Think i've decided on lock, could use advice

[87Octane]

Yes this is another "help me decide" post. I looked to see if these were allowed here, so I apologize ahead of time if they are not.

My Warlock was my original raider in BC, even then it was one of the better designed classes. I switched factions after BC, eventually brought it over when you could Xfer but I was stuck in a healing role for years (really until MoP). MoP was my "melee" expansion where I mained a rogue and a warrior. I felt like the rogue was always fairly solid - but to be honest the only spec that flowed well to me was assassination and compared to other classes the lack of variation was starting to show. When timeless isle came out it was a chance to switch to my warrior and I did. Loved it. I'm not sold on the new direction warriors are going in WoD so it's time for a new plan.

I'd prefer to play a "pure dps" class mainly because of spec varation. (I am done as a dedicated healer) - the only exception I have to this rule is a Shaman because they have both melee and ranged DPS, which in my mind is a greater variance than 3 ranged or 3 melee specs. I know in the previous sentence I said i was done healing, but the shaman would permit me to at least mop up LFR and dungeons faster queueing as a healer and facerolling it (but of course the need for that is temporary). A druid is the only class I don't have at least 85 - I have no interest in druids. The only way i'd play a druid would be balance with the glyph of stars (I hate animal forms).

I had my eye on Mages, but the mage forum here wasn't very encouraging - most of them mentioned "warlock" in every post. I hate the rune of power gameplay as well.

I have a hunter as well, but I just can't get into it. I'm not really a fan of the style.

I'll be doing "normal" raiding, unless "heroic" is the new "normal", then in that case heroic - LFR til the gear is useless etc. - Likely light pvp as well (ashran, BG's)

TL;DR - The warlock has the most "fleshed out" specs, specs within specs - different resources, cool tricks blah blah blah. So Warlock, Mage, or Shaman?

[Deleted]

Everything below is my opinion and my opinion only, and you should treat it as such:

Mages are really boring. Really, really boring. They look slightly more interesting in WoD however, with the Incanter's Flow talent and other new talents adding a bit of depth.

Enhancement looks REALLY good for WoD - the changes to Echo of the Elements and Flurry have made me seriously consider maining it come 6.0. It is nice to see some (optional) depth added to Elemental through the change to EoE and the Shock-buffing level 100 talent (forgot its name) as well, in addition to Blizzard seemingly having aknowledged that Elemental has been lacking in DPS for a while and that that has to change (particularly considering the removal of Lightning Bolt on the move). I haven't kept too much up with the changes to Restoration.

Warlock is my absolute favourite class. Three very interesting specs, each covering their own niche more or less (especially in WoD with the nerf to KJC). I'm slightly disappointed with the removal of Fel Flame and how easy WoD Affliction will seemingly be, but apart from that I think Warlocks look solid for WoD.

[87Octane]

Thanks for the info

I'd also like to add that my DK I got to 90 recently had a good feel to it as well, at least Unholy. I am a tad bit disappointed that the DK specs are more homogenized than ever in 6.0 with the pruning and merging of abilities. I always wished Unholy was a true ranged spec lol. oh well.

The mage stuff does look better talent wise, as far as i can tell. I guess mana regen is gone?

The only issue with my shaman is it's a goblin - blech lol. Don't know what I was thinking when I faction changed it to that.

[Durantye]

Mages are butthurt that for one tier in their life they aren't at the very top of the meters so it isn't a surprise they kept mentioning warlocks.

Warlocks are broken right now but they will not be in WoD so don't attempt to roll a warlock if you are just looking for the very best performing class. We may be strong we may even be the best again but we won't be broken the way we are now and this early in beta or at any point in beta there is no way to tell what will perform best at a raiding level in first WoD tier.

Warlocks are a very diverse class we have destro (you either love it or you hate it.) which usually encompasses our single target spec though this tier is has severely been over tuned in aoe as well but it is always fun chucking chaos bolts at things including other players, chances are you'll find this the easiest to learn in MoP but it is fairly difficult to master due to having to time our abilities more precisely compared to afflic.

