Post by Deck
Perhaps resurrecting a dead thread, but I thought i'd input what i've experienced with regard to frost/fire specs.
To start with, this is my armory link:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Outland&n=Deck . Our guild farms MH/BT each week and is currently 1/6 SWP and progressing on Brutallus. (As frost I use the
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=35132 with +12dmg gem and
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32237 with
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=33334.
I frequently switch between fire and frost as I enjoy them both, there are different challenges with playing both specs. Before I write anything, i'd like to point out that the dps achievable with both specs is, to me, dependant on the nature of a boss fight. I believe with equal skill/gear/luck, fire>frost on a stand and dps fight like Teron, whereas frost is more suited to a fight where alot of adjustment is needed, for example Archimonde.
The reason for this is that a major component of fire's dps comes from ignites and rolling ignites, which are only really achieved when you are able to stand still for a decent amount of time chaining <2.7sec> (my haste rating considered) fireballs into the boss and getting a good crit rate. Also fights with alot of adjustment often lead to the scorch debuff falling off frequently which wastes fireball time.
Frost on the other hand benefits from naturally large crits (Ice Shards) and a quicker cast on frostbolt (<2.3sec>). This means it is marginally quicker getting back casting after an interruption, for example Naj'entus' shield, and can cast more frostbolts before the next interruption. Alot of frost's dps is dependant upon the elemental and getting as much use out of the ele and Icy Veins as possible (pop at start, cold snap, use again, use again after 3 min - perhaps again dependant on length of fight). On fights where there is heavy raid damage, frost is likely to suffer as the elemental is very fragile (e.g. Anetheron).
In conclusion, testing on both Naj and Teron in BT, on Naj frost achieved around 1.8k dps, whereas fire fell back at 1.6k. On Teron fire hit 2.1k dps whereas frost only managed 1.9k. Of course frost is viable, very viable, and I recommend all mages give it a shot at least for a few raids for the different play style - I find it very fun to play.