Since Siphon Life currently isn't a "Inflict X damage over Y Seconds" spell, but instead is worded "Transfers 81 health from the target to the caster every 3 sec." my guess is they are simply going to make Siphon Life an untimed debuff that stays on the target as long as corruption is on the same target.
This is what they mean for sure, I really don't see how people think its a nerf at all, in fact its such a huge buff. I still think they should just change FnB to make immolate get refreshed upon dealing fire damage. It would then keep pace with the whole burning concept and would save 1 gcd every 15 seconds, and still doesn't remove your need to cast COA/Corr. We can pray, Im just hoping for some good destro changes as affliction is snorefest gaming. Right now warlocks are just being punished for having 1 button shadowbolt spam during bc, now we got probably the hardest rotations.
And I belive supplication mentioned, for DS affliction isb buff will in fact drop if your not shadowbolting at the end of the fight. But well see, and I hope ISL doesn't loose its mana and just gains the replenishment buff.
Right now warlocks are just being punished for having 1 button shadowbolt spam during bc, now we got probably the hardest rotations.
QFT, it does feel like a punishment, and it's finally getting to the people in the raid that being a warlock isn't all surfing porn and hitting one button, it takes some competence now to achieve top damage against equally skilled players of other classes. If they buff Destro, and change or add some good talents to make it less black hole-esque then it would be the most attractive to me, I personally don't like the way it plays now and feel like I'm watching just as many cooldowns and DoTs just at a faster pace doing less damage on most boss fights.
This is what they mean for sure, I really don't see how people think its a nerf at all, in fact its such a huge buff. I still think they should just change FnB to make immolate get refreshed upon dealing fire damage. It would then keep pace with the whole burning concept and would save 1 gcd every 15 seconds, and still doesn't remove your need to cast COA/Corr. We can pray, Im just hoping for some good destro changes as affliction is snorefest gaming. Right now warlocks are just being punished for having 1 button shadowbolt spam during bc, now we got probably the hardest rotations.
And I belive supplication mentioned, for DS affliction isb buff will in fact drop if your not shadowbolting at the end of the fight. But well see, and I hope ISL doesn't loose its mana and just gains the replenishment buff.
Isn't it sorta ironic to trashtalk 1 button spam in the last part of your post while you encourage it in the first part? Refreshing immolate on firedmg from F&B will bring you RIGHT back to TBC playstyle. I love having complex rotations, I love to see that the work and effort I put into my class is close to unbeatable if I play my cards right. And I love that I get slapped in the face on meters when I don't. This is a gift that people should appreciate, cause it keeps you on your toes, even through the 3rd month of farming content you already farmed in another version of the game.
Unless Ulduar fights all become M'uru-like I really don't see the need to simplify Affliction anymore than it already has been with this patch. Warlocks are about dots and lots of them, so why would you want just one or two to juggle? In that case you might as well play a priest or a mage :/
Although they compared the 5 percent crit buff to imp scorch it sounded more like it will be similar to elemental oath and moonkin aura since they said buff and it's 5 percent crit rather than debuff and imp scorch is 10 percent.
Isn't it sorta ironic to trashtalk 1 button spam in the last part of your post while you encourage it in the first part? Refreshing immolate on firedmg from F&B will bring you RIGHT back to TBC playstyle.
How is this RIGHT back to TBC playstyle? Keeping CoA and Corruption up alone is more complicated then TBC raiding was. On top of this you're working Chaos Bolt and Conflag in plus whatever effort you want to put into pet micro in a spec that's almost as dependent on pet damage as full demonology is. Believe it or not Destruction right now is just as complicated as Affliction.
Dropping one dot from it's rotation does not put us right back to shadow bolt spamming and honestly if Immolate was the dot that was refreshed it would do a lot for the spec because it would make timing Conflags a lot easier.
I have fallen upon an interesting train of thought that I'd like others opinions on. Bear with me
DS currently does 4x damage when the mob is at less than 25% HP. But why?
