Season 13 discussion & Warlock PvP Guide.

[Griffeth]

I hope he realizes he also has to reduce the damage coming from MG then, otherwise our single target damage when free casting will be way to high.

You mean the damage that MG causes the DoT's to tick for?

[Nicola]

You mean the damage that MG causes the DoT's to tick for?

Yup 10char

[Griffeth]

Yup 10char

Currently it does 50%? I imagine it will be toned down to ~30 to 40%. Then again if someone lets affliction freecast MG, its their own fault?

[Nazmina]

The following discussion is about PVP.

The reason I am posting is that I try to understand the reasoning behind a talent selection.
I see some warlocks using Dark Bargain over Sacrificial Pact.

Isn't sacrificial pact so much better? One minute cd, insane absorb which doesn't have any drawbacks.
While Dark Bargain is like inviting me to do even more damage on that lock.

What am I missing here? :S

There are a few issues with sac pact, I takes either 25% of your current health or your pets current health, depending on whether or not you use a pet. If you do, the shield will be smaller but you lose nothing of value, though this can present an issue if the other team cleaves onto you pet, you won't get the full shield if he isn't at 100%.

On the other hand if you sac your self, you will rarely be at 100% when you need to use it (if you are then the team isnt focusing you, and probably won't) and you still lose 25% of your current hp.

Biggest thing about all this, is how hard sac pact is hit by battle fatigue and mortal strike effects. Your big ass 400k self sac shield gets cut down to more like 200k. It only really buys time for your healer to get you, it won't really save your life like dark bargin can.

As for the DB dot, its pretty small most of the time, players don't always stick on you when you pop it, and the dot can be mitigated with twilight ward. Biggest I see even in bgs with half the team on me is like 25k ticks, bad, but not unhealable.

[Griffeth]

There are a few issues with sac pact, I takes either 25% of your current health or your pets current health, depending on whether or not you use a pet. If you do, the shield will be smaller but you lose nothing of value, though this can present an issue if the other team cleaves onto you pet, you won't get the full shield if he isn't at 100%.

On the other hand if you sac your self, you will rarely be at 100% when you need to use it (if you are then the team isnt focusing you, and probably won't) and you still lose 25% of your current hp.

Biggest thing about all this, is how hard sac pact is hit by battle fatigue and mortal strike effects. Your big ass 400k self sac shield gets cut down to more like 200k. It only really buys time for your healer to get you, it won't really save your life like dark bargin can.

As for the DB dot, its pretty small most of the time, players don't always stick on you when you pop it, and the dot can be mitigated with twilight ward. Biggest I see even in bgs with half the team on me is like 25k ticks, bad, but not unhealable.

If used properly, the damage can be mitigated rather nicely. DB + our shield wall + ward = next to zero damage taken if you are getting hard focused. That will take almost all of your big defensive cooldowns to do, but if the team is hitting you hard enough for you to pop all 3, they wont have much left afterwards.

---------- Post added 2013-04-16 at 11:42 AM ----------

Posting this here because the other forum I use appears dead:

Hey guys, wanted to get some input from you all about our prefered 3v3 comps. What I am currently looking at are the following:


RLS

RLD

WLD


What do you think would be the best specs to run for these as the lock? Here is what I am thinking:


Destro/Affliction - Depending on the rogue partner and how well they can peel or control, affliction may be needed for control while rogue does the burst

Destro - Rogue and druid can handle most of the control and burst would be left to me as Destro

Affliction - Warrior burst is crazy, their peels are nice so I would be mainly pressure and control?


Any input would be great.

[Nerraw]

Currently it does 50%? I imagine it will be toned down to ~30 to 40%. Then again if someone lets affliction freecast MG, its their own fault?

It'll still be a boost to PvE damage if they don't offset the increase in dot damage somewhere.

[Griffeth]

It'll still be a boost to PvE damage if they don't offset the increase in dot damage somewhere.

They were talking a PvP set bonus, not a PvE one.

[Zalkiden]

I would have to agree, I don't feel MG dot damage should be lowered. It's a big flashy spell yelling interrupt/CC me. If they can't do that, I/ my team did something right or they just suck. We shouldn't be punished because people don't want to play smart.

[luckydevours]

I hope he realizes he also has to reduce the damage coming from MG then, otherwise our single target damage when free casting will be way to high.

