Which spec would you play if all were balanced?

[Deleted]

I think Haunt is fine, I'd rather see a proc like old Nightfall or the Priest FDCL talent though to mix things up and offer up some mobility/burst.

Well it needs something that's for sure.

[Jessicka]

Well it needs something that's for sure.

I'm not entirely sure it does need anything adding; the complexity could be kept with switching/multitargetting, as it is with Destruction and Shadow - removing Soul Swap, especially Soulburned would go a long way toward that.

[Deleted]

I'm not entirely sure it does need anything adding; the complexity could be kept with switching/multitargetting, as it is with Destruction and Shadow - removing Soul Swap, especially Soulburned would go a long way toward that.

My main gripe with affliction is that Soul Shards feel very underwhelming. Burning Embers and Demonic Fury greatly enhance their respective specs but Soul Shards are kinda bland.

Regardless, multi dotting without soul swap would be a step into bringing back more complexity (if we can call it that?) to the spec, would give us more to do anyway. I'd still like something more engaging for soul shards however.

[Jessicka]

I feel like it's snapshotting that's making Shards feel underwhelming.

[Xandy]

When snapshotting is gone I think I'll give Demo the old college try since stance-dancing to refresh Doom has always put a wrench in the gears for me. I know you'll still have to stance-dance for things like HoG, but I can deal with that… I think.

[Deleted]

Destruction has been the only spec I've enjoyed in all its versions since I started raiding in wotlk, so I picked that.

If affliction still played like Wotlk or Cata it would have gotten the edge but I hate, hate, HATE the current state of affliction. They really ruined the smoothness of affliction. It seems like when they did the redesign they chose to disregard the fact that affli was completely fine and dandy and just redesigned it (for the worse) for the sake of it cause they were doing the other two specs.

I have not enjoyed demo at all since Wotlk, Meta LOOKs cool, but all of the mechanics around it feel so clunky and backwards that I just feel completely bored and miserable whenever I have to play it for certain fights.

[Deleted]

If affliction still played like Wotlk or Cata it would have gotten the edge but I hate, hate, HATE the current state of affliction. They really ruined the smoothness of affliction. It seems like when they did the redesign they chose to disregard the fact that affli was completely fine and dandy and just redesigned it (for the worse) for the sake of it cause they were doing the other two specs.

well that is only your opinion tho, and i honestly think you're in the minority about that. Since when did it make any sense for a spec that revolved around periodic dmg having to use a direct dmg spell for dps, MG makes more sense to me, but that it just my opinion ofc.

[Toffie]

Honestly, anything but destruction.

[lunchbox2042]

I preferred Affliction and Destro to Demo this expansion regardless of which was better.

[PickleballAce]

I still miss Drain Life Aff with the old Nightfall proc.

[Deleted]

My main gripe with affliction is that Soul Shards feel very underwhelming. Burning Embers and Demonic Fury greatly enhance their respective specs but Soul Shards are kinda bland.

Regardless, multi dotting without soul swap would be a step into bringing back more complexity (if we can call it that?) to the spec, would give us more to do anyway. I'd still like something more engaging for soul shards however.

i do agree with soul shards, they feel very bland and they have a very limited use imo, i would like to see more uses of soul shards, id love to see a soul shard usage for things like malefic grasp(using a soul shard along with MG could make the next malefic grasp into the old harvest life, basically an aoe version of it or apply dots to all targets within a certain range) or haunt(not the one from chaotic resources, that 1 sucks imo) or each of our individual dots it will add an extra vl up complexity to the spec which imo is very needed especially with the removal of snapshotting.

i disagree about the soul swap thing. yes the removal might bring back more complexitiy but it will also bring a lot of tedious gameplay and annoyment to the spec which i think is something that blizz doesnt want and it will simply remove 1 of afflic's greatest soul shard use.

[Deleted]

i disagree about the soul swap thing. yes the removal might bring back more complexitiy but it will also bring a lot of tedious gameplay and annoyment to the spec which i think is something that blizz doesnt want and it will simply remove 1 of afflic's greatest soul shard use.

I should clarify I meant the current version of Soul Swap; the one with no cooldown.

I personally enjoy watching nameplates or w/e and tracking the individual dot timers. There's a satisfaction to juggling dots on multiple targets, and hard casting dots is more enjoyable for me.

I like soul burn: soul swap and 100% think it should stay. Perhaps go back to Soul Swap having a cooldown, though maybe not quite as long as 30 seconds.

Off topic - I want GoSac to be viable again for affliction.

[MatadorMedia]

Destro is the most fun period. The only annoyance is having to manually target rain of fire.

