As you can tell I haven’t gotten very far. I’m currently only level 107, but I’m okay with that. I’m not pushing hardcore mechanics or world firsts, I’m playing casually and enjoying the ride as it is so far. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy in the game and with the game, that I don’t feel the need to rush through everything and gloss over stuff just to sit in some content farming grind that others seem to think is the only proper way to enjoy the game. I’m okay with this.

So far I’ve been leveling as Affliction. I’ve gotten 13 points into the Artifact so far, which means I’ll probably be swapping over to Destruction to level up with. I could possibly go Demonology though as I struggle with the mechanics in that spec more and could use the practice. Affliction, for the most part, is fun. I LOVE the DOT spec. I DO NOT feel that having Unstable Affliction as our Shard dump as proper for the class fantasy. Shadowbolt is the nuke for Demonology, so Haunt SHOULD be our main spec nuke and baseline. We should also have the Nightfall proc back to make Haunt and instant cast, just like Shadowbolt used to be.

For the most part, the Affliction artifact leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I like the DPS increase to the DOT’s, but over-all it feels weak compared to others, better than others still. I’d love a rework to some of the traits in it, to better suit spreading dots around and stuff with our pets. One can only hope in that part. That’s most of it for this. Hopefully I can get to 110 and really start in on some dungeon runs and other fun stuff this weekend, if time permits. I get so side-tracked exploring the zones that sometimes I forget what quests I am on and just explorer. Oh well, it’s still fun.

So right now I’ve picked up the staff off the vendor in the Nether. The same vendor that sells the Class Order Hall gear. It will work until I can get to 102 and pick up the next artifact and can actually get Ulthalesh, the Deadwind Harvester.

So currently in Azsuna and starting on the initial quests in the zone. Looking forward to moving up in levels and progressing. So far Legion is an amazing expansion and very much brings back a lot of the enjoyment I once had in the game. So much so I actually came back and blogged here, which hasn’t happened in ages.

Next step is a look at the talents and seeing how I think they play into how I play, and not just copying and pasting what some top tier player does.

These are all initial thoughts and Artifact plays a lot into this as well I am sure.

Here is the link to how I picked talents.

Tier 90 and 100 talents I am unsure of currently. I’d like more clarification in how Soul Effigy and the Phantom works before picking one.

Looking good for Affliction to me currently.

Agony, Corruption, even Unstable Affliction our our main sources of damage now. I’m fine with this as it plays out with how the spec is, dot damage over time. What I am not found of is casting Haunt, to increase the damage of those spells then standing still to fire off Drain Soul as another damage over time ability. The mechanics of this spec are down right dumb.

You only cast Haunt if you don’t have Haunt’s debuff on the target OR you have your Dark Soul haste debuff up. I find this as extremely boring game-play.

Here is your basic rotation:

Agony  (instant)

Corruption  (instant)

Unstable Affliction  (1.5 second cast (there is a glyph to lower cast time))

Cast Dark Soul to buff the cast Haunt (1.5 cast time)

Drain Soul (channeled)

So basically you have Affliction as mind numbing channeled casters for the most part of fights. I thought there was a Dev Post at some point saying they wanted to remove boring game-play mechanics? Oh yeah, there was a post on it. Here is the gist:

One of the goals for the expansion was to spend some time re-evaluating what makes classes fun, what the key abilities or spells are that make them enjoyable to play, and also to strike a better balance between classes and encounter mechanics.

As Affliction plays out now, I don’t see this with Affliction. I see it as boring mechanics that lead to lazy game-play due to the fact there is nothing interesting about the spec currently. Casting 3 dots and channeling a spell and popping a Direct Damage ability on proc is a far cry from how the spec used to be. This is just my opinion but this is how I see the current spec. I understand changes class specs with game design and progressions but currently this makes the spec down right dull.

Actually I’m not as I’ve been playing since launch but just not the Warlock. I’ve been playing classes I always wanted to play, but never did because I always played my Warlock. Well, since WoD launch I’ve done that and even got a Shaman to 100. During this time I’ve come to realize….I REALLY like playing my Warlock.

I have heals….but only for me.

I have a the tanking ability, in a demon that tanks…for me.

All I have to worry about is not sanding in fire (unless it’s my own) and doing damage. I’m really good at doing that. So here I am back on the Warlock, leveling up as Affliction.

Why Affliction you say?

Because I have ALWAYS been Affliction. It’s what I love. I’ve tried out Destruction, it’s fun. I’ve been old school Demonology, it’s fun. Affliction is just me and how I like to play.

