WoD Beta Affliction Discussion

[Nopkplease]

You know now that I think about it. the SB:Haunt talent could be really good because you gain a buff that lasts for about 30 seconds. Imagine the spread damage you can apply to a whole team in 3s. Maybe it can even be good for "bursting" down a target.

It just seems like to me that if this talents ends working like you are suggesting that they are just going to reduce the base damage of all our dots to adjust for the increase from this talent. I want it to be amazing, I really do, but I just feel that they are going to balance our damage around this talent being up the majority of the time. I don't realistically see Cataclysm or Demonic Servitude being anywhere near as good as Soulburn Haunt.

[eScar95]

It just seems like to me that if this talents ends working like you are suggesting that they are just going to reduce the base damage of all our dots to adjust for the increase from this talent. I want it to be amazing, I really do, but I just feel that they are going to balance our damage around this talent being up the majority of the time. I don't realistically see Cataclysm or Demonic Servitude being anywhere near as good as Soulburn Haunt.

I see what you mean. I'm also pretty sure that's how this talent works since snapshotting will be gone. I also see the problem that this will be the ONLY viable talent for Aff Locks which upsets me and excites me at the same time. Mixed emotions. /shrug

[Count Zero]

Looks like Cataclysm will apply Agony for Afflic now.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...6#post27748336

[eScar95]

Looks like Cataclysm will apply Agony for Afflic now.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...6#post27748336

That's really neat. Now all 3 specs apply different dots to targets.

[Count Zero]

That's really neat. Now all 3 specs apply different dots to targets.

Yah, good flavor. And def makes Cata much more attractive for Afflic now

[Deleted]

Honestly ... why? If i think on Garrosh Adds... they just don't live long enough, that agony would be relevant. And 1 Min CD? ... Does it work with MF? can't recall it. but even than, dont like the cooldown and the long casting time. Seems like an eternity in terms of addlive.

Affli just seems to brainless atm. I know, proc watching and Dot snapshoting isn't that hard to do either, but its a little bit more.. now its just, watch the timers... spam SB:Haunt on Procs and get as much DrainSoul as possible (the new T16 P2/P4 Boni focus mainly on Singletarget DPS as i read it.)... And horray... the encounters will also become less interesting cuz off all the things we can't do while moving.

Maybe I can play mythicraids than on my tablet while cooking.

[bio347]

It applies Agony instead of Corruption now because SB:SoC already spreads Corruption in an AoE radius, which causes devaluation to Cataclysm (since you're definitely going to be detonating SB:SoCs if you're AoEing). It's a pretty clear Good Change.

[Deleted]

personally, i would rather have had unstable affliction to be casted instead of agony due to the agony stacking thing and will take a while b4 it will reach 12 stacks, UA does full dmg from the start, it isnt optimal imo, but its better than corruption atleast.

[ComputerNerd]

personally, i would rather have had unstable affliction to be casted instead of agony due to the agony stacking thing and will take a while b4 it will reach 12 stacks, UA does full dmg from the start, it isnt optimal imo, but its better than corruption atleast.

It was suggested previously that it could be for PvP reasons, with mass application of UA as dispell protection.

[bio347]

Yeah, mass UA is probably not going to happen because of PvP. It also might not happen because UA has a cast time and Agony doesn't, which makes "free" UAs comparatively more valuable. And no, Immolate isn't comparable because you can already mass-Immolate with F&B and there's nothing analogous for UA.

[jupiteran]

instead of having catacylsm do agony, have it do a multi target imp drain soul. same cd, same radius. similar to how the older harvest life worked.
it would help with aff's biggest flaw, burst aoe.

[Xanatas]

instead of having catacylsm do agony, have it do a multi target imp drain soul. same cd, same radius. similar to how the older harvest life worked.
it would help with aff's biggest flaw, burst aoe.

more appropriated for an affliction spell... i like it

[Dnusha]

Yeah, i'd better have a different spell instead of cataclysm for affliction. Big explosion doesn't really fits.

IMO Cataclysm should not spread dots, but instead consume them for more damage/radius for destro and demo. This is a big f***ing explosion after all.

[Baconeggcheese]

Yeah, i'd better have a different spell instead of cataclysm for affliction. Big explosion doesn't really fits.

IMO Cataclysm should not spread dots, but instead consume them for more damage/radius for destro and demo. This is a big f***ing explosion after all.

oooo that one seems like common sense now that you mention it. Yes lawd jesus yes.

[evertonbelmontt]

Consume all of your dots on the target to deal the (remaining) damage over time over an 8y radius.
This way it won't be hard to balance for pvp (essentially it would cost a shard and 1min CD).


