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Blood Pact: So you've picked a Lock ...
Between Arenas, V'Ming spends his time as a lock laughing ominously in AV, tanking Olm with his own minions and pondering troll fashion from Zul'Aman. There's been a chorus from my dark brethren calling for the return of Blood Pact. As a career Warlock player - with a /played of 105 hours days (oops!) since May '05, you can say that I've been afflicted by the demonic embrace of this fascinating class. Observant readers will notice that I'm also the Blood Sport columnist - bloody coincidence? There may be more sinister forces at work here ... With quicker 20-60 leveling in patch 2.3, this is the best opportunity for you to start on brand new alts, and what better class to invest in than the solo powerhouse class of magic-users gone all dark and emo (no other class takes large chunks out of their own health bar all the time ...).This 1-20 leveling guide assumes you're not new to WoW. I will focus on abilities that become available as you level, and how to maximize their effectiveness, rather than a zone-by-zone laundry list of quests.
/silly: Void where prohibited
I would assume that the life of a warlock is saturated in paranoia. To start with, it is a well known fact that 'locks play loosely with that whole "morality" concept. Both the Alliance and Horde tend to distrust them, and for good reason; never leave a warlock alone with your virgin daughter if you don't want bloody demonic ritual mess all over your carpet. Worse then that, however, is the unspoken truth that Zahktib or Jhar'kruk or whatever the heck randomly named demon they currently have as their minion is doing so entirely under coercion, and most likely has dark, bitter, perhaps slightly silly revenge thriving in their shadowy demonic minds, as illustrated in the comic above. Special thanks go out to a strategically placed forearm/bracer, preventing me from having to submit the image for ESRB approval or label the post NSFW.As long as we are on the subject of warlock pets, one question has puzzled me from the moment I first saw their big blue gaseous level 10 companions:Why are they called Voidwalkers, when don't have any legs?No no, don't answer. Just ponder it for awhile. Let it rot away a few layers of precious brain cells. You'll thank me for it later, as those specific cells were the ones that were going to spark up next week and convince you that you should re-roll as a Dwarven melee hunter that only uses throwing weapons for ranged pulls. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight.Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck sold his soul for the honor of drawing this weekly web comic that you partake of each Tuesday morning. The WoW Insider staff went to great expense to have a real-world warlock turn it into a large purple shard, which he gets sent photos of once a week from various exotic locations, much like the gnome from Amelie.
Breakfast topic: Best class rivalry
Michigan plays Ohio State this week in one of the most storied football rivalries of all time. This got me thinking about WoW rivalries. Sure, we only have two teams, the Horde and Alliance -- but we have tons of classes that hate each other, particularly on the forums. Every class seems to have a rival or two. The rogues don't get along with the hunters, the paladins and priests are constantly fighting over healing, the warriors and druids argue about tanking, and none of the clothies like each other. Everyone seems to dislike a class that shares their role, whether it be DPS, healing or tanking. But the current epic class rivalry is probably mage/warlock. The mages feel their spot as top caster DPS has been taken unfairly by the locks. The locks feel like everyone hates them and are causing their nerfs. Throw in that both classes compete for the same items and you've got quite a brouhaha. What do you think is the best class rivalry in WoW?
Forum post of the day: Insta-cast Corruption
When I rolled my baby UD lock (now 52 and lost somewhere in Feralas), my warlock friends told me that my first five talent points MUST be spent making Corruption instant cast. "Everyone does that," they said. Well, apparently not everyone. There's a 22-page thread on the General Forums arguing for a trainable instant Corruption. A lot of endgame locks spec 0-21-40, and don't have the talent points to spend in Affliction. But Corruption's spell damage coefficients treat it as an instant DOT, even though it's a two-second cast without talents. Most locks don't consider Corruption worth it without the talents because of this. The thread quickly degenerates into mage vs. warlock fighting, but it does raise an interesting point. A lot of other "essential" talents have become trainable -- Innervate, Evocation, instant Arcane Explosion. Should the locks get the same benefit, or are their dots already powerful enough?
