Current demonology and previous demonology, which do you prefer? (Opinions please)

[Deleted]

So i'm very curious how everyone is doing with the current form of Demonology. What opinion do you all hold about the current state, versus the old state?

I'm going to go ahead and mention my own opinion, some of you may differ from my own, but let's keep this civil.

What I preferred and why?

My personal preference seems to be the previous demonology with the demonic meta form. My reasoning is quite simple, I enjoyed that although we hard-casted, we had the mechanics to use on the move even if the timing was not appropriate for best damage (Stacking HoG appropriately), this could still lead to hard working but rewarding specialisation, that felt as if I was harnessing power from my demons, instead of playing what currently seems to be playing a mass summoner.

People argue that meta form is too similar to demon hunter's demon forms, I do admit they were designed similarly,however we were the warlocks controlling the power we taken from the demons, demon hunters are using the power which is trying to consume them. This is one reason I would have been happy for both meta form and demon form to co-exist.

How would I personally fix the current state of demonology whilst keeping the current "Class Fantasy"

So, i'm not going to argue "We need current demonology to go!", however i'd like to add what in my opinion would be a nice change to demonology from my own point of view.

Demonology has a lot of things to manage, and ensure we can maximise what is available to us whilst also thinking ahead of time, this causes a cluster of mechanics that can work very well for the spec, but also become its massive weakness. So I believe one way that could fix this is something similar to this:

- Change the current Soul Shard system for demonology, have our imps used instead, after all we should be able to command our minions and use them as utility as we see fit (We do that already with implosion, why not build on it?)

- Empower demon should sacrifice these imps in order to empower the demons summoned for x time AFTER having been casted (They gain the temporary buff as long as it is still active on myself, strength from the summoner style.)

- Call dreadstalkers should work in the same familiar fashion however not require shards, but are attracted due to the lingering power from the sacrificed imps

- Doom should tick every 5 seconds with a chance per tick to summon a imp (Spread doom for for imp armies! Especially with hand of doom)

I think any changes of the above as individual changes would be nice to have feedback to.



(Imps used for shards was thought of by a friend of mine - NautroN, for credits.)

[Deleted]

The Idea with the imps for shards (excuse me using incorrect warlock spells/terms here).

But for example summoning the Imps to use as a resource could be e.g consume 1 to increase dmg of X spell consume 2 to make this spell stronger. consume 3 to make this spell cleave.

Consume 5 to empower your other demons e.g fel Guard. It could also just be a simple flat out dmg increase overall to yourself consuming the imps and dmg increased is based upon how many you consume.

Other Idea would also being the Imps you summon are random "color" Yellow imp does X Green Imp does Y Red Imp does Z Effect.

Feels like Soul shards are just not right for the demonology spec.

//Demon Hunter Náutron <Dobbys Angels> "Grim Batol"

[Anoregon]

I didn't particularly like the previous version of Demo, but the current one is one of the worst designed specs I've ever played. The idea behind being summon-focused is cool, but the execution is horrendous. A spec where the center mechanic is casting a buff over and over so that your summoned demons actually do decent damage isn't something should have ever survived the alpha.

[muto]

Previous version was garbage. Just my 2 cents. It felt extremely clunky. The current version feels extremely fluid, and is way ahead of what it was after they felt the need to ruin it after Cataclysm.

[Slizarus]

Current, It flows well and honestly it's what I always imagined from "Demonology" a studier of demons who can summon demons that you can't have in other specs. "Demon Form" was a poor analogue to Metamorphosis of the Demon hunters, I felt like they were always just trying for that and it never was fun for me.

[Brightamethyst]

Old

I loved Metamorphosis and intensely dislike Demonic Empowerment. The idea of controlling a demon army sounds great on paper, but the spec is incredibly annoying to actually play in it's current form.

[Gangresnake]

Unsure

New demonology feel right lorewise, aka an army of pet getting shit done for you
Gameplay wise it's a clusterfuck because demonic empowerement spam, immobility and mediocre AoE

[leorana]

OLD!