EDIT: as of 26/06/2014 we just lost the best slow in the game.

Curse of Exaustion nerfed from 70% (glyphed) to 40%. Maybe their reasons is the new stat that increase MS, but even so...
Our last curse................................

Also, I felt that they dumbed down the flavor of ALL warlock spells, "correcting" tooltips.

[Alarinth]

Played quite a bit of Affliction on the alpha today. It felt a bit simplified, as I was able to progress through new content with the appointed gear (500 ilvl), facerolling my way through it by virtue of voidlord and soul swap.

I will however say that the removal of dot strength snapshoting feels really great, as the dots themselves do hurt now, and in general has made affliction a much more fluid spec for pve solocontent.

[eScar95]

Played quite a bit of Affliction on the alpha today. It felt a bit simplified, as I was able to progress through new content with the appointed gear (500 ilvl), facerolling my way through it by virtue of voidlord and soul swap.

I will however say that the removal of dot strength snapshoting feels really great, as the dots themselves do hurt now, and in general has made affliction a much more fluid spec for pve solocontent.

Yeah yeah. But what about PvP?

[Jessicka]

Yeah yeah. But what about PvP?

I can only imagine that with dots hurting without depending on a proc, that that is a good thing.

[SeriousPvP]

Hi all! I haven't had a chance to play the Alpha (not invited) and I just got my Beta invite today. Hopefully I'll find time this weekend to try it out.
Anyway, I have concerns about Warlocks in WoD, specifically in PvP. I made a video going over my concerns and I was hoping you guys that have been playing could give me some feedback. This seems like a thread full of intelligent people, but I'm not sure how many PvPers we have here playing the Alpha.

WoD: Warlock Theorycrafting and Concerns
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4GDLw2IMYk

Basically, if you can't watch the video, I'm concerned about the loss of Warlock gap openers vs melee (Warriors).
• Losing Howl of Terror baseline
• Fear being nerfed down to a 6 second duration
• KJC nerfed to an on-use ability instead of passive
• Blood Horror being nerfed to a 60 second cooldown from a 30 second cooldown
• Unbound Will nerfed to a 2 min cooldown from a 1 min cooldown
• Gateway nerfed to a 90 second cooldown from a 45 second cooldown
• Curse of Exhaustion nerfed to a 40% snare from a 70% snare

All of these gap openers have been nerfed, but I see no change in gap closers from melee, especially Warriors. What Warrior doesn't already have near 100% uptime on a Warlock on live servers? How will this play out in WoD?

My other concern is over the removal of Fel Flame.
As an Affliction Warlock, what possible methods will we have of destroying Shaman Totems or spinning flags in RBGs? I believe we will need to either move into melee range to swing our staff/sword/dagger, use our pet that still needs to move into melee range and usually dies instantly, or we waste shards on Haunt. I don't know of any other way around it. Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

[Nighthaven-]

Sadly, affliction will be equally or even more dull than Destruction and that is not a good thing.
It needs an extra burst DoT/ core ability with an interesting mechanic which replaces the old Chaos Bolt ignoring absorbs effect - used both for PvE and PvP:


Engulfing Nightmares (DoT),
1.5s cast, 12s duration, 1s tick-interval, 30s cooldown.

Requires all three primary DoTs present on target, consuming them and creates a new DoT equaling total DoT damage per second + 25% (?*) - ignoring absorb effects. Target cannot be affected by your other DoTs until effect expires.

*subject to modification

>>

- Burst that requires setup.
- Replaces old chaos bolt-effect of ignoring absorbs.
- Multi-DoT scenarios made interesting. (You can always soul swap a 10-stack Agony back onto the target when it has expired.)
- Something to do for Affliction in intervals not too-often in bland single target situations as of WoD.
- Balanced for PvP: As UA can't be present on the same time, it can be dispelled. Overall absorbs are too effective versus DoTs as of MoP: DoT classes never have a window where they can burst when shields are down, as DoTs simply are non-bursty. Alone, affliction have issues killing targets at 1% with a 25+% of-hp shield and when DoT's have dealt their damage to down the shield, the next absorb is already ready to be placed on target (PW:S being the biggest offender).
- A snap-shotted effect that affliction desperately needs.
- Only a minor dps increase in pure single target scenarios: Agony will need to be rebuilt. (Not too punishing for bad players for failure in optimal usage as within the constraints of the Blizzard model).
- Having it dispelable makes it less of brain-dead wash when securing a kill on a shielded target, just pair it with a blanket or stun - It's mainly meant to kill -off dps.

Thoughts?