Warlock soloes the Horseman
Well I sure thought it would have been "some ambitious Paladin," but nope-- turns out it was an ambitious and crafty Warlock that brought the Horseman down all by his lonesome. As you can see in the video above, Deadmasters on EU Blackmoore has gone in SM with some amazing stats, and claimed all the epics off the Horseman for himself.So how'd he deal with tanking? Unfortunately, it seems like the whole thing is based on a pathing exploit-- the player can jump up on that ledge at the end of the fence, but the Horseman can't, so he basically "juggles" the bad guy back and forth while dotting and nuking him. The job gets harder when the pumpkins show up, but it's the same thing-- jump up and then jump back down when the Horseman gets close. If Blizzard had known about this, they probably could have fixed that pretty easily.But I don't mean to downplay Deadmasters' achievement-- clearly he's geared up right for the fight (look at those Affliction DoTs go!), and by the outtakes at the end, you can see that juggling the mobs just right was no easy task. It'll be interesting to see if Blizzard makes changes in the encounter next year, though-- by then, we may be level 80, and who knows what horrors will lie in the SM GY?[ via incgamers ]
Forum Post of the Day: Scaling warlock pets
Amongst all the candy corn on the warlock forums a post arose today dealing with a topic close to every lock's heart, despite how cold and twisted they might be inside. We're talking about pet scaling here, or rather the lack thereof. Pets are far too squishy at higher levels, locks say, and the chief cause of this is the fact that they simply don't scale properly as a lock's gear improves. This is largely a PvP concern, although I would love to be able to bring my Felguard into a raid instance and have him last more than 3.5 seconds. Every piece of armor my lock adds to her kit should buff her pet as well as her own locky self, it only makes sense. Well, that's the way it should be, but it's not working properly, and the locks are looking for some love. And before you go there, no this isn't a call for a buff, this is an example of a bug that needs to be addressed, and has nothing to do with whether or not locks are overpowered.The good news is that the devs are interested in hearing what you locks have to say on this issue. This is one case where they are asking for feedback and suggestions on how to improve the situation. Of course we're talking about constructive feedback, so Neth asks that you keep the complaining to a minimum if you want to have your voice heard.
Who am I this time?
When I first started writing for WoW Insider I began my posting foray with a discussion about my little lock and her leveling in Hellfire Peninsula at level 55. She and her trusty Felguard have finally reached the end of their journey, recently hitting 70. Having two level 70 characters now, I face a tricky question: who holds my attention more? My mage is my main, the character that has quested with me for long before I even played World of Warcraft, and I have all sorts of time invested in her and her gear. On the other hand, the warlock is horribly fun to play now that I have come to terms with who she is. So what now?I am also leveling my third character, in between the odd foray into raiding with my mage and working on my lock. I have thought long and hard about who of the three represents me more, and despite the fact that mages seem to be less and less desirable in PvE groups and raids, I have spent so much time with her. I love the overall versatility of a mage, what they bring to a group beyond the glass cannon (the sustenance, the crowd control, the transportation.) I have been grouping recently with my lock to get her gear, but whenever a tight spot arises where we need the extra DPS, out comes the mage to power through the encounter. She's the heavy hitter I know I will always have waiting in the wings. The question still hangs in the air on my character selection screen, who do I enjoy playing more? It's no secret that DPS classes are a blast (no pun intended) to play, but because there are so many of them out there, the need for them is significantly less. Perhaps that is why my third highest character is a priest. She's leveling shadow, so I could for all intents and purposes say it's just another DPS class, but my intent is to have a more useful character for grouping with guild members. I'd also love to have a character I know would have a solid and constant spot in a raid, and it's been my experience, at least on my server, that the mages and warlocks are a vast army of pew pew to compete with.It's a dilemma I really didn't expect to face. Sure I play ten characters (at least on my home server), but I really didn't think that I would ever consider switching my main character. Now as I look toward the end of this expansion and into the next, the words of Kurt Vonnegut pop into my head, "Who am I this time?" Do you too have this debate with yourself? Or are you the type to stick to one type of character and stay loyal to them?
Warlocks in patch 2.3: nerfed or fixed?
At BlizzCon, every time someone mentioned Warlocks during the panels, the crowd would boo. On the forums, the cries of "Nerf Warlocks!" were loud and frequent. Now, in patch 2.3, some Warlocks are saying that Blizzard has listened and nerfed them.Danakha posted a breakdown on the forums of the Warlock changes and his analysis of them, stating that Blizzard listened to all the complaints and acted on them. His main problem with 2.3 is this change:Drain Life and Siphon Life now reduce the amount healed when the warlock is affected by healing reducing effects (e.g. Mortal Strike, Wounding Poison).Blue poster Eyonix responded with:I'm sorry to say that though this may feel like a "nerf" it is in-fact a fix.
