Priests/Boomkins/Warlocks Are Losing DoTs

[Lisaara]

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/spiri ... e-of-dots/

So what I'm getting from this is...

Boomkins - Losing Insect Swarm
Destro Locks - Losing Corruption
Demo Locks - Losing Immolate
Shadow Priests - Losing Devouring Plague
Afflic Locks - Gaining a channeling spell to up their ticks by 100%

Now keep in mind, guys, that any of this can still change and this seems to be more speculation than anything but theres a lot kinda backing it up. So for the moment...discuss any theories you may have in mind as we wait and see what happens.

My personal opinion? I'm kinda mixed on this. Afflic is already OP as hell so...they better nerf it if they are indeed gonna do this otherwise Demo and Destro will be left in the dust. Priest? Well devouring plague seems more like an unholy DK thing so as a priest, I'm not really that upset over it. Boomkin? Again not that upset cause insect swarm was more annoying than helpful. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open and not gonna jump the gun and say this is whats gonna happen but if it does, overall, I'm only worried about the warlocks cause currently Demo is left in the dust by Destro and Afflic. Afflic pulls ahead of Destro easily if theres multiple targets.

[Chimera]

Im sad to see Insect Swarm going, i dont play Demo or Destro so im indifferent, and on that point im happeh with afflict, specially cause its the only specc i use for anything other then soloing x3

tho i do like Immolate at low levels when you dont have many DoT's in your arsenal but i dont quite understand by how you presented it if Immolate is being removed entirely or just becoming useless to the one specc. Same for Corruption in terms of myself not unerstanding if its being removed or becoming useless to destro, that was an essential spell to me back when i played locks, im not sure what the trees look like right now cause i havent played one for a long time so i dont know how useful it is to afflict anymore.

Happy about Devouring Plague, that spell could only be on one target and it stole so much friggin mana.. i hate that spell majorly.

All in all, sad at moonkin, happy at shadow priest and afflict lock XD

Ive always seen Demo as a solo specc so from my perspective i dont feel like its so concerning to know that it doesnt do well in groups, after all, one of the perks is to summon a more powerful tank demon then the wimpy voidwalker (ive never liked voidwalkers as tanks aside from their sacrifice XD i love that spell). Demo locks rotate around demons to the point where the demon is the lock's lifeline for survivability and dps and ive never been fond of relying on a pet for my dps in eccentric boss fights, specially cause you lose massive dps if you have to take the time to revive the pet/demon and of course if you find yourself in a bad spot you have to interrupt the process to move so you have to restart the ressurection/summon all over again. (lol sorry for the very very long blabbering sentence).

I have the same outlook on BM hunters but i dont oppose being in the same raid group as a BM or Demo lock, if they know how to play it then i have no quarrel with them ^^ Ive always been fond of marksman anyways, beginning of WoW till Wrath i played marksman always but it started to become challenging in terms of survivability cause my pet couldnt hold aggro for squat XD but i still raid as marks

[TygerDarkstorm]

So, I just went and checked EJ to see what I missed about raiding warlocks in my 2 month absence that would be true to what you're saying about locks Jess... and honestly, not much has changed. Just like last tier, Demo is still the top and Destro got a buff to make it more equal to Affy. So in reality, all three specs in terms of raiding are about the same played by regular players in standard conditions, which is a good thing. No one spec above the other is great.

Source: http://elitistjerks.com/f80/t110366-dem ... 3_release/

As for the proposed changes? Mrph. I guess yay for slightly less things to manage (warlocks especially got quite a few things to be aware of constantly), but overall I think I'll remain kind of neutral. Then again, my feelings toward MoP as a whole are sort of meh at the moment so I guess I'll just continue to take things as they come.

[Lisaara]

Ah but Demo is only top when theres multiple targets. It actually falls behind but its only by a smidge on single targets. Demo can still hold their own regardless of multiple or not. But yes relatively they're in the same playing field(now if only they'd do that for hunters, amirite?). But yeah overall I agree I'm just kinda watching. Warlocks in MoP are getting a huuuuuge overhaul so what we know now cant really be applied too much to MoP.

@Xakaal - Removed as in gone. Not useless. Just gone completely. If you go Demo, you dont get to learn Immolate. Does that help clarify a bit? Also...my voidwalker tanks better than my Felguard. Voidwalker is built for tanking as it's ability actually makes sure it pulls aggro from you. Felguard, however, is not. He's built for AoE damage hense why he's only to be used in AoE situations Demo actually uses the Felpuppy for single targets. Just to clarify any misconceptions about the Felguard(I didnt know at first but I looked at several sources, included EJ to prove it to be true).

[Chimera]

Ahhhk, and ive always found my felguard to be much more useful then my void o.O The big bluberry cant hold his own too well with my solo playstyle for locks

[Lisaara]

My felguard cant hold aggro for crap and I end up dead. xD

[TygerDarkstorm]

When out questing I find the felguard far more useful than the voidwalker as well. The blueberry might claim to be a tank, but honestly, at max level with decent gear, you pull off him anyway and things just die that much slower. I much prefer using my felguard and rounding up a few mobs at a time (or even just one as he's got a usable stun which comes in handy) and nuking them down. With all the tricks warlocks have up their sleeves, I just see very little use for the voidwalker, personally.

[Azunara]

I have to agree I like Maxwell the Felguard better than Hathkrit the Voidwalker.

