I like playing warlock, I like RBGs, but ...

[Faenskap]

I hit 2k with my spriest in RBGs last season, and I'd like to see how far I can go with my lock, because I like both RBGs and being a (destro) warlock

There's just one problem, well, 2
1.) Everyone wants affli, even if we're not exactly playing for Hero of the Horde, people are quite concerned with having the "correct" setup, and sadly, destro isn't a part of that
2.) I don't like affli. At all. Scratch that - I hate it. I know its the spec for arena too, but I hate arenas, so w/e I guess


So, then we do these RBGs. I can't do that insane damage as affli locks/dks/spriests do, even though I spend just about every moment in a big fight thinking "always cast, always cast". I have been told my damage is low, but to me, it just seems impossible to push those numbers even more - maybe if I neglected the fears, I dunno. Give me a good group fight, and I'll give you 150+ CCs. I like to think I know how to play (sure, it could improve, but cant it always) and that if I'm asked to play affli for dispel protection and added pressure through dots, I'd be even more useless. I have no interest whatsoever in playing affli nor am I interested in paying to play something I don't enjoy.

Right now I guess my biggest strength as a destro in RBGs is the honorable and ever so engaging role of the base defender, yay.

I'm also in the process of lving another lock as the other faction (will boost it from 60 to 90, lvl 40 atm) - to experience alliance side too, but if I can't play as destro, then I guess I won't bother with it.


Ok, so this is probably a bit all over the place, my cohesion is shit

My issue is quite simple: can I have success in climbing RBG rating as a destro lock? I don't want to be affli, i'd rather exit the game than play affli, and whether or not it would be a waste to use the free boost on another lock that will be destro for pvp too.

I guess I should say I mostly play with random people too, that seem to think damage is the only thing that matters.

[Deleted]

I think the hardest part is finding a group that would take a destro over an affliction.

[Illiterate]

All the top locks in rbgs are destro. If you want to get kills and win team fights, you need those chaos bolts. Aff doesn't put out any pressure, and this will only get worse as everyone gears up.

[kardacz]

The "stupid damage" you're refering to is mostly irrelevant. Maybe that's the wrong word to use, but you're basically padding the meters dotting everything that moves with the drawback that nothing will die unless someone helps you. You won't kill a flag carried as Affliction ever. Destro on the other will enables you to kill stuff by yourself when needed or finish things with Shadowburn. I guess it does more damage that matters.
So I'm not sure why you can't find a group as Destro.

[Tya]

The "stupid damage" you're refering to is mostly irrelevant. Maybe that's the wrong word to use, but you're basically padding the meters dotting everything that moves with the drawback that nothing will die unless someone helps you. You won't kill a flag carried as Affliction ever. Destro on the other will enables you to kill stuff by yourself when needed or finish things with Shadowburn. I guess it does more damage that matters.
So I'm not sure why you can't find a group as Destro.

Not true. 9.7% of 2200+ RBG players are aff locks, compared to less than half that for destro.
http://www.worldofwargraphs.com/stat...0-0-9-2-0.html

Destro still works, but that "meaningless damage" adds up. A lot. Especially when combined with unholy dks.

[Deleted]

And one more thing I found myself trying destro spec for RBG. As affliction, I dot things up and have some spare time (as they tick) for CC (fears, silence) or kill assist with haunt and DS.

Where as playing destro I am always focused on casting something thus no time for fears or silence (from GoSac). Or you cast fears but then lowering your damage output.

[Bonkura]

The "stupid damage" you're refering to is mostly irrelevant. Maybe that's the wrong word to use, but you're basically padding the meters dotting everything that moves with the drawback that nothing will die unless someone helps you. You won't kill a flag carried as Affliction ever. Destro on the other will enables you to kill stuff by yourself when needed or finish things with Shadowburn. I guess it does more damage that matters.
So I'm not sure why you can't find a group as Destro.

Say that if your team has 0 spread damage while opponents have lets say 1 affli, 1 spriest, 1 unholy dk and a team fight lasts for >5 min. Either your healers are oom and people will start dropping rapidly on switches or your team is just rotting. The dot protection from UA is insane as well. Sure you could argue one lock going destro if you have two, but then your team should have 2-3 other people bringing high spread damage.

[kardacz]

Not true. 9.7% of 2200+ RBG players are aff locks, compared to less than half that for destro.
http://www.worldofwargraphs.com/stat...0-0-9-2-0.html

Destro still works, but that "meaningless damage" adds up. A lot. Especially when combined with unholy dks.

And at the same time out of the top 10 rated RBG Warlocks in US nine are Destruction.
Only in EU everyone plays Affliction.

Say that if your team has 0 spread damage while opponents have lets say 1 affli, 1 spriest, 1 unholy dk and a team fight lasts for >5 min. Either your healers are oom and people will start dropping rapidly on switches or your team is just rotting. The dot protection from UA is insane as well. Sure you could argue one lock going destro if you have two, but then your team should have 2-3 other people bringing high spread damage.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that for dot cleave Affliction is better.
Like I said irrelevant was probably the wrong word to use, but your job in such situation is to set up kills for others and you need your teammates to finish stuff off. You won't kill shit yourself as Affliction.

[Tya]

And at the same time out of the top 10 rated RBG Warlocks in US nine are Destruction.
Only in EU everyone plays Affliction.

OP very likely isn't in the top 10 rated RBG warlocks. Also the stats I linked are for both US and EU. Perhaps you are confused?

[Faenskap]

And one more thing I found myself trying destro spec for RBG. As affliction, I dot things up and have some spare time (as they tick) for CC (fears, silence) or kill assist with haunt and DS.

Where as playing destro I am always focused on casting something thus no time for fears or silence (from GoSac). Or you cast fears but then lowering your damage output.

