Affliction and destruction are two of the absolute worst specs (of all the 27 specializations) as you can play in pvp in Season of Discovery. The class isn’t that good in pve either.
Many of the warlock-runes need changes actually, and here are some of my ideas:
Demonic Pact - legs rune:
This rune gives a spell power buff for the warlock’s raid group. The big problem about this rune is just that it gives nothing special for just the warlock. This rune is a copy of a Wrath of the Lich King demonology talent. That talent did the same thing as this rune does, but the talent also increased the warlock’s own spell power by 10 %, and I think this rune need a similar buff. It doesn’t have to be 10 %, but the rune should absolutely give the warlock some extra spell power.
Mark of Chaos - feet rune:
This rune does so the warlock can use a curse like Curse of Agony, but still give the effects from Curse of the Elements and Curse of Shadow to the raid group. Here we have the same problem; the rune really gives nothing special for just the warlock. This rune should therefore be removed, and its effect should be added to the Pandemic head rune.
Blackdraft - head rune:
This rune should give the same effect for the warlock as it does today, but “Conflagrate no longer consumes Immolate” should be replaced by “Conflagrate no longer requires an Immolate effect to be active on the target”.
Master Channeler - chest rune:
This rune should get a buff, so that Drain Life’s cooldown is instantly reset and its mana cost is returned to the warlock if the spell is dispelled or removed by an immune spell like Ice Block or any paladin-bubble.
Invocation - waist rune:
This rune is just a sad joke, especially in pvp. This rune should be redone and instead give the warlock some buffs if the player don’t have a pet summoned. So the new rune should be like the hunter-Lone Wolf rune, but with some other effects.
Demonic Knowledge - feet rune:
This rune became nerfed the day before phase 4 started, and now it only gives the warlock about 30 spell power in level 60. There is no competent player in the whole world who would even think about using a rune that only gives +30 spell power. This rune should be buffed, redesigned or removed from the game.
Incinerate - wrist rune:
The problem about this rune in pvp is that a destruction warlock needs to cast the Incinerate spell to get a +25 % fire damage increase buff. The warlock also needs to cast Conflagrate to get the +30 % spell casting increase buff, and the warlock also needs to cast the Immolate spell to be able to cast Conflagrate. The warlock needs a lot of time to buff herself/himself before she/he is ready to do some okay damage, and if the warlock is fighting a class like a rogue, a paladin or a ranged hunter, then the warlock will be dead within a few seconds; long before the warlock even had a chance to get the buffs from the runes. Because of all this: This rune should be changed so it instead passively increases the damage of the warlock’s fire spells by 25 %. The rune should also give the warlock a high chance when the warlock takes a single target direct hit to make the player’s next Incinerate spell instant cast.
Summon Felguard - wrist rune:
This rune should be moved from the wrist slot to the legs slot. The problem today is that a destruction warlock needs the Incinerate spell, and an affliction warlock needs Unstable Affliction to do okay dps. Many warlocks also need Unstable Afflction to make it harder for priests and paladins to dispel all of their damage over time spells. And… a warlock also need another “good” pet than the imp in the first raid instances, because the imp pet can’t do any damage at all (and therefore can’t give the Demonic Pact spell power buff to the raidgroup) if the bosses are immune to fire damage.
Also, all caster and healing classes except warlocks have either talents or runes that gives the player a 70-100 % chance to not lose casting time when she/he takes direct damage. Why should’t warlocks have a similar effect? Perhaps Fel Armor should be buffed so it gives the same effect to the warlocks?
This is just a few of my ideas. What do you think? And yes, warlock is not the only weak class in phase 4 of Season of Discovery. And pvp will not be fun if classes like rogues, paladins, and hunters can just smash you down in 0,1-3 seconds even if you are well geared.