Aww, I like Immolate. Let me light things on fire in peace! D:

[Rubywashere]

Oh poop.
There goes Aques Insect swarm, I like that spell though
and I also liked burning things on Black

[Rower]

Nooooo Insect swarm My new main is a boomkin and I really don't like this change. But I'm fine unless they don't take starfall away from me! Me calls flurry of stars from sky! Love it

[Lisaara]

Starfall isnt a dot. It's staying. Insect Swarm is going though and honestly...Insect swarm doesnt do really anything for dps.

[Galahandra]

I always loved having Insect Swarm on my Moonkin from the day I started playing her at the launch of BC. It, like entangling roots, remind me of the 'darker' side of nature and how we're then able to influence it.

[baldcore]

Um you overlooked some pretty major things with this thread. Every class/spec is losing some abilities. The purpose is to noticeably reduce the difficulties of some specs and remove some lesser used spells. You also forgot that the damage and health coefficients are being altered as well so technicly the loss of some of these will be pretty much irrelevent as certain other spells will be taking up the slack ie corruption will do more damage based on the amount of demonic power gained. The specs are altering in a lot of ways but it would be unwise to start crying about losing a favorite toy in your collection when in reality you will be compensated with something far better.

[Bulletdance]

I was worried at first when I saw they were taking out moves, especially insect swarm. I mean in a new expansion I want to gain...not lose. Then I started thinking and I kind of feel like maybe we have too many buttons going on maybe not specifically for boomkins,but in general anyway so it's not such a bad thing. As long as the new moves we get are really cool I'm happy,but if I feel like I lose more than I gain it'll suck. I don't think any of us will really know which way this is going til beta anyway or maybe even launch.

[Rower]

Starfall isnt a dot. It's staying. Insect Swarm is going though and honestly...Insect swarm doesnt do really anything for dps.

I know it's not a dot. It's just my favourite spell.

[baldcore]

I don't think any of us will really know which way this is going til beta anyway or maybe even launch.

Actually I already know exactly how it is gonna go. Here is something that will give you a snapshot. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists ... lculator
Click on class then click on the spec. That lists all of the spells that are coming in. If you dont see a spell on any of the specs than you know that spell is gone. If you look at the spell and it has a different effect than look at other spells that have something in common. Technicly speaking its possible to get a perfect idea how some specs are gonna play out just by looking at some of the changes alone. Hell I already know what my demo rotation will be for my lock and which way to handle certain things that come my way. Im so confident with the new rotation that one of my first tests is gonna be to try to kill a level 85 mob in the new leveling zone with just my pet and myself with no gear on to speak of. That is how confident I am that the new specs and abilities will work just as I think they will. By the way Im in the beta too so if anyone happens to see a naked lock killing mobs than that is probably me.

[Jadein92]

Ah but Demo is only top when theres multiple targets. It actually falls behind but its only by a smidge on single targets. Demo can still hold their own regardless of multiple or not. But yes relatively they're in the same playing field(now if only they'd do that for hunters, amirite?). But yeah overall I agree I'm just kinda watching. Warlocks in MoP are getting a huuuuuge overhaul so what we know now cant really be applied too much to MoP.

@Xakaal - Removed as in gone. Not useless. Just gone completely. If you go Demo, you dont get to learn Immolate. Does that help clarify a bit? Also...my voidwalker tanks better than my Felguard. Voidwalker is built for tanking as it's ability actually makes sure it pulls aggro from you. Felguard, however, is not. He's built for AoE damage hense why he's only to be used in AoE situations Demo actually uses the Felpuppy for single targets. Just to clarify any misconceptions about the Felguard(I didnt know at first but I looked at several sources, included EJ to prove it to be true).

Well our raid leader is demo/destro, and pulls 50k+ on Heroic Ultraxion as Demo. And seeing his desto spec active in fights, demo is a smidge better then destro. Aff and destro are pretty much the same as far as dps.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Tis because demo is the top DPS/damage of the three lock specs for both AoE and single target. But for average players like myself, the three specs should perform about equally. Now if only hunters and rogues could get the same treatment.

[Lisaara]

Demo actually isnt top on Single target, Tyger. Even ElitistJerks says Destro is top on single target(Afflic comes REALLY close but is off by a smidge). Demo is only top when its multiple targets, even surpasses Afflic, or near perfect single target conditions(which is almost never. Ultraxion is MAYBE the only one or Morchok as of current tier. The rest of the fights require too much movement).

With the release of Patch 4.3 the warlock class sees a number of changes, in particular the Destruction spec, along with a few changes to the Demonology spec. Following these changes we see that all 3 specs are quite close, and all have something to bring to the table. For single target DPS, the following should be true at all gear levels:

Demonology > Destruction >= Affliction

While Demonology does pull ahead in single target DPS by ~2k DPS, this is only in close to perfect conditions where there is minimal to no movement and the player is able to stand in melee range. This means that in most situations Destruction and Affliction will perform better than Demonology.

On multi-target fights with strictly 2 DPS targets Affliction and Destruction should be quite even. However once any additional targets are introduced Affliction will perform considerably better than Destruction. Heavy AoE fights are where Demonology really begins to shine, followed respectably by Affliction and then Destruction behind by a considerable margin.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Hence my saying "for average players, all three specs perform about the same." Besides, people's mileage varies depending on which spec they're most comfortable in. I performed better raiding with Demo because it was the spec I liked playing the best.