Why does the playerbase dislike warlocks?

[Nalam the Venom]

Hey.

Acording to the https://realmpop.com/ Warlocks is the 3rd least played class The only 2 below it is monk and DH (But those haven't been around since vanilla).

I'm just wondering if anyone know what it is about warlocks that make them so unappealing to people

[Queen of Hamsters]

Is realmpop REALLY a reliable source...?

[thunderdragon2]

there all boring and easy to pay the top dps may be afli lock but they are easier to play then bm, just with more survivablity,

[Pandragon]

Shaman is the third least played class behind Monk and Demon Hunter according to the chart.

[Gib Lover]

Change the slider to only level 110's on NA and they are still the third least played behind Rogues and Monks but their playrate is in line with most of the 7ish percent playrate classes. If you include all levels, DHs will be horridly underrepresented.

[Nalam the Venom]

Is realmpop REALLY a reliable source...?

Well i got no other source :> So i'd hope it is

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Change the slider to only level 110's on NA and they are still the third least played behind Rogues and Monks but their playrate is in line with most of the 7ish percent playrate classes. If you include all levels, DHs will be horridly underrepresented.

Yeah, forgot to filter it to 110, It seems rogue is below warlock then, Wonder why people dislike rogue aswell, Thought rogue would be one of the most played.

[Socialhealer]

Shaman is the third least played class behind Monk and Demon Hunter according to the chart.

well thats due to thousands and thousands of ele shamans rerolling/quitting in WoD because the spec was 10/10 dumpster for everything except BRF (where it was still quite bad)

and in legion it can't solo soak, or do good ST whilst moving so it's still pretty trash.

bring back MoP and shaman population will return.

[Delekii]

Well i got no other source :> So i'd hope it is

Someone has to be lowest? No class is horribly underrepresented, including warlocks. Looking at the class spread of 110s specifically it's actually pretty damn amazing that all the classes are so close. Hybrid classes always tend to be over-represented since they appeal to a larger group of players..

If the player base actually "disliked" a class I doubt its representation would be within ~20% spread from its analogues (mage, hunter and to a lesser degree rogue, in this case). In fact, looking at the graph it's actually amazing just how good the class spread is.

[Aggrophobic]

Becuase Blizzard likes to redesign them every expansion but rarely do they actually try to balance the specs leading to a class that is silly OP for a short while - It gets nefed to the ground and is left useless til they redesign it again a year later.

It's not always a pleasant experience, trying to main a warlock. Mage usually just has a better life and usually does the same job better.

[melzas]

Few reasons I can think of (some of them apply to me, as warlock is by far my least played class):

1. Don't like the theme. A mage with an evil twist, who isn't really evil because you are a hero of Azeroth and your faction doesn't really sound to appealing to me.
2. Less flashy spell effects than mage.
3. Can only fulfil dps role.
4. Most people prefer to be heroic/classic (just look at how Humans and Elves are the most popular races).
5. Boring pets (pets in general are unpopular, but with hunters you can actually pick from a wide variaty of beasts, warlocks have very limited choice, or none at all, because you usally end up with pet that's considered optimal for your spec anyway).
6. Lack of cool warlocks in the lore (this might sound like a silly thing, but a lot of people create they character over a hype of a certain hero in the game, also it feels like warlocks are marginal in the lore).

[Jonsse]

The differences aren't large enough to make any conclusions that there's something inherently wrong with Warlocks. My personal view is that Warlocks are just boring to play, especially in Legion. That's just opinion though.

Something that's probably relevant is that unlike mages, warlocks very rarely have three moderately viable specs. More often than not, one or two of the warlock specs are at the bottom of dps charts in logs and simulations. That means there's really no special reason to play warlock over any other class unless you really like warlocks. If they're not filling in some niche like utility or are on top of charts there's nothing to draw people to play warlock.

[TriHard]

Warlocks are incredibly boring. Destro is bland and Demo is just incredibly boring.

Tbh, they should've made Warlock part Melee part ranged for some variety. Kinda like that glyph they used to have
that turned them into melee.