This is a joke?!

[Griffeth]

This is a joke?!

Please explain?

[Nerraw]

They were talking a PvP set bonus, not a PvE one.

Derp. Pro-tip: Don't procrastinate on forums while studying for exams.

[Griffeth]

Derp. Pro-tip: Don't procrastinate on forums while studying for exams.

Best get to them exams then. I cant wait to see what they do for the 5.3 pvp sets and how its going to work. I mean Affliction uses 3 dots, Demo uses 2 and Destruction uses 1?

[luckydevours]

Please explain?

I have never heard any pvp player complaining that affliction has to much reliable single target damage ever since MoP was released. Combined with the 25% nerf to corruption in 5.2 which also reduced Malefic Grasp damage by 5% the extent of buffs to dot damage required to make channeling Malefic Grasp a problem in PvP is so tremendous that prior to that the forums would be flooded with (justified) tears concerning the ridiculous amount of dot pressure affliction can sustain.

[Griffeth]

I have never heard any pvp player complaining that affliction has to much reliable single target damage ever since MoP was released. Combined with the 25% nerf to corruption in 5.2 which also reduced Malefic Grasp damage by 5% the extent of buffs to dot damage required to make channeling Malefic Grasp a problem in PvP is so tremendous that prior to that the forums would be flooded with (justified) tears concerning the ridiculous amount of dot pressure affliction can sustain.

The issue we would have to look at, is the increase to ALL dot damage that will be coming with the set bonus. If the damage is a 50% increase to dot damage, that would mean that MG damage is getting doubled from its current state which may make affliction a bit broken if we are left to sit there and channel. It is a concern that we should keep in mind due to not really wanting another nerf to follow if it is not done properly.

[luckydevours]

The issue we would have to look at, is the increase to ALL dot damage that will be coming with the set bonus. If the damage is a 50% increase to dot damage, that would mean that MG damage is getting doubled from its current state which may make affliction a bit broken if we are left to sit there and channel. It is a concern that we should keep in mind due to not really wanting another nerf to follow if it is not done properly.

What you are concerning is not only completly unrealistic but also mathmatically wrong: Even if they did increase dot damage by 50% - a number no one is even dreaming about - Malefic Grasp damage would not be doubled.

[Griffeth]

What you are concerning is not only completly unrealistic but also mathmatically wrong: Even if they did increase dot damage by 50% - a number no one is even dreaming about - Malefic Grasp damage would not be doubled.

The damage that MG itself deals would not be doubled correct, but the dot ticks that come from channeling MG would be increased along with it, which may give Affliction to much single target pressure

[luckydevours]

The damage that MG itself deals would not be doubled correct, but the dot ticks that come from channeling MG would be increased along with it, which may give Affliction to much single target pressure

Again, prior to Affliction having too much single target damage, the amount of multi target dot pressure will be so outrageous that it could not be tolerated. For the sake of convenience you can complete forget the whole issue, affliction single target pressure will never be to high in pvp in consideration of the current mechanic of Malefic Grasp.

[Morictan]

Hi all, great thread here.

Quick question: Is Affliction a viable PVP spec for someone who will be just starting the PVP gear grind and mainly doing Random RBGs (and perhaps some 2v2 Arena)?

What I mean is, is Destro really the way to go and by going Aff, I'd be really hindering myself?

Thanks for any advice!

[Griffeth]

The damage that affliction does is really low at the moment. For random BG's i would recommend Destro. More surviability and more damage. For arenas it really depends on your partner, but most will say Destro or Demo

[Docmort]

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16853

Corruption had a tooltip fix.
Succubus: Seduction now will auto cast on targets that attack the master.

Nothing much to comment on there, the change to seduction auto-cast is nice if you use it I guess.

Unending Breath now breaks the Soulburn walk on water effect on damage taken.

Sigh....had to happen eventually I suppose. This was really nice in BG's and world pvp, definitely something I'll miss.

Demonology
Metamorphosis: Doom had a tooltip fix.

Major Glyphs
Glyph of Siphon Life now heals for 0.5% of your maximum health when dealing damage.

Wow, I really have to wait for clarification on this glyph but if they mean to include all dot damage this would go a good way to giving affliction decent self-heals, especially in multi-doting situations. I don't want to get too excited till we learn more though.