felguard
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How to convince tanks to PuG
I'm getting back to WoW Insider after a month's real-life-related absence and have been spending some time playing catch-up on the site. One of the articles that caught my attention was Matt Rossi's popular "One reason tanks won't PuG," in no small part because I play a tank and my own PuG runs have been few and far between of late. My main, a Tauren Druid, respecced from balance to feral at level 69 because there were so few tanks on my server, and I literally spent months and months tanking PuG's to get experience and gear. During that period I saw everything from rogues rolling on +healing maces to warlocks needing on tanking cloaks, and I learned that you never can tell what you're going to get from a PuG. Yes, you'll get hunters who can't trap, mages who never resheep, rogues who mistakenly believe they leveled a warrior, and priests who Power Word: Shield you straight off the pull -- but you'll also find people who know their class well, or are in the process of learning just like you are, and who are fun to be around. I have now killed Illidan with a contingent of people who showed up to my PuG's back when I was a wee lolbaretank in quest greens and Heavy Clefthoof, so as a matter of personal experience I think PuG's are a somewhat underrated way to meet people who will later turn out to play crucial roles in how you experience the game.I don't PuG as frequently anymore due to time constraints and increased time spent leveling alts, but I still hang out in LFG from time to time for the pure enjoyment of meeting new people. Yes, it is often difficult to PuG tanks and healers (I would submit, as someone who typically tanks or heals in dungeons, that it is also difficult to PuG skilled DPS), but a lot of people could make it easier on themselves than they do. If you're having problems finding a tank or healer for your PuG's, try these.
Forum Post of the Day: Rogue killed by an AFK Warlock
Hotlunch of Thunderlord has a bit of a problem - It seems she was out on the prowl recently, and found herself an AFK Warlock. However, despite the fact that she jumped out of hiding and wailed away at the poor Warlock, the Warlock's faithful Felguard came to his aid and killed her first. To Hotlunch's credit, she didn't immediately chalk up the blame to overpowered Warlocks but, probably rightly, to her gear. It's pretty true that poorly geared Rogues aren't much trouble to your well geared Warlock. As long as you have the hp and armor to last through their barrage of stuns to get off a fear and trinket out of Crippling Poison, then kite them around while they burn through Cloak of Shadows and Cheat Death, they're pretty easy. It's when you get the well geared rogues with tons of armor penetration and resilience that you start feeling the sting of those blades. Of course, some people in the thread rightfully pointed out that she should start looking at Opportunist's Battlegear for a quick leg up on PvP gear - it seems like her situation is exactly what it was implemented to help out with, and might have helped out a bit with the Felguard. Good luck to Hotlunch on getting geared up. With a little more preparation, I'm sure the next AFK Warlock won't be so lucky. But thinking about the situation, I think it's also a good counter to those people who get caught in complaining about "welfare epics" and all that.
Warlocks and demons: The next ten levels
It never really gets old speculating about what Blizzard has hidden away for the future, whether it be for the Sunwell Plateau, Wrath of the Lich King or something else entirely. The topic of Warlock pets comes up every now and then on the Wrath forums and while I don't play a Warlock, its an intriguing topic. Warlocks currently have six baseline demons, two of which have a slightly different summoning process. They can get another through being specced deep Demonology. If you count the Felguard as their level 70 addition in the Burning Crusade, they get one roughly every ten levels, so its safe to assume they have something coming in Wrath.First thing to consider is what role the pet would play. Everything but healer has been done already, and I don't want to even think about a Warlock with a pet healer. The Felguard is essentially a direct upgrade to the Voidwalker, so something like that is more likely. Personally, I think a Shivarra would fit the next demon well, and act as a direct upgrade to the Succubus.Second thing to consider is whether it would make sense from a lore point of view. As fun as it would be to summon a pet Pit Lord whenever you want, that seems unlikely. Same with the Nathrezim or the Eredar. Shivan or something we haven't seen yet seems the most likely choice.
