Patch 2.4 is finally live, and after a few days to take it all in, I think the general consensus is an immensely positive one. The new content is gorgeous, and WOW Insider is even calling the Magisters' Terrace one of if not the best instance ever made. Even class changes seem surprisingly palatable, with only minor dissent cropping up here and there over relatively minute changes. And what is perhaps best of all, at least in my mind, is what the Warlock class saw in terms of functional change: next to nothing. There was no Life Tap nerf, and all the other changes were relatively minor in application, which isn't a bad thing for an already very powerful (and dare I say "balanced?") class.So, where exactly does this leave us?
In many ways, the work of a Warlock is fairly straightforward. We show up, spec either 41/0/20 or 0/21/40, and spam Shadow Bolt DPS like a scorching case of herpes (trust me, it pwns the meters), and maybe CC a bit when we need to. Post-2.4, not much will change, even when considering the cast-time buff to Incinerate. The buff, while welcomed, is just not enough to off-set the huge advantage the Improved Shadow Bolt talent gives to our shadow damage, and therefore is not raid ideal.
But what of the other changes? Not significant enough to worry about, imho. I know that some will argue that the Demonology 3% damage nerf is a big deal, but really, it isn't. Missing the equivalent of one Shadow Bolt in about 100k worth of damage won't make much of a DPS difference, and Demo-specs will still be doing quite a bit of damage without changing a thing from their pre-2.3 raiding approach. Not such a bad deal, am I right?
Anyway, I know it's a rarity to be happy with getting absolutely "nothing," especially after the application of a content patch that, like a birthday or Christmas, is full of so much goodness. But I think us Warlocks should be thrilled. We dodged a bullet with that potential Life Tap nerf, and can go about our business as usual. So, here's to getting out there, and doing what we've always done, and still being able to do it well.
Here's to herpes.
/salute
4 comments:
Downed heroic tonight. Phase 2 quests are open gogogo.
Downed heroic last night. Got the trinket (I'm my guild's only afflic. lock/CoS and imp bitch). We'll see what it does for DPS...
Sweetness! Grats to you both.
Logan, have you heard anything on the proc-rate and internal cooldown of that trinket? I'm hearing mixed reports, like a 2%-10% proc and 8 sec - 30 sec icd.
I've heard that the internal CD is 15 seconds from others in my guild who are usually up on these things.
As far as the proc rate, I haven't heard any solid numbers, and I have yet to head out to Dr. Boom and test it out for myself. Looking at proc rate through meters such as SWStats and WWS could be a little bit difficult because it seems that the damage done is registered as a shadow bolt. Indeed, when the trinket procs you have a little shadow bolt shoot from you to the mob... kind of funny when you're fighting multiple mobs and a shadow bolt shoots out of your ass and hits the mob behind you.
Basically, I'm not totally sure about the specifics of the trinket. What I DO know is that I like the extra +44 spell damage (Darkmoon Card: Crusade is awesome and all, but it doesn't boost my +spell damage stat on my armory profile, and we can't have that!) and I do like that the proc scales with spell damage. Apparently it can also crit. My average proc is in the high 500s to low 600s range, and I'm pretty sure it hit for over 700 last night.
I'll have to get out to Dr. Boom this week and do some testing.
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