39 Warlocks in patch 3.1

[Demonthenes]

Hello fellow twinks! This is my first post, but surely not the last.



With all the class changes looming with the upcoming patch 3.1, there are bound to be buffs and, more than likely, nerfs to the Warlock class.



But, what changes will there be to the 39 twink Warlock?



My affliction spec as of the 3.1 talent changes.



The major affliction change that comes to my attention (beta 3.1 notes as of 2-26-09)

Patch 3.1:

"Siphon Life: rank 1/1 - 'When you deal damage with your Corruption spell, you are instantly healed for 40% of the damage done.'"



Changed from; Patch 3.09:

"Siphon Life: rank 1/1 - 191 mana, Instant Cast - 'Transfers 15 health from the target to the caster every 3 seconds. Lasts 30 seconds.'"​

From the looks of it, Siphon Life has been changed to a passive ability, healing for a straightforward 40% of your corruption tick.



Although we now have one less dot to cast, it's still one less dot on the target and therefore (from the looks of it) less damage!



Here is a Post with a BLUE response on the subject.



Summarizing the above thread:

Eyonix's response: "Basically, what this means is that warlocks who choose to take Siphon Life will be able to activate the full existing effects of the talent by simply casting Corruption. "



Overall Buff? Same amount of damage and healing. 191 Mana saved per target. One less dot to cast. Under optimal conditions we can fully dot a target in 2.5 seconds (Corruption <1.5s> + Curse of Agony <1s> with the Amplify Curse talent).





What do you guys think? Has anyone Character Copied to the PTR to do some number crunching and testing?

 

[Swoopsies]

I'm not that terribly into number crunching, and I'm fairly new to the 39 lock twink area, but I would have to actually disagree. I don't think it's an all around buff for us. Although we hope to get healed for ~the same amount, we will be doing less damage... we're getting the healing, but we're missing the damage from it. Either way, now we can cast fear/drains faster I guess?

 

[Alteffour]

This is both good and bad for non-locks



Bad due to less cast time for dots, meaning locks that dont suck (there are 1 or 2 in each battlegroup..the other locks will still suck) will be able to CC sooner and do other things with their time.



Good due to less damage overall and an easier time for priests to dispell dots. Should make healers happy when facing a few locks in bgs.





Overall I think its a good thing for locks, the damage siphon life does is tiny anyways compared to corruption so you can always just re-apply a dispelled dot and get more benefit, and with 1.5 extra seconds now locks should have much better uses for their time than siphon life dot.

 

[Demonthenes]

Well, According to the Eyonix's blue post we should still see the same amount of damage coming from the Siphon Life talent.



Eyonix: "...activate the full existing effects of the talent [SIphon Life] by simply casting Corruption."



To alteffour, i disagree.

I feel that Siphon Life, at least the way it is now, is the bread and butter of the "dot dot dot n'dip!" twink 39 Warlock play style. If we can't get a steady stream of health returned on the run we won't be able to life tap; no life tap means no mana, and any Lock without mana is useless.



Currently, my Lock gets 100 hp from every SL tick. I can easily have it ticking away on 4+ people. 400+ HP every three seconds is nothing to laugh at.



The Character Copy system just opened up again on the PTR. I'm copying my Lock over now. I'll post some numbers when I get some definitive testing done.

 

[Smiffy]

With the new corruption skill (specced into siphon life) it reads we're instantly healed for 40% of our corruption damage, is that all upfront healed, or periodically healed like the way it does now.



Wasn't very clear, but I doubt it's a straight up heal, then you'll have warlocks spamming corruption to super heal themself.

 

[BorisBlade]

Always scary to think of the most overly overpowered class at 39 getting more buffs, but its been that way the entire xpac, good or bad. Kinda glad i gave mine away as its just too easy now, but i wouldnt mind draggin em out to get the other locks a taste of how lame they are once in a while. =)



And yeah, supposedly the damage will be added in too, but from what ive seen its not, so not sure what the final deal will be. Too bad they cant make affliction more creative then spam instant dots, tab, repeat. Kinda takes the skill and fun factor out of it, feels too repetative. Plus i never got any respect either as a 39 lock, just cursed at non stop lol.



