Jump to content
FORUMS
Sign in to follow this  
miyari

Warlock - Warlords of Draenor Alpha Patch Notes Analysis

Recommended Posts

5547-warlock-warlords-of-draenor-alpha-p

Icy Veins asks the experts' opinions on their favorite class changes! Today, Zagam and Evrelia discuss Priest patch notes.

The Warlords of Draenor Alpha patch notes have been out for only a few days, but millions of players are already voicing strong opinions of the direction Blizzard is headed with the game in this coming expansion. Some class changes have received overwhelmingly positive feedback, while others have left many a player scratching their head. A few changes have even caused a substantial outcry of rage!


To see things more clearly, we've invited a handful of our class MVPs to share their opinions on the changes made to their respective class. For this patch notes analysis topic, we have requested feedback from our resident expert on the projected changes being made to the Warlock class. Zagam and Evrelia have been kind enough to share their thoughts on the upcoming Warlock changes!

Zagam is our beloved Warlock specialist, who largely contributed to the success of our Warlock section. Evrelia raids in ScrubBusters and is one of our Warlock reviewers.
 

Blizzard Icon Warlock WoD Alpha Changes

+ Show- Hide

Ability Pruning

  • All of the various Soulburn effects are learned together with Soulburn, instead of at different levels.
  • Curse of Exhaustion and Curse of the Elements now affect all enemies within 10 yards of the target.
    • Metamorphosis: Cursed Auras has been removed.
    • Curse of Exhaustion and Curse of the Elements no longer gain a benefit from Soulburn.
    • Fire and Brimstone no longer applies to Curses.
  • Demonic Breath has been removed.
    • Howl of Terror is now a Level-30 talent, replacing Demonic Breath.
  • Drain Life no longer gains a benefit from Soul Burn.
  • Drain Soul has been removed.
  • Fel Flame has been removed.
  • Health Funnel no longer gains a benefit from Soul Burn.
  • Metamorphosis: Void Ray has been removed.
  • Metamorphosis: Carrion Swarm has been removed.
  • Pyroclasm has been removed. The altered behavior it granted for Chaos Bolt is now baseline to Backdraft.
  • Seed of Corruption now replaces Rain of Fire for Affliction Warlocks.
  • Soulshatter has been removed.
  • Unending Breath no longer gains a benefit from Soul Burn.

Crowd Control and Diminishing Returns

  • Blood Horror’s cooldown has been increased to 60 seconds (up from 30 seconds) and now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.
  • Felhunter: Spell Lock now only interrupts spell casting and no longer Silences the enemy.
  • Mortal Coil now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.
  • Observer: Optic Blast now only deals damage and interrupts spell casting. The ability no longer Silences the enemy.
  • Sear Magic’s cooldown has been increased to 30 seconds (up from 20 seconds).
  • Succubus: Seduction and Shivarra: Mesmerize now have a 30-second cooldown.
  • Terrorguard no longer casts Terrifying Roar when it dies.
  • Unbound Will’s cooldown has been increased to 2 minutes (up from 1 minute).
  • Voidwalker: Disarm and Voidlord: Disarm have been removed.

Buffs and Debuffs


As part of a push to combine the different types of Haste in the game as much as possible, we merged Spell Haste and Attack Speed into just Haste, which benefits everyone.

The Cast Speed Slow was a debuff type that mattered almost exclusively to PvP, and made combat much less fun for casters in addition to encouraging the use of instant-cast spells. We decided that it was best to remove casting speed debuffs.
  • Curse of Enfeeblement has been removed.

Raid Utility Balance

  • Each player can use a Demonic Gateway only once every 90 seconds.
  • Healthstones now share a cooldown with Health Potions, separate from other potions.

Class Changes


Warlocks received a number of cut abilities (see Ability Pruning above), but remain relatively unchanged. They saw the most change of any class in Mists of Pandaria, and so were in need of less revision this time around.

