I've meant to do this for awhile but lately we've had numerous threads and posts on these boards concerning our DPS and where we are meant to be. Basically I want to see the feedback from the rest of the Warlock community and get one cosolidated thread to all of our issues and concerns for the class. Aggro is probably the biggest issue I have with the class. Our deaggros I believe are pretty much useless and don't reduce hate as much as it should. We should either : A) lower the amount of hate the Warlock dishes out B) increase the deaggro on our already deaggro skills(DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!) C) have some other idea for the issue.(ANOTHER WINNER!!! AA can also fix that) In order for us to even maximize our DPS we have to have numerous deaggro things on us and even at that we will still pull aggro, especially on big AE encounters. Conjurors and Necros can do more AE dps and not get aggro unless their pets die. I for one am peeved at that. We need some sort of innate deaggro or something to help us on this issue. Rarely ever have aggro issues anymore DPS is also another issue that comes up on alot of topics. The questions is why should you bring a warlock instead of a conjuror or necro or even wizard? Really can't think of why you want to bring a warlock. Our single target DPS isn't too bad but when we get out dps'd by zerkers, swashbucklers, brigands, bruisers, and other DPS classes you have to know something is wrong. Ideally the top of the parses should be Wizard/assassin, ranger/warlock but as we all know its more like Conj/Necro/Assassin, Wizard then the rest whether it be Warlock or even one of the other classes I have stated before. We are not far from where we need to be on the parse but we do need a boost in DPS one way or another. Someone will say well give us some utility.....well all I have to say about utility is hell no. We are a DPS class, we should deal out the DPS and leave the utility to the Enchanters and Bards. (will know once i get another 50 AA's and can determine our full potential in DPS) Warlocks IMO are fine the way they are and just need spell resist rate fixed One suggestion I see that isn't too unreasonable is increasing the damage our DoT's do by about 50-100 more a tick (FIXED, AA line now reduces DoT duration and reduces recast time). On our AE damage they need to totally redo how it is done(FIXED, AA line increases damage and also get a passive spell that can deal adittional damage). We have to use everything we can get to even try to match Conjurors in that aspect and still get humiliated by them. There have been times that I thought wow I totally owned that encounter and then the parse comes out and I'm third or 4th on the parse. That just makes me scratch my head thinking how in the hell do they do that? IMO summoners are still overpowered if the person knows how to play the class. Am I asking for a nerf? hell no I do not wish for a nerf on any class, I'd just like to see some lovin' to the class in the AE aspect since we are suppose to be the kings of AE and are specialized in it yet we still get topped by T2 dps classes. Conjurors arent even remotely close to us DPS wise anymore if anything need to fix summoners Utility is another thing people would like to see from the warlock. I for one think we have enough utility that is needed but some of our "utility" spells need lovin. For example our Seal line is the most worthless buff there is. a + to skill castings doesnt do anything. It is a worthless buff and should have never been changed. Everytime for a raid Warlocks are thrown into the "other" dps group since we provide to real big benefits for a top DPS group. People would rather have STR and INT which a Wizard has. (FIXED, ministration and other skill buffs seem to play a bigger role after combat changes) People would also like to have Evac or something just as useful instead of our siphoning line. I for one enjoy using the Siphoning line ever since they made the changes to it so it would not require a nil crystal and lowered the cast time. That brings up another problem. Nil crystals....why do we have to have them? It's a pain