Aff buffs in 5.3...

[Deleted]

You said affliction is bad and linked some crap about how many Warlocks are above 2200, which is a stupid statistic that means nothing. So yes, I do read posts and now you're the one talking shit because you're ego is too high to admit you were wrong.

I was responding to an ignorant poster who said warlocks are fine. They are not. I linked the proof supporting my argument.

You have nothing! Move along

[Glurp]

I was responding to an ignorant poster who said warlocks are fine. They are not. I linked the proof supporting my argument.

You have nothing! Move along

Your "proof" doesn't prove anything. Just because Warlocks don't exist in every top team it doesn't mean they're bad.

[Annoroth]

Your "proof" doesn't prove anything. Just because Warlocks don't exist in every top team it doesn't mean they're bad.

There's a difference between existing in every top team, and existing in any top team. Learn how statistics work and move along.

That being said, we do have 2 perfectly viable PvP specs, and 3 viable PvE specs. SL/SL was great in its BC heyday, but I'm content having to go Demo or Destro in PvP for now.

[Deleted]

Your "proof" doesn't prove anything. Just because Warlocks don't exist in every top team it doesn't mean they're bad.

His "proof" might not be the best one but sure holds on. 0% in 2s and 0,5% in 3s is deeply bellow average, even under the historicaly lesser viable specs. Aff is the iconic arena spec of wow, played a lot in high rated arenas and having a such a small, almost none, number is a deffo sign that something is seriously wrong.

[Tyrean]

So I have been playing with an affliction lock around 2k as an unholy DK. We thought it would be a fun comp to play sorta like old RLS where I basically just whacked whatever was close to me and we put aids on everything until we could get a good cc chain and kill going.

It was hella fun in the 1700-1800-1900 brackets. Teams just melted and we played super offensive. Once we pushed into the 2100 MMR range (still around 2k rating tho) games became either the lock could do nothing while I fruitlessly tried to peel for him, or we could not finish anyone off because of the lack of reliable short window burst.

Point being that I don't think a 10% damage increase will help affliction much at all. The game relies so much around burst right now that every successful team is built around cross CC while you burst a target. Why bring a spread class when you could bring a burst class? The reason RLS was so fun (I played this as a rogue 4.3) is because you could pick targets at will to kill and rogue CC was mostly dot indifferent. Affliction can only go with very few classes because of the dot spread breaking CC and their reliance on another class to deliver the burst required to land a kill.

They keep saying that burst will be toned down with base resilience and pvp power scaling nerf. Everything I can figure is that burst will actually be higher (65% res is a nerf over live, no one will gem power/resil and isntead gem base stat so damage will go up). Mages still gods of burst because even with incanter's nerf they can still put out numbers much higher than anyone else reliably while at the same time CCing the team. (have you ever seen a mage PoM/Alter/Sheep healer then pop alter to get pom back and ring the dps? LOL)

I don't know how I feel about the burst game, players seem to find it fun to occasionally do sick damage while I am one of those people that prefers winning a more deliberate game of forcing cooldowns, positioning and control to land kills.

[Glurp]

existing in any top team

They do exist in top teams. You can clearly see that. What you just said basically means "they should exist in every top team to be deemed viable".

[Chestbrah]

They do exist in top teams. You can clearly see that. What you just said basically means "they should exist in every top team to be deemed viable".

Agree with this, however viability is far from an "all or nothing" scale. They are clearly much less viable than many other classes/specs. If they were just as viable, more people would play them.

[Verain]

This is afflictions current state in pvp;


Affliction Warlock representation in 2v2: Amount of players above 2200 = 0%

Affliction Warlock representation in 3v3: Amount of players above 2200 = 0.5%

So it's super way better than combat, right?

[Nopkplease]

His "proof" might not be the best one but sure holds on. 0% in 2s and 0,5% in 3s is deeply bellow average, even under the historicaly lesser viable specs. Aff is the iconic arena spec of wow, played a lot in high rated arenas and having a such a small, almost none, number is a deffo sign that something is seriously wrong.

It's just like Arms has always been the iconic warrior pvp spec. Even if fury became more viable, very few warriors would want to play it over arms in pvp. Same goes with hunters, Marks has always been the iconic hunter pvp spec and the vast majority of the real hunters will tell you that they hate having to play BM. For the most part, you could argue that Frost defines a mage in PvP.

I love affliction in PvP. It's the reason why I first created my Warlock on November 23rd, 2004. I personally want affliction to be the pvp spec, I don't enjoy playing demo or destro, they are incredibly boring.

[Lulbalance]

So it's super way better than combat, right?

rogues have DIFFERENT SPECS? *head explodes.

[Illiterate]

10% dot damage will do nothing for locks. Bottom line is, the mop aff play style is shit, even if they receive minor buffs the class will still not be fun to play. I don't see myself playing my lock until the next expansion at least.