We did feel that Warlocks brought too much unique Raid utility, so decided to tone down Healthstones and Demonic Gateway. We moved Healing Potions and Healthstones into a cooldown of their own, and made them usable once per combat. For Drain Life, we reduced the base healing somewhat, but massively increased the effectiveness of the Glyph which increases its healing, so as to help open up more potential Drain Life use in ideal situations. And lastly, we simplified Shadowburn a bit.
  • Healthstone's cooldown will now not reset until the player leaves combat. Healing from this ability can no longer be a Critical Effect.
  • Demonic Gateways no longer have charges (up from being limited to 5 charges). Every Party or Raid member can use them once every 90 seconds (up from 45 seconds). The maximum distance apart they can be placed is now 40 yards (down from 70 yards).
  • Drain Life now heals for 30% less than before.
  • Glyph of Drain Life now increases the healing of Drain Life by 100% (up from 30%).
  • Shadowburn no longer generates any mana.

1. What is your overall impression of Blizzard's changes to the Warlock class?


Zagam: Overall, rather disappointed with the changes with regards to one concept - the removal of snapshotting. Understandably, things got out of control with trinkets, cooldowns, and other such buffs that enabled burst DPS to be out of this world. However, instead of retuning trinkets and cooldowns, Blizzard decided to remove snapshot mechanics of DoTs. This will play a large role in relearning how to play all DoT classes including Warlocks. Snapshotting Affliction DoTs will no longer be the emphasis on play - the emphasis will shift back to a rotation instead of priority spell queueing which, in my opinion, will lower the complexity and challenge of the specialization. The Destruction and Demonology changes have not been too extensive short of the level 100 talents, but the removal of snapshotting will affect both of these specializations as well. While this is not a direct change to the class, it will heavily affect how Warlocks play. The removal of Fel Flame is a mistake and one I hope to see reversed. Fel Flame is too important for lots of reasons including mobility and the removal of small HP objects such as totems and banners.

Evrelia: We haven't received too many major changes compared to some other classes. I think it's fair that they're toning down Gateway and Healthstones since they're very useful and unique mechanics, which combined with our generally high damage makes us too strong. I am very worried about the fun factor of Affliction being compromised by the removal of DoT snapshotting and general toning down of the spec. I also think that there are one or two spells that have been removed just for the sake of it, rather than for a good reason.
 

2. Which changes do you think are the best and why?


Zagam: While it appears to be a nerf to Demonic Gateway, I think the change to the Gateway enables Blizzard to design content where the Gateway isn't an integral part of some strategies. During early Heroic Lei Shen progression, the lack of a Warlock hurt badly for classes without high mobility during Helm of Command. There are TONS of other fights where Gateways were an essential part of a strategy. With the recent changes, I would think that the encounter designers will not put such high demand for the Gateways. This is great because of the current (unintended?) despawning of the Gateways upon moving more than 30 yards away. There weren't a lot of positive changes to the Warlock class and that's ok because we are fine and the fact we got massively overhauled for MoP.

The new empowered abilities gained while leveling from 90-100 sound fantastic and address many of the downfall of abilities in MoP. This includes giving Doom a higher crit chance to proc more Wild Imps, Chaos Bolt having a shorter cast, and Agony ticking up to 12 stacks. All of the enhanced spells sound great - we'll see how they balance out at 100.

Evrelia: I think it's good that they've done away with the AoE Curse of the Elements for each spec; it's not really fun to have to waste a major class resource on getting your debuffs up. With that said, I am a little surprised they didn't remove Curse of the Elements completely and add it in to one of our other spells, since now Hunters, Rogues, Shadowpriests and Windwalkers can apply it without losing DPS, whereas it costs us a global cooldown. The new Glyph of Twilight Ward now makes an already good cooldown even better, so happy with that. Drain Life generating Burning Embers is interesting, particularly for Soloing, so I'm curious to see how that turns out.
 

