I hate Empowered Lifetap

[Baconeggcheese]

and unless you take reverse entropy, life tap is used rotationally anyway.

It takes roughly 2 minutes from the pull before you need to life tap for the first time in patchwerk. With more targets this takes longer due to more shards.

You have to use it dramatically more often than you would otherwise use it, and people dislike using life tap in the first place. It just takes 2 things people hate and puts them together in a spec that has no passive healing.

[klogaroth]

It takes roughly 2 minutes from the pull before you need to life tap for the first time in patchwerk. With more targets this takes longer due to more shards.

You have to use it dramatically more often than you would otherwise use it, and people dislike using life tap in the first place. It just takes 2 things people hate and puts them together in a spec that has no passive healing.

Yeah it's used way more than otherwise, but having played other specs, and previous incarnations of the warlock, that check mana levels and life tap on move reflex is something that doesn't really go away. Now you're just checking ELT duration instead of mana.

And sure, there's no natural self healing, but what about that awesome and engaging mastery random damage reduction eh? In all seriousness though, you'll usually passively end up on higher health than the rest of the raid through your mastery, even if it is random, so life tapping isn't a huge deal from a survivability standpoint. While you don't have the healing of aff, you certainly have enough passive DR and a short enough defensive cooldown that you're not often likely to be putting yourself at risk by life tapping unless you've done something wrong in a fight. Plus now we get more use out of another fan favourite - the eternal struggle artifact trait, something that should also contribute to this not being a survivability hit in any real way.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not super in love with the talent, but it's not really all that bad.

[Baconeggcheese]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not super in love with the talent, but it's not really all that bad.

Oh I freaking hate it with a blinding passion, but that stems from years of dealing with one maintenance buff after another and literally none of them being enjoyable. Its more of a frustration with the fact that they refuse to let this mechanic die more so than the spell itself.

Its made worse because we all knew we were going to be forced into this mechanic no one likes since they first introduced mana tap. We bitched about it a ton in alpha and they actually nerfed mana tap down to what you saw on live but still defended mana tap saying some people like that kind of mechanic. You then saw based on live data that with mana tap a few % dps ahead of RE, meaning that it was both better dps wise and really a choice between what people prefer, 99.9% of players used RE. That should really speak for itself on how much people freaking hate maintenance buffs.

Their response? They remove the worst part of the talent and basically force us into it, and you see the community responding with how much they dislike it. Which should surprise no one since we all saw this coming.

[burek]

It's not that bad on a raid boss fight, it's not less fun than casting a wet noodle incinerate, but i do hate it in dungeons. Coupled with burning rush and over 3 mil health pools, we are taking shit ton of self inflicted damage between pulls for god knows what reason. That tanky caster class fantasy just went to hell even more i guess

[klogaroth]

Until the damage from DPS food is really going to make a difference I just use fighter chow and don't have to worry about life tapping or burning rush in dungeons.

[Dagon]

Empowered life tap is fine. I wouldve liked a way to regenerate health when WQ'ing etc tho other than drain life...

This sort of applies in certain dungeons/raids too but its less of a problem.

Overall its a good talent.

[Lightbull]

Better than Mana Tap.

[valky94]

i got no issues using ELT, got a nice weak auras that even plays a sound when i got <5 sec on the buff, so i press it every 20ish sec, is even better on fights where i have to move like odyn

[Deleted]

"you're constantly having to press this button every 20 second"

You basically just described every single ability with CD that has a high priority on the rotation list

I still don't see any issue. Sure it may not be the best definition of fun (because it does no damage, has no cool graphics?)
But saying it is bad designed, I don't agree.

Because maintenance buffs are boring as hell. And Destruction was very obviously designed as a spec that did not include Lifetap, but Lifetap has now been crow-barred into it.

It feels awkward and out of place. As affliction I'm used to Lifetap even though it's garbage

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Better than Mana Tap.

lol we call that "damning with faint praise"

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Oh I freaking hate it with a blinding passion, but that stems from years of dealing with one maintenance buff after another and literally none of them being enjoyable. Its more of a frustration with the fact that they refuse to let this mechanic die more so than the spell itself.

Its made worse because we all knew we were going to be forced into this mechanic no one likes since they first introduced mana tap. We bitched about it a ton in alpha and they actually nerfed mana tap down to what you saw on live but still defended mana tap saying some people like that kind of mechanic. You then saw based on live data that with mana tap a few % dps ahead of RE, meaning that it was both better dps wise and really a choice between what people prefer, 99.9% of players used RE. That should really speak for itself on how much people freaking hate maintenance buffs.

Their response? They remove the worst part of the talent and basically force us into it, and you see the community responding with how much they dislike it. Which should surprise no one since we all saw this coming.

Unfortunately it's that "class fantasy" taking the front seat again. I guess that Lifetap is one of those fixed ideas, warlocks=lifetap. It's probably someone's baby just like Soul Effigy is, and they grabbed an opportunity to shov eit into the one lock spec that could avoid it.

