What mage spec was dominant trough TBC?

[xmatic44]

So I was wondering about playing mage,and the spec worries me the most.

These things are not easy to find these days,so I was wondering what would be the go to spec for a mage into raiding/general PVE

[Kiillswiitch]

i think i remember something about frost being good pve because of the elemeental, could be wrong. running off memory

[smtCreative]

During early stages of the game Frost with Arcane Power yields the best results but one mage will need to spec out of Arcane Power in order to provide Winter's Chill. Once 2p t5 is obtained Arcane Blast/Frostbolt will outperform the other specs but it's heavily dependant on proper mana menagment and group comp. At endgame Fire starts being the top choice followed closely by AB/FB. If I had to choose the most dominant spec throughout the tiers it would have to be fire because the differences in DPS are about <300ish (don't quote me on this one) compared to the best performing specs at the time and it's least group/comp dependant compared to AP/FB and AB/FB.
Some resources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20081005...-mage_pve_dps/
https://web.archive.org/web/20081109...tional_thread/

[xmatic44]

So from the start I should just roll fire,and keep up with it.

No spec is really ****?

BTW: You didn't link the websites good.

[smtCreative]

Yes, you'll be fine if you are Fire from the start.

PS. Edited the links.

[jkutswings]

It depends on what you're after, and how you play.

If you're a gambler, and want max damage at the expense of survivability and downtime (mana regen), then just go fire from the start.

But I plan on leveling frost, to maximize uptime, and (hopefully) stand a better chance against any gankers along the way, then respec fire once I start getting some decent gear.

Not really a bad option from 1-70, though. More of personal preference.

[taralej]

smtCreative gave a nice reply. You would want to start as the good ol' Arcane/Frost we all know from vanilla. You could keep it that way all the way until T5 because of the fire resistance in TK. After that, however, Fire is just simply better as it is the better scaling and the better designed of the two specs.