Caster Rework

I’m putting this in the Warlock topic as I feel Destro locks are among the specs most affected by this. Plain and simple - the amount of movement mechanics in place for casters makes playing specs like Destro punishing at this time. It feels bad to begin a cast only to have to cancel it to move, and sometimes, move multiple more times before your next cast can begin. Sure, we can add mobility spells but at the end of the day, there is a fundamental issue with the current state of casters. Blizz sometimes indirectly addresses this by giving casters a higher damage profile or slight buffs, then to nerf them later, which is a temporary fix to the gameplay issued hard casters experience while doing mechanics.

Proposal: Hard casting should be reserved for only the heaviest hitting/most telegraphed spells. I’m talking Chaos Bolt for Destro locks and Void torrent for Spriest as some examples. The rest of your traditionally casted spells should not tie the player down. From a lore perspective it makes sense - mages should be able to cast lower level spells while on the move, while the more powerful spells should require immense concentration. From a gameplay perspective it feels bad to have to move out of a swirly while halfway through a cast. Here’s how we can address this without adding/removing abilities. Allow casting of lesser/filler spells to be cast on the move at a reduced speed (probably 50-60% of normal movement speed) - also give us a unique strafe animation while casting so that our characters are still facing the target. This would allow players to adjust to mechanics coming out while still having agency over their gameplay to some degree. This would also encourage casters to consider whether or not they should hard cancel casting, and that ‘stop casting’ keybind/macro that is rarely used, may see some more use as well.

Would love to know your thoughts here!

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If you play Destro, your not a warlock. Destro is a dumbed down spec that ought to be found when rolling a Mage. Most of us would like it to
dissappear.

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Tying the 10.1 tier set to Channel Demonfire pretty much guarantees I won’t get 10 feet within Destro next season at all.

No DPS buff is going to be worth trying to stand still long enough to cast that talent with the way fights are in the game now.

You trolling bro?

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Dang all the destro hate :cold_face:

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I do think the OP is on to something regarding legacy caster mechanics versus where the game is heading gameplay-wise. I feel more and more like I’m fighting against my spec and its mechanics while dealing with the encounter. It just doesn’t feel very satisfying.

There was a time (MoP) where casters started to gain more on demand casting while moving, KJC memes aside. Blizz retreated from that stance after that xpack but is still increasing movement requirements. Its incredibly frustrating.

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Well, to be fair, everyone knows that Demonology is the only true Warlock. The rest are just pretending so they look cool! :stuck_out_tongue:

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You need to stop that destro hate speech

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LOL.

I just assumed he was trolling because of what he said lol.

Destro is simply embarrassing to true Warlocks. Its a Mage spec and a spec for those who cannot play Warlock.

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More and more we see mechanics where we get punished for casting and have 0 options but to just cancel and move. Temple of the Jade Serpent and the Burial Mounds of Nokhud Offensive are two good examples.

If I could simply move (even if a little bit) could still avoid the mechanic without taking damage and still show skill expression while picking the best direction to move and casting the correct spells in my rotation.

Like you said it feels bad to have to cancel casts constantly.

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Not to mention raid fights like Sennarth… Which are absolutely brutal on any class that you have to actually cast on to do damage.

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We just started doing sennarth prog, and gotta say not being able to use DS half the time makes me wanna eat a bottle of glass.

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Room temperature iq take right here

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While I don’t agree with the destro hate, I do kind of feel like warlocks have lost a lot of identity along the way.

Removing life tap (which made sense since mana no longer matters) and hellfire stripped a lot of the whole “sacrificing health for power” aspect.

During BC warlocks were tanks for some fights - Leo in SSC, Astromancer in KT fight, Mages did better in Ogre Council but warlocks could do it overall better.

Health sustain meant mechanics during Magtheridon, Netherspite, and Baleroc were dominated by warlocks. Now we can pop dark pact and unending resolve, but other folks can just immune it and don’t have to self heal through the damage. That’s not to say we don’t have utility. Just feels like a lot has been stripped away (and I’m not even talking about death coil and metamorphosis).

Shadow priests used to be an off-heal/damage combo, but between them and DKs, dot-based damage isn’t exactly unique.

Chaos damage couldn’t be resisted and searing pain was a unique way for warlocks to keep aggro when tanking, but now Destro is pretty much the same as most other casters.

And demon hunters came in and grabbed at soul shards (fragments), chaos damage, demons, fire, and even shadow/darkness.

I’m not saying warlocks are useless or anything of the sort, just that sometimes we sure don’t feel different anymore.

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EXACTLY! if u are REAL WARLOCK you are AFFLICTION! :heart:

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So why do you parse green and blue with Destro?

Should see his destro parses lol

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Let casters move please.

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I think your original post covers it pretty well, but I’ll tackle it from a different angle. Warlock has always been the immobile tank caster, it’s a pretty fun archetype for me, but blizz has dropped the ball with the amount of movement in recent raids.

While I’m not entirely sure how I’d want to tackle it, I find that theres a pretty substantial design flaw in higher end content where classes aren’t actually balanced around their mobility and utility. It’s kind of crazy that a destro lock can do less damage than say a BM hunter in a pure patchwerk single target fight. Because these fights bascially dont exist, and the moment movement is part of the equation, the destro will lose infinitely more than the BM!

While I can appreciate wanting to cast and move, I think that I would personally like to see more damage, really lean into the fantasy of the class. In pure patchwerk, hardcasting classes should deal more damage than more mobile options. Big bonus points for having chaos bolt actually return as a real nuke!

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I kind of lost interest in Demo when it became an imp mother.

That said, I agree that casters seem to be stuck 10 years in the past, and have failed to evolve along with the encounter design in WoW. There definitely should be more ability to move and cast. There’s a reason why hunters are so popular, even when they aren’t top dps. It’s just more fun to actually be able to do mechanics and not have your dps tank.

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