Yea, LB is not an AoE spell. It wasn't designed to be used as an AoE spell (maybe initially but that soon died) and it really doesn't work well as anything other than a single target DoT which is what it's designed to be. It just happens to have a delayed AoE component that can help to proc HS, that's all really.

It's a smart move by Blizzard - they really aren't giving mages very much of anything extra (DPS) here but it's maybe intended to look like mages are getting a mighty buff.

Yup, don't believe this straight change will affect my raiding much =p

It will help on some fights, but not much... for instance the faceless ones that gain a shield (i believe the bomb still does dmg when it blows.... I think) so, to be able to cast a 2nd one off on the "new" add would be kinda nice.... I guess....

Mmmm, other than that and PvP'ing in PvE setup.. won't be much of a biggy change =p

Unless there's a new boss fight with 10 adds one side, 10 the other, so that we can get 20 ticks of the new replenish ^_~

With the dot proccing ignite, which returns mana, having this on multiple targets will be a good mana boost.

Its just a rip off from the locks SoC which explode after a certain time or when a certain amount of damage has been applied to the target. This makes SoC spammable and can do quite good AoE dmg compared to rain of fire.

But i doubt that spamming LB will ever be better than FS>Blizzard and making it explode when the target dies, will tbh be a little OP imo. But there is nothing wrong in spam it now and then it will make a good dps increase when there is more than one mob/boss who does'nt go down within 12 secs.

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Its just a rip off from the locks SoC which explode after a certain time or when a certain amount of damage has been applied to the target. This makes SoC spammable and can do quite good AoE dmg compared to rain of fire.

But i doubt that spamming LB will ever be better than FS>Blizzard and making it explode when the target dies, will tbh be a little OP imo. But there is nothing wrong in spam it now and then it will make a good dps increase when there is more than one mob/boss who does'nt go down within 12 secs.

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It really won't work, by the time the LB explosions start going off all the other proper AoE spells will have done a ridiculous amount of damage more and they will be continuing to do damage while LB starts to finally tick off some AoE explosion damage.

The only remote possibility LB would be effective, used in this way, is if its duration was shortened by a substantial game breaking amount or trash mobs health was a great deal higher than it is currently.

It's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. LB is not a dedicated AoE spell, any way you look it just isn't.

Once into the territory of AoE not being optimal - say only 2 or 3 mobs then single target nuking is going to be far the better option so LB (AoE spamming) isn't really an option either way for effective DPS. It gives the spell's clunky feel some finesse I suppose and will be a welcome change when frequent single target switching is required. I imagine it could have some situational advantages in raids, more likely it will find use outside a raid / group setting for grinding or perhaps used as a sniper cast in BG's.

It's a similar change to something like completely removing the cooldown on evocation (in it's current form) which wouldn't actually improve DPS much at all, seems a ridiculously overpowered boost at first but when analysed is not really much of a change to anything (PvE).

will be handy in a few situations, like when we switch targets - casting LB on a new target won't drop it off the old one.

It's not an imba change or anything, just a nice removal of a limitation that is sometimes irritating. Even trash fights last long enough to put it on more than one target etc.

barron geddon is gonna liiiiiiiiike this patch

I am playing with it on the PTR atm and as AOE it is VERY cost efficient due to ignites on everything. It doesn't give the same instant AOE as blizzard but if the mobs have a lot of health, LB will be a way of not going OOM. Besides it does actually explode for more than blizzard ticks for so in the long run this might be a very handy change. It shouldn't be used on mobs with low health but having a dot that is castable on several mobs and deals AOE dmg when exploding is an awesome utility - I can even think of several situations outside raids where this will be a big help.

5 mages in 5vs5, put 5 living bombs on each, /dance

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5 mages in 5vs5, put 5 living bombs on each, /dance

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Now there's an idea...

It's in fact a really good idea - not that it'd be a dramatic performance increase, but it's somewhat of an incredibly needed an adjustment to AoE sustainability (sadly, only that of fire, though), and it brings a lot of utility and multitarget ability in many fights (say Yogg Saron). It's how it should've been all the time; now let's hope it doesn't come with a 33% cost increase to slap it out of use.

This would be an awesome change for Fire AoE - I can already see myself pulling mobs together using Living Bomb and all of them going pop as they gather. :-D

It's a nice change even if not huge. A slight boost to AE damage, and mana efficient. Boost to fire PvP as well.
The fact that is a single target DoT and AoE as well can lead to interesting decision which - to be honest - I like in fire PvE very much. (Like when LB expires, the T8 4 piece procs 4 times in a row, and scorch is about to expire as well) Let's take a fight similar to Freya: A boss with adds near to him, but the boss himself is invurneable/heaing himself. You must then decide whether it's worth putting LB on the boss or not (since you don't deal effective dmg with the single target DoT, they're only putting you higher on the meters, but honestly I don't care about that). So I'm really looking forward to this change.

"Once we jumped off the boat and into the jungle, we cranked up the volume and marched to our own drummer..." ---- bbbbbreakbeat chaos

While you're at it, make it explode on death as well...

LOL. As a kiting spell for multiple elites, it is second to none. Now it will be insane.

An exercise for you that anyone can try. Go to Ice crown, Cathedral of darkness, having gotten a few 15% runspeed Runes from the Bone Witch. Kill the Acolytes outside, Pull one of the Zealots (80 elites) on one side of the temple, put Living bomb on one on the other side and start running. There are 44 of them, they all aggro now since they fixed the pathing behaviour around the top of the stairs.

Run off the edge of the balcony down to the area where the Jousting dailies are done. That area is phased and clear if you don't have the daily quest.

Kite them in a big big circle, keeping Living Bomb up on them, switching targets occasionally. 44x level 80 elites will be dead after about 10 minutes of running around in circles. The XP from this exercise is amusing and it is pretty much a 100% survival rate. No pathing exploits, all perfectly above board, free fun but I suspect not WAI.

I predict many more amusing abuses of this change.

Maybe its one of the steps they are makeing to make fire viable in pvp?
Just hope they dont nerf the pve damage of it :S

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LOL. As a kiting spell for multiple elites, it is second to none. Now it will be insane.

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On that topic, consider its potential for Gluth kiting duty as well :) hell you'd probably win damage by miles.