How Do I not Be Bad?

Wyrmrest Accord
1

Please don’t tell me to kms, that’s usually the kind of responses I get.

I can’t do tons of content in this game because I’m old and just really really bad.

Example, I was just in the maw with a monk. He could fight 3 elites and a rare silver all by himself. He’s 225, I’m 199, we were in a group. Over the course of 30 minutes I died 4 times. Thank goodness for soul stones.

Is it demo? Is it my ilvl? I follow icy veins, I’m on the warlock discord. But if you ask questions there, they just say, read the pins.

So like specifically, the monk pulled a dragon out of the sky with these chains. Swirlies were everywhere, all the time, I couldn’t really cast. I felt so worthless. Defensively, I used Curse of Tongues, felguard stun, mortal coil, and dark fury every cd.

I just want to be able to do content and see things in the game, but I don’t know how to be good.

2

…That went dark rapidly…

Watch some twitch streamers and look for players who play your class. Whether it’s PvP / PvE / World content you’re after, knowledge is power in this game. You have to be comfortable with your own character rotation / capabilities / role before you can expect to be able to do what other players are doing. Sometimes it’s class restrictive, like in PvP or a role in PvE. But for world content like you’re describing, with time, you’ll be able to do the same.

Just remember where you are now and don’t tell people to go kill themselves if they stroll up on you pulling 5 mobs and soloing them and they’re backpeddaling into a group of 3 more and die.

1 Like
3

That’s because most of the people who play this game are terrible and cruel. But for what it’s worth I very much doubt the forum regulars here would ever say this to you so don’t worry about that.

6 Likes
4

It’s awful (and yet, sadly, unsurprising) that you’d get such a response for so innocuous a question.

I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with that, that’s not something anyone should have to put up with.

This is likely the crux of the issue.

Skill plays a part, yes, and knowing how to use your abilities is important, but WoW is very much a gear-based game. With a high enough ilevel you can make all sorts of mistakes and still come out none the worse for wear.

“Getting good” in WoW is mostly just a matter of getting better gear.

5 Likes
5

I’m also curious about the monk’s spec, I generally run around mainly as Mistweaver or sometimes Brewmaster because I can do a lot of dumb things and survive threw it. My damage might not be great but I sure can’t die. I’m at around 199 but I know that monks are generally fairly strong this expansion so I wouldn’t compare yourself to one.

I wish I could offer advice on what could help you on your Warlock. I have a lot of trouble on rogues, even though I love the class and it was something I mained on and off since TBC. I only really stuck to casual content because I always feel so weak and easily destroyed on even the most mildly challenging content which discouraged me from playing one at all.

6

Well, every increase of 1 item level roughly translates to a 1% increase in power, before even factoring in things like legendaries and soulbinds and stuff. So I wouldn’t feel too discouraged that someone 26% more powerful than you is doing better than you.

But since you asked…

Being Demo probably isn’t doing you any favors. Demo is among the lowest-ranked DPS specs in Castle Nathria, while Affliction, for instance, has been consistently one of the highest. Just making the switch to Affliction might make you feel a lot more powerful.

There’s no accounting for taste, though. Outside of Mythic or high-level Mythic+, you can succeed with basically any spec. It’s just that the ceiling for how well you can do is lower, but if you don’t feel like you’re hitting that ceiling regardless, it’s better to play what you find more fun.

Well - did you read the pins?

It’s pretty common for questions along the lines of “how do I increase my DPS/die less in raid” to get responses like “read the guide” because there’s an entire community of people who figure out the mathematically optimal options for your character and write a guide about it. So, for better or worse, a lot of advice on how to play better boils down to “do what the guide says to the letter, and once you’ve mastered that, you can think about experimenting.”

I usually go to WoWhead for stuff like that; you can find the demo guide here https://www.wowhead.com/demonology-warlock-guide and the Affliction guide here https://www.wowhead.com/affliction-warlock-guide.

For what it’s worth, my guild’s current healer (and longtime DPS before that) is in her 60’s. I’m a pretty firm believer that age doesn’t make you literally incapable of being good at WoW or anything like that. But it will take some practice, especially if you weren’t raised in the tradition of video games that a lot of people you’ll be playing with were.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to try to find a group of people with whom you can run high-level content regularly. 90% of being good at WoW is practice, and even running stuff like Mythic +2’s and LFR or Normal Castle Nathria will go a long way toward getting your feet wet.

3 Likes
7

Do not compare your warlock to a monk. At the moment, Windwalker is hilariously capable of soloing most content without much issue, even at lower ilvls.

