So, since my Mage is soon to be 80, I've been doing some research into the various Arcane rotations and their mana use over time. The ones that seem to be in use now (though I'm confused here, because the rotations section in the EJ Arcane Thread doesn't seem to have been updated recently from what I can tell) are:
ABx3 [mbarr] or Abarr (cast 3 ABs, then an AM if you got the proc or ABarr if you didn't)
ABx4 [mbarr] or Abarr (same as the last, but you use an additional AB before AM/ABarr)
ABx3+ [mbarr] (cast AB until you get an mbarr proc)
ABx4 AM (Use AM after every 4th AB).
Now, I'm sure that 2pc T10 has some effect on these, probably in the favor of AB3+, since consuming mbarr will make your next 4 ABs come 12% faster, but I'm not anywhere near there yet.
When starting, I plan to use the first rotation, since it is the best DpM to DpS ratio for while mana may be an issue.
What I'm wondering is how many people use AB3+ and fish for Mbarr procs, and how many just use a more standard rotation? Do you include ABarr in it at all, or do you just use that when you are forced to move? AB3+ seems to have the highest potential DpS by a good margin, but it is also very RNG dependent (which is something I generally don't like) as someone on the EJ Arcane thread reported having to go ABx11 before getting their Mbarr proc. That both kills their mana and (obviously) makes their 2pc bonus useless during that period. I'm sure the DpS wasn't much lower than the other rotations (maybe it was still higher, IDK), but I don't like the idea of being bottom tier DpS because my proc rate was sucking.
So, really, I'm looking to see which the mages here use (or if they go for something else) and what their gear levels are. :-)
Plus, you know, 3 days is an unacceptable amount of time for there not to be a new post here.
-Side question that doesn't deserve it's own thread-
What is your AoE rotation for trash? FS 8+7-->Blizz?