5.4 Changes and Notes as of 7/10

[Zagam 1,982]

I won't be, but it'll at least give me some direction. I haven't played Affliction raiding since our first Heroic Dark Animus kill and before that since ToT came out. It's going to be scary.

[vaeevictiss 17]

well the only spec i enjoy is affliction so i hope it works out lol.

[Zagam 1,982]

We will kill everything...that part is no problem. Just going to have to get re-used to watching my DoTs like a hawk instead of putting it up and forgetting about it for 2 minutes like I do with Demonology. It'll keep the game fresh, that's for sure.

[Zagam 1,982]

I hate Affliction. Did it on Jin'rokh (330k), Megaera (181k), and Ji'kun (265k). Mage is missing because of weather, so I'm going to have to play Demo on Durumu and Primordius. Should be ok to play Affliction on the rest of them. Maybe not Lei Shen...missing Demonic Leap would hurt. Ra-den, definitely. I just...I don't know, I don't like it. Sadly, I like Destruction but putting down Rain of Fire is annoying. Good thing I like Demo haha

[vaeevictiss 17]

yea ive been playing since Vanilla and to me locks have always been that drain and dot type class. Demo feels too hunter and destro feels too mage for me :P. I will give it to blizz that this expac Demo is something truly different than it ever was, but i still have love for the one true lock spec haha.

I absolutely hated the end of BC where we were demolishing meters by just casting SB over...and over....and over lol.

[Omaric 246]

but i still have love for the one true lock spec (affliction) haha.

Demonologists use Fel Fire, super demons, have access to drains, shadowy meteor death and the hardest hitting DoT in the game. ARE YOU SURE MY GOOD MAN?!

Hunters.... PAH!

[Zagam 1,982]

New Glyphs on PTR.

Unending Resolve - seems pointless. Reducing it to a 20% reduction, down from 40%, seems...well, lame? Maybe for PvP to have a 20% CD more often. For PvE, this seems dull with us already having Sacrificial Pact.

Curse of the Elements - could be good. Typically if you need to hit 3 things with CoE, you'll just use the globals to do so when you switch. CoE is really only worth it on targets that will live for a bit, and this is rendered completely useless when you have Rogues on your team.

Havoc - seems interesting, but a sustained DPS loss when multiple targets are always present. However, if adds come in 60 second intervals, this Glyph will be kickass. Two Havoc'd Chaos Bolts or (HOLY SHIT) SIX SHADOWBURNS! This would obviously require full Embers, 2pc T15, and Dark Soul, but it could be done. 6 Shadowburns could produce 6M damage in 6 seconds. Pretty pimp.

[Omaric 246]

Meh, waiting on the Everlasting Afflictions glyph change.

[Kaboozey 16]

That would be amusing. But only if they start yelling stuff out in the process.

From what I can gather though, it appears to be in a form similar to tank vengeance. You get hit, you do more damage. The obvious differences being that it would work in PvP, and might scale slightly differently. Not the clearest assumption, but that's what I get from this:

Source: https://twitter.com/...767452911939585

I really hope not. Encouraging players to stand in fire to top meters is bad design. Just complete redesign already.

Am I tool for quoting myself? I still stand by what I said. It's cool they wanna make an auto-pvp talent to take and all, but for raiding, I still see AV as bad design.

[Cruzan 71]

Intermeresting. More stuff about AV changes.

Archimonde's Vengeance has been further adjusted, as you'll see in a forthcoming PTR build. We agree with the general concern about incentivizing a pure DPS class to seek out sources of damage and make healers' lives harder in exchange for a damage boost. Even though we can filter out "standing in the fire," so to speak, and plan to do so for tank Vengeance as well, there are plenty of cases that can't be easily handled (e.g. Lei Shen's Thunderstruck, which isn't really avoidable damage, but where a warlock with the current PTR Archimonde's might find it optimal to stand just close enough that they barely survive it, rather than properly trying to get far away).

The current plan is a replacement that will make Dark Soul significantly more potent, though, of course, that is subject to change, it being PTR and all.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/9453685514#20

[Zagam 1,982]

Modifying Dark Soul? Go on....

Funny he used the Thunderstruck ability as an example...someone I know thought of that already...hehe

[vaeevictiss 17]

Demonologists use Fel Fire, super demons, have access to drains, shadowy meteor death and the hardest hitting DoT in the game. ARE YOU SURE MY GOOD MAN?!