What it boils down to it ilvl. Warlocks have to be pretty cautious when below around 205 or 210 since that’s where you really feel the power of your spells start to hit.

Make sure you make use of your gateways and portals for escapes and positioning so a roving hostile doesn’t walk up and stomp on you. Voidguard / Felguard is your best friend, you’ll want to keep an eye on their health from time to time and top them off plus Life Drain to recoup. Protect them and they’ll protect you.

Devour health stones when you get to 65% or lower or in a pinch, abuse them, do not save these for no reason.

That’s a special thing for the weekly event, it sounds like. Something about having to pick up the chain balls around the zone and use it on them. There are times it’s useful to ask which Curse your throwing on enemies and why, if the dragon dives straight at you then it’s probably a good idea to use Weakness as opposed to Tongues. Apologies if that tone is condescending.

2 Likes
8

As others have said, ilvl is the big difference maker atm.

Spec also plays a bit of the role (not so much in open world but you’d be surprised what might cause one to slip up barely affects another). Demo is one of the more underperforming specs, and it’s the lowest for warlocks. Aff is #1 by a large margin, but Destro can certainly pump.

Finally, monk is one of those it’s not fair to compare yourself to. Ret paladins, WW monks, and several others are just doing so well for themselves that playing a different class and expecting the same results is only punishing yourself.

9

Well, a couple things: first, ilvl is not ilvl. While it is true that 25 ilvls of the same gear is about 25% output difference, as you get closer to the ilvl cap (227), most players are replacing poor quality gear of lower item level with high quality gear of high ilvl. When I say poor vs high quality, I mean that even if these two pieces were the same ilvl, the high quality gear would perform better for your spec.

At your ilvl at this point in the expansion, you are firmly in the ‘random covenant junk’ stage of gearing, which will probably make you feel kind of irrelevant compared to a high ilvl character in high quality gear.

Second, I would push back on the notion that switching to affliction will give you immediate improvement, especially in the kind of content you seem to be doing. Affliction is a very good dps spec, but it is not a particularly good solo/world spec, performs poorly in low level M+, and is generally a more difficult spec to pull off while requiring you to split your focus between dots and optimizing your burst windows.

In contrast, demo is a good world spec, with pretty simple to pull off your burst and has more straightforward and immediate aoe options, as well as having access to more stuns. This is where I think your build is not doing you any favors: you are currently running the dogs build. This excels at sustained, consistent damage. In world content, especially as you mentioned with killing elites and rares, cooldowns become more powerful, because the time you spend running between enemies translates to free effective dps as your cooldowns tick down, but lost dps for sustained builds.

I would personally try taking at least the Grimoire: Felguard for world content, as this will give you some frontline beef and some more burst by itself and when empowered by your Demonic Tyrant. Make sure you are doing the correct combo with your Tyrant, where you summon your Grimoire: Felguard, your dreadstalkers, and at least two rounds of imps before empowering them all. (Make sure you start with 5 soul shards already banked).

Finally, make sure your conduits are correct for the content you are doing. I’m sure you have the dreadstalkers conduits for your dog build, but I would also use the Fel Commando conduit in world content - it is not recommended on any of the guides for optimizing your dps, but in world content where you are depending on your Felguard to tank for you, it can save you a lot of time healing during combat, which is a poor use of your time, and also increases your passive dps while you are dealing with controlling mobs.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot you can do to help your problem of having difficulty casting during ground effects. Warlock is a very immobile caster in general. If you want to have more options to cast while moving, I would suggest Beast Mastery hunter - you can even pretend you’re still playing warlock if you get one of those corrupted fel hounds.

In general, try to make things easier for yourself. If you’re having trouble with your rotation and casting things when you should, I would recommend installing a weakaura package designed for your spec - this guy http^s://www.luxthos.com/weakauras/warlock-weakauras-for-world-of-warcraft-shadowlands/ (Remove the carat before copying the link) has weakauras for all classes that will consolidate your important abilities into a graphic you can place wherever you find most convenient.

4 Likes
10

If you’re seeking out answers to solve a problem you’re having, you’re not bad. You’re learning. Bad is refusing to entertain the idea that maybe there’s something you don’t understand or should adjust for. Anyone who tells you different has the emotional intelligence of a crushed rock.

Outside of that, I have nothing helpful to tell you. I haven’t played with Warlocks this expansion. But there seems to be a lot of reasonable advice listed above.

