warlock
Latest
Blade & Soul raid boss looks grumpy at its future prospects
Blade & Soul will soon have a new 24-person raid boss to fight, and if a teased poster is any indication, the big bad doesn't look happy at being at the bottom of a pile-on. However, it does look competent, as evidenced by all of the dead bodies at its feet. MMO Culture reports that the raid will be tailored to include the upcoming Warlock class, although there are no other details or specifics to absorb at the moment. Until we know more, content yourself to gaze into the eyes of madness after the break and know that this beast holds the key to all of your loot dreams... at least if you're in Korea. The rest of us are still impatiently awaiting the game in the West.
DDO looking at Warlock class, level cap bump in 2015
'Tis the season for Turbine producer letters and since we've already seen LotRO's, how about one for Dungeons and Dragons Online? Executive producer Robert "Severlin" Ciccolini does the honors, and he mentions the game's "next big update" which will include a large dungeon called the Temple of Elemental Evil. There's also a bit about an upcoming new class, which Ciccolini says could be a Warlock. New storylines and new festivals are coming in 2015, too, as is a level cap bump to 30.
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for November 5th
Once again into the breach, dear friends, and instead of using dead bodies as material for a wall, we're going to look at the hotfixes that Blizzard made for November 5th. Shall we? Let's do. Hunter's tenacity pets saw a couple of fixes. Tenacity Pet Specialization: Blood of the Rhino now reduces the pet's physical damage taken by 15% instead of increasing armor by 20%. Tenacity Pet Specialization: Great Stamina now increases the pet's health by 60% (up from 12%). Priests saw a 15% nerf to Holy Nova's healing, while Divine Star's healing or damage (based on spec) was buffed by 15% Fixed an issue where Zidormi may send players to an incorrect phase in the Blasted Lands. Once a Challenge Mode has started, characters can no longer change specializations, talents, or glyphs. For a full list of the hotfixes, follow us beyond the curtain.
WoW Archivist: Class protests and the Million Gnome March
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Betas make players nervous about their class. It happens every time. Blizzard makes changes, often drastically, and for better or worse some people hate the changes. I've been keeping my eye on the beta class forums since the Warlords beta began, and I've seen a lot of unhappiness this time around. The ability pruning that was one of Blizzard's major design goals for classes this year has removed depth from rotations, taken away both utility and cosmetic options, and in some cases radically altered or deleted abilities that players enjoyed. Beta testers have voiced strong opposition to many of the changes. In ten years, I haven't seen players this up in arms about class issues since classic WoW -- an era when many specs and mechanics were simply broken in PvE, PvP, or both. This past Friday, something happened that I believed would never again happen in WoW: an in-game class protest. With much more open lines of communication from developers to players in recent years, I thought the game had matured beyond the point where such things would ever be necessary. But here we are, almost ten years after the most famous class protest in WoW's history, and players once again felt the need to gather in Azeroth to voice their complaints.
The Master Chief Collection getting Halo 2's 'Warlock' map
The final Halo 2 map being remade for the Halo: The Master Chief Collection is Warlock, Microsoft announced today. The multiplayer map was itself a remake of the Wizard map from Halo: Combat Evolved. Warlock, now known as "Warlord," joins five other multiplayer maps from Halo 2 that will return in the The Master Chief Collection: Ascension, Coagulation, Lockout, Sanctuary and Zanzibar. The map will include "additional cover, new skill jumps, and a new weapon in the center," according to Certain Affinity President Max Hoberman, former multiplayer lead designer for the original version of Halo 2. Microsoft first revealed the collection during its E3 2014 press event in June following rumors of the bundle's existence in May. Halo: The Master Chief Collection packs together Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4, and is Xbox One exclusive. It will also include formerly PC-exclusive maps from the first two games. The collection will launch on November 11. [Image: Microsoft]
Neverwinter shows off the Scourge Warlock for Tyranny of Dragons
Do you want to fight some dragons? The next expansion to Neverwinter is all about fighting dragons, hence the title Tyranny of Dragons. Would you prefer to do so whilst conjuring up forbidden and evil magic from beyond to help smite your foes and empower your party? Then the Scourge Warlock is right up your alley. You can check the new class out in the trailer just past the break. Scourge Warlocks are casters who can summon a Soul Puppet from the beyond, using their magical prowess to leech health and empower allies while leaving enemies as shambling shells. They also have access to a new paragon path, Hellbringer, which... well, it doesn't summon bunnies and stomach rubs. Take a look at the official development blog for a clearer picture of what these casters are capable of, and watch the trailer to see the class in action before Tyranny of Dragons goes live on August 14th. [Source: Cryptic Studios press release]
Neverwinter's next new class is the Scourge Warlock
Perfect World Entertainment has just announced that the Scourge Warlock will join Neverwinter's class roster on August 14th when the previously revealed Tyranny of Dragons module launches. How does the new class with its special Curse mechanic work? The Scourge Warlock is a powerful magic user who plies dark magical abilities, communing with shadowy benefactors to destroy all who would dare stand in their way. A powerful striker who focuses on dealing heavy damage to both single and grouped foes, the Scourge Warlock wields a myriad of options to deal with adversaries using their powerful Warlock's Curse. The class will be available to all players. [Source: PWE press release]