in the [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] to stock up on them in the first place as one of the spells that does create them is deemed useless as it is(which i will come to in a minute). Why would we need something in order to cast a spell? Doesnt make any sense to me. Maybe if it was like in T5 when all we needed was on crystal and be able to cast all the spells that required it, it wouldn't be as much of a pain. Either remove nil crystals from the game altogether or make it like it was in T5. Fixed got rid of nil crystals =] Just as i stated previously the Curse line in which that reduces Max HP and Power from a mob. What the hell is SOE thinking? Maybe when soloing or something it can be useful but even thats stretching it. In raids it is 100% useless as the mob has a million HP anyways, so what's 900 being taken off gonna do? Nothing. Then they want to put in the reduces power as well. Hah! epic encounters never run out of power too much as they regen at an extreme rate which is why any spell that drains power from an epic encounter is useless, unless of course it gives power back. (Semi - Fixed, see below) Anyways these are just a few concerns I see at the moment but not all so feel free to add more to this thread. I will see to try and get it stickied and hopefully a Dev will come in and give us some feedback as well. EDIT: Adding a list of issues to the end of this thread so people will not have to read all the posts. Ideas/Suggestions: - Get rid of nil crystals Fixed taken out of game - Make Curse of Isolation a totally different debuff - Semi-Fixed - now has set amount of hp/power it will reduce the encounter by Still needs looked at. My suggestion is to make it so it will reduce all spells resists by 10-15% on target encounter, lasts for 30 seconds. - Fix the AE deaggro spells to decrease more hate - FIXED - Increase the percentage of the Boon line to something like 5-7% - Semi-Fixed was moved up to 4% and buff was made better. Basically now it just seems that SOE needs to fix the spell resist rate and then the warlock class IMO and many others is fine the way it is. Change a couple spells and thats about it. I am very very very happy with the way the warlock class is.
Perhaps the time has come to reassess the warlock role. Perhaps I'm a heretic, but I for one do not consider warlocks to be a dps class. Poison/Disease= weakening and debilitation, not massive and rapid destruction. So, our role actually is to engage and weaken all the members of a group encounter so that when the tank and assists move to the next member of a target encounter it has already been weakened somewhat by our handiwork. This train of thought also addresses the age old question of aggro-management, as well. Let's face it, we get aggro through irresponsible and obscene outputs of damage in a desperate attempt to try to prove ourselves a dps class instead of working with the good of the group in mind and giving support to those classes that are going to out dps us all the time anyhow. So, stop throwing back to back nukes, stop stacking DoTs and start making more use of debuffs and pillaging. You'll be amazed at how effective it is and how aggro suddenly becomes much more manageable. The ultimate goal should be defeating an encounter not winning some sort of dps award. Also, act responsibly in the group. If you get aggro bring the mob back to the tank. Sure, you'll probably die, but you may just save the majority of your group/raid as well. In the right situations we can shine in dps, but those situations are so few and far between as to be practically non-existent and, in reality, are trivial encounters anyhow. So warlocks of Norrath wake up and embrace reality. Work with the gifts we are given and stop trying to be something we aren't. I for one relish our role and when you stop worrying about out-dpsing classes that can regularly out-dps anyhow you'll really enjoy your profession a lot more. Isult lvl70 Warlock Raiding Warlock of the guild Valor Kithicor Server
Good post overall but I have some thoughts that I've posted below ... I tried to cut it down to nice neat little concise points ...
