Burning Crusade Arcane Mage questions

[SpectralZenith]

Hi, I'm hoping to level as Arcane and then start clearing heroic dungeons and raids with that spec but I'm new to TBC. I have seen people saying in forums that Arcane is all about Arcane Blast spam and it is not viable without 2 tier 5 pieces. Is it really that bad if I spend points on talents for Arcane Missiles to refresh the stacks from Arcane Blast? Does Arcane Blast increase the damage of all other Arcane spells like it does in WotLK? If it does, then why people prefer to refresh the stacks with Frostbolt? Is it a good idea to stack intellect instead of spell power when I have mana issues?

And what do you think about the build below?
https://talentcalculator.org/tbc/mag...10000000000000

EDIT: I just went to a class trainer and saw that Arcane Blast reduces its casting speed and doesn't increase the damage of Arcane spells. I guess that answers a lot of questions. Thanks for your attention though.

[kepancs]

I don't recommend leveling as arcane. Frost is the way to go, fire is also viable.

Arcane without 2xt5 is garbage.

Arcane missiles isn't included in the rotation.

You use Frostbolt to let the mana regen as its not as mana expensive.

You gem and aim for high intellect, because of the Mind Mastery talent obviously. And bigger mana pool to spam more ABs

https://talentcalculator.org/tbc/mag...10030010000000 Is better with Coldsnap, 2x IC and 2xIB