Considering unsubbing until the state of warlock improves

Classes Warlock
1

So this topic is likely to hopefully grab some attention because good constructive criticism is always needed.

In previous expansions I’d strictly play warlock during WoD onwards for over 12 hours a day.

It was an extremely unhealthy obsession although in saying this I’m extremely passionate about my class and I would love to have that same feeling back where I just can’t get enough of playing Warlock again.

Unfortunately that isn’t the case.

If anyone knows Warlock from head to toe I’d be among some of the players who do.

Dragonflight released on the 28th of November. We’re nearly 2 months later and our class is still pulling sub optimal damage for what it should be doing.

Where’s our top performing spec, Even at the 90th + percentile on WCL over the last week worth of data our class is bottom of the pack for damage output. Prior to the last week the class was performing even worse. This just isn’t acceptable months into the xpac launching

Most mythic raiders should be at least striving for 90+ percentile if logging in my opinion so this should give us a good understanding on class balance at the highest level competitively.

warcraftlogs(dot)com/zone/statistics/31#dataset=90&sample=7

Why am I seeing 3 rogue specs in the top 3 of the rankings still…

The glaring issue at the moment is damage output. Playing a class that doesn’t do competitive damage on the meters comparted to your guild members during a mythic raid just sucks the fun out of the game.

As a damage dealer you want to be up top of course, Or at least very close to the top. For a pure dps class there’s no excuse not to have 1 spec of each of the pure dps classes in the top spots in rankings.

Secondly, What’s going on with the talent trees.

Being forced into making horrible node choices for stuff like cataclysm is unfair when there are many spells that should have easy node path choices.

Affliction is an absolute mess mechanically and needs to be reworked. The playstyle since malefic rapture or stackable UA’s became a thing took away from what affliction really specialises in. Damage over time spells.

Who is in charge of class balance?

I’ll be monitoring WCL like a hawk along with class changes/updates for our class so I’ll know when to return if I leave temporarily.

I want to play dragonflight but seeing class balance in it’s current state months into the expansion just sucks the enjoyment out of the game for me.

I apologise in advance if you don’t feel the same way but numbers do not lie. The forums currently are littered with posts about sub optimal damage so I know I’m not alone with my thoughts on this topic.

Edit- If anyone can convince me our class is doing acceptable damage otherwise please do and I’d be happy to stay and enjoy the game and my class. For now it seems like if I want to play Warlock I have to be content with bad damage.

3 Likes
2

Warlock specs are likely all around the middle of the pack after this week’s buffs and 10.0.5 changes go through for affliction. That is acceptable to me.

It sounds like you need to be at the top on wcl for it to be acceptable to you. Nothing wrong with that. You are making the right choice of setting the game down if that’s the case. I’m sure there will be a warlock spec near the top at some point in the xpac.

1 Like
3

When do the buffs take effect or have they already?

I don’t mind being middle of the pack if Warlock is engaging to play but it’s neither engaging or performing well.

Got to have 1 or the other. Both would be nice but can’t be picky.

4

There are two charts to look at. ATM overall dmg for a full run, bosses and trash, the locks are middle to lower pack. ATM boss dmg we are spread from top (affliction),mid (demonology), and bot (destruction) for the 95%+ for a full run.

The fights individually will be different but that’s the 2 charts currently being shown on WoWhead for week 4 data

1 Like
5

Destro and aff buffs went live yesterday. More changes to aff in 10.0.5 which should be end of the month.

If you just don’t find them engaging, that’s another thing to consider.

6

I’m not considering unsubbing, but as it currently stands I do regret maining Warlock.

Aff just… there’s nothing to the spec. It’s so bland. I used to love Aff.
Destro is fun but I just can’t see myself sticking to it for the long haul.
I don’t really care for Demo.

Now I’m looking at Shaman, DK or Hunter as possible mains to take over my Warlock.

2 Likes
7

Nice post… I’ve been an off and on again WoW players since Vanilla and have always played Warlock. Not sure what’s going on with this expansion but its a little brutal to be honest. I’m probably middle of the road as a player… got a few add on’s try to do good rotations and I watch the videos etc…

I tried switching to destruction yesterday for about 3 hours… but it became apparent to me that between the cast times, and the dmg output, destruction would still need to be bumped up by 20% or more to even come close to what I was doing with demonology.

I did have a fun / cool / eye opening thing happen last night… was getting late so for giggles I signed up for a heroic vaults raid. After a couple seconds, I got picked up. I looked around and realized I would be kicked soon, it was a full guild raid and I could tell they were highly organized.

The raid leader then told me I had 3 jobs and that was it, make cookies, make closets and keep a SS on a specific healer. He could care less about my damage. After the first boss I realized why, I was trying to do my best, and was #14 on the dmg meter… the top 11 were either monks, demon hunters or rogues.

Actually was a fun time… I did my job but they never once griped about my dmg. They pulled my corpse through a couple fights I had no clue how to do on heroic… and I ended up with a couple 400+ gear (no set pieces though, bummer… need 1 more for my 4 piece) I finally was thanked for my service and booted at Raz… they had a warlock log in from the guild and to be honest, my life expectancy was around 10 seconds on that fight.

couple things I pulled from last night though:

  1. Warlocks and some other DPS classes need some love… our job is to do dmg and as long as that’s our job we just are not up there enough.

  2. Blizzard messed up… the boss fights are too hectic to even enjoy unless you rank enjoyment by difficulty. I’m so busy looks at what I am standing on, or trying to work through a rotation I rarely get a chance to enjoy the fight. Don’t even get me started on Raz… out of position once and you die and that is usually it for the fight that round when you lose a person.

  3. If you can’t balance on dps well… then we need some type of support class or variation. I think back to Everquest, it was the trinity but there were some classes that were also heavy on support… think enchanter who could mezz, charm, even turn in to furniture or become invisible. Maybe something where classes get more utility instead of dmg that makes some of the mechanics easier. I don’t know… just thinking out loud.

Not one to whine about it… but something is just off with this expansion and my favorite class. I don’t feel like we are dead in the water, but rotations and dmg output just don’t seem to be where they should be. my 2 cents

4 Likes
8

I personally don’t put a lot of value in overall damage for raid. It matters for m+, but not for raid. Boss damage is what counts.

1 Like
9

I am usually top 3 in my guild in raid, but we’re pretty casual and only now approaching a full normal clear with heroic on the horizon.

You have to consider your skill too. For example, even before yesterday’s buff, I still played destro simply because it is more familiar to me. Even though Demo is “s-tier”, I can still perform better as destro, simply because I’m not as practiced at demo.

I think Destruction still needs some additional tuning, but not sure on 20% :slight_smile:

10

This is dependent on the encounter. Add damage is very important on some. There is relevance to both metrics.

11

I took the overall to mean overall for the raid, including trash, but maybe I’m not interpreting that correctly.

12

Overall damage is the damage to boss plus any adds that spawn. Boss damage is only damage done to the boss during the encounter. This is evidenced in a log for a boss like Kurog, where you do no boss damage during the add phase. Trash is definitely irrelevant in Vault.

13

I’m the same way with my affliction spec… i can “play” demo and destruction but i’m a well practiced affliction main spec

1 Like