[Mayhem]

When snapshotting is gone I think I'll give Demo the old college try since stance-dancing to refresh Doom has always put a wrench in the gears for me. I know you'll still have to stance-dance for things like HoG, but I can deal with that… I think.

yeah, i kind of hate the stance dance bs... never liked it with my warri in vanilla and that hasn´t changed, still not liking it... so it´s either going to be aff or destro for me i guess

[Deleted]

well that is only your opinion tho, and i honestly think you're in the minority about that. Since when did it make any sense for a spec that revolved around periodic dmg having to use a direct dmg spell for dps, MG makes more sense to me, but that it just my opinion ofc.

Well ofc it's my opinion... that's what this thread is, no?

Since when did it make sense? In all the expansions before MoP it made sense, apart from the brief period in which we used Drain Life as a filler instead of Shadow Bolt, atleast DL is an iconic warlock spell and fits the theme. MG imo does not.

As far as my opinion being the minority I'm not so sure...

the only spec i don't like is affliction MOP. fuck malefic grasp.

Wrath-style Affliction. I just started playing again a few months ago and to be honest I don't like what they did to warlocks at all

Amen to that.

(Reply to previous quote.)

Aff feels the most warlock iconic though I don't really enjoy its present incarnation with snapshotting and RPPM RNG

wotlk affliction

Aff = slowpaced, dots, snappshotting, not too keen on MG though

I voted Aff but not MoP aff...I fucking hate MG.

I'd go Affliction if it was t11 Affliction

I play from Australia) and that has always been horrible for channeled spells, even after they apparently 'fixed' it, it never felt any different at my end even fiddling with the latency options and latency fixes. Due to this I hate MG

Also I loved the casting and watching the big hit with shadow bolt and the iconic look.

Affliction once snapshotting goes poof in WoD

I would love to say affliction but I don't care for MG and would much rather have shadow bolt back to being our filler

Wish they would allow us to chose between MG and Shadow bolt in talents somewhere. Old style Affliction ftw

Affliction, if it worked more like BC/WOTLK

Affliction, though I think MOP affliction is absolute crap-tier garbage compared to WOTLK or even Cata affliction

There have been a lot of people that have expressed dislike at the current style of affli, of course there have been people saying they love it too... but it seems pretty much 50/50 which I would not describe as a 'minority' either way.

[Deleted]

Well ofc it's my opinion... that's what this thread is, no?

Since when did it make sense? In all the expansions before MoP it made sense, apart from the brief period in which we used Drain Life as a filler instead of Shadow Bolt, atleast DL is an iconic warlock spell and fits the theme. MG imo does not.

As far as my opinion being the minority I'm not so sure...



(Reply to previous quote.)












There have been a lot of people that have expressed dislike at the current style of affli, of course there have been people saying they love it too... but it seems pretty much 50/50 which I would not describe as a 'minority' either way.

the reason why it made sense for ppl back then, was becoz there was no other choice, ive played my lock since vanilla, and it never made sense for me to use a DD spell for an obvious periodic dmg spec.

what you have quoted only proves 1 thing tho and that is that those ppl are simply the most vocal, doesnt mean that they might not be the minority.

[Binary Speaker]

My lock is only 71 so I can't really talk endgame but I'd say destro>demo>afflic for me. I'm hoping afflic gets more fun at 90 because I like DoTs but destro is so fun for AoE. IMHO of course

[Jessicka]

the reason why it made sense for ppl back then, was becoz there was no other choice, ive played my lock since vanilla, and it never made sense for me to use a DD spell for an obvious periodic dmg spec.

what you have quoted only proves 1 thing tho and that is that those ppl are simply the most vocal, doesnt mean that they might not be the minority.

There was this poll a while back which came out slightly in favour of Shadow Bolt. You're wrong to make assertions about community favour, it is pretty evenly split I believe.

[Deleted]

the reason why it made sense for ppl back then, was becoz there was no other choice, ive played my lock since vanilla, and it never made sense for me to use a DD spell for an obvious periodic dmg spec.

what you have quoted only proves 1 thing tho and that is that those ppl are simply the most vocal, doesnt mean that they might not be the minority.

There's no other choice now though either is there? I can't just decide to use Shadowbolt as a filler all of a sudden. I've only played my lock since TBC personally, but I'm sure you having started that little bit before me makes your opinion much more valid... in spite of the fact that the people you claim to be a minority are in fact a slight majority judging by the poll that Jessicka was kind enough to link.

What I quoted proved that this thread seemed to be split 50/50, which is exactly what I stated it shows, and happens to line up quite nicely with the poll. Tell me what your point is again?

[Skayth]

honestly, all three are very close in dmg (single) at the highest ilvl. Prior to that, though, you are shit out of luck as demonology. You pull better numbers with destro, except on protectors, which is an utter shit fight to begin with, and affliction comes out so far ahead. On paragons, if affliction is doing better, you can tell the affliction nut to stop dpsn the other paragons. Currently the only one that is doing terrible before BiS is demonology. It also is medium of the pack with other dps, if played right, not bottom.

But, Come WoD, demo all the way, as it should be more balanced thanks to snapshotting going away.

I would want to play demo right now, but I cant, as I am not BiS.