What new baseline abilities do warlocks need in Cataclysm?

[Ofmanv]

According to Ghostcrawler, Blizzard is aiming for 3 new spells for each class in Cataclysm, one at 81, 83 and 85. We do know about Soul Burn already but according to Blizz it's supposed to be a core spell of the class which would lead me to believe warlocks get it very early on.

One thing I’m going to go ahead and say is that I’m of the personal opinions that warlocks do not need an active defense. I just think that in pvp, high offensive damage output for the trade off of low defenses is what warlocks are. That’s what gives us our identity and play style. Mages are the opposite, low offensive output for the trade off of great control and defense. It’s important to me because I think mages and warlocks need to have something that makes them different. Don’t think I don’t care about PvP, I’m a PvP’er first and foremost.

The 3 things I think warlocks need most from a baseline spell:



1. A dispel protection mechanic. This is inspired from lifebloom, which was a success as an offensive dispel defense. It should do weak damage so not as to be a PvE dps spell. Just enough to make healers think twice about faceroll spamming on their dispel button.

Imminance - Places a debuff that does x fire (something in the low-to-moderate range maybe 2000 with spell power figured in) damage after 9 seconds or if dispelled. Stacks up to 3 times.

Let me stress this spell should do very weak damage. I don’t personally think 2000 damage after a 9 second wait is going to top any warlock on the damage board. Even if it is too much, it should only be enough damage to be a dispel deterrent, not lethal damage.

I don’t want to hear cries about that would be overpowered. How overpowered it is depends on how much damage it does. There is certainly a balanced number somewhere.

While affliction doesn’t really need the dispel protection because of unstable affliction, it does provide a much needed something to do while interrupted for the PvP’ing affliction lock.



2. Anti-assist train punishment

Don’t take this as a defense. Like I said above, I like warlocks as a low defense, high offense class that gives them their identity. What I’m talking about here is punishment. Make melee assist trains think twice about zerging a warlock, cause they might get zerged back.

suffering For the next 15 seconds, each time the warlock is struck, there is an x% chance that the enemy will be hit by an additional tick Of the warlock’s periodic (dot) effects on them. Instant cast, 1 minute cool down. Usable while stunned.

Again, the x% chance just has to be the right percent that it’s balanced. There’s a good number somewhere where melee feel the payback, but it’s not like no one will ever target the warlock.



3. A spell for demo locks to add to their DPS rotation to make it more interesting. The trick is to make a spell powerful enough to be worth using in a DPS rotation for a demo lock, but not make affliction and destro locks cast it.

Fel Rage - 5 second channel, while channeling this spell your demon does x% more damage. 15 second cooldown.

It may sound simplistic but that’s a thing to look for in adding a spell to the basic rotation.

This is meant to be a core dps rotation spell for a demo lock. Get dots up and have your demon go nuts. Isn't that what demo is about? Obviously not designed for an affliction or destro lock. A boost to an imp or felhunter wouldn't be worth putting in the dps rotation.

[AcidicRage]

for affliction

frighten: enables all dots to crit 100% - cd 2 minutes

Demo:

Possessed: Your spells are mimiced by your demons, causing 50% damage that caster causes.

Destruction:

Havoc: Warlock Boils over and goes into a Firey Rush, removing cast times for all spells for 3 seconds, all damage done is reduced 50%

[Ofmanv]

garbage. you dont want locks to be mages so give them a spell identical to living bomb? Your a noob at best. Since all spells that cost a shard wont think more along those lines for a new spell imo. Also using a shard will reward the warlock so im sure the new spells will also be tied into that.

Well, I give you credit that I didn't know about living bomb's dispel protection mechanic. I thought if detonation was a dispel resistant mechanic and living bomb was just a dps spell then they would be different.

Maybe I can turn detonation into a shadow spell without the whole "detonation-bomb" theme in the name that makes it sound similar. The stacking effect, and the fact there's a seperate final tick makes it pretty different from living bomb.

Living bomb is a viable PvE DPS spell, what I want as dispel protection for warlocks shouldn't do enough damage to be a PvE dps rotation spell.


What I'm thinking is taking the dot out and renaming it. It's like a stackable mini-curse of doom anti dispel. Living bomb is like a dot anti dispel.

[Bellomourn]

for affliction

frighten: enables all dots to crit 100% - cd 2 minutes

Demo:

Possessed: Your spells are mimiced by your demons, causing 50% damage that caster causes.

Destruction:

Havoc: Warlock Boils over and goes into a Firey Rush, removing cast times for all spells for 3 seconds, all damage done is reduced 50%

I LITERALLY

/facepalmed.

Holy Shit.

I have NEVER seen anyone fuck up lock theory crafting as much as you.




You Sir.




Get my Cookie of The Year Award.

IT HAS RAISINS!

[Ofmanv]

Awww man, you guys are turning this into a no-fun topic fast.

[Bellomourn]

Awww man, you guys are turning this into a no-fun topic fast.

This thread DID get me excited.

So I'm posting my Old Abilities for Cata in a new thread.
Find it soon in stores !

=o

[Nawramsti]

I LITERALLY

/facepalmed.

Holy Shit.

I have NEVER seen anyone fuck up lock theory crafting as much as you.




You Sir.




Get my Cookie of The Year Award.

IT HAS RAISINS!