3. Which changes do you think are the worst and why?


Zagam: Multiple thoughts here...
  • Removal of Fel Flame. This hurts the mobility of specs and hurts the toolkit of Warlocks to get rid of totems, banners, and other small HP objects during combat.
  • Removal of Drain Soul. No more on-demand Soul Shard generation. Unclear whether or not Malefic Grasp will pick up the Soul Shard generation during execute that Drain Soul used to do.
  • Removal of Carrion Swarm (Demonology) hurts the Demonology toolkit. This was a valuable spell interrupt and knockback that no longer exists.
  • Removal of Soulshatter. Unclear if threat is being rebalanced, but this spell has warranted a binding for myself for many years, particularly in Challenge Modes.
Evrelia: The removal of Drain Soul. Drain Soul is iconic, it's a part of the warlock class. It doesn't make any sense to remove it and keep Malefic Grasp - a spell that many have expressed a disliking of. Drain Soul has a nicer graphic, a better name, a stronger association with the warlock identity, and has the added benefit of extra Shard generation during the execute and as targets die. Furthermore, the point of an execute is to give you a sense of impending victory; and by baking the execute into our standard filler, you remove that aspect. When you also factor in the removal of DoT snapshotting combined with that, Affliction is literally going to be a case of recasting 3 DoTs every 20 seconds or so and channelling Malefic Grasp, with a few Haunts thrown in when you get procs. Hardly compelling gameplay.

The Fel Flame removal is puzzling too. It's a fairly useful spell when you're not running with Kil'Jaden's Cunning, but by removing it they're pushing us into using a talent that is already overused by many. I use the other talents in the tier often, but I get the feeling Blizzard think they're better than they are. It also means Affliction warlocks have no way to do instant damage to a target, so we have no method of damaging mind controlled players or things like Totems and Banners.
 

4. How would you alter any of the existing changes?


Zagam: Multiple thoughts here as well...
  • I'd re-add Fel Flame for the reasons why its removal would be negative.
  • Add in a Soul Shard regeneration into Malefic Grasp or make Nightfall procs a more reliable source of Soul Shards.
  • Re-add Carrion Swarm. No reason to remove it.
  • Re-add Soulshatter. I'm not the only one who used this button.
There's not really anything else I'd alter. Maybe I'm being bad at letting go of some spells, but I can't justify the removal of those abilities and the keeping of spells such as Eye of Kilrogg.

Evrelia: I would remove Curse of the Elements and have it baked into one of our other spells like it is for every other class that has it. I would not remove Drain Soul for reasons I've explained above. I'd like to see some changes to the Affliction rotation to account for the removal of DoT snapshotting; more DoTs to juggle or something that requires a higher attention span.
 

5. What changes would you like to see in WOD?


Zagam: I'd love to see some announcement of complexity to the Affliction specialization. The removal of snapshotting makes this spec feel very drawn out and boring - almost to the point of a rotation where you just reapply DoTs within your Pandemic appropriate window and using Haunt to line up procs.

For Demonology, I'd like to see Demon Bolt removed as the level 100 talent. It doesn't make sense for Blizzard to want to clean out button bloat and add a new ability. Chaotic Resources needs to be redesigned and give Demonology something a little more flavorable to the spec.

Destruction is fine the way it is. If anything were to be added, I'd like to see a mechanic like the Cataclysm Improved Soul Fire mechanic that facilitated an Imp and had him play an integral part of maximizing your DPS. Instead of waiting for him to crit, however, I'd like to see him build a charge system so that you had to use Soul Fire every 20 seconds, but it would always be available by your Imp having 5 stacks of "Heating Up" or some similar mechanic.

Evrelia: As a raider in a high-end guild I find RNG extremely un-fun. I'd like to see DPS a lot less dependant on getting the right procs at the right time and having huge fluctuations in damage from pull to pull when playing exactly the same. Some randomness is fine, but there's far too much in the current game. Other than that, for Warlocks each spec has had its time in the sun (Affliction in 5.0, Demo in 5.2, Destro in 5.4), with them being generally well balanced with each other throughout (although admittedly, quite overpowered compared with other specs). Right now Demo is a little behind though, so I'm hoping that Demo at least equals Destro in WoD given the extra effort it takes to play it.

