Warlocks are Shadow Priests with pets.

[clbembry]

That may be a dumb statement, but it's probably because I don't know very much about World of Warcraft. From what I've seen though, it seems to be true. When it comes to PvP, what are the differences between the two classes?

Please do not make threads this way again, it often leads to class wars. Consider yourself warned.

[Aridn]

JK, Grimoire of sacrifice.

[Biiru]

No. SPs are warlocks without a pet.

[kcolraWertex]

Short Answer: Warlocks have slightly better CC and pressure (affliction) or burst (destruction). Priests have their pressure and burst in the same spec, more support and utility for the rest of the team and slightly better survivability. Warlocks have an instant safe button with their demonic circle on dalaran and blades edge but those same arenas make Leap of Faith an even stronger support ability.

It's all about preference.

[Lockrocker75]

No. SPs are warlocks without a pet.

That's hat I was thinking too. Lol! SP are nothing like a warlock. Although now, yes Affliction locks have a channel spell like the SP does. But the lock also has 2 other specs that are very different from Affliction.

Plus Warlocks are way more cool than SP are.

[FlacidGladiator]

I disagree. Warlocks are very much different from Shadow Priests. Warlocks deal damage mostly from their spells with some damage and utility coming from minions. Rotation on warlocks are more based on things like demonic energy and burning embers whereas a shadow priest's rotation is based more on mana and procing shadow orbs for extra DPS. Almost all of a shadow priest's damage is DOT with some small burst ability in Mindspike and Mind Blast. Warlocks are not nearly as mana-dependent as shadow priests. For a warlock, the mana pool is a delimiting factor for using secondary abilities, such as soul gems, burning embers, and demonic energy/fury. Minions in MOP now have more of a utilitarian function as opposed to pure DPS, unless of course, we're discussing demonology spec. As an affliction/destruction warlock, my minion out is the void walker and only when I'm doing dailies and soloing matters. Otherwise, the minion is sacrificed for the DPS boost to my spells. Whereas the imp and felhunter were quintessential in DPS under Cat, they pretty much have been furloughed with the implementation of Grimoire of Sacrifice. To equate a Shadow Priests shadow beast to a minion is a non-conversation. Its a mana booster with a tiny amount of DPS and a very short life span. The play style of all caster classes in WOW share some parallels but to say shadow priests are warlocks without the minion is far too broad a generalization that doesn't have traction.

[nightfalls]

Short Answer: Warlocks have slightly better CC and pressure (affliction) or burst (destruction). Priests have their pressure and burst in the same spec, more support and utility for the rest of the team and slightly better survivability. Warlocks have an instant safe button with their demonic circle on dalaran and blades edge but those same arenas make Leap of Faith an even stronger support ability.

Mostly true, but Leap of Faith I don't think is better than Demonic Circle (cooldown, LOS requirement). Affliction is basically a dead spec at this point due to malefic grasp (big difference between this and mind flay, the latter as a filler is far, far superior). Shadow is definitely by far the stronger PvP spec it seems, this season (unlike Cataclysm).

It's all about preference.

Why not just be honest and say that the warlock is flat out worse, which is what the entire first half of your post implied?

[ati87]

The only thing that warlocks share with shadow priest is the that they both use shadow magic and that affliction warlocks and shadowpriest both use dots.

After that the similarities end

[Thelxi]

Spriests are also far more straight forward that locks.

[deviantcultist]

I am playing both of the classes and wonder why people think that SPs are any better than any warlock spec at least in terms of PVE. I don't play PVP.

[nightfalls]

I am playing both of the classes and wonder why people think that SPs are any better than any warlock spec at least in terms of PVE. I don't play PVP.

When did PVE come up? Shadow priests definitely aren't better there...

[xskarma]

PLease keep the thread civil and don't let it devolve into a class flamewar.

[Viggers]

affli and SP are very similar, SP is just much easier to play in mop

demo and destro coulnd tbe more different to SP

[Deleted]

affli and SP are very similar, SP is just much easier to play in mop

demo and destro coulnd tbe more different to SP

Have you actually ever played both of the classes with all of their specs?

If you can say that demo and destro couldnt be more different then SP i guess you have never played Demo nor Destro or have failed to understand those 2 specs compared to SP.

SP was always easy to play , and its the same difficulty in MoP as it were in Cata.

[Jessicka]

As someone who actually plays both, I'm just going to say: No.

[Deleted]

Shadowform and demon form share 1st place imo in terms of coolness.

I see Spriests as a Mind bender/illusionists, someone from the darkmoon faire (hence my Goblin Spriest RP). They attack by entering someones brain, by using shadow magic to blast their enemies and illusion tricks.

Warlocks I see as someone who took another path than mages. They try to sustain and manipulate fel energies by combining shadow and arcane magic. There pinnacle of power is the power to control a demon and in some cases, being one of them.

all by all, i like spriests more. with their mind boggling spells and shadowform. We have ascended!

[Deleted]

As someone who actually plays both, I'm just going to say: No.

I also play both but I would say yes, but no to demo and destro.

[Sylar Hao]

Comparing Shadow and Destruction for instance is like comparing Resto Druids to Protection Paladins...

Affliction may look like Shadow because most of the damage comes from dots + channeling, and even then they're very different, but the other 2 specs has absolutely nothing in common with Shadow.

[deviantcultist]

Shadowform and demon form share 1st place imo in terms of coolness.

I see Spriests as a Mind bender/illusionists, someone from the darkmoon faire (hence my Goblin Spriest RP). They attack by entering someones brain, by using shadow magic to blast their enemies and illusion tricks.

Warlocks I see as someone who took another path than mages. They try to sustain and manipulate fel energies by combining shadow and arcane magic. There pinnacle of power is the power to control a demon and in some cases, being one of them.

all by all, i like spriests more. with their mind boggling spells and shadowform. We have ascended!

If we look at it through an RP perspective, imo shadowpriest should have been a warlock spec or a part of another completely new class. That is because the priest class is 70% healer and Light based, while the supposed dark side priest has nothing to do with the rest of the class and behaves in an irrelevant manner in every way you see it. So, it would be better for it to have been part of a psychic like class or the fourth warlock spec where you use dark energies to manipulate others. As a matter of fact, in WC games, dreadlords and other demons were the ones using mind bending spells to begin with.

To sum up, I play both class and reallly really like the Shadow spec. However, I cannot play the priest class compared to the lock class cause I'll be forced to play a single spec, rejecting every other aspect of the class, compared to the Warlock where every spec is awesome.

[volrat]

In this game there are actually 34 specs, so it is pretty sure many of these share some mechanics and flavor, but in the end the differences are given by a lot of things that wouldn't fill in thread so poor of depth and so badly started.

If you are new to WoW, start from what appeals you at first glance, go in depth with lore and how mechanics affect playstyle, and then come to the conclusion you need by your own, it is the better way, imho.