[Updated] Warlock soul-shard farming a thing of the past?
by Nick Whelan 
Mar 1st 2009 at 7:00PM
- Drain Soul: Each time Drain Soul deals damage to a target which can grant experience, it now has a chance to generate a Soul Shard.
- Soul Shard: This item now has a maximum count of 32 in inventory.
This change is not yet on the test realms, so I have no first hand knowledge of how it will actually function. Fortunately, Ghostcrawler elaborated on what it will be like. Based on his commentary, it appears that this change is designed to keep warlocks from needing to meekly inform the raid leader that -- after so many wipes -- they need to head down to Dragonblight for some shard farming if they're to continue summoning pets and health stones.
Given the obtuse nature of this infernal reagent, I'm surprised this change was so long in coming. Warlocks have been complaining about how difficult it is to manage soul shards since before I rolled my first 'lock. I'm looking forward to seeing this change up on the PTR, where I can get a better idea of just how awesome it's going to be.
Updated: There's been a lot of talk about this being an unsatisfactory change to the soul shard situation. I think it's important to note that Ghostcrawler mentioned two changes would be coming for drain soul. One will be a very large change that will significantly alter gameplay, and the other is more of a minor tweak. A stopgap measure while the larger change is worked on. I think it's safe to say that the above changes announced for 3.1 fall into the latter category, and we can look forward to more significant alterations later on.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Alex Mar 1st 2009 7:32PM
If I stayed played my lock, this would make me very happy!
Urza Mar 1st 2009 11:26PM
I know.. I might have to go back to mine.
Radiophonic Mar 1st 2009 7:10PM
So...targets have multiple souls now? lol
Such a strange way of doing this. And what's with the limit to shards? Someone give me some logic; I don't have a limit to ammo or candles or...
BulletzBill Mar 1st 2009 7:14PM
So you don't have to keep throwing them away. If you have the max of 32 in your inventory, any more generated after that will not increase the total.
steve Mar 1st 2009 7:16PM
For affliction locks, the current "best" spell rotation is to work in drain soul once the target gets below 25% health (4x damage). What this means in practice is that the problem isn't running out of shards, but filling up your bags with shards and spending time throwing them out to make room. A cap of 32 will work just fine for me.
DeathPaladin Mar 1st 2009 7:55PM
I wouldn't say it is a situation of creatures having multiple souls, but a situation where warlocks become more potent in their soul draining abilities.
Before, they start draining the soul from the creature. If they happen to be do this when the creature dies, then they get break off a piece of the soul as it escapes (after all, it is a soul *shard*).
Now, they start draining the soul from the creature, and break off pieces of the soul while it is still anchored to the body.
Alizar Mar 1st 2009 11:36PM
As long as it doesn't repeatedly tell me, "This item can not be placed here" I think this is a welcome change.
Shisho2k Mar 2nd 2009 1:24AM
A shard by definition is just a piece.
Shard farming is a little less painful now, and no special mods needed to maintain your max count, but it's still an annoying and unnecessary function of the class.
JDM Mar 2nd 2009 6:07PM
Not multiple souls. It's a Soul Shard. A piece of a soul. So... Sure, you can have multiple pieces of the entire soul.
Funkdubious Mar 1st 2009 7:16PM
A lot of people are worried how this new mechanic will affect demo and destro locks who never use drain soul in a pvp or pve setting. 0/41/30 is already being touted by many as the highest dps spec on the ptr thus far. Either way I don't think it will be that big of a deal.
One thing I am praying to see in this ptr though is a cd change for soulshatter, 2 or 3 mins would be great
Xoshe Mar 1st 2009 7:52PM
Actually, even as Demo I use Drain Soul as a finisher. With the x4 damage bonus when the target is under 25% HP, it causes each tick to hit about as hard as Shadowbolt.
Matchu Mar 1st 2009 7:33PM
Still no stacking =(
Spoonman Mar 1st 2009 9:49PM
Didn't GC go on about how they wanted to implement this awesome new way to handle shards? This doesn't seem that cool...
I mean its good and all but couldn't they have done this before? Stuff like this change has been suggested for ages.
Dusseldorf Mar 2nd 2009 1:20AM
He said they had two things. One was a temporary change to hold people over for the time being, and one was a really innovative idea they were working on. This has the feeling of the first thing.
CoopaDoop Mar 1st 2009 7:34PM
what i was hoping for was the ability for shards to stack. but oh well. this is pretty nice too!
Tress Mar 1st 2009 7:41PM
Mitch Hedburg!
ZUR13L Mar 1st 2009 7:56PM
Damn, beat me to it.
XD
If I had a dollar for every time I said that, I'd be making money in a very weird way.
8P
Nick W. Mar 1st 2009 9:15PM
I'm glad somebody caught the reference.
Hailene Mar 6th 2009 1:23AM
Wow, I totally missed that, haha. Nice catch.
John Mar 1st 2009 7:44PM
I heard you need a soulshard to get a soulshard.
this is a retarded change. they better change soulfire mechanic then.