Don’t have beta, so I have to post here.
I acknowledge at the top level warlock need some heavy iteration in the class talent tree, animations, and group utility department. Here though, I’ve gone line by line in the spec tree and tried to highlight where the problems and missed opportunities are, as well as offered some suggestions to ameliorate these issues.
I did my best to be clear with what’s moving where, but without visuals it may be tough to follow.
Gate 1
- Dark Virtuosity and Kindled Malice to one point. Withering Bolt and Relinquished can move up to this tier and path off Dark Virt and Kindled respectively, connecting to Nightfall and Volatile Agony.
- Siphon Life should probably return to being a dot, but remain a passive tied to corruption; as in, Corruption also applies Siphon Life which deals X amount of damage and heals for Y. Alternatively, this implementation might lend itself to a proc effect of some sort, which could be fun to play around, especially if you have a TC proc. You’d have to take care to make it not feel too bad to not get procs during CDs, however. Regardless, this talent needs major buffs, and likely some form of rework if it’s to compete with AC’s quality of life, especially for Hellcaller.
Gate 2
- I’d add Xavius’ Gambit to row six in Cunning Cruelty’s place, move Infirmity under VT/PS, and place Cunning Cruelty where Infirmity was.
- Dark Glare needs a rework. The dot extension is nice and should stay, but the CD does little to interact directly with Rapture. Maybe explore having DG add a dot to any target he extends a dot on, or having him grant a Haunted Soul type of effect while he’s up. Something needs to happen with him.
- Here’s the most problematic section of the tree, row seven. I’d combine Imp Haunt with Haunt and make Malediction and Contagion one point nodes, along with moving Cull the Weak to where Withering Bolt was in the capstone tier (also, I’d add “When Malefic Rapture damages more than one target,” in front of the current text on Cull the Weak so it’s less enticing in ST).
This frees up four points. For these I would consider adding new talents to replace them. I generally trust you guys to cook up something cool here, as you’ve done throughout tWW testing. I do have a few requests:
- Soul Swap, with Soul Burn functionality, ideally to reduce the CD or have the MoP functionality of applying all dots.
- Wrath of Consumption, to lean further into funnel, since this is an exciting (though unemphasized) profile on live that doesn’t have to go away.
- Inevitable Demise because it’s a fun talent to play around, and could offer some interesting interactions with Death’s Embrace, making aff more tanky as the fight nears its end.
- Wracking Brilliance, or something from the Legion Artifact tree could make a return here, but I can’t think of much else that would make sense in this part of the tree. I would like to see something that plays off of the “unstable” aspect of Unstable affliction if possible.
Gate 3, Capstone
My suggestions would leave us missing two points in the capstone tier. I think there’s opportunity here to emphasize a couple of talents down here in much the same way Vilefiend is empowered in Demo’s new capstone tier: Oblivion and Malefic Touch.
- Perhaps Oblivion goes where Xavius’ Gambit was and underneath we add a talent that lets us channel it faster, or on the move, or even something that lets us cast instants like the dots or rapture with TC procs. I vastly prefer the latter, but something that adds that extra umph to this ability would be welcomed.
- Improved Rapture could go where Relinquished was (remember, Cull the Weak would be where WB is now, but at one point with its 8% value). We could then move Malefic Touch up and add a new talent underneath. This talent could make the Malefic Touch damage an additional short duration dot that applies to everything hit with Rapture (creating a mini burst window), or simply splash the Malefic Touch damage to X surrounding targets for a bit of Soul Flame-esque stacked cleave. Nothing too op - especially with Shared Fate around - but a valuable talent in situations where you’d take Doom Blossom on live now.
Note, if we take these suggestions, Improved Malefic Rapture might see very little play, so the talent may need buffs, or replaced with something else entirely.
Thoughts? I can do a similar thread for the other specs and the class tree as well. There’s much less missing for Demo and Destro, but the class tree is in dire straits.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. o7