Warlock alt?

[Anbokr]

So I've always been a melee player, I have nearly every melee at max level most expansions.

Anyhow, I've decided it's time for a change and want to try my hand at a ranged caster. I'm having a tough time deciding between Mage and Warlock. So just going to ask you experienced locks, for someone that is used to melee (my main and favorite is and always has been warrior), which class will be more fun? Anyone perhaps have both classes and can give me a rundown of the playstyle differences? I like a challenge, and I like to see big crits .

[Deleted]

Warlocks currently have some issues mechanically, where mages seem more polished / well-designed. Mages seem simpler to play (To me at least), they have more control (Slows, roots, stuns/freezes), and generally have a lot of tricks to avoid damage. When they do take damage however, they are quite squishy.
Mages also generally rely on cooldowns to shine, which is nice when levelling for example, since your cooldowns will often be ready, which allows you to destroy mobs.

Warlocks on the other hand feel more tanky, less mobile, a bit trickier to play very well, and are reliant on resources (Embers, shards or demonic fury). When you have a lot of resources available, you feel overpowered. When you run dry, you feel weak. Proper management of resources when levelling is important, but unlike mages, you probably won't always have a lot of resources available.

Both are fun to play though, depends on what you like more. The tanky turret, or the mobile, elusive glass cannon.

[Deleted]

Agree with the above poster,
My main was a lock in MoP when they were mechanically one of the best classes in the game, and before I tried my hand at a mage.
Since WoD, locks have been absolutely gutted Imo so much so that I haven't even levelled my former main past level 95 at this point because I just can't stand it. People will call me flavor of the monther - I don't care, I play what is fun.
My mage is now my main and I find it similar in terms of its mechanical soundness to mop locks, probably better actually if I'm honest. Honestly frost mage is probably the most fun and mechanically sound class I've ever played, and I have 11 lvl 90+ toons.

[kamuimac]

Agree with the above poster,
My main was a lock in MoP when they were mechanically one of the best classes in the game, and before I tried my hand at a mage.
Since WoD, locks have been absolutely gutted Imo so much so that I haven't even levelled my former main past level 95 at this point because I just can't stand it. People will call me flavor of the monther - I don't care, I play what is fun.
My mage is now my main and I find it similar in terms of its mechanical soundness to mop locks, probably better actually if I'm honest. Honestly frost mage is probably the most fun and mechanically sound class I've ever played, and I have 11 lvl 90+ toons.

and when next patch/expansion they will nerf mages from being top dps i bet ull suddenly feel them "mechanicly boring" ur the definition of fotm reroller player

[Deleted]

and when next patch/expansion they will nerf mages from being top dps i bet ull suddenly feel them "mechanicly boring" ur the definition of fotm reroller player

1. Gateway useless for PvE vast majority of the time. No other raid utility. We do have combat res though, and summoning stone. No Aspect of the Fox / Amplify Magic / Stampeding Roar / Anti-magic shell though!
2. Healthstones only useful for the lock, bad for anyone else.
3. No more pet utility, besides interrupt (Which leaves us with least of all classes in that department: Interrupt, silence, offensive dispel, defensive dispel, dispel enrage). This depends on spec and situation of course, but demonic servitude really messes things up in this regard.
4. Bunch of trap talents/glyphs (Glyphs/talents that make you worse than if you didn't have them, or combinations that simply do not work).
5. Very low mobility on 2/3 specs, and demo only has mobility if you are not picking up Demon Bolt, which is currently the strongest for single target DPS.
6. Destro AoE is unsustainable on less than 5-6 targets. Not bursty, not strong, and simply unsustainable. Demo has to be in melee range to AoE. Affliction basically has no AoE.
7. Demonology has mana issues as the only dps in the game. Life tap is clunky and outdated.
8. Summoning your demon takes 5 seconds. Summoning a water elemental takes 1.5.
9. Our combat res has a 3 sec cast time.
10. We are one of the few classes in the game who start off encounters with a low amount of resources, and have to build it up. Many encounters have Heroism/Bloodlust on pull, which sucks when you spend most of that time on building up resources.
11. No slows for affliction, and no direct damage spells either.

Those are just off the top of my head. I would not be able to make a list of 5 for mages if my life depended on it.