Quick Heads-Up (2) and Musings about Fear

Funny coincidence. Two nights ago Steptoe my warlock buddy PMs me and asks if I know about a lock blog worth reading. Something I’ve been searching for a while myself (pre TBC my then-main was a level 60 lock, so the class is still interesting to me even if I don’t play it these days).

So today wowinsider actually provides us with Rantings of the Afflicted, which, while pretty recent, appears to be promising.

Speaking of which he has a column up discussing how to nerf Fear properly (or in a way that doesn’t totally cripple the warlock and priest classes into uselessness).

In that respect I disagree with the basic premise. I’m quite for the old saying that goes don’t fix what isn’t broken. And I fundamentally dispute that fear is a broken mechanic.

See, the nerf cries come from the weak but vocal PvP players who hate the loss of control they incur when feared. Running around powerless for, in the worst case, 21 seconds while you see DoTs slowly eating away your health is extremely frustrating. Interestingly, though, a rogue can stunlock you from 100% to death in about 8 seconds while you remain just as helpless and people don’t run to the forums crying nerf. It’s entirely illogical that they don’t, except that the perception of being powerless lasts for a lot less time, and that’s probably the key difference here.

I do enjoy arena (I’m still pretty bad at it and massively undergeared), I like an occasional BG here and then (and hate the totally lame underpopulated EU battlegroup Vindications’ queues), but I’m by no means a dedicated or hardcore PvP player. My old lock made it to Knight-Lieutenant under the old Honour system, and that’s it.

What I don’t like with PvP is how the more and more frantic attempts to tweak PvP, in particuliar since the Arena was introduced, is how it disrupts PvE play. Considering the derogatory view Tigole has on the Arena (thanks for the “welfare epics” comment, really appreciate it. Endless rep grinds, mindlessly boring attunement processes and the ultimate catassing treadmill which was opening AQ are so much fun, really. What’s amazing is that this game actually manages to have enough fun DESPITE the Tigole flavour of catassing design), this is pretty galling.

If you only play on the recieving end of a fear chain, you cannot exactly understand what a warlock needs fear for in PvE. So try to forget about your PvP frustration for a second and read up.

Warlock has no natural kite, nor universal shield, contrary to priest and mage. Warlocks rely heavily on Damage over Time to deliver damage, and, surprise surprise, these take time to run their course. A mage can frost-kite pretty much anything forever and then nova and blink to regain distance, and apply damage without ever getting hit. A shadow priest has a mix of DoT, direct damage, and fear + mind flay to kite. A warlock has a pet and that’s OK for normal PvE - to a point.
When you have to start killing elites for certain drops, all classes aren’t created equal. Hunters have strong pets and are masters of long kites. Mages as mentionned can frost kite / kill pretty much anything. Rogues may have to pop a potion or burn a 5-min cooldown but still manage decently. A pallie will engage in combat and at some point in time much later will eventually emerge victorious.
A warlock, on the other hand, will watch his pet getting eaten through within seconds (see, our minions just don’t have the endurance hunter pets have) and then be turned into dessert themselves. Now I know other classes are broken too in this respect, but I’m frankly sick and tired of the overall attitude which consists in demanding other classes be dragged down into the mud where you wallow yourself instead of clamoring for a ladder so that you too can see the sunset from a lofty vantage point. So when a lock needs to kill stuff too tough for his minion, his only resort is chain fear + dot.

This is pretty much the only option for a warlock at several stages in his career, most notably when questing for his infernal. Or, pre-TBC, when skinning for the 35 black dragonscales needed as part of the epic mount quest.
Make fear break on damage like poly and all you have is a gimped mage with a gimped hunter pet who spends a massive amount of time face down in the dirt. A class relying on DoTs cannot have its CC break on damage, it’s just totally stupid to request that it does, your PvP angst nonwithstanding.

Now if you truly want to “fix fear” because you believe it’s broken (which it isn’t), here’s what you will have to do:

• Come up with a way which keeps warlock solo PvE viability intact, taking DoTs into account
• Make sure your fix doesn’t gimp priests even more (hint: making psychic scream a horrify effect could be an option)
• While you’re at it, do address stunlocking as well, kthx.

If you can’t come up with something that works, my advice to you is to pick up a lock and walk a mile in their shoes (eg levelling up to 29 and then BG a bit, duelling means jack) before you pipe up about fear again. If you can’t be arsed, I suggest you get a big cup of STFU instead.

Edit: There’s actually another interesting warlock read out there, the aptly-named l2lock, who appears to be sharing Altitis’ view on fear. And if you want a good summary of who QQs about what on the o-boards’ lock forums, l2lock provides you a nice digest with your (DDoD) Daily Dose of Drama.

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Tags: Warlock

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