Posts with tag warlock-guide

Blood Pact: On the usefulness of SimulationCraft

by Megan O'Neill Mar 11th 2013 at 2:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill will tell you how she became the princess warlock of a continent called Pandaria by switching to saur'lock spec.

You know me: I play a warlock spec that starts with a 'D' only over several dozen copies of my cold, dead body. I'm diehard affliction whether the spec is on top or not. But that doesn't mean I don't ever pay attention to the DPS simulations. I just think the vocal playerbase hedges their bets a little too much on what comes out of the BiS heroic simulations.

Fortunately for me, Ghostcrawler also feels players put too much emphasis on SimulationCraft when it comes to spec balance in PvE. Does this mean SimulationCraft is not valuable? No, it just means that players should be more aware of what's going into a particular simulation and how to interpret whatever data comes out.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Thundering on and on about raid gear in patch 5.2

by Megan O'Neill Mar 4th 2013 at 1:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill maybe decides that commenter-suggested Zul'duar is the better name than Thund'uar for the troll-like Ulduar raid instance, Throne of Thunder.

I mentioned last week that I'd discuss the changes for warlocks while listing out loot in the new raid instance. I may have fibbed a little. I tried to slide in patch change discussion without it reading like I shoved two posts into the space of one, and I miserably failed.

You can read the latest patch notes for yourself, but the PvE DPS gist is that affliction's petless power days are diminished if not over and demonology might be the new top dog. PvP warlocks might be more interested in Blood Fear's metamorphosis from an offensive fear to the Nature's Grasp-like Blood Horror and Soul Leech's change from a trickle heal to a stacking shield.

Regarding of whether you chase Conquest or Valor Points, we warlocks will have a major problem in patch 5.2. I'm not talking about the endless debates of whether fire should be green or whether warlocks should always have a minion at their side.

I'm talking about the removal of the imp ability Blood Pact, due to Dark Intent gaining the 10% Stamina buff to its effect. Future warlocks will wonder what this column is named for!

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Reputable sources of warlock loot in patch 5.2

by Megan O'Neill Feb 25th 2013 at 3:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill splits the warlock loot over two weeks to keep things light.

Various people have been referring to Throne of Thunder as Thund'uar, a name I fully intend to steal and use. It's just a perfect blend of the new raid and its supposed raid model, Ulduar, with the expected troll-like apostrophe thrown in for good measure.

But this week I won't be listing out the Thund'uar loot drops; I'll just drop in with a lighter piece covering gear miscellany and the new faction offerings. Next week, we can discuss how the PTR patch buffs and nerfs fit in with the expected performance of warlocks in Tier 15 while listing out the loot, instead of dropping a lump of lists in your lap.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Kill dragons solo to ride more dragons

by Megan O'Neill Feb 18th 2013 at 1:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill beats up internet dragons for fun, for mounts, and maybe as a little catharsis.

I've already done some Raiding with Leashes vanilla raid posts. The next logical step would be Burning Crusade soloing, but I've tried and failed to make a glorified loot list more interesting to read, since BC content tends to be more "walk in and win" nowadays than an actual soloing contest.

So, while I wrangle out an adventure in tiers four to six, I will talk about killing dragons solo as a warlock in order to grab dragon mounts.

I'm not talking about dragons that require friends by your side to complete: e.g., Deathwing's two dragon mounts, Ultraxion's mount, completing a dragonstick, or Al'Akir's dragon drop. Al'Akir has actually been soloed before by a warlock, but you'll need friends in order to clear his genie council first. I'm talking dragons you can go beat up by yourself.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria

How to get green fire for your Warlock in Patch 5.2

by Megan O'Neill Feb 7th 2013 at 11:00AM

Are you sure you don't want green fire? Quite sure? Positively sure? Absolutely, one hundred percent sure?

Don't lie to me like that. You want it. You want to do the end of this questline, because it's so badass. I was spinning circles in my seat and giggling maniacally at how Kanrethad completely wiped the roof of the Black Temple with my body for two hours straight, because it was so much fun to be challenged not merely as a player, but as a whole warlock. You're going to use abilities you've almost never used before in this questline, and you're going to love all of it.

I hope I don't have to say it too much, but spoilers ahead.

Filed under: Warlock, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Knocking out Naxxramas for pets and more

by Megan O'Neill Feb 4th 2013 at 9:00AM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill has too much fun standing in floor fire while in Metamorphosis trying to get Deadly Boss Mods to yell warnings in Demonic.

I have to admit, the Mists of Pandaria reason for soloing old raids is trying to match my minion's weapons to Matthew Rossi's warrior columns. Unfortunately, the only thing I have is Ashkandi. My new mission is to get Reclaimed Ashkandi for a complete Wrathguard set to properly mock warriors with.

You've probably read how to spec for old raids and you might have your own Ashkandi (or two) from visiting old Blackwing Lair for some pets. Now, let's finish up Raiding with Leashes and other achievements in Naxxramas.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Wrath of the Lich King, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Taking care of your DoTs

by Megan O'Neill Jan 29th 2013 at 2:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill admits to problems with DoT clipping (*gasp*) and finds a way to fix it.

Every warlock has at least one damage over time effect to take care of. Destruction has Immolate. Demonologists flip between Corruption and Doom (Metamorphosis), though I suppose you could count Shadowflame off Hand of Gul'dan as one. Affliction is the "DoT spec," starring Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, with appearances of Haunt.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Should green fire be prestigious?

by Megan O'Neill Jan 21st 2013 at 9:00AM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill wishes the mages would stop sending out the bad voodoo vibes to everything she owns so she can buy new fun things for her birthday instead of old replacements.

