Improved Soul Fire is Frustrating

[Variables]

I decided to pick up my warlock for the first time since 4.0 and gave destro a shot.

It seems to me most things are the same except now Corruption is part of the rotation as well as keeping this new Improved Soul Fire buff up.

Corruption I'm fine with -- I used to toss it up on high mobility fights anyway, but what the f**k is up with ISF.

First of all its a pain to have another dot to watch - making that 4 plus watching CB and Conflag c/ds, but mainly how ISF is implemented doesn't make any sense.

My imp procs the ability which makes Soul Fire instant cast. Cool. Too bad I can't recast ISF yet, and oh look! Now that I can re-apply ISF, the imp proc has fallen off!

I can use Soul Burn to make it instant cast -- but only 3 times a fight, so most of the time I just end up hard casting it anyway.

Yea...anyone else not enjoying ISF?

[Lichiz]

afaik corruption was always part of the rotation
but I disagree. I think Soulfire acts as a pyroblast for mages. It procs and you get some haste and you feel awesome. I like it

[Deleted]

No you have to keep it up all time. Only throwing it on proc will gimp your dps

[Micke]

Just hang tight, blizz said they want to redesign ISF, hopefully in this very upcomming minor patch

[Deleted]

What i did not like is all 3 specs have to spec it because all 3 were balance around leaving no real choices

[Certin]

i find soulfire seriously out of place as a affliction warlock and i wish they would make it gone!

if they still want me to use it i wish they would increase the buff to 30-60 sec since it really has no place in a rotation

[Jessicka]

Yea...anyone else not enjoying ISF?

From what I've seen written here and said elsewhere, a great many people agree with you.

afaik corruption was always part of the rotation
but I disagree. I think Soulfire acts as a pyroblast for mages. It procs and you get some haste and you feel awesome. I like it

You don't really, because it should be up 100% of the time so you just don't notice it. It even takes the edge off the awesome feeling of Heroism :\

[Natrii]

Personally I would like to see ISF moved up the tree so it is not mandatory for all specs. I think a good fix for ISF is swap Desto's demon soul effect with ISF. So that we get a mini lust for Demons soul and ISF is like current demons's soul when you soul burn a soul fire.

Though if they changed it like that and not move it up the tree it would still be mandatory for Demo, but it would give affliction wiggle room.

Just an idea.

[Deleted]

I decided to pick up my warlock for the first time since 4.0 and gave destro a shot.

It seems to me most things are the same except now Corruption is part of the rotation as well as keeping this new Improved Soul Fire buff up.

Corruption I'm fine with -- I used to toss it up on high mobility fights anyway, but what the f**k is up with ISF.

First of all its a pain to have another dot to watch - making that 4 plus watching CB and Conflag c/ds, but mainly how ISF is implemented doesn't make any sense.

My imp procs the ability which makes Soul Fire instant cast. Cool. Too bad I can't recast ISF yet, and oh look! Now that I can re-apply ISF, the imp proc has fallen off!

I can use Soul Burn to make it instant cast -- but only 3 times a fight, so most of the time I just end up hard casting it anyway.

Yea...anyone else not enjoying ISF?

For Destro I love it. For that tree it offers some much needed involvement to what was traditionally our least complex spec. It really works for me and is simple enough to keep up most of the time. If you're frustrated by feeling like Empowered Imp Procs are going to waste because ISF is already up just follow these 2 simple steps -

1. If Emp Imp procs and ISF has less than 7-8 seconds remaining (allow for travel time), hold on to the proc and fire it when ISF drops off.

2. If Emp Imp procs and ISF has more than 8 seconds remaining (allow for travel time), fire it for a cast time free nuke as long as you would have cast an incinerate there instead (e.g. Immo, BoD and Corr are up and CB and Conflag are on cooldown). In which case 7 secs is usually enough to reapply what you need to before the proc disappears.

Adjust time for your own latency.

In any other event, hard casting is the way to go unless you can safely say that you won't need your shards for the rest of the fight.