I'm sorry ... but no. Just. No. We are a sorcerer class. Sorcerer = damage. We give up all else for it - and that's how we want it. I think every single warlock who posts to these boards would agree on that point - if nothing else. (Save you of course.) Making us into a hybrid of necromancer and coercer -- which is essentially what you are stating we are / should become -- makes us LESS useful - not more. What needs to happen is that the focus needs to become MORE focused ... not broader. Only when we fill a role that NO other class can fill in the SAME way we can or to the same degree we can (which currently does not exist - and not only for warlcoks but for several other classes as well and it's a central flaw in the character system and has been since launch -- and that's really the crux of this whole ongoing raid disparity amongst all the DPS classes) ... then we will start to feel truly useful in all situations across the board. I do agree that it is partly our own use of nukes which gets us aggro. I've never shied from admitting that and in fact I'm quite proud of it - as I think most mages are in many MMO's (deep down). That doesn't mean that our entire class should be changed. We already WERE changed - thoroughly - in LU13. No thank you. Work with what we have now and make it BETTER. Do not do [or suggest] another role change yet again. Message Edited by Vicontessa on 08-06-2006 02:48 PM
the only thing I would like to see gone are the nil crystals...honestly I hate having to make sure I have at least a stack of em before a raid...because quite honestly I don't normally go out just to get nil crystals. Other than that I am pretty happy with the dmg output we can do. the aggro issue I expect since I am nuking the mobs and there is the chance that I could hit hard enough to take hate from the main tank. I have learned to die and die well :smileyvery-happy:
Warlocks were designed to be masters of DoTs - dealing devastating damage, but unlike wizards, aggressive play styles were not to put us at the top of the monsters hate list. (Everquest II: Prima Official Game Guide, 2004, p. 228) The guide literally says, "on large target encoutners or battles that could last awhile, a Warlocks DoTs are a must have". That was the archtype many of us signed up for and SOE should return us to those origins. Video may have killed the radio-star but LU13 most-certainly killed the warlock. We were designed to be a massive dps class - you can't fault warlocks for wanting to be just that. As far as utility, that was in power conservation but is overlooked with the plethora of items that do that job for us.
Been busy, hope I am not too late in this thread, but after so many months/the past year, it is never too late. [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]... where to start. I guess I'll start off with the warlock's aggro issues. Everyone and their godmother knows that warlocks are infamous for their aggro. Now a lot of people on these boards often find it funny and laugh every time they die but for the raiding warlocks, at least for many of us who have to pay 8gp of repairs for each death, it gets old and is not funny after many months of endless and needless dying. Warlock is like the only class where it is not possible for them to do their full potential other than with amends - and also the fact that if you have a paladin, he would be much better suited to another job in another group than simply the warlock's pet 'amender'. Warlocks are no where near a top choice in a tank group either so you usually see them grouped with a troubador. Now I can bet all my 280 plat no tank in the world can hold aggro against me if I try to maximise my dps even with a troubador and the coercers harmonious buff and the tank having a dirge and coercer for hate buffs. Now don't get me wrong here I am also saying with the right hate reduction, that is currently not available in the game, the warlock will still fall behind many of the other dps classes, so even with amends they will still fall behind, but in addition to that the aggro generation of the warlock can piss off anyone who feels like they are dying needlessly. Warlocks have to rely on so many other classes just to do their job. The scouts, other than rangers, can do nice dps even without the dps/haste/proc buffs/deaggro. Warlocks with no deaggro can't even use their class defining spell, apocalypse. Even when they do have deaggro and it crits you still have a high chance of getting aggro and if you are not number one the hate list you are defenitely number two. Now brigands also create a lot of hate from their debuffs and single target dps and don't have a passive hate transfer/reduction like the assassin/swashy/ranger but at least they got a lie low type skill to which means instant deaggro. After MANY months of not even having one AE deaggro, I was overjoyed when they announced they were going to introduce AE hate reduction on the vulian line. So I hopped on test and I saw that it did a whopping 400 ae hate reduction. Now even my 8 year old nephew can comprehend how useless that is when you even cast your weakest ae. That much hate is LESS than the lvl 31 guardian taunt suppress - it is