The sad state of BG healing
The pic above, via The Nameless One on WoW Ladies LJ, shows you just how bad the state of battlegrounds healing is. In a WSG where she was healing, she topped the healing meter, and second place went to a Warlock. Drain Life and healthstones for the win. They're already OP-- do we really need them topping healing meters, too?Of course, this is just one screengrab from one match, but it's true that healing in the BGs is just plain sad. And it's not surprising why-- there's a huge focus on DPS and taking the other side down in BGs, and there's almost no reward at all for healing. Out of the eight stats listed on that screen, only one of them has anything to do with healing (OK, bonus honor and HKs might get a nice boost if you're a good healer, but at this point, odds are they'd get an even better boost if you're DPS). Healers get all of the damage (since healers are targeted first), and none of the glory.I'm not sure how we can fix this, either-- tracking "average lifespan," as a way of recognizing healers who stay alive? Providing bonus HKs, just for healing? Providing better PvP healing talents and gear? Personally, I love healing the BGs-- I love sitting behind a tree and keeping my faction alive long enough to take the flag or kill the other team. But right now, it's pretty much its own reward. When a Lock takes second place to a Priest in PvP, you know players need a little more incentive to break out the Greater Heals and Healing Waves.
Patch 2.3 and you: Palockter omnibus [UPDATE: Bigger quivers]
While you may not be getting quite so many changes as some other classes out there, your changes beat theirs in...sheer unexpectedness? I dunno. Here's what's slated for patch 2.3 for light-swingers, gunslingers, and masters of the dark: [Hunter] We are planning to change Wyvern Sting so that it will be instant cast. (Drysc) [Hunter] Arcane Shot (ranks 6+) will dispel 1 magic effect in addition to the normal damage. (Drysc) [Warlock] There is a change for Ritual of Souls which will significantly reduce the time to cast and complete it. (Nethaera) [Paladin] We're pretty much focused on Retribution with 2.3, but some more general changes are being made like lowering the mana cost for Exorcism, Holy Wrath, and Hammer of Wrath. Another Ret change (just to keep the momentum going) will be an increase to the duration of Vengeance to 30 seconds. (Drysc) [Paladin] You're amazing, that's absolutely correct [referring to Crusader Strike cooldown being lowered to 6 seconds] (Drysc) That's a lot to digest. That Arcane Shot is pretty crazy, huh? Kalgan says it'll work like "an offensive dispel", similar to Purge. I suppose that should get some more people using it again, at least in PvP. Will the rest of us have any buffs left, or will a fight with a hunter suddenly be like Garr? Either way, change is good. Bring it on.Update: Since posting this, Drysc has announced another pleasant change: How about 20 and 24 slot ammo pouches and quivers?
Breakfast Topic: Multitasking highs
My favorite class of the day is the Hunter, mainly because I get to control both my main character and my pet at the same time. I love the dynamic of how these two entities fit together and do damage together so nicely. I have also played a warlock up to 30, but so far the dynamic of doing multiple things at once with demon master doesn't seem as interactive to me, though I suspect it may get better later on. I love the multitasking involved with controlling two game entities with cooperative abilities at the same time, but some people hate it. One friend of mine wishes that hunters didn't have pets at all -- it feels too much to him. One thing that I can't see myself getting into though, is multiboxing: running multiple WoW accounts on different computers and linking them up so you can control them at the same time. The prohibitive cost is the main reason I'm not interested, but also I like the sense behind the hunter class that the hunter and the pet were designed to work together as a single entity. I feel like multiboxing would only leave me doing less than would be possible if we actually had one real person playing each character.What's your opinion on doing multiple things at once? Do you love such complexity, or do you prefer a simpler playstyle? Which class do you think has the most things going on at the same time?
WoW Moviewatch: How to beat a warlock
As we all know, warlocks are just so OP, it's very hard to beat one in a one-on-one PvP situation. Thankfully, however, Makale has discovered their secret weak spots, and is willing to share them with the world. The introduction in this video is a bit slow, but once you get to the meat of it, there's no denying that these tips are the best you can get. Previously on WoW Moviewatch...