So far I’ve gotten to level 92. Ran Blood Slag Mines once (really hate the DPS queue). Got my happy little Suzy homemaker garrison and started up on Follower Missions and been going my happy little way in Shadowmooon Valley. I dropped Herbalism and picked up Tailoring to go along with Alchemy. I figure this may help me make up iLvL ground later on once I reach 100 to get into some Heroics and work my way up from there.

One thing of note that I have noticed though is that all the Affliction guides you currently reading out there are written by players that are not currently playing the Affliction spec. This boggles my mind. I understand if the spec under-performs DPS and your guild is pushing for 1st ePeens, but Affliction still needs the representation with the Devs to get that DPS disparity fixed.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s time for me to pick up a calculator and actually crunch the numbers with the game-play mechanics to see about getting Affliction Warlocks some representation…seeing how few of us there are.

Anyone else have an easier time in finding this? What did you kill and how long did it take you?

Affliction, for me, has ALWAYS been about Dot management and control. Add in the drains for health and mana as well as souls then followed up by shadowbolts to the face when Nightfall proc’d and you made me a happy Warlock. From my reading on forums from long time Affliction Warlock players, this was the same feeling they had. 6.0 has killed that old feeling.

Affliction is no longer fun, in my opinion.

There are currently 4 abilities our DPS evolves around:

Haunt – DPs/damage buff

Agony – instant Dot

Unstable Affliction – casted Dot

Corruption – instant Dot

Drain Soul – Filler

There is a Soulburn: Haunt at level 100 that you will pop first to open with in the rotation making this a 5 button rotation with cooldowns, but even then you are back to the same rotation you have before. There is a little more mechanics in that rotation to watch but it’s basically your setup. This is your standard solo out in the world quest rotation as well as your raid rotation.

So basically the Affliction Warlock has been boiled down, the fun removed and left with a spec that everything it can do all on a single action bar.

My 7 free days ends tomorrow. Even with how crappy I feel the Affliction spec is I have hope for the class heading into Warlords. Destruction looks fun and even demonology seems to have so interesting fun in it so i’ll be giving those a shot as I WILL be re-subbed to the game at the end of my free time and giving the class my attention.

Let’s just hope it gets a little better and they bring the fun back…hello Shadowbolt Please!

Affliction, to me, is the play style that is so easy to get into. It gives you range. It gives you lots of things to do in that range (depending on your level) and it also kills most stuff in that range it takes them to finally get to you. Affliction was one of the things I liked most in Burning Crusade as I went through most zones killing far more and faster than Hunters could take down and Mages AOE had nothing on the ability I had in farming an entire zone or area. So yeah, with those memories I went back to the Affliction route, once again.

Now, I have tried Destruction and the burst is extremely nice but to me, it seems too much like I’m playing a Mage. A fire Mage with a little demon pet going Pew Pew. That’s not Warlock enough for me. Where’s the pain and suffering? Affliction. Where’s the false hope you give your opponent before they realize there was no hope at all? Affliction. So with all this I am leveling Affliction again. I love it and it’s the style I enjoy the most.

So looking into everything I’ve missed since my absence, I’ve come across interesting information regarding Demonology. The main point being that they can tank. I find this very interesting as I’ve always wanted to try my hand at small 5 man dungeon tanking but never really wanted to give up on the Warlock. Now looks like it’s possible to do both!

I’m planning this weekend to try to find some time to figure out how this works. I’m not level 90 yet, not even geared for Heroics or the such. The plan is to try to do some research on the following:

• Stats Required
• Dungeon Strats
• Rotation testing

With all of that to try to work through, looks like my weekend of Warlockery just got full!

I use Soul Link and find it amazing currently. It shares the damage I or my demon takes. Yeah doesn’t sound so great up front but there is more to the talent when you add in the Glyph Siphon Life. That returns heath by a percentage of the dame done by Corruption. Also, we have Fel Armor as a passive, which reduces damage taken by 50%, increases our health by 10%, and increases healing through spells and effects by 10%. All Passive effects.

So what does that all mean? Right now at my level, it means that my and my demon health bars barely move. It still takes some more playing around with but at the moment I feel like I can take on most creatures easily, even level 90 creatures, and not break a sweat.

Dark Bargain on the other hand prevents all damage for 8 seconds. when that time is up, 50% of the damage is dealt to you over 8 seconds. Not a Passive and has a cool-down of 3 minutes.  So yeah…every 3 minutes I can be a bad ass and awesome or I can just do it passively all the time.

Thanks, I think I’ll stick with Soul Link at the moment.