WoW Moviewatch: Buff My Warlock
by Michael Gray 
Jan 7th 2009 at 12:00PM
I usually stay away from videos that are centered around topical, timely issues like whether Warlocks need some love or buffs right now. They're just not the kind of thing I dig, personally, and they're usually not incredibly well done. Buff My Warlock, however, kind of got my attention. It's basically a protest video, created by author Illustrious for fun and amusement. She feels she can no longer play her Warlock effectively in PvP, and is hoping for a little love from the developers.
The singing isn't the best, and I have to admit the audio made me wince a few times. I'm trying to chalk that up to a bad recording or compression, however, since I think the lyrics are actually okay. The ideas were great, and I have vast appreciation for the fact that the message was relatively personable despite being featured in what some would call a "QQ Video."
Hopefully, Illustrious can have fun with her chosen character, and maybe keep advancing her machinima skills going forward. I wouldn't hate seeing the next video be "I love my Warlock."
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
Previously on Moviewatch ...
Filed under: Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, Machinima, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
chris Jan 7th 2009 12:07PM
Did you really think the wow community as a whole would benefit from seeing this?
I mean, seriously. This video is bad, and you know it. Not having anything else is no excuse for posting drivel.
Zuldim Jan 7th 2009 12:16PM
Normally I wouldn't agree with this kind of thing, but.. He's kind of right.
This is awful, affects 80% of the WoW community in no way, is very much so a "QQ video", is a terrible use (read: abuse) of WoW Model Viewer, and.. Well.. It just plain sucks.
And oh god that singer. 0_0 I don't normally complain about singers in vids like this, as I love wow inspired music. I love (most of the) stuff by Nyhm. I loved that "All I Want for Christmas is a Blue" video you guys put up a while ago. That was awesome. This however is just one warlock crying about not being OP again.
I'm not saying warlocks are balanced right now, I'd have to be an idiot to say that, but really.. She rhymed "HK" with "Die". Or tried to at least. This video is an abomination, and, while it may be true that warlocks need some buffs, this video is just crying about it.
Allison Robert Jan 7th 2009 2:57PM
The video isn't particularly well made, but it's a pretty accurate reflection of what's going on with the Warlock forums right now. And if Armory statistics can be believed, it also might be an indication as to why the class has become the least popular at 80.
We expected a lot of people to reroll Death Knights and cause some demographic shift with the classes, but if the largest share of DK players are coming from warlocks (as the data suggests), well...if I were a developer, I'd sure be asking why. It does seem to suggest an overall trend concerning the class and its real or perceived weaknesses.
WoW Moviewatch posts all kinds of videos in the interests of both entertainment and documenting trends in both the game and machinima community as a whole. I've never done Michael's job; I don't know how many movies he has in the pipeline at any given moment. The film here isn't great (something he, too, has already observed) but I do find it a rather curious reflection of the Warlock class' fall from BC dominance in both PvE and PvP.
Not that many inexperienced filmmakers would go to the effort of attempting to learn the craft just to make a film expressing their unhappiness with the class. The movie itself won't win any awards, but the trend it documents certainly merits observation.
Amaxe Jan 7th 2009 7:34PM
Well WoW census indicates that level 80s are the lowest (slightly behind shamans).
However they are ahead in 70-80. It seems they don't fall off until 74. It may be that they are not popular for that reason, or it could be the players are rolling DK (tied at that level for first with Paladins). DKs in some ways feel like Warlocks wearing plate (or Shamans wearing plate)
When you look at all levels though they are third from last (following Shamans and Priests) so people are still rolling them it seems.
LittleJim Jan 7th 2009 12:11PM
The audios terrible I can't make out half the words and it looks terrible, but apart from that....
lootless Jan 7th 2009 12:13PM
"SHE feels SHE can no longer play HIS Warlock effectively in PvP" .....?
sosei Jan 7th 2009 12:18PM
The vocals were a little weird, but the lyrics were kinda funny. It could've been done better (example: during the chorus, one lock had his name visible but the other didn't) but at the very least, it had some amusement.
silverdragon Jan 7th 2009 12:27PM
buff
my
warlock
jerzz80 Jan 7th 2009 2:48PM
Warlocks are funny. They were the first OP class of PVP. And they remained at the top for three seasons.
