So always played affliction as main spec as to me it fits perfectly for the lore of locks
Problems;
DOT RAMP UP TIME AND DAMAGE
Instead of agony doubling to lvl20 maybe a simple rehash of the talent causing it to equal the damage of 20 at lvl 10 making it ramp up at half the time
SLOW SOUL SHARD REGEN made slightly better with a base line of 3 ooc but still slow
Could do with a burst spell as haunt isnt really viable atm, could do an instant UA dmg talent with cooldown, ie Ua is an instant cast with a 10 sec cool down cost 1 soul shard, making them a little more viable in trash mob dungeon fights maybe
Add a slow effect to drain health making locks a little more viable melee pvp situation
Spec: Affliction
Things I do not like:
- overall damage is too slow and low in both short and long fights;
- seed of corruption has too slow casting time and low damage;
- artefact ability is unreliable;
- pvp survivability is serious crap.
Things I do not like:
- overall damage is too slow and low in both short and long fights;
- seed of corruption has too slow casting time and low damage;
- artefact ability is unreliable;
- pvp survivability is serious crap.
Hello Fellow Warlocks, I'm not that active on this forum but I thought I could give my two cents.
Favorite Spec: Destruction
What I like: Choices in talent tree, either you specc into AoE, cleave or ST. There's always diffrent choices for whatever you're doing. Even pure ST builds have diffrent choices with Both Backdraft and Roaring Blaze in first row and Reverse Entropy and Mana Tap in second row.
What I don't like: Soul Shard Generator doing equal or higher damage in single target than our single target soul shard spender.
Some dead talents that's never used in raids/dungeons (Mortal Coil lvl 45 tree, Soul Harvest lvl 60 tree, Grimoire of Supremacy lvl 90 tree)
Incinerate barely being useful, it's just a filler that's barely do any damage.
Low movement but very tanky which will be changed in 7.1 to "Low movement and mediocre damage absord"
Life Tap and Mana Tap being on GCD feels really awkward.
Suggestion I have to make spec feel nicer:
1: Nerf Incinerate dmg from 210% SP to like 170% and make KJC baseline so we have some kind of mobility that isn't uber OP.
2: Make Chaos bolt deal more damage than Immolate on single target bosses (And by this I mean that you should buff Chaos Bolt, not nerf Immolate more)
3: Merge Life Tap and Mana Tap and make it so you take your HP and get a damage increase and give back our mana regen we have in MoP and WoD.
4: Remove Life Tap and Mana Tap from GCD
5: Make all our demons deal increase damage to target affected by Immolate instead of imp. My imp doesn't really feel that powerful (It is powerful on Single Target)
6: Make our Healthstone heal almost equal to health Potions (I know it can't be equal or higher because then no one would see the point in making health Potions)
7: If you're not going to do 5 please give imp an interrupt instead of a !@#$ty heal, it's so annoying not having an interrupt in dungeons and raids.
Please note that these are my suggestions and Opinions, I do not expect any of them to actully make it into the game.
Favorite Spec: Destruction
What I like: Choices in talent tree, either you specc into AoE, cleave or ST. There's always diffrent choices for whatever you're doing. Even pure ST builds have diffrent choices with Both Backdraft and Roaring Blaze in first row and Reverse Entropy and Mana Tap in second row.
What I don't like: Soul Shard Generator doing equal or higher damage in single target than our single target soul shard spender.
Some dead talents that's never used in raids/dungeons (Mortal Coil lvl 45 tree, Soul Harvest lvl 60 tree, Grimoire of Supremacy lvl 90 tree)
Incinerate barely being useful, it's just a filler that's barely do any damage.
Low movement but very tanky which will be changed in 7.1 to "Low movement and mediocre damage absord"
Life Tap and Mana Tap being on GCD feels really awkward.
Suggestion I have to make spec feel nicer:
1: Nerf Incinerate dmg from 210% SP to like 170% and make KJC baseline so we have some kind of mobility that isn't uber OP.
2: Make Chaos bolt deal more damage than Immolate on single target bosses (And by this I mean that you should buff Chaos Bolt, not nerf Immolate more)
3: Merge Life Tap and Mana Tap and make it so you take your HP and get a damage increase and give back our mana regen we have in MoP and WoD.
4: Remove Life Tap and Mana Tap from GCD
5: Make all our demons deal increase damage to target affected by Immolate instead of imp. My imp doesn't really feel that powerful (It is powerful on Single Target)
6: Make our Healthstone heal almost equal to health Potions (I know it can't be equal or higher because then no one would see the point in making health Potions)
7: If you're not going to do 5 please give imp an interrupt instead of a !@#$ty heal, it's so annoying not having an interrupt in dungeons and raids.
Please note that these are my suggestions and Opinions, I do not expect any of them to actully make it into the game.
Favourite Spec: Destruction (PvP)
Things I dont like:
Soul shards as a ressource when burning embers felt a lot more "destructive" No controlled dmg due to much rng in our talents and overall design having NO mobility at all while being mediocore damage spongues at best having almost NO cc, fear alone is not enough, shadowfury with 1,5 casttime is useless. and the worst of all: we are the only class ingame that doesnt have a snare. we dont even have the ability to spec into it. the overall feel of the spec in the visual departement. This includes annoyances like the less impressive casting animation stance for immolate, incinerate looking a lot less fiery than it did pre WoD, the loss of burning embers visuals, chaos bolt basically being the wotlk chaos bolt just 10 times in size etc etc.
