The legend of the Affliction Warlock

[Deleted]

even jesus hate warlocks.

He also hates dk.(why ghoul transform WHY!?)

[allforone]

RIP Affliction.

For those saying it's still what it used to be:
-SL is a joke, it's doing less than 20% of what it used to do.
-Levelling as aff is utterly dead, dot damage is entirely dependent on haunt and SE to be worthwhile, so chain pulling is dead.
-In instances and raids, aff needs over 4 minutes to reach the same dps level demo and destro do in about 30 seconds, and aff is the only spec right now that is dependent on an execute.(since for demo locks soul fire requires destro's emberstorm talent to be worthwhile.)

Worse yet is the problems still to come in the self-healing department. Haunt is aff's only noticeable self-heal now, but it's the only self-heal based on damage done. Dps is apparently staying the same between now and entry-level raiding but our health pools(and the damage done by mobs) is going through the roof. It's healing for ~4.5k(3k plus crits) every 12 sec now when we have 30k unbuffed, with SL and FA basically healing 5% every 5 seconds, for about 27% every 12 seconds all told.
But at 85 we're going to have 80k health pools, and Haunt will still be healing for 3k(remember, losing our 30-50% crit chance) every 12 seconds, whereas SL and FA will still be healing for 4% every 5 sec(and losing our 30-50% haste stats.) So while now at 80 in full t10 we're getting ~27% health every 12 seconds in full swing, at 85 we're going to be getting 13% every 12 seconds.

It's pretty clear blizzard doesn't want aff to be a viable spec for this expansion.

[Gratlim]

Do you remember? Doting up tons of mobs with Siphon Life,CoA,corruption. Having 5 dots on 1 poor guy at once. getting heals from all over the place.

...Feral dots does 2x more dmg then affli dots now, and that isn't even a dot spec. The healing you get from SL is so low now, its hardly worth speccing it.

Ok lets not turn this into a QQ thread but seriously, those were good times...

I feel you my friend. Started in BC and it went downhill for us since then. I gave up my lock as main for my feral druid. You have 2 Dot classes in the game: Druids and Priests. Affli is pseudo SP but way weaker, Destro is pseudo Mage but way weaker, and Demo is a pet spec (you know how bliz love them it gives you an idea on how they will support it: see BM.....).
2 chars will stay 80: lock and rogue. DK, pala and druid will go to 85. Byebye pure dps classes

[5648945621]

What blizz have done to affli have really killed the game for me... I absolutely loved affliction before, but now they have totally ruined it.
It would be a dream come true if they changed affli back to how it was in TBC.

dam do i miss the old warlocks days... summoning a infernal in low lvl towns, drain life doing more dmg then mind flay, being unkillable with SL/SL spec, insane shadow bolt crits... Warlocks was tho most fun class ever

[Signify]

While indeed it was fun just running around doting every possible thing, you can actually still do that if you play correctly.
It is harder, but actually even better, as harder = more challenging.
As for the "Live", you can simply Corr and CoA and you'll be just fine, with full HP, and Haunt if there are lots of mobs on you and the corr heal isn't enough to keep you above 90%.
As for the beta, or at Cata launch, since they have much more hp, all you need to do is UA, corr, CoA, and CoExhaustion/Haunt if necessary and fel flame to insure his death.
They will die without further ado, although it won't be as many mobs as it was previously, it is still a powerful spec for grinding.

[5648945621]

While indeed it was fun just running around doting every possible thing, you can actually still do that if you play correctly.
It is harder, but actually even better, as harder = more challenging.

Mind explaining me how in the WORLD it is better now? Seriously? How did you even come up with that? Even with endgame gear, SL CAN'T outheal the dmg from non elite mobs. So can you stay alive just by using corruption? No, you can't. Have you actually tried? And i don't see how it is harder. It just sucks now.

As for the beta, or at Cata launch, since they have much more hp, all you need to do is UA, corr, CoA, and CoExhaustion/Haunt if necessary and fel flame to insure his death.

What? "all you need to do" you talk like its so easy for us compared to other classes. CoEx won't help you kill enemies faster, but without haunt, your dmg is complete shit so it's not something you do only "if necessarily". And you don't use fel flame as a filler, you use drain life.

Are you actually saying its better now? That is complete bullshit. They have nerfed us in every way possible in PvP.

[Deleted]

Started late in the game after having been introduced to it only after TBC was released. Frist char was a lock (still my main) and I've been Aff the whole way. Sometimes I miss having a rotation so silly only Rainman can do it properly. I really really like what they've done to aff in 4.0.1 though, it's has more of the old "oh-dear-god-help-me-I-have-so-many-buttons-to-push" feeling.

[Jashin]

Remember affli locks didn't have soul link in TBC.

hmm...

I wonder what SL/SL stood for then..

[icecreamtruck]

hmm...

I wonder what SL/SL stood for then..

Yeah, but that was SL/SL. You had most points in demonology.

[RayLock]

I love Affliction, and will never go Destruction.

Mainly because I don't like Mages.

+1.

.....and the more people talk shit about affliction the more I feel like I'm doing the right thing.

