Let's talk about a few things.

[alexw]

Well, Soul Fire barely hits for more than Incinerate on live while MoP Chaos Bolt is kind of atomic.

The damage didnt matter to whether soul fire was liked or not. What people hated about it was that it was a long cast that you had to make every 20s like clockwork. Given how destro regen works you will have to do nearly the same otherwise destro goes oom.

[Brauhm]

The problem is that you went overboard. We never asked for a one shotting spell. We were complaining about wet noodle. Now you give us the complete opposite, which isn't good. Yes, it's the sad truth, what can I say...? And I'm shocked to be the only one to have realized that. If I wanted the feel of a one shoting spell I would've rerolled mage. I don't want a mage. I want a warlock.

---------- Post added 2012-08-20 at 08:20 PM ----------

Also, honest question: What was the developer team thinking when they decided to give a slow cast to Destruction? I'm serious. Were you influenced by Drakedog or Goku, and had the idea of mega ZOMG obliterating spell, thinking it would appeal to many?

The only thing that really bothers me with Chaos Bolt is that it should be the hardest hitting spell in the game. It should surpass Pyroblast's damage because they can instant cast it, where we can't. I would REALLY love to see its damage increased and Incinerates damage decreased so Chaos Bolt is more of our over all damage. I know this isn't about me, but that would really make Chaos Bolt feel "worth it".

[Deleted]

Little off topic here--> watch?v=r8eMRYemHj4&feature=player_embedded copy on youtube, can´t post links

Fire mage, better damage, instant cast, better survivability.
Does chaos bolt hit that hard on beta?

[jamesbond2013]

Long casts are hard to get off in raid boss fights? I did the last two tiers as Destro hard-casting Soul Fires, it's not all that hard. Long casts are impossible to manage in PvP? Well, maybe in arena with people pillar dancing and not many targets to choose between. But I've been doing rated battlegrounds as PvP Destro for two seasons, and it's a lot like being a Hunter or an Arcane Mage. Try to hide behind your teammates, wait till the other team is focused on someone else, then blow people the hell up. It's a valid tactical role in rated BGs.

Nobody is saying Destro doesnt work in PVE. it does. Which is how the spec was designed from the ground up, which unfortunately means it sucks in 3v3 (what most people play). Every class or spec can do well in BG's if you're left ignored and hide. Ele shamans & Arcane mages do well in bgs/rbgs, but they suck in 3v3 when coordinated teams & dps can sit on them for the majority of the time.

You will find out the hardway once you step into 3v3 and realizes the spec is non-viable for another 2+yrs. Also have fun juking a 3second cast in arenas, jesus wth were the devs thinkin.

[Xelnath]

Also, honest question: What was the developer team thinking when they decided to give a slow cast to Destruction? I'm serious. Were you influenced by Drakedog or Goku, and had the idea of mega ZOMG obliterating spell, thinking it would appeal to many?

... are you done?

You're clearly a talented and passionate player and care a lot. Look, I get it, change sucks. You mastered destruction and were proud of it. You worked hard to deserve that arena video you are showing off in your comment. Now all of your work got trashed and you are upset.

The simple answer is this: having more dots than affliction and demonology is not the standard fantasy of a destruction Warlock. If you're curious, it was actually heavily inspired by Richard at LFGComic. While reading that one day, I realized there was no outlet for the powerful, heavy hitting bringer of burning destruction fantasy.

Couple this with the fact that all 3 specs were heavily homogenized and watered down and the right course of action was to push Destruction as far away from Affliction as possible. Blizzard knew this was going to rain on the parade of highly skilled, twitchy arena and pve players. Unfortunately, you actually are in the incredible minority and more players complained about Destruction in 4.3 to be nearly impossible to play, heavily failure prone and never bringing the payout associated with the amount of effort it took to perform.

Super Hard, No Reward, Not Fulfilling the Fantasy - Destruction has always been considered spec with a weak identity and was considered a huge failure in Cataclysm for most players.

[Sylar Hao]

The problem is that you went overboard. We never asked for a one shotting spell. We were complaining about wet noodle. Now you give us the complete opposite, which isn't good. Yes, it's the sad truth, what can I say...? And I'm shocked to be the only one to have realized that. If I wanted the feel of a one shoting spell I would've rerolled mage. I don't want a mage. I want a warlock.