Run over by the Succubus II
Syphonis is back. The poor young Warlock who got banned from WoW by his parents for the "oooh ooooh"ing succubus is back on the forums with another tale of woe.It's still funny (he's now learned how to pronounce Succubus, though his mother is a little freaked out that she "seduces" people, and we learned the real reason why his parents want him out of WoW: because child predators play "mmogrpos"), but I'm more inclined to call "shenanigans" on this one-- the insight on how kids work seems too mature to me somehow.Then again, as any parent will tell you, kids are insidious at convincing you to give them their way. Fortunately, he closes the epic story with an acknowledgment that school is just around the corner, and that WoW is going to take a back seat to that for a little while. Sounds like the best thing for everyone, buddy.
Fear and how to fix it
Draele just started a blog about being a Warlock called Rantings of the Afflicted, and today he's got a post up about that most heinous of Warlock abilites: yes, none other than fear. A touchy subject (to say the least), but he offers three different suggestions on how to make fear fun for everyone.At its base, fear is actually Blizzard's way of trying to come up with another game mechanic. If you're a veteran MMORPG player, you know there are three archetype classes-- healer, DPS, and tank. All three of them are centered around damage-- either getting rid of it, doing it, or tanking it. Fear, however, plays with none of those rules-- it's a complete damage negator. The reason Warlocks have fear is so they can wear cloth and yet stay alive for a long time against one target-- long enough for their DoTs to come in.The problem with fear, however, as even the developers have admitted, is that it's not fun for the person being feared-- getting feared leaves you with almost no option but to sit there and do nothing. It removes control from your character, and that's never fun.So how can we fix it?
Build Shop: Warlock ??/41+/??
This will be a somewhat unusual (and self-serving) Build Shop. You see, I have a Warlock alt, rolled one day when I was bored at level 60 with my priest, trying to get my Devout gloves. The warlock has always been either Affliction or Demonic Sacrifice-based, but I'd like to try out the Felguard for leveling purposes (currently, I'm at level 55). The question is, what Felguard spec should I use?From my research in the official forums and a few other places, and from playing around with the talent calculator, here's the best I've been able to come up with: 15/46/0 or 5/46/10. Fairly similar, as you can see. However, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with both builds; essentially, few of the points that aren't in Demonology really satisfy me.
Phat Loot Phriday: Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian
Veteran readers of the blog will remember when the world first of this baby dropped, but now that everyone's 70, maybe you too can get a raid rolling in Naxxaramas, and obtain for yourself the legendary (literally) weapon of Medivh.Name: Atiesh, Greatstaff of the GuardianType: Legendary StaffDamage/Speed: 130-243 / 2.90 (64.4 DPS)Abilties: There are actually four different versions of the staff-- Warlock, Mage, Priest, and Druid. You can see all of them over at WoW Wiki-- they all increase spell damage and/or healing of the equipper (the Druid one increases AP in feral forms as well), but they also have a party bonus, too. The Druid gives 11mp5, the Mage increases spell crit strike of the entire party, the Warlock grants 33 spell damage to the party, and the Priest gives 62 healing to everyone in the party. Additionally, all of the versions will do something very special: create a portal to Karazhan. Nowdays, players go to Karazhan all the time, so it's not that big a deal, but back when this staff came out, no one had ever been there, and so cracking open a portal was pretty cool And the staff grants various amounts of Stamina, Intellect or Spirit, depending on the version you have. Unfortunately, the stats are no longer that great-- they're incredible for level 60, but at level 70, it's pretty easy to come by equivalent (or even better) stats, and therefore, not really worth the trouble to obtain the staff. But then again, there is an immense amount of value in the lore of this item, considering that it was owned by Medivh himself. Why, might you ask, does something so awesome look so plain? Don't judge a book by its cover, son-- that model, though plain, matches the models used in Warcraft 2 and 3. This is a legendary item, and real power is inside. Also, spectral birds sometimes appear flying around the staff. So that's kind of cool. Also, the Shade of Aran (who is of course Medivh's father) will be kind of surprised if you show up to fight him with this thing on How to Get It: In many ways, this is the final goal of shipping WoW. To get the item, you have to first collect 40 Splinters of Atiesh, which drop from different bosses in Naxxaramas, which means you need to run the place a few times. Then, once you've got those together, you can combine them to make the Frame of Atiesh. Once you've got that, you head off to Anachronos, the great big dragon near the Caverns of Time in Tanaris.He'll send you in search of the Staff Head of Atiesh, which Kel'Thuzad has gotten his grubby little hands on. He's trying to put the staff back together, and the Argent Dawn is fighting against him, so if you can nab the Head away from him, more power to you. And the Base of Atiesh is the other item you'll need, and it drops from C'thun, the end boss of AQ40. See what I mean about this being the final goal?After you've done all that, Anachronos will reassemble the staff for you, but wait! It's corrupted! (Figures.) You then take it into Stratholme, and run an event in which you can vanquish the evil spirit from the staff. Along the way, you can pick up another legendary item, a 1h sword that's freakin' awesome, but disappears after only a few minutes. After you defeat the spirit, you're then allowed to claim the staff, giving you the world's phattest loot-- of 2006.Getting Rid of It: The Greatstaff of the Guardian! The staff of Medivh himself, shattered when Archimonde destoryed Dalaran! Reassembled from shards dropped by ancient demons and cleansed by the most powerful of Azeroth's heroes! And a vendor will give you 18g 45s 58c for it. Go figure.
Utgarde Keep video
Blizzard strictly forbade any video or pictures of live gameplay during BlizzCon, so for fear of not being able to cover the whole thing for you guys, I stayed away from breaking that rule. But apparently Gameriot was not so rule-abiding, and they grabbed some shaky footage of the first dungeon we'll see in Northrend, Utgarde Keep.They played the same parts I did on my walkthrough, including the gigantic furnace walls, new Vrykul race, a few "proto-drakes," and the first boss, the Warlock who summons some big Vrykul skellys throughout the fight. There's not a lot new to hear about if you've been reading everything so far, but if you weren't able to make it to BlizzCon, it'll be your first chance to see everything from Northrend's first 5man on video.[ via Curse ]
The costumes of BlizzCon
Yeah, yeah. It's nice to come to the convention and attend developer panels about how they develop the classes and how they build the dungeons. And sure, it's fun to play brand new, cutting edge, not even close to being released yet content. But the real reason to come to a nerd convention like this is to see all of these crazy people and the incredible costumes they put together.So we've saved you the trip-- here's a gallery of the best costumes we've seen around BlizzCon 2007. This gallery will also be updated throughout the day, so keep checking back to see the latest pictures of people who put a ton of work into bring Blizzard to life (some for the better, like the awesome Rogue above, and some...not so much).%Gallery-5529%
A spec guide for classes that aren't yours
Nowadays, you lucky kids have the Armory, and you can, on demand, look up the point-by-point spec of any player in the game. You can see who's Fire, who's Affliction, and who's Resto at a moment's notice, and gone are the days where you had to guess what spec a player was from the spells they cast.Or are they? I'd hazard a guess that most players don't have the Armory on quick dial, and yet all players still encounter different specs of classes every single time they play. In an Arathi Basin, by the time you've looked up the other guy's spec on the Armory, the game is over.So it's still valuable to know specs just by glancing at the spells players are casting, and this is a guide to help you do that. Want to know at a glance whether your main tank laying down Mortal Strike is really specced Protection as he says, or if he's got a few extra points in Arms than he should have? Want to know if that Warlock who sent a Felguard after you in the battlegrounds is specced Demonology or Destruction?I've put together a handy guide to spotting specs of classes that aren't yours-- there are a few telltale spells in each class that will giveaway a player's spec at a glance, and save you the momentary trouble of having to punch their name into the Armory. I've also given you a short brief on what each spec can and can't do for you (so you're not asking priests in Shadowform to buff you with Divine Spirit). To check it out, hit the link below.
Blood Pact: Fear kiting 101
Everyone talks about fear being overpowered in PvP, but that's not a discussion we're going to have today No, here we're going to talk about using Fear in PvE situations, where it can easily be just as useful. The main reason for this is that Fear in PvE isn't on diminishing returns. You can cast it until you run out of mana (though it costs 12% of your base mana per cast), and your target will never become immune. Compare this to Fear in PvP, where your target will become immune on your forth attempt to fear it. And while it has a chance of breaking on damage in both PvE and PvP, its maximum duration in PvE is twice as long as its PvP duration (at least it will be as of patch 2.2).With a 20-second duration and no diminishing returns, you can kill nearly anything that you can Fear, and if you want to know how, just keep reading!
