Recent changes on TWW alpha removed Avatar of Destruction and replaced it with Decimating Bolt.
The reasons given for this was that it made Summon Infernal less fun and impactful, because you had access to more infernals, and as such more AoE stun.
Removing Avatar of Destruction does NOT make Summon Infernal more impactful or fun.
Summon Infernal is so incredibly weak that it’s value rests primarily within the generation of shards to use Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire more frequently for a short time. Even this on its own is so weak that Avatar of Destruction was required to make it worth while.
Removing Avatar of Destruction without a complete rework of what Summon Infernal actually does removes an entirely useful way of playing Destruction.
Our options of builds with good talent synergy are now reduced with these changes, which is bad. The whole point of the modern talent system is that we have options for play styles within specs.
Consideration has been given to the placement of Decimating Bolt and its focus on buffing Incinerate at the expense of talents such as Ritual of Ruin and Burn to Ashes, which now do not have a synergy with the placement of Avatar of Destruction.
Therefore, the current changes gut one play style to buff an already existing one, resulting in a loss for Destruction as a whole. Buffing the Incineration build play style also goes AGAINST the warlock goals for TWW, as it increases fluctuation based on number of targets in combat through Fire and Brimstone. The aim was to reduce this, NOT increase it.
If this is to work then talents buffing spenders, such as Ritual of Ruin and Burn to Ashes must be moved closer to Summon Infernal within the talent tree, and Summon Infernal itself needs a complete redesign so it feels impactful and fun. At the very least it should last for an additional 8 seconds to compensate what we are losing from Avatar of Destruction, but that would be a lazy solution and the pet would just still feel inferior to the utility it provides through shard generation and stun.
Just to reiterate, Summon Infernal is not fun or impactful.