not going to make any impact at all. But I will go more into this later. Ok a few months ago they released some notes which many believe gave warlock some love. I cough at that. Ok they gave vulian hate reduction which as I mentioned earlier is u-s-e-l-e-s-s. They added a little hate reduction on null carress which is also crap because you would rarely stand close to the mob for obvious reasons and you don't move around if you can help it since you would lose dps. Even in groups if you wanted to lose aggro you would be teleporting mobs around and that can annoy other players. Neither of these spells achieve their purpose, especially when you have already gotten aggro which is the most important thing. Remember how I mentioned how rogues get an instand deaggro and even summoners, enchanters, healers get ae hate reduction abilities which far outrank the warlocks equally mediocre emergency spell. But wait, weren't warlocks supposed to be AE masters? So why are summoners, enchanters and healers getting these ae hate reduction abilities that are in the thousands and warlocks do not? Continuing on, they changed some of the warlocks spells during that update. They removed and reduced stun components as part of the grand enchanter fix. They also made a lot of totally useless spells simply useless such as curse of isolation line. There is no point to this spell in the game of EQ2, except to farm nil crystals. The idea of reducing max hp and power needs to be totally scrapped and the spell redone. I would like to now address a lot of the warlock's spells a propose some ideas. Vulian line as I said is no more useful than before the change. What I propose for that, as I stated in another thread, is simply to have vulian reduce more hate with everything else in the encounter compared to the targetted mob, so that on a single target you are not reducing as much hate as the wizard's cease. Dark Infestation: For how long was this spell not even working properly? Ok they finally made it a reasonable spell just a few months ago. The problem is it is too situational. It is simply a dumbfire pet where you cannot time the spawn and is based on a random proc. And coupled with the fact that the dot tick is removed once the broodlings proc, it is made a lot less useful on mobs that have ae as you cannot time it and you don't get any dmg from the dot once the broodlings spawn. I believe to give warlocks more flexibility (warlocks are probably the most inconsistent of classes) the dot component needs to remain after the broodlings spawn. This will generally help warlocks a bit on the single target dps department also and not make this spell as useless on mobs which ae which is almost every single raid mob in the game. Even summoners can time their dumbfire pets. I would like to see Void Absolution's cast time be reduced to 3s. This would make it a bit more viable casting it on single targets and with the downside of it if you were to, would be be using up more power. Also, too many times where I cast this, it only hits one or two targets in a large ae encounters since so many in the AE encounter is already dead as the raid AE dps is so high already these days. Sometimes even before I finish casting it, all the mobs are dead. We specialise in AE, give us a unique upper hand in cast times which is the most important thing - why do you think conjurors do so well in AE? Which brings me to Nebula. It is a spell which is never used on single targets and rarely used on multiple targets because firstly, warlocks already have so many AEs, and secondly even on ae encounters you will rarely use it since mobs either die too quick or it simply does not wield the best dps - it does not wield great dps when there is two targets for example. So on targets where there is three or more, you either get the first mob down in the ae encounter before you are able to use Nebula or you simply don't get around to using it due to the huge cast times on the warlock aes. What I propose is partly due to the fact that warlocks don't really have any real blue aes. Yes we have chaostorm but it is very weak for an AE specialist class and the fact we only have one. We have too many green AEs. I propose Nebula have it's cast time reduced to 2s and made a blue AE or just the latter. I wouldn't even mind if many of the other changes were implemented and they remove Nebula altogether if it were to remain in its current state. Curse of Isolation is simply useless as mentioned. It needs to be totally redone to a different spell. I am a bit in a hurry at the moment so will think of an idea for this spell later but in its current state, no person with a right mind will use it other than to farm nil crystals. Scourge of Shadows is also mediocre spell for a lvl 59 spell. I will think of some ideas maybe later for these two spells. Void Distortion needs to be on a 9s recast, down from 12, it would really help on the single target dps department in which warlocks extremely need. Netheros Realm needs to be on a 1s cast time instead of 3s. It is already inferior to the wizard's surging tempest where the spell actually does part of the damage, the warlock version is just a temp buff like corrupt gift. So