Warlock Tree Ideas: Affliction

Classes Warlock
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Hey there folks, lets keep those constructive thoughts coming for blizzard - in this instance, affliction thread, suggestions and things you’re happy/unhappy with and possible solutions below GO!

Thoughts
Long-time warlock only player here, but interest in the game has fallen off tremendously after the affliction overhaul form legion to bfa (since that is the spec i love the most)

  • preferred endgame content :Raids, Mythic +
  • preferred spec: Affliction >> Destro > Demo
  • Seeing the return of soulburn, dimensional rift, and a few other legion traits like souiflame is gold

Cooldowns

  • Still not a big believer of the 1 big demon summon for every spec (namely darkglare) i feel if this were any time for reap souls from ulthalesh to return, this would be it - as I feel that particular cooldown not only befits affliction flavor/style but also if mastered correctly it gave you unparalleled control over your cooldown windows.

The Rapture Issue

  • Extremely unhappy with Malefic Rapture as it is implemented. From my PoV (which sadly limited shadowlands gameplay) i feel it’s a conflicted ability to be used as a main spender (as it must fit the bill of multi-target, single target, and aoe at times - and having it excel tremendously in any of those fields can make it extremely hard to balance and thus unsatisfying if nerfed in the long run

Solution suggestion

  • Have a single target spender, and an AOE one. (you can probably see my legion bias coming through here). While UA spam was bland and bad in it’s execution i feel that improved on it could be better in the following manner:
    -Make death bolt the single target spender, by removing it’s cooldown and having it apply a DOT on the target that deals dynamic damage based on other DOTs (That aren’t death bolt) on the target for when it was applied (As damage overtime is the great vibe of affliction). In the event of multiple death bolts, treat them like separate applications much like UA applications were in the end of legion.
    - Keep Seed of Corrutpion as the AOE spender little to be said here, but if you keep an eye on the damage of this spell, coupled with soul flame it could perform rather nicely.
    - If the above changes take place and Rapture simply must stay… then give it cooldown, and increase it’s damage drastically - making it a far more interesting skill with timing in it’s use that could yield huge pay offs if mastered correctly (Potentially even interacting with the above proposed deathbolt changes if we’re being ambitious.)

Anyhow that’s my two cents.
Thank you so much for reading this and have a wonderful day folks.

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I feel like seed not costing a shard would make it work much better if they intend for it to be the method of fast stacking agony in aoe. That way seed and rapture would work together to handle ramping up and doing aoe damage, instead of competing for shards.

Deathbolt needs some changes if it’s going to take over as our main single target spender. Right now it’s too close to being a cooldown that lends into single target rather than a spender that focuses on it.

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I tried to find the blue post during SL when Deathbolt was changed to having a cast time and doing it’s damage over a short period of time…is anyone able to locate this? I could’ve sworn this was done for PVP purposes and I’m curious what those were

Also - I’m not quite sure why I keep seeing so many people asking to bring back Reap Souls(Legion artifact ability)…the power came from doubling the artifact traits, so without those, it would just be a boring 10% damage buff…

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I don’t like this one, as I detest CDs. I loved Legion Aff and Aff in other expacs because before BFA it didn’t have much for CDs and in Legion you had 3 CDs: your artifact weapon ability, your Doomguard thing and your Soul Harvest if you talented into it. SH was a talent choice, so you didn’t have it baseline. You could talent into perma Doomguard, thereby removing that CD entirely thus only having 1 actualy CD and even then it lasted 90-99% of a raid boss’s fight length, so it wasn’t even a CD at that point, just regular damage.

People seem to think you need burst in this game; you do not. Yes, it has many great benefits, except that it literally doesn’t fit into “over time” component of damage over time, the theme for DoT specs.

If you do have to have burst, then simply having things like Rapid Contagion’s sped up DoT ticks makes for the best version of your CDs for a DoT spec.

The flaw in this concept is: mythic+ doesn’t reward you as much for it, that’s fine. Damage over Time specs aren’t design for nor should they be designed around mythic+ content. It’s unfortunate, but the aspect of “over time” doesn’t actually fit into keys except when the key is of a much higher level and it’s fortified, in which case then those specs should absolutely excel and beat every other spec.

That’s how you balance it. One could also balance it by nerfing burst damage absolutely and providing more power in sustained damage for all specs and classes, which would be a lot more interesting and fun for everyone involved.

Yes, even those who go “but my burst” you would be fine.

I don’t think they should, also don’t think I’ve personally seen so many asking for Reap Souls to come back.

Death Bolt needs to be removed or should be removed, it serves no point to be honest and it’s component works against Affliction’s flow moreso than with it’s flow. ST should be just DoTs into filler, nothing more should ever be needed.

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IDK about everyone here, but i am fine with deathbolt.
It’s more fun than being forced to use shadowbolt or drain soul (especially in pvp). IN SL, the whole tier set and pvp talent changes were to force this potato and it’s clunky as hell.

Deathbolt might be awkward but simple to get off and does dmg.
There is def room for improvement.

But this is way way better than shadowbolt / soul drain spells.

There is no way I would ever want deathbolt removed.

I would rather have it replaced shadowbolt and drain soul entirely with a little bit of improvement / revamp.