WoW Moviewatch: The Warlock -- Barrens Chat
There's no better way than to reminisce about the days of old than dragging The Warlock through very pit of despair known as Barrens Chat. Created by none other than Nixxiom, this episode has all the laughs, crass humor, and digs at our own gamer culture that you could ever hope to see. The video struck a nostalgic point for me. Remember the days of infinite Chuck Norris jokes? These days, trying to crack a line about the Bearded One is no more hip than strutting down the mall in your Jams. Though, I suppose both could be saved by a hefty dose of irony. But still, let's hear it for Barrens Chat. It's an age gone by that no amount of pandering or cataclysming will ever truly bring back. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Know Your Lore: The Lore of the Warlock
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. The warlock may be one of the most interesting classes in terms of its lore in the whole World of Warcraft - warlocks come from many roots, as many different people throughout history have succumbed to the lure of absolute power offered by the demonic beings of the Twisting Nether. In terms of chronological history, the warlock dates back to the time before the fall of Sargeras, when the corrupting Nathrezim would offer demonic secrets to mortals and use them to help unmake their own worlds. Sargeras defeated the Nathrezim (today known as Dreadlords) but their all-consuming evil and corruption bothered him greatly. In a way, they successfully corrupted a Titan, for it was in contemplating what their existence meant for the cosmos that Sargeras fell, becoming the Dark Titan who would come to create the Burning Legion. The first beings to call themselves warlocks, as far as we know, are the eredar. Once corrupted by Sargeras, the arcane mages of their race abandoned their study of the mystical forces of creation, favoring the destructive power of the Twisting Nether and the demons that served the Dark Titan. As great as they were as mages, the newly fallen eredar became warlocks of astonishing power. The eredar warlock tradition would become the most widespread - warlocks from the satyrs to the orcs owe their warlocks to those of the Legion. But make no mistake - it is impossible to assume that the warlock you may happen to be dealing with is beholden to the Legion. Many, if not most, serve no other master than themselves.
Destiny gets a spiffy new website
Bungie has updated its Destiny website with lots of full-motion backgrounds and a visual palette befitting its burgeoning sci-fantasy universe. There's plenty of info regarding the Titan, Warlock, and Hunter classes, too, as well as a collection of Destiny trailers that you may have missed.
Hearthstone: A look at the Warlock metagame
Welcome to Hearthstone's test Season 2! If you're looking to climb the ranked ladder, your best class would be that of a warlock. Their hero power (Life Tap) provides card advantage at the cost of your life and their minions are often cheap, strong, and downright annoying to deal with. Blood Imps help bolster minion health. The fire spells (Hellfire, Demonfire, Soulfire, etc) often help in controlling the board even if it's at a cost. Now then, let's take a look at the four most popular Warlock deck types you'll often run into ranked play.
Blood Pact: What makes a 'lock a 'lock?
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill discusses class identity. One of our editors, Adam Holisky, forgot what class he was playing last week, and it made me a little sad. It's great that he wanted to be a warlock again, but we are not hunters. We're not mages either, despite how convinced Matt Rossi is by shared armor. We're not shadow priests, we have demons not totems, and having purple wings is the only similarity between a demo 'lock and a night elf moonkin. I'm not out to make Adam eat his hat, but warlocks certainly distinguish themselves from other classes, I think.
Perfect Ten: My favorite classes
Forget raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens; a few of my favorite classes have nothing to do with such musical nonsense. Of course, now that I've started thinking about that song, my brain has to finish it before I can do anything else. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, yup. Brown paper packages tied up with strings, uh huh. These are a few of my favorite things. OK, can I move on now? Seriously, how boring was life in the 1940s that tied-up brown packages were worth singing about? I've played a lot of MMOs over the past decade or so, and in each of them I've agonized about which class I would make my main. Sometimes this resulted in me creating a wide selection of possible candidates, each vying for my affection while I cruelly sentenced the losers to permanent deletion. But in the end, here are 10 classes from 10 separate MMOs that tickled my fancy and totally kicked woolen mittens in the interest department.
Know Your Lore: The color of magic
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. .@yuvalaziza Both priests and paladins can wield the Holy Light. However, not all wield it through the same means (e.g., Elune, An'she). :) - Sean Copeland (@Loreology) July 22, 2013 Earlier this week, Blizzard Historian Sean Copeland was answering questions on Twitter when the above answer came up. People were upset about it because the answer, while seemingly pretty simplistic, seemed to devalue the importance of Elune and the unique nature of night elf philosophy and religion. Magic, in all its forms and function in Warcraft, is one of those tricky subjects to understand -- almost as tricky as trying to wrap one's brain around the cosmos of the Warcraft universe. These types of questions get asked a lot, however. And while not everything regarding magic in Warcraft has been fully defined, we can definitely take a look at these different schools of magic and how they relate to one another on Azeroth.