It seems many have this pegged as DPS boost (which it undoubtedly is) but my thought is that it was never intended to be an execute-style spell for affliction. What if, the 4x dmg boost is simply to make shard farming easier? I remember the fine art of farming shards as destro, hoping for a crit so that I could kill a mob before it got too close to get a DS cast off during travel time. The 4x change made it much, much more simple, as I could rely on DS to finish off pretty much any mob
So... if we assume that the 4x DS change was done to allow easier farming, is it a huge leap to also assume this new change is it's replacement?
Whilst that would be a rather large nerf, it would certainly bring aff back into line with other raid DPS specs. It would also make the ISB crit buff more viable for affliction as well as Demo.
Now, I understand this is pure speculation however it is a point of view that hasn't been expressed yet and might be worthy of further thought.
PS. I conveniently didn't mention the long-ago post that suggested moving away from SB as the only Warlock filler. Thats about the only piece of evidence that doesn't fit, but it is vague and outdated anyways.
It seems many have this pegged as DPS boost (which it undoubtedly is) but my thought is that it was never intended to be an execute-style spell for affliction. What if, the 4x dmg boost is simply to make shard farming easier? I remember the fine art of farming shards as destro, hoping for a crit so that I could kill a mob before it got too close to get a DS cast off during travel time. The 4x change made it much, much more simple, as I could rely on DS to finish off pretty much any mob
The change doesn't make farming shards easier, since you have to start the channel when the mob is under 25% to get the extra damage. I've noticed it doesn't work any better for affliction, since if you have dots on the target, the dots + normal tick would kill the mob - no need for extra damage.
The changes they announced for 3.1 include a change to make farming shards easier, yet they're not removing the bonus.
The most important point to consider is that only the highest rank of DS has the bonus damage. This means that it was specifically meant as an execute for raids.
Unless Ulduar fights all become M'uru-like I really don't see the need to simplify Affliction anymore than it already has been with this patch. Warlocks are about dots and lots of them, so why would you want just one or two to juggle? In that case you might as well play a priest or a mage :/
I disagree Warlocks are about demons. We need more Demon forms and more demon pets. Priest and druids can Dot, Mages can fire, but us Locks we can form into a Demon and summon from beyond the depths of hell Terrifying beings to do our Bidding.
disagree Warlocks are about demons. We need more Demon forms and more demon pets. Priest and druids can Dot, Mages can fire, but us Locks we can form into a Demon and summon from beyond the depths of hell Terrifying beings to do our Bidding.
They are a robed class that excels at plaguing their enemies with disease or curses...
Warlocks have always been the best at DoTs and their use of DoTs in all specs (thought mainly afflic) is extreamly relevent. If you think warlocks are all about demons, spec into demonology. This is why talents were created, so each player could be what they thought a class should be.
Also, I don't really think that Affliction as of now needs that much reworking. only thing I'd like to see would be a slightly longer Haunt duration, with a 15second CD so it would fall into line with Immo/UA. Obvoiusly this would have pvp consequences, but I pvp as demo anyway, so im not sure.
I read the "shards"-speculation with great interest (and I hope I got it right...)
I agree that shards are more or less utility items which have no great effect on gaming right now. Well, if we get an ability to collect shards even if the target doesn't die, that somehow suggests that there's a reason to make this available to us, doesn't it? Right now, there's but the dotlock who uses DS as real dmg <25%. All else is loss of dps, if I'm not mistaken.
But with the current abilities, there's no need to collect more than a bagful of shards - projecting this train of thought: We'll get an ability that makes it worthwhile to loose dps while draining, e.g. a big cd-dmg burst or something similar in the upcoming talent changes. And we won't be able to carry as many of them.