Things I dont like:
I will keep it simple.
I love affliction and destro,but more affliction.
For affliction,i would love to interact with my dots,make them tick faster or be more powerful ( the way demo empower works for pets). Also to be possible to quickly switch targets (this means soul swap must be back).
For destro i feel like mastery should decrease the range between the min-max bonus increase. Also something done for the aoe portion.
Also can we please have anything else instead of mana tap? Is really not that great.
As a general for warlock,i would like the old demonic circle back.
I love affliction and destro,but more affliction.
For affliction,i would love to interact with my dots,make them tick faster or be more powerful ( the way demo empower works for pets). Also to be possible to quickly switch targets (this means soul swap must be back).
For destro i feel like mastery should decrease the range between the min-max bonus increase. Also something done for the aoe portion.
Also can we please have anything else instead of mana tap? Is really not that great.
As a general for warlock,i would like the old demonic circle back.
i really cant understand cloth character like warlock be week like this coman he is just a cloth ... character ? at least should be cloth character becuz they have really low stamina and armor should be at least the top dps ..... like mages he is always in the top of dps and now also the priests ... however we knows that locks are strong but cant really believe that a tank can be better than warlock in dps !!! take a look for this nerved of lock in general all spec :- - destro - demo - affli ----
1- soul harvest and hand of doom are both in 1 talent ? whats the use of soul harvest then if hand of doom more important than soul harvest ( demo ) ? we need soul harvest as before why its in the talent ! this is our burst damage !
2- warlock are very slow character he need alot of haste and time to be good or else dps low at all
3- very week Aoe and very slow as demo - affli - destro
4- shadowfury stun has a cast time ! for sure no one will use it nerved at all
5- all damage with all spec locks are nerved
6- warlock dont have any powerful spell or skill can do it while moving ! if there is boss moves alot with too much stuns and you have to dodge all the time for sure locks will be lost in dps and be the weakest ....
7- thal'kial's ability are very week it does not do damage tell u have alot of pets and demons !! and all of this need alot of haste to do it ! becus the time with dreadstalkers are ver short 12 sec only ? and u have to mix it with imps and demons to do the right damage !
8- our teleport is in the talent ! why ?
9- why all the demons take 1 soul shards when u summon them ! and the dreadstalkers need also 2 shards ! and also the imps u need 4 shards ! why all of this ? for example when in boss u need 8 shards to just start the fight .. u need to summ ur demons first doomgaurd and u need to summ another demon with grimoire of servece and u need also 2 shards for dreadstalker and u need also 4 shards with imps + every demon u summ u have to demonic empored him ? ! how we can start a good burst with all of those and we have only 5 shards or lets say starting with 3 shards > !
10 - healthstone are nerved does not heal like before
11- darkglare is just a rabish skill does not do any damage even the design are just old i think the inquisders are better design cuz its really fit with demons design as demo locks
12- as always locks weaks in pvp and now also in pve
13- destro and affli and demo locks need alot of changes as a ( cloth ) characters its really shame to be like this
i hope that there is a chance for buffing locks and thnx
1- soul harvest and hand of doom are both in 1 talent ? whats the use of soul harvest then if hand of doom more important than soul harvest ( demo ) ? we need soul harvest as before why its in the talent ! this is our burst damage !
2- warlock are very slow character he need alot of haste and time to be good or else dps low at all
3- very week Aoe and very slow as demo - affli - destro
4- shadowfury stun has a cast time ! for sure no one will use it nerved at all
5- all damage with all spec locks are nerved
6- warlock dont have any powerful spell or skill can do it while moving ! if there is boss moves alot with too much stuns and you have to dodge all the time for sure locks will be lost in dps and be the weakest ....
7- thal'kial's ability are very week it does not do damage tell u have alot of pets and demons !! and all of this need alot of haste to do it ! becus the time with dreadstalkers are ver short 12 sec only ? and u have to mix it with imps and demons to do the right damage !
8- our teleport is in the talent ! why ?
9- why all the demons take 1 soul shards when u summon them ! and the dreadstalkers need also 2 shards ! and also the imps u need 4 shards ! why all of this ? for example when in boss u need 8 shards to just start the fight .. u need to summ ur demons first doomgaurd and u need to summ another demon with grimoire of servece and u need also 2 shards for dreadstalker and u need also 4 shards with imps + every demon u summ u have to demonic empored him ? ! how we can start a good burst with all of those and we have only 5 shards or lets say starting with 3 shards > !
10 - healthstone are nerved does not heal like before
11- darkglare is just a rabish skill does not do any damage even the design are just old i think the inquisders are better design cuz its really fit with demons design as demo locks
12- as always locks weaks in pvp and now also in pve
13- destro and affli and demo locks need alot of changes as a ( cloth ) characters its really shame to be like this
i hope that there is a chance for buffing locks and thnx
One other thing I'd like to add that I've noticed being a consistent detriment to the playstyle of my Destruction Warlock - having to choose between Shadowburn and Backdraft feels like being forced to sacrifice an important part of what makes the spec fun to play, as opposed to selecting a fun variation in playstyle. Backdraft has always been one of the most interesting, cool, powerful, and tactical mechanics of Destruction gameplay, making Conflagrate feel like a unique and critical ability as opposed to just an instant nuke to pop on cooldown.
