Have a 60 mage and currently leveling this guy up. First time playing a lock but my first impressions are pretty good, it’s a pretty fun class.
With that being said pet control is definitely way less precise and snappy than private servers (played a hunter quite a bit), and summons seem to bug out a lot (honestly probably blizzlike). But ya, pet pathing/control is absolutely abysmal
Mages are also really fun though, warlock feels better with 1-2 mobs and elites than a mage, you also have a lot more sustain buttons/options (lifetap, siphon life/drainlife, pet sac w/ VW, seduce with succ, soulstone, etc), but obviously you can’t do aoe grinding and beyond 3 mobs warlocks are in huge trouble unless you greatly out level them. There’s way less locks than mages though so finding a raid spot will be a lot easier
If you like dots, pets and fear, play a lock, if you like aoe and burst, play a mage.
You will know pretty quickly how you feel about the 2 classes, in raids they dont play very different, but everywhere else its night and day.
I prefer lock on classic, higher skill ceiling and more outplay potential in pvp.
Very well said. Thank you
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Locks are actually more a hybrid of mage, priest, and hunter in how they feel and play I thought. they had dots, they had a pet and they had aoe casting. They are also god tier 1v1 in pvp. Do decent dps in pve, and have some cool utility (soul stone, healthstone, summons). In a pinch they can tank with a pet as well, and are able to do some of the same solo farms hunters can.
its this reason I would suggest a lock to get a feel for what you want, only thing they dont do is the healing a priest can do (probably the only thing to say against my hybrid statement) though they do have self healing in their drain.
I think I’ve decided to go lock. You guys must’ve influenced me. While i would rather not deal with wonky pet mechanics, from what people are saying I think I’d prefer the more mechanically rewarding style the lock provides. Not to knock mages though of course. Shatter combos 
I soloed Hogger at level 12, if that is any indication.
My ‘main’ is a 43 priest (currently shadow) and I started leveling a warlock ‘alt’ currently about to hit 32. I leveled a mage in the twilight of vanilla before TBC. Mage is a great pvp class. Frost is very versatile, ap pyro is the standard glass cannons are measured against… but warlocks have a plethora of tools at their disposal. Different pets are great for different situations. They lack the mobility of a mage but theyre tankier. Health stone soul stone, drain life… soul link… they have more (and better) cc. You can fear a target seduce another and howl of terror up to 4 more, not to mention banishing other demons. Fear allows you to damage the enemy while they’re cc’d. Sure seduction breaks on damage and requires a specific pet, but it doesnt heal the target to full.
I’d say that frost mage will probably have a better time against melee than a warlock… but a warlock with the right pet can fare just as well. That being said I feel like warlock requires a lot more micro management than a mage would. Between pets, spellstone, shards to feed abilities, swapping pets if necessary. Its up to you. I mained a rogue in vanilla then focus on mage up and through tbc. This time im doing priest and lock.