The Queue: Proving grounds, good warlocks, bags, and more
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I'll let today's questions speak for themselves. Onwards! sergel92 asked: Any word on Proving grounds? All i heard was that it's for patch 5.4, but I haven't heard any news on it.
Do warlocks bring too much utility to a raid?
Over the years Blizzard has created more and more overlap between certain aspects of different classes so as to allow more flexibility in choosing who you bring to a raid. For example, as a long-time druid raider, it still makes me an itty bitty bit sad every time I see a paladin overwrite my Mark of the Wild with Blessing of Kings. I remember the days when those were different buffs, dangit! On Twitter, players have been venting their frustration at Ghostcrawler about just this kind of thing: @ugadawg9288 @tehstool That is true of everyone but warlocks, who probably bring too much. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) July 2, 2013 Now, that's an interesting response, and it got us at WoW Insider thinking. Do warlocks really bring too much utility? In my 10-man raid team, our guild leader nearly always plays his warlock, and there are certainly a number of perks to that. Summoning is very nice, and saves us a run back out the instance if we need to bring in a different toon halfway through. Soulstones have brought me back to life on a number of occasions, the raid constantly asks for Healthstones, and both warlocks themselves and their minions bring various buffs and forms of crowd control that always come in handy. And portals! Portals make many, many things much more convenient.
WoW Archivist: Launch classes' 9 biggest aggravations
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? The launch of WoW was a magical time -- everyone who played the game back then would agree. The concept of questing rather than grinding was fresh and exciting. The world felt immense, full of secrets and adventures. Classes, on the other hand, were very raw compared to today. While many players yearn to play on vanilla-only servers, I doubt that most of those players would prefer their class to return to its vanilla version. Though some were better than others, every class had its problems. In this column, I'd like to highlight the biggest aggravation, as I see it, with each of the original eight classes -- and how Blizzard has since fixed every one of those issues.
Should you be playing a warlock?
We've said before that there's a WoW class for every type of player and if you find yourself a bit drawn to the darker side of WoW, perhaps warlock is the one for you. Warlocks have a unique playstyle in the game: they're a bit like mages, in that they're cloth-wearing casters, and a bit like hunters, in that they rely on pets. And yet they don't play very much like either class, relying on DoT (damage over time) spells and channeled spells to do damage and restore their own health and mana. So is it time to go over to the dark side and level a warlock? Let's look at what the class has to offer. Just what is a warlock? As mages are master of the arcane, warlocks are masters of the dark arts, focusing on shadow and fire spells. They summon demonic minions, place curses on their enemies, and drain health from their opponents, and can even send the most fearsome of warriors running in terror. Their abilities are powered not only by their mana pool, but will sometimes cost health, which warlocks can drain from their foes as they die. They do their damage at range, using curses, banes, DoTs, drains, AoEs, and direct damage spells. Warlocks also offer a good amount of utility to a group with conjured Healthstones (which restore health on use) and Soulstones (which can bring a dead player to life) as well as their curses (which cause a variety of negative effects on a monster).
The Daily Grind: Do you avoid 'evil' classes?
Having started to play a Necromancer in Guild Wars 2 lately, I've been thinking about how odd it is that some MMO classes are kind of, well, evil. Or at least really, really gross, unless you think that playing with corpses is something a normal, well-adjusted citizen does. Summoning zombies, consorting with demons, even stealing from others -- sometimes our classes do unsavory activities. One could even call them... evil. Perhaps this depends on the morality of the beholder, but I know that I've spoken to players from time to time who just don't pick classes that can be construed as evil even if they're using their corpse-exploding habits for the greater good. Usually it just doesn't fit in with their perception of what a hero is, and that is that. What about you? Do you avoid "evil" classes, are you attracted to them, or do you not think about it one way or the other? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Patch 5.2: Warlocks will be able to toggle green fire off and on
WoW Insider's warlock columnist Megan O'Neill wrote a spoiler-heavy summary of the apparently epic warlock-only quest for green fire. She told the tale of her continuing struggle, involving various demons, not least some of the denizens of the Black Temple. Every warlock talking about this questline has spoken about how devilishly hard it becomes, how incredibly unforgiving the last boss is, and discussed whether it actually needs a nerf before going to live servers. At the time of writing, I only know of one warlock who has completed it. But after all that work, what if green fire wasn't as great as you thought? Despite all your hard work, what if you decide that your incinerates just aren't fiery enough? It's often said that it's not easy being green, so what if you want out?