Patch Notes Last Updated - 23 April 2014
  • Like 9

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

lol I am completely 110% with him on the Drain Soul thing...it literally has always been the iconic spell for locks ever since locks. Really upsetting to see it go. Even if they added an execute and shard regen to the stupid MG, it would still not be the same as actually having DS...i was more upset about this change than anything else in the notes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The game seems to be taking a step back in terms of class complexity and making a return to a BC style of gameplay. That being said do you think we will see less of a balance of the specs unlike we saw during this expansion?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What Evrelia has to say about Drain Soul is literally the first thing I said when I heard the news. Zag and I talked a bit the other day about how we think they could add complexity to Affliction. I personally would like to see Soul Shards regen at a constant rate and go back to the old school Shadowbolt with instants from Nightfall procs.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Evrelia: I find RNG extremely un-fun. I'd like to see DPS a lot less dependant on getting the right procs at the right time and having huge fluctuations in damage from pull to pull when playing exactly the same. Some randomness is fine, but there's far too much in the current game.

 

This is my big problem with my warlock at ilvl 567 now.  Nothing else bothers me more than this currently.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What Evrelia has to say about Drain Soul is literally the first thing I said when I heard the news. Zag and I talked a bit the other day about how we think they could add complexity to Affliction. I personally would like to see Soul Shards regen at a constant rate and go back to the old school Shadowbolt with instants from Nightfall procs.

Yea, SB too. Aff used to feel nice with SB filler and DL and DS for our drains. MG was a horrible idea and turned us into shadow priests. I really dont get how they took away two great things and left us with mind flay.

 

I also hate the randomness of shard regen and made Aff, when it was the viable spec, so random. There would be times where you have more shards than you can use and other times it seems for a minute you get nothing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm not sure how viable the talent will be, but I'm really pumped about grimoire of service + demonic servitude walking around Azeroth with twin internals!!! I

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

  • Similar Content

    • By Staff
      Blizzard responded to some unclear issues around the Slayer Hero Talent tree, clarifying Bladestorm-related issues. You can check out the Slayer Hero talent tree here. 
      Slayer (Source)
      Hello. We’d like to answer a couple of questions we’ve seen for Slayer:
      The brief Bladestorm from Frenetic Flurry will fit in the GCD from the ability that triggered it, the intent is that it should not impact your rotation. The ability to use Pummel and Storm Bolt while Bladestorming applies during all Bladestorms, not just the one triggered from Frenetic Flurry.
      Likewise, all Bladestorm damage events will trigger Overwhelming Blades, including Frenetic Flurry and the additional ticks from Imminent Demise.
      Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming!
    • By Stan
      In a Media & Society class, the professor decided to show their students the iconic Leeroy Jenkins video, which is nearing its 19th anniversary on May 11.
      A Reddit user, MineChris395, shared an interesting story about how their professor used the video to illustrate the growing influence of video games and their emergence as a form of viral media.
      The professor took the opportunity to explain how video gaming aligns with historical media trends, emphasizing the vast market gaming occupies today and its potential future growth.
      You can watch the video below in glorious 420p.
      The class was engaging and filled with laughter, as students enjoyed both the humor of the video and the insightful discussion on the impact of gaming in the media landscape, according to the OP.
      Source: Reddit
    • By Stan
      Dragonflight Season 4 is set to launch in just a few weeks, and we're checking out the rewards that will be removed when it kicks off. 
      Season 4 is just a few weeks away, and although Blizzard hasn't set a concrete release date for the newest Dragonflight season yet, there are certain achievements and rewards that will vanish once it kicks off. Let's take a closer look!
      Mythic+ Category
      Dragonflight Keystone Master: Season Three
      First, the Season 3 KSM achievement that requires players to obtain a Mythic+ Rating of at least 2,000 is going away, and with it, players will no longer be able to earn Verdant Armoredon.

