Too late to switch specs?

[Deleted]

Destro is very legendary dependant. But most likely the reason you don't see good numbers is because you don't play it right. People could help you if you post logs. But I would never focus on one spec so you should play aff as well.

[Biomega]

Destro is very legendary dependant. But most likely the reason you don't see good numbers is because you don't play it right. People could help you if you post logs. But I would never focus on one spec so you should play aff as well.

That's the same kind of dilemma you're always facing, though. Yes, Destro does fine when played well. But the question is: wouldn't Affliction just do better if played equally well?

Right now Destro has a place and it's Mythic Kil'jaeden. Outside of that, I don't really see a reason to play it other than personal preference. Which is a fine enough argument, don't get me wrong.

[Deleted]

That's the same kind of dilemma you're always facing, though. Yes, Destro does fine when played well. But the question is: wouldn't Affliction just do better if played equally well?

Right now Destro has a place and it's Mythic Kil'jaeden. Outside of that, I don't really see a reason to play it other than personal preference. Which is a fine enough argument, don't get me wrong.

Destro is very strong on avatar and maiden. I tried aff on avatar but I can't stand the souls rng on a single target encounter. Content is already nerfed to death and you can easily play all specs on all bosses.

[Lulbalance]

Destro is very strong on avatar and maiden. I tried aff on avatar but I can't stand the souls rng on a single target encounter. Content is already nerfed to death and you can easily play all specs on all bosses.

hmm...
1 - maiden is way more forgiving for aff than destro esp heroic and up.
2 - I wouldn't consider Av a ST fight for aff unless your doing it on the LFR.

I dunno man, just don't see any case where destro out shines aff at this point in this tier.

[Thelxi]

Nah it's a good time to switch specs or even classes now. Unless you are thinking of rogue and don't have shoulders.

[Deleted]

hmm...
1 - maiden is way more forgiving for aff than destro esp heroic and up.
2 - I wouldn't consider Av a ST fight for aff unless your doing it on the LFR.

I dunno man, just don't see any case where destro out shines aff at this point in this tier.

Why is aff more forgiving on maiden ? You can clearly see here how specs are perfectly balanced on pure single target https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...&class=Warlock . And avatar is single target 98% of the time. Difference in boss dmg between aff and destro is very low but of course you can get higher max parse with aff because of the RNG. Aff got more selfhealing but destro has 1 min unending resolve cd + mastery which can save my ass more than once if I have dark mark on avatar for example. Aff is WAY stronger on fights like misstres because you have endless souls and WoC stacks, no one can deny that. But other than that you can play everything and do fine.

[Noodleface]

You can always loot spec afflic and dump points into it while maining destro

[Vertigo X]

Why is aff more forgiving on maiden ? You can clearly see here how specs are perfectly balanced on pure single target https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...&class=Warlock

935ilvl afflic doing over 100k more dps than 945 destro.
That didn't prove your point whatsoever.

Same destro took 8mil more damage than the afflic.

[Deleted]

935ilvl afflic doing over 100k more dps than 945 destro.
That didn't prove your point whatsoever.
Same destro took 8mil more damage than the afflic.

Ilv doesn't mean anything anymore with people running T19 + T20, low ilv arcano cristal (or other trinket), low ilvl relic because of trait value and so on.
(Won't say anything about your comparison of 2 specific player)
@Noodlebolt got it right about aff vs destro
I'm just gonna add that affli got a pretty strong execute which is always nice.

[Vertigo X]

Ilv doesn't mean anything anymore with people running T19 + T20, low ilv arcano cristal (or other trinket), low ilvl relic because of trait value and so on.
(Won't say anything about your comparison of 2 specific player)
@Noodlebolt got it right about aff vs destro
I'm just gonna add that affli got a pretty strong execute which is always nice.

I would normally agree but the difference when you get 930+ is pretty significant. 10 overall ilvl is more than just an arcanocrystal.

