Affliction: Class Fantasy, Necromancy?

Classes Warlock
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I’ve been thinking lately about Warlocks and Class Fantasy, and I think that Affliction is close to where it should be, but right now it’s a bit nebulous on it’s intent.

Whereas Demonology speaks well enough to being about the summoning and control of Demons, and Destruction speaks of bringing fire and carnage; (to-wit destruction), Affliction is left as a bit of an odd-duck in that it’s still an awful lot like Shadow Priest.

af·flic·tion
/əˈflikSH(ə)n/

  1. something that causes pain or suffering.
    “a crippling affliction of the nervous system”

synonyms: disorder, disease, malady, complaint, ailment, illness, indisposition, scourge, plague, trouble, menace, evil, visitation.

My suggestion is that Blizzard consider continuing the trend that they started with spells like Haunt, Deathbolt, and Siphon Life and make Affliction into a straight up Necromancy spec (or barring that for purists set aside some glyphs) for Warlocks so they could indulge that class fantasy in Affliction spec. The playstyle suits what would be a Necromancer perfectly.

While we might need a few spell renames / tints but realistically speaking, surely that’s easier than designing a entirely new class about it?

Examples:

Seed of Corruption: (Use a blueish necromancy color instead of fel)
Agony: (Use a blueish necromancy color instead of fel)

Enslave Demon: (Replaced by Enslave Evil) This would allow Warlocks to control the same things a Paladin is able to turn. Abberations, Undead, Demons, etc.

Shadow Bolt: (Replace with by Necrotic Bolt) Same spell / function. Different Graphic. Would use a blueish necromancy color instead of fel.

Demons could also be pretty easily swapped out for undead minions as well.

Imp: Skeletal Mage
Voidwalker: Abomination
Succubus: Banshee
Felhunter: Skeletal Warrior (with a shield bash that achieves the same as Spell Lock)
Infernal: (Marrowgar?)

Main reason I’m suggesting this is because I think that it would be a major improvement to Warlocks and the Class in general if much like Destruction and Demonology, Affliction had it’s own independent niche.

Necromancer is a often requested class, but when you think about it, wouldn’t such a class probably play either like a Affliction Warlock or like a Death Knight?

Because of that, I think it’d be a solid improvement to diversify Affliction’s fantasy by turning it into “the” premier Necromancer Spec in that sense. While Necromancer “could” become it’s own independent class, it might step too close on Death Knights if it was independent.

Besides when you really look at the class, let’s be honest. Necromancy, Demons, Hellfire. That seems like the unholy trinity of Dark magic where it relates to Warcraft, and Warlocks are supposed to be the pinnacle of that fantasy.

Thanks for reading!

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The basic premise of warlocks is that they made a bargain with (living) demons for fel-based magic and power.

It would be cool to see a necromancer class added to wow. I could see it being a Priest dps spec actually: a disciple of a death god given the power to controls spirits, zombies, skeletons, etc…

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Oh, I agree with that being the original concept for sure way back when we started the game; but here let me break down it down a little further. While originally I feel like that’s the core of a Warlock, when Blizzard added Class fantasy, I feel like they were shooting to encapsulate 3 different styles and distinct themes for each class.

In that sense, the original premise behind Warlock seems like what Demonology Warlocks do. By the same sentiment, Destruction just needs a dark-red (Sargeras Sword) color themed Chaos Bolt, and it could be set up as essentially the Blood Magic / Blood Mage spec. Maybe making the Soul Shards float around like Verdant Spheres and you’ve got it nailed.

Of course the green fire quest would have to continue to allow you to ‘shift’ spells to fel (and I feel like that always needs to be retained). But on the same token, I feel like Affliction just seems like the best definement of what is the Necromancer Spec. It’s not so much about demons, as it is about corruption, drains, and dark magic. Basically it’s a plague spec, so why dance around it?

While I do agree that the Priest could also become a solid fit for a Necromancer Class, it I feel like Priest would have to be reworked to achieve this, while Affliction has the spells and effects already.

Wouldn’t Priest also be better served to have a Holy DPS spec to pair to it’s Shadow Spec ( Healing, Whitemane style holy dps smiting, Void / Shadow )?

Regardless of what Blizzard went with, I’d really request the creation of Glyphs as a means to give Affliction Locks to either use undead (or reclaim their living demons since the goal isn’t to change playstyle or take options away from Locks).

I just feel like when I look at each spec, you know where they are and what their about. The two that feel like they are a bit off atm are Discipline and Affliction, hence why I suggest Holy Dps, and Necromancy for their respective classes.

4

It’s clearly a hexxer of some variety. Affliction’s fantasy is not necromancy.

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Necromancy is DK’s if its anyone’s.

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6

A pure necromancer has pretty much always been a cloth-wearing spellcaster, so despite DKs having that flavor I don’t think they really count for the fantasy
Didn’t Warlocks straight up create the Scourge anyway?

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Pretty much. The Burning Legion / Nathrezim made the Scourge. This is why I feel like it’s the final chink in the Warlock’s otherwise impregnable suit of dark magic.

Admittedly Nathrezim also use the Void, but this is one of those cases where things bleed into eachother I reckon. Warlocks use Shadow, but so do Priests, and so do Death Knights. Warlocks were also Death Knights from Warcraft II, and Cho’gall became a Shadow Priest.

Point is, I think it’d be a solid niche for Affliction in that sense. Shadow is more about the insanity, and Death Knights about Runes and martial skill. Contrasting that, Warlocks are more about control and tend to not die when they die, much like Kel’thuzad.

I mean in a worst case, scenario would people really object to some glyphs that turned demons into undead when that’s basically all that would be required to make such a thing plausible? Ulthalesh wasn’t exactly a demonic relic, even if it was forged and used by demons.

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Warlocks can manipulate souls that haven’t “passed on” yet. Going beyond that, like animating corpses is Lich King (and in turn, death knight) territory. Yes, the Lich Kinf was created by the Burning Legion using fel magic, but my being like Sargeras and KJ which are literal gods compared to your average warlock.

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Warlock isn’t a necromancer. No warlocks want blue-ish spell colors. Warlocks use the fel and by extension felfire, which is red and green and purple.

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Your pet ideas really showcase how much this is already the realm of DKs, and specifically Unholy DKs. They are the ones that have classically had necromantic powers in the WoW universe.

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The sad and funny part is that mostly all I am suggesting are glyph recolors, and not actual changes to gameplay or spec and yet half of you essentially decry what amounts to variety in a game that lacks customization sorely.

It doesn’t explain why Warlocks have spells like Deathbolt and Haunt which deal with Ghosts and other abilities. I would have zero issue with them using different creatures if it stepped on DKs too much. I main a Warlock and have from day one of Vanilla WoW. I would like it, so saying “no Warlock wants this” is a non-argument. I could get on mine which uses the High Warlord armor mog if you wanted as well.

As for the rest, Death Knights as they currently are have only existed in the third War and beyond. Warlocks (First Gen. DKs) and Necrolytes were using Necromancy long before current DKs were a part of the story as a general lore point.

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