WWI '08 Panel: Warlock
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 28th 2008 at 4:30PM
Warlocks got a few mentions at this morning's WWI class panel, not only with confirmation of some previously mentioned spells in the form of Demon Form and the Demonic Circle, but in relation to the Mage, confirming the eternal struggle that seems to go on between the two classes. Still, what these mentioned changes do for the class, I believe, is mostly unclear.
Demon Form and Damage
Demon Form, otherwise known as Illidan form to the dev team, is something that a lot of Warlocks having been asking for for quite some time. Admittedly, it's pretty cool. Being able to morph into a Demon and gaining temporary access to a whole new skill set to devastate the enemy with? Yeah, I can't see that not being fun. But the question remains: How will it perform?
Turning the Warlock from a spell caster into a melee-spell hybrid fighter, even for 45 seconds, seems to have the strong potential to become a gimmick with no real power. How do you determine how much attack power the demon has for meleeing? Will you make Demonology Warlocks carry a melee weapon with them for Demon Form or will they fight bare-handed like Feral Druids? How do you balance the fact that a Warlock suddenly changes to a whole new set of spells, and can you properly balance them so that it's worth losing access to other Warlock spells in return for these 3 or 4 abilities?
In short, while the idea of spamming AE Shadow Bolt is cool, Demon Form feels like something we need to know more of before we decided if it's really worth it.
The Demonic Circle of Life
One of the biggest complaints Warlocks have in PvP is that Fear is their only escape mechanism and Crowd Control against other human opponents. Since pretty much every serious PvPer has at least one method of breaking a Fear, and many have more, there's not many ways for a Warlock to escape from a melee beat down once his Fear is broken a couple times. Demonic Circle, in this case, should help, since it provides an instant egress for the Warlock. If the circle can be set far enough away that it's not just a case of, say, a warrior simply intercepting or charging over to the warlock to engage him again immediately, it could definitely shore up a major weakness of the Warlock class in PvP -- that is, the lack of a meaningful way to escape from meleers.
The Seed of Corruption Conundrum
One last Warlock issue came up in the Q and A section of the panel, via the question of Mage viability. Tom Chilton said Mages were meant to be the kings of AE damage, but Warlocks sort of ran away with that crown because of how good Seed of Corruption turned out to be.
I'll be honest, I can see it. Seed of Corruption is an amazingly powerful spell. There really are few PvE highs have had higher than the pure joy of chain casting SoC in order to bring down 10 orcs at once in Shattered Halls, or to obliterate Illhoof's imps. You just can't match it. At the same time, I can understand that Mages, who really do have a bit less utility than a Warlock, deserve that get a bit more damage. All I really ask is that you don't nerf Seed of Corruption too hard. Don't take the rush of seeing 10-20 "Killing Blow" messages pop up in rapid succession at the end of a massive Paladin tank pull away from me. Just let Mages be even better than me at it. Then we can team up and really raise some hell.
Final Thoughts
As far as the whole Soul Shard issue goes in the afternoon Q&A panel, I have to admit that I'm happy to hear we may get some emergency shard generation abilities, but I also can't say I'm eager to see sweeping changes to the system either. I suppose I should add a fair disclaimer that I don't raid on my Warlock, but I find that in the process of doing a quick round of dailies, I can easily get enough shards to last me through any 5-man dungeon run -- and if I run low for some reason, I simply make sure to dial off the DPS a bit at the end of a couple battles and apply a Soul Drain. Admittedly, I do not raid on my warlock, so I may be missing how much more difficult it is for raiding Warlocks. But for the most part, I find the Soul shard system a minor inconvenience at worst, and the possible addition of an emergency shard generation ability should at least make it impossible for any warlock to find themselves completely helpless.
Demon Form looks like it will be fun, but it'll take some work to make sure it's more than a gimmick.Demonic Circle looks like it could be a pretty significant boon to Warlock PvP. Overall, I'm going to split the difference and be cautiously optimistic about what we learned today -- although I'm still praying for Seed of Corruption Rank 2, a Paladin tank, and a big old dungeon of level 80 elites for me to play with.
Filed under: Warlock, Wrath of the Lich King, Buffs, Talents, Expansions, News items, Blizzard, Events, Analysis / Opinion, Worldwide Invitational
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joolz Jun 28th 2008 4:56PM
RE: Demon Form. I highly doubt we'll be equipping seperate weapons for that. I imagine you'll have some base stats that are modified by your own. Kind of like how pets are now (but hopefully a lot more effective). It's biggest utility will be in arenas which are often a battle of cooldowns. Because of that I'm most excited about the fact that it's essentially an instant cast heal to full.
I still can't decide if I'm going to extend the cookie cutter sl/sl build to get Felguard as well or go for demon form.
B.D. Martinez Jun 28th 2008 4:57PM
I happen to love the SOC myself. One spell that they better not reduce at all. It’s what I call a good crowd pleaser spell both in PVE and PVP. Honestly I do not really care too much for the demon form. I am spec’d destruction and have all the intentions to stay that way.
Nick S Jun 28th 2008 7:26PM
I love SoC too.
