Analysis of Warlock changes in 3.1
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 5th 2009 at 1:30PM
By now, Warlocks, you've probably had a chance to take a look at the announced changes for patch 3.1. If you're late to the party, come in, I'll take your coat; Blizzard have announced some of the changes they'll be making to the Warlock class in the upcoming 3.1 content patch. Keeping in mind that this list is incomplete (they'll be making more changes, count on it) and subject to change (on the PTR, etc.), let's talk about what they've revealed so far.
Improved Shadow Bolt – this talent now provides a 5% spell critical strike buff (similar to Improved Scorch)
This goes along with what they were saying about Imp Scorch being too much of a "unique snowflake." It also restores group utility to a talent that had it stripped away in 3.0. I like it, a lot. This is also early enough in the tree that almost any warlock can pick it up if their raid needs it.
Improved Soul Leech – this talent now provides Replenishment (similar to shadow priests)
Has Blizz been reading my posts? I'm really glad that they're spreading Replenishment around. And Destruction could use a little bit of mana-back utility itself. Warlocks have always been the utility caster, and this is just stacking that higher and higher. Keep it coming, I say.
Drain Soul now has a chance to produce Soul Shards even if the target doesn't die.
A clever buff to shards in raids. I hope it's a relatively high chance to get shards (50%?). Shards still need a complete reworking, but pending that, this is a nice band-aid.
Siphon Life no longer as an active ability but the talent grants the old Siphon Life effect to Corruption.
Awesome. Affliction could really use fewer spells to cast; this is a big win. Update: Eyonix has clarified that if you have the SL talent, casting Corruption will give you the full benefits of SL along with Corruption.
Curse of Recklessness and Curse of Weakness have been combined into one spell
Another step in the streamlining we've been seeing across the board recently.
Consume Shadows – this Voidwalker ability is no longer channeled but has a cooldown.
Whatever.
Several other warlock talents have had their ranks reduced, their effects changed or removed. This list includes but is not limited to Demonic Empathy, Shadow Embrace, Eradication, Suppression, and Pandemic.
I'll be honest, I had to look up some of these talents to see what they do. That's probably as good a sign as any that they need some streamlining/reworking. Obviously I can't comment on particulars until they give us the particulars.
Additional new talents have been added.
Oh Eyonix, you're such a tease.
No specifics on changes to Demonology yet (aside from that Voidwalker bit). Hopefully Metamorphosis at least gets some lovin'; I'm sure we'll see more details sooner or later.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Warlock, Patches, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Pepe Silvia Feb 5th 2009 1:38PM
nice, perhaps i'll actually play my lock now...
Lab Monkey Feb 5th 2009 4:13PM
What exactly has been holding you back? What changes mentioned here have made the difference between playing an not? Warlocks are fine right now, this will only tweek them slightly for PvE.
Devant Feb 5th 2009 5:49PM
@ Lab Monkey
Clearly you don't ever pvp or play on a pvp realm.
BooDizz Feb 5th 2009 8:49PM
PvP with a lock isn't as unbearable as people make it out to be. We just arn't the tanks we used to be. Arena wise, go with a healer, pally preferably, and once you get the combo down, you will be fine :)
Bibaxa Feb 5th 2009 1:38PM
Need... more... info...
Stomy Feb 6th 2009 8:43AM
I read what Eyonix posted and it still dosen't answer my question, am i going to lose 150+ DPS from the loss of SL or will corruption DPS now go up and locks get a % of the damage done?
I for one love going into a 25 man Pugs like OS and Archavon and doing 2600+ dps as an afflic lock (Stomy on the Blade's Edge server BTW) it's a fine art that keep me happy and involved in the game.
As far as the SS issue goes get a 32 slot SS bag fill it up, it takes like 4 min to do, and as your killing trash in a instance grab a SS every now and then, it's second nature to a lock to use DS right before a mob dies lol
Gelinna Feb 5th 2009 1:40PM
Warlocks with Replenishment! wow!
Chuckles Feb 22nd 2009 12:07PM
Except... if they take away the existing mana returns of Imp Soul Leech, its actually a nerf.. because in current raids you damn near always have a Shadow Priest, Ret Pally, or Survival Hunter....
Looking at WWS Parses, I gain more mana in a boss fight from Imp Soul Leech mana than Replenishment so yeah, I'm failing to see how this is a good change...
Also, considering Affliction is the king spec right now... I don't see this as anything more than a nerf to the rare destro locks out there....
