To preface, I've been playing my Warlock since early 2006. I had originally created it just to mess around on the noob isle with, but it quickly became my profession of choice. What has happened to this class? Throughout DoF, KoS, EoF this class was always able to pull of stunning numbers on the parse in virtually every zone we visited. With good gear, spells, and playstyle we've almost always been guaranteed a spot at the top. These days, unless grouped with a Troub and Illusionist we'll be lucky to hit 5th or 6th on the parse. It's really obvious this has happened. Even revisiting the older zones our DPS still remains as strong and noticeable as it always was. The minute you attempt any RoK content, it becomes obvious that most non-DPS classes are having no problems keeping up with you with Solo or Group content. In raids, you have to be absolutely flawless just to hit the top segment of the parse. Part of what always drew me to this class was the fact we had such an amazing potential for DPS, which we needed to keep in check to avoid taking aggro and dieing. These days, it feels like we still have the potential to take aggro just as easily .. but without the payoff on the parse. What's wrong then? Did they balance our RoK level spells wrong? I realize the warlocks not around for the previous expansions likely won't see what I'm talking about. But the older folks should.
hey, my warlock was created Jul 11, 2005 so i guess thats pretty old. Its only out of sheer stubbornness and love of the class that i still play it. I am like the beaten wife who keeps coming back for more. I remember the glory days, then the LU that changed us forever and the slow painful crawl back to a level of class that didnt make me feel like an outcast. Each LU i hope for some evidence that somewhere a dev has said *hey, what about the warlock? we havent shown them a lot of love recently* instead of a new way to screw us over. The massive stealth nerf to Rift, the on and off working broodlings for example. I still have hope though. I do love my warlock, as battered and bruised as she is.
One of the problems is that there are so few linked mobs in RoK, it's extremely irritating. This also leads to Tanks forgetting how to hold agro against them meaning if you do open up you will pull for sure. I have a an lvl 80 Swashy and Warlock, it's much easier to dps on the Swashy and I never worry about agro.
Errolflynn@Befallen wrote: And you know, one of the main problems is we aren't even winning the raidzone multi-mob encounters anymore. Each one of them has at least one mob with insane HP that dies last, leaving more then enough time for the scouts to overtake us for the final parse. Yes, we put out insane numbers in the early to mid points of the fight .. but then all of a sudden we drop back out of the lead and end up below the melee again. Sometimes you get lucky and there's enough RW dps that the last high-hp mob dies faster and we still top the parse. But seriously, something is broken. If I had to guess, I'd say that our single target stuff really needs boosting.
Hey Hey I would be happy if they just got ride of Green AOE spells and instead had them hit any mobs that where agro to the group. The few times that you do have multiple mobs in ROK they are not a multiple encounter. I was intially happy with this Runny Eye Revamp However seeing how things are my guess would be that there will mostly be single target encounters as opposed to how RE is now, I belive i read it some where that this is the case but i can't find it ATM. Welcome Home Rev
Here is where I am at........level 55 and finished all the quests in pof I can solo and all the quests in LF I can solo. TT is just a tad to hard for me atm so I log in die a few times get bored and log out. I made a warlock so I could just solo especially after playing healers for so long. It was great up til now but really find I have no where to play at this level. Guess I have reached that glass ceiling. Oh well AOC will arrive soon and keep me amused for awhile. It's a shame though because I really enjoyed playing this class until now.
Teddie@Butcherblock wrote: Go get some upgrades, there's nothing wrong with the class in any of the content leading up to level 70.
Teddie@Butcherblock wrote: Upgrade your gear to MC if you haven't already(i'm using level 42 mc gear atm with quest jewlery which seems fine), run with AP4 or better spells. I just use ap4 and it's good enough frankly imo when I hit 70 I'll put the effort to make them all ad3's. Worse case I'd say spend point in sta line to help your survivability, but ehh basically it's a root and nuke game for any clothie. You win alot of them, but you will die too.
thank you for your help...I am upgraded and can take down most single 3 or 4 levels higher but I find the REST of the quest line in LF and the multiple encounters in TT impossible to do....guess I just suck at the game. I guess I can just run around killing singles to level but without a quest to work on I find it fairly boring.