You bastard =.= you put raisins in it...


any way OP's idea sound "balanced :P"

[sugarfree]

This is Easy.

Baseline instant Howl of Terror

Soul Link

Shadowflame glyph snare baseline without needing it.

[Exorte]

This is Easy.

Baseline instant Howl of Terror

Soul Link

Shadowflame glyph snare baseline without needing it.

WoW, those are surely "new" baseline abilities.

[SylNHK]

A new dot that does splash damage (like, ticks for 1.5k on target mob and does an AoE tick on targets within 5 yards for about 30% of original damage) would be pretty cool.

Another one would be like Shadowfury, except it does a small amount of damage and also applies Corruption to all targets within that area. This was going to be a 51 point talent for affliction before it got replaced with Haunt.

...that's all I can think of for baseline :/

[Woony]

They had some REALLY cool things in wotlk beta which they didn't take for whatever reason. Maybe we see a revamp of some of theese things?

[Rogge]

This is Easy.

Baseline instant Howl of Terror

Soul Link

Shadowflame glyph snare baseline without needing it.

That's what you hope for? Really? Nothing new at all? Just a couple of pvp talents without speccing for them?

[SamuraiJakkass86]

Curse of Mirrors: Duration = 15 seconds. 20 yard range. 1 min CD.
For the next 15 seconds, half of all physical damage taken by the Warlock is reflected back at the attacker.

I would personally just like to see changes to warlock pets They should have newer/updated graphics and styles, increased movement speed for all pets. I want the pets to jump off of cliffs when I jump off them instead of running down. Voidwalker needs a damage skill and not just taunts (blue post from a while back mentioned making them more then just tanks).

Curse of doom should be usable on players (1 min to trigger and only castable on one player at a time would keep it in check).

Vampiric Frenzy: Drains all enemies within 15 yards for X% of their health (or mana?) over 5 seconds. If targets run outside of attack area before the end of the duration they will be feared for 1 second.

[gherkin]

Since they will be merging a lot of the + % talents into Mastery, this is what i want to see

Contagion - Spreads an existing Corruption effect to all targets within 8 yards. (Pestilence, basically)

I want shadowburn to become baseline, or some other shadow instant with a cooldown.

Soul Shield - Empowers your soul, preventing X damage for 20 seconds. If the shield persists at the end of this period, you regenerate a soul shard.

[Nixia]

I' happy with 1 ability:
Cripple 1,5 sec cast no cooldown
Cripples the target, reducing movement speed by 75%, pacifying and silencing the target. Cripple causes the target to be immune to physical attacks, but still vulnerable to spells. Lasts 20 sec. Only 1 target can be crippled at a time. (1.5 sec cast, no cooldown)

[Luk3ling]

I' happy with 1 ability:
Cripple 1,5 sec cast no cooldown
Cripples the target, reducing movement speed by 75%, pacifying and silencing the target. Cripple causes the target to be immune to physical attacks, but still vulnerable to spells. Lasts 20 sec. Only 1 target can be crippled at a time. (1.5 sec cast, no cooldown)

Yeah, that sounds fair! let me try!

Shaman:

Totem of Elemental Fusion
Instant cast no cooldown.
Tools: None
Places a totem at the feet of the shaman that blasts their target with 950-1200 chaos damage every second for 15 seconds, each attack also slows the target to 25% of movement speed.

Cool!

Aside from the fact that Cripple making them immune to physicalk damage makes no sense, that, if my example didn't make that obvious, is horrendously overpowered.

WHILE I ADMIT it is a tool similar to what Warlocks need, that particular incarnation is lolwtf.

They need to change banish to be useable on players but still act as CC for Elementals, with a similar effect to what you suggested when used on players, just not nearly that strong or with a pretty sizable cooldown.

[Magoro]

Yeah, that sounds fair! let me try!

Shaman:

Totem of Elemental Fusion
Instant cast no cooldown.
Places a totem at the feet of the shaman that blasts their target with 950-1200 chaos damage every second for 30 seconds, each attack also slows the target to 25% of movement speed.

Cool!

Hey bro, this is the WARLOCK ability thread, so get your shaman ass out of here.

[Nukken]

1. A dispel protection mechanic. This is inspired from lifebloom, which was a success as an offensive dispel defense. It should do weak damage so not as to be a PvE dps spell. Just enough to make healers think twice about faceroll spamming on their dispel button.

Unstable Affliction does this

A new dot that does splash damage (like, ticks for 1.5k on target mob and does an AoE tick on targets within 5 yards for about 30% of original damage) would be pretty cool.

Seed of Corruption does this

Do you people actually play warlocks?

[Dizzygnome]

Unstable Affliction does this

Do you people actually play warlocks?

Not all Warlocks play Affliction

[Magoro]

I was editing my post, also; you're the biggest moron ever, that was sarcasm if you didn't notice by the blatantly overpowered shitstorm of a totem I suggested as a contrast to the cripple suggestion. (It's easier to see where something needs to be tweaked if you slap the same mechanics to a class you don't play.)

If I really had to state the obvious for you to understand the point of my reply, please leave before you disgrace your class.

Also, love your sig, it beat me to the punch.

"Magoro, The BAD Warlock"

Just because you don't agree with someones thoughts on a new ability, doesn't mean you need to flame the shit out of them. Also, i am a bad warlock, like it or not.