[Lulbalance]

Ilv doesn't mean anything anymore with people running T19 + T20, low ilv arcano cristal (or other trinket), low ilvl relic because of trait value and so on.
(Won't say anything about your comparison of 2 specific player)
@Noodlebolt got it right about aff vs destro
I'm just gonna add that affli got a pretty strong execute which is always nice.

He was quite clearly wrong on Av, the benefits to aff is in extra resources / ring on that fight. That's why almost everyone uses head and ring.

Maiden: Forgiving doesn't mean more damage it just means easier to pull similar numbers, which he agreed with by accident in his damage rant.

[Deleted]

Because from my outsiders perspective most balancing changes I see from Blizzard occurs to try to keep specs in line over the class as a whole. Destruction has been several times brought down along with demon and affliction when one spec was overperofrming compared to the other specs.

Have you considered that the only real reason that affliction is strong right now is that the majority of the fights in TOS lend themselves to the spec more mechanically, so according to your paradigm they would be nerfing the spec based on its performance in the raid tier due to mechanics not tuning. Nighthold was the perfect storm of abusing mechanics and massive tuning issues with malefic grasp and WOC. There are plenty of fights that destro is better than affliction or on par with, its only really the multi dotting fights with adds dieing that affliction cannot be touched, but if there are none of those types of fight in the next raid tier we will be middle of the pack for sure, maybe bottom middle if there are too many ST encounters.

What i find funny is not a lot of ppl realise if there wasn't so much movement in the TOS encounters that Demo would literally be shitting all over the other two specs and with the above logic should be buffed?! If it did it would be an utter monster and make the NH affliction MG spec look like a kitten in comparison.

[Baconeggcheese]

Afflictions been ahead for parsing on most fights for 2 xpacs now. Pretty much only time it wasn't was when there was significant aoe. That didn't really matter though because destruction was a priority damage monster and a disgustingly good progression spec.

The issue isn't so much with aff, as opposed to how the other specs are designed.

[Turturin the Warlock]

Afflictions been ahead for parsing on most fights for 2 xpacs now. Pretty much only time it wasn't was when there was significant aoe. That didn't really matter though because destruction was a priority damage monster and a disgustingly good progression spec.

The issue isn't so much with aff, as opposed to how the other specs are designed.

Bolded the part that needs more attention. Just killed KJ on mythic last week as destro doing 1.3MM overall and crushing key add dmg. There's not really a great case for affliction there in my mind, and KJ is by far the hardest fight in the tier.

Do not be fooled by what you see in parses on guild's nth kills of a boss when they overgear it. There are so many circumstances when destro is far more valuable for what we're all here for: killing bosses on progress.

[Deleted]

Bolded the part that needs more attention. Just killed KJ on mythic last week as destro doing 1.3MM overall and crushing key add dmg. There's not really a great case for affliction there in my mind, and KJ is by far the hardest fight in the tier.

Do not be fooled by what you see in parses on guild's nth kills of a boss when they overgear it. There are so many circumstances when destro is far more valuable for what we're all here for: killing bosses on progress.

Dude who the hell cares for priority damage when you have insane selfhealing ? And you can clearly see here that aff is the stronger spec on kiljaeden, 2k dps is a lot https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...&class=Warlock öhöehöeh.

[pappaslop]

Dude who the hell cares for priority damage when you have insane selfhealing ? And you can clearly see here that aff is the stronger spec on kiljaeden, 2k dps is a lot https://www.warcraftlogs.com/ranking...&class=Warlock öhöehöeh.

Let's take a look at it though for shits and giggles, even though the top Affliction and Destruction parse on public KJ are both within the last 7 days.

Top aff > top destro on boss damage (both extremely close).

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...one&target=153
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...true&target=67

Top aff < top destro on Erupting by 23 million (Destro doesn't have a boomkin in his group)

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...one&target=154
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...true&target=68

Top aff > top destro on Wailing by 4 million (again, both are very close)

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...one&target=156
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...true&target=69

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I wouldn't say Affliction is the "stronger" spec when there is still nearly 40 destruction in the top 100... Also, the overwhelming majority of the current (public) top 100 is with crucible barring I believe just a couple and mostly "farm"...

