Fire's DPS needs to be in line with Arcane

[:1]Now that Arcane has a much better and more strategic rotation, I think the next step is to fix fire. Arcane is an alright spec, but I really don't want to be penalized for playing a spec I like because it does 4-5k less damage than a spec I don't like to play.

Having said that, Fire does have problems of its own, specifically with Ignite munching being bandaged in a manner that still doesn't reward gearing for crit (which, if the mechanic worked as intended, would probably be our best secondary) as well as too much reliance on RNG. If these two issues are fixed, as well as Fire's numbers being brought back into line, us Mages will finally have a choice between which specs we like.

I hear many proponents of Frost PvE, but I haven't tried it out yet. However, I don't think PvP balance would benefit from any buffs to their sustained DPS. :P
Yes fire needs to be competitive. Arcane has been dominant msot of the way through wrath (I believe fire surpassed it towards the end, with top notch gear) and now all through cata, is it really that hard to balance fire with arcane?

To be honest I'm just so damn bored of playing arcane. I understand there is skill to maximizing arcane and getting the absolute best out of it, but if on a raid night I'm tired and don't want to focus too much I still generally out dps everyone else. Fire has always been my favorite spec, with a nice mix if buffs to keep up, fun procs, and interesting cooldowns, so it's a shame that it's rarely ever competitive with arcane.

Yes fire needs to be competitive. Arcane has been dominant msot of the way through wrath (I believe fire surpassed it towards the end, with top notch gear) and now all through cata, is it really that hard to balance fire with arcane?

To be honest I'm just so damn bored of playing arcane. I understand there is skill to maximizing arcane and getting the absolute best out of it, but if on a raid night I'm tired and don't want to focus too much I still generally out dps everyone else. Fire has always been my favorite spec, with a nice mix if buffs to keep up, fun procs, and interesting cooldowns, so it's a shame that it's rarely ever competitive with arcane.

This is exactly what I was thinking. They should be balanced in terms of numbers so that it's possible to competitively play whichever one you prefer.

Blizzard hates fire. Compare how quickly they nerf it when it's even remotely overpowered versus how long it languishes in DPS hell when it sucks. That's what annoys me. They'll let death knights be OP for a whole year, but as soon as ticks of Living Bomb proc Hot Streak, that gets nerfed literally within 48 hours. No posts from GC saying, "Wow, Fire is a little too awesome..." while we enjoy the splendid procciness for several weeks, no QQ from Arcane mages, no thing. It just gets hotfixed immediately. I don't think Fire was even leading in DPS at the time.
Before we get into buffing fire. I would like to say, blizzard buffing fire does not mean nerfing arcane!


That is all......
Don't worry. My inside sources tell me fire scales ridiculously good in the deathwing raid. They won't buff fire but a 5% nerf to AB should put fire and arcane inline with each other.