Why are you bothering with TT at 55? As part of KoS, it advertised 55-70 but the truth is TT is more suited for 60 and up. There are only a handful of quests below that level and they are easy and over fast. If you've already done all of Lesser Faydark, Sinking Sands, and Pillars of Flame, the put a group together and spend time dungeon crawling. Some ideas: Sol Eye Permafrost Klak'anon Clefts of Rujark Living Tombs / Silent City and the instances in DoF: Vault of Dust Scornfeather Roost Ancient's Table Cazel's Mesa
>One of the problems is that there are so few linked mobs in RoK, it's extremely irritating. >This also leads to Tanks forgetting how to hold agro against them meaning if you do open up you will pull for sure. I completely agree. Group-aggro management has always been an issue since day 1. New tanks simply cannot hold group aggro they hardly learned and why should they if there are less and less linked mobs? Worst thing is people probably think you don't know your class and endanger the entire group. >And you know, one of the main problems is we aren't even winning the raidzone multi-mob encounters anymore. Each one of them has at least >one mob with insane HP that dies last, leaving more then enough time for the scouts to overtake us for the final parse. > >Yes, we put out insane numbers in the early to mid points of the fight .. but then all of a sudden we drop back out of the lead and end up below >the melee again. >If I had to guess, I'd say that our single target stuff really needs boosting. Definately agree as well. Warlocks are too damn slow casters, even with AA enhancements and the fights last too long for us. This makes that Wizards always parse higher, especially on longer fights and that they end up with the buffs from the troub, illu.. making them do even more damage and making the gap even bigger coz you warlock ended up in a melee group.... Personally I parse really bad in CoA, but I do great with my monk. I think those mobs are more resistent to noxious spells and that those have a lower impact on them, lol. VOES is about the only instance I can think off that has encounters where I can consistently parse 1st spot on linked mobs, but other classes can dish out serious AE dps as well...
Lvl 80 Warlock - all A3's and legendary gear most of it 77 or higher - working to get my fabled but have a nice +4 Crit staff from the quest in JW. As of today 129 AA points. I use AGI, STR, STA etc etc I play with a good friend who is a lvl 80 Wizard. If you are reading this post and trying to decide whether to go warlock or wizard, and dps is your motiviation, I strongly suggest you go Wizard. The Warlock when compared to T8 geared up brigs or wizards or Coercers - will not out parse any of those classes. There is only one instance where I shine and that is Vaults - primarily due to the linked mobs. Vaults is made for us - but most players I group with don't prefer Vaults over COA. You can do well in PVP - ie Rift and it's upgrades - if you plan to PVP at T8 then the warlock is nice for its interupts and group damage. If PVP is what you want, then the warlock is a nice class to choose. ** But remember, Wizards get EVAC - which is very nice and for solo pvp - wizards do OWN. The other posters in this string are correct - there are not enough linked mobs in ROK - and our spell casting time even with all the AA's etc - and reduction gear, are too long. that said - I enjoy my Warlock on Nagafen, I just don't position myself as a strong DPS class. Larzz - Nagafen 80 Warlock
fix resist rates and things would be just fine. Honestly there is nothing wrong with the class that is stated by most.
I played a warlock since release in '04 and stuck through some pretty hard times. Like when sorcerors were being out dps'd by just about every other class--to the time when we were arguably one of the most overpowered classes--to the time we were transformed without warning into Ae specialists. I adjusted my playstyles and learned to make due with what I had throughout all of these changes. Rok was for me, however, the final straw. With the Propagation, Rift, and Aftershock Nerf, as well as the once again broken broodlings, I finally gave up and admitted to myself that we are one of EQ2's red-headed stepchildren. It's frustrating when we're completely forgotten about by devs in their discussions of dps balancing. It's like we're always being forgotten about and then tossed a bone after the fact (take our epics compared to wizards' as an example). So, rather than complaining, I've taken the "If you can't beat them, join them" approach, and have rolled an Illusionist. They seem to be getting quite a bit of love from devs this expansion and are infinitely more valuable to raids than a warlock, who can easily be replaced by a wizard/ranger without having to dedicate three players to controlling the warlock's inherent aggro problems, which have never been sufficiently addressed. Again, we were thrown the bone of a 4% aggro transfer that doesn't stack, while other chain-wearing dps classes have up to 40% hate transfer. That makes a lot of sense. Kudos to you that've stuck it out, but at some point, all of the nerfs and oversights just became more than I could handle. I hope for the sake of all warlocks that a dev will someday roll one. It is generally acknowledged by the eq2 community that we're one of the most cheated classes in the game, and with RoK's lack of linked encounters, we're bordering on useless unless it's against orange-con and avatar encounters. In every other area of the game, we're being out-dps'd by the dev's hobby horse classes (i.e. assassins, swashes, and wizards). So, in summary, what has happened to this class is that we've become more and more forgotten about since the game has progressed and less and less content is designed with warlocks in mind. The result is developing ulcers while just trying to keep up on parses with melee dps on 95% of all ancounters. At some point, this stopped being fun and I got sick of fighting what I viewed as a losing battle.