If you are having issues, maybe you should have a fiddle with your UI so that it is easier to track. I use Buttontimers and Satrina Buff Frames for this and I can see everything I need to cast without a problem. Maybe I'm a masochist that likes watching timers? :P

For other specs, I do agree that it is clunky and out of place despite its obvious benefit. It is after all a destro talent and should be deep enough in the destro tree to be inaccessible to the other specs. I'd be very sad if they reworked it out of the game altogether as it feels good with destro's new, rhythmic play style. I'd much rather they moved it and offered Affliction and Demonology something to compensate.

[Redbone]

My problem with it is the whole reapplication process, You are suppose to keep it up 100 percent of the time yet you about have to wait for it to fall off before you reapply it. Obviously I know you can time it out but, due to the complexity of the specs now at times its frustrating to cast it just milliseconds to soon on a hard cast and then just have to re-hard cast it.

This isn't even taking into account the mobility requirements and complexity of the fights just in heroics now...And don't get me wrong I enjoy the challenge mostly it can just drive you crazy with the aggravating mechanics of this. Then guess what when someone cast heroism you stop casting it until its over. ><

[Deleted]

It even takes the edge off the awesome feeling of Heroism :\

Yeah I even tried asking the magi / shamans to call it out before they do BL/hero/timewarp...but ofc the poor guys forget it and I waste a SF or get my prio all messed up :P

GC said he would look into the mechanic but we have seen nothing of the sort on the PTR yet...still hoping for the best

[MoonZapdos]

The problem with Destruction right now is that the rotation is too complicated in comparison to, say, Affliction's, which is actually quite straight forward. Considering you have to watch for the debuff durations on Corruption, Bane of Doom, Immolate and Shadow and Flame while keeping Chaos Bolt and Conflagrate on CD and Improved Soulfire up at all times, it gets stressing to manage all of that.

Fortunately, Shadow and Flame will soon be proccing from Incinerate aswell, which makes it less of a hassle. I still say Improved Soulfire needs revising. Maybe buff the haste up a little and make it a part of Empowered Imp procs?

[Slenzy]

The problem with Destruction right now is that the rotation is too complicated in comparison to, say, Affliction's, which is actually quite straight forward. Considering you have to watch for the debuff durations on Corruption, Bane of Doom, Immolate and Shadow and Flame while keeping Chaos Bolt and Conflagrate on CD and Improved Soulfire up at all times, it gets stressing to manage all of that.

How can you not like having a dynamic rotation?:s

I used to be a rogue but was more or less forced into rolling Warlock/priest when Cata arrived, since I had been demoted for slacking the last months of wotlk and rogue spots were filled it, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Destruction warlocks, must've been fate because I'm having more fun on my warlock than ever before on any class (in a pve environment). Going all out with fast and solid hitting fire, scorching your enemies, having your little imp crying at everything, so much to keep track off that you can't really fall asleep.

I must admit though that I did feel keeping up ISF was quite a pain in the start, since I didn't have any addon to watch for it, and watching the buff timer on the standard Blizzard buff bar just wasn't an option. But then I got this amazing addon called NeedToKnow, which is simply a bar that you can put anywhere on your screen, type in the name of the buff you want it to track, in this case Improved Soul Fire, and you got your own little bar telling you how long it is left on your buff, and then you simply recast it somewhere around the 3sec mark (assuming you're at max range) and bam, problem solved. (Time on the cast may change depending on your haste).

I understand affli warlocks may hate it, they're more shadowy and devious, draining your life energy, and all of a sudden they have to stand there for a good 3seconds and shoot fire, but for Destro it's an amazing addition and it raises the skill cap which separates you from the crowd if you're good at keeping it up, so more e-peen for that, and don't tell me you don't enjoy hurling massive boulders of fire if you like your incinerate spamm.