Similarly, Shadowburn is a huge quality of life spell that feels equally powerful and awesome, sharing some really cool synergy with Havoc. Nothing feels worse than having to hard cast a spell that takes 1.5 seconds to land when all you need to do is pick a tiny sliver of health off a mob to kill it. Shadowburn makes questing feel so much better in that regard, not to mention being really exciting to use in situations where you're finishing off multiple enemies in quick succession.
These are both fantastic pieces of the Destruction toolkit, and having to choose to lose one (or even both, though I can't imagine how awful the spec would feel to play at that point) really feels like a huge blow to the overall playstyle. I really think at least one of them should be baseline, or at the very least they should be moved to different tiers on the talent tree.
Similarly, Shadowburn is a huge quality of life spell that feels equally powerful and awesome, sharing some really cool synergy with Havoc. Nothing feels worse than having to hard cast a spell that takes 1.5 seconds to land when all you need to do is pick a tiny sliver of health off a mob to kill it. Shadowburn makes questing feel so much better in that regard, not to mention being really exciting to use in situations where you're finishing off multiple enemies in quick succession.
These are both fantastic pieces of the Destruction toolkit, and having to choose to lose one (or even both, though I can't imagine how awful the spec would feel to play at that point) really feels like a huge blow to the overall playstyle. I really think at least one of them should be baseline, or at the very least they should be moved to different tiers on the talent tree.
Main spec - Affliction
Good Points
- Dot & Drain Feel
- Feels Tanky as intended making up for lack of movement in combat
Points to address
- really needs a trigger to make combat interesting. At its high point we had Nightfall that procced a instant cast shadow bolt and it could hit hard. We need something like that. While I miss SB we could have grasp or maybe all Gain 5 seconds haste etc
- Animations are poor, the class has such potential for artwork and it's not been applied at all
- drain life as a filler doesn't work and shards are so slow to ramp up you can sit draining way too much. It looks poor and makes for really uninteresting play
- having only one pet viable is poor. Each pet could do the same damage to add some variance but each brings a different toolkit. This only for affliction & destro, not demo of course.
- damage is poor is most circumstances. This is shown in each dungeon which has a mix of encounters. I appreciate I'm not 110 yet but at the moment I'm struggling to offer a group much of anything. While I would like to see SB added, I realise it might not meet the vision of the class so suggest different ways to increase haste to increase rate dots are applied. A trigger event as mentioned above and also maybe if you life tap (which would then need a CD)
- Healthstones are a reason to bring a warlock to a raid. If they can't be stronger then take them off same CD as health pots.
At the moment, gradual improvement would be something. The 3 shard thing felt like we were being thrown a bone but the class really needs some attention & discussion between devs / players. It has such potential (all specs) and with some attention to play style (bit boring at the moment), raid viability (damage and utility) and artwork (cast animations) the potential could be realised easily.
Good Points
- Dot & Drain Feel
- Feels Tanky as intended making up for lack of movement in combat
Points to address
- really needs a trigger to make combat interesting. At its high point we had Nightfall that procced a instant cast shadow bolt and it could hit hard. We need something like that. While I miss SB we could have grasp or maybe all Gain 5 seconds haste etc
- Animations are poor, the class has such potential for artwork and it's not been applied at all
- drain life as a filler doesn't work and shards are so slow to ramp up you can sit draining way too much. It looks poor and makes for really uninteresting play
- having only one pet viable is poor. Each pet could do the same damage to add some variance but each brings a different toolkit. This only for affliction & destro, not demo of course.
- damage is poor is most circumstances. This is shown in each dungeon which has a mix of encounters. I appreciate I'm not 110 yet but at the moment I'm struggling to offer a group much of anything. While I would like to see SB added, I realise it might not meet the vision of the class so suggest different ways to increase haste to increase rate dots are applied. A trigger event as mentioned above and also maybe if you life tap (which would then need a CD)
- Healthstones are a reason to bring a warlock to a raid. If they can't be stronger then take them off same CD as health pots.
At the moment, gradual improvement would be something. The 3 shard thing felt like we were being thrown a bone but the class really needs some attention & discussion between devs / players. It has such potential (all specs) and with some attention to play style (bit boring at the moment), raid viability (damage and utility) and artwork (cast animations) the potential could be realised easily.
Affliction PvE
X: Teleport - if (the PTR talent changes go through and) teleport is back in PvE, please revert it to the old two button version. It is so much more intuitive to use (imo at least).
X: the AoE vs ST talent choices feel more like limiting yourself than empowering.
X: Soul Effigy - Plenty of well written alpha/beta feedback on this (placement, targeting, movement etc.)
X: Teleport - if (the PTR talent changes go through and) teleport is back in PvE, please revert it to the old two button version. It is so much more intuitive to use (imo at least).
X: the AoE vs ST talent choices feel more like limiting yourself than empowering.
X: Soul Effigy - Plenty of well written alpha/beta feedback on this (placement, targeting, movement etc.)
Favorite warlock spec:
Affliction
3-4 things you don't like about warlocks right now:
-Sould shard generation should not (only) be rng
-Affliction is kind of dull to play right now (visually and gameplaywise), and the artifact weapon ability doesn't help to improve the gameplay (i wish ther would be actual souls involved in the gameplay...more like in the earlier state of the beta).
-Talents, because often, there isn't really a choice (many talents are just garbage or should be a standard ability and not a talent).
Affliction
3-4 things you don't like about warlocks right now:
-Sould shard generation should not (only) be rng
-Affliction is kind of dull to play right now (visually and gameplaywise), and the artifact weapon ability doesn't help to improve the gameplay (i wish ther would be actual souls involved in the gameplay...more like in the earlier state of the beta).
-Talents, because often, there isn't really a choice (many talents are just garbage or should be a standard ability and not a talent).
Fav spec. Destro atm..
And i really like the changes to the spec and the diffrent things u can do with the talents.
But the RNG in this spec is so tragic on long singeltarget fights. Sometimes i do great dmg cuz of shards RNG and sometimes i feel like i could just forget casting anything orher then incinerate the whole fight beacuse of the bad RNG.
We need better shard regeneration or go back to burning embers cuz when same fight can dif between 120k-250k dps, same gear and spec. There is a problem. so much RNG is just sad.
Other then that i feel destro is in a ok spot exept chaos bolt hitting for !@#$ numbers. But i guess you allready knew that.
And i really like the changes to the spec and the diffrent things u can do with the talents.
But the RNG in this spec is so tragic on long singeltarget fights. Sometimes i do great dmg cuz of shards RNG and sometimes i feel like i could just forget casting anything orher then incinerate the whole fight beacuse of the bad RNG.
We need better shard regeneration or go back to burning embers cuz when same fight can dif between 120k-250k dps, same gear and spec. There is a problem. so much RNG is just sad.
Other then that i feel destro is in a ok spot exept chaos bolt hitting for !@#$ numbers. But i guess you allready knew that.
.
14/09/2016 18:56Posted by OleoductoHello, my favourite spec right now is destruction but i really enjoyed the demonology on wod, also i have to say the idea of new demonology is good.
Dude, you don't have any PvP nor PvE archievements, so gtfo from this forum, thanks, scrub!
JK, much love.
Agree with you.
Fav Spec: Affliction (PvE)
The 3 x Shard generation outside of combat helps the initial damage somewhat, but it doesn't really fix the underlying problem. There needs to be a serious discussion about the entire class and its direction.
Don't like:
1. The current spec is boring as hell. It's just not fun. In WoD the playing style was a lot more dynamic with the procs and Haunt. Now it's just "keep all your DoTs refreshed and spam soul drain" Nothing dynamic about it. Nightfall is gone. Soulburn is gone. There's almost nothing to do in a fight except wait for the DoT refreshes.
2. The overall damage output. Back in WoD the Aff Warlock used to deal decent DPS. It didn't matter if it's single or multi-target. It wasn't the highest of all classes and specs, understandably, but I didn't feel like I slowed down the entire group.
I know these sites aren't always an accurate depiction of reality, but from my experience on how the affliction warlock feels - It's pretty accurate:
WoD:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/8/#dataset=100&metric=bossdps
vs
Legion:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/8/#dataset=100&metric=bossdps®ion=2
The affliction warlock went from 5th to absolute last. A DPS spec that can't DPS. That's a dead spec.
3. Mana. Why am I burning through my mana so fast? I've never had to use Life Tap like I do now. If I accidentally pull 3 standard lvl110 mobs, it's almost a guarantee that I'll have to use it at least once. Not to mention bosses or elites. I've had fights that I had to use it 5-6 times just to keep 4 DoTs refreshed and cast a filler O_o
4. Glyphs. Aesthetic glyphs such as Verdant Spheres did no harm. I can't see why we can't have that back. Glyph of Nightmares should either return as a glyph or made baseline.
The Warlock lost so much in Legion and gained so little.
The 3 x Shard generation outside of combat helps the initial damage somewhat, but it doesn't really fix the underlying problem. There needs to be a serious discussion about the entire class and its direction.
Don't like:
1. The current spec is boring as hell. It's just not fun. In WoD the playing style was a lot more dynamic with the procs and Haunt. Now it's just "keep all your DoTs refreshed and spam soul drain" Nothing dynamic about it. Nightfall is gone. Soulburn is gone. There's almost nothing to do in a fight except wait for the DoT refreshes.
2. The overall damage output. Back in WoD the Aff Warlock used to deal decent DPS. It didn't matter if it's single or multi-target. It wasn't the highest of all classes and specs, understandably, but I didn't feel like I slowed down the entire group.
I know these sites aren't always an accurate depiction of reality, but from my experience on how the affliction warlock feels - It's pretty accurate:
WoD:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/8/#dataset=100&metric=bossdps
vs
Legion:
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/8/#dataset=100&metric=bossdps®ion=2
The affliction warlock went from 5th to absolute last. A DPS spec that can't DPS. That's a dead spec.
3. Mana. Why am I burning through my mana so fast? I've never had to use Life Tap like I do now. If I accidentally pull 3 standard lvl110 mobs, it's almost a guarantee that I'll have to use it at least once. Not to mention bosses or elites. I've had fights that I had to use it 5-6 times just to keep 4 DoTs refreshed and cast a filler O_o
4. Glyphs. Aesthetic glyphs such as Verdant Spheres did no harm. I can't see why we can't have that back. Glyph of Nightmares should either return as a glyph or made baseline.
The Warlock lost so much in Legion and gained so little.