But when my mage has to use Arcane Explosion, exploding *inches* from a dozen elite mobs (Hyjal!) I want do be doing more damage than the Warlocks who can sit up on a hill somewhere having iced tea while they Seed.
JP Jun 28th 2008 5:00PM
The problem I have with Soul Shards in respect to raiding rolls around on fights with no trash before the actual boss (Illidan, Archimonde, Vashj). On these fights, which happen to be the last bosses, wiping tends to happen a lot. Thus meaning if your 0/21/40 spec you will burn through a LOT of shards, from making healthstones every pull, Soul stoning someone when it is up, and summoning is your succubus to kill her.
I'll admit its not as much as a problem once you have an area on farm but it is still a pain in the butt losing two whole bags because on attempt nights I can burn through 40+ shards very quickly.
hoeding Jun 28th 2008 6:25PM
Tip: You can get shards from the adds on Illidan and Vashj. You are out of luck on Archimonde though, and I honestly can't remember about getting shards from Kael's advisors.
Lori Jun 28th 2008 5:02PM
So far, the only soul shard drawback I have found Is the bag slot used by them. Solve that and I would be happy.
PimpyMicPimp Jun 28th 2008 5:42PM
Agreed. I think Soul Bags should add some kind of buff along the line of quivers. Some haste, extra damage, something so it's not just bag that can only hold shards.
Lanth Jun 28th 2008 5:03PM
Eh, chances are it'll just be "x% of your Universal Spellpower is converted to Attack Power".
Dissapointed 'bout the Soul Shard news. Soloing it isn't that bad, but throwing yourself against bosses and arenaing is annoying when you have to go and farm soul shards.
And hell, I wouldn't surprised if this tweakage to Mage's AoE is simply Warlocks not getting a new rank of SoC.
bumble Jun 28th 2008 5:17PM
Demonform looks like a gimmick
quite sure that rogues and warriors can still shred warlocks easily despite demonic circle
WatcherZero Jun 28th 2008 5:31PM
Demonforms purpose according to the devs was aoe and single target dps "it has an aoe shadowbolt which is spammable". The armor bonus similar to moonkin gives it massive boost to armor that should stop the warlock being shredded if its caught in melee range. And final good point, as a transformation it should remove all movement inhibiting or polymorpth effects.
strife Jun 28th 2008 5:32PM
WTF!!were comeing away from TBC and we haven't learned how to summon any more demons? we get a felguard at what lv 50 when TBC came out and from there to lv80 we aren't going to figure out how to summon and keep a new demon? i hope the question hasn't been asked becuase this does feel like lame news. yeah demon form sounds intresting but for the rest of us who aren't going to be 51 point demo specced i would like to atleast get something usefull.
Roxton Jun 28th 2008 5:55PM
Yeah, I was hoping to see a new warlock demon. I think the trouble is that now they're running out of other classes to emulate - you've had a pet mage, rogue, warrior and loads more besides. I suppose a healing pet could be on the cards, but my view is that that would be yet another step too far.
A Mage Jun 28th 2008 5:47PM
I never lost to a warlock on aoe in Hyjal. Especially since patch 2.4 was released and buffed Arcane Explosion twice - 50% higher damage cap and spell haste reducing the global cooldown.
Yes It's harder to aoe as mage nowadays, I have to use cooldowns and sometimes *gasp* drink mana potions on trash, but on the larger packs, when I pop Icy Veins, warlocks have no chance.
Having said that, I still think mages should do better aoe damage. It should not even be a contest considering we're supposed to be the "kings of aoe".
sephirah Jun 28th 2008 5:53PM
45 secs with 5 mins cooldown is a joke.
Roxton Jun 28th 2008 5:54PM
"All I really ask is that you don't nerf Seed of Corruption too hard."
If Blizzard have any sense at all, they won't balance by nerf, but by buff, and that's the way it always should be. Especially now with curse of shadow helping mages, I see a new world order, ruled by casters in dresses: come, my slightly-more-evil-bastardised-padawan, and together we shall rule the universe! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Coldbear Jun 28th 2008 7:44PM
Last thing warlocks need is more power and escape in 1v1, 1v2 and 2v2.
sephirah Jun 28th 2008 8:01PM
Are you a rogue by any chance?
sandwiches Jun 28th 2008 10:33PM
I doubt he's a rogue. Rogues wouldn't be complaining about locks getting a good escape ability since they own them with their eyes closed, already.
Matkar Jun 29th 2008 9:31PM
Hi, I am actually the person that made the question in the Q&A about the shard problem, and as someone has said here the main problems come in a boss where you have no trash (archimonde is the best example as there inst any trash) and you are learning it (3-4 straight hours). The thing is Im not totally sure if they said that they are going to make a new ability to make shards, or that they try to create ocasions that allow us to get emergency shards in some encounters, acoustic wasnt the best from the asking postitio, some cofirmation on this would be nice
ILikePvPbuthatePvPers Jun 29th 2008 2:01AM
LOL @ some of the posts. Stop complaining, you're playing a Warlock already.