Is Destruction too easy?

[Jessicka]

See this I don't understand. If a spec is designed to be low skill cap anyone and their grandma can play it and do well, how does that balance with high skill cap specs like Demonology??

The game needs to feel rewarding for when you execute a spec well - Why would anyone play a complicated spec like Demo, if you can just play a low skill cap spec like Destro and, by "intended design" get the same result?

Because actually managing Havoc/Shadowburn, even coming out of AoE with some Embers from FnB actually does require some level of management and skill - very often I see players and posters whining about coming out of their AoE phase with no Embers, and they really suffer from it. There's definitely a bigger ramp up in skill curve against multiple targets, certainly around 3-4, for Destruction than there is Demo, who's multi-target toolkit is much more basic in spite of the sheer number of abilities used. Ironic much that it's around that number where with RoF nerf is causing people to complain because its now harder there...

So no. I don't think Destruction is too easy - at its most basic level it's straightforward to pick up, yes, but there are tricks and nuances to be exploited far more than the other specs have open to them. If any spec is overly 'easy' now, it's Affliction since they took it's toys away with Drain Soul sniping. I am amazed there hasn't been more said about that.

[Sathnick]

So we did the Kargath & Butcher last night and more or less all 4 warlocks in the raid were destruction and did very well on the meters (I was first, other 4 in the top 6 or so with a few hunters). Now I don't think this was because all of our warlocks are pro and the rest of the raid is terrible.

You had hunters in the raid and got ranked first in DPS...so I do have to assume the rest of your raid is terrible.

OT: Destro is fine compexity whise - there is no "difficult" class these days anyways. Blizzard is moving away from the more complex Rotation that are actually rewarding better Players since quite a while already and why would anyone want a more complex Rotation with the same result...

[Uriel]

I'd rather play a class with a rotation you can execute in your sleep so you have the time to watch whats going on around you. A good player will do his DPS AND reacts to Boss actions, supports his group by putting out buffs, Kite stuff or saves your healers ass. Blizzard makes encounters more and more challenging.

You'll need to be a godlike player if you can react to WOD mechanics, support you group like I've mentioned AND execute a challenging Rotation well, like the Cata Destrolock had

[Deleted]

Pretty sure you can make 1 cast sequence macro and do the same dps with that spec imo.

[Cabbe]

I've mained a destruction warlock since Molten Core was a progression raid and I've never enjoyed myself fully in any of the other two specs (or on a different class for that matter). I actually loved the changes they made for MoP as I thought the spec was in a good spot mechanically. It was undertuned in the beginning but I think many don't remember that since most played other specs at the time. It was overtuned in 5.4 (that lasted way too long) but I didn't play during 5.4 so I can't really say I got to experience that level of power.

Anyways, what made Destruction really enjoyable in MoP (to me) was that I think they really managed to make it very easy to play decently well but hard to truly master. And... the things that made it hard to master was trying to utilize your toolkit in the best way possible while moving in and out of ST, Cleave and AoE (and spending your embers the right way in any of the three situations). It required planning, good knowledge of the encounter and appropriate reactions to procs and buffs. It was hard to master but it still all made perfect sense and had a nice flow to it.

A couple of changes later we're in a really bad spot in my opinion. The damage is too low, it definitely is but not by quite as much as some would claim. The main problem is the feel of the spec and the devastating blow it took with the RoF nerf and our current ember generation. What I loved about MoP destro was to try (and most of the time manage to) move in and out of ST and multi target situations with a decent to high efficiency. Now I feel broken.

[Gaidax]

A couple of changes later we're in a really bad spot in my opinion. The damage is too low, it definitely is but not by quite as much as some would claim. The main problem is the feel of the spec and the devastating blow it took with the RoF nerf and our current ember generation. What I loved about MoP destro was to try (and most of the time manage to) move in and out of ST and multi target situations with a decent to high efficiency. Now I feel broken.

