Page 1 of 2
1
2
LastLast
  1. #1

    Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    I have a 77 mage, and a 75 warlock.

    I can't decide which I want to be my main alt!


    I thought maybe leveling both for awhile would help me decide, but it hasn't.

    I like bursting down mobs in a few frost bolts on my mage.

    But I also like dotting up whole areas of mobs with my warlock.

    My mage has three different ways of bursting people down.

    And my warlock has 3 very different specs that add variety to the class.

    Warlocks have pets. How are those to manage in raids?

    Mages don't have to worry about them..


    Oh I don't know! =[

  2. #2

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Both of them are so close to 80 i would say the best idea would be to lvl them to 80 and see which one you enjoy more. If you dont really want to lvl them both then u rly have to try decide which one is more fun. Ppl cant tell you which one is better to play because it is all up to personal preference.

    However i have played both classes and i do prefer the mage. I can't exactly specificly say why i like one more then the other a mage is just a very enjoyable class for me. It's not that i dont like playing a lock i love both toons. It sounds like you like playing both toons as well obviously otherwise it wouldnt be such a hard decision. They are both almost on equal grounds for me even though i choose mage, so whichever you chose im sure you will enjoy.

    Mages have fire arcane and frost, Locks have Affliction demo and destro each have there own distinct playstlye and offer diffrent playing experiences. In pve warlock pets require little to no attention. I would say that warlock specs are a bit more complicated to play then mage, but still easy enough to master. PVE i would say a arcane mage should out dps lock of any spec, but locks can still do alright. PVP both classes have alot of control and burst dmg and are very powerful pvp classes. Lock can play as Destro or affliction giving you two diffrent ways to play. Mage pretty much has one pvp spec frost. Although some mages opt to go arcane frost is just far superior in almost every way.

    I hope this helps.

  3. #3

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    You need to be honest with yourself and what you want to do. You need to see if you like PVP as Frost, or Affliction, see if you like dungeons as Arcane, etc. You might like leveling a class more than you like playing it at the high end. Warlocks do have three of the most balanced trees, but they also have a very different feel between PVE, PVP and leveling.

  4. #4

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Honestly the safest bet right now would be to lvl ur mage... They are changing locks so much right now trying to "balance" the 3 specs it's ridiculous. + all the HUGE changes they will be making in the future with the soul shard system... I just see it being a big bust, I mean, how many times has blizz got it right the first time? Just my opinion...

  5. #5
    Mechagnome Perfectdark's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Beaverton, OR
    Posts
    549

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Hmmm, dot stuff in one spec and be a glass cannon in another, or just be a glass cannon for all three specs.....

  6. #6

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Very simple:

    If you want to see ludicrously high numbers, then gogo Arcane Mage. If you want to be able to faceroll anything in pvp (with ass tons of practice, that is), gogo Frost Mage.

    If you want people to get pissed that they can never dispel all the the dots you put on them, gogo Afflic Lock. If you want to be able to literally kill people in one GCD in pvp, gogo Destro Lock. If you want raid utility that I, as an Arcane Mage, love, gogo Demo Lock for Demonic Pact <3.

  7. #7

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    It all depends on what you like to do.

    Do you enjoy controlling summonable demons at your own will; seducing enemies, bubbling yourself, major health increases, and giant guard? How about the dark magic that insue's with it, having bolts of chaos that shatter through bubbles, and etc? Then Warlock is for you

    How about if you like the arcanist way? Do you like to be able to master the art of Arcane, Fire, and Frost? The master's of CC. You have Arcane and Frost, which are major glass-cannons just a force to be reckoned with. Or how about fire, lot's of DoTs and massive burst's? Then Mage is the way to go (:

    (Sorry, I got totally carried away with that loreish kinda stuff) xD
    http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Misha&cn=Avandin

  8. #8

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Quote Originally Posted by Shuckles

    You have Arcane and Frost, which are major glass-cannons just a force to be reckoned with. Or how about fire, lot's of DoTs and massive burst's? Then Mage is the way to go (:
    Frost is hardly a glass cannon infact there dmg can be a little low at times compared to other classes, but they make up for it with their insane control and survivability. Fire has lots of dots? what??

  9. #9

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Unless you want to be a vending machine go with lock.

  10. #10

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Vending machines don't talk! >

    EDIT: Aah poster above me got to say it b4 me!

  11. #11

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Think Lock is easiest to lvl, I like mage more tho :-\
    <a href="http://nl.tinypic.com" target="_blank"></a>

    Hasta La Vista, Baby

  12. #12

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Locks are more useful for raid, but you have to make cookies and TVs.