while the wizard's tempest dot is ticking away happily, you are still busy trying to cast spells which trigger it, as it is a proactive spell and not a passive spell which runs while your other spells are running. Not to also mention is lasts less time than surging tempest. A lot of the time a warlock would be losing a lot of dps casting that mid fight. And it only lasts 30s with 1.5min recast as it is toggleable, making it a 1s cast would not be overpowered at all. I'm sure 9 in 10 warlocks would like to rid of the idea of nil crystals altogether. But I doubt that will happen. I would like to formally say that warlocks offer nothing special to a raid. Firstly, both their single target and multi target dps is inferior and draw a lot more aggro in the process. Ok warlocks have a power transfer, wizards also have it and their's is instant. Warlocks lose here. They have a buff which can be cast on a player to give them power when they are hit by mellee - warlocks are rarely if ever in a tank group, so useless, and again the wizard's is instant instead of increasing power over time to the target - o and you always hear people wanting wizards for the int and str buff which is basically dps personified - where do a lot of people's nice stats, especially dps scouts, come from? From this wizard's buff. Which brings me to the warlock's seal. If you have done any testing you will know this buff is nothing more than useless. And guess just one other class which has this kind of buff - troubadors funnily enough. Warlocks have a power and noxious resist buff, every mage has the power buff and dirges, shaman, necros etc all have the noxious buff. Warlocks have a str and int debuff. LoL. I know so many classes off the top of my head with debuffs which are 10x better and in the case of debuffing str and int, debuff more of it, so again, nothing unique. Warlocks lose again. Warlocks also have no evac. Warlocks lose again, although personally it is not a big deal but every now and then it does come in handy. Warlocks have a mellee proc buff - a lot of other classes have proc buffs although since the warlock one is different, it will stack with the others I will give you that. Warlocks have a over time power regen for the group. I will give you that this spell is maybe the only unique spell the warlock has. But lets be honest here, if you really needed power regen, in which if you are warlock you are probably with a troub and/or illusionist, you would like a bard or chanter. Excluding the permanent power regen buff, coercers alone will regen more power with their spells such as mind's eye, and another one which debuffs int and grants the group power over time. O and don't forget about stuff like channel and mana cloak. I don't think I need to say more. Warlocks lose in raid usefulness. Regarding all the main dps classes, warlocks fall well short. Any top raid guild will tell you that. All these problems add on and compound and the problems escalate to the reason why warlocks are simply incapable of keeping up. Now I know one could say this is about warlocks and not about other classes, but without a medium and relativity, there is no meaning at all in this discussion. If warlock was the only dps class you could bring, then there would not be one problem. So SOE proposed that warlocks were a part of the t1 dps group. Even though they regretted giving out that info I believe that still stands, they just regretted giving the specific info out as now people are basing a lot of arguments towards it. With the exception of the ranger, the warlock does not match up to brigands, swashies, wizards, assassins, conjurors and necros in several different characteristics. In terms of single target dps, well all of them have the potential to do more. Regarding AE dps, now warlock is maybe a top 3 candidate there but as I have mentioned before, there are aggro issues and EVEN if those aggro issues were negated, they still are not capable of beating a competent conjuror, or even a necro or swashy or wizard. Too many of them match up to the warlock for being an AE emphasised class. Even my assassin owns in ae encounters. It is not as if you can't use powerful single target abilities on AE encounters. Even rangers are not as **** on AE encounters - did I just mention all the other dps classes? Also, ae dps in raids is so large that you would never be needing anymore ae dps than what you can currently get in all the other classes combined - remember, warlocks are not even no1 in ae dps even though they were proposed at t1 and is supposed to be the AE king of t1. On AE encounters, just say your raid does 20k dps. Will you bring a warlock just so you could do 20.5k raid dps? Take into consideration warlocks only excel in extremely large ae encounters - with the right deaggro - and don't come close to the others on singles and twos which is what most of this game is comprised of. Do you see my point? It is not like you are losing much if you are down a few hundred dps on a 15 sec AE trash encounter. The only time when you don't feel as **** is either when your guildies are slacking or in Lyceum, those are the times when the warlock can at least feel a little better about