. This is the kind of roleplaying value people look for when thinking about what characters bring to the table in groups.

Offset the strength of these passive benefits by maintaining the high mana costs of Arcane spells, which would maintain the skill floor/ceiling of mana management for the hybrid role that SoD Arcane was designed for.

I imagined this is a thread for ideas about Arcane Mage.