  13. #13

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Take Warlock. Nothing else to say.

  14. #14

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Had same problem. Lock 72, mage 73.

    Now iam grinding gear to my affliction warlock so i can beat all warriors in bgs Go warlock, More funny mechanics than mage imo. And you will be god of fear.

  15. #15

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    It depends what you want out of the class, pvp wise I feel that mage tends to have the advantage since at least from my experience warlocks are still weak against melee.
    For raiding its a personal choice as to which you prefer playing, though with the upcoming changes to soul shards it does add a new element to the warlock and should make the class more interesting and less tedious to play, just is a while yet so plenty of time to level both and see.

    Quote Originally Posted by mightimace
    Unless you want to be a vending machine go with lock.
    As a lock you might not be a vending machine, but you are a taxi service instead.
    Quote Originally Posted by DeadmanWalking View Post
    Your forgot to include the part where we blame casuals for everything because blizzard is catering to casuals when casuals got jack squat for new content the entire expansion, like new dungeons and scenarios.
    Quote Originally Posted by Reinaerd View Post
    T'is good to see there are still people valiantly putting the "Ass" in assumption.

  16. #16

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    If you want to press 2 buttons and cooldowns to do maximal DPS, Mage is your class. If you want to have a challenge and a high skill cap, go Affliction Warlock. It's harder, but oh so rewarding when you get it right :>
    Quote Originally Posted by Zamfix View Post
    I'd ride for the sole fact that its a huge cock. It'd be hilarious.

  17. #17

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Alright. This is about as unbiased of a response you'll get. I have several 80's, several more close-to-80's, and just a couple of toons still relatively "low." Only two classes are on that list. A Mage and a Rogue. I love playing a Rogue, but I really had a hard time decided on a race I liked. I decided to stick with a Blood Elf most recently, but in his mid-30's I rerolled it as a Human just to experience a different side of leveling. I recently decided to reroll the Rogue horde again before I got it up high enough. Most of my Rogue rerolls were before the whole race/faction change, my attention was just focused on other toons after that.

    Now back to the Mage. I'd love to have an 80 Mage simply as it is the "iconic" caster, and the most closely similar to the traditional "mage" in previous RPGs. Conceptually, the thought of being a caster and dealing damage through pure Arcane energy appeals to me, but after playing one at 80 on the PTRs, I just hated the rotation over long periods of times (it's almost always nothing but Arcane Blast four times followed by an Arcane Missile when Missile Barrage procs. SOMETIMES you'll have to do five Arcane Blasts before Missile Barrage procs, and very rarely, sometimes it won't proc for six Arcane Blasts in a row, though, most of the time it procs before you've even casted four Arcane Blasts to stack up 4 stacks of whatever that buff you get from casting Arcane Blast is called). It's a fun class to play for short burst periods. Arcane Blast until Missile Barrage procs, shoot your Missiles then follow it up with an Arcane Barrage. From a PvE perspective, I'd much, much, much, much, MUCH rather prefer to play as Fire. A DoT to manage (especially fun for multi-target fights), a Debuff to keep track of (scorch), a main nuke you'll use most of the time (Fire Ball), and procs (Instant cast Pyro Blasts when Hot Streak procs), along with your usual cooldown management. Still not the MOST entertaining caster to play, but it's a hell of a lot more fun to play than Arcane, unless your definition of fun is pressing a near-static rotation of two buttons most of the time apart from managing cooldowns just to watch big numbers through minimal effort. If you're a number whore, Arcane's the way to go. If you like fun, Fire. The problem is, Fire does less DPS. Theoretically, not much less than Arcane, but Arcane is more damage enough to be THE raiding spec if you're a serious raider.

    As for PvP, Frost is fun as hell. Probably the most survivable caster class simple because you can almost always keep your target from reaching you. Not to mention shatter combos are kinda fun to watch.

    The one thing that prevents me from getting my Mage leveled is how dreadfully painful they are to level. Unless you're really spoiling your tool with BoA and stay current with your blue gear drops from instances and put the best enchants on your gear, you'll end up drinking after every three mobs. Unless you got great gear, you'll have to spam a LOT of frost bolts to kill things. If you have decent gear, it's not bad. Personally, I kinda like leveling my Mage as Fire, but that doesn't say much because it's still painful to level.