It is more gear issue, to be honest... Destruction is very gear dependent - crit is the key and at this point we are having hard time getting any more than 20% crit in raids, in late MoP we had near 50% crit in raids and with Tier bonus and procs we could get to near 100% crit during Dark Soul, so we were swimming in embers, so of course it felt much more dynamic and snappy because such things like struggling to get embers or having to cast inefficient Chaos Bolts or OOM did not exist really and RoF played very minimal role in AoE only. Not to mention that having these levels of crit makes Shadowburn a beast.

I am pretty sure that once we climb to those gear levels we will be back in business fulltime, now we just have to suck it up and take it, while hoping for a life support buffs. I am pretty sure that the reason Blizz is so reluctant to buff us is because they will have to nerf our ass next tier that way.

Or maybe they are just a bit butthurt over 5.4, when Warlocks were raging and screaming how Destruction sucks until they accidentally overbuffed it to a monster status and then had to deal with godmode locks for a year. I am sure they are very cautious with it now.

Of course I by no means justify an idea that we must suck now because we might accidentally become godmode next tier, but at least I gave an insight oh how Blizzard (in my opinion) sees it.

[Jessicka]

It is more gear issue, to be honest... Destruction is very gear dependent - crit is the key and at this point we are having hard time getting any more than 20% crit in raids, in late MoP we had near 50% crit in raids and with Tier bonus and procs we could get to near 100% crit during Dark Soul, so we were swimming in embers, so of course it felt much more dynamic and snappy because such things like struggling to get embers or having to cast inefficient Chaos Bolts or OOM did not exist really and RoF played very minimal role in AoE only. Not to mention that having these levels of crit makes Shadowburn a beast.

I am pretty sure that once we climb to those gear levels we will be back in business fulltime, now we just have to suck it up and take it, while hoping for a life support buffs. I am pretty sure that the reason Blizz is so reluctant to buff us is because they will have to nerf our ass next tier that way.

Or maybe they are just a bit butthurt over 5.4, when Warlocks were raging and screaming how Destruction sucks until they accidentally overbuffed it to a monster status and then had to deal with godmode locks for a year. I am sure they are very cautious with it now.

Of course I by no means justify an idea that we must suck now because we might accidentally become godmode next tier, but at least I gave an insight oh how Blizzard (in my opinion) sees it.

If there's only 2 tiers, as seems likely, we'll never have those gear levels. That's why they were able to buff Fire's Crit levels through the nose.

[Cabbe]

If there's only 2 tiers, as seems likely, we'll never have those gear levels. That's why they were able to buff Fire's Crit levels through the nose.

True.

I don't know about the "only 2 tiers" part though. I could almost swear that I heard Ion Hazzikostas and Kris Zierhut speak of "Blackrock Foundry or the patch after that" in some context during the latest Final Boss episode, as if they implied that we're getting more than two raids. I'm half-expecting a third raid that revolves around Gul'dan to be the end-tier raid of WoD. This would also go well with the (afaik) as of yet unexplained Gul'dan vs Khadgar monument place-holder in the garrison and their pre-launch statement that we would see more Burning Legion influence towards the end of the x-pack.

[Jessicka]

True.

I don't know about the "only 2 tiers" part though. I could almost swear that I heard Ion Hazzikostas and Kris Zierhut speak of "Blackrock Foundry or the patch after that" in some context during the latest Final Boss episode, as if they implied that we're getting more than two raids. I'm half-expecting a third raid that revolves around Gul'dan to be the end-tier raid of WoD. This would also go well with the (afaik) as of yet unexplained Gul'dan vs Khadgar monument place-holder in the garrison and their pre-launch statement that we would see more Burning Legion influence towards the end of the x-pack.

They outright said the plan was for 2 tiers, but they hadn't totally written off a potential 3rd. The fact they're already supposedly working on the next expansion suggests that there likely won't be the time to fit a third in.

[Cabbe]

Ah, sorry. I didn't watch the entire episode and I wasn't paying attention to everything I did see cause I was so excited to hear about their marvelous plans for warlocks in the "specs and classes" segment.