After weeks and weeks of PTR testing, the Dragonflight Patch 10.1 patch notes are almost fully polished and set to release on May 2. While the upcoming World of Warcraft patch will reward most classes and specs with generous buffs, one of the worst classes right now is completely missing from the patch notes.
For the majority of Dragonflight, Mages have been a mid to low-tier class for both PvE and PvP content and you’d be better off sticking with a Priest or a Warlock. While Patch 10.1 has a lot of quality-of-life updates for Shadow Priests and other classes, it doesn’t even mention Mages.
Unlike Hunters, which has easily been one of the top-performing classes this expansion and once again got attention from Blizzard, Mages are a bottom-of-barrel class that can’t even begin to compete. Besides that, their tier set bonuses are underwhelming and won’t make any major changes to how the class plays once you obtain them.
In the words of Liquid’s guild master and raid leader Max “Maximum” Smith on April 18: “Mages are down bad. Their tier sucks wiener and their whole class is super not powerful.”
At the beginning of Dragonflight, Mages—Arcane Mages specifically—were stars of Mythic+ dungeons and Vault of the Incarnates with their overly complex rotation and unparalleled DPS when played properly. Fire and Frost Mages, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy this treatment from Blizzard and haven’t made an appearance in either patch notes or hotfixes since Patch 10.0.5 when the devs slightly buffed their overall damage.
There are only two weeks left before Patch 10.1 hits the live servers and it’s highly unlikely players will see major changes to the class in this patch. But there’s still hope left that Blizzard might help the class if the devs see it struggling. If Mages once again evade buffs in Patch 10.1 hotfixes, players can only pray for changes in future Dragonflight patches.