    Now the Warlock - that's a different story. My first character ever was a Priest. I was Holy all throughout TBC and decided to go Shadow during Wrath. I was in a hardcore progression guild, maintaining the reputation as one of the best geared, most skilled shadow priests on my server. But when my guild went south right before ToC came out, I decided to take a break and go casual. i leveled a ton of toons during this time. One of them being a Warlock. I felt I should have a Pure DPS class for the future. Even though I loved the Shadow play style, I was frustrated by how little reward we got out of how difficult the spec is to play (only caster I'd say is harder to play is an Affliction Warlock). Although Shadow Priests got a huge buff in 3.3, I still decided to retire my priest. Currently, my main is an Enhancement Shaman, but that's unimportant.

    I do enjoy playing the Warlock quite a bit though. With a Warlock you've got three completely distinct play styles. Even though I mentioned previously that Fire was more fun to play than Arcane, Mages still maintain the reputation of "one button spammers" for most of their time DPSing. Warlocks on the other hand are different.

    First, we have Affliction. Very similar to a Shadow Priest to play. You have several dots and debuffs to manage, and instead of using a channeled spell as your main source of damage, you have a nuke. It's tough to play well, but if you can, you can get grain damage out of it. Next, Shying away from the typical shadow-casting, curse-tossing, dark cliche of a Warlock, you have Destruction. Destruction almost feels more like a Mage in that you are mostly Nuking. You've got one DoT to manage, along with a second Debuff (either Curse of Elements if you've got no one else in your group to offer the magic damage debuff, which lasts for 5 minutes, Curse of Doom for long fights where you DO have someone who's bringing the CoElements-like debuff, which you have to refresh only once a minute, or Curse of Agony, a second DoT, for fights that last less than 60 seconds). Everything beyond that is keeping certain nukes on cooldown and spamming incinerate inbetween. Incinerate, however, is a pretty fast cast, especially with the haste buff from Conflagrate (Backdraft, I think?). So it feels a lot more active than a Mage. It's a great spec for when you feel like you'd rather just blow shit up. Lastly, there's Demonology. In my opinion, this actually plays very similarly to a Balance Druid. You keep your DoTs up, Immolate, Corruption, and I think the same rules apply for which Curse you use that apply to Destruction, I could be wrong though), and then you simply spam Shadowbolt. HOWEVER - you get procs from Corruption ticks that increase that you want to cast Incinerate during, which gives it a somewhat of a Eclipse-like feel. When the Mob gets low on health, you turn to Soulfire as your main nuke instead of Shadowbolt OR Incinerate. Plus it offers a great raid buff.

    Personally? I think that the Warlock is just a much more versatile class. The Mage is the more classical caster though. I think I definitely prefer Warlocks.
    Quote Originally Posted by Novakhoro View Post
    I recommend shoulder surgery immediately... there's no way you didn't fuck it up with how hard you just reached.

  18. #18

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Quote Originally Posted by harky
    You need to be honest with yourself and what you want to do. You need to see if you like PVP as Frost, or Affliction, see if you like dungeons as Arcane, etc. You might like leveling a class more than you like playing it at the high end. Warlocks do have three of the most balanced trees, but they also have a very different feel between PVE, PVP and leveling.
    Yes, this is very true. I love leveling melee, but despise playing them in raids. I was so pissed I neglected my lock for a DK when wrath launched. He was so fun to level, but I hated raiding with him. I hated him so much that after 2-3 month, I said fuck it, and leveled my lock up from 70. I haven't really touched him since.

    Now to your question, I have an 80 mage, 80 lock, 80 priest and 80 DK. The mage is ok, I'd probably play him more if my healer wasn't my "main alt", but like someone said before, the rotation is boring as hell. Arc mages are one of the few classes that still use a rotation instead of a priority system, and it's BORING. I haven't really given fire a fair shake though, so that might be a bit more fun to play. I loved frost, but it's not really a viable raid spec.

    I do on the other hand, love my warlock, but im not sure why. I really think it's because my lock was my first toon, so I know all the ins and outs of the class, and I learned them the hard way.

    Also, one more thing that doesn't really have to do with anything, IMO mages are probably one the hardest clothies to level. Locks were easy because your pet is taking most of the damage. Priests are easy because they can heal themselves. With mages, if aoe grinding goes wrong (which is almost required because it takes a frost mage forever to kill something), you're fucking screwed. On top of that, you spend more time drinking then killing.

  19. #19
    Mechagnome Ashrana's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    547

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    Ofcourse it depends on you, but for me I would say warlock hands down.

    I played mage in TBC, and altough I liked it got quite boring spamming the same spells over and over again. Now with arcane spec it got even worse. As warlock you got more spells to manage, you got some nice raid buffs and generaly look more badass

    As for demons in raids, they hardly require any managing.
    Forget everything you know about everything.

  20. #20

    Re: Can't decide between Warlock and Mage! =[

    I'd go Warlock for sure, mage is too boring for me.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •