4 piece Merciless or 2-3 mix.

[Ike]

Just wanted to know what you guys think about 2 seconds off blink compared to the extra 35 resilience. Personally I favor the 35 resilience because I've never found the 2 seconds to be crucial as of yet. I think the warrior 4 pieces (5 seconds off intercept) and the rogue (+10 energy) are far more valuable. Personally, I think 2 piece tier 4 (100% immune to pushback on frostbolt/fireball) would be a far more appropriate 4 piece bonus. Thoughts?

[Malachim]

Personally I'm going with the 2x35-resilience bonuses. :)

Hardly ever notcied any difference with -2 sec CD off Blink.

Edit: Yeah, forgot to say. I approve your idea with the 4set bonus being changed into the current T4 2PT bonus. It would help alot, can't see why it's so hard to change it...

[Tyveris]

I would love to have the tier 4 2 piece set bonus as our 4 piece Glad, but I doubt they will do it. The trend seems to be shortening PvP skill cooldowns/cast times. Warlocks just got theirs changed to -0.2 sec on fear casting time, so hopefully this means they are reviewing them.

My problem with the -2 sec off blink is I'm rarely spamming it, and if I am, I'm OOM so fast that -2 seconds is just going to make that OOM come around faster. With the merciless set basically being a side grade, I stuck with the double resil bonus for now. I might reevaluate when the updated S2 gear goes live, but even then I think it will be a tradeoff between mainly int and resil.

[Ike]

I wouldn't mind 0.2 sec off polymorph casting time. :D

[Windwalk]

I actually really like the 2 seconds off blink. It's much better than 35 resilience in every situation when you aren't getting focus-fired. And as a frost mage, I'm rarely the target.

[Tyveris]

I actually really like the 2 seconds off blink. It's much better than 35 resilience in every situation when you aren't getting focus-fired. And as a frost mage, I'm rarely the target.
In what situation do you find yourself needing to blink every 13 seconds?

I do agree though that the 35 resil isn't totally necessary as a frost mage. I mean, its great for moving around town, bgs, chasing down running mages, etc. I guess chasing down runners in the arena happens too, and I can thnik of an occasion or two where it would be handy.

What about it have you found to be most useful?

[Windwalk]

Ever been in a situation where a healer is charging a quick heal behind a pillar but you won't be able to get in LOS quickly enough to CS him? Sometimes a blink+CS is enough to win a fight when your target is low. But if you had to burn blink earlier (maybe you were rooted) it might not be up when you need it.

I'll admit that it's not often that the 2 seconds less makes a huge difference in arena. But it's helped me out in a couple situations like that.

As an aside, I can say that it's extremely helpful in World PvP, which is what I do when I'm not in arena.

Also, against warriors who have their 4 piece it's great to have. Since they added snare suppression to intercept, blinking early, as soon as the warrior uses it, helps a lot.

[Amplefroth]

35 resil > 2 secs off blink (i dont arena with what my armory says). For the reduced CD on blink to really be effective it would have to be around -5 seconds. thats just my opinion. 35 resilience will help you a lot more, once i get the 20 resil medallion of the horde i'm going to top out at about 455 resilience.
I think the real question is... which peices of each set do you use?
I say: chest gloves shoulders S2, helm pants S1.

[minor]

I think it's better to use 2/3 piece because the 4 piece is really useful only against rogues at times, and unless you are an AP spec, you will be going oom that much quicker. I have 2 piece aldor as well, so if there are hunter teams up, or a warlock is keeping his pet on me, I'll throw 2 piece aldor on. The extra resilience also allows me stack more crit, instead of forcing to stack more resilience as a stat.

[justin_12]

I think it's better to use 2/3 piece because the 4 piece is really useful only against rogues at times, and unless you are an AP spec, you will be going oom that much quicker. I have 2 piece aldor as well, so if there are hunter teams up, or a warlock is keeping his pet on me, I'll throw 2 piece aldor on. The extra resilience also allows me stack more crit, instead of forcing to stack more resilience as a stat.

Not a bad idea but soon you will not be able to swap your gear when the Arena match starts, coming next patch. It would be a good idea to try and come up with a single gearset to suit your needs in future. Just some friendly advice ;)

[Iceweaver]

35 resil > 2 second of blink as well

If you think about it you are blinking because you are being targetted...
Blinking every 14 seconds with +35 resil is better than blinking every 12 seconds without the 35 resil.
Who is blinking every 14 seconds in the arena anyway?

[Haet]

I have escape artist so i RARELY blink when im not being Focus Fired and even without being a gnome its not that common that you would need to blink twice within 15 seconds if you aren't being ffd.

When you are being FFd i think the resilience is more important because timing is everything with blink. It is a lot of damage avoidance but only when used at the right time, and those two seconds wont matter if u dont have a reason to blink 13 seconds after the previous blink whereas 35 resilience is going to be a steady increase flat increase to your mitigation.
It depends on playstyle, if you are really good with blink i could see the CD and the aditional stats you will be gaining from 2 more pieces of season 2 might be worth it.

I think the real issue should be why is it even a question? why isn't our 4 peice set bonus something amaizng like 5 seconds off of intercept cooldown?

[Avee]

wtb 2pc t4 to be our 4pc glad bonus. Going to be trying life without 2pc t4 (yes i use it over gladiator currently) shortly...hopefully I'll like it.

[Kleosi]

Here's the difference in stats, assuming you'll take the two pieces that appeal most to the eyes, aka s2 head/shoulders/chest and s1 gloves/legs

Season 1 Gloves/Legs (with set bonus factored in):
93 sta
39 int
49 crit
86 resil
74 dmg

Season 2 Gloves/Legs:
98 sta
56 int
48 crit
53 resil
85 dmg

Difference (if you take 2/3 mix):
- 6 sta
- 27 int
+ 1 crit
+ 33 resil
- 11 dmg

So it goes down to:

Is 60 health, 405 mana, and 11 dmg worth 33 resilience?

[Remedi]

60 HP, 405 Mana, 11 Dmg, -2 Blink CD < 33 Resilience

It's disappointing -- I think Blizzard designed the -2 Blink CD to counter Warrior's Intercept timer. I just think they weren't expecting competitive Arena games to be so much about maintaining mana, making Blink an incredibly unattractive spell to use. I think it's poor design that most Mages choose 3/2 instead of full 5. I think the 4/5 bonus should be a serious upgrade over an additional 35 resilience.

Some ideas:
-2 seconds from Frost Nova CD
-0.5 seconds from Fire Blast CD
-1 second from Cone of Cold CD
-1 second from Counterspell CD
-0.2 seconds from Polymorph
Increased range to Polymorph
10% chance that Poly won't be dispelled
5% Stun Resistance
5% Snare Resistance
25-40% mana cost reduction to Blink (I love this one.)
+Armor (this would be a great way to fulfill the design theory they had in mind for Mages when they made the Season 2 original stat breakdown, and a creative alternative to massing two season's two-piece resilience bonuses.)

[Trash]

Using the full set for the same reasons I stack mostly damage gems (a little bit of stam) over purely stam and resilience gems and that's the fact that I'm rarely the main focus in 5's play.

[buena]

I'll take a stand for 2pc t4 (I use robe and shoulders) and 3pc merciless.

You dont need 500 resilience and 12k health as a mage if you are any good at using your spells to defend yourself. In fact you are wasting stats unless you are ever the first one to die on your team. Why not sacrifice them for some int, some damage, and a godlike set bonus that I used to dream about at level 60?

[Bloodie]

I took the 35+ res bonus, as the 4 piece bonus can't be compared to 35+ resil.

[Windwalk]

I took the 35+ res bonus, as the 4 piece bonus can't be compared to 35+ resil.
It's not really a 35 resilience advantage if you add up the stats you're getting from 2 more pieces of merciless.

[Tyveris]

I took the 35+ res bonus, as the 4 piece bonus can't be compared to 35+ resil.
It's not really a 35 resilience advantage if you add up the stats you're getting from 2 more pieces of merciless.
It's really close because of how much of a sidegrade S1->S2 is.

[Kleosi]

Heh yeah its 33.

[Windwalk]

I don't know how they're planning on changing the s2, but I personally feel that 33 resilience is not vital for a class that rarely gets focus fired. And when you do, that -2 seconds from blink can conceivably save you from as much damage as 33 resilience.

You also have to consider that you'll be picking up some spell damage, spell crit, and stamina with more s2 pieces.