Hunters.... PAH!

yea...i got nothing lol. Demo locks are totally different now of what they have been in the past. Quite frankly, when i was playing the Beta early on, i was finally able to say...Wow, lock specs are finally something entirely dynamic. In the past they just felt so similar. I even leveled with destro on the beta.

Still, i just guess i cant come out of my affliction shell. Im so used to it that demo looks intimidating. One of these days ill sit down and give it a try.

[Kaboozey 16]

Intermeresting. More stuff about AV changes.

Yes. Inter...meresting?

But yeah, as if Dark Soul wasn't already potent? And also in that thread you linked, someone stated Fel Flame is higher output than Shadowbolt unless it's going to spawn an Imp. Is there any possible validity to this? If so, that would make KJC utterly useless for Demo.

[Omaric 246]

New patch notes coming in:

Archimonde's Forgiveness: While Dark Soul is active, your Doomguard and Terrorguard now shoot rainbows.

[JvChequer 43]

*Dreaming with a 1min Dark Soul or a double powerful DS*

[vaeevictiss 17]

im pretty sure that would make it the new KJC in that no one would ever take the other 2 talents.

[Alphric 7]

So if you were running the new AV, especially single target fights, you'd want to run GoSac with soul link so you would have more health to take damage into verses sac pact since having the shield would keep you from having the effect. Or maybe if you were using soul link on a pet and you took shared damage would it count as to procs of AV? Also would this make disc healing unprefered for locks?

[Zagam 1,982]

The current tooltip says that you gain spell power for damage taken. The way tank vengeance works is it's calculated pre-mitigation. This would bypass shields, absorption effects, damage reductions, etc. Personally, I see a loophole in that your pets take 90% less AoE damage. Having your pet eat an attack as well as you, even without Soul Link, would double the effect. Of course, that's left to testing and likely isn't set up in the design. They're going to rework it...again...anyways, so not even worth thinking about.

[Alphric 7]

I see...well here's to hope of an ever brighter future...or darker if that's better for all the rp peeps out there

Edited July 11, 2013 by Nemestris

[Soulzar 42]

I see the validity of concerns with locks soaking dmg to buff dmg... and agree that would be terrible to go live for obvious reasons.... it would also be awesome to go live.... for obvious reasons! lol

Curious what AV could do to Dark Soul... very curious. Wondering if whatever change it may bring could potentially bring new life to Darksoul glyph.... For example if it increases its buff and reduces its duration.

[Zagam 1,982]

That Dark Soul glyph is for leveling. It will NEVER be good for raiding if it reduces its potency in any way, shape, or form. If they're modifying Dark Soul, I don't really see what they could do that would be interesting except maybe...have a chance to duplicate spells like back when we had Tarecgosa?! That was the one fun element of playing Elemental before I switched to Enhancement on my Shaman was picking Echo of the Elements. That would effectively make KJC obsolete. Funny how that would all work out...haha

[Alphric 7]

Well if the buff lasts 20 seconds you would only have to stand in "the poo" for a split second every 20 seconds. But also your pet's damage triggers the effect so if you use a melee pet then you get the buff too. Especially when leveling with voidlord.

[Zagam 1,982]

The buff lasts 20 seconds but is built up by damage taken. It wouldn't be for a split second...it would be until you hit 5% health to maximize the proc. Pets don't typically take damage by being in melee. They automatically position themselves behind bosses to avoid cleaving. Leveling DPS doesn't matter.

[Diaak 0]

Wut? someone in blizz is drunk.

Archimonde's Vengeance has been redesigned and renamed into Archimonde's Darkness. Archimonde's Darkness gives the Warlock's Dark Soul spell two charges.

Soul Link now transfers 20% of damage taken by the Warlock to their pet, and 3% of all damage dealt by the Warlock will be returned as healing for the Warlock and their pet. This ability is always active while the Warlock's pet is active.

Those changes are awesome, T6 will be a real choice, maybe KJC is the "worst" right now?

Edited July 12, 2013 by Diaak

[JvChequer 43]

OMG that's so OP 0.o.

Hope when we use 1 charge the other enter in CD like HoG.

Tier 15 + A.Darkness = Profit

Maybe the new Dark Soul glyph make Dark Soul x2 more powerful but remove the charge system or make it double duration and one charge only. Dunno.

Dark Soul Should stack, 36k mastery buff would be great, Yohohoohohoh

Edited July 12, 2013 by JvChequer