the above post is pretty much word for word what i feel as well. sorry to say i dont want to start again. i dont want to roll a new character, im too attached to my main, but then, i cant be bothered to log in and play her as all the fun has gone. Too many nerfs, not enough communication. Ive gone to AoC now, seems ive picked the warlock equivalent without even knowing, the necro. lol Dumbfire pets and lots of AoE. Eq2 will always be my favourite game, but since all the joy has been nerfed out of the class, some public, some stealthed, i dont enjoy raiding. I dont have moments where my class *shines*. Im not asking to be top parse but when you create an AE class, you kinda need AE encounters (RoK) shame to go out on a whimper, maybe one day, the warlock wont feel like a poor relation to the dps family.
What I don't understand is why there is so much emphasis on dps parses in this game. I understand people like to know how much dmg they are doing and they always want to be #1, but it sounds like people are being excluded from raids because they aren't at the VERY top. That sounds ridiculous... as long as the mobs die with little trouble, why does it matter who did the most? I understand clearing speed is desired for raids, but does it really matter that much? I'm getting kinda dissapointed from reading these forums. I played EQ2 just after release for about a month when my computer died on me. I am completely bored with every mmo out there so I wanted to try EQ2 again on Nagafen. The game is amazing and pvp only makes it better. I rolled a warlock, geared him out and have been working on AA and have been having no problems in either pvp or pve. Unfortunately I wanted to finaly get a max character int his gam and my Warlock was going to be it... However, after reading these forums, I'm having 2nd thoughts. Maybe I should roll an SK or a Coercer with everyone else so I can get into raids when I hit t7-8.
Pestilent@Nagafen wrote: Meh. Most forum posters are the vocal minority of min/maxers (and they also tend to be raiders). I have the same attitude as you do -- if the mob dies and we don't, who cares what the parse is? I also don't raid anymore -- no time, so again.... I don't have to worry about that aspect of gameplay. I don know this: No one's ever complained that my dps was too low in any group I've been in, and I run PUGs with myth'd out people in T3 and T4 armor all the time. Mostly when they run instance groups they also have the same attitude. Perhaps in a raid they'd be more focused or whatever, but I've not seen any kind of problem in any group.
most min/maxers on najena are smart and know when they see a good dpser... On my warlock alt i am not the greatest, but i do good dps for what he has... raiders look at your items, buffs that are given to u in grps and then judge... sometimes u get the a** that says u suck no matter what... but for the most part ppl in raiding guilds havent ever turned me down, they know given the buffs i can be pretty good... Moral of the story..most players know warlock do insane aoe dps... and decent single target... unless you yourself suck, invites are common... hell on najena i see... LFM warlock perfered a lot.
Zahne@Mistmoore wrote: I was just going to say the same. I pull several mobs and there always seems to be one that resists almost everything in the bunch. (from a solo/duo standpoint).
the biggest problem isn't that we suck on DPS, because we don't!! the problem is that sorcerers, and necro's are the bastage children of the mages, there is very little we can do, that a chanter can't do better, and bring more to the table at the same time. the real problem in the game, with classes is that the utility has INSANE DPS, ESP for being a utility class. Warlock is a BA DPS class, but on ST/AE in almost every instance a chanter can do better, it seems alot as if there is a dev, like aeralik who has an illy and a coercer, and so they are getting much love like the assassin's do. Could our epic be better? yes definitely!! I can agree that its comparatively weak next to the wizard epic, but if you want a better epic go roll a new class. I guess, where I've played a zerker since launch and seen that class go through hell over and over with every expac getting little or no love, usually just beat down some more, I don't mind so much the issues with being a warlock and being outdone by the utility. In the end, it comes down to this>>>Some classes get all the love, others get the backhand, and its all on what classes the devs play.