Sam Feb 5th 2009 1:40PM
These previews don't quite make make me excited. I think i will save my judgement for the actual patch
Compulsive Feb 5th 2009 1:41PM
Hmm these changes seem positive overall, my warlock is still rotting at 70 after the terrible 3.0 changes ( at least in my opinion) . However if Blizzard is actually looking at the class again I might have to dust him off and start again.
ixobelle Feb 5th 2009 8:46PM
warlock is hands down the easiest class to level from 71-80. once you hit 71, you can grab an SL felguard spec and just mow the lawn with 20 mob pulls. there's exactly ZERO downtime, and the only reason to stop pulling is to turn your quests in or take a leak. you can solo EVERY SINGLE QUEST from 71-80.
the only thing warlocks are suffering (horribly, mind you) thru is PvP. hopefully we'll see some survivability changes, but they do absolutely fine in PVE.
Janoi Feb 6th 2009 10:01AM
yep.. you can solo norther in sl/sl spec, y killed all my mobs that way... I am lv 80 now..
also you can kill all the elites using the voidwalker and dot's... takes a little time but you get all the xp from the kill.... :-)
Locks FTW....
We don't need love, We hate all and kill all, buaaahhhaaaa... :P
Pad Feb 5th 2009 1:41PM
While some of these changes seem good, I'm still a little fuzzy on why they want to change eradication, pandemic, and shadow embrace. I understand they're trying to streamline affliction, but at what cost. To me, the challenge of affliction is rewarded with the high damage in longer fights, if these changes are only going to make my rotation shorter but at the cost of damage I'd prefer the old affliction any day.
Omestes Feb 5th 2009 2:05PM
But the problem is that your pretty much alone in this. Most bossfights are just silly with affliction, they die too fast for you to start building up the DPS; so the only place we shine is a handful of raid bosses.
This is pretty silly.
I liked it when we were the most complicated class. But now we're so complicated I often don't even bother. You need to be well rested, have a full stomach, and be high on methamphetamines to really get the most out of locks (in perhaps 3 fights). Since I'm rarely well rested, full, or high on meth, I generally say "F it" and play my shaman, or DK.
vazhkatsi Feb 5th 2009 2:22PM
so? siphon life is our longest dot, and the easiest to keep up, now its easier yes, but unless they buff corruption damage significantly, siphon life is effectively useless over healing in most raids. still great for solo, and maybe better for pvp, but why not just extend the timers on some other dots, not take out our easiest one.
Yeng Feb 5th 2009 3:03PM
For now I'm taking their word on it actually being fully combined, as in now Corruption is the same plus now it does all the damage and healing that SL did previously. We'll have to see how their version of 'combined' works out though.
GrayElf Feb 5th 2009 8:21PM
I think the biggest problem with Affliction right now is that it's the most complex spec to play well, and still doesn't top the other specs (certainly not Demo/Destro, Destro/Demo might be lower, but I kinda doubt it) in dmg. As a long-time Demo lock, I switched about a month ago, took my time to work through Affliction, rotations etc, playing the micro-management game, to the point where I was roughly matching the dmg done in 25's by long-term Affliction locks.
Then I switched back to Demo and topped them, easily, not just by doing more dmg, but with a much simpler, easier, and (for me) more enjoyable play style.
I have no problem with the concept of effort and reward, making Affliction do comparable dmg at a comparable level of difficulty - but more if you put more effort in. But juggling ~8 DoT's in a very painful rotation with so much concentration on keeping every one up continually without clipping - it simply ain't worth the effort atm. Thus, Affliction needs some work.
No idea what they're changing in all those talents though...so we really can't comment on them.
rosencratz Feb 6th 2009 3:45AM
You are most certainly NOT on your own.
There is a growing cult of Locks who actually enjoy the complex nature of the Affliction spec. It takes constant maintenance to keep our DPS rolling along as it should and this is quite fun.
This isn't to say however that it doesn't require some simplification, mobile fights or fights with regular raid wide stuns or similar make life most troublesome, though it is possible to keep Corr refreshed through the safety dance. The changes to Shadow Embrace, Pandemic and Suppression will most likely just be reduction in required talent points to remove the much complained about and recognised "bloat" at the end of the talent tree. I wouldn't be suprised if we saw some talents combined.
Additionally @ vazhkatsi - Combining SL with Corr effectively removes a Global Cooldown from our cast rotations. Now all we have to cast is Haunt/ Drain Life to maintain two of our dots. Don't forget, even though casting Siphon Life was rarer than CoA,UA and Immolate it's still a global cooldown you'll see multiple times in a boss fight. It will have a more dramatic effect than you realise.
I assume the SL dot will still appear with Corr so as not to reduce our number of DoT's on the target.
DeathPaladin Feb 5th 2009 1:46PM
This is how I read the Drain Soul change:
If the mob dies while you are draining its soul, you get a Soul Shard as normal. If it doesn't, then the RNG gets to decide whether you get a shard anyway.
If I read it correctly, the big impact of such a change would be that a lock wouldn't be punished for hitting Drain Soul a second too early.
PSUjebus Feb 5th 2009 1:50PM
No i means on bosses were you wipe alot you can actually get shards back without killing things. Since after 25% drain soul is part of the dps rotation