Mage vs Warlock

Community General Discussion
1

Hello,

I am looking for pure DPS class, preferably range and came up with these two. I like them both but still undecided which to go. Aesthetically I like Mage, but Warlock seems easier to pick up and more forgiving class. Not looking to top metters or to be meta, would like to stick with one for a long time.

Would like to hear from people who play these classes about pros and cons, what they like/hate and would recommend them for someone who is not very skilled? Do you expect some big changes for these classes in the next expansion or recent future?

Any kind of suggestion or tip is appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

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Have you considered hunters? 2 ranged DPS specs and beast master is easy to play and you can collect many beautiful beasts.

Why do you want pure DPS class? You don’t have to heal/tank if you don’t want to. Elemental shaman is interesting to play with visually appealing spells.

If you have to choose between mage and warlock I would recommend warlock mainly because of the pets that can tank for you and do some of your DPS. I don’t like the demonic theme so I prefer mage but if you like the warlock fantasy it would be a better choice for you. And warlocks have more patches as top DPS than mages.

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Mage is fast, mobile, and has to use movement and CC to not die. It’s for the type of player who enjoy needing to survive through skillful situational awareness.

Warlock is more relaxed (in my opinion), is an immobile turret, and has plenty of self-healing. It’s the complete opposite of Mage gameplay, since you don’t have to worry about “requiring” CC to live.

Personally I enjoy Mage a lot more out of the two, since I love its CC in PvP. :slightly_smiling_face: But I enjoy Warlock fantasy a lot more.

If I had to pick a main, and choices were between those two, I had picked Mage for PvP, and Warlock if I was a PvE player.

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If you enjoy both equally, I’d recommend going with mage for pure convenience and utility. As a warlock main I don’t think warlock is much easier to pick up than mage. Both have very simples specs to offer, frost for mage and destro for warlock.

Mage comes with portals for your convenience, it’s more mobile, having lust will get you into groups easier, you have int buff, and in general mage is usually closer to meta than warlock. I know you said you’re not looking to be meta, but being meta is just more convenient when you can choose a more meta option. Because even if you don’t care about meta, the people in LFG generally do.

I expect a pretty big overhaul for warlock when the next expansion hits. Pretty much all three specs have some major issues that need solving, but it’s mostly aff and demo that need major reworks.

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Warlocks have some of the best designed specs in game. I don’t think they need major rework. What needs changing are frost DKs, hunter survivability, evokers.

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I’m sorry but if you think warlock specs are anywhere near well designed, let alone best designed in the game, you have no clue what you’re saying. That doesn’t mean other classes and specs don’t need fixing, but at least 2/3 warlock specs are among them.

Demo has major issues that will only be fixed by a redesign, meaning dead talents, or talents that are either broken or useless with nothing in between. The very reason it got a minor overhaul in S3 is exactly because it was poorly designed and it lead to it’s absurd damage spikes followed by minutes of literal tank damage. Right now it’s only held up by the tier bonus, but the spec doesn’t stand well on it’s own at all. Even in S2, the only reason demo was so strong was the availability of the class trinket in combination with fragment. We just stacked everything into our 3 minute CDs and that was it. The fact that we now don’t even build around tyrant, which is supposed to be our major damage cooldown, should speak for itself.

Aff is suffering from serious button bloat and tedious gameplay, and not that many people are fans of the Malefic Rapture version of aff we’ve had since SL including myself. The issue is that dots are no longer the main source of damage, but instead serve as fuel for something on top of the dots to do the damage. It’s just way too tedious and difficult to maintain all of the dots and buffs/debuffs, and in my opinion it hasn’t felt like affliction for a long time. It’s manageable on single target, but adding just one or two extra targets makes it awful to play. I’d personally like to see UA return as a spender.

Destro is the one spec you could argue is well designed but that’s mostly because it has almost no depth with it’s extremely simplistic builder/spender nature with no nuance, and it got even more simplified now that madness isn’t a thing anymore.

Edit: minutes after I posted, this came out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIi43ZpELrA

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Exactly this. But on the flipside, the active play of the mage allows you to cheese a ton of mechanics if you know enough details about them, so the potential is slightly higher. That said, you’ll find both mages and locks at the top.

Also, mage can’t go pet class, whereas warlocks… definitely can.

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Having comat ress on lock deffo helps too. Generally want one of each in a group

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Lemme tell you a lil about both:

BOTH are the pinnacle of casters in terms of strength.

