Patch 5.2 Warlock discussion

[Zinnin]

Wow... soul leech has been made even more useless

Depending on how it is implemented (if it is a stacking shield with a reasonable cap) this is an amazing change.

[Libro]

So now Blood Fear is defensive?

[Resentful]

So now Blood Fear is defensive?

Haha more like terribly worthless

[wholol]

let's not forget the fabled cataclysm spell that destruction was supposed to get in 5.2 (which we will probably never hear of again ).

[Fanatik]

And some of you guys thought that the apocalypse wasn't going to happen today...

[Bartimaeus]

Depending on how it is implemented (if it is a stacking shield with a reasonable cap) this is an amazing change.

This. Not sure why everyone is worried, Soul Leech at the moment is pretty average, only really being useful on fights where the enemy takes increased damage. Should wait and see what the shield cap will be before we condemn it.

GoSac nerfs were expected, wouldn't be surprised if it's nerfed further. On the positive side at least they're doing it in small increments and not just gutting it outright. Personally I hope GoSac stays as the go-to talent for Affliction and Destro, just because I don't want to deal with pet AI/bugs and mechanics that flat out didn't take pets into consideration (Garalon/Milhouse).

I'd really like to also see some changes to the pets themselves, such as baseline movement speed increases or a sprint/leap.

So far the changes aren't too shocking (except Blood fear, that's a fucking horrid changes), I wouldn't be surprised if we see a nerf to the Soul Link/GoSac combo though.

The big thing I'm worried about changing is our scaling (Affliction). Our scaling is very strong at the moment, not quite Fire Mage or Warrior strong, but we're up there. Half expecting that to be hit hard, especially when you look at some of the other classes scaling compared to us and were we already are on the meters competitively.

[Surutcra]

I find it quite amusing that so many people complain about the Soul Leech change while it actually is one of the only buffs here (PvE-wise, at least), it really makes you wonder how valuable most of the pre-patch forum feedback/noise is... Unless it is implemented in a very silly way (shield does not stacks or caps to a ridiculous amount like 2% health), it will be just as efficient in constant damage situations but way better when allowed to stack while you sit at full health.

- Logical nerf to Affliction GoSac, which really outperformed other grimoire options
- Logical removal of the active effect of KJC, which I guess pretty much no one had been using since 5.1
- PvE-wise, the nerf to sacrificial pact seems a bit overkill, since soul link was already a much stronger option in most cases
- Very strange nerf of Demonology GoSac, considering it was already the worst grimoire option

---------- Post added 2012-12-22 at 06:38 AM ----------

And also, I've just logged in to check and I see no in-game mention of the 25%-50% range in damage increase for affliction's GoSac (only states 50% to Haunt, MG, DS, FF). Similarly, demonology GoSac only indicates 30%, not the 50% that seem to be assumed here.

[Arcontes]

spell lock nerf? wtf? why are they adding in all these nerfs that no one was complaining about? I swear when people complain about locks being "op" blizzards doesn't hesitate on that nerf button do they? I guess people are finally gonna stop complaining since all these pvp nerfs will make us a very hard class to lose to now

Not exactly a nerf. It doesn't work as intended right now and hasn't since MoP launched. It's a flat 3s silence with no school lock, check for yourself. I really like blanket silence as it might be useful on an execute phase, but I hope they remove it from all other classes if we happen to lose it.

[Resentful]

Got some good news

Glyph of Burning Embers has been removed, and its effects are now baseline for Destruction Warlocks.
Glyph of Soul Shards has been removed, and its effects are now baseline for Affliction Warlocks.

Baseline 4 embers / Shards

[Harsesis]

The official notes say that 4 shards/embers will be baseline.

/relieved

AND GREEN FIRE IS CONFIRMED

[Surutcra]

From the 5.2 blue post :

Glyph of Burning Embers has been removed, and its effects are now baseline for Destruction Warlocks.
Glyph of Soul Shards has been removed, and its effects are now baseline for Affliction Warlocks.

Also, seems like it's Affliction & Destruction GoSac that are getting nerfed in the end (50->45 & 25->20), not demonology, which makes much more sense.

Grimoire of Sacrifice now increases the damage of abilities by 20% (was 25%) for Destruction, and 45% (was 50%) for Affliction.

---------- Post added 2012-12-22 at 06:51 AM ----------

And :

Sacrificial Pact now requires the pet to sacrifice 25% of its health to activate (was 50%).

Which is rather ambiguous, as it does not say whether the created shiled will change or not !

[dalonglong]

Does this mean that 4 shards and embers will become baseline?