Warlock since vanilla, enjoy Afflction the most. Though warlock is on sickleave, untill some acctual changes happens. Cant wait till its healthy again!
Hard to pick out just a few, but il give it a go:
Mobility and everything that ties into this (read hardcasts, teleport etc.)
Soulshard system. Different problems for each spec, though affliction stands out as realy suffering atm (side note: SS spenders on all 3 feel underwhelming and clunky, and SS req. to cast cooldowns...) Also i miss the days when soulshards were empowering, not just limiting.
Talents. Always a tradeoff with singetarget and aoe (picking one puts a heavy throttle on the other). Trade off is ok, and wanted aslong as both are respectable to begin with, which atm they are not.
Ramp-up dmg. I dont see this as a problem in itself, however we need tools of some kind to target swap, help on critical kills, kill totems etc. as baseline. (Haunt is not viable) Also Demonology needs to actualy be able to control its demons, this would help alot.
Lack of utility, when compared with peers. Warlocks has no baseline interrupt, stun, snare, slow, escape etc. Gateway is our only close to uniqe utility, though shaman totem and druid roar is much the same. SS is nice of but with a clunky cast druids are without. Healthstones actualy hurt your raid to use... (freely choosing what demon to use without gimping dps might be worth a shot?)
Thats not even half of the afflictions my precious is suffering from atm, she will be resting in the nether for a while, consoling herself with tears of mages pwnd in past times.
Edit: spelling
Hard to pick out just a few, but il give it a go:
Mobility and everything that ties into this (read hardcasts, teleport etc.)
Soulshard system. Different problems for each spec, though affliction stands out as realy suffering atm (side note: SS spenders on all 3 feel underwhelming and clunky, and SS req. to cast cooldowns...) Also i miss the days when soulshards were empowering, not just limiting.
Talents. Always a tradeoff with singetarget and aoe (picking one puts a heavy throttle on the other). Trade off is ok, and wanted aslong as both are respectable to begin with, which atm they are not.
Ramp-up dmg. I dont see this as a problem in itself, however we need tools of some kind to target swap, help on critical kills, kill totems etc. as baseline. (Haunt is not viable) Also Demonology needs to actualy be able to control its demons, this would help alot.
Lack of utility, when compared with peers. Warlocks has no baseline interrupt, stun, snare, slow, escape etc. Gateway is our only close to uniqe utility, though shaman totem and druid roar is much the same. SS is nice of but with a clunky cast druids are without. Healthstones actualy hurt your raid to use... (freely choosing what demon to use without gimping dps might be worth a shot?)
Thats not even half of the afflictions my precious is suffering from atm, she will be resting in the nether for a while, consoling herself with tears of mages pwnd in past times.
Edit: spelling
I have already posted my main issues with Aff but I also want to address one of the most annoying aspects of Afflictions artifact ability. I'll try and keep it simple as best as I can.
For example, we get to a boss and I've got myself to 12 Souls for the start of the boss encounter. However, we wipe and have to start again. We've already cleared trash so when we get to the boss I have zero Souls.
Now the rate at which these Souls appear is shockingly bad. If I wait a few minutes so I get about 4 Souls lets say, then the stack is not high enough for a decent length of time having the damage boost. Plus most other classes will have out DPS'ed me by so much I don't really stand a chance at catching up even with this measly 10% (or so) damage buff. I have to hope all other DPS die if I want to look good on the charts (emphasis on "look good").
This is in stark contrast to other specs and classes which actually have an active ability for their artifact, which actively helps there DPS on a more consistant basis, rather than a damage buff which is strongly dependant on killing trash to get any kind of decent use out of it.
More often than not, if we wipe on a boss then I'll no longer be able to use my artifact ability to give myself a meaningful damage increase, further reiterating the fact that Aff is not currently viable really.
Our Artifact ability feels rushed. It feels as though nothing better could be thought of.
Surely it would have been more beneficial for our Artifact ability to help ramp up our damage more? Maybe increasing tick rate or something?? I don't know but this feels better than what it currently is.
Apologies if this is a little bit of a big read. I did really try to crop this down as much as possible. Thanks again though for this great expac Blizz, we just need some tweaks to our favourite class.
Edited for Grammer/Spelling errors.
For example, we get to a boss and I've got myself to 12 Souls for the start of the boss encounter. However, we wipe and have to start again. We've already cleared trash so when we get to the boss I have zero Souls.
Now the rate at which these Souls appear is shockingly bad. If I wait a few minutes so I get about 4 Souls lets say, then the stack is not high enough for a decent length of time having the damage boost. Plus most other classes will have out DPS'ed me by so much I don't really stand a chance at catching up even with this measly 10% (or so) damage buff. I have to hope all other DPS die if I want to look good on the charts (emphasis on "look good").
This is in stark contrast to other specs and classes which actually have an active ability for their artifact, which actively helps there DPS on a more consistant basis, rather than a damage buff which is strongly dependant on killing trash to get any kind of decent use out of it.
More often than not, if we wipe on a boss then I'll no longer be able to use my artifact ability to give myself a meaningful damage increase, further reiterating the fact that Aff is not currently viable really.
Our Artifact ability feels rushed. It feels as though nothing better could be thought of.
Surely it would have been more beneficial for our Artifact ability to help ramp up our damage more? Maybe increasing tick rate or something?? I don't know but this feels better than what it currently is.