I would say that Destruction provides more value in terms of progression. One of the reasons why I like Destruction, especially because we are for the most part back in a previous iteration, is because it's a consistently higher and predictable output on demand. The swing of affliction is what I dislike... Affliction's priority isn't garbo it's just different. It can certainly rival Destruction under the right circumstances but not on a consistent basis.

Personally, I am working on M KJ as we speak but I'm playing Affliction because it's about to be 69 and my destruction is still 60. I do plan on playing with both during my progress but we have two boomkins in the group and two fire mages and obviously, crucible is out. All of those variables color my decision more so than not...

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Unfortunately, yes it is too late to switch specs.

[Radaney]

Nah it's a good time to switch specs or even classes now. Unless you are thinking of rogue and don't have shoulders.

Affli is no where near it's full potential without head/chest/ring.

[Turturin the Warlock]

I wouldn't say Affliction is the "stronger" spec when there is still nearly 40 destruction in the top 100... Also, the overwhelming majority of the current (public) top 100 is with crucible barring I believe just a couple and mostly "farm"...

I would say that Destruction provides more value in terms of progression. One of the reasons why I like Destruction, especially because we are for the most part in a back previous iteration, is because it's a consistently higher and predictable output on demand. The swing of affliction is what I dislike... Affliction's priority isn't garbo it's just different. It can certainly rival Destruction under the right circumstances but not on a consistent basis.

Personally, I am working on M KJ as we speak but I'm playing Affliction because it's about to be 69 and my destruction is still 60. I do plan on playing with both during my progress but we have two boomkins in the group and two fire mages and obviously, crucible is out. All of those variables color my decision more so than not...

Right. Among other things crucible makes the dps checks in p1 a joke. So previously you had to think:
- what bursts harder in the first two minutes of a fight with lust on the pull, affliction with ramp up and soul rng? or destro with Lord of Flames, 5+ rift charges, and 0 ramp?
- what is going to kill the reflection adds, especially the first two, faster? affliction with tabbing agony and ua dumping? or destro with 4 havoc'd chaos bolts.

The point isn't that you can't make arguments for affliction in some phases or segments of KJ, you can. The point I'm trying to broadly convey (not specifically at you, I think we're in agreement) is that overall damage meters at the end of fight don't matter nearly as much as people seem to think they do.

Affliction dominated in nighthold right? Everyone who looked at logs sees that. But what were the main specs of warlocks in top 50 world guilds in Nighthold on progress? ~55% destruction, ~40% Demo, ~5% affliction. Spec rankings on warcraft logs don't mean what many think they mean.

[pappaslop]

Right. Among other things crucible makes the dps checks in p1 a joke. So previously you had to think:
- what bursts harder in the first two minutes of a fight with lust on the pull, affliction with ramp up and soul rng? or destro with Lord of Flames, 5+ rift charges, and 0 ramp?
- what is going to kill the reflection adds, especially the first two, faster? affliction with tabbing agony and ua dumping? or destro with 4 havoc'd chaos bolts.

The point isn't that you can't make arguments for affliction in some phases or segments of KJ, you can. The point I'm trying to broadly convey (not specifically at you, I think we're in agreement) is that overall damage meters at the end of fight don't matter nearly as much as people seem to think they do.

Affliction dominated in nighthold right? Everyone who looked at logs sees that. But what were the main specs of warlocks in top 50 world guilds in Nighthold on progress? ~55% destruction, ~40% Demo, ~5% affliction. Spec rankings on warcraft logs don't mean what many think they mean.

For sure and yeah, the decision these days is totally different in comparison to how it was early on when priority (and typically is) far more important than the "overall". As much as people enjoy parsing, at the end of the day it is a team game and a team effort.

In regards to the NH progress comment... I'd imagine the numbers would have been different had souls procced early on as they did partially through NH. I forget the exact dates so forgive me but the percentage would have been far more than 5%.