This one can allow, i wish it is true...

[Resentful]

Does this mean that 4 shards and embers will become baseline?

This one can allow, i wish it is true...

Yes It's baseline confirmed via blue

[Netherspark]

About the change to Spell-Lock: Notice that it only refers to the Felhunter specifically; it makes no mention of the Observer's Optical Blast which leads me to believe Blizzard intend to leave it as a blanket silence (which actually makes sense considering the Supremacy minions are supposed to have improved abilities).

[Shadowygoodness]

About the change to Spell-Lock: Notice that it only refers to the Felhunter specifically; it makes no mention of the Observer's Optical Blast which leads me to believe Blizzard intend to leave it as a blanket silence (which actually makes sense considering the Supremacy minions are supposed to have improved abilities).

My only qualm with the situation is Counterspell is basically the same thing as spell lock but with a blanket attached to it. Why does one get the blanket removed but not the other?

[Resentful]

My only qualm with the situation is Counterspell is basically the same thing as spell lock but with a blanket attached to it. Why does one get the blanket removed but not the other?

Counterspells blanket has been removed as well

[Boricha]

My only qualm with the situation is Counterspell is basically the same thing as spell lock but with a blanket attached to it. Why does one get the blanket removed but not the other?

They don't, look at mage patch notes.

So my ember tap heals for about 22.4% unbuffed. with that glyph it would add 11.2% I assume? So 33.6% heal with 4 embers = 134.4% heal when needed. Wow, and you only need 3 to still do a 100% heal.

[Resentful]

They don't, look at mage patch notes.

So my ember tap heals for about 22.4% unbuffed. with that glyph it would add 11.2% I assume? So 33.6% heal with 4 embers = 134.4% heal when needed. Wow, and you only need 3 to still do a 100% heal.

The choice of giving up a nuke to kill someone / Pressure or self heal for the sake of not being global'd

Pricy!

[Kirroth]

Okay, with the better description in the official notes, it's possible the redesigned Blood Fear isn't worthless. Here's how I'm parsing it.

When you activate Blood Fear, you get a 60 second buff that fears enemies that hit you with melee attacks. However it won't fear an infinite number of attackers. Each time an attacker is feared it consumes a charge, and if there are no charges then they won't be feared. The shield starts with 1 charge and builds new charges every X seconds the way Demonic Gateway does.

If it works that way, and it's something you can use in preparation of a skirmish when heals are plentiful instead of in the heat of one when they're not, it might be worth while. It would also heavily depend on how quickly charges accumulate and what the max stack is.

[Kildragon]

The choice of giving up a nuke to kill someone / Pressure or self heal for the sake of not being global'd

Pricy!

Ember Tap has been amazing since this expansion launched and this change is only making it better. SO much self healing for Destro, I'm going to throw a fucking party. So happy with that. Btw, I once did 5 million healing in a random BG thanks to ember tap. Absolutely amazing ability.

As for the rest of you doomsday people, READ OTHER CLASS PATCH NOTES BEFORE YOU QQ. I'm sure all the other people that constantly have to correct people that just didn't read everything are as sick of it as I am. Mages are NOT keeping their 4 second blanket. Hunters are also getting an increased CD on Silencing Shot.

Also, before anyone else QQ's about the Destro GoSac change, it was the only talent to take as Destro right now. Single target it was ahead by a few percent, but multi target it jumped ahead by a mile. They'd have to nerf it by far more than this to make me even consider taking any other talent, especially since there are almost no single target fights anymore. In PvP, this is also not much of a problem since it leaves Destro open for buffs to our spells. At this point it would be pretty hard for Blizz to deny that Destro is lagging behind in terms of damage output, so expect some buffs.

Soul Leech is a buff, especially since the heal will stack. In PvE, 90% of it was overheal anyways, this way we can at least build up a shield for some bigger hits.

I don't understand the Sac Pact change, but Soul Link doesn't need to be nerfed as some people are saying. Dark Bargain is the best talent in this tier, except for Sac Pact for Demo.

As for the new Blood Fear, which will be the focus of every single discussion for the next 2 months: I like the idea cause it fills a niche. Get melee of your back when you don't want to waste time casting and juking Fear. This new model keeps that functionality without making us stupid OP vs healers since just one second of exposure and they are feared right now. I have a few problems with this though. The 20% health cost is extreme, as we'll almost always be using it when getting the shit trained out of us by melee. The other problem is that too many melee have ways to get around this. I pop BF, they pop AMS, or Zerker Rage, or Lichborne and are fine.