Apologies if this is a little bit of a big read. I did really try to crop this down as much as possible. Thanks again though for this great expac Blizz, we just need some tweaks to our favourite class.
Edited for Grammer/Spelling errors.
what I don't like:
Affliction:
Slow aoe damage, mobs die to fast.
Multidotting is demanding, keeping track off refreshes on 3 targets and what's going on in the fight, and yet it feels very unrewarding. I never get the feeling that I'm helping out my party or pvp group. I see these tiny dots and the tank doing more or slightly less damage.
Seed of corruption is very unrewarding. It takes a long time to cast and often it doesn't get the time to explode. could we get the old SoC back that explodes when a target dies or if we deal a certain amount of damage to the target?
Depending on shard generation, when on a single target, I feel like I have not much to do but drain life. Single target i find it quite boring. a mechanic with a proc to switch things up would be more interactive to play.
Our artifact weapon. On a single target I find it underwhelming and I'm not getting a lot of uptime, would like to reap more souls during a boss encounter.
Destruction:
AOE can be specced into, but constantly switching between specs doesn't feel like a great game mechanic. And Rain of fire doesn't feel very powerful. Maybe once other classes aoe is tuned down, we'll feel more powerful again.
Chaos bolt damage feels low. Knowing mages crit for a million and knowing fel energy is actually very powerful.
when I have to move during a fight, it hurts dps a lot. Casting chaos bolt, you reach 40-50% of the cast and you need to move. This feels so bad, but I don't want to put my healer into trouble.
Affliction:
Slow aoe damage, mobs die to fast.
Multidotting is demanding, keeping track off refreshes on 3 targets and what's going on in the fight, and yet it feels very unrewarding. I never get the feeling that I'm helping out my party or pvp group. I see these tiny dots and the tank doing more or slightly less damage.
Seed of corruption is very unrewarding. It takes a long time to cast and often it doesn't get the time to explode. could we get the old SoC back that explodes when a target dies or if we deal a certain amount of damage to the target?
Depending on shard generation, when on a single target, I feel like I have not much to do but drain life. Single target i find it quite boring. a mechanic with a proc to switch things up would be more interactive to play.
Our artifact weapon. On a single target I find it underwhelming and I'm not getting a lot of uptime, would like to reap more souls during a boss encounter.
Destruction:
AOE can be specced into, but constantly switching between specs doesn't feel like a great game mechanic. And Rain of fire doesn't feel very powerful. Maybe once other classes aoe is tuned down, we'll feel more powerful again.
Chaos bolt damage feels low. Knowing mages crit for a million and knowing fel energy is actually very powerful.
when I have to move during a fight, it hurts dps a lot. Casting chaos bolt, you reach 40-50% of the cast and you need to move. This feels so bad, but I don't want to put my healer into trouble.
My favorite spec: Affliction (PVE)
I havenāt played the rest of the specs that in-dept to give an opinion on them, so will only be addressing the one I do play.
I donāt play any PVP so the stuff I will be addressing will be for PVE. Note: Iām a casual player (no hardcore, if I had the time I would like it) I also get that every class ones to top the meters and it is a pain in the but to balance everything but let the damage difference be closer together. Wenn I'm in heroics I'm just doing half the DPS that everyone else does. Tanks do more DMG then us...
1-Ramp up time, Agony seems to take to long to get to a bit of descent damage. I donāt have any numbers but I also feel that corruption en siphon life (if talented) need a little increase in the damage.
Possible solution(s):
- let our filler, buff the dots (let the filler be more than a filler)
- Give us some kind of spell that instantly applies all dots
2-AOE vs ST / Talents
We shouldnāt be respeccing talents every time we do a boss or trash. Also a lot of talents feel that they should be baseline (Like: Siphon Life, Demonic Circle etc.). some tiers have 1 absolute crap talent in them so our choices get limited to 2 (and then still the 2 are only situational AOE of STā¦)
3-Seed of Corruption
If not specced, spreading SoC over a large number of mobs takes ages because of the casting time, and if I finally get it done. I need to do damage to let it detonate. Before this takes place the rest of the group has killed them already
Possible solution:
- Let SoC detonate because of group wide damage
4-Soul shards Regeneration
the new change for 3 soulshards is a way into the good direction. But the regeneration of them is way to random and a bit to slow. On average I get one soulshard in a UA duration, so I canāt stack UAās to get more damage and wenn Iām unlucky I donāt even get a soul shard within a UA duration. So I canāt even get a full uptime for UA.
Possible solution:
- Let soul shards regenerate a faster and maybe more consistent.
5-Soul Effigy
Feels like the mage crystal, also feels a bit clunky, Effigy targeting is a pain. (macroās take up a focus, and time (because of focussing, targeting etc)).
Possible solution:
- Let it be something like destroās artifact dimensional rift. And do something UI wise or button like to make it easier and nicer to apply dots on the Effigy.
6-Warlock feeling
I canāt fully express what the reason is but for some kind of reason I miss a warlock feeling. like UA shouldnāt be a burst dump spell. We should be melting faces not making bruises, ripping souls apart !
7-Artifact !
It feels if someone without any inspiration has worked on it.
- Reap Souls ā At bossfights it takes ages to get to 12 stacks (with no adds and starting with zero). Also usage of Reap Souls seems broken, Donāt have the numbers but it feels like it isnāt doubling the Traitsā¦
- In bossfights 2 golden talents are useless. Because stuff needs to die to benefit.
