6.1 Demo: Not as bad as the Demonbolt nerf makes it look.

[Cardio33 3]

All this change will do is push people to take cataclysm on all non-single target encounters.  Destruction won't be consistently viable until something is done about RoF.

 

 

Affliction is "ok" but doesn't have the versatility of demonology, which gives you multi dot damage AND burst aoe.

[gahhda 95]

If by not as bad as you think you mean completely unusable on every fight in the tier, sure.

[Furyio 3]

I'm going to save judgement until I see what effect this will have on the rotation, if any. That's the first post I've seen with any actual theory done on the changes, as opposed to just flatline negativity etc.

[Soulzar 42]

Tired of the large tuning swings.  

 

Yet another tier where after a few weeks into progression I need to relearn the fight with either a different spec or a different playstyle to Demo.

[vaeevictiss 17]

Tired of the large tuning swings.  

 

Yet another tier where after a few weeks into progression I need to relearn the fight with either a different spec or a different playstyle to Demo.

i think this just proves that whoever is in charge of warlock stuff at blizzard has their head completely up their ass...like to the shoulders.

[taliesin52 3]

Tired of the large tuning swings.  

 

Yet another tier where after a few weeks into progression I need to relearn the fight with either a different spec or a different playstyle to Demo.

This irritates me as well.  Would it kill them to do things in 4-5% increments? 

[Furyio 3]

Tired of the large tuning swings.  

 

Yet another tier where after a few weeks into progression I need to relearn the fight with either a different spec or a different playstyle to Demo.

 

Yup agree here.

 

Tweeted the usuals today pointing out each progress tier Warlocks have had been changes this expansion, things need to settle down. 

 

It's extremely disruptive. Again I'm uncertain and worried ahead of balance changes, and I become a top target again to be dropped from my raid. 

[vaeevictiss 17]

Yup agree here.

 

Tweeted the usuals today pointing out each progress tier Warlocks have had been changes this expansion, things need to settle down. 

 

It's extremely disruptive. Again I'm uncertain and worried ahead of balance changes, and I become a top target again to be dropped from my raid. 

 

Lol. I can see blizzards response to this...

 

"Due to members of the warlock community saying they are loosing their raid spots, we are now allowing warlock players to play another class. We feel this buff will help you stay in the raid and getting some boss kills with your friends!"

[Alkeir 1]

Hey Zagram, when do you plan to update the tier 17 set bonus sims with the 6.1 changes? Need to know if I'm going to have to go back to affliction or destruction :\

[Cardio33 3]

10-15% DB nerf would have been OK, 

 

Would have dropped us to a 3xDB + other stuff smooth rotation.  

 

Now everyone will roll cata instead of DB for most encounters with an afflic off spec for single target.

 

 

People will take Cata for:

 

Kromog, Beastlord, and Operator like before but will also take it for Iron Maidens and Furnace now.

 

Other fights will be afflic.

 

 

 

PS - I'm glad I saw this coming and prioritized haste/mastery gear.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Cardio33

[Nyanchan 2]

10-15% DB nerf would have been OK, 

 

Would have dropped us to a 3xDB + other stuff smooth rotation.  

 

Now everyone will roll cata instead of DB for most encounters with an afflic off spec for single target.

 

 

People will take Cata for:

 

Kromog, Beastlord, and Operator like before but will also take it for Iron Maidens and Furnace now.

 

Other fights will be afflic.

 

 

 

PS - I'm glad I saw this coming and prioritized haste/mastery gear.

 

or you could just go demonic servitude with GoS for single target, since it was simmed just a bit bellow current demon bolt

[vaeevictiss 17]

is aff actually viable now? or is it just a case of "well were shit anyway so play what you like".

[Mikedawg 4]

Aff was always viable, Demo was just better.

[Liquidsteel 279]

Aff was always viable, Demo was just better.

Indeed, check out the parses for Mythic Gruul.

 

Affliction has a grand total of two logged kills, whereas Demonology has almost two hundred. 

 

And yet, Affliction managed to get one parse in the top 3. Admittedly he is 688 and had some nice RNG, but still it proves Affliction ST isn't terrible; just nobody is playing it!

 

The top Demonology parse is almost 3k DPS higher, but truth be told the RNG on that pull was a bit insane, and the player in question coined the Mythic Warforged + Socket Goren Soul Repository earlier that night ^^

[Deamux 4]

Considering this 'new' playstyle comming 6.1; What if you dont have that ~20% crit? Will it be worth gemming/enchating for it? Is it worth dropping mastery to get there?

 

If not; does that mean building with shadowbolt & dumping with soulfire? Or is the difference small enough to still keep building with Soulfire and dumping with ToC? (SF when procs are up)

[Furyio 3]

So do we have a TLDR for rotation/talent changes recommended for 6.1?

 

I am doing heroic with my guild so not bleeding edge stuff, every patch this expansion has scared me no end, due to the significant changes I've had to do per raid. 

