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Blood Pact: Look at me! I'm Illidan!
The wily Warlock, Will, wantonly waves his wand; working a witchery upon the writings of a whimsical wretch named Whelan. Watching warily, Will awaits the wicked words which he willed. Thus this week's Blood Pact was born.Last week I covered a deep Destruction build, the week prior to that I covered a Demonology / Destruction hybrid build, and two weeks before I took over this column Zach said most of the things I would say about deep Affliction builds. So, unless there are any Affliction heavy hybrids I haven't heard of yet (which I'd love to hear about it if there is,) all that really leaves for Project: Respec is deep Demonology! So this week, that's what's on the table.
Wrath Beta patch notes: Warlock part I
So, the world (and WoW Insider) is alive with the sound of the Wrath of the Lich King beta, and it's high time that we take a look at our favorite commander of evil... the Warlock. We'll want to be sure we understand what's coming for us, so as not to let anyone think those other evil guys are horning in on our territory. And, yeah, there's definitely some things changing.A lot of the changes are a little hard to noggin out -- are they meant to be buffs? Nerfs? Inexplicably different, but not really better or worse? Demonology is certainly getting a thorough shuffle, but it's hard to say whether it's good or bad. We'll chat more about it after the cut. Let's start with what the first beta patch notes obviously say, and consider what each item means. Then, in Part II, we'll start looking at each tree individually, with each of its new spells.
Arcane Brilliance: How to fix Mages
Each week, Arcane Brilliance puts a Mage-related joke at the beginning of a column about Mages. This week, though, after the class panels at the WWI, Arcane Brilliance is not in a joking mood.Warriors are unique in that they are the strongest, most durable melee class, can use all of the biggest and best weapons and armor in the game, and make highly-sought-after tanks.Rogues are unique in that they can Stealth past almost anything, are downright impossible to hit at times, and can contribute incredibly high single-target DPS in groups.Druids are unique in that they can shape-shift into awesome animal forms that amount to slightly lesser versions of several other classes, can be excellent tanks, DPS, and healers, have incredible buffs, and are the single most annoying Arena class in the game.Priests are unique in that they can be both an incredibly effective caster DPS class as well as the best (and surprisingly durable) pure healing class, while providing some of the best buffs around.Hunters are unique in that they can tame their own pets, then use them to tank for them while they sit back and provide top-tier ranged DPS.Paladins are unique in that they are the only healing class that can wear plate, can perform the duties of the best multiple mob tanking class, the best single-target healing class, or an effective melee DPS class. Also, they have a bubble.Shamans are broken currently, but will soon have some of the best raid-wide buffs in the game via their totems, and are still sort of unique in that they can spec to provide both melee and caster DPS, as well as very nice healing, and have an incredibly nice panic button.Warlocks are unique in that they can provide what is possibly the best caster DPS, both single-target and AoE, have Life Tap, which makes their mana almost never-ending in groups where they have a healer willing to throw them a heal every now and again, have a pet which can add to their DPS, tank for them, destroy casters in PvP, or provide CC.Mages...Mages are Warlocks without pets.Ok, to be entirely fair, we can also make food and open a portal to Shattrath at the end of every instance.Mages need help (Shamans need help too, but Arcane Brilliance isn't a column about Shamans). Come back after the break and we'll talk about what needs to be done.
WWI '08 Panel: Warlock
Warlocks got a few mentions at this morning's WWI class panel, not only with confirmation of some previously mentioned spells in the form of Demon Form and the Demonic Circle, but in relation to the Mage, confirming the eternal struggle that seems to go on between the two classes. Still, what these mentioned changes do for the class, I believe, is mostly unclear. Demon Form and Damage Demon Form, otherwise known as Illidan form to the dev team, is something that a lot of Warlocks having been asking for for quite some time. Admittedly, it's pretty cool. Being able to morph into a Demon and gaining temporary access to a whole new skill set to devastate the enemy with? Yeah, I can't see that not being fun. But the question remains: How will it perform?%Gallery-26320%
Warlock melee? Really?
An interesting thing about the Wrath of the Lich King Alpha -- well, one of them, anyway -- is the proposed 51-point Demonology talent for Warlocks. More than a few Warlocks have daydreamed about a Demon Form or being able to summon a Dreadlord for quite some time. If the Metamorphosis talent makes it all the way to release, both those wishes will actually come true. The interesting bit is this: two of the proposed abilities for the new form are melee-oriented. This means that Warlocks will actually need to adapt a different playing style when switching forms. In fact, Warlocks might even have to start looking at a stat they've previously ignored -- top end weapon damage. In the past, weapon damage and DPS was irrelevant to casters, who generally only looked a +Spell damage (or, ahem, Unified Spell Damage). With a melee strike that deals weapon damage, as well as a Charge-like ability that deals normal (physical) damage, Warlocks move into uncharted territory. Will we begin to see Warlocks roll on weapons traditionally associated with melee classes? Or will we see a spike in top end damage for caster weapons? Does this mean that Warlocks will actually have to -- *gasp* -- raise their skill with Daggers or Swords? Of course, none of this matters if the abilities never make it live, but it's interesting to imagine Warlocks actually heading into the fray with the intention of poking their enemies with weapons rather than casting spells.