themselves. See mr dev how one warlock problem compounds to another? The warlock class is just not a serious class at this point in time, there are too many weaknesses to be exploited, even in the one heroic zone that maybe matters, Nizara, you have a mezzer so you cannot use AEs or use dark infestation, so you can only pick out singles with your weaker spells so you are next to useless once again. If you are a casual player that soloes or groups occasionally then yea, the warlock can be fine most of the time, but as a serious class to consider for the end game and to have a lustrous EQ2 journey, then I sincerely wouldn't recommend it in its current state. You will also hear in a lot of places that warlocks are good at killing ae trash mobs. Even though that is not true, is that how people want the warlock to be invisioned? A trash killing class? If you just look at conjurors, they do more, AND do more on singles AND offer better and unique utility AND do it with much less aggro AND two conjurors over a conj and a warlock would mean shards are given out faster, the list goes on. Warlocks are not meant to be the best single target dps, that is for sure, but a dev DID say that warlocks were meant to be part of the t1 dps classes. Hence even on single targets warlocks should outdamage conjurors, necros, swashies, brigands but they would come relatively close yes? That is not the case atm, warlocks fall behind all of the t1 or t2 dps classes on single target dps (except ranger), especially when there is mezzing which is another reason why warlocks are said to be so situational. If warlocks did the least on single target dps compared to wizards, assassins and rangers, that is perfectly fine, but it is not the case as I said and is well known in top raid guilds. Again, when everyone is trying do warlocks make top 3 on zone/named parses? Now I know a lot of you don't like WoW, but I am going to refer to a single component of gameplay of WoW. Both EQ2 and WoW have their strong points in combat but in the case I am about to address, WoW has the upper hand. If you look at WoW, AE actually matters and is a treat to have, and when you need it, you call upon the mage there. Why? Because they are the only class which have good AEs of any sort and hence offer a unique hand in dealing AE dmg. This makes the mage in WoW a very viable class to have when you require AE dmg. It is not like that in EQ2 and with the warlock class in EQ2. When they branded the warlock an AE specialist class at the beginning of DoF, in which most rejected, they became obselete then because AE is nothing special in this game and being an AE specialist class, you are even worse off. And if you look at the way AE works in WoW, they actually have instant cast AEs and affects everything around you and some where you can even self target a certain area, and only the mage has the most powerful ones, the others classes don't even compare. In EQ2, all AEs require you to stand there for a few secs and every class has them - that's right - EVERY. Do you see now why being an 'AE specialist class' that is the warlock is nothing special at all in this game? I have my assassin now as many know, but yet I still post about the warlock issues. Why? Because having gotten both of them in full masters and raid leg/fabled I know first hand how mediocre the warlock class compares - first hand. I know both the classes' potential on every encounter with the exception of Chel'Drak as I haven't raided with my warlock on Chel yet. But it is not like we are missing a warlock or failing miserably without one - no we do fine. There is no more than a handful of named encounters in the game where my warlock would beat the assassin, and the only zone my warlock would outparse my assassin is in Lyceum, but not by much at all. I also forgot to mention that my warlock has more than double the number of damage proc items than my assassin simply because the only proc items you can get as a scout are weapons and the collection quest earring. Edit: Fixed some typos and incoherent sentences. Was in a rush tbh when I wrote this. And I can't believe dam.n is censored and piss is not. Message Edited by SmEaGoLLuM86 on 08-07-2006 08:55 PM
[expletive haxx0red by Raijinn], I just realised how long that was :smileywink: but it is really only a summary. I did not really go into any real detail and I bet I missed out on some info. If it really hurts anyone's eyes, just save half for another day :smileytongue: All this is coming out simply because I endured for so long and know it like I know my bedroom.
I agree Warlocks are pitiful right now, and I think most warlocks would agree that we need revamping. But here is the TRUE problem with warlocks: Where are the Dev's during all this? Do they not see that one class is utterly useless? Is it they really don't care about Warlocks? Do they think they are fine because we don't don't complain and whine as much as other classes may? When has a Dev visited this forum anyways? I personally feel that it doesn't matter what any of us say here on this forum, because it falls on deaf ears. If they do change warlock, it tends to be for the worse, so we may as well accept it and make an alt.
