Beta Warlock - first impressions

[TheBladesCaress]

Just a quick update for our Warlocks who are not in Beta.... 1. Learn to play again.  Completely different.  Not just a case of moving hotbars around, some of the concepts are totally different. 2. Dont expect to tank anything.  Currently, Blue - and Blue -- will kill you if you just try to tank like you can on Live.  I got killed by 4 blue --- in 12 seconds.  Anything ++ will eat you alive. 3. We lost our long stuns.  We have a nice short stun and the roots are good, but I sorely miss my 10.5 second stun.  4s insta stun is nice. 4. No high level INT buff at all. 5. AE DPS is sky high (I think 2000 DPS would be possible with the right tank and large groups).  Single DPS is fine, but only once you figure it out.  Nukes alone wont do it.  I can lay a consistent 400+ DPS against singles.  Upgrade Aura of Emptiness now! <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> 6. Bony Grasp is encounter only.  Problem now is that all our AE spells wont hit a mezzed or rooted target.  So you cant BG a group and Devastate them like you used to be able to (was rather cheap anyway). 7. I took Soul Flay at Master II, will do again once DoF goes live.  All the lower Master IIs are pointless, since they are mostly surpassed except for the Heat/Cold Debuff. 8. Dont try to duel a Paladin. Right now the combats are extremely hard due to the mitigation changes, but you need to more than BG and nuke.  I have been trying lots of different things, and I like having Netheros being usefull, I finally have a use for Cower, Deter, Torment of Shadows and feel the combats are a bit more exciting since they are harder.  I havent been in a balanced group yet, but will be interested in the aggro handling we will have. Finally, the tank procs we have (Nihilism, Toxic Grasp) now correctly attribute to the caster, which shows up in our DPS numbers.  Nihilism is extremely overpowered right now.  Against a group of 5, it did 10000 damage in 17 seconds, so it can provide 600+ DPS for 0 power.  No if only we had a way to handle that aggro.<div></div>

[Mastire]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> TheBladesCaress wrote:<BR>Just a quick update for our Warlocks who are not in Beta....<BR><BR>8. Dont try to duel a Paladin.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Why not I win 90% of the time, don't Duel an assasin/Conjerer/Necro. You sohuld be able to beat the fighter classes if u get a stun or root off.</DIV>

[TheBladesCaress]

<span><blockquote>Mastire wrote: <blockquote> <hr> TheBladesCaress wrote:Just a quick update for our Warlocks who are not in Beta....8. Dont try to duel a Paladin. <div></div> <hr> </blockquote> <div>Why not I win 90% of the time, don't Duel an assasin/Conjerer/Necro. You sohuld be able to beat the fighter classes if u get a stun or root off.</div><hr></blockquote>I was using the beta buffed toon at that point, and everything was App 1.  Almost everything I cast was outright resisted, so my DPS was 0, but he oculd still autoattack and heal.</span><div></div>

[Nerga]

<P>1.Acceptable but not to the degree you say.If I need to COMPLETLY learn my class again it means Im NOT the same class anymore.No way around it.</P> <P>2.I dont expect to tank,VLA sucks waaaay too much forever now.Kind getting one hited is abit over the top.One resist an dyou die....russian roulete anyone?</P> <P>3.Yes the 10sec stun is my main backup spell ,will surely be missed.Used to give tanks 10sec to regain agro.Which seem to work pretty good.</P> <P>4.As long as Seal buff line WORKS its shouldnt be a problem.I can deal with it.I just hope that int=skill or something like that resist/dmg wise.Or we will get bent over once more.</P> <P>5.2k dps isnt something anyone want,give me a balanced class over an uncontrolable A-bomb.What good is a dead warlock? 400dps sound unrealistic to be honset.Can you post screenshots and parses plz? The numbers posted dosnet seem to support that number.</P> <P>6.Not much to comment.Although now aoe dont hit mezed target too.Only DD's do.</P> <P>7.Soul Flay/Absymal Fury will be my choice.If you can post thier screenshots with the new numbers.Betabuff comparesment we will be very thankful.Our 14lvl training seems alot more importent to me then all but the 54 one.Since we can get a heat based spell then.</P> <P>8.I will own paladins <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P>