 

Would appreciate a little summary to put my mind at ease

 

I think so far I've understood people saying Archimondes Darkness which is fine I always ran that. I see a lot of mention of Demonic Servitude, so I should take this and keep my Doomguard out the entire time?

 

I also see mention of Grimoire of Service, Typically I've always ran the other too.But service is the optimal now?

 

*Got myself sorted, guide got updated elsewhere that makes it clear 

Edited February 23, 2015 by Furyio

[Soulzar 42]

Where is this ~20% crit number coming from?

 

From my ptr testing CR+GoSac is best Single Target, minimally.. however can react better to BRF 10s trinket procs than Demo can, of which I don't have on my ptr toon.

 

GoServ/Servitude/2mDS Demo is actually quite good, the Doomguard does a ton of dmg!  

 

Any other time it would be GoSyn/Cata/1mDS

 

2-4DB still did alright, but was outpaced by GoServ/Servitude by quite a bit in my testing

[Stunlocked 8]

So do we have a TLDR for rotation/talent changes recommended for 6.1?

 

I am doing heroic with my guild so not bleeding edge stuff, every patch this expansion has scared me no end, due to the significant changes I've had to do per raid. 

 

Would appreciate a little summary to put my mind at ease

 

I think so far I've understood people saying Archimondes Darkness which is fine I always ran that. I see a lot of mention of Demonic Servitude, so I should take this and keep my Doomguard out the entire time?

 

I also see mention of Grimoire of Service, Typically I've always ran the other too.But service is the optimal now?

 

*Got myself sorted, guide got updated elsewhere that makes it clear 

 

It seems like we're more or less back to where we were before the Demonbolt buff - with all the specs/builds close to each other, and a lot of it depending on the fight and your raid's needs.

 

I've also seen a lot of talk about using DS with Demonology - but I haven't really seen numbers on how it compares to Demonbolt post-6.1.  It does seem to me that with DS you're losing out on some on-demand burst (even after the Demo nerfs) and you're also losing out on the felguard's cleave/splash damage.  

 

As for Grimoire of Service - I haven't seen much about it in terms of Demo, but I know that it was really good for Affliction and Destruction when using DS, especially with certain trinkets (Copeland's, Shards, Sandman's Pouch).  GoServ has a 2 minute cooldown which lines up nicely with those trinkets and Dark Soul.  So you can easily macro it to summon a 2nd Doomguard to come out when DS/trinkets are off cooldown.  I think that's still possible if you're going Demonology/DS.  I don't know what the ICD is on the BRF trinkets, but you can still use DS/GoServ with the Doomguard and (if you don't have DS glyphed) summon another doomguard when DS is off cooldown.  That should offset some of the burst you're losing by going from Demonbolt to DS.

[Soulzar 42]

You don't really lose on demand, you just lose burst.  On Demand is actually better with non DB builds because you can freely spend fury at any time.. with DB if you need burst outside of your DB cycle, your sustained takes a huge hit.  Felguard cleave is irrelevant on Servitude, because you wouldn't be using servitude if there was any cleave for a felguard.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Soulzar

[Alkeir 1]

So do we have a TLDR for rotation/talent changes recommended for 6.1?

 

I am doing heroic with my guild so not bleeding edge stuff, every patch this expansion has scared me no end, due to the significant changes I've had to do per raid. 

 

Would appreciate a little summary to put my mind at ease

 

I think so far I've understood people saying Archimondes Darkness which is fine I always ran that. I see a lot of mention of Demonic Servitude, so I should take this and keep my Doomguard out the entire time?

 

I also see mention of Grimoire of Service, Typically I've always ran the other too.But service is the optimal now?

 

*Got myself sorted, guide got updated elsewhere that makes it clear 

Where was what guide update? I'd like to see this for myself. Don't know whether we should be doing the 2 demonbolt rotation or GoServ and DemServ for ST or if I should just swap to Affliction offspec...

[Middari 0]

Demonbolt is now a dead talent. This is disappointing for me because I really have enjoyed the play style of it so far. That being said, I tried to go back afflicition the other night for a few fights during our heroic clear and it wasn't pretty. The mobility of demo with leap just sets it so far ahead of both other specs. Being in the right place at the right time and not losing hardly any damage is just too good. Also, using meta as a mini damage reduction cooldown is nice.

[Fennalie 1]

Hey guys I'm searching through 6.1 patch notes and I can't see the 25% nerf to DB anywhere anymore. Is this already live or have they changed their minds?

[spikeysquad 50]

Supposedly it is on the US ones which have been more recently updated (though the site is down at the moment so cannot read them). However, the EU patch notes have not been updated since 29th January and hence it isn't on them. Is this perhaps your issue too? 

[Fennalie 1]

Ahhh yes I see it on the US one. :( I thought they changed their minds

[Soulzar 42]

Blizz just trying to get more $$ from us by having us all Server xfer to EU.