SmEaGoLLuM86, while your post is like reading War and Peace, you're on the mark. I raid with my warlock and I parse with my warlock and there are precious few raid-encounters (notably as you mentioned, Lyceum) where I can out-parse the other classes. I believe on this weekends Lyceum run, I out-parsed the necro once... why only once? Because in order to stay alive I have to wait a good 20-30 seconds to throw anything but single target stuff and only then do I have the confidence to throw a really useless AE spell like Nebula. All the while, the necro and every other dps class is throwing anything they please and not getting any grief for it. The rest of the fight I'm spending so much time casting my deaggros that I just can't keep up [read "catch up"] with other AE classes. Paladins will hold aggro if I've got their amends but if we happen to have a paladin raid-tanking his amends is going elsewhere, like a monk. Berserkers will hold aggro simply because they are doing more AE damage than me anyway (what gives with that? They get all that damage mitigation AND warlock-level AE dps? Dosen't seem equitable.) Guardians/SKs simply can not hold aggro off me if I AE to even 50% of my capability. I'll try to post some parses later but usually I'm getting dead if I'm higher then 5-6th place in dps on a raid parse so something is amiss and I wish the Devs would speak to it. I've apparently earned the ire of a moderator so good luck with this discussion and in getting the earnest attention of the Devs.
SmEaGoLLuM86, Great post and summary. I suggest you cut it out and make a seperate post that can be stickied for higher visability. Quattra - 70Warlock
I don't know how much attention this will bring, I know i posted about this topic back in the day, and there were several attempts by us warlocks to get our issues resolved.... anyways... from the previous posts.... Ill just sum this up... 1) Get rid of our nil crystals, we have several spells that require them, and stack of 100 usually lasts maybe a night of raiding, then you have to spend a couple hours the next day on gray group mobs to try and stock up on them.... Its pretty pointless. 2) AGGRO- just flat out horrible..... definately needs adjusting and looked into.... (pref by someone that raids with a warlock).. but if that was done im sure the agro issue would of been fixed along time ago... (ex.. a conj can do 2k dmg and not pull agro i do 900ish and i can pull) 3) DMG- yes i would like to see our dmg increase... actually what would help is a lil manipulation of our spells. Our margin of dmg is such a range between a high hit and low hit... for example like Void Distortion 1951-3623 (a differance of (1672 dmg), i can keep showing you the huge margin of error we have per spell... and it sucks... possibly makin the margin of error between high and low hits narrower would increase our dmg output. 4) Curse of isolation, would be nice if it was an equationed debuff.... 10% for heroic mobs, 1% for raid mobs... anyways i posted these suggestions a couple of times maybe well get some insight from this post.... Formerly known as Mimix
I have retired my warlock and will not play him again until the 'AE specialist' role is abandoned. I played my warlock from release through the KoS and find the AE role too limiting, frustrating and unsatisfying. I don't want to do T1 damage on just groups of trash mobs, I want to do T1 damage on the named mobs in raid zones - until that changes nothing else matters. If you revert back to a more balanced single target damage / AE damage spell mix many of the other problems would be less of an issue. I love my warlock but he's just to painful to play in his current state. Message Edited by MilkToast on 08-07-2006 05:01 PM
Yeah i made my warlock back in january of 05 but i have given up on him for my illusionist, I can pump out alot of dmg while having utility also. The warlock class i s a joke now. The true AE specialist is the Conjuror.
Warlocks are currently in pretty bad shape. Poor utility, poor damage, poor aggro control. There have already been some good ideas mentioned in this thread to remedy some of those problems. As far as our aggro problem goes, I think an aggro-transfer spell would work well for us. Two scout classes get an aggro transfer, so why cant one mage class get one. Something as simpl as that would go a very very long way into solving our aggro problems. Our DPS problems are a bit different. Warlocks simply lack the tools to achieve tier 1 dps. With our current spells and abilities its just not possible for a warlock to really shine dps wise. In every situation another class will always outshine the warlock. Like xede said, I can go into some encounters, throwing out AE after AE and thinking theres no way any other class beat me on this parse. Then to my surpirse im 5th or 6th on the parse. Alot of our spells just need complete overhauls, not only changes to the damage numbers but cast and recast times also.
