I’m a big class enjoyer that has three DPS specs. So I can change my playstyle. Long time warlock main, but for me the affliction spec is significantly less enjoyable to play with the current spender ability. I also heard and saw more people having a distaste for the spell.
Lately, I’m seeing more talents that alter the playstyle of your spec. Balance druid with ignoring Eclipse and staying in Lunar. Fury with Annihilation. Demon Bite being passive etc. So I hope that eventually, warlocks will get the same treatment with MR.
I would insert an instant spell with a CD that activates only in certain situations (the current tormented crescendo) and I would call it “Shadow Implosion” with a large instant damage based on the number of DOTs on the target and more if it has Unstable Affliction. I would increase the damage of the DOTs and to avoid multidotting with abnormal damage in PvE and PvP I would insert a bonus to the Drain Soul during the drain (consistently increasing the damage of the DOTs and speeding up the damage frequency, partly the old Malefic Grasp).
You would have an excellent burst (essential in the current gameplay), AOE damage for the “fight Council” that many PvE warlocks always preach (to defend the Malefic Rapture), and the class would have its thematicity respected and I believe also fun in playing it.
To avoid having windows with 5 shards that spam a spell (hated by almost everyone) it would be enough to insert a soul shard regeneration component in the Drain Soul. After all, in this game you get shards by hitting a target with incinerate (which doesn’t make logical sense), it’s not clear why a spell that drains the soul of a target can’t have the soul shards regeneration component