[tratra]

Just make it a passive talent jesus christ. Its so simple or remove it completely. People on mmo-c are literally awful. They will always judge and always say "oh you dont like it, pick another talent"
NO I DONT WANT TO PICK ANOTHER TALENT OR LOSE ANY DPS.


The design of ELT is awful atm, another maintenance buff without a point. ELT is the DE of Destro atm and it sucks, and would be cool if the devs are blizzard were actually working instead of having meaningful pizza meetings.

[Uzkin]

I switched to affliction as well. The current destro mechanics are a mess. Somehow the least fun, least convenient (= most clunky) and least destruction-like talent of each dps tier ended up being the one performing the best. Quite an achievement by the devs.

[Deleted]

It takes roughly 2 minutes from the pull before you need to life tap for the first time in patchwerk. With more targets this takes longer due to more shards.

You have to use it dramatically more often than you would otherwise use it, and people dislike using life tap in the first place. It just takes 2 things people hate and puts them together in a spec that has no passive healing.

If you're stationary, sure - it helps patch up movement so well that I'm borderline fond of it. Lifetapping during movement feels a lot more satisfying than having to blow rifts / conflags when I'd rather be banking them for the windows where I actually want to burn / generate embers.

If I didn't dislike maintenance buffs on principal / hate being stuck with things like Soul Effigy that are a things Blizzard have known WELL before the redesign is a type of mechanic people usually hate, been told so ever since it was first floated and STILL added - I'd probably be fond of it.

[Deleted]

I switched to affliction as well. The current destro mechanics are a mess. Somehow the least fun, least convenient (= most clunky) and least destruction-like talent of each dps tier ended up being the one performing the best. Quite an achievement by the devs.

Except for CDF, I agree. CDF livens it up a little.

Anyway. Too much hassle for too little gain. Seems they went the opposite direction than with Shadow on Destruction: Put in an extremely complex mechanic that when played perfectly does the same dps as other classes who have to press 3 buttons. Goodbye 54-trait weapon - hello Affliction. And thanks Blizzard.

[Cheze]

maintenance buffs can be okay, but they should have interactions with the rest of the kit and ideally should be something more interesting than '+% total damage for X seconds.' I really dislike demonic empowerment but as clunky as it is, it at least introduces a bit of finesse and rotational complexity. If ELT (just, for example) empowered your next three shard spenders cast within ten seconds it might be kinda interesting; then it would accentuate destro's build -> dump gameplay and would require at least a bit more thought than it takes to watch a buff countdown.

I also dislike that the 30 row is now almost a pure numbers choice; one of those talents is going to be the best in the vast majority of situations and everyone will just take whatever talent it is. I prefer the aoe/ST/cleave choices being mixed around a bit more.

[Fabinas]

Except for CDF, I agree. CDF livens it up a little.

Anyway. Too much hassle for too little gain. Seems they went the opposite direction than with Shadow on Destruction: Put in an extremely complex mechanic that when played perfectly does the same dps as other classes who have to press 3 buttons. Goodbye 54-trait weapon - hello Affliction. And thanks Blizzard.

I don't understand why ppl like CDF. It feels more maintenance "buff" than life tap. If you delay casting you lost dps, and never recover it. It roots you. It has absolutely no synergy with anything in Destro, except that enforced one with immolate.

It's not that i like Life Tap, don't misunderstand me. I find 7.1.5 Destro having absolutely no rhythm, no flow and struggle to recover that pre-7.1.5 feeling of playing it. Life Tap doesn't help that. I have invested heavily on Scepter so, i'll stick to it (because also i'm stubborn and like the challenge), but i hate CDF more than ELT.

[Amonthar]

It is nice to see I am not the only one that hates this. This just wreaks of why not increase damage in general instead of giving us this crap?

[Deleted]

B Eradication+RE at least gave some fun options to maximize usage, even if just in small ways from time to time.

You mean two completely passive talents are fun?

[Deleted]

You mean two completely passive talents are fun?

If you were using Eradication as a passive you were doing it wrong.

[Raugnaut]

You are going to be using Life Tap about that much anyway. Just think of it as playing properly then as a buff to maintain.

[Deleted]

I switched to affliction as well. The current destro mechanics are a mess. Somehow the least fun, least convenient (= most clunky) and least destruction-like talent of each dps tier ended up being the one performing the best. Quite an achievement by the devs.

I'm actually enjoying the current destro talents. The only thing I don't like is having to choose between Cataclysm and F+B. But I don't like that F+B is a talent anyways.

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If you were using Eradication as a passive you were doing it wrong.

Sorry is it a button you press?

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If you were using Eradication as a passive you were doing it wrong.

I'd be quite interested how you would go about controlling your use of it? Seeing as it's attached to your CB? The most active "gameplay it can provide is "make sure it's up during your cooldowns"

woah