I want to add to this tread: I have a 70 Fury (Main that i raid with) 70 Warlock, 70 Guard (I have tanked a couple of T7 raid Zones with my Guard from start to finsh) My guild has sometimes needed a tank, and my guard has been used a number times to tank raid zones. My guild does not have high dps, and never has my warlock been asked to come on raid, only once when i asked could i take my warlock. My point is if my guild needed a extra DPS the warlock is the last person to be invited to a raid, 2 perceptions of the warlock class is that they pul agro all over the place and they lack DPS. A warlock is usally the last person to get a invite to a group as we pull agro all over the place unless we have a pally tanking. Some of the problems i see is the AE agro reductions we have are not strong enough, we really need some type of passive deagros, i think a assasin get a agro transfer plus 2-3 other deagro's ! + the amount of damage summoner classes can do before pulling agro is very high, they just dont get much agro. Some of our Damage spell ranges are very large, and the damage our dots do are really crap. My furies dots do just as much damage as my warlock (not counter T6 special spells) But the BIGGEST problem i see is the difference/gap from Sorc & caster DPS to melee DPS is going to get wider and wider. I think as melee classes get better weapons per tier, upgraded CA's (this include Necros and Conj as they get melee pets) there damage gets higher and higher. While Sorc's only gets there main benifit to damage from upgraded spells. Dev's you know there is a problem with our agro, you gave us 2 new AE deagro spells but they just not enough. Can you pls come to our forums and give us some comment, you can spare the time for rangers what about us? I know there are not many warlocks any more, but we are still around. Taylon 70 Fury Sorann 70 Guardian Nukette 70 Warlock Najena
On lyceum runs i parse higher than everyone almost every fight. 1200 -1600 dps average fight names are 800-1k
Aggro and DPS As a raiding warlock I am always near or at the top. I can and do out DPS wiz, ranja's, assasins, conj, zerkers etc. I have little problem doing well over 1000 dps in Lyceum and Labs. And if you every want to go play and feel like a true god drag you guild back and do Poet's Palace: The return (sp) I have parsed over 2900 in there. And I have NO issues with agro, becasue I always have a pally or troubadour in the group. We genterate TONS of agro becasue we do incredible amounts of DPS. Tanks do not have sufficient in and out of encounter group taunts to hold agro on the other mobs in the group. IF you want the correct fix. Head over to the tank forums and beg for better aoe taunts. Yes every thing is Adpet3 or better, Yes I have prismatic 2, the earring and the BCG. Yes i have 49 aa and have the 8% inc in dmg the 22% on any one spell and the 12% cost reduction AA, The 10% de agro aa and the Agro debuff Robe. I suggest not calling attention to the class at all. Everytime the dev's do the muck something up. We are NOT broken. Raiding guild that do not see the worth of a warlock have never raided correctly with one. We reduce the trash killing time, burn adds down like mad and make some encounters almsot trivial ( try a pally as tank with a warlock for the named in labs with the huge dmg shield). Our mana recovry abilites (this could be better) are often over looked and discounted but are a very nice on long fights. OK I have rambled enough. There are few enough warlocks out there and when a group or raid sees one played with the proper support. Lets just say I get a huge ego rush when the group raid see the parse, the moutains of dead corpses and all they can say is.. Dam, I didnt know warlocks could do that. Fyzzl GL of Twisted Priorites Over Nukers Anon - Not just a member
It's pretty difficult to ascertain the last time a Dev *visited* this forum but I can tell you the last time a Dev posted here, it was Lockeye on Nov 7, 2005.