Then season 4 came and rogues picked up some mercyless weapons with just honor and boom goes the dynomite.
The QQ is overboard. Locks are just like the rest of us.
Although I will admit that blizzard did ruin the mechanics of the class in an attempt to balance thus throwing a wrench in every locks game.
JLocke Jan 7th 2009 12:39PM
i think somewhere out there, a gnome chuckled
Naix Jan 7th 2009 12:41PM
What Warlocks are.
---
Free HKs in BGs
Squishy cloth with no escape
Slow and low DPS
Transporters
What Warlocks are not.
---
OP
Near the top of the damage meters
Made for Wrath content (Dots are sucky in a crit based world)
Able to fear effectively (every one has some type of fear breaking ability)
How to fix Warlocks
---
Increase the damage of DOTS
Make DOTS crit
If mob has less then 5% of life left dot does full remaining damage
Buff fear mechanics
Where did the Warlocks go?
---
Rerolled DKs, Hunters, and Mages
With that being said I refuse to play my warlock until Blizzard fixes these issues.
silverdragon Jan 7th 2009 12:56PM
i still play my warlock, i havnt given up and gone crying to blizzard. I just don't pvp much anymore. blizz will fix them eventually and the rise of the locks will come.
Jess Q. Jan 13th 2009 10:43AM
I re-rolled a Priest. I love her, actually, it feels kinda nice to not be dependent on a pet at all. But I would drop her in an instant if my Warlock kicked ass again. :\
I don't want to HAVE to be Demonology to last more than 5 seconds in a BG. Blah.
Seanguy Jan 7th 2009 12:45PM
MY EARS!!! MY EARS!!!
Amaxe Jan 7th 2009 12:50PM
A QQ video that I don't thin is relevant for the moviewatch.
As for the line of the rogue comes up from behind and there is nothing we can do...
... that's not just a Warlock problem, it's a problem for everyone (for me it's a toss up whether I hate rogues or DK more in PvP). They may have taken away Mace Stun, but it is still pretty common I go 100-0 from a stealthed rogue with no chance to defend.
Kirke Jan 7th 2009 1:22PM
I agree. Try playing a priest. There has always been little we could do when a rogue came up behind us.
Amaxe Jan 7th 2009 1:48PM
Hell, I play enhancement shaman, but if they get ston lock on me, I'm screwed, so yeah I imagine a priest has it worse.
Usually when a rogue stunlocks me I just wait for it to be over, because I'll be dead before it breaks
anonymoose Jan 7th 2009 12:58PM
Hmmm where to start...first I would have to agree with the multitudes who have stated the video is poorly done. I'm sorry, I don't normally criticize peoples' singing, but this was horrible. It's possible that keeping it more on the side of rap would have made it tolerable--I've cheerfully sat through more than my fair share of bad rap in machinima because the medium is a bit more tolerant. Actual melodic singing poorly done is incredibly hard to tolerate.
As for the issue with warlocks--while I agree a great deal of rebalancing needs to go on all the way around, a part of me wonders where all the locks were in TBC when others were complaining that locks were too OP? I'm not saying this is deserved--but I recall a lot of locks responding to criticism that their class was too OP and others are stating it needs balancing, with "L2p". Now the situation is reversed (is it as bad as locks once were in Vanilla wow?) and oddly enough the general population isn't saying "L2p".
Just something to keep in mind for the current and future OP and nerfbatted classes...
zombie Jan 7th 2009 1:11PM
they're not saying l2p because they know Locks are gimped. I mean, how does my ability to play mean anything when nobody will group with me simply because I'm a Lock and were no good anymore. Catch 22: Locks need gear to up dps, but nobody wants to waste their time grouping with one so they can get said gear...
Zuldim Jan 7th 2009 1:19PM
@ zombie
Ret Pallys were fail while warlocks were OP.
"l2p"
Shamans were fail while warlocks were OP.
"l2p"
Most classes had at least one spec that was fail while warlocks were OP.
"l2p"
It's because we know they're underpowered that we don't say L2P, but warlocks told us all to L2P while we were underpowered.