BFA Affliction

[Xorn]

100% up time so that you stretch out the buff, and then you spam them for things like deathbolt or priority damage.

I feel like it has to be an either/or type of thing. Either you don't take Deathbolt and have it up 100%, or you tak DB but only cast it right before.

Definitely doesn't feel like enough shards to do both

[Jibbler]

I was hoping to see more controlled/predictable shard generation in BfA. What's Blizzard mentality/goal with this (Unstable Affliction usage)?

I've been playing Aff for a good amount of time on beta at cap, the shard generation feels higher and more stable than on live. I can't speak for pvp but in pve aff seems to be in a decent spot pre numbers tuning. The lack of healing could really be an issue for high M+ though. I think Demo would be the go to spec with soul link.

[Deleted]

Haha. They just made affliction even weaker in PVP by tripling the mana costs of Fear and Drain Life. I don;t know whether to laugh or cry. Fear has a 15% mana cost? Great, cast Fear, then watch it breaks when a butterfly farts.

[Deleted]

Affliction talents feel extremely lackluster and Affliction in general just feels empty.
Having Writhe in Agony and Absolute Corruption on the same row also feels extremely awkward.

The dream would be to have Haunt and Drain Soul as baseline abilities making Drain Soul not replace Shadow Bolt.
Just have Writhe in Agony swap place with Haunts current position.
Replace Drain Soul with Malefic Grasp causing Drain soul to replace Shadow Bolt. Have this act as a slight dps increase compared to live for those who want the option to channel for dps.
In place of where Writhe in Agony is you can just put the current Fatal Echoes artifact trait. Buff it to 10-15%.

Then you'll have a more interesting system to play around.

[Jibbler]

The dream would be to have Haunt and Drain Soul as baseline abilities making Drain Soul not replace Shadow Bolt.
Just have Writhe in Agony swap place with Haunts current position.
Replace Drain Soul with Malefic Grasp causing Drain soul to replace Shadow Bolt. Have this act as a slight dps increase compared to live for those who want the option to channel for dps.

That could actually make for a far more interesting play style. Using drain soul to build soul shards, putting on a few UAs, and using malefic grasp till they fall off.
Honestly it probably wouldn't be that interesting but still better than spam casting shadow bolt

[Baconeggcheese]

I feel like it has to be an either/or type of thing. Either you don't take Deathbolt and have it up 100%, or you tak DB but only cast it right before.

Definitely doesn't feel like enough shards to do both

Yeah that sounds about right, except for priority damage where you'd forgo whatever else.

[Deleted]

I see Aff got a significant boost whilst other classes got nerfs. They've just done it via numbers by using the base multiplier percentage thing. It'll still have the issues with short-lived stuf in dungeons though.

[Deleted]

It'll still have the issues with short-lived stuf in dungeons though.

I mean you can't have everything right?

[Xorn]

I see Aff got a significant boost whilst other classes got nerfs. They've just done it via numbers by using the base multiplier percentage thing. It'll still have the issues with short-lived stuf in dungeons though.

I mean, it always did. But I feel like Haunt and Vile Taint help a little with that.

[Deleted]

Indeed, but the sad thing is, the devs actually highlighted it as a specific problem in Legion - but they have done very little to alleviate it in BfA.

For example, Agony's mechanic is archaic and it should have been canned and replaced long ago. I get they want a penalty for missing a refresh, but having a dot that takes 10 ticks to reach full effect was OK over a decade ago, it just isn't in the much faster paced, burst oriented WoW of 2018. Let alone compounding it with Writhe.

When the devs themselves admit that dot-and-ramp is an increasingly obsolete design that is becomign harder to keep relevant, you know aff has a problem.

Given aff's troubles with short-lived adds in dungeons I have no idea at all as to why they have kept Seed of Corruption as garbage as it is, let alone why they felt it necessary to nerf Sow the Seeds repeatedly. Remember just before Legion the devs told us to rejoice as they'd heard the complainst about aff being dogshit at AOE and we'd have this thing called Sow the Seeds?

Just make SOC instant cast and get rid of the detonation thing. SOC's damage in no way justifies having those shackles on it.

At th emoment just lifting base damage will result in little other than still being pretty shit at short-lived stuff and a lot of potential for being OP on stuff that lives a long time.

[Karmaa]

Afflic is dead this expansion

[Xorn]

Indeed, but the sad thing is, the devs actually highlighted it as a specific problem in Legion - but they have done very little to alleviate it in BfA.

For example, Agony's mechanic is archaic and it should have been canned and replaced long ago. I get they want a penalty for missing a refresh, but having a dot that takes 10 ticks to reach full effect was OK over a decade ago, it just isn't in the much faster paced, burst oriented WoW of 2018. Let alone compounding it with Writhe.

When the devs themselves admit that dot-and-ramp is an increasingly obsolete design that is becomign harder to keep relevant, you know aff has a problem.

Given aff's troubles with short-lived adds in dungeons I have no idea at all as to why they have kept Seed of Corruption as garbage as it is, let alone why they felt it necessary to nerf Sow the Seeds repeatedly. Remember just before Legion the devs told us to rejoice as they'd heard the complainst about aff being dogshit at AOE and we'd have this thing called Sow the Seeds?

Just make SOC instant cast and get rid of the detonation thing. SOC's damage in no way justifies having those shackles on it.

At th emoment just lifting base damage will result in little other than still being pretty shit at short-lived stuff and a lot of potential for being OP on stuff that lives a long time.

I mean... they KIND OF fixed it with the Azerite trait that makes it start at 4 stacks lololol

But yeah. They haven't done much. At all.

[sugarfree]

Well, it's a bandaid fix to a persistent problem they had a chance to fix in Alpha.

There's absolutely no reason for it to stack, hell, it can just get merged with Corruption and I'll be fine with it. A baseline rotation of Corr, Siphon Life (baseline) and UA would've been good for the spec. At least SL has some flavor to it, what Agony has is just detrimental - does not even have a good mechanic.

[classic username]

seed instant
remove stacks from Agony
remove shadowbolt
add malefic grasp
give something to spread all dots to nearby targets
give something to make DOTS interesting. i dont wanna be a SHADOWBOLT casting fucking bitch

[Deleted]

Affliction will be the go to spec in bfa it seems at the moment.

[Terryn]

Afflic is dead this expansion

Affliction will be the go to spec in bfa it seems at the moment.

[Baconeggcheese]

Still my favorite



It takes all kinds.

[Lucrece]

The new seed of corruption animation at least is nice ;>

[Deleted]

It's what they call putting glitterdust on a turd.

[Grevmak]

Idk about you all but in the Talent tree are a few combinations that are really fun, and a few that are even more dull than Legion Afflock.

I love Deathbolt, Haunt and some other talents, but every combination that just increases passive damage needs to die. Affliction is simple enough as it is, give it some baseline nuance :I