Currently specced 44/17/0 for Fel Domination/Master Summoner. The instant summon is quite nice for arena/PvP and resummoning despawned pets out in the world. However, two changes in 2.1 have me thinking about switching it up.

Firstly, with the 2.1 changes to Fear, DoTs are breaking Fear after only a tick or two. With Affliction's PvP viability down the drain next patch I figure I should move to a more PvE focused spec(ie, not Feldom/MS). Since I'm not going to be effective in a direct fight anyway, there's no reason to sink talent points in trying to save a sinking ship.

Secondly, with the (excellent) change to pets despawning and respawning when you mount/dismount the value of Master Summoner has again drastically diminished.

So with all that being said I'm looking for a new PvE flavored Affliction spec. I looked into subbing into Destruction, but I tend to have aggro issues anyway(1219 shadow, 1370ish raid buffed, 1500+ when I pop the Icon of the Silver Crescent) and I hold a pretty tight DoT rotation. So picking up more damage isn't really going to do me any good when the aggro ceiling is a limiting factor.

All I come come up with, and I mean ALL I could come up with was a 48/13/0 http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=NEMMiRctqtbofx00c to pick up the *amazing* 5/5 Shadow Embrace.

What do you guys think of this, and could you offer any alternatives? Feels like I'm running out of options here. I've already gotten all the good Affliction talents, getting Demo PvP utility won't matter post Fear nerf, and the Destro DPS boost won't be viable due to aggro concerns.

Thoughts?

They do. Not quite as drastic as players I don't think, but tbh I didn't spend a whole lot of time testing on mobs.

Trying to find a viable spec is getting tricky. To my mind, the highest DPS spec is likely
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IyMriRczVtboZxx0tM
Or at least similar to that.

However, I feel like a little bitch if I don't take any of the raid-bitch talents (Malediction, iCoW, iImp, iHPstone, Shadow Embrace)

In order to take the Imp and HPstone talents, you pretty much have to lose something significant. Taking Shadow Embrace, Malediction, or iCoW is a less impactful loss.

If you're having aggro issues and can stomach dropping hard on the damagemeters, respec to the absolute raid bitch spec, taking all of the listed talents. It'd look something like
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IqrriRctqtfofZx

Nitpicking inc:

You'd rate Fel Concentration over Bane in a raid-bitch-spec...?

Also, if you're the raid-bitch with Malediction, you'd likely always do CoE/CoS, why improve CoA? Those two points could be moved to Devastation for increased iSB uptime (assuming you move Fel Conc->Bane), or Supression if you aren't hit-capped for more dps.

Grim Reach as well has limited usefulness when you do not also have Destructive Reach imo, so you could argue for moving those to Supression or even Nightfall (which is a dps increase, though a small one).

And lastly, though I do not want to live without either (for heroics etc), both iHoT and CoEx are very limited in their raid-use. You'd gain more raid dps by moving those to NF/Supression/Devastation as well.

Ending up with something like this. Though not something I'd want to play with =P. Assuming you can muster 14% hit you shouldn't really lose all that much dps either, just utility (most of which see little to no use while raiding imho). And you could always sacrifice Soul Siphon for more points in Supression if needed. Drain Life is a great spell, but a bit situational, and a non-soul-siphoned one will usually do the job as well what with Fel Armor and all.

(Disclaimer, my TBC raid experience is limited to Karazhan/Gruul, if iHoT/CoEx/Shadowburn/Fel Concentration are extremely useful in SSC/TK, disregard this =P)

Wasn't disputing the nicety of any of those, I have all of them =P.

But as for iCoA, have a look at the warlock dps spreadsheet, I have a feeling you'll come out using CoD instead of CoA as the third lock, apart from when you want CoR ofc ;-). (I hate how every lock-thread ends up touching this subject btw, so I am sorry for bringing it up. Only thing missing now is someone asking if immolate is worth casting with an affliction spec and lots of +shadow =P). I'd considering moving those points to imp LT, unless you're always grouped with a shadowpriest and have your imps mana regen buffed to the gills.

Already calculated it a while ago, iCoA gives me 17 more DPS than CoD

I have been running this spec since I hit 70. I like it a lot. I only spent 1 point in Suppression and took Improved Life Tap and Nightfall. I think both of these are more valuable and more flexible. I still use Life Tap all the time with Dark Pact and being able to tap and drain with superior efficiency is highly beneficial in long fights.

Biggest pains with this spec IMO

1. It sucks for burning down quick kill trash (Curator, for example). No 2.5 Bolt, No Shadowburn
2. Shadow Embrace 5/5 is hard to evaluate. I think it is terrific for Heroic 5-toon stuff. The value in larger raids is less clear and quite hard to measure with typical group metering tools.
3. It also seems clear to me that 25-toon raids will benefit more from Malediction than improved CoA unless you have 3 Warlocks all the way up the Affliction tree.

That being said it offers the best drain tanking imaginable and is wonderful for loading up on a big target. I also enjoy offering imp imp and 2496 HS as a raid benefit.

Curious if anyone has had experience really quantifying Shadow Embrace benefits in long fights - it does make it easier for healers and thus extend fighting stamina.

See now you're catching me off guard!

For truths sake, with: 1106 +shadow, 953 +fire, 11.72% crit, 3.09% hit. CoD does 5 dps more than CoA.

I tried simulating where I got the 13dps increase of CoA over CoD, but now I cant seem to remember which values I was using! But anyway, for my current gear setup that is on the armory, you're right, CoD is better, by 5 dps.

I had been skeptical about it over the last couple, but I will try it out this coming week. I know for a fact that my dot rotation will be a little easier to maintain.

EDIT: ooooh I remember now. Amp CoA gave more when Amp was available. That's why I was waiting, I was waiting for next patch (2.1.0) for CoD to finally work with Amp.

You probably calculated CoD and CoA on a 60s interval, where CoA actually does more dps by itself. The 1.5 global cooldowns you save using CoD = 90% of a shadowbolt though, which is why CoD still wins.

Imp CoA is still useful for fights with agro resets (Hydross, Leotheras) where a 13k amped doom is going to fuck you bad if it goes off at the wrong time, but I just can't justify spending points in it for a ~1.5% dps increase on just those fights.

I posted my build earlier, if I go for the CoD rotation, do you have anything else to suggest talent wise? (keep in mind that I don't CoS or CoE)

This is correct, I have certainly confirmed that Amp Curse works on CoD, just the amp buff doesn't go away yet, so you could amp an Agony as well .

Even with imp CoA and no Amp Curse, Doom > CoA.

I usually use Doom on Bosses, not just for 5-10 more dps, but for one less DoT to worry about.