TLDR: Affliction warlock is fine in M+, even top-notch. The problem lies not in damage, but in playerbase, theorycrafters and progamer spread and acceptance.
On the standard M+ and especially on fortified you will always do more damage with Writhe in Agony and alignment of CDs from the last 2 talent rows. With Writhe in Agony and the conduit to improve its duration it will last till you finished your burst to redot. Writhe in Agony improves Agony Damage by 100% from 10 to 18 stacks, imagine the multitarget gain and no more gcd than normal. Thats far more than 15% on corruption or life siphon per se. You take life siphon only on single target with haunt. That’s nearly never the case for M+ , but on highest tyrannical ToP or fortified for a coordinated kill at a breakpoint.
I am just 204 equipped on this one and I really hate that I didn’t play this class earlier because I am pulling 5-5.5k overall dps on keys with 4.5k singletarget, 6-7k on 2 target and 25k for multitarget (5-7). Imagine what afflis are able to do on higher gear? I calculated the scale.
The second best affliction warlock in rio has nearly the best gear you could possibly have (he has the wrong legendary for m+ and not in head) . But he has way more gear than the first with 217 and a lot of bad pieces.
The problem with this class lies in playerbase. There are not enough players who are great (pro)players and play it forcefully to the limit.
The point is, BOTH of these rio M+ afflis, who probably play more raid or aren’t the smartest guys on earth and are just playing the game, they could do more damage with said talent and conduit combination on their keys. The question is, what would that look like? The situation is analogue to the arcane mage situation. Arcane Mage has such a big dps standard deviation in this small fraction of the playerbase because mana management and burst is very difficult for most players and there are also key players lacking. Even the legendary to RESET your arcane stacks gets recommended facepalm*.
To come back to affliction warlocks. Key players are playing unstable affliction which is nearly no dps gain. Corruption redotting is simple and one seed and not multiple gcd - you can live with that compromise for 100% more Agony damage. Even in single target, it s not that far off life siphon (under the circumstance you dont have the 20% more shards legendary, then it can shift a bit more to life siphon)
I wrote that in knowledge of the risk that you all adapt now and we receive Agony nerfs.
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Problem lies not in player base. Players attitude towards current spec state is product of blizzard’s attitude towards warlock class design, and the way how agressive Meta is right now.
Sure you can pull some crazy DPS numbers, but it has zero to none meaning for rest of the players, because current Meta has successfully formed public oppinion about non meta classes/specs.
For many people it is weird to see surv hunter in trying to get a spot in the group, while hunter could just switch to MM and be easily accepted in the groups.
With warlocks it somewhat the same, why bother yourself with Affli warlock, who potentialy could be bad with zero mobility, questionable utility and maybe good DPS, when you can get fire mage, WW or other meta class that could show results in the hands of bad player.
We always had meta in game, but i cant’t remember when Meta was so agressive and difference between Meta and good class was so big.
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The problem is the average Warlock really. They either are decently good or horrendously bad, nothing in between.
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well, stuff dies in half burst. agony duration doesnt make a diference to me.
i have no idea how u pull 25k dps aoe. max i ever did was like 16k and i have no idea how, cause i always do the same rotation, sometimes it does 6k others 10/12k.
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This ones a big one for me, I can do crazy numbers if my tank is timing with my CD’s +pulling well for warlock, otherwise im stuck dotting everything and before im done everything is dead.
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Ramp up is a problem, yes. Especially on low keys or speedruns because Agony and the others are slow cast spreaders. Thats why Affli will never be part of e.g. MDI.
Utility not so much but yes; aoe stun (with cast time…) , skip , br (with longer casttime than druid) … , no soak
Tank pulls are more a problem of bad pugs.
25k on 6-8 targets with pride or bloodlust (not both in this case) and full shards which you should already have after applying agony. If you want more, i mostly play singularity but aoewise the other aoe dot should be better but it costs 1 shard… .
My written dps for the 1 or 2 target are prolonged fights with bl or pride while the other one is short aoe and will have a steady state at 11-12k
To be honest the issue with pulling with warlock I’m mind isn’t just a affliction thing. Last night I had a tank who was so slow even when there was nothing to wait for that as demo I lost all my procs and most my momentum that could easily of been pulled into the next pack . It took like 6 gos before I had to finally say hes literally killing my dps by being a snail , like unless there is a reason (mana healer or something) I could see the issue
But my point is yeah in general warlock isn’t great in pug groups, which to be honest goes beyond just m+. Warlock historically dont do as good in lfg pvp ether they thrive a lot better in regular groups because they need the situational awareness of “playing with warlock in mind” to get the most out of them
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I’m sorry, but I don’t believe these numbers. I have never, say never, seen a lock affli in m + do 25k in aoe. The reason nobody wants to lock is that it almost always does ridiculous dps, period. If you can do these numbers, and I don’t know how, fine, but it doesn’t mean anything. If no one else can do them, it means the class isn’t working.
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Everything is a problem in warlocks’ world. It is not only ramp. In halls for example, Affliction is kind of useless in some weeks. Demo is much better there. Yet, the problem remains:
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it is not tank issue. Why should I choose warlock when I can select boomie that does more dps, has great utility and can play around me not vice versa.
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Ramp is so slow that mage can burst with 40k everything before you even pull your dark glare and start spending your precious malefic rapture.
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12k dps on 2 targets constantly is a bit too much. So you are saying that you do better than Sjele or Sym ? Nah, with BL and all cds - sure once in a 3 mins you can reach 11k, then next 3 mins you will remain in a dead spot .
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Show proof of your numbers and don’t cheat with PI etc. ;-p (proof for the 5.5k overall and 25k multi target) cause currently you got nothing to back up your ridiculous claim ;-p
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My biggest problem is Spreading Agony.
No agony no shards, no shards no damage.
Many times when 4-5 mob’s in pack when I finish
casting Agony, first 1-2 dead already or has 10-15% health.
I tell you when my damage is good, when I’m in weak party
and pack’s leave enough time to ramp up dot’s!
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SoC should spead agony instead of corr
My problem is purely keeping up with AOE in Mythic+. When I go ST spec, I’m an absolute boss killer, and the trade off is AOE. I’ve been paying around with an AOE spec but then the boss damage feels bad. Further refinement is required on my part.
I think it’s partly my play style and I’m working on that, but buffing SOC to either include Agony placement or do more initial explosion damage & remove the shard cost would be a good start.
I’m at the point where I only do M+ with the guild. They accept my AOE is low but like the boss dmg output 
Well I think it’s possible but just too hard hit 25k I can do like 20 sometimes. I’m like 224 I think I’m not a bad lock I just did every +15 for the achievement. We are not really consistent to be a meta class, we are not bad but also not good
People who play THE dot class and want all multi-dotting to be done by pressing 1 ability every 12 seconds
Next I’m gonna go to the disc forum and tell them i want Shields removed because it’s not really healing.
On Topic: I guess this guy who’s just picked up the spec has mastered it better than anyone else.
SoC is just to apply cor, but it would be better if it would only apply Agony. I don’t get what you want from, I just told an improvement to the meta
Ah, your post above wasn’t clear, it looked like you want it to apply both.
There’s absolutely nothing fun about tab/dotting above 3 or 4 mobs, especially with slow ramp up time. There has to be a more elegant way of dealing with AOE. whether that’s a cast and auto apply or reduction/removal of GCD for specific DOTs, I don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the DOT class and enjoy single target and small group fights. But most AOE trash in M+ at the moment is just naff.
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Oh I reread my post, stupid Phone auto correct. My bad.