- compounding Horror feels weird when we want UA to be up all times we need to cast it before it drops off, The stack has any random amount of stacks to you canāt align it with some kind spell to get 5 stacked ones.
I havenāt played the rest of the specs that in-dept to give an opinion on them, so will only be addressing the one I do play.
I donāt play any PVP so the stuff I will be addressing will be for PVE. Note: Iām a casual player (no hardcore, if I had the time I would like it) I also get that every class ones to top the meters and it is a pain in the but to balance everything but let the damage difference be closer together. Wenn I'm in heroics I'm just doing half the DPS that everyone else does. Tanks do more DMG then us...
1-Ramp up time, Agony seems to take to long to get to a bit of descent damage. I donāt have any numbers but I also feel that corruption en siphon life (if talented) need a little increase in the damage.
Possible solution(s):
- let our filler, buff the dots (let the filler be more than a filler)
- Give us some kind of spell that instantly applies all dots
2-AOE vs ST / Talents
We shouldnāt be respeccing talents every time we do a boss or trash. Also a lot of talents feel that they should be baseline (Like: Siphon Life, Demonic Circle etc.). some tiers have 1 absolute crap talent in them so our choices get limited to 2 (and then still the 2 are only situational AOE of STā¦)
3-Seed of Corruption
If not specced, spreading SoC over a large number of mobs takes ages because of the casting time, and if I finally get it done. I need to do damage to let it detonate. Before this takes place the rest of the group has killed them already
Possible solution:
- Let SoC detonate because of group wide damage
4-Soul shards Regeneration
the new change for 3 soulshards is a way into the good direction. But the regeneration of them is way to random and a bit to slow. On average I get one soulshard in a UA duration, so I canāt stack UAās to get more damage and wenn Iām unlucky I donāt even get a soul shard within a UA duration. So I canāt even get a full uptime for UA.
Possible solution:
- Let soul shards regenerate a faster and maybe more consistent.
5-Soul Effigy
Feels like the mage crystal, also feels a bit clunky, Effigy targeting is a pain. (macroās take up a focus, and time (because of focussing, targeting etc)).
Possible solution:
- Let it be something like destroās artifact dimensional rift. And do something UI wise or button like to make it easier and nicer to apply dots on the Effigy.
6-Warlock feeling
I canāt fully express what the reason is but for some kind of reason I miss a warlock feeling. like UA shouldnāt be a burst dump spell. We should be melting faces not making bruises, ripping souls apart !
7-Artifact !
It feels if someone without any inspiration has worked on it.
- Reap Souls ā At bossfights it takes ages to get to 12 stacks (with no adds and starting with zero). Also usage of Reap Souls seems broken, Donāt have the numbers but it feels like it isnāt doubling the Traitsā¦
- In bossfights 2 golden talents are useless. Because stuff needs to die to benefit.
- compounding Horror feels weird when we want UA to be up all times we need to cast it before it drops off, The stack has any random amount of stacks to you canāt align it with some kind spell to get 5 stacked ones.
With all respect to the devs, the upcoming nerf of warlock survivability in 7.1 by swapping demonic circle and demon skin talent places, rendering us unable to have both an active cd shield and a passive one really destroys our class fantasy as that of a tanky caster. Wasn't that the way everyone always saw warlocks?
I mean granted you would expect devs to maybe a little bit buff our low dps output compared to other classes, especially with all that negative feedback coming, im ilvl 845 and barely could keep up with hunter whos doing 250k + and im only 210k at best, but they do what, nerf the only good thing we had, survivability? I mean, seriously, you just do the opposite of what people where rightfully asking for?
And don't get me started on how lock's specs were rehashed over and over again,
things were pretty good in MoP, why keep remaking class concepcts(and not always for better) when you can build upon what was accepted and liked.
Right now it doesn't feel exactly rewarding to play lock, you got people who know they're in bad spot right now, and dont exactly invite them into groups as much, why bother, when you can have a Demon Hunter(hero class yay, destroyer of demo lock class fantasy, by some accounts, and mine tooo) who does like 190 k dps with barely a 815 ilv, sure, sure.
An impression that I have got so far is that devs arent gonna make anything to change lock for better, disregarding what players want, as evidenced by apparent nerfs on PTR; I am kinda frustrated with how they treat us and only ask of them now to rethink and scrap those nerfs, and stop changing anything at all, warlock is fine as it is, without you nerfing it further.
I mean granted you would expect devs to maybe a little bit buff our low dps output compared to other classes, especially with all that negative feedback coming, im ilvl 845 and barely could keep up with hunter whos doing 250k + and im only 210k at best, but they do what, nerf the only good thing we had, survivability? I mean, seriously, you just do the opposite of what people where rightfully asking for?
And don't get me started on how lock's specs were rehashed over and over again,
things were pretty good in MoP, why keep remaking class concepcts(and not always for better) when you can build upon what was accepted and liked.
Right now it doesn't feel exactly rewarding to play lock, you got people who know they're in bad spot right now, and dont exactly invite them into groups as much, why bother, when you can have a Demon Hunter(hero class yay, destroyer of demo lock class fantasy, by some accounts, and mine tooo) who does like 190 k dps with barely a 815 ilv, sure, sure.