[Thirtyrock]

Who cares if affliction gets buffed to be viable in arena and is really good in pve?!.... I really dont see an issue everyone wins. You have a viable spec in arena once again and PVE wont have anything to worry about. I really dont understand what the big deal is. Why wont blizzard buff aff? Is it a hate for warlocks or do they just not care/know how to do it?!

I don't think you understand the problem.

If they buff affliction across the board then it gets to be completely overpowered in PVE, where it is a must have spec, particularly on multi target fights.

Affliction's damage in arena has always been spread, multi dot damage. If you buff dots you make affliction too good in pve, not just good or really good, but completely overpowered on any multi-target boss fight, mainly because it is so easy to apply dots to multiple targets with soul burn:soul swap.

They fixed the aoe capabilities of affliction by adding a channel, which restricts your damage to one main target, with some cleave damage from dots. You know how malefic grasp works, I won't belabor the point here.

The problem in pvp is that malefic grasp is so easy to shut down, requiring far too long to do serious damage. The dots are far too weak, at the moment, to do serious damage. Compare the 2k tick of corruption, the 4k tick of unstable affliction, and the 5-6k tick of agony to a DKs 10k diseases which can crit to 20k, and can be insta spread to a group.

The reason they won't buff affliction in pvp is they simply don't know how, at least according to the rumours. Halinka, one of the devs, supposedly sent azael an email saying that they didn't know how to fix aff for pvp without breaking pve, without a major overhaul of the system.

--this post is in response to the closed thread on the same topic.

---------- Post added 2013-05-21 at 03:37 PM ----------

They do exist in top teams. You can clearly see that. What you just said basically means "they should exist in every top team to be deemed viable".

No, what he is saying is that, in comparison to past seasons, affliction is hugely underpowered. It is viable at high ratings only with TOP players in a very few comps. I think there are like 2 comps it works with, and, again, you have to be one of the best.

It's bad enough of a spec, at the moment, that some of the best locks in the world have gone demonology or destruction for this season, despite the fact that they have played affliction for years and years.

That being said, even demonology and destruction are struggling to be truly competitive. While they are more represented in the top teams than affliction, they are still under-represented on the whole at high ratings.

Warlocks are not in the worst state ever right now, but they are not in a good state either.

--edit-- If you look at the numbers, destro is the only warlock spec playing well at 2200+ at the moment. Its representation is at 3.4%

[Natixsphere]

Then the easiest thing they could do would be to make it a set bonus just like the did with the 10% increase to our dot dmg make it a 20% or even 25% increase the 4 set bonus of the pvp gear it doesn't effect pve in anyway and makes affliction viable in arena once again. I really don't see why they only gave us a 10% buff when it clearly needs more.

[WarlockJack]

Then the easiest thing they could do would be to make it a set bonus just like the did with the 10% increase to our dot dmg make it a 20% or even 25% increase the 4 set bonus of the pvp gear it doesn't effect pve in anyway and makes affliction viable in arena once again. I really don't see why they only gave us a 10% buff when it clearly needs more.

Its a step in the right direction. Hopefully when they see it doesn't adjust things enough, they'll bump it a bit more.

[Nicola]

Then the easiest thing they could do would be to make it a set bonus just like the did with the 10% increase to our dot dmg make it a 20% or even 25% increase the 4 set bonus of the pvp gear it doesn't effect pve in anyway and makes affliction viable in arena once again. I really don't see why they only gave us a 10% buff when it clearly needs more.

How exactly does it not affect PvE? 25% increase on dots is massive, and likely a decent dps increase over 4set PvE.

[Nopkplease]

How exactly does it not affect PvE? 25% increase on dots is massive, and likely a decent dps increase over 4set PvE.

Easy fix, just have the bonus only affect players, player's pets and their minions.

[Natixsphere]

Because this would be the PVP set bonus. The PVE gear would still benefit more since its going to have stuff like hit on it and actual useful stats for pve not resil or pvp power.

[Lulbalance]

Easy fix, just have the bonus only affect players, player's pets and their minions.

i was thinking that too.. or even some ghetto version of Incanter's absorbtion for twilight ward.

[Thirtyrock]

Because this would be the PVP set bonus. The PVE gear would still benefit more since its going to have stuff like hit on it and actual useful stats for pve not resil or pvp power.

You'd see people using pvp gear in pve, at least on cleave fights.

The suggestion by Nopkplease isn't a bad one, but they are hesitant to make changes like that.

[Banawani]

According to rumours the pvp developers have said its impossible to buff affliction in pvp without messing up affliction in pve
so affliction players will more or less have to change spec for pvp or just go with pve.

Lovely

No, Blizzard just doesn't like to think.

They could
A. cause dispelling dots to do the remaining damage immediately
B. cause dispelling dots to silence for 20% of the remaining time on the dot
C. have dots scale differently when on player targets (like how exorcism used to be)

But that'd require too much common sense.