I’ve always enjoyed the fantasy of affliction, but this latest iteration feels… Unnecessarily convoluted?
I wouldn’t say it’s complex. There’s just a lot of things to click, each with their own GCD’s and durations. I’m hoping it’ll feel better with various legendaries, torghast powers and hopefully tier set bonuses in future content. But right now, early in an expansion, leveling and enjoying the story, I do have to log off to rest my wrists. Not because I’m bored of the game or don’t want to keep playing, but because I find the spec physically straining to play. I don’t have this issue with other classes that I play (Fury, Marksmanship, Shadow, Subtletly) . I don’t know if other classes and specs have these issues in Shadowlands.
Perhaps I’m just getting old.
Anyway, just wanted to share my two cents. Now I’d like for you guys to share what kind of keyboards and keyboard cushions you use to be able to play this spec without wrist damage. :x
Edit:
Oh, and if I were to add any constructive criticism for any developer who may or may not be taking a peek at this thread: The amount of keys we have to press and the amount of global cooldowns we have to wait on for every single mob we encounter is a major feels-bad-factor for the spec. Consider that this is not only for every boss, but for every mob. In every dungeon, quest, farm, raid or battleground.
Shadow, arguably a sister spec of Affliction, feels so much smoother to play in comparison. At least at this time and at this stage of the game. But that’s merely my personal experience.
On topic: I agree that affliction is feeling convoluted. Have you thought about switching up the talents a little bit? You can forsake Siphon Life etc. If you haven’t already to get one less gcd to deal with for instance. It’s one less dot for dark caller but it depends on how you want to build. Im still playing around with different talents so im not sure what feels best yet personally.
It’s always the same mistake, it’s like these low budget developers don’t even care either. They add some trash NEW ability(Malefic Rapture in this case), which clearly won’t make it past one expansion, and they try to balance the entire spec based on that one ability. Why not balance the spec based on damage overtime or “drains” as the description says?. Dots don’t even do damage anymore and haven’t been doing damage since Legion.
Didn’t mean to imply that it was complicated. Just wanted to point out that I personally like that there’s a spec where there’s a lot of going on mechanically, I’m not opposed to changes, but I don’t see any good suggestions in this thread.
A lot going on mechanically?, like what?. You spread damageless dots and spam Malefic Rapture. That’s all there is to it really. BFA was similar, you spam damageless dots but use Deathbolt(till they killed it). Legion was spread damageless dots and spam UA. You look beautiful on the damage meters(In Battlegrounds for example) but are you actually killing or pressuring anyone/anything?. I had max dots on a rogue with 20% hp, he escaped(without cloak) and barely went below 15% by the time my dots faded off. The design is cheap quality. You have too many buttons but only one ability does everything. One nerf to Malefic Rapture and the spec rests in peace overnight.
Having to manage dots on multiple targets is what I consider “a lot”, definitely more involved than other specs. Balance preference is a different topic all together, I too would like to see more damage done by dots rather than MR, but it won’t really change OP’s issue I suppose.