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They made all the specs unfun to play for me :frowning:

Legion was supposed to be like, OUR expansion. But warlock has been unbearable and unfun to play ever since, and it is the only class I like to play as well so I’ve just been playing classic

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What, Drain Soul fits the fantasy 10 times more and better than Death Bolt does. Also, Death Bolt is 100% counter intuitive to Affliction’s flow and too awkward.

You don’t need something to get off damage…you have DoTs. DoT specs don’t need burst, even in PvP. Affliction and other DoT specs used to be the sustained damage/pressure dealers. You just kept DoTs up and CCs, that was all of Affliction’s PvP for the longest time. Only in BFA did they do something else and that was insanely bad to have them be 3 minute burst specs or even Death Bolted burst specs because it’s so easily telegraphed and stopped.

I think you might enjoy Demonology or Destro specs better, to be honest. Those specs are more centered around burst damage, DoT specs should not be, in any scenario be it PvP, raiding or mythic+.

Not to diss you, but you’re in the extreme extreme extreme minority with that liking Death Bolt thing. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I don’t mind being a minority.

The design of the current Drain soul sucks and does not fit AFF at all. If it was up to me, i would prefer more power to dots.

But if I had to choose between Shadowbolt / drain soul or Deathbolt, I would go Deathbolt. They even made it into a dot as well, so it contradicts players a bit who want more dot power. Death bolt especially is a high burst dot with a high initial shot dmg, just like Devouring plague but stronger…

I am sure for PVE the gameplay experience is totally different. But for PVP, Shadowbolt and drain soul sees no life. Its clunky and bad to use. Deathbolt becomes a much better spell over it by a long shot.

Fantasy-wise, I would argue that harshly.

Shadowbolt fits more Destro than any other spec. I honestly wish they gave it more LIFE in this spec; instead of just Pure fel flame thematic, they could add some more shadowing and fire weaving flare into this theme.

Drain soul overshadows Drain life.
You can also argue that these two spells would, fantasy-wise, do the same thing. I would prefer for Drain soul to become a tool for AFF to generate more shards. The spell originally made shards anyways…
I also like drain life’s graphic more than drain souls. I would not want them merged together again. I hated when this was a thing, ruin the class fantasy feel for me.

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It does, but it does suck yeah. I don’t like Withering Bolt mega DS. I’d rather have Malefic Grasp Drain Soul, along with more power to DoTs, too.

Ehh, if they remade Nightfall into a proc that allows you to cast/channel Drain Soul for 5 seconds while moving, it would be fine and used, then.

Execute DoTs, Rapid Contagion, DoT damage increase, DoT tick speed increases are the biggest things Affliction should have for PvP.

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See i wouldn’t want this at all.
I think Malefic Rupture could be revamped entirely to fit this theme better.
Shadowbolt should be removed (Moved into Destro tree and give it LIFE there again, would be cool.)
Drain soul should be shard generator
Nightfall procs Instant cast Malefic ruptures.
Malefic rupture gets both Visual Rework and Mechanic rework.

the better question is, what should Malefic Rupture Do? Fixing this as our core mechanic will literally fill all of our voids / fix the aff problem.

I don’t think MR is too far along on finding its true self. Just need more Thoughtout revamp/ rework.

i don’t know what malefic grasp is since i quit after wrath ended. I’ll google now.

Saw vid and read it, I’ll pass lol.

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I think you and I, along with others differ on what we think Affliction should be and it’s role/damage niche. I also think you want to put burst into the DoT spec when I don’t want any burst, to be honest or just more DoT damage/faster ticks like Rapid Contagion does.

Even PvP I still want way more DoT damage, way less burst, way less anything else besides DoT damage, by that I mean literally just the 3 or 4 DoTs, including filler, to be like 90% of Affliction’s damage profile, nothing more.

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Hmm but that’s how Rot specs were back in the days? They pretty much melted.
Shadow priest in BC, two dots and you melt. The same goes for warlocks. They were pretty much bursting…

But to be fair, AFF has been divided in its gameplay. I mean let’s be real, the old devs SUCKED in core class design. They left a lot of things incomplete. A lot of classes feel similar to each other, causing one class to be superior.

Just look at how they literally used demonology as a testing spec for Demon hunters. ONce they were released, Boom, by bye META.

What I want.

That power in our dots returned.
Less GCDs.
Agony, Corruption, and Unstable AFF is enough. No more.
Siphon life should be passive again or self-buff.

Drain life main spell
Drain soul returned back to shard generator.

Move shadow bolt to Destro again.
Rapid contagion is cool
One thing I like about Malefic rupture right now is the tier set effect of it adding more time to our dots. This is a + + + from me.

Now Haunt, Haunts Column path looks Fun AF reading. I am VERY excited for this.
Dot dmg amp. Healing returned, finally. And more dmg amp with dots – To everyone too!

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My current spec for aff for now. So you get an idea where i am going with my gameplay. PVP only of course.

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Mine, for mostly everything, swapping BR and it’s thing for something else when it comes to PvP, otherwise the spec tree is gonna stay the same for me.

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brings me great happiness to see others using Haunt. This is the best version yet, hope it stays to launch!

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