An impression that I have got so far is that devs arent gonna make anything to change lock for better, disregarding what players want, as evidenced by apparent nerfs on PTR; I am kinda frustrated with how they treat us and only ask of them now to rethink and scrap those nerfs, and stop changing anything at all, warlock is fine as it is, without you nerfing it further.
My favourite spec&class: affliction since I started playing wow ~8 years ago.
What I do not like:
Combat) Even dungeon boss fights feel incredibly boring on affliction as it is. Phantom singularity was the one new exciting thing I found but if you want to have anything close to reliable single target dmg, you need soul effigy which is pretty much just a target dummy for you. Except that you can visually see your target dummy. Cast 3 dots. Drain life. Got SS? UA. Drain life. Drain life.
No new abilities, NOTHING exciting. I imagine my doomguard casting doom bolts is having more fun than I am.
Balance) In addition to being boring, it feels pretty weak in comparison to it's peers. In fact I wouldn't even say peers at this point. I won't say much more on this as I quickly stopped playing after hitting 110 on my lock (after realising my mistake) - not much experience in the current game to base anything on. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be good at. At least I hope that healers appreciate the fact that they don't have to heal me.
Visuals.Visuals.VISUALS) I mean.... I started leveling my DK after I heard that UH is good this expac again (2nd main) and it is exciting! I have new abilities and the old abilites have been changed. Great visuals, new pets etc. Lost about 2 action bars worth of abilites (some return from honor talents) but even like this, it is interesting and engaging to play.
Honing my dps rotation on a target dummy on my dk is more exciting than getting dragged through a dungeon on my warlock.
So phantom singularity - this looks great and I love it. But it's only useful if you need aoe. And if you choose it, your single target dmg is sub-par.
Soul effigy... what happened here? I need a macro to target this thing and it's supposed to be the one of the final abilities, the lvl 100 talent. It's a tiny floaty purple wisp of a cloud. Like someone hit a butterfly with a fly-swatter. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair - but you literally can't see it in any environment where you use it.
Drain life. So you made this the main filler of the spec, something we have to spam and kept the same animation it has had... since ever? I loved the way malefic grasp looked like visually and what it felt like playing with it. It actually felt like your filler is doing something. Drain life is just... sad.
All of the above makes me feel like my (used to be) favorite class is like some sort of an unwanted accidental child that nobody wants to deal with and it's been thrown in the gutter (for this expac).
Now there's a few things I DO like. Not exactly warlock specific, but hey, gotta give credit where credit is due.
Leveling/storyline/progression/content - call it whatever you like. I leveled from 100 to 110 in a few days not because it was super fast but because I was so caught up in the story that I did not wish to stop playing. Quests are super enganging, cinematics are awesome. And the class order hall - fantastic addition. Imagine the look on my friends face (who we played together with) when I told him I have a demon army (well, I can't use all of them, at least not yet).
Cheerio.
What I do not like:
Combat) Even dungeon boss fights feel incredibly boring on affliction as it is. Phantom singularity was the one new exciting thing I found but if you want to have anything close to reliable single target dmg, you need soul effigy which is pretty much just a target dummy for you. Except that you can visually see your target dummy. Cast 3 dots. Drain life. Got SS? UA. Drain life. Drain life.
No new abilities, NOTHING exciting. I imagine my doomguard casting doom bolts is having more fun than I am.
Balance) In addition to being boring, it feels pretty weak in comparison to it's peers. In fact I wouldn't even say peers at this point. I won't say much more on this as I quickly stopped playing after hitting 110 on my lock (after realising my mistake) - not much experience in the current game to base anything on. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be good at. At least I hope that healers appreciate the fact that they don't have to heal me.
Visuals.Visuals.VISUALS) I mean.... I started leveling my DK after I heard that UH is good this expac again (2nd main) and it is exciting! I have new abilities and the old abilites have been changed. Great visuals, new pets etc. Lost about 2 action bars worth of abilites (some return from honor talents) but even like this, it is interesting and engaging to play.
Honing my dps rotation on a target dummy on my dk is more exciting than getting dragged through a dungeon on my warlock.
So phantom singularity - this looks great and I love it. But it's only useful if you need aoe. And if you choose it, your single target dmg is sub-par.
Soul effigy... what happened here? I need a macro to target this thing and it's supposed to be the one of the final abilities, the lvl 100 talent. It's a tiny floaty purple wisp of a cloud. Like someone hit a butterfly with a fly-swatter. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair - but you literally can't see it in any environment where you use it.
Drain life. So you made this the main filler of the spec, something we have to spam and kept the same animation it has had... since ever? I loved the way malefic grasp looked like visually and what it felt like playing with it. It actually felt like your filler is doing something. Drain life is just... sad.
All of the above makes me feel like my (used to be) favorite class is like some sort of an unwanted accidental child that nobody wants to deal with and it's been thrown in the gutter (for this expac).
Now there's a few things I DO like. Not exactly warlock specific, but hey, gotta give credit where credit is due.
Leveling/storyline/progression/content - call it whatever you like. I leveled from 100 to 110 in a few days not because it was super fast but because I was so caught up in the story that I did not wish to stop playing. Quests are super enganging, cinematics are awesome. And the class order hall - fantastic addition. Imagine the look on my friends face (who we played together with) when I told him I have a demon army (well, I can't use all of them, at least not yet).
Cheerio.