So I’ve been wondering, who knows more? Been struggling to choose a main and have always used “knowledge is power” to guide me.
——>What do you guys think? Who knows more in terms of magic?
Sure mages can study allot but warlocks have access to other means of knowledge. Don’t they?
Just because warlocks use any forms of magic doesn’t mean the mage doesn’t know about it as well. Right?
Can warlocks also hold knowledge in high regard or are they always for raw power.
Warlocks generally more than mages.
mages are less cool and badass also i think because warlocks don’t have moral bounderies that they know/allow themselves to know more
It would depend. Many warlocks are formerly mages who spent the better part of their young lives learning the ins and outs of magic in general, so they would likely retain their scholastic understanding of arcane and other magics as they learned them in Dalaran, Stormwind, etc. in addition to the things they would learn about the fel.
Others however (orcs especially) are formerly shamans, so their grasp of magic is probably less “technical” and more intuitive, as they didn’t go into it with the same range of “book learning” as their mage counterparts.
So the former mage warlocks on average might be more likely to have a greater pool of knowledge than most current mages or warlocks who used to be shamans. But given the way the fel works, having more knowledge wouldn’t necessarily amount to them being more powerful on a case-by-case basis.
I always had the mindset that Mages know more but Warlocks tend to be stronger as far as brute force. Kind of a holdover from say 3.5 and 5e D&D. Warcraft Warlocks don’t bargain for power in the same way, but their power is mainly derived from sacrificing other power (like souls) to fuel their feats. Whereas a Mage uses a high level understanding to accomplish what they are doing.
The fight between Khadgar and Medivh in Tomb of Sargeras isn’t a bad example of this. But there’s no hard and fast rule. And obviously Warlocks are not entirely or largely bereft of theory.
i think entirely depends on the warlock.
if you get one of those warlocks like some orcs, that treat it more like a religion than a science, they’re going to know less than a mage(though, they may be more powerful).
if you’ve got someone more scientific about it, then i’d say they’d know lots of arcane, fel, shadow, and maybe even death things.
the original idea of the warlock was an arcane study, in dalaran. mages using fel magic, and studying it. those mages using fel are essentially what the black harvest stemmed from.
so if you’ve got a scientific warlock, they are more knowledgeable imo.
Either has a potential for significant knowledge.
Using Megaman as an analogy, a Mage is to Dr. Light as a Warlock is to Dr. Wily. It’s not a matter of good vs. evil either. Dr. Light seems to have superior knowledge and worked to use it for utilitarian purposes, but Dr. Wily knew enough to corrupt and twist Dr. Light’s work towards greater destructive ends than Dr. Light considered was even possible.
I would think the personal level of experience and study/education would be a bigger factor in how knowledgeable a caster is than just what field they study. To give a few extreme examples, a 10,000-year-old Shal’dorei arcanist should know more than a 20-year-old human warlock, and a 50-year-old orc warlock who’s been practicing since the First War should know more than a 20-year-old Sin’dorei mage who’s still working on mastering Frostbolt in Eversong.
That’s totally dependent on the drive of the individual. You can have a mage who knows more because they are such bookish people. You can equally have a warlock who knows more because they are obsessed and don’t believe in the terms “Forbidden rites”.
And you can have examples of both who know less because they’re perfectly content to sit at their levels of incompetence.
If we are talking about potential then the answer is warlocks. We gain forbidden knowledge at a risk and at a cost, just make sure someone else is paying that cost.
I do not think one is innately superior to the other in the ability to “Know”. It depends on the individual and their access - to incantations, relics, and general studies.
Others have made a good point about the difference between an Orc Warlock who initially was a Shaman, and a Human or a Blood Elf or a Gnome Warlock who may have been steeped in magical practices. And then we have Guldan, who would rival Azshara in cosmic knowledge, if not raw power. Guldan may have had more access to knowledge by having a more mobile benefactor in the Legion.
Warlocks seem more willing to use magic that may be taboo or that seems wrong, like debasing holy relics with curses, or using souls as fuel, or summoning and commanding demons. But that does not mean Mages are ignorant. They have different priorities, perhaps. Some Mages may be steeped in the sort of knowledge a Warlock might have in order to master their secrets and be able to combat them if necessary. Yet they would refuse to wield that power. Knowledge, like any other tool, can be a force for good or destruction, depending on who wields it.
I made a Mage with the same thing in mind, but I went with the Warlock for Gameplay.
A little something about me:
I eschewed playing a Warlock. I tend towards “good” sorts of aesthetics… usually. I was a fan of the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance even though everyone around me thought the Sith and the Empire were cool. If given the chance, I always played Paladins in games. So when I wanted to make my “wise and knowing” sort of Caster, I went with a Mage. I all but ruled out playing a Warlock, because IRL, I am not a fan of evil and misery brought unto others. A Mage can have that “knowledge is power” smarty pants vibe, and be honestly good, in a mild RP sense. Sure they can be evil, too, but they can be good and heroic folks that almost everyone trusts.
I switched to the Warlock purely for Gameplay. The utility is just great. I have a pet to tank stuff, so I can take on the world. I have a battle res. And groups really want Warlocks for summoning. I really miss it when I am on a different Character and we don’t have a Warlock if we need to refill spots in a Raid or Dungeon.
In a silly way, it is almost like the dark powers available to a Warlock lured me away from being a Mage. My main is my Druid, anyway, so I get enough good vibes from healing with him.
This is Curseword’s Mage. All but retired and made into a hexweave bag sweatshop worker in a Garrison somewhere. Funding the works of a Sindorei Warlock while amongst the Alliance - with his bag sales.
Mages, at least from when we seen in game. Mages can do anything and everything look at Jaina and Kadghar. We haven’t seen or heard warlocks do anything remotely as close.
Mages have no draw back compared to locks. Can summon elements with no draw back like warlocks/demons or elements/shamans.
Can cast different magic types, ice, fire, time & arcane. Again no draw back, do not have to be intune with the elements or other hazardous risks like warlocks.
The Broken Isles/Shore begs to disagree. Gul’dan singlehandedly brought back every major demon in the history of Wow. and their fleets too.
He was being powered, wasn’t his normal self. Compare that to Jaina summoning a tidal wave with an artifact, should could of just drowned all of broke isles and demons there.
Being powered IS his normal Self… that’s part of how a Warlock rolls.
Also, Jaina using artifacts and other one-time rituals is also by definition, being powered outside her normal parameters. She hasn’t repeated her flying ship barrage that she used to breach the walls of Lordaeron City, after all.
didn’t he go to the tomb and get a temp boost via something. It was in comic or something before legion.
Sure. And Jaina was communing with the ghosts of dead Theramore before she made her entrance during what was Anduin’s doomed effort. She tried to flood Orgrrimmarr with the aid of a powerful artifact. Malfurion used the aid and sacrifice of a bazillion Wisps to do his thing at Hyjal.
I agree. I took examples from like Kael’thas, evil mage. Knew allot. Quite powerful, he didn’t mind crossing that boundary. Basically I’m saying evil mage =/= warlock in terms of knowledge. Why? Because I suppose warlocks knows the boundries and how to cross it, while mages lack that information. Why? Because he succumbed to a master. But then I think about kelthuzad and if he can be used as an argument here.
It depends on the individual is technically right, but archetypically I think the mage fantasy prioritizes knowledge while the warlock fantasy centers power.
Gul’Dan HAS a lot of knowledge, but he didn’t accrue that knowledge for knowledge sake. It’s a means to an end. Jaina and Khadgar by contrast are true academics — nerds who like to study just because