I've played demo since wow's 4th year so I had the chance to know the pre-WoTLK version (no meta), cata and MoP period, and sadly, it's current status.
damage wise, demo locks weren't competitive ever since they nerfed Lei shen trinket (MoP) or hotfixed the HoG glyph late in WoD. then again, at least (for me) it was a fun class to play.

blizz telling us all of a sudden "this is not how demo locks should be" and giving all we had to DH is plain BS. green fire chain quest guy had metamorphosis, warlock mobs in first HFC encounter used metamorphosis. I get it that blizz needed cool stuff for DH, but saying that meta isn't part of warlocks lore is just a lie.

utility wise - we lost meteor (no fall damage - ever), heroic leap (movement boost and a long time ago was a stun too), felsteed lost the cool glyph that made him leave a fiery trail and walk on water. hellfire - gone.immo aura - gone. carrion swarm (knock back) - gone. demonic circle - now a talent. shadowfury - gone.
the glyph that made locks "tanky" - gone. we have NOTHING to cast on the move. demo was dynamic and interesting (even though clunky) but now it's just a boring rotation of summon-buff. weak burst and overall damage.

btw, originally demo locks were suppose to get inquisitors, but during beta we lost it and stayed with the dreadstalkers and imps.

my warlock was my first WoW character yet he saw no game time during the last and current expansion. reading the patch/hotfix notes where I keep seeing warlock nerfs (and mages buff) is absurd considering the bad shape warlocks are atm.

not sure there's anything that could or would be done to save demo. especially now since DH exists.

[Gaidax]

MoP version is shit really, it was a spec dilluted with too much bullshit which resulted in weak shit spells AND demons.

Current is a bit better, but IMO the best one was in WoTLK, I loved that a lot - you had spells that actually did serious damage, great execute phase and popping Meta was a serious deal unlike in MoP/WoD where popping Meta made you not be shit for some time. Here you were good as is and Meta was a big bonus.

[Forgottenone]

I mainly enjoyed old meta, however I prefer the current version of demo. If I had to though I would change a few things:

1. We wouldn't have to constantly buff our pets over and over again, we should simply summon them at a strong level. If anything the buff should of acted as a cooldown, maybe a 2minute CD that doubles our pets damage + haste + health or something along those lines. However to have it as a constant thing to do is ridiculous imo.

2. Stronger demon pet, maybe have an artifact trait that allows us to summon a Pitlord as a cooldown. The Darkglare is nice, however we should be able to use a Pit lord by now. Not just the Pitlord though, it would be nice to just play around with other demons as well like the Felbats

[Xeranath]

I chose unsure because I liked neither of them.

Like many others, I find the idea of new demo amazing, and execution terrible.

[Demonidze]

people seem to forget how many problems the WoD demonology had. how clunky it was without the tier set bonuses.

[Deleted]

The old one was skilled which means fun to play for me. Current demo is sorry boring bullshit.

[Deleted]

It seems that although some people preferred the previous meta form, some do enjoy the current prospects of what a menagerie summoner class could do.

Even though I personally preferred the old form, i'd happily play the current if they made it less clunky (Even though some believe it's not clunky at all).

What would people think would make the current demonology more enticing to play for those of you that dislike it? Feel free to give suggestions on current skill changes.

I've already listed above what I think would help, a basic change so that we actually manage our imps as resources.

[Deleted]

i have played since vanilla and i can say hands down that current is the best Demo has ever felt by far.

mobility is not an issue if you do the tiniest bit of preparation into positioning. Damage is competitive enough. lore of the spec fits well with gameplay.

[Zuckuss]

WoD demo was too jack of all trades, the gameplay was engaging as well. The run and gun, burst aoe, single target was potent... probably too potent given how easy talent swapping was in WoD.

Currently, I do enjoy what demo does — burst aoe, or sustain single target. I am not too fond of the limits in its capabilities, but we have other specs perform other roles.

My one gripe with demo at the moment is that our resource management is not engaging. TKC is the only thing that makes the rotation interesting, in my opinion.

[Dominus89]

I prefer the new one, even though it needs some tweaks.. having to cast DE everytime I summon a demon is just annoying for example.

[Violetti]

WoD demo was too jack of all trades, the gameplay was engaging as well. The run and gun, burst aoe, single target was potent... probably too potent given how easy talent swapping was in WoD.

WoD demo was pretty bad imo, because lvl100 talents had way to big impact, it basically reduced the class to the talentchoice
demobolt was worst imo

mop was great

[Deleted]

MoP by miles. It flowed well, was super fun and was pretty complex. Not that complexity is necessarily a good thing, but there was something really satisfying knowing you had mastered an otherwise fairly complex spec.

[Deleted]

If we're just talking about general design, and spirit of the spec, I'd say Current.

The notion of managing pets is something unique in the history of WoW (even BM hunts never get to that level of "management") and really fits to the demo spirit.

Old demo always felt weird to me : you went from crap (human form) to half-god (meta) and back to crap and so on. That was the concept and it worked pretty well but meh... not that fun imo

I think a better balanced and adjusted version of Legion's demonology could be absolutely awesome.