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  1. #1
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    Cataclysm: Fire Mage or Destruction Warlock?

    Hi!

    At Cataclysm, i'm gonna be leveling my new main (A Worgen) and there is two possibilities: Fire Mage or Destruction Warlock.
    Since BC, i'm playing Shaman Enh, Rogue and Warrior... Well, i just want to do something else, now.

    I've seen that the Fire Mage is changing a lot on the Beta.
    Both seems fun but i really don't know what to choose.
    I'm playing mostly PvE and i like to play some PvP with friends (I'm not the lonely wolf kind.)

    What are the differences between the two specs?

    - Fire mage seems more fun on mobs packs
    - Destru has more survivability
    ... I can't say, i don't play them yet!

    If someone who known both classes, can help me, i would appreciate it a lot!

  2. #2
    It sounds like you like the burst idea of casters.. if this is the case, you have far more options with the Mage. Me personally, ive been a Warlock since day 1, i love it and would highly recomend it.

    Destro Warlocks are wanna be Mages... except we do a better job at it

  3. #3
    Well, for soloing fire can (atleast at lvling gear, not handle more than 2 mobs without comeing in serious danger, however it realy shines for only 1 mob, as long as you get the first hit, Warlocks on the other hand, not destro so much, but demo and afli got amazing survival (afli easy takeing 10+ mobs at a time in lvling gear (in wotlk tho, dunno bout cata)

    Looking in a pve aspect the destro rotation is very dull, 1 dot to keep up, and 2 cds to watch, thats it, fire mage on the other hand is nothing alike, a debuff, a dot and a very common proc.
    In pvp fire mage isent so good, while destro is ofent used

    Personaly i would go with mage if you are the pve type of player.
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  4. #4
    Not to derail your thread, but are you 100 % sure about the spec parts? Are you not into Arcane / frost and Affliction / demonology at all?
    Because I am trying to decide whether to go mage or warlock myself, but I am not locked on those two specs necesarily... So, if you're open to the other specs aswell, maybe we could go general warlock vs mage decision? :P No need to have numerous threads about the same point then

  5. #5
    Old God Swizzle's Avatar
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    Destro doesn't really have more survivability than a fire mage in PvE. Both specs revolve around fire damage, so I can't say to pick one over the other in that sense.
    BfA Beta Time

  6. #6
    I know you asked for someone who has experience with both, but my 2 cents: Havent played a warlock and probably never will. Why? Fire mages are just too much fun, however I wouldn't suggest it for PvP at all. As far as Battlegrounds go, I am usually arcane because I rarely PvP and arcane is my 2nd raid spec, and I am not a big fan of switching my trees around all the time.

  7. #7
    fire mage.... 'nuff said tbh.... imba dps, imba aoe dps (dots ftw) and imba pvp abilities... (scorch while moving? HELL YEH!)
    Still waiting for competitive PvP to not be a trainwreck...

  8. #8
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    Well, the Warlock vs Mage is easy in a sense. Warlock have more choice in gameplay style. But i'm not a fan of Pets and Dots, so...
    However Destruction and Fire Mage are very close to each other.

    But if the survivability is the same... I'm going for Mage i think.

  9. #9
    Make one of each and then play the lock because its hair looks cooler.

  10. #10
    Old God Swizzle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zerackiel View Post
    Well, the Warlock vs Mage is easy in a sense. Warlock have more choice in gameplay style. But i'm not a fan of Pets and Dots, so...
    However Destruction and Fire Mage are very close to each other.

    But if the survivability is the same... I'm going for Mage i think.
    I'd put a fire mage ahead of a destro lock in terms of survivability in PvE seeing as how nether prot gut gutted compared to it's nice old KJ days. Also, in terms of more gameplay varieties...mages are equal on that level also. Heavy DoT/AoE spec: Fire. Pet/utility spec: Frost. Heavy Nuke/Management spec: Arcane.
    BfA Beta Time

  11. #11
    From a leveling aspect, Mage is better for the simple fact that you can make your own food/drinks, you can teleport all around the world, and with evocation now being trained at such a low level you wont have many mana problems. On top of that, polymorph is much more reliable then fear/seduce, and when you run into "oh shit" moments with multiple mobs, you have frost nova which stops everyone in their tracks.

    As some other people said though, I wouldn't level as destro as a warlock, it would be affliction or demon (espically demon after you get felguard, with these new changes). I know as affliction you can self heal pretty hard, and can almost just pull reckless. This might change with some of the new abilites going away, and you might have to wait for haunt now before you get nice self heals, we shall see. The new ability Soul harvest "You seek out nearby wandering souls, gaining 1 soul shard and regenerate 5% of your health every 3 sec for 9 sec. Cannot be cast when in combat.
    Channeled, 30 sec cooldown" will be very very useful while leveling, and I'd like to say even better than evocation.

    lol we could go on and on between the two, the truth is though, I find mage's playstyle more hectic and more fun. You have more survability vs melee as a mage, and that means a lot. Warlocks have pets, but you said you don't want pets, so thats an easy choice. Go mage, and don't look back. Just remember not to qq at 85 when you get fear spammed! :P

  12. #12
    Scarab Lord zealous's Avatar
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    My advise may be biased but I'd go for a lock (have a lock alt, never had a mage past lvl 30). They are gonna be awesome in Cata, amazing utility, versatility and burst, and most of all - fun. In all fairness, fire might be a small bit more complicated rotation wise. But still simple.

    To the people who said leveling destro is hard/not efficient: I leveled a destro lock in WotLK. I 2-shotted every mob and most players that tried to gank me (shadowfury-immo-death coil-conflag-cb = dead pala/dk/warr). Life tap + demon armor + lifebloom took care of my mana for the most part. I had to sit and drink after like 10-15 mobs only.