[Nerga]

<DIV>[expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just noticed it...aoe wont hit rooted targets? Is this SOE special chrismess gift for us? How lame.</DIV>

[Magiocracy]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><span><blockquote><hr>TheBladesCaress wrote:Just a quick update for our Warlocks who are not in Beta.... 6. Bony Grasp is encounter only.  Problem now is that all our AE spells wont hit a mezzed or rooted target.  So you cant BG a group and Devastate them like you used to be able to (was rather cheap anyway). <div></div><hr></blockquote>Not sure about this - I just tried to BG and Dev a group and it worked just fine. Also tried to BG another group and used Nil Absolution - worked as well. The problem is really that root breaks very easily so normally you'll have at least one mob break loose on a Dev tick and come looking for you <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Also, on the stun issue, don't forget we also have Vulian Interference which is an instant cast 4.5 sec duration 'pacify' affect (mob can move but cannot do anything) - that increase to 6.5 seconds I think on Vulian Intrusion. Personally they're more usefull to me than the old long stun due to the instant cast. </span><div></div><p>Message Edited by Magiocracy on <span class=date_text>09-10-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:59 AM</span>

[TheBladesCaress]

I will try the BG and Dev again, maybe something has changed. <div></div>

[Carlossus]

Hi all,  I have just recentely had my 49 warlock copied over to beta, and personally I'm really happy with the changes. In fact I'd go as far as saying my toon is a better killing machine on beta then he is on live, both for grouped and single target encounters. Seems last nights patch really changed things for the better as I can solo a lot more effectively now compared to a few nights ago. All this update has done imo is require you to develop your own strategies for killing things, thats not to say you have to relearn the class as some peoples fears may be, it just means with the new con system, and new spells at your disposal, each enemy encounter has to be thought about a little. The changes to Warlock are not as drastic as some people would have you think, yes we are best suited to grouped encounters now, but that doesnt change our ability to deal some nasty damage to single target encounters.  I've been soloing some heroic pirates (single mob blue ^^ ones) that are a real challenge (ie will die if I dont use strategy) and watching those suckers fall to the ground is very rewarding when you manage to pull it off. With regards to BG, I do have trouble using Abysmal Fury on a BG'ed mob, this is an Area of Effect spell not an encounter based spell like Absolution, so I think its spells like AF that are area based that wont work with BG (I may be totally wrong <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) <div></div>

[Magiocracy]

<span><blockquote><hr>Carlossus wrote:Hi all,  I have just recentely had my 49 warlock copied over to beta, and personally I'm really happy with the changes. In fact I'd go as far as saying my toon is a better killing machine on beta then he is on live, both for grouped and single target encounters. Seems last nights patch really changed things for the better as I can solo a lot more effectively now compared to a few nights ago. All this update has done imo is require you to develop your own strategies for killing things, thats not to say you have to relearn the class as some peoples fears may be, it just means with the new con system, and new spells at your disposal, each enemy encounter has to be thought about a little. The changes to Warlock are not as drastic as some people would have you think, yes we are best suited to grouped encounters now, but that doesnt change our ability to deal some nasty damage to single target encounters.  I've been soloing some heroic pirates (single mob blue ^^ ones) that are a real challenge (ie will die if I dont use strategy) and watching those suckers fall to the ground is very rewarding when you manage to pull it off. With regards to BG, I do have trouble using Abysmal Fury on a BG'ed mob, this is an Area of Effect spell not an encounter based spell like Absolution, so I think its spells like AF that are area based that wont work with BG (I may be totally wrong <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />) <div></div><hr></blockquote>Tried BG again - I can use Dev/DN/Fury/NA just fine on  BG'ed mobs. The Fury spells are awkward because they're actually PBAOE spells which radiate out from the caster, so you have to be very near the mobs for it to work. Other than that I agree completely with your assesment -  especially after yesterdays patch where they fixed the resist rate, things are really fun again. It's harder than one live, but there;s a much greater sense of accomplishment when you manage to take down something tricky (blue ^^ and white ^^ are quite the challenge). Plus as I've said before there are a great deal more grouped mobs (solo  groups) which are ideal  for Warlocks now.</span><div></div>