Why stay Warlock and not just change for another main?

Classes Warlock
1

Hi,

I just want to tell you about how I’m feeling these days. I’m a casual-midcore gamer. AOTC and KSM-KHM raid from DF. I know I can do everything I do with every class in the game. But I’m feeling a little frustrated about the warlock.

M+: Things like Vile Taint which has a different duration of agony. The same goes for the Cataclysm. Rain of Fire is a wasted zone when all the tanks are running through the maps and the entire game encouraging us to do this. Demono with doom is definitely not for me. Hardcasting at this point doesn’t seem playable to me when all the M+ and raid require so much movement. And the number of GCD to start the DPS… My best was yesterday at +8, around 1.3M overall. This seems good to me but what a pain to manually spread all these dots and try to run, cast, stopcast, grip, avoide aoe etc… And really hard to be taken in pug groups to.

Raid: no spec really shine here and particularly in mono no longer seem interesting to me. If one lock is in a group, no reason to have a second one. And checking simulationcraft, with our 6 options (3 spec, 2 hero talent each) that are in the bottom 12 discourage me to continue playing this class.

So my conclusion is that I dislike what they’re doing with our classe. Or I dislike that they just don’t do enough. Half our hero talent aren’t usable, like hellcaller. More post each week explaining the issues on our class tree, hard time in M+ (this week is a troll, we have a dispell for the affix on a pet we can’t use because we need the interrupt provide by the other one).

We have cool things, summon, cookies, a RB, gate, tp etc. But I feel like I have to reroll on a mage, hunt, druid, shaman… these classes which seem to have the largest player base and attention from Bliz. Each time they are in a bad spot, there’s something done. Arcane is one of the best. Fire mage was one of the worst so they change that and now we have near 3 spec near the upper tier ? Balance druid is awfull. Wait 1 month, they will rework. etc

This wasn’t ever true for shaman and hunt I know. But this last year I think it is.

So what I miss about our class ? And why just not to alt on a fotm to find keys easier, have better fun moments (subjective but 3 dps spec at the bottom and no other choice is not fun) ? That’s it, want to hear why are you staying on your warlock.

Ty reading this and help me to see what I forgot.

12 Likes
2

Warlock is one of the class that always end being top tier at somw point. Blizz will buff ya fore sure so no need to jump on the reroll wagon.

3

I think too many people have become so comfortable with this idea that if one class isnt doing well to just main another. There should obviously be some changes that people are unhappy with or talents they dont enjoy, but the combat aspect of it should be pretty balanced.

It means you shouldnt have to switch to a totally different character to have a fair experience in the game. WE ALL pay the subs and should all have a comparable product to play with, the rest should be preference.

6 Likes
4

The game and in particular the warbands are there to speed up easy access to a reroll.
I agree, I shouldn’t have to reroll to get a better gaming experience. The parses, the community, the result and the overall perception of the content made me think about this, rather than hoping for something better, year after year.

The last demon buff is sad because it is so useless. Furthermore, it doesn’t change anything at all in the design of the spec and even less in the class.

The only reason I’m currently taking advice before really restarting my principal is that the grass isn’t really greener on the other side. That’s just the impression it gives. And sure with years, I have better reflexes so I’m not sure reroll is the best answer at short term.

1 Like
5

Warlock viable in m+ and raid.

If you are bored just try a diff class. I top meters in my guild raids and m+ all the time

6

As much as I dislike this notion of ‘just wait it out’… it’s sadly kind of true. Warlocks have a long running history of suddenly becoming very strong through a mox of buffs and getting better gear. There’s always been exceptions, sure, but it happens very frequently…

My issue with the idea, however, is that such horrible balancing like this for any class shouldn’t happen. Blizzard doesn’t do any real tuning testing and has a history of ignoring feedback from the PTRs.

Then when they do buff, they often do so in the wrong way. For example, Gloomhound. The fact that Charhound was better for all situations, including single target, was a ridiculous oversight. Now they buffed Gloomhound damage and, congratulations, it’s better for single target now. However, it still doesn’t scale with Haste like Charhound does, so not only might the problem rear its head again in the future, but also if they do decide to fix that, suddenly Gloomhound will become OP and get nerfed to the ground. Which is something that could gave been avoided entirely by fixing the haste issue first, and then worry about damage numbers.

Above all else, we need dedicated class leads again. I’m always going to say that. You can have a lead overall class designer laying out ground rules like balancing classes to a generally average baseline, and what kind of functionality each class will need for the game’s trajectory, but each class should have its own dedicated devs doing the meat of the class design and tuning. Warlocks were never better in feel and functionality than when Xelnath was in charge.

7 Likes
7

at some point…
The last time it took an expansion and when they saw that there were no more warlocks they didn’t give some garbage to return

8

why stay playing a warlock an be miserable when you can switch to a meta class an have a ton of fun. No real buffs to this class will make a lot of players ditch the class, not to mention that our 3 specs are at the bottom of the tier dps list, and we dont have another different role in this game, if a dps spec cant dps well, we dont have a reason to get an invite to any content.