I don't mean to troll you, but, so many people can't be wrong while only one person be right, don't you think? I prefer the new Destro over the Cata one anytime. Maybe it's not that you're right or we are, but a personal opinion or liking, some of us like it, some don't.

[Crack the Sky]

Nobody is saying Destro doesnt work in PVE. it does. Which is how the spec was designed from the ground up, which unfortunately means it sucks in 3v3 (what most people play). Every class or spec can do well in BG's if you're left ignored and hide. Ele shamans & Arcane mages do well in bgs/rbgs, but they suck in 3v3 when coordinated teams & dps can sit on them for the majority of the time.

You will find out the hardway once you step into 3v3 and realizes the spec is non-viable for another 2+yrs. Also have fun juking a 3second cast in arenas, jesus wth were the devs thinkin.

Ele has been viable in arena this entire expansion, and if you cant get off a 2 second Backdrafted CB in arena than I don't know what to tell you.

[Vanamman]

Ele has been viable in arena this entire expansion, and if you cant get off a 2 second Backdrafted CB in arena than I don't know what to tell you.

There is a reason any competent arena player is affliction you know... its because destro has terrible damage and any good team will never let you cast chaos bolt.

[Phoenexis]

... are you done?

You're clearly a talented and passionate player and care a lot. Look, I get it, change sucks. You mastered destruction and were proud of it. You worked hard to deserve that arena video you are showing off in your comment. Now all of your work got trashed and you are upset.

The simple answer is this: having more dots than affliction and demonology is not the standard fantasy of a destruction Warlock. If you're curious, it was actually heavily inspired by Richard at LFGComic. While reading that one day, I realized there was no outlet for the powerful, heavy hitting bringer of burning destruction fantasy.

Couple this with the fact that all 3 specs were heavily homogenized and watered down and the right course of action was to push Destruction as far away from Affliction as possible. Blizzard knew this was going to rain on the parade of highly skilled, twitchy arena and pve players. Unfortunately, you actually are in the incredible minority and more players complained about Destruction in 4.3 to be nearly impossible to play, heavily failure prone and never bringing the payout associated with the amount of effort it took to perform.

Super Hard, No Reward, Not Fulfilling the Fantasy - Destruction has always been considered spec with a weak identity and was considered a huge failure in Cataclysm for most players.

Yes I know, and i was dead serious. But why go all the other way? Were you that afraid? I mean, a lot of people loved the WotLK model which didn't have slow casts, unless you used Soul Fire in that small window of opportunity in PvP where you had an enemy CC'ed and wanted to break it with something strong for more pressure. And yes LeyrHao, it's obviously an opinion, and I can't be "right". I'm not saying I loved the Cata Destro (even though I got used to it), but didn't most of the people love the WotLK model? Don't you see truckloads of movies being uploaded about undead Destruction warlocks? Heck, even the Cataclysm ones try to be wannabe versions of WotLK (as in they do the same playstyle: No BoA, no Corruption, zooming in on Soul Fire).

I really didn't mean to offend you Xelnath, I was just trying to understand what you were really aiming at because that slow cast seems to break off all of those fluid fast casts. Yes I'm upset but I'm also very happy because of the attention Blizzard has giving for warlocks: May it be from the smallest things such as the pet range increase or the glyph of nightmares, to the big changes such as the Ember system and Demonic Fury. I might not like it and find it out of place, but it was surely hard work. Not to forget your willingness to communicate with us, which I really, really, really appreciate.

---------- Post added 2012-08-20 at 08:41 PM ----------

And I'm sorry if I got caught up in all of this, really am.

[Crack the Sky]

There is a reason any competent arena player is affliction you know... its because destro has terrible damage and any good team will never let you cast chaos bolt.

You do know I'm talking about MoP right? Of course everyone is Aff on Cata. Once again, if you can't get off a 2 second cast in arena the problem isn't your class.

[Evatar]

Fire mage, better damage, instant cast, better survivability.

