Dark pact line... weak?

[Ashtu]

<div>This has probably been brought up before.  I minted a warlock recently after reaching 60 with my wizard.  Just got to 26 and got Dark Pact.  Is it just me or is this just weak compared to the wizard seal line?  I mean, I have never really had a huge problem with fizzles, nor resists (unless we were taking on oranges).  Obviously this is supposed to mainly help DPS, but I can't help longing for the INT and STR of the seal line, which not only helps DPS but increases most people's power.  What do you think?</div>

[NG23985_01]

<div>I've been preaching since LU13 (aka the big Warlock nerf patch) that our Dark Seal line is worthless. At level 60, I am using level 12 (? Not ingame now, but i think its 12) Vivid Seal. The tiny gain on strength and intelligence from Vivid Seal is better than the alternative. If you were curious as to what the Dark Seal line did prior to LU13, I've got my stats below.Prior to LU13, Dark Seal line was similar to Wizard's. Here's the data from my screenshots, prior to LU13...</div><div> </div><div>Seal of Dark Rumination (L39) Apprentice 41 concentration, 3 cast, 0 recast,</div><div>+21-29 int and strength to group</div><div>+540-660 poison mitigation for group</div><div>Casts Seal of Dark Rumination on group members:</div><div>-On a successful attack, this spell has a 1% chance to cast</div><div>--Seal of Dark Rumination on target, when target is struck, this spell has a 1% chance to</div><div>---Increase power of attacker by 118-143</div><div>---Decrease power of caster by 76-93</div><div> </div><div>Also, I always kept Dark Pact active (Back then, they stacked, and Seal of Dark Rumination was bugged - didnt provide more int than its predecessor, but did provide more resists and strength)</div><div> </div><div>Dark Pact (L28.6) Adept 1</div><div>+19 strength</div><div>+37 int (at level 38 or higher)</div><div>+400 poison mitigation</div>

[UrkBloodA]

<div></div><p>You don't see any difference in your dps with master 'seal of ebon thought' vs not having it??  perhaps you might want to parse it for a while, and don't look at highest hit or average damage - but the "dps" number.</p><p> </p>

[Ashtu]

<div></div><div>Well, if what it does is make you hit harder, that's cool.  But that's not what it says it does.  It says it reduces outright resists and fizzles. If that is true, then on any fight where you wouldn't have had a fizzle or an outright resist anyway (which I don't think is really that uncommon), it did nothing whatsoever.  Whereas the wizard seal line is gonna make you hit harder on every hit, as well as give you a bigger power pool.  Now that I know it used to work differently, I'm even more sickened by it.</div><div> </div><div>Not that I don't think warlocks can't overcome this deficiency, but I think this spell should at least do one other thing... add a stat... something.</div><div> </div>

[NG23985_01]

<div>I proposed several different scenarios to fix the Dark Seal line (as currently, it is WORTHLESS), so here they are again. Due to the fact that +Int buffs dont stack (at least, the mage ones) if ours changed back to an intelligence buff, it'd not stack with Wizards, so I have tossed that change proposal out the window.Proposed Changes; one of the following:</div><div>Scenario 1) Replace +casting abilities with "Decrease resistability of all detrimental spells by 20%"</div><div> </div><div>Scenario 2) Replace +casting abilities with "Increase detrimental spell damage of group by 10%"</div><div> </div><div>Scenario 3) Replace +casting abilities with "On a successful hostile spell, this spell has a 33% chance to cast _Insert_spell_name_here_ on target of attack, this spell Inflicts 300-350 (for Seal of Ebon Thought, Ad1) damage on target</div><div> </div><div>Wizard's Seal increases melee damage (slightly), and magic damage from the stat boost. All of the above 3 proposals would allow ours to increase not only our damage, but the damage of our group as well. #2 or #3 would be my personal choices, however, #3 would interfere with Illusionists, as they have a single-target buff that does something similar to this, and I wouldnt want to interfere with the unique aspects of the Illusionist class.</div><div> </div><div> </div>