4 Likes
9

Tuning is tuning, and warlock is just mid when it comes to that right now.

There’s no reason to doom and gloom, especially when warlock historically has at least one spec (usually 2) in the upper echelons of the pack.

2 Likes
10

There are several things I want to touch on about this:

  1. Fun is very very subject and everyone has different versions of what is fun to them. For me, it’s all about thematics, flow and damage profiles.

  2. I agree that vial taint needs a reduced CD and be closer to Spriest’s Shadow Crash (or whatever the ability is called). I also wouldn’t mind seeing Soul Burn seed being a thing and it can apply agony to a max of 5 targets but make it so you can only SB seed like every 25 sec or so idk (numbers and I don’t mesh well with a lack of caffeine :upside_down_face: ). Also just delete Rapture and make UA stacking the Shard spender.

  3. Destro straight up needs to have RoF removed and they need to bring back Charred Remains. It’s a much more fun and engaging playstyle that would help with the overall health of the spec. 1 more thing for Destro, make Cata baseline.

  4. Demo replace Demonic Calling with the Master Summoner honor talent

5 Likes
11

I’ve played warlock main, and only warlock main (plenty of alts) since 2004. If it ever gets to a point (and it was realllly close in SL and DF) that I don’t want to put up with lock anymore, i’ll just stop playing.

One thing you get used to with warlock is being neglected, and being redesigned every other patch. You’ll swing from top to bottom tier all the time.

For some reason people get offended by warlocks being strong more than any other class, so don’t expect it to last more than a tier or so.

If you want to be treated nice and play the game on cheat mode, just pick a melee. You’ll always be looked after.

Playing SoD/Classic has just reinforced how much better class design was back then, before wow became a twitchy esport.

5 Likes
12

Yeah, I will just echo a lot of the thoughts here. I play games to have fun, and demo lock is a uniquely fun experience for me that keeps me playing wow. The numbers are whatever, especially since I exclusively play with friends or solo delves these days. I also don’t feel like chasing a meta is a healthy or wise move, since balance is capricious at best.

But on the other hand, if you are looking for reasons to stay, then it sounds like you aren’t enjoying yourself. If another class might give you that spark of joy you crave, then go for it. Maybe don’t delete your lock, tho

1 Like
13

Gotta love how people are like “lock viable in raid and m+” when all 3 specs in bottom 1/4 of all logs but then throw some antidotal info your way.

Blizz isnt going to buff any spec at this point to the standard where it actually changes their standing. Sure it might gain or loose a few places but they are not going to overall change. You have to wait until a major patch with a lot class changes for that to happen. Even then its iffy.

If you want to be top of things and thats what makes you happy, which is 100% reasonable, then probably change classes. If you have more fun with themes and lock is your thing, stay. If you wanna roll the dice for later tiers at a lock spec being higher rated, theres that too.

Its whatever makes you happy, whether thats numbers or themes.

3 Likes
14

You spelled “Mage” wrong

15

I’m only not re-rolling because my raid group needs soulstones, healthstones and the odd portal and Im the only warlock. Feel like im trapped.

2 Likes
16

Assuming that they are pressuring you into playing a class you no longer enjoy, may I recommend double middle fingers?

Otherwise, I’d just talk to them and then switch to whatever you’d prefer.

3 Likes
17

Yeah that would work if i wasnt the raid leader and doing things to benefit the people i like playing with.

18

I mean first of all, you should play what you enjoy and find fun. If what you find fun is chasing FOTM (there is nothing wrong with this) then go for it. But that being said…

Warlocks are fine in raid. The idea of “There’s one in the raid no reason to have a second” applies to the world first guilds and that is literally it, 99.9% of guilds should bring their best players on their best class, which might be multiple Warlocks. And I’m pretty sure Echo (and maybe Method) had two warlocks in for a lot of prog but maybe I’m wrong. But it literally doesn’t matter to anyone outside of those groups.

If you have fun playing Warlock, play Warlock. If you don’t have fun (whether this is because of the warlock playstyle or because you want to be the best class on a patch) then play something else!

But Warlocks, as a whole, are doing fine. Could we use buffs? Sure. Are there some class/spec mechanics that need work? Sure. But they’re in a fine spot.

2 Likes
19

Always thought warlocks were super cool since WC1, also love DoT classes/mechanics in games. Warlock is the only class i have fun playing.

1 Like
20

I agree but there is one point you either mistype or misjudge.

In a mythic raid team you do take your best and high performing players…

Example: if you get a 90% parse as a warlock and do 20% less damage than a 75% parse other spec… i’m taking 2x 75% parse +20% more damage over an additional underperforming spec thats being played well.

So the Warlock plays better, brings x% less damage… I’d take the less performing class every day for the damage output.

Unfortunately this is a high reality at this time.

Players skill can only do so much and when it comes to doubling up a Class… unfortunately there is no justifiable reason to bring 2 warlocks in Mythic raids.

2 Likes