9th INNING WARLOCK CHANGES

[Rakupenda 15]

I didn't play a Warlock until ICC.  Might surprise a few people haha

Likewise! Well...started playing one during ToGC but didn't start raiding until ICC.

[Watermasta 7]

Ahhhh the ole SL/SL lock...hook up with a resto druid in 2v2. Back before resil affected dots.

[Annoroth 5]

• Affliction
  • Haunt now increases all periodic damage against the target by 35% (down from 40%).

Demonology

• Wild Imps' Fel Firebolt now deals 30% less damage.

Destruction

• Immolate's damage has been increased by 30%.

Unerring Vision of Lei Shen now has a 40% reduced chance to activate its effect for Warlocks.

[mediocregatsby 18]

wow. kind of mind blowing that they would nerf imps and UVLS at the same time... seems incredibly irresponsible but not that surprising. demo is gonna to feel quite impotent next week...

[Zagam 1,982]

I'm usually composed...

 

FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKK THIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS. 

[mediocregatsby 18]

yeah... i am pretty stunned, this is a ridiculously big nerf to demo. i just passed on a garrosh trinket last night too, now i'm stuck using a useless UVLS for a while.

 

the trinket nerf makes me think we need to itemize crit but then the imp nerf makes me think what's the point 

[Zilthy 36]

I'm usually composed...

 

FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKK THIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS. 

 

I agree wholeheartedly. :(

[InfernoRFU 125]

I was thinking about dropping demo for a while to try out affliction, but not like this man....not like this.

[JvChequer 43]

[bangorme 0]

I know that some don't like this, but it did predict demo's strength... until now.  But taking a look at this:  http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_DPS/25N/all/14/30/p60/#0001110000000000000000000000000000, demo only enjoyed a 2% advantage over affliction.  This is a huge adjustment to reach 2%.

[Strife 6]

I totally get the UVLS nerf, but 30% on imps at the same time, are they serious?

 

Do they understand that power of imps and Demo being pretty near even to Aff was the result of UVLS in the first place?

 

I mean at least buff something else to compensate...

Edited September 24, 2013 by Strife

[mediocregatsby 18]

anyone know if this is live or going in tomorrow?

 

edit: nvm blue post says they're going in on tuesday realm restart

Edited September 24, 2013 by mediocregatsby

[Zilthy 36]

One: That would then explain why my UVLS was still going off very well tonight.

 

Two: Not giving up on demo, I really do enjoy this spec, will just find a different approach.

 

Granted, it's pretty stupid, they consider a trink OP with a spec, so nerf the trink.  Not both trink and spec.  But, nevermind, I feel pretty scrappy, will find a way to overcome. :)

[Meeloh 0]

wow... i understand nerfing UVLS... but nerfing imps AND affliction :S

 

fuk this

[EgoReaper 9]

wow... i understand nerfing UVLS... but nerfing imps AND affliction :S

 

fuk this

Don't forget, they buffed destro. What's with the constant buffs to Destro anyway?

[Ilion 8]

I hope they keep on buffing destruction :)

[Vestion 8]

Dear Blizzard:

 

I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY DESTRU

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

A pissed warlock

[Vile 9]

I'm inclined to say Affliction is strong for all the fights in SoO, the possible exception being Spoils. Even then if you manage to keep a 10 stacked Agony thrown around via the new SS you shoul do alright here too. Affli all the way, baby!

[Wolland 1]

1: double punch in the d*ck to Demo

2: nerf affli's dots by nerfing haunt

3: keep buffing destro to bring it in line with THE PRE NERF'ed Demo/Affli

4: sh*t loads of CRIT on T16 gear

...

message received.

[chrisdux 0]

What do you estimate would be the changes of single target output of specs?

I'd reckon that the nerf hammer hit both affli/demo about 3-5% while boost to destro may prove to be somewhere around 3%.

Wouldn't these changes make the desired 10m specs shift from affli/demo to affli/destro?

Cheers

Edited September 24, 2013 by chrisdux

[Zagam 1,982]

Don't forget, they buffed destro. What's with the constant buffs to Destro anyway?

Why are they buffing Destruction?  Because they've FINALLY realized what me and other Warlocks have been saying for a while...Destro sucks on non-gimmick fights.  When something is being buffed by 15%, baking in the T15 tier bonuses, then giving our only DoT a 30% buff, they are admitting...shit, Destro was pretty rough.

 

I'm inclined to say Affliction is strong for all the fights in SoO, the possible exception being Spoils. Even then if you manage to keep a 10 stacked Agony thrown around via the new SS you shoul do alright here too. Affli all the way, baby!

I think Affliction is a poor choice for Immerseus, especially Heroic.  I haven't seen too many fights on heroic...just three...so that decision will be up for grabs.  Locky will enlighten me on his heroic progress this Friday because he hasn't been dabbling in Demo like I have, so his perspective will be stronger.

 

1: double punch in the d*ck to Demo

2: nerf affli's dots by nerfing haunt

3: keep buffing destro to bring it in line with THE PRE NERF'ed Demo/Affli

4: sh*t loads of CRIT on T16 gear

...

message received.

1) yeah, shoulda worn a cup.

2) 5% nerf from Haunt's effect is relatively minor.  If anything, maybe a 3.5-4.0% drop single target, but multi-dotting is largely unphased.

3) This is good.  At least we aren't pidgeon-holed into one spec.

4) Sure, 3 pieces have Crit, but you can avoid Crit EVERYWHERE else on every item except your weapon.  4 pieces with Crit isn't Crit overload.

 

What do you estimate would be the changes of single target output of specs?

I'd reckon that the nerf hammer hit both affli/demo about 3-5% while boost to destro may prove to be somewhere around 3%.

