r/classicwow • u/AutoModerator • Aug 23 '19

Classy Friday Classy Friday - Mages (August 23, 2019)

Classy Fridays are for asking questions about your class, each week focuses on a different class. No question is too small, so ask away.

This week is Mages.

Join the Kirin Tor and delve into not-quite-forbidden knowledge! Ever wondered about the best way to keep your Cinnamon Rolls fresh? Want to know how to monetize conjuration and start your own portal share app empire? All this and more.

You can also discuss your class in our class channels on Discord, discord.gg/classicwow

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u/dytster- Aug 23 '19

Hello guys. I have a question concerning mages and 'hit'.

I used to be a mage main in TBC (while being a warrior main in vanilla), and in TBC +hit was king until you reached the cap. Even thought I've never been a hardcore theorycrafter, I've always tried to min/max in terms of PvE, and in TBC everyone was saying that if you weren't hit capped then you did something wrong.

Is that the case in classic, too? I haven't played mage in ages and I'm reading through guide after guide, and everywhere it says the hit cap is 16 % (well, actually 17 % but you can't get the last 1 %), however, all of the BiS guides I've seen are NOT hit capped. It's not until phase 5 and 6 that the BiS-lists are closing in on the hit cap but they're still missing 1-2 % hit every time. And prior to phase 5 the BiS-lists are even further from being hit capped.

Is that because in classic there's a lack of +hit cloth gear? Or is it because hit isn't as valuable as it was in TBC (and later)? Or something third?

Appreciate any comments and insight on this matter. Cheers!

Btw, I've read Infra's guide, and Infra if you're reading this (cause I can see you're active on these forums): Thank you so much for all your hard work!

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u/Ewber Aug 23 '19

Essentially you have to figure out "how much %hit is equivalent to X spell power?"

This value is not static, and will change of course as your gear gets better, as being resisted becomes a larger loss in damage. You will also need %hit to be able to scale your %crit. This is why being a tailor and grabbing the Bloodvine Set is so great for Mages (and Warlocks). But this will not be available until Phase 4.

Unfortunately, most of the early gear just won't have much %hit, so you'll want to just take the largest spell damage gear for the most part, as all the BiS lists state. Infra's guide won't steer you wrong!

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u/dytster- Aug 23 '19

Thank you very much for your reply!

I will probably never be the best theorycrafter, however, it all makes a lot more sense to me now. I can also see very clearly that I've been locked in the mindset of the TBC mage, which I thought was how classic worked aswell.

Cheers :)