I like sharing these! Even if few read them, I’ve gotten some positive notes on my ideas and that modest validation makes me want to keep writing stuff like this down. If you’re interested in seeing any of my other Pie In The Sky posts, here’s a couple of links:
•Pie in the Sky: Dread Lord Hero Class - #5 by Phekk-kaelthas
•Pie in the Sky: Demon Hunter Race Proliferation
•Pie in the Sky: Final BfA Allied Races
Hunters and Warlocks have had the distinction, for most of WoW’s lifespan, of being the main “pet classes” of the game. The two classes share some things in common with respect to pet management, but from the very beginning Blizzard has made conscious choices about the two classes in order to distinguish them: just because one pet class got a tweak in this direction, doesn’t mean the other class could expect a parallel tweak of their own.
Over time, Hunters have been the beneficiary of far more pet-related tweaks than Warlocks, and while the Demonology spec’s most recent revamps have given them a number of neat Guardian-summoning spells, the permanent demonic minions of Warlocks have been sorely neglected, to the point that I would venture to suggest that Warlocks are, at present, the inferior of the two main pet-using classes.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, I can think of a couple of tweaks to the Warlock class that could return their demon minions to a position of prominence while preserving some of that unique Warlock flavoring.
DEMON MINION BASICS
Warlocks, baseline, have four demon minions: the Imp, the Voidwalker, the Succubus and the Felhunter. Demonologists get a fifth: the Felguard.
The way the class is designed, and has been from pretty much the beginning, each of the three Warlock specs tends to benefit specifically from the abilities of only a single Warlock minion, which means that every Warlock is basically only ever using a single demon pet and is almost never summoning the other four. As a DPS class, Warlocks rarely have any reason to want to switch specs, barring any major changes to the class’ spells and abilities during reworks and patches. (i.e. if you start an expansion as Affliction, and get used to Affliction’s rotation, you’re probably going to stick with Affliction through to the endgame, and thus you’re probably going to be using either the Felhunter or the Imp exclusively every time you play)
For the sake of variety and aesthetic value, I think it is worth something to borrow some of the pet innovations of Hunters and apply them to Warlocks – with the appropriate amount of Warlocky flavoring, of course.
DEMON SPECIALIZATIONS
The first thing I would borrow from Hunters is the idea of pet specializations. Hunter pets are broken down into one of three specs, each focused on a different trait: Cunning (for mobility), Ferocity (for damage) and Tenacity (for durability and tanking). Each Hunter pet gets access to an ability from its specialization that reflects its specialization’s focus.
A similar breakdown can be made for Warlocks. Based on the scheme of the existing Warlock pets, I propose a breakdown into four Demon Specializations:
• Treachery – A specialization that represents spellcasting demons who attack from range, like the Imp.
• Torment – A specialization for tanking demons, like the Voidwalker.
• Beguiling – A specialization for sneaky, rogue-y pets like the Succubus, whose focus is melee DPS. These pets probably need the most work, since the Succubus is (in my experience) one of the least-used and least-useful of the Warlock’s minions.
• Despoiling – A specialization for anti-caster pets like the Felhunter.
THE FIFTH SPEC: SUPREMACY
Beast Mastery Hunters have exclusive access to a group of pets who are grouped together as “exotic beasts.” Similarly, Demonologists would have exclusive access to a special set of demons designated “Supremacy Demons.” Into this group immediately falls three of the Warlock’s old friends: the Felguard, the Doomguard and the Infernal (the latter two were briefly permanent minions for the Warlock, but this was taken away during Legion, for reasons passing understanding).
WHY BOTHER WITH SPECIALIZATIONS FOR DEMONS AT ALL?
You may well be asking this question: why reclassify the Warlock’s main demon types into broad specs with ominous names?
Well, because the core purpose to this proposal is that Warlocks should be permitted to capture and employ more than the mere five base demon pets.
This would be done by leveraging two spells: one which the Warlock already possesses, and one which I’ve made up as the driving vehicle for this mechanic.
STEP ONE: ENSLAVE DEMON
Warlocks have always had the ability to cast this spell, enslaving for themselves a temporary demon minion. I envision this as being the first step in a ritual for a Warlock to make a demon mob in the world into his/her personal minion.
STEP TWO: THE RITUAL OF THE TRUE NAME
In folklore, mythology and popular fantasy, often the key to controlling a demon is the discovery of its true name. Knowing the name of a demon, it is said, gives you power over the beast.
Similarly, in the World of Warcraft, we know that one of the things that distinguishes most demon mobs from a Warlock’s demon minions is the randomly-generated demonic-sounding names that the latter possess.
So, once you’ve enslaved a demon whose look you like, you then begin to cast Ritual of the True Name. This spell would borrow effects and themes from the old demon binding quests that Warlocks used to have to complete; the enslaved demon will briefly struggle against you, but once the ritual is complete, the demon receives a name and is bound to you as a minion.
You may well ask why should you bother making this process two-steps; why not just allow Enslave Demon to be your go-to spell for acquiring new demonic thralls. Well, for one, as a Warlock you may not deem all demons worthy of becoming your minion. You may still desire the flexibility of being able to temporarily bind a demon to your service without the bother of binding it by its true name. And that, in my judgement, is totally fine!