[Onikaroshi]

Few things to consider here:

1. Monk is the lowest because it is the newest class that starts at level 1.
2. Rogue is low because it has been a historically "boring" class with very little change between vanilla and (at least) Cata.
3. Warlock is low, because unlike Mage and Hunter, it's a pure that didn't always find its spot in raids, specially before healthstone buffs. There wasn't really a compelling reason to bring locks to raid every raid tier.
4. Priest is lower because historically you've been either a healer or a mana battery, shadow didn't really come fully into it's own until the last few expansion.
5. Shaman is low because, once again, historically there has been very little change and dps shaman (especially ele) have had a rough go at it.
6. DH is so high because it starts at 98, and its brand new this expansion.
7. Druid is high because 4 specs leads to a lot of choice and at least 1 or 2 is good at any given time
8. Paladins have historically been one of the best tanks, and often one of the top healers.


Funny things to note: Blood Elves have always seen high representation, but man have they skyrocketed with the release of DH and Horde bias amongst these charts. People REALLY don't like alliance races besides humans and night elves >.>

[Nalam the Venom]

People REALLY don't like alliance races besides humans and night elves >.>

I guess people always go for the more "Normal" Races, Thus why Blood elves were highest even before DH's. Out of the Alliance line up i'd say i like Draenei the most tbh.

[lummiuster]

Hey.

Acording to the https://realmpop.com/ Warlocks is the 3rd least played class The only 2 below it is monk and DH (But those haven't been around since vanilla).

I'm just wondering if anyone know what it is about warlocks that make them so unappealing to people

As a guy who plays all class, I would say they are extremely slow which is very frustrating. You are always the last in the group because you walk very slowly and the global cooldown on corruption, agony feels very not fun. Demon lock is extremely frustrating due to "demonic emporement". Destruction warlock has its single target punished to make up for their good cleave (not fun again).
The fun when playing a ret (for example) with 50% haste is muuuch more fun, you get to press 3buttons and see lots of light and you run very fast.
Also tier piece forces has a huge impact on how fun a class is as it changes the playstyle. for example T20 elemental shaman best stat is haste. T21 is crit. Playing with lots of haste is much more entertaining as you press many buttons and you feel like a ninja machine gun.

Monk - does not fit with the fantasy
Pali - nice
Priest - nice
DH - too simple, lacks uniqueness
Mage - fun
Shaman -fun

However affliction in pvp is lot of fun. In WPVP affliction is the most dangerous class imo

[infinitemeridian]

Boring, unintuitive gameplay
Weak visuals
Poor mobility
Damage is lacking most of the time
Poor man's mage
Pets

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DH - too simple, lacks uniqueness

Simple I get, but lacking in uniqueness I do not. They have unique animations, demon form, double jump, wings, glaives, etc.

[Ragedaug]

IMO, Monk, Rogue, and Warlock tend to have a higher skill ceiling required to play at top levels, so if you aren't an above average player, your lack of skill will be more exposed playing those classes. Insert Dunning-Kruger and most of those players will just assume the class sucks, so lower representation in the average and below average players.

Priests, Shaman, and DK are often among the more underpowered classes (in the last couple xpacs, at least on the DPS side), so it makes sense to me that people move on when they see they can do better with other classes.

Then from Mages and up, they are over that 8% representation mark, where you see classes that almost always have at least one strong DPS spec, which keeps players interested.

[Jyggalag]

Thematically they're one of my favourite classes in the WoW universe. I've never enjoyed the gameplay outside of MoP Destro lock which they gutted in one of the early WoD patches, and MoP demo meta build (which was arguably one of the most fun specs I'd ever played before they removed the glyph.

Just way too immobile for me personally.

Few other big drawbacks for me:
Pure DPS with 3 specs to master - especially tedious in Legion with APs/Leggos to grind out for each
Gear dependent - at least when I've always played one they feel awful with shit gear. Slow casts, wet noodle chaos bolts, etc.
No guarantee the spec you enjoy the most is competitive in any given tier since Blizz fuck with the numbers quite often
Guaranteed to have more fun, and do more damage, as a mage almost every tier since the dawn of time.

[Re4leader1]

Because affliction is incredibly unimpressive visually and boring as hell. Destruction is highly RNG based and fire mage is more reliable and often more fun. Demonology is a complete mess. DH given our Mete, horribly slow ramp up time, cannot see imps for shit, no sensible rotation. Basically summons demons buff them summon more buff,summon,buff,summon, buff blizzard really screwed up a fun spec.

[Lochton]

Hey.

Acording to the https://realmpop.com/ Warlocks is the 3rd least played class The only 2 below it is monk and DH (But those haven't been around since vanilla).

I'm just wondering if anyone know what it is about warlocks that make them so unappealing to people

Realmpop isn't a reliable source, really. As well, I just don't like warlocks anymore.