Ok guys now that we are 90 and have had time to grind out a full set of gear and start arena's how does the specs feel to you guys? I tried out a few things and have to say that the class as a whole feels GREAT!!! Affliction spread damage still feels pretty good but not having the self heals feels a bit awkward but it feels nice to actually "help" with getting the kills for once"haunt/mg ftw". Overall I think the spec is gonna be top notch again"especially when paired with a resto druid" and still has what it takes to compete at a high level. I haven't tried out demo yet but destro also feels pretty solid for burst comps "played 2's with a frost mage and added a boomkin for 3's" but not really "pressure" comps with a healer. Overall im very pleased with the MOP model, but that being said I wrote down a short list of qol issues. Feel free to agree/disagree/comment below.
1-Pets are dying WAY to fast!!! Even with instant summons on a 1 min cd the speed in which another player can destroy my pet is unreal. And thats at the first tier level of gear. I'd hate to see how this issue becomes after another tier or so "I dread actually "
2-Unending resolve is a great spell but most locks are using it for the aura mastery effect and not the defense so it really should have the DR be reduced to 20 or 30% but have the cd lowered to 2 min for a tradeoff. DB is another talent with that same long cd problem but since we have the option of taking SP on a 1 min cd i'm gonna leave that one alone even though it should be at 2 min as well "Standard time even on pvp trinkets and such".
3-Siphon life glyph is just WAY undertuned to the health and damage pools. This glyph needs a buff BIGTIME!!!
4-Twilight ward has a very small absorb compared to other classes absorb shields and it should also absorb ALL damage instead of magic only. I'm finding I can tank other casters "even mages...for the most part " just fine but the minute a physical damage class gets on me I have to pop cd's or die and it should be more even defensively across the board like mages and spriests are "the other clothie casters with way better damage absorb shields on top of thier oh shit buttons lol "
5-Destro specific issues-Conflag should help with ember regeneration like all the other abilities. And destro's Rain of fire stun "even with mannoroth's fury" just does not work as an effective form of cc to be able to get of chaos bolts with "which destro is struggling with currently in arena's" and actually causes DR with other abilities which actually hurts some of the class options to team up with. Hopefully Xelnath comes through next patch with resolving this problem and trading that "frequent and weak" stun for an active one which would be a HUGE fix to the spec.
The only other "issues" really to touch on would be the level 90 talents. There is another thread discussing these so I won't go into to much detail but I can tell the lock community is upset over them. I posted before a simple idea to help try and fix them.
AV-Remove the active and buff the passive to 10 or 15%
KJC- Just remove the passives and keep the active.
MF- Just fine mostly, pvp abilities like shadowfury and whiplash could be added though and it wouldn't hurt anything.
These are just my personal observation's but I welcome a constructive conversation on whether these"or other" things are currently affecting our S12 gameplay. So anyone else out there currently doing arena's feel free to give your thoughts.