But historically if you compare them Mages are far ahead in M+ and PvP, while Warlock often is stronger than mage in Raid. That being said… since you need an int-buff Mages will never ever get a problem getting invites.

So if you want to be allways strong Mage is the winner (Both are historically strong)

Mages overall are mobile, have high controll, high damage in ST and AOE. They are extremely tanky if you know what you are doing, but frail if you are a bad player. They also have great utility for the group.

If you wanna play mage, get used to play fire, because thats the spec that is allmost allways the best spec for them since a very long time. The specs also are way too similar in terms of gameplay. (Arcane being different tho)

Warlocks are immobile, have good controll, high damage and are extremely tanky in all scenarios. They have great utilty but usually are more restricted due to it being attached to a demon or a curse.

If you wanna play a warlock, you have multiple specs that play very differently because one is a pet-spec, one is a dot spec and one is a direct-dmg spec, so overall more enjoyable if you like to play multiple specs. That being said from a balance point of view usually one goes extremely ahead, while the others lack.

If you dont do high content I would suggest you playing a warlock. If you wanna aim for the stars you mostlikely will be better of playing mage. If you play semi-high you cant do wrong with either (as in general)

At the end its up to what you like more.

(This feedback is kept pretty fundamental to not go too big)

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Outside of gameplay there’s also lore and class fantasy. If You like to have a bond with Your character and create a backstory to him/her, You might want to look into that.

Personally, I’m too put off by the warlocks cruelty to play one. The fact that their greatest abilities are fueled by the souls they’ve harvested from their victims, combined with the fact that the pain an individual suffers when their soul is ripped from their body is simply unimaginable makes it hard for me to feel any bond with such a character.

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11

CR can be covered by all 3 roles, and 4 different classes, not to mention engi rez exists, so you have a much better chance of already having that covered in any given group. Not to mention warlock CR is the worst of all 4 since it’s a 2s cast.

But there is no lust tank, so that only leaves DPS and healers for that, and the two healers that can lust are shaman and prevoker, neither of which is very common. That leaves evoker, hunter, shaman and mage in the DPS spots as most likely, and out of all these, mage is usually taking at least one of those.

Also, since OP mentioned they’re not interested in being meta, it’s safe to assume they don’t do very high end content, and in easier content there’s more emphasis on lust than on CR since people like pumping DPS and the chance of dying are low.

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Drums covers list too tho so either way youve got what you need

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Drums are half the power of actual lust, it’s literally weaker than PI. Nobody wants to use that.

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This is more important than most people realise.

If you go for the best build but hate the personality and feel of what you’ve created, you’re very likely to quit. Even if you’re a top end player.

So if you’re sitting there thinking you wouldn’t like your character to be evil, warlock is just instantly off the table.

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Thank you very much all for commenting, I really appreciate it, you gave me some really good points.

Personally, I like Mage more, but also find it more complicated due to reactive gameplay and a lot of buttons. Arcane and Fire specs seem like very difficult and requires a lot of practice and knowledge. Warlock looks like more proactive class and not very spammy.

I like some things from both - fantasy, mobility and utility of Mage, tankiness, slower gameplay and utility from Warlock. It all comes to which I will be able to play. From my perspective Frost looks like the easiest Mage spec even though it got a bit complicated due to last patch and Destro/Demo look very intuitive and easier to pick up.

I am not very skilled player and have a bit longer learning curve. The main issue with Mage is if I am only able to perform decently in one spec and that spec gets rework.

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isnt it 25 vs 35?

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It’s 15 vs 30. Drums got nerfed at the start of DF.

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If you are not planning to be competitive then you don’t need the spec to be easy.

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I pref to do some low keys and if I like mount to “push” myself up to 10-15 for KSM and usually I do Normal/Heroic raids, but nothing higher then that.

As I said, not care about topping metters but I want to pull my weight and try to perform decently, not to be carried. It’s more about enjoyment and easier learning curve, to be able to play one (even better) two specs without much issues.

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Then play frost. Although I should note that, contrary to popular opinion, frost is probably harder than fire…

If you like the lore, feel, and looks better, that’s really important. Go with that instinct, it won’t fail you. You can learn the details.

Mage has gotten a reputation for being overly complicated, and deservedly so, but if you like it you’ll learn it. I guarantee it.

I’ll even help you if you want it. There are also tutorials online - check it Manather for example. He’s very high level but his basic tutorials will aid you all the same.

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