      Dragonflight Keystone Hero: Season Three
      While this achievement does not come with any notable rewards, you can no longer earn it come Season 4.
      Mythic Dungeon Portals
      With Season 4, the dungeon rotation is getting a shake-up, meaning some dungeon teleports will become unattainable, unless they make a comeback in a later season. To secure these teleports, you'll need to complete a Mythic +20 or higher keystone dungeon within the time limit in Season 3.
      Keystone Hero: Atal'Dazar Keystone Hero: Black Rook Hold Keystone Hero: Darkheart Thicket Keystone Hero: The Everbloom Keystone Hero: Throne of the Tides Keystone Hero: Waycrest Manor Raids Category
      Two achievements are going away with the launch of Season 4:
      Ahead of the Curve: Fyrakk the Blazing
      The Amirdrassil AoTC achievement will be removed with Season 4. You must defeat Fyrakk on Heroic Difficulty or higher to get it.
      Cutting Edge: Fyrakk the Blazing
      The achievement to defeat Fyrakk on Mythic Difficulty is going away too.
      PvP Category
      The Season 3 Elite PvP transmog gear will no longer be obtainable when Season 4 starts.
      Gladiator: Dragonflight Season 3
      Verdant Gladiator's Slitherdrake, the Season 3 gladiator mount will no longer be obtainable when Season 4 starts. To get the mount you must win 50 games as a Gladiator in Dragonflight Season 3 in 3v3.

      Verdant Gladiator: Dragonflight Season 3
      The "Verdant Gladiator" title is going away in Season 4. You must end Dragonflight PvP Season 3 in the top 0.1% of the 3v3 arena ladder to get it.
      Verdant Legend: Dragonflight Season 3
      The "Verdant Legend" title from the Solo Shuffle ladder is going away in Season 4.
    • By Starym
      The final week of 10.2.5 has (almost) passed and we also have the results of last week's class tuning to check out as well! Tomorrow's 10.2.6 isn't looking to bring too many class changes (if any), but we can't be sure since we don't even know what the patch is. Season 4 isn't starting yet so we'll be hanging out in Amirdrassil for a few more weeks at least, so let's see how things are shaping up.
      Note: We are using Normalized scores instead of raw DPS for the Warcraft Logs rankings. The u.gg rankings at the bottom are raw DPS. Normalized scores take into account the outlier boss fights where certain specs could stack massive DPS (due to the nature of the fight, whether it's AoE spam or something else), which would then affect their overall score for the whole raid.
      Mythic
      Overall Damage 95th Percentile
      We're seeing some big changes around the top, but they're not at all tuning-related! The DKs have joined forces, but it's the non-Fyr'alath-wielding one that's taken the lead, as Frost moves into 2nd, while Unholy takes 3rd. Fury and Retribution move down to make room for the red ones, and we do see the first results of the tuning right after them.
      Frost took its buffs and moved a colossal 16 spots up into 6th, bumping fellow Mage Arcane down one in the process. Elemental takes down Shadow for 9th, using its 3% buff to move up 8 spots, and the Priest closes out the top 10, sitting in a Shaman sandwich. Marksmanship and Survival stick together and use their 3% buffs to move out of the bottom. They land in 13th and 14th, with Survival making a much bigger leap, gaining 10 spots and escaping the bottom 3. Speaking of the bottom, we see Beast Mastery drop down to the final 3 as Survival escapes, joined by Affliction, which showcases the huge difference in the raw DPS and points-based rankings, as the Warlock spec is No.1 in the raw DPS ones below!

      95th percentile Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.
      Overall Damage All Percentiles
      The generalist bracket is more stable and slower moving, as usual, so there isn't that much to see at the top. Down in 6th we do see a big change, as Survival uses it's buff to make an 11-spot leap, just past Unholy. Arcane loses two spots to the Hunter and DK, landing just above a stable Fire and Frost DK. Frost Mage's buffs haven't had a big impact here yet, but the spec does move out of the bottom 3, gaining 4 spots and moving up. Marksmanship moves towards the middle of the pack, buffs in hand, and finds itself gaining 6 spots. This opens up the bottom 3, and it seems there must always be a Hunter at the bottom, with Beast Mastery taking its place there, joined by Feral.
      All percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.
      Boss Only Damage All Percentiles
      Survival is on the move here as well, gaining 8 spots and moving into 7th, as everything above it remains stable. Elemental also makes a move using its 3% buff, closing out the top 10 and gaining 7 spots.
      All percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.
      Heroic
      Overall Damage All Percentiles
      We go down to 8th to see the first change in Heroic, as Shadow moves 4 spots up, just ahead of Survival, which gains 9 spots in 9th.