[randa]

Only thing that I don't love about ISF is its cool down. It will be much more enjoyable if they remove it at best case, or lower it from 15s to 10 or something. It will be then in line with haunt and give more acceptable margin for error. Any way this is my destro rotation.

    if BuffExpires(ISF 3 haste=spell) and {BuffExpires(BLOODLUST 3 haste=spell) or BuffExpires(TIMEWARP 3 haste=spell) or BuffExpires(ANCIENTHYSTERIA 3 haste=spell)} unless {BuffPresent(SOULBURN) or BuffPresent(EMPOWEREDIMP) or Spell(SOULBURN usable=1)} Spell(SOULFIRE)

    if BuffExpires(ISF 0.5) and {BuffPresent(SOULBURN) or BuffPresent(EMPOWEREDIMP) or Spell(SOULBURN usable=1)} and {BuffExpires(BLOODLUST 3 haste=spell) or BuffExpires(TIMEWARP 3 haste=spell) or BuffExpires(ANCIENTHYSTERIA 3 haste=spell)} Spell(SOULFIRE)

    if TargetDebuffExpires(IMMOLATE 2.5 mine=1) and TargetDeadIn(more 5) Spell(IMMOLATE)
    if List(bane doom) and TargetDebuffExpires(BANEOFDOOM 10 mine=1) and TargetDeadIn(more 30) unless TargetDebuffPresent(BANEOFHAVOC mine=1) Spell(BANEOFDOOM)
    if TargetDebuffPresent(IMMOLATE mine=1) Spell(CONFLAGRATE useable=1)
    if TargetDebuffExpires(CORRUPTION 1.5 mine=1) and TargetDeadIn(more 10) Spell(CORRUPTION)
    Spell(CHAOSBOLT)
    if TargetDeadIn(less 5) and TargetLifePercent(less 20) Spell(SHADOWBURN)
    if BuffPresent(EMPOWEREDIMP) and at most 1s from BuffExpires(ISF) until BuffExpires(EMPOWEREDIMP) Spell(SOULFIRE)
    if BuffPresent(SOULBURN) and at most 1s from BuffExpires(ISF) until BuffExpires(SOULBURN) Spell(SOULFIRE)
    if ManaPercent(less 10) Spell(LIFETAP)
    Spell(INCINERATE)

[Deleted]

I just had a thought about how this could stay for Destro locks (so the spec can reward those with a decent skill cap) but go for the other specs without them feeling like they're missing out.

Swap the positions of Chaos Bolt and ISF in the Destruction tree. Maybe take the haste benefit down to 12% instead of 15% (playing devil's advocate here. I'd love it to stay at 15% but it's bound to change anyway). Aff and Demo won't want to cast CB as they will not get the Soul Leech effect from it, nor will it hit sufficiently hard enough without Destro's mastery.

Affliction has Haunt, and Demo has Hand of Guldan. Both short CD spells that offer each spec some additional damage. They could attach either a haste bonus on successful landing of each of these spells or tweak their existing damage / benefit to remain within reach of Destro.

Just a thought anyway. Obviously there's scope for balancing issues, but hey, it wouldn't be WoW if there wasn't!

[rethea]

What would make me happy is if they let it be refreshed before it falls off! Such a simple thing would reduce SO much of its frustration!

[Patman]

I dont mind ISF. Only thing is i'm incredibly bad at keeping an eye on it. And i get a bit frustrated when i'm half way through casting it and the improved imp thing procs. I would prefer it once it was cast it would reset the haste buff.

That said, i do feel god like when i'm about to cast it and i get an insta-cast one instead

[Typhus]

I Dont mind ISF in the fact of keeping it up for demo and aff which is easy enough, but being forced into pointing points in destro is a bit annoying, they could alleviate the problem by giving the ISF effect to haunt and HOG so then they could choose wherer to put their points, though I suspect from a dps standpoint 5 points in destro will be needed for both but there could be some variation.

[Deleted]

I would like ISF to remain as is IF all specs were balanced around having it with all mechanics apart from hard casting it (3 soul burns, imp proc as destro, full uptime during decimation as demo). Then a good warlock who can keep it up 100% would be rewarded with more dps cause he was good enough to play his class the hard way. But if we are balanced around having it 100% uptime, then it really is a bit hard (not impossible though). Also there is always the danger our dmg to be nerfed after they redesign the mechanic.. Who knows what they will do and if the result in dmg will be the same as it is now..

[kai zayin]

I can understand Affliction's disappointment with the mechanic as casting a destruction spell every 15 secs just doesn't feel right in their rotation; however, Improved Soul Fire added a very important piece of complexity to the destruction rotation arguably making all three warlocks specs the most difficult caster specs to master. I for one enjoy the mechanic and the fact that I can hold pride in the amount of skill it takes for any warlock to maximize their dps.