Of course we have the infamous affliction, this spec is supposed to be our multi target spec which yet it was broken this tier when blizzard messed up with soul swap. Pretty fun spec when you are in a casual environment and not a high end one where you'll be busting your face into a wall at messing up a soul swap that dropped you 100k dps. This a cool spec in WoD beta at the moment I feel it could be better without the soul swap shard cost which has really messed with the spec more originally thought and I originally thought it would destroy it lol.

There is finally Demonology a warlock favorite mostly because it is the only spec warlocks haven't had a chance to play this tier, my personal favorite of course as well. This spec should cover AOE and Trash fights(such as galakras, spoils, windlord, ect.) as well as heavy movement fights. This spec is usually the most fun to play in my opinion and is looking at becoming fairly strong in WoD. Having an army of imps and the thought of controlling demons alone is enough to love this spec.

All in all warlocks are the most fun I've had with any class and the only one I have managed to love for years even with the MoP changes. If you are serious about warlocks I recommend very highly you play it at any level of play they are fun.

[87Octane]

Alright well answer me this - I know i've heard a lot about snapshotting and how some of it's going away, but some of it is obviously integral to certain classes. I don't like snapshotting because i'm one of those people that doesn't like to rely on mods to play a spec - it's just a pet peeve of mine. When I was a dedicated healer I refused to use healbot or clique and of course eventually it became difficult to keep up in real content.

I use shadowed unit frames with big buff/debuffs on my target paired with omni CC for my timers and that is as much as I care to have.

anyway, what's the story with locks and snapshotting?

[Durantye]

Alright well answer me this - I know i've heard a lot about snapshotting and how some of it's going away, but some of it is obviously integral to certain classes. I don't like snapshotting because i'm one of those people that doesn't like to rely on mods to play a spec - it's just a pet peeve of mine. When I was a dedicated healer I refused to use healbot or clique and of course eventually it became difficult to keep up in real content.

I use shadowed unit frames with big buff/debuffs on my target paired with omni CC for my timers and that is as much as I care to have.

anyway, what's the story with locks and snapshotting?

Snapshotting is a very heavy part of warlock play in live but in the beta there is none, there is no plans as far as I know to implement specialized snap shotting for warlocks like the fire mages are getting.

Snap shot is usually pretty easy to pick up on if you play the spec enough you'll eventually learn how, just grab yourself some addons and eventually you'll start to notice that you prioritize snap shots without even thinking about it.

I HIGHLY recommend picking up multiple more addons Tellmewhen or Weakauras, Affdots is still very useful for our specs I recommend it even for destro not just for immolate but it also helps track other things. I recommend getting used to Elvui because warlocks rely on snap shot so much you'll find it easier to play with after a week or so of getting used to it. Perhaps Tidy plates as well (i don't know what shadowed unit frames is) if shadowed unit frames doesn't show your dots on their name plates.

Of course you'll find yourself falling behind if you refuse to use addons :P I was the same way when I first started but I realized I was shooting myself in the foot and getting used to addons just felt like I was playing to the best of my ability.

[87Octane]

Wow 5 addons just for managing debuffs? I think I use 5 addons total lol. Not planning to play it on live, just mostly likely park it at 90, get my profs caught up etc. I'm hoping I won't need all that.

[Tarthlock]

OT: I would run Tidy Plates to mouse over mobs and make sure you have dots/debuffs on them.

Affdots is more of a demo/aff thing as destro dot strength doesn't matter but it will let you know when to chaos bolt (when you have a strong immolate pop up on the add-on is usually when your strong intel procs are but thats intuitive)

Next expansion snapshotting as we know it and dots will update dynamically with your trinket procs which will be a nice quality of life improvement but won't do much to increase the complexity of the class itself


TLDR: I've loved lock since i bought vanilla and read about them in the manual, they seemed like a fun class and I don't regret my choice.

[Durantye]

Wow 5 addons just for managing debuffs? I think I use 5 addons total lol. Not planning to play it on live, just mostly likely park it at 90, get my profs caught up etc. I'm hoping I won't need all that.

Well mostly it is 1 addon to track buffs, 1 to track dots, 1 to make seeing these addons while still seeing the game environment easier, 1 to track dots on other targets for multi dotting. Of course Affdots is still very useful for destro despite only having 1 dot because that 1 dot is just as important if not more so than chaos bolt itself, affdots also helps you track havoc, rain of fire, soul leech number ect.