      All percentiles Heroic data by Warcraft Logs.
      U.GG Raw DPS Rankings
      U.gg's rankings are based on actual DPS taken from Warcraft Logs data, focusing on the top players and span the past two weeks. This chart is for Mythic only.
      We're not going to be seeing quite as many drastic changes here, as the raw DPS chart tracks the past two weeks, but there's still plenty to see. Affliction ends the patch at the very top, pretty much the opposite of its position in the points-based rankings. Fury manages to push into 2nd, bumping the Rogue down to 3rd. Unholy makes some more moves and gains two in 9th, joining up with its fellow DK. We do see Frost Mage starting to make its buffed move up, gaining 4 spots to get out of the bottom 3, where it leaves Feral to take its place.
      Mythic chart by u.gg.
       
      Meanwhile, if you're looking for more information you can check out our Dragonflight class guides, Amirdrassil boss guides, the raid DPS tier list, as well as more data from Warcraft Logs here.
    • By Staff
      This week's highlights include the launch of Patch 10.2.6, the Hearthstone anniversary event continues through Friday, and more.
      Additionally, Blizzard is set to unveil a content creator event on March 21st, with new Twitch Drops following on March 22nd.
      For further information, take a look at the official blog post linked below.
      (Source)
      Each week we’ll look ahead to what’s in store for World of Warcraft, share the latest news, and keep you in the know byte by byte. Content update 10.2.6 arrives March 19.
      The 10.2.6 Content Update Arrives March 19
      Mark your calendar for March 19 when the 10.2.6 content update goes live with a bold, new, limited-time event. You won't want to miss out on the fun. It's important to note that Dragonflight season 4 will go live several weeks after the release of the 10.2.6 content update. For heroes working toward the Amirdrassil Feats of Strength, you'll need to obtain Ahead of the Curve: Fyrakk the Blazing before Season 4 begins, and the achievement is no longer available to earn.
      Hearthstone’s Anniversary Event in World of Warcraft Extended to March 22
      Join in Hearthstone’s 10-year anniversary celebration beginning March 11. Players can log into Hearthstone to collect a new Fiery Hearthsteed mount in World of Warcraft for free!*
      Players can also seek out special “Hearthstone” matches in capital cities from March 11 to March 22. Stick around long enough and you’ll face a special encounter where you can defeat iconic minions to add to your deck and earn other fun new Hearthstone-themed rewards! Learn more about collecting the Fiery Hearthsteed and the in-game events in our latest article.
      Visit the Hearthstone official site to learn more about the full slate of festivities.
      * No additional purchase necessary for the Fiery Hearthsteed mount. Limited-time offer only available to those who login to Hearthstone between March 11 and May 14. Mount not available in World of Warcraft® Classic games. 
      News and Events This Week
      Stay on top of all the upcoming news and in-game activities right here.
      March 17 (Event) Un’Goro Madness Micro Holiday (March 17 – March 19)
      The dinosaurs in Un’Goro are getting restless. Time to go pay them a visit! March 19 (Article and Event) Content Update 10.2.6 Reveal and Now Live (Article) New Twitch Drop Revealed (Event) PvP Brawl: Shado-Pan Showdown (March 19 – March 26) (Event) Battleground Bonus Event (March 19 – March 26)
      While this event is active, random Battlegrounds will award Honor at an increased rate. Glory awaits in the fields of battle! March 20 (Event) The Trial of Style Returns (March 20 – March 26)
      Dust off those pauldrons and compete in a fashion competition of Azerothian proportions! Speak to a transmogrifier in any major city to participate in the Trial of Style! March 21 (Article) New Content Creator Event Announced March 22 (Article) Blues News (Event) New Twitch Drop Now Live Stay tuned to the official World of Warcraft news site as we journey through the week together.
×
×
  • Create New...