Good luck! I hope you solve your problem and leave a trail of burnt maw inhabitants in your wake.

4 Likes
11

Selare’s advice is really good.

My 60 lock is destro/necrolords. The Necrolords bubble is nice. Keep your healthstones ready and use drain life to heal. As you’re nightfae, try your best to make use of the mobility move defensively, to jump out of stuff etc.

We’re definitely less mobile than other casters atm, though you’ll have pets attacking throughout your downtime and with a survival sort of build, you’ll find things much easier out in the world.

1 Like
12

OP here. Switched to destro, burstyness helps me kill these elites faster, so that’s nice.

But none of you offered real help.

Let me give you an example. I started watching Preach on YouTube. He had a whole video about moving during your gcd. Essentially moving after you cast. It was a revelation!! See as a bad player, I don’t know stuff like that. So when swirlies appear, I’m already moving! Incredible!

Preach taught me something specific. Something real. Icy Veins and Pins NEVER EVER mention that stuff. And it’s that kind of stuff that makes you better.

Instead of sending us away to Icy Veins, bad players like me need real specific examples of things we can do to improve.

But thank you for being nice. Makes me less afraid to ask questions here in the future.

13

Hello, hello, hello, my friend. I’ve got a few talent pointers if you’d like, now that you’re destro. I was holding off posting here because I don’t know enough about demo to offer anything substantial.

So first of all, I recommend taking the Demon Skin talent. In open world content, it is incredibly strong as it usually will have regenerated between fights. In addition, if you think about it, it basically functions as a 0.5% hp heal per second. So even in longer fights, it will have a lot of value. In some raid fights even, I do about half the self healing of a tank thanks to it. That’s pretty big. I used to run one of the other two talents in the open world too, but it was quite noticable when I switched.

Secondly, running Roaring Blaze means you’ll want to have Channel Demonfire. It’s free from any resource costs and with Roaring Blaze the damage it does competes with a Chaos Bolt. You’ll also use it a lot more often than Dark Soul, which is only useful on occasion. Try to use demonfire on CD, but ideally when you have Roaring Blaze up on a target. Since there’s more delays between fighting in open world content, CD issues with Conflagerate and Channel Demonfire should be lower. If it is a problem though, get the legendary that grants you an extra Conflagerate charge and reduces the cooldown. I never leave home without mine. Should also make moving while fighting easier.

Last thing is a tip on cooldowns and soul shards. Soul shard spells have no cooldown, so you can cast them whenever you want. That means if you have two soul shards up, you’re still in no rush to Chaos Bolt. If you have something off cooldown like Channel Demonfire, use that instead of a Chaos Bolt or Rain of Fire. Same goes for Conflagerate, though if you’re about to cap soul shards use a Chaos Bolt or Rain of Fire instead. In addition, you want to spread out your Conflagerates so Roaring Blaze will be on your target for as long as possible. With the legendary you can almost have it up 100% of the time, which means nearly all of your spells outside Chaos Bolt do 25% more damage. That’s huge.

My Conflagerates crit for as much as a Chaos Bolt with this setup, and it’s an instant cast without soul shard costs. It’s pretty broken lol.

14

We don’t know the barometer of how “good” or “bad” you are and without having hands on experience of your gameplay or the way you perform then “reading the guide” is the best way to help with as limited information that anyone has. At the very minimum it sets a groundwork before getting into “real critique” like movement, gcds, resource management, marcos, gameplay awareness and so forth.

It may not be the specific advise and tutelage you were looking for, but it is no less ingenuine.

9 Likes
15

I’m as awful a player as they come, but item level is the gateway to all content and acquisition in wow, so push that and all other things are possible.

1 Like
16

If there’s a specific question you had for demo, I can try to help.

I main demo and I do rather well with it. :slight_smile:

17

Selare gave you almost 600 words of great advice.

I actually almost got into my casting/movement approach for destro (only really applies in certain situations and a lot less for Demo IMO) but I was in the middle of ordering a bunch of glass shadow boxes.

See, time is valuable… and now I know not to waste any more of mine here :face_with_monocle:

4 Likes
18

I will take the charitable view that you are excited to find a resource that is tailored to things you didn’t know you needed to know. Preach makes some good content, and I’m glad to see he is branching out into content that is helping people in your position.

3 Likes
19

y’all are being awfully nice to someone who lamented how rudely people were treating him only to turn around and make a snide quip for no reason :weary:

7 Likes
20

Answering snideness with snideness just makes people act worse. Better to just be kind until it’s not worth the effort.

1 Like