Warlock Lore/Roleplaying Question

[OwlEyes]

Hiya, lovely warlock community!

I am posting here as I would really appreciate your input on something I've been thinking quite a bit about lately. Let me first start off by saying that I am truly a caster at heart. I've been playing WoW on and off for several years now and although I've played melee specs and enjoyed them, it's really no contest for me as far as my preference goes. Having said that, I'm currently debating how I'm going to use my free 90 boost for WoD. I have my options down to two classes: warlock or rogue.

The reason I'm mulling over choosing a rogue is because right now I have two characters: a mage and a priest. As you can see, there is no melee to be found within my arsenal. Both the rogue gameplay itself and the style/feel of the class appeal to me and it would, obviously, add more variety to my character pool.

Now, onto the warlock...warlocks are casters (who knew?) and I KNOW I would love the gameplay of the class and moreso than the rogue. However, the only thing that's keeping this decision from being easy is the style/feel (lore, really) of the warlock. I do like the idea of dabbling into the dark arts. That's cool. BUT! I prefer this in more of an anti-hero, "fight fire with fire" kind of way. I know this sounds cheesy or what have you, but I still want to be a "good guy" whom has the interests of my family/friends/faction/allies/etc. above all else. What does NOT appeal to me is the evil/power hungry/selfish/etc. reputation that warlocks have. This is why I have yet to play the class. Although I'm not actually an RPer, I still do care about this. I know I wouldn't enjoy playing my warlock if I thought that I was pigeonholed into the latter characteristics. Am I just screwed here or what? Is there diversity amongst the warlocks of Azeroth and beyond or are they all doomed to end up like Gul'Dan, Kil'jaeden, Ner'zhul, and the list goes on...

Quite simply, I would love to hear anything and everything you folks have to say on the topic.

Thank you so much!

[xskarma]

Our characters are basically heroes that have (so far at least) withstood the temptations of certain sources of power. We hunger for power, but approach it from the angle that we only hurt clear enemies in getting it.

The Warlocks that go evil/powerhungry will usually start hurting allies they have or random well intentioned people. Those are usually the kind of Warlocks we put out of their misery.

There's been warlocks in all the latest WoW books that have been brought out, and they are greeted as capable, trustworthy fighters that Varian (twice) is glad to see.

In short, I think it's perfectly okay and even according to the lore to play your Warlock as if he is someone that dabbles in Dark Arts and controls forbidden magic to help his allies, but would never hurt his faction or (mostly***) even random people they meet while traveling around the place.




***There's always the Forsaken, and random storylines where every hero (class) does something less scrupulous. I don't really count those 2 instances. If you play a Forsaken you do it explicitely knowing you play a selfish bastard that will do anything to achieve his own goals. That has nothing to do with being a Warlock though.

[Doffer]

I think you can be a warlock and be good. You don't have to crave destruction and torment. You can be someone who prefers to use those sort of powers and control demons to achieve your goals. The Horde and Alliance would never accept warlocks into their ranks if they thought that they would turn on them, for the sake of the legion or something.

Minor spoiler: I remember reading in the newest Warcraft book, War Crimes, that Varian Wrynn fights beside a human warlock. The Warlock helped him out and the king acknowledged the warlock as if thanking her, though never saying a word.

More spoilers:
In the questline to get the green fire you learn that a council have been attempting to use different magics to empower themselves and their fellow Warlocks, to better help defend the world from threats like Deathwing and anything else that might threaten our world.

The person you want your character to be is up to you, its not always black and white.

I do wanna mention that when it comes to choosing a class I would recommend considering shaman. I love being an elemental shaman, you got fun tools at your disposal and you're not as squishy as cloth casters