Those evil, evil Warlocks
I'm not quite sure if I buy this assessment from Mystic Worlds: She says that Warlocks are the new villians of WoW. Just like everyone used to hate Paladins (wait, we stopped hating Paladins?), Warlocks are the new class people love to hate and consider extremely OP.She says, insightfully, that the reason for this is that Warlocks have just tons of annoying abilities. Fear is probably foremost among them-- with a skilled Warlock, your character spends half the fight out of your control. Soul Link and Felguards are just plain evil (it's like having a Warrior tank for you), and with all those DoTs, a lock is hellfire on wheels (and ten locks in WSG are even worse). Not to mention that since locks love to load up on Stamina, they're tough to kill, too.It's just MW's timing that I don't agree with-- people have hated Warlocks for a long time now, and I'd say in general that so many classes have been buffed lately that people have moved on. Personally, Hunters are the class that drives me nuts in PvP now-- they still have that very exploitable dead zone, but in a big melee, one Hunter can lay down DoTs and CC and turn the tide of battle. Plus, those NE Hunters in Tier armor just look so smug! A Warlock is still trouble, but my shadow Priest can fear and DoT, too, and no one's bothered by him. It's Hunters that really bug me.
Must I lose my felguard?
Arie my lock has been speeding toward the level cap at lightning speed. It really is a joy to play a character that can solo with ease. Ever since level 50 Flaaghun my trusty Felguard has been at my side, my pocket warrior, there to shield me from the baddies. It's been sixteen levels, and he is still a large part of my damage, but I am wondering if I shouldn't try something new. Arie has been all about the pets ever since I created her. In fact, she's one of the characters that I never respecc'd, because Demonology just seemed to be the tree for me. This might have been because when I started playing WoW she was my first character, and I admit I really didn't have an understanding of Warcraft lore nor of the role warlocks actually play. When I did finally understand the evil underpinnings of my character, I shelved her, until I came to grips with my little blond ball of destruction. Now that I have justified her origins with her class in my own personal lore, I wonder if I should seek out more power from her and leave my trusty Flaaghun behind. I'm not even sure if I need to, but as I understand it Demonology is largely a defensive class, and the real punch to the dps meter lies elsewhere. I currently have 15 points or so in Affliction, but in order to maximize my damage, do I have to part with my dear friend, or is there somehow a viable Demonology spec that will allow me to keep him and blast things to bits with the darkness in my soul?
Around Azeroth: The solution to warlock pet problems...
Reader George sends in this buggy screenshot that, perhaps, is a reasonable way to solve the problems with warlock and hunter pets when getting on flying mounts. Oh, sure -- Blizzard's made a change that will cause pets to be dismissed when you mount up, but, really, having them ride along with you, perhaps in a little basket or side-car of some sort, is much more entertaining.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
"Summn plz": the joy of being a warlock
Everyone thinks it's so easy to be a warlock these days. Sure, we have dots that will kill you long after we ourselves have died to your teammates. Sure, we can have a pet that is essentially a small warrior attack you while we sip Foster's in the shade. Or we can ... we can ... I'm not exactly sure what the Destruction 41-point talent is because no one uses it. Some kind of AOE? Whatever. Anyway, the point is that life as a warlock has its annoyances. Take this conversation my level 51 lock, repairing her armor in Undercity, had with a level 16 warrior in Thunder Bluff today. Warrior: can you please summon me to undercity? Me (figuring the guy at least said please): Sorry, I don't have a group right now. Warrior: how hard can it be to find a group in UC :P Me (thinking I'm not going to find a group to summon this guy without payment): How much are you going to pay me? Warrior: 0.00 Me: So basically, you want me to use my own soul shard and my own time to find a group so I can summon your lazy behind? Warrior: um ... yeah Me: Hell no. Walk. The average warlock has this conversation many, many times before hitting 60, and an interminable number of times thereafter. In a raid, you have to summon stragglers, dispense healthstones, soulstone important people and make sure you have Curse of Elements up or your mages will eat you alive. Speaking of mages, they also have it rough when it comes to being bugged -- they have to portal people places and create food and water for the whole raid! Warlocks, mages, how do you deal with the annoyance of random tells for "summons" or "wtr plz" when you're chilling in Ironforge?
Felguard in action
Warlocks have been complaining about the usefulness of the current high-level pets since...well...as long as I can remember. And they are correct, as the usefulness of any pet beyond the felhunter is limited. However, with the proper spec, a warlock will be able to summon a felguard in the expansion, and it looks like the felguard might actually cross into the realm of usefulness. However, as the video asks, is he 41 points of usefulness? I am not entirely sure. I liked how the Felguard held aggro during the fight towards the middle of the video, but the warlock wasn't tossing any DPS on the mobs. That said, I'd be interested in seeing how a Felguard would hold aggro with a warlock unloading on the mob. Better than a Voidwalker? Anyone from the beta care to shed some light on this?
