Arcane improvisation at it’s best

The war of the mages has taken an unexpected turn. Gnomeaggedon, who just the other day declared that his soul was burning with fiery desire, suddenly revealed that he had joined the frozen forces, probably in the belief that he’ll be more well suited to withstand the biting cold in Northrend which is expecting us soon.

Gnome, gnome, what a sad misunderstanding! Wouldn’t you think that the monsters in a continent made up of ice and snow probably should be pretty well adjusted to the cold elements? If you think logically about it (maybe hard to do for a non-arcane mage, with your lack of intellect), you’d realize that fire should be a much more effective weapon where we’re heading.

I can only see two possible explanations. One is that you got a little dizzy after enjoying one of Zupas delicious frost cocktails. The world just became a blur to you and the respeccing was totally out of accident. If that is the case I’m sure you’ll get the gold you need to switch back out of some of your AH affairs, as soon as you’ve sobered up.

The other explanation is that you’ve been experimenting with the next talent you hinted that you were about to write about: the dreaded Pyroblast. It’s very understandable that you became so disappointed that you left the fire tree altogeather – the outstanding waiting time of six seconds could make the most patient mage loose his sanity.

Poor Gnome. I see it in front of me, you’ve been standing there for seemingly an eternity, waiting for it to go off, and when if finally does, your party has taken down the target anyway, without your assistance.

But going frost is a bit desperate and not necessary. You see, there is a solution. The not-to-be-missed companion to Pyroblast. A talent which is one of several reasons why I’ve become a follower of arcane school.

Yes, I’m thinking about Presence of mind, one of the most beautiful gems in the arcane talent tree.

Presence of mind will shine, no matter of what part of game you choose to specialize, be it normal questing and farming, raiding, BG or Arena. Well, if you spend most of your online time playing the AH I guess you won’t use it, but for any mage who from time to time are confronted with enemies to kill it comes in handy.

If you’re arcane/fire, you can make the most dreaded killer combos using a macro which include your best trinket, Arcane Power (increasing your damage with 30 percent), Presence of mind and a Pyroblast. It can blow off any kind of opponent, trust me. Just be sure you won’t grab aggro if you’re in an instance party. Or if you’re into frost these days, you could combine it with a frostbolt, even though they’re not quite as impressive as the fire equivalence.

For me the major usage of this spell, however is in combination with Polymorph. Sheeping in instances is such a pleasure. It allows you to be very precise and place the sheep in exactly the position you want it to be. And if you’re up for a fight in the damage list (I know you are Gnome, we’ve all read your confession) you wont waste a lot of time messing around with your poly spell, you can get it done quickly and go for the fight.

Best of all: Presence of mind gives you the freedom to improvise and save your reputation when you’ve frankly screwed up for some reason. You can turn thing back to where they should be.

Let’s say you accidentally pulled two mobs where there should have been one and they start hitting you instantly, making it impossible to sheep one. PoM and sheep and you’ll soon be much better off.

Or imagine your lovely child is calling for your attention just as you were into one of the major pulls in Shattered Halls, and when you look back to the screen you see the mark and realize you were supposed to sheep one ages ago. PoM and you’ll be back on track again, helping your mates.

Once you try it out you’ll become totally addicted to it. It remains to see how stuck you have become in the frost trap Zupa set up for you. Will he allow his new follower to spend a few supporting talent points in the arcane tree? Or are you actually mindcontrolled from now on?

When it comes to me, I remain faithful to my choice of school. Even if I’m now facing two frozen opponents, or rather three, including Krizzlybear, who also seems to be under influence of the cold cocktails, my sprits are still high, as Critical QQ pointed out the other day.

The war is far from lost.