The new and updated Affliction talents are swinging in a really positive looking direction!
Defined DoT talents in good to reach places, giving Agony and Corruption some individual flare, the crit chance and damage, culling the Siphon Life button - all look really nice.
The Shadow Bolt AoE being tied to Malefic Rapture is a nice treat. I can see the idea, Malefic Rapture goes off and if lucky throws a volley out too. Would have maybe just prefered a talent which makes Shadow Bolt/Drain Soul hit multiple targets but this seems good also!
Oblivion in the PvE tree - yes please!
A bit weird that Darkglare is still hanging on by a thread - but it’s looking like Noodles is going to do a hefty bit of damage so will reserve judgement on that to a later time.
Wondering why Drain Soul still isn’t just the base spender - feels weird we have to take a talent for it. Also really hope they consider making Drain Soul castable while moving. Would really add some great quality of life!
And the general class tree changes also look good too! Feeling pleased being a Warlock main right now!
Thanks Devs, lock rocks for you all!
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I really hope they do not remove soul swap like they said in the post, it makes pvping much more fluid.
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I wonder if they realize that the reason affliction is so unpopular is because malefic rapture is a terrible spell that everyone hates.
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I’m wondering if Soul Swap will become a PvP talent to take the place of Oblivion. Even though they’ve not said it, seems like the most likely thing happening.
I like the direction. They needed to either lean into rapture hard or change the ability dramatically in favor of seed, but the previous iteration made both spenders feel like they were in limbo.
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It’s more beautiful than I dared to imagine
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The Talent Calculator on WoWHead has already been updated and my goodness I was able to take every talent I really wanted for each Talent setup I was aiming for. It really is nicely set out. The four-pronged end with three talents each nicely gives me three capstones I want, and I can dip my toe into a single talent of the final prong so I still feel I’m getting something. Such a good feeling!
That would be rough because the 3 pvp talents we are running right now are basically mandatory. But who knows a lot of stuff will change since it’s a new xpac.
The only people that hate it don’t understand the spec or the need for MR.
MR is what keeps Aff viable.
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What PvP talents are being taken now? Isn’t Oblivion one of them?
Rampant afflictions (UA on 3 targets), Jinx (curses apply Agony and Corruption) and Rot and Decay (Drain soul and Drain Life extend your dots).
Snozey babe, don’t engage with them anymore. You poor thing, you’ve been doing the Lord’s work on these forums trying to educate the children but they won’t learn and it will burn you out 
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It’s what I do when I’m bored.
I’m picking dinner up at a food truck at my neighborhood entrance so just waiting for that to finish.
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Hmm…definitely interesting changes - looking forward to seeing them in action to get a better idea of how it all works together.
In the meantime, what’s the design intent of Oblivion? I assume it would do more damage to 1 target compared to 2 MR casts? Or just a way to quickly dump shards? Just trying to figure out where it fits in given the return of MR as the go-to spender
Looks to be Aff’s big CD.
Oblivion looks to deal about 8 to 9 times the damage of a Malefic Rapture to a single target.
It looks really nice, can’t wait to give it a try! I saw Kalamazi streaming it for a sec but can’t watch it right now. Love that siphon life is gone and just boosts corruption - and oblivion!
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I was really on-board until i read theyre removing Soul Swap and Soul Flame.
Please tell me Soul Swap will at least exist for PVP. I was excited for the Soul Swap + Wither interaction.
And Soul Flame is such a satisfying POP in AOE, especially visually which is seriously a department Warlock lacks.
Oh we get Oblivion in PVE? Good, ive loved using it in PVP.
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Ah that makes sense then!
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I’d rather do 50% of everyones damage with a spec that actually feels fun than have to use MR.
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