There is also, for Warlock players, a compelling reason to include something like the “Ritual of the True Name” – class fantasy. While a lot of the Vanilla class quests for Warlocks were pretty grindy and time-intensive, they did provide a neat roleplay feel for actually playing as a dark, demon-summoning spellcaster.
STEP THREE: EXCESS MINION STORAGE
So let’s say you want to go out and enslave some minions. But you’ve already got your five minion slots on the demon summoning fly-out full! Where do you go to stash your Succubus so you can pick up something useful?
You could use the Stable Master. It seems weird and thematically inappropriate – stashing your evil demons in a stall next to all those horses and riding wolves and devilsaur pets. It doesn’t seem as thematically appropriate for a Warlock to just default to using the same NPC as a Hunter. So what’s a Warlock to do?
Enter a new kind of demon minion – a utility minion that can be summoned by Warlocks right from the get-go. The Jailer Demon.
Boasting a unique demon name (like the rest of the Warlock’s minions), the Jailer Demon effectively is your minion, though it doesn’t fight or enter combat, nor does it occupy one of your summoning fly-out slots. Instead, it follows your Warlock and offers Stable Master-like services – but only for storing unused demon minions and switching out the minions that the Warlock has in his/her Demon Summoning fly-out slots (the Jailer Demon doesn’t deign to deal with your battle pets – such trivia is beneath his notice).
It may seem a bit unbalancing to give Warlocks the ability to summon their own personal stable master anywhere in the world, so an optional restriction I’d impose on this idea would be that the Warlock could either only summon the Jailer Demon from a rest area, or that summoning the Jailer Demon outside of a rest area comes with a hefty cooldown.
WHY DO YOU NEED THESE THINGS?
With the diversity that exists among demons in WoW – and especially with all the different types of demons that were introduced to the game across several expansions – it does seem a bit conspicuous that Warlocks have had the same four main demon pets (absent either talents or glyphs) since Vanilla.
In fact, it seems a little egregious that a major demon-themed expansion – Legion – saw the removal of two of the Warlock’s demon minions, rather than an expansion of the minion roster to include any of those brand new demon types that we’d never seen before.
DEMON MINION MISCELLANY
As this tweak to the Warlock is largely cosmetic, I’m taking a note from the upcoming ability of Druids to customize their shapeshift forms in the barbershop as I embellish a bit with some bullet points below:
•In addition to being broken down into the four specs discussed above, each Demon type should also be classified as part of a family that shares the same basic powers, similar to the way that Hunter beast families work.
•Eredar – who are basically Draenei – would probably not be “tameable” under this scheme. Just as several beasts are inexplicably untameable, Blizzard would (and should) use some discretion in which demons it allows a Warlock to bind as minions. It’d be a little weird for a Warlock to be running around with a minion that uses a player model.
•Consider bringing removed demon minion spells back to the game. Maybe build up a store of optional, modular “Grimoires” that Warlocks can use to customize individual demons’ abilities. (if nothing else it could give Demon Trainer NPCs something to do again; selling Grimoires, or providing access to a UI to customize a Demon’s spells) Maybe you either give each Demon a Grimoire slot to be filled with an optional ability, or you allow Warlocks to swap-out a Demon’s base spells for Grimoire spells. (like, say, giving your Imp the Blood Pact spell in place of Cauterize Master)
•Related to the above: what if one of these optional, modular Grimoires gave the Warlock the ability to cast Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp via his/her demon minion? “Fel Bloodlust” maybe?
•If your Warlock has glyphed any of the Grimoire of Supremacy demons (or, if your Warlock had the old version of the Grimoire of Supremacy talent and already has named Supremacy demons floating around somewhere in his/her character file), those demons come stocked in your Jailer Demon’s stable pages.
•The “Gylph of the Felguard” ability to swap out your Felguards’ and Wrathguards’ weapons could be made baseline. Instead of having your Warlock carry around a bunch of weapons that he/she can’t use, you could instead allow the Warlock’s demons to make use of the transmogrifier, pulling weapons from your collection of appearances. (alternately, rather than making this baseline, change the glyph specs so that it lets your demon use transmogs instead of pulling a weapon from your bags)
•Have you ever felt sorry for your poor humanoid-type demon minions who had to run alongside you like peasants as you gloriously charged forward on your Dreadsteed? How about we solve that with a glyph! Call it something like Glyph of the Dark Horsemen, or something… and its effect would be when you are on a ground mount, your humanoid demon minions (Imps, Succubi, Shivarra, Felguard or Wrathguard) mounts up on a Felsteed to keep up with you.
•One of the things that makes some demon types unattractive for Warlocks is their extremely specialized use and the inability of most demon minions to hold threat during solo PvE. So one way to give some demons a bit more utility (like, for example, the Succubus and the Felhunter) is by giving them an ability to taunt. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the Voidwalker’s Torment spell; it can be a spell that better suits the specific demon. Something like “Impish Insult” for Imps, or maybe the Succubus has a spell called “Fixation” that keeps an enemy’s attacks focused on her.