There's plenty to look for through the datamining, but the question on everyone's mind is, "How do I start the questline?" Trust me, when someone finds out, I'm sure the internet will explode about it. It'll probably be on a Monday, during my other job's hours, and right after this column posts, knowing my luck.

But before I get into an all-out walkthrough of the questline, I want to discuss one thing: does green fire have to be exclusive? Is exclusivity required for meaningfulness?

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Patch 5.2 spell changes and tier 15 for warlocks

by Megan O'Neill Jan 14th 2013 at 9:00AM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill thought the druid T15 was the warlock tier originally, and she thinks that the Season 13 warlock gear looks like a cross between Shannox and a Faceless mob.

My apologies, fel-slingers and fiendish friends. I stepped through the Dark Portal to visit family and when I returned, my hard drive had dead clusters, almost as if someone came by and Frost Nova'd the lot of it. Maybe dropped a few Nether Tempests while he was at it.

I blame the mages. I've already had my flu shot, so they must've realized they had to get at the latest Defender of the Dark Arts electronically. Silly mages -- I'm a warlock, so of course I backed up my stuff.

But Patch 5.2 wasn't going to wait for my new hard drive, so let's look at the changes so far.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Soloing the vanilla raids for pets and more

by Megan O'Neill Dec 17th 2012 at 1:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill laments being knocked successfully up past the Suppression Room, only to pull the boss and be knocked back down and across the Suppression Room while the original knockback mobs die. UGH.

Well, Naxxramas is big enough that I'll leave a whole article to it. The other raids from the original raiding scene of level 60 can fit into one since they're relatively easy to do. The roadblocks to finishing them are largely mechanical tricks, not damage output or survivability problems.

There's no real difference between the specs in these earliest raids. I run as destruction mostly because it's fast-paced, but any spec and almost any talent setup can do these raids.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact

Blood Pact: Speccing for old world raids

by Megan O'Neill Dec 10th 2012 at 9:00AM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill harvests all the songbells ever in the search for more Imperial Silk, but slaughtering masses of Horde NPCs for reputation also works.

Patch 5.1 introduced pets to the vanilla-era raids. Patch 4.3 introduced transmogrification, which brought old raids back. Before that, some players would solo or duo old raids just for the challenge giggles. Every new expansion has raised the level cap and opened another expansion to soloing.

Whether you're soloing for a look, for improved familiarity with your spell toolbox, or for bragging rights, warlock is definitely a great class to jump into soloing old raids. At level 90, even before you're decked out in tier 14, most of the Wrath of the Lich King raids are fairly easy. But let's start with the basics -- speccing and playstyle.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Vault's end with multitarget magic

by Megan O'Neill Dec 3rd 2012 at 8:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill continues on with Mogu'shan Vaults while hunting pets in old raids.

I thought maybe I'd goofed, that I'd mis-timed the first two-thirds of Mogu'shan Vaults and would need to interrupt to make a fun post about Black Temple and some new warlock lore. Sadly, the felfire questline got postponed for a little while.

Oh well. In the meantime we can alternate between old raids and new as a warlock. First, let's finish up Mogu'shan Vaults with two complex-to-explain but simple-to-do fights.

Filed under: Warlock, Raiding, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Delve into the soul of Mogu'shan Vaults

by Megan O'Neill Nov 26th 2012 at 5:00PM

Blood Pact Soulsearching in Mogu'shan Vaults MON

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill looks back at the easy but fun fights in Mogu'shan Vaults as warlock.

Between getting to level 90, gearing pains, the American Thanksgiving, and raiding only two nights a week, you might be in my guild's boat, which is still finishing Mogu'shan Vaults on 25man. Or maybe your raid team was fast and focused and you're already having a jolly time in Heart of Fear or even Terrace of Endless Spring.

Whether you're fast on progression or taking your time, main class or alt character, here's a refresher on Mogu'shan Vaults as a warlock.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: Staying slightly alive as a warlock

by Megan O'Neill Nov 19th 2012 at 9:00AM

Blood Pact How to stay slightly alive as a warlock MON

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill completely devours a real-life box of cookies while listing out all the ways a warlock can heal herself. Om nom nom.

Dead DPS does zero DPS. We all know that saying. I introduce to you my Princess Bride collorary to the Dead DPS rule:

Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.

Inigo Montoya: What's that?

Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

The perfect description of what happens when a mob dies in an RPG aside, Miracle Max is right: mostly dead is slightly alive, and slightly alive means you can still do more damage. Naturally -- since we are magnificent, resilient bastards instead of glass cannons -- warlocks are quite excellent at staying slightly alive.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

Blood Pact: How to use your warlock's party toys

by Megan O'Neill Nov 12th 2012 at 3:00PM

Blood Pact Working with a warlock in party MON

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill steps back to cover some group functions of warlocks she feels she must explain every week to her raidmates anyway.

It's in our fel nature to want to work alone, but warlocks actually have some great party utility. We lost some of that utility in Cataclysm with the advent of a specific guild perk, but now in Mists of Pandaria we've resurfaced in lore and game mechanics. It's time to relearn our old tricks and introduce a new party toy to group content play.

Filed under: Warlock, (Warlock) Blood Pact, Mists of Pandaria

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