Wouldn't these changes make the desired 10m specs shift from affli/demo to affli/destro?

Cheers

My paper-napkin math (quick math, no computations, no simcraft) would estimate:

 

Affliction will be a 3.5-4.0% drop for Affliction single target if Haunt is up 100% of the time and will leave cleaving and multi-dotting largely unchanged.  I'd say a reasonable nerf estimation in the 2.5-3.0% range.

 

Demonology will be different depending on single target or multi.  Looking at my own logs for Iron Juggernaut (single) and Protectors (multi), I see a 30% reduction on Imps, or a 3,542,867 loss out of a total of 71,418,548 done, or 5.0%.  This EXCLUDES the nerf to UVLS, so this 5.0% is likely higher.  For Protectors, I'd lose 10,368,230 out of 159,097,201 total damage, or 6.5%.  This EXCLUDES the nerf to UVLS, so 6.5% is likely a large underestimation as the increased number of targets for UVLS Doom would increase the lost damage from the nerf.

 

For Destruction, I'm looking at my 10 man normal Siegecrafter kill.  I had a rather poor uptime on Immolate because I was prioritizing killing adds, so my uptime was only 72%.  Damage done was 4,644,350.  Buffing this 30% would make it 6,037,655, or a gain of 3.5% overall.  This is slightly understated due to my low uptime.  For single target, I look for this to be a 4% buff.  For AoE, this will be a rather large buff, depending on the number of targets.

Destruction

[Zagam 1,982]

I know that some don't like this, but it did predict demo's strength... until now.  But taking a look at this:  http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_DPS/25N/all/14/30/p60/#0001110000000000000000000000000000, demo only enjoyed a 2% advantage over affliction.  This is a huge adjustment to reach 2%.

Don't look at measures like these.  You're smashing all specs against each other irrespective of their strengths and weaknesses per fight.  You're also looking at "ALL" parses.  With only 2 weeks of data, you're looking at some good players, a few exceptional players, and a ton of mediocre to bad players.  There are tons of multi-dotting situations in SoO, so if you play Destruction, you're making the mistake, but those numbers get mashed against Affliction and Demo.  This measure isn't going apples to apples comparisons.  Graphs and stats are fun, but if you don't think of the context, the purpose and meaning behind the numbers gets lost.

[Rakupenda 15]

Personally...I wanted Demo to DIE. Hate it.Talking about Destro being only good for gimmick fights...Demo is/was gimmicked with UVLS.

 

~.67 RPPM (Heroic 2/2) Down 40% to ~.48 RPMM, so it procs about every 2 minutes like the other trinkets.

 

Good thing I have three chances at PBI per week...guess I know where my coins are going this week. C'mon H/HWF tomorrow...

[Zagam 1,982]

Personally...I wanted Demo to DIE. Hate it.Talking about Destro being only good for gimmick fights...Demo is/was gimmicked with UVLS.

 

~.67 RPPM (Heroic 2/2) Down 40% to ~.48 RPMM, so it procs about every 2 minutes like the other trinkets.

 

Good thing I have three chances at PBI per week...guess I know where my coins are going this week. C'mon H/HWF tomorrow...

As a pure DPS, I find it concerning you'd like one of our specs to die.  You'd think you'd enjoy the versatility of being able to choose a spec for a fight...

 

Destro being good for 'gimmick' fights in the old tier is a solid observation.  It only excelled on fights you had lots of adds to kill to keep your Ember generation high or when you needed massive burst.  Buffing Immolate and Incinerate doesn't do a ton for the gimmick mechanics such as Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn spam, but it does help the spec's single target DPS which is good.  Demo wasn't a 'gimmick' because of a trinket.  They designed it.  We implemented it based on our class mechanics.  That's not a gimmick, although I heard one time it was called an EXPLOIT.

 

No other trinket procs once per two minutes...where is your data on that?  The ONLY trinket that procs once every 2 minutes is Purified Bindings of Immerseus, and that trinket is on an ICD timer because of the ridiculously powerful passive that comes with it.  Almost every single other RPPM trinket in the last tier and this tier have an RPPM value just above or below 1.00. 

[Rakupenda 15]

 

 

As a pure DPS, I find it concerning you'd like one of our specs to die.  You'd think you'd enjoy the versatility of being able to choose a spec for a fight...

If there were such a thing as Tri spec...then I'd agree with you on the versatility thing. But if I they're making us choose just two, Demo is not it for me.

 

 

 

Destro being good for 'gimmick' fights in the old tier is a solid observation.  It only excelled on fights you had lots of adds to kill to keep your Ember generation high or when you needed massive burst.  Buffing Immolate and Incinerate doesn't do a ton for the gimmick mechanics such as Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn spam, but it does help the spec's single target DPS which is good.  Demo wasn't a 'gimmick' because of a trinket.  They designed it.  We implemented it based on our class mechanics.  That's not a gimmick, although I heard one time it was called an EXPLOIT.

If they really intended it to be used as such (still, even after the RPPM changes), we wouldn't be seeing yesterdays nerf - it would have been that way from the start and UVLS would have just been a footnote of ToT. "Remember that ToT 100% crit trinket?" "Yeah, cool idea, horrible execution." I'm surprised it took this long for them to phase it out.

 

No other trinket procs once per two minutes...where is your data on that?  The ONLY trinket that procs once every 2 minutes is Purified Bindings of Immerseus, and that trinket is on an ICD timer because of the ridiculously powerful passive that comes with it.  Almost every single other RPPM trinket in the last tier and this tier have an RPPM value just above or below 1.00. 

Gotcha, my mistake. Was just trying to justify the nerf >_>