Hi welcome to wow, where locks get nerfed and mages are OP, god forbid they actually nerf mages. In MoP locks have less CC than in Cata, Mages have mores, fire mages have enough to keep you CC for 33 sec out of every min, no long CDs involved, also have spellsteal on no CD (yet felhunter got nerfed repeatedly in cata for devour magic), and evocation heals em for 40% of their health on a 10 sec CD (but Lock casting Soul haverst in combat was OP, hell its being diabled even out of combat for arenas). Basically, if its good, locks will loose it and mages will get an improved version.

/rant off

But seriously, its not funny, mages get to have everything than we were told would be OP:
-All specs CC combined into one: check
-Spammable high healing channel: check
-Instacast heavy hitting spell: check

[Phoenexis]

And just so that you know, when MoP Beta first came out I really wasn't excited, to the point where I was going to leave for another game. But with the recent changes and your activity on the forums, Xelnath, I'm getting a bit more excited. At least you're going on the right track, and I know a lot of people (may they be new or old to WoW) that are excited about MoP.

[Crack the Sky]

Hi welcome to wow, where locks get nerfed and mages are OP, god forbid they actually nerf mages. In MoP locks have less CC than in Cata, Mages have mores, fire mages have enough to keep you CC for 33 sec out of every min, no long CDs involved, also have spellsteal on no CD (yet felhunter got nerfed repeatedly in cata for devour magic), and evocation heals em for 40% of their health on a 10 sec CD (but Lock casting Soul haverst in combat was OP, hell its being diabled even out of combat for arenas). Basically, if its good, locks will loose it and mages will get an improved version.

/rant off

But seriously, its not funny, mages get to have everything than we were told would be OP:
-All specs CC combined into one: check
-Spammable high healing channel: check
-Instacast heavy hitting spell: check

Fire Mages will get hit with a nerf I'm pretty sure. Everyone and their brother is complaining about them...too much instant cc with insane mobility and high damage.

[Evatar]

Fire Mages will get hit with a nerf I'm pretty sure. Everyone and their brother is complaining about them...too much instant cc with insane mobility and high damage.

Its not just fire, all mages are pretty redic right now, Fire is just the worst, and I been saying the will get their CC nerfed since march, nothing so far.

[Deleted]

I like the way they are changing destro, it has the "Destruction" feel that i missed in cata, i just think it can be more... "fluid" to play.

It really has the potential to be devastating in rbgs

[Xelnath]

I've gotten a pretty thick skin after tanking forum threads for years. I'm not offended. Your choice of methods in presenting the topic is coming off way more emotional than it needs to. You could have gotten the same response with:

"Hey, why did Blizzard move destro away from lots of buttons to only a few buttons?"

Regarding WotLK - Conflag was brokenly good. Player Health was low. Add those together and you get a symphony of glass cannons blowing people up. It was a good time. It wasn't balanced

[Evatar]

@Xelnath, turning to more straight forward topic, is anything being done about the wrathguard, currently his dmg is less than the FG (or barely higher, pet testing is a bit conflicting, prolly due the bug in shat dummies without our pets getting debuffed), and even if his dmg was the stated +20% over FG, service would still trump Supremacy pretty badly due to the fact the service FG has a higher than normal uptime on felstorm, resulting in higher average dps relative to his uptime.

By my math, Wrathguard would need to do +30% dmg to be competitive with service FG, is this something being takeninto account?

[Xelnath]

Wrathguard and Felguard do more damage if you don't push Wrathstorm/Felstorm.

[Evatar]

Wrathguard and Felguard do more damage if you don't push Wrathstorm/Felstorm.

Seems contrary to current testing, but will seek furhter testing on this out before commenting further (just not in shat that aura bug had me freaking out over hidden pet nerfs, and pets arent the smartest vs dummies anyways). Still feels wrong that FG felstorm hits harder then wrathstorm even if their arent single target increases.

[Xelnath]

Seems contrary to current testing, but will seek furhter testing on this out before commenting further (just not in shat that aura bug had me freaking out over hidden pet nerfs, and pets arent the smartest vs dummies anyways). Still feels wrong that FG felstorm hits harder then wrathstorm even if their arent single target increases.

That... is a real issue. It should definitely get fixed. It doesn't make sense for an AoE pet to be weaker at AoE.