[deevicoos]

It's pretty clear blizzard doesn't want aff to be a viable spec for this expansion.

QQ MOAR.

But seriously, yeah you're right, I mean in T11 gear affliction is terrible, it's the top spec (by 200DPS) for warlocks and so utterly useless and it's competitive the the rest of the way up, making it rubbish. Yeah, it's as good as destro and demo so yeah, RIP affliction, top DPS spec at T11, who'd spec into it?

We're going to be fighting mobs with big hp pools, affliction is going to actually have time to ramp up when soloing. The execute phase is no longer super fiddly (of course that's the reason destro is more complex now) the mastery ramps your DoTs up and mastery is everywhere. I have to be honest, I think you're whiney. Personally I play destro because the burst and snares are too good to pass up on for 10 mans (and the mage comparisons have always been BS), but I'm giving affliction more of a chance in cata methinks.

Would be nice if it got a nice soulburn function though. (Like UA doing half it's damage on cast, or several ticks or something)

[Deleted]

They ruined the spec in 3.1, every change they make to the spec makes me like it less and less. It is has finally been reduced to the dot everything in sight spec, with soul swap/SoC making this retardedly easy. Maintaining dots on multiple targets is far too easy and will lead to affliction being overpowered in large scale pvp. I think they should make UA single target only and then give warlocks some strong single target pressure in pvp.

[Falconys]

All that's been changed: dots no longer clip and crit is now updated for every tick.

PLEASE HELP!! I'm looking for confirmation on this change. I'm certain I saw it in a blue post but I can't find it to confirm. Theorycrafting, Simcrafting, and Blue Posts are all welcome. I'm just looking for confirmation of how the new dot system works thats more reliable than "your wrong and I'm right".

[Falconys]

Demon Soul (15% of base mana) 100 yd range
Instant cast (2 min cooldown)
Requires Metamorphosis
You and your summoned demon fuse souls, granting the Warlock a temporary power depending on the demon currently enslaved.

>Imp - Critical Strike damage on cast time Destruction spells increased by 60% for 30 sec. Each spell cast benefitting from this effect reduces the bonus by 20% until the bonus expires after 3 casts.
>Voidwalker - All threat generated by you transferred to your Voidwalker for 15 sec.
>Succubus - Shadow Bolt damage increased by 10% for 20 sec.
>Felhunter - Periodic shadow damage increased by 20% for 20 sec.
>Felguard - Spell haste increased by 15% and fire and shadow damage done increased by 10% for 20 sec.

So unless you learn how to use Metamorphosis while Affliction specced, can we not discuss this? I'll be the first to wonder why only one spec can use our "super cool lvl 85 ability" but until they actually remove that requirement (or I turn lvl 85 and get it from the trainer if the tooltip is wrong) I think it's a bad idea to even consider it. Yes, the Felhunter would seriously buff our DoTs (stacking with our mastery nicely) and the Succubus would be a fat boost to our filler spam durring a burn phase, but since Meta is a Demonology only ability its a dead issue.

And since my second spec is Demo, I'm also confused by why they would require us to have one bursting cooldown active so that we can use another bursting cooldown. Yes, I'm not about to say they wouldn't get used that way in application but Meta is a 30sec 3min CD buff, and this is a ~20sec 2min CD buff... seriously not right there.

[Falconys]

8D

It'd be nice if somebody with a WoWhead account would let them know then... or at least post it in their comments section. Besides, its also a little awkward that (currently) our highest dps pet buffs our filler spell, not our primary damage. Demo and Destro both get respectable buffs to their primary damage mechanics with their "normal" pet, but we have a sad choice here... Unless you choose to save a shard to insta-summon a different pet before/after the buff is used.

[gherkin]

The bullshit ends here.

* If you want to talk about how much weaker Affliction is solo, that's fine. Just keep it polite.

* If you want to talk about how Blizzard hates Affliction, about how its completely non-viable and how anyone who plays it is retarded, I'm handing out infractions.

* If you want to talk about how bad Affliction is in Cata, prove it.

[Squike]

pull 20+mobs, use shadowburn+SoC (talented) to spread corruption on all targets. Cast helfire and enjoy full HP all the time..
on one target - SL+haunt+Drain Life - no way you drop below 80%HP.. Ever. Not in PvE.
You don't have enough DoTs?

Corruption, Agony, Haunt, Unstable Affliction dealing dmg. (that is only 1 less than you sad you miss). Add Elements to it and you have 5 dots on target. Plus there are a bonuses from Haunt and SB you should keep a track too.

You get too low dmg? Oh come on.. :? Learn not to fail.. Affli is fun to play ATM, even more than it used to be IMHO.

No. Haunt is not a dot. neither is elements.
Affliction is the dot spec. And a fire mage has just as many :\

[lawlpoo]

Affliction owns at 85.

[Deleted]

Also the old drain soul was much better, the new one is not worth casting as an execute in pvp.

[Lobstarrr]

I love Affliction, and will never go Destruction.

Mainly because I don't like Mages.

We dont like you either!