Taking the comments on ammo in consideration, there could be a change to shards as limiting factor of a special attack/big cooldown buff/etc. together with limiting them to Unique(x), getting rid of the bags (poor tailors) and adding the burst we so desperately need to compete on the actual bosses (short-lived, moving) and on trash. Shard-collecting (low-dmg) would be the equivalent of melee-classes' cd.
That sounds very interesting...
I'm no friend of simplifying affliction further, but the dotlocks need something to play with while moving through trash, being in PVP and on bossmobs that shake the complicated rota - if that really is the direction we're moving to, I begin to hope...
Any thoughts on how the mentioned changes to SiLi and ISB will affect the viability of a 31/0/40 shadow destro hybrid?
It'll obviously improve the spec, but it remains to be seen if it'll be enough to make it competitive with the other main hybrid specs (0/41/30, 0/30+1/40+1). Right now the main problem with 31/0/40 is that the slightly buffed DoTs are not enough to compensate the damage bonus given by the Imp or Felguard with MD, and the announced changes so far do not seem to be enough.
Maybe Drain soul could be used on target dummies, seeing that you can drain soul off a level 80 dummy.
I do not see Blizzard allowing us to do this. It would be a silly gimmick to be able to get shards from dummies, and I doubt they will go that route when trying to make our shards farming less time consuming (which is what I assume their main purpose is). Since I use Soul Fire while under backdraft + heroism in boss fights, I am more concerned about farming shards in between bosses, where trash mobs often die too fast for DS to have a a chance to tick. Let us wait and see if there is a more sweeping change to the SS mechanics.
warlocks problems for pvp are the lack of burst, escape, or mitigation. Tagging SL to corruption won't make it OP.
You must only play affliction? Gnome Destro Lock = Burst + Teleport + Escape Artist + DeathCoil + Shadowfury + HowloTerror + Fear
Mitigation = Soul Link
What more could you ask for? I personally have no problem in PvP. Maybe you should try a different pvp spec.
In regards to soul shards why not have them stack in the currency interface? You would still have to farm them, but it frees up a bag space and keeps you from deleting them on trash pulls. I'm sure there would be some osrt of hard cap at 100 or something.
You must only play affliction? Gnome Destro Lock = Burst + Teleport + Escape Artist + DeathCoil + Shadowfury + HowloTerror + Fear
Mitigation = Soul Link
What more could you ask for? I personally have no problem in PvP. Maybe you should try a different pvp spec.
Not that I have room to talk, but in the 1400s you DO have a problem with pvp. Destro burst isn't comparable to other classes, and three CC skills that share DR and have a long CD, and a talented skill with a short stun that you have to be good enough to aim hardly make something you couldn't ask more of.
I like the changes they are thinking about, and I agree with the Immolate refreshing thing for F&B. But on another note, anybody notice how they just took away hunter ammo? That's not even fair to give them the convenience of that and still force warlocks to use an entire bag for shards.
As a general rule, Blizz has been cutting inventory space requirements for "class" stuff to 4-5 slots tops. Once the ammo changes, Warlocks will be the only ones who still need a bag for the class. The easiest solution to this by far would just be to make Soul Shards stack to 200 (or higher if the code supports it, 500 would be ideal). Combined with converting Shard Bags to regular ones (as I'm assuming they will do to ammo pouches) and the changes to Drain Soul, this would effectively end the limitations of it. Let's face it, even assuming the extra-shard chance is only 5% per tick, just using DS as an execute (as everyone should be) makes for that stack hitting max fairly quickly.
Please note that I do NOT count extra gear in the bags toward "class use", since that is a player choice and not a class requisite.
To teach and to learn, to laugh and make others laugh. This is my purpose, and any day in which I don't wasn't worth the time it took to get through.
As a general rule, Blizz has been cutting inventory space requirements for "class" stuff to 4-5 slots tops. Once the ammo changes, Warlocks will be the only ones who still need a bag for the class. The easiest solution to this by far would just be to make Soul Shards stack to 200 (or higher if the code supports it, 500 would be ideal). Combined with converting Shard Bags to regular ones (as I'm assuming they will do to ammo pouches) and the changes to Drain Soul, this would effectively end the limitations of it. Let's face it, even assuming the extra-shard chance is only 5% per tick, just using DS as an execute (as everyone should be) makes for that stack hitting max fairly quickly.