    I'm personally looking forward to trying demo tho in Cata, it looks really awesome both in pve and pvp. Felguard with brostorm? Yes plz.


    Swizzle - nether prot is changed for cata. It's an on-demand magic damage absorb. And survivability - I have raided as destro and never-ever had any probs with survivability. If anything it will increased now with soul leech and new nether prot.
    Last edited by zealous; 2010-09-16 at 05:46 PM.
    - Looks like they took him to some bolt hole in the Wounded Coast.
    - I wonder if it's near the Injured Cliffs? Or the Limping Hills? Massive-Head-Trauma-Bay? No? Just me? *sigh* Forget I said anything.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by lasheric View Post
    [...]lol we could go on and on between the two, the truth is though, I find mage's playstyle more hectic and more fun. You have more survability vs melee as a mage, and that means a lot. Warlocks have pets, but you said you don't want pets, so thats an easy choice. Go mage, and don't look back. Just remember not to qq at 85 when you get fear spammed! :P
    I guess that i would enjoy playing the two classes. So the choice is not that hard!
    I'm gonna make a Mage. I was always jealous of the free food and it's seems that the portal is the best friend of Archeology.

    Otherwise, I'm not a QQ guy, i have played Enhancement 3 years without whining.

    EDIT (zealous): Even if i'm happy with my Mage at 85, i will certainly reroll Warlock one day, anyway!

    Thanks for your help!
    Last edited by mmoc99096aac0d; 2010-09-16 at 05:58 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Zerackiel View Post
    I guess that i would enjoy playing the two classes. So the choice is not that hard!
    I'm gonna make a Mage. I was always jealous of the free food and it's seems that the portal is the best friend of Archeology.

    Otherwise, I'm not a QQ guy, i have played Enhancement 3 years without whining!
    Food doesn't get trained until level 38 in Cataclysm, the theory goes that you won't use enough mana to go oom often at low levels. Apart from that all I can say is- level a Mage. I tried both and, my god, leveling a Warlock was dull. I never got to max and so never played it, always favoured my mage. It got deleted not long after WotLK hit.

  15. #15
    Scarab Lord zealous's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orinoco View Post
    Food doesn't get trained until level 38 in Cataclysm, the theory goes that you won't use enough mana to go oom often at low levels. Apart from that all I can say is- level a Mage. I tried both and, my god, leveling a Warlock was dull. I never got to max and so never played it, always favoured my mage. It got deleted not long after WotLK hit.
    I'm pretty sure that's a difference of taste and not a universal truth. It was the always the other way around for me.
    I loved my lock and couldn't level any mage past lvl 35 or so cause I found it boring.
    - Looks like they took him to some bolt hole in the Wounded Coast.
    - I wonder if it's near the Injured Cliffs? Or the Limping Hills? Massive-Head-Trauma-Bay? No? Just me? *sigh* Forget I said anything.

  16. #16
    fire all the way - with the new mechanics on beta, ITS INSANE. aoe like shit, spamming scorch while running, pyro animation changed(its hUGE), basically with proper talents you can have +100% run speed like all the frekain time imp blink + blaze speed is so insane sososo!

  17. #17
    I dont really like the new changes to hot streak myself. Destruction warlock for me is the better option.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zeddicious View Post
    It sounds like you like the burst idea of casters.. if this is the case, you have far more options with the Mage. Me personally, ive been a Warlock since day 1, i love it and would highly recomend it.

    Destro Warlocks are wanna be Mages... except we do a better job at it
    And we have awesome demons and spells!

  19. #19
    Old God Swizzle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zealous View Post
    My advise may be biased but I'd go for a lock (have a lock alt, never had a mage past lvl 30). They are gonna be awesome in Cata, amazing utility, versatility and burst, and most of all - fun. In all fairness, fire might be a small bit more complicated rotation wise. But still simple.

    To the people who said leveling destro is hard/not efficient: I leveled a destro lock in WotLK. I 2-shotted every mob and most players that tried to gank me (shadowfury-immo-death coil-conflag-cb = dead pala/dk/warr). Life tap + demon armor + lifebloom took care of my mana for the most part. I had to sit and drink after like 10-15 mobs only.

    I'm personally looking forward to trying demo tho in Cata, it looks really awesome both in pve and pvp. Felguard with brostorm? Yes plz.


    Swizzle - nether prot is changed for cata. It's an on-demand magic damage absorb. And survivability - I have raided as destro and never-ever had any probs with survivability. If anything it will increased now with soul leech and new nether prot.
    Having played both on the PTR, fire's rotation is more complicated than destro's, if we're talking pure maximization here. In any case, nether prot can only proc once every 30 seconds IF nether ward is on the warlock, which is far weaker than the KJ negation damage of the old nether prot. No matter how you would like to spin it, nether prot got nerfed to a more controllable form, even if it is still only 30% reduction for 8 seconds. In any case, it's all a matter of taste and preference, I just don't like destro at all and much prefer affli or demo.

    ---------- Post added 2010-09-16 at 06:16 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Vasz View Post
    I dont really like the new changes to hot streak myself. Destruction warlock for me is the better option.
    Hot Streak hasn't...really changed. The total functionality of the spell is identical to the past, only removing LB from the equation.
    BfA Beta Time

  20. #20
    I don't understand why people are so afraid of destro leveling, if you have heirlooms like I had, would you rather dot mobs up and have it take 20 seconds to kill one or just 1-3 shot every mob in 3 seconds? Yeah thought so

    And I prefer destro warlock over fire mage, I feel like I have alot more control with warlock.
    Quote Originally Posted by kbarh View Post
    may i suggest you check out wowwiki or any similar site, it's Grom that orders the murder of Cairne

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