1st post, and two quick questions....

[tatanka7th]

Hello all! Long time lurker, and I just joined so I could make a post

I have a newer mage (just hit 80 last night), and have a higher level druid that's been my main over the years. I'm really enjoying the mage, and the power boost at 80 is incredible (of course, that's partly due to all the new gear available at 80).

Anyway, here's my two questions:

1 - For the 4-hit DS that we get (forget the name), does anyone use it? My druid has a similar spell, but it lasts for 8 hits. That makes all of the difference. For 8 hits, it's actually the druid's top DPS spell for his level. At only 4 hits, the mage's isn't even worth casting. I know, it's unresistable, and causes no agro to me, but that's not enough to make it worth casting, to me.

2 - For the new level 80 spell, Hungry Flames, does anyone use this spell? From the description on ZAM, it seems like it will do ~9000 damage over the course of 30 hits, which is decent. However, it has a 10 minute cooldown, and can only be cast on a PC (no pets). Really? Can't see devoting a spell gem to this, unless I'm missing something.

Thanks for any comments or tips you can offer, and grats on running a great board.

Happy New Year!

Tat

[svenalo]

Both useless imo.

[deadman1204]

hungry flames won't land on your pet, only a PC. It also has a very long recast time - so most don't see it worth a spell slot

[Vincentt]

Druid Spur line > Mage line. I use it constantly on my druid. I stopped using on my mage since my crits (SpellCrits 12, DestFury 11 atm) do far more dmg. Mages become uber when they get the Surge of Arcanum line. I'm not there yet so don't know.

Hungry flames only (and I cannot stress the only enough) worthwhile when you're AA farming on weak light blues that you can tank (yes we can!) while you're pets hit from the back. Once every 10 mins, however, makes most mages not use it. I kinda like it, stack on burning brimbody, host of elements, and I can wipe a 5 mob pull (and survive!) relatively fast with my RS pet and water pet going nuts from behind. Then again, I do have a bard hasting all swarm pets by 25%, and mitigating my damage by 7%, and boosting my DmgShield by an additional 300 through songs. If troubled the Shared Health AA and/or potion is always available.

But without the specific combination above, I won't devote even one of my precious 12 spell gems to it.
The power boost at 80 is immense with the new RS pet and the nearly double jump in mana pool from all the baz gear (at least it was for me). Wait till you see the 81 air pet fully decked out!

V