Yees, that was my experience too. I did play affli for one RBG, and I dotted people up, then thought "uhm, is this it? wohoo MG". Now, I know I play affli horribly but I don't want to learn it because I don't like it. So when I play destro, it's always this moral battle of cc vs damage output and I did focus more on CC - I thought that what locks were for, so naturally I couldn't cast chaos bolt while fearing someone. Then again, people I've played with ... 0 is the number of shits they've given on cc done.

I could be looking at this from the wrong angle too, as I play with almost just random people, so if I were to play more seriously, I'd need to find a guild. Hmm. But it's fun to just pug a couple of casual rbgs. It just makes me sad that some people just care about the total damage done - and obviously it does matter, but in the end, RBGs are so much more than who did the most damage. Like, ccing one healer while dpsing the other, peeling for healers, making general observations throughout a game - many TCs just insist on bursting though a warrior with shield wall + pain supression for instance. Oh well. Spriest isnt too bad either, I would just love to feel that I -the destro lock - was viable too

[eScar95]

Not true. 9.7% of 2200+ RBG players are aff locks, compared to less than half that for destro.
http://www.worldofwargraphs.com/stat...0-0-9-2-0.html

Destro still works, but that "meaningless damage" adds up. A lot. Especially when combined with unholy dks.

It also says there are 5.3% of Fury Warriors on the ladders, but it's a total lie. Just go to http://us.battle.net/wow/en/pvp/leaderboards/rbg and turn on those filters. not one Fury Warrior.

[Bonkura]

... and there's no way 17% of the 2200+ rated locks are playing demo.

[Deleted]

I dont have any first hand experience so please correct me if Im wrong (im not much for pvp) but if you're being told that you damage is low, and if you keep seeing yourself on the lower side in RBGs, the issue is you and not the spec. Destro should be able to keep high enough damage up while being a beast at nuking/havocing kill targets.

You say you hate affliction then also say that youve never tried it for long enough to learn it, but those feelings seem somewhat mutually exclusive to me. Your aversion to learning/playing something that's just 'better', everything YOU can do as destro you can do as affliction if you learn it. You said it yourself, youll have alot more free globals to CC, whereas a destro lock has to be casting all the time. Your damage is apparently crap as destro so it's not like youre bringing needed nukes.

Summa summarum: dont blame the spec, youre most likely at fault.

[kardacz]

OP very likely isn't in the top 10 rated RBG warlocks.

Probably not, but it's always something to strive for.

Also the stats I linked are for both US and EU. Perhaps you are confused?

There are currently 8 warlocks on the us ladder above 2200 rating, 7 of which are destruction. 21 above 2200 in EU, all affliction. Asian 31 locks, 6 of which are afflicition.
So yeah I am really confused, because you posted some random numbers that do not translate into reality.

[Illiterate]

I dont have any first hand experience so please correct me if Im wrong (im not much for pvp) but if you're being told that you damage is low, and if you keep seeing yourself on the lower side in RBGs, the issue is you and not the spec. Destro should be able to keep high enough damage up while being a beast at nuking/havocing kill targets.

You say you hate affliction then also say that youve never tried it for long enough to learn it, but those feelings seem somewhat mutually exclusive to me. Your aversion to learning/playing something that's just 'better', everything YOU can do as destro you can do as affliction if you learn it. You said it yourself, youll have alot more free globals to CC, whereas a destro lock has to be casting all the time. Your damage is apparently crap as destro so it's not like youre bringing needed nukes.

Summa summarum: dont blame the spec, youre most likely at fault.

You don't go destro to top damage, you go destro to get kills. You don't spam brimstone all game and rain of fire does shit aoe damage, you just use it to build embers. If you are trying to top damage as destro you're doing it wrong.

[Zogarth]

OP very likely isn't in the top 10 rated RBG warlocks. Also the stats I linked are for both US and EU. Perhaps you are confused?

According to your souce nobody plays Guardian druids in RBG. THat is quite new to me!

[Cirayne24]

You don't go destro to top damage, you go destro to get kills. You don't spam brimstone all game and rain of fire does shit aoe damage, you just use it to build embers. If you are trying to top damage as destro you're doing it wrong.

Havok Shadowburn/Chaos Bolts is why people love Destro Locks. As Illiterate said, you build embers with as fast as you can, but you still CC as much as you can and use one of the best executes in the game (Shadowburn) to catch people off guard.

[Anzen]

It also says there are 5.3% of Fury Warriors on the ladders, but it's a total lie. Just go to http://us.battle.net/wow/en/pvp/leaderboards/rbg and turn on those filters. not one Fury Warrior.

"Okay I'm done with my rank 1 RBG's/arena, gonna switch back to Prot now, tank a dungeon and go to bed. *Logs out as Prot*"

YOU ARE NOW THE ONLY R1 PROT WARRIOR, PROT IS VIABLE.

I'd say that's why there are a couple Fury Warriors, Fury is better in PvE than Arms.

[Notnicebb]

I can totally relate to op. I've played my lock for 8 years now and I've never been so bored with it in pvp. Honestly I enjoy affliction a lot more than destro in rbg's just for the simple fact I never get interrupted as affliction. Try getting chaos bolts off consistently against any team with a brain. I swear everyone on the other team has you on focus. Once you pop trinkets and stuff you going to sit in cc until it's over. It's very MEH.

Basically it all comes down to comps tho, both specs are viable at any rating if you know how to play properly. You're going to see more top tier locks destro tho for the havok, chaos bolts and execute.

[Anzen]

I swear everyone on the other team has you on focus. Once you pop trinkets and stuff you going to sit in cc until it's over. It's very MEH.

Must be the only class in the game that gets CC'd when they pop CD's.