Please note that I do NOT count extra gear in the bags toward "class use", since that is a player choice and not a class requisite.
Just use 3, 32 slot SS bags =96 shards, for raiding. the backpack is plenty enough for extra crap needed for a warlock in raiding.
I would really like to see some kind of stats on the Soul Bags, similar to hunter ammo pouch's as a minimum change.
or, and this is my prefered option.
A Soul Gem or some such conjured item, that stores Shards as charges and could be equiped in the Wand slot. Right now wands are rarely, if ever used as a weapon and are more of another trinket type slot.
It would be great if the "big" change included scaling of this item's effects with the number of charges on your Soul Gem. granted the scaling could not be huge so as to totally reduce it's effects when you are low on shard charges.
I would really like to see some kind of stats on the Soul Bags, similar to hunter ammo pouch's as a minimum change.
or, and this is my prefered option.
A Soul Gem or some such conjured item, that stores Shards as charges and could be equiped in the Wand slot. Right now wands are rarely, if ever used as a weapon and are more of another trinket type slot.
It would be great if the "big" change included scaling of this item's effects with the number of charges on your Soul Gem. granted the scaling could not be huge so as to totally reduce it's effects when you are low on shard charges.
I use wands. They're useful for taking out totems in pvp and even more useful for taking out a rogue who cloaked at too low of a health percentage. Granted, it's only happened twice, but it has happened twice.
I would really like to see some kind of stats on the Soul Bags, similar to hunter ammo pouch's as a minimum change.
or, and this is my prefered option.
A Soul Gem or some such conjured item, that stores Shards as charges and could be equiped in the Wand slot. Right now wands are rarely, if ever used as a weapon and are more of another trinket type slot.
It would be great if the "big" change included scaling of this item's effects with the number of charges on your Soul Gem. granted the scaling could not be huge so as to totally reduce it's effects when you are low on shard charges.
It's been said many times (maybe not in this thread but elsewhere) that the reason Soul Bags don't have any stats on them is so Warlocks aren't required to use them. Hunters are balanced around the assumption that they're using an ammo bag and Warlocks would be too if Soul Bags had stats.
A Soul Gem or some such conjured item, that stores Shards as charges and could be equiped in the Wand slot. Right now wands are rarely, if ever used as a weapon and are more of another trinket type slot.
It would be great if the "big" change included scaling of this item's effects with the number of charges on your Soul Gem. granted the scaling could not be huge so as to totally reduce it's effects when you are low on shard charges.
Wands are still useful for farming, leveling, etc. A better place to place such a "Soul Gem" would be in the ammo slot, I would think. Now, would this be a conjured item, similar to the spellstone/firestone, or a piece of gear, such as totems/relics/librams? I would suspect the first would be more likely, since that way there would be no need to add them to loot tables.
3)- Haunt and Shadow Embrace will no longer boost Fire damage-over-time effects, Immolate base damage will get nerfed, but Immolate will be brought back up to current levels of power through some deep Destruction talents. This goes along with what GC said in the past about them wanting to remove Immolate (along with Siphon Life through the already-announced change) from Affliction's arsenal and helping to simplify Affliction's "rotation".
I rather hope that doesn't happen; it seems like it would go against the "masters of shadow and flame" idea of the class, and the way they introduced stuff like Molten Core.
Just seems a bit silly to me to define affliction as being all about the dots, and then take a (baseline, classic) dot like Immolate away from them. Anyway, I enjoy using Immolate in the affliction rotation at the moment There's something pleasing about not only giving your enemy some nasty diseases, but then setting fire to her.
02/07/09, 2:48 PM
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