Would be nice if the other specs became more viable, they wont ever be as obscenely retarded as affliction, but if they could atleast be as viable as some other classes, even the weaker ones, it would be nice to see some variety.

 

[Jadyn]

I don't really feel like locks are the most op class any more. Or rather, they're not head and shoulders above everyone else. Maybe it's because I play a priest, and run other priests. But then again, we don't take more than one warlock to a premade match, and often take none.

 

[khornn]

Im actually really concerned about this change, seeing as my main is an affliction lock, and im already getting smoked on the dps charts by almost every other class in endgame. If they just roll the heal effect into corruption its going to hurt locks quite a bit, but if we also get some sort of damage boost to corruption it would be fine. But in the end locks still need a damage boost across the board to really and truely be competetive at endgame content compared to hunters, mages, and shaman. Not really sure how this will effect twink locks tho.

 

[Tusktuki]

I'm actually thinking of going as a destro lock when the patch comes out because of the upping of backlash. I'll post the spec later i'm too tired to build it right now :<





Also I'd suggest to get Glyph of Felhunter over Glyph of siphon life. Because it makes surviving things so much easier.

 

[Giveupnoww]

From what ive heard you gain 40 percent of the damage done for each time the corruption ticks. So if your corruption ticks for 200 you get 80 health each tick. Seems like a nerf, seeing as how alot of locks are getting 100+ for each siphon life heal.

 

[Alteffour]

@smiffy



"it reads we're instantly healed for 40% of our corruption damage"



im guessing that since corruption doesnt damage instantly the heal wont be instant. Just awkward language I guess. Every time corruption ticks is when corruption damages so thats when youll get that 40%. (could be wrong, but thats how id read it)



@ jayden



locks may not be the most OP in premade situations, but if you have ever had to pug a wsg with no priest on your team and a lock on the other team farming Hks in mid youll probably be seeing some stupidly higher DPS numbers that are head and shoulders above anybody else in the bracket. Premades are different because who runs without a priest and your team isnt dumb enough to just let the lock stand back and dot everybody up and leave those dots on. In Pugs warlocks are still really OP. Even with rogues focusing the lock on the other team their damage is still insane and dot dot dot can kill a very large portion of the bracket if left to sit there.



@ demon



"If we can't get a steady stream of health returned on the run we won't be able to life tap"



youll still get that heal buddy..dont trash my post without actually understanding the changes. If you actually understand then you should realize that you can still get that 400 health with corruption on 4 targets...but in doing so youve saved 6 seconds of cast time (4x1.5sec gcd) which means heals coming in faster, which means life tap sooner, which means more useful skills sooner rather than having to spam more dots.



Against everthing in the bracket other than priests this should be seen as a buff imo even if it doesnt get the full damage gain (havnt seen anybody say one way or the other if the corruption damage goes up or stays the same) because it allows for better play. It might hurt unskilled mass tab dotters, but I dont see that as a bad thing at all. Skill > moar dotz!



If the health return drops by a signifigant amount then it is possibly a nerf, but until I see some real numbers and actual talk by people testing this, I still see it as a good thing for locks in the long run.





as far as affliction locks at 80 goes...(off topic really but meh, my main is a lock so i cant help myself ;p ) youll never ever out dps anybody on trash mobs or overall through a raid...you just wont...your dots are too slow to be fully effective when you have a ton of others burst dps'ing relativly low hp mobs. Youre not there to be top on the DPS charts anyways, youre there for some of your other useful skills that nobody else offers (various curses, soul stones, health stones, pet buffs etc etc etc) Where you do excell is against long boss fights where nobody else in the game can really have the same level of mana longevity and sustained dps. The longer the fight the better the warlock becomes. You really cant compare a lock to a hunter, mage or shammy because they are a lot different. In fact you should be happy because those three classes are more easily replaced imo than locks in a raid group, means less competition for you for a spot in the raid.



If you really want to jump up the dps charts then go destro it will make you look better even if in some cases you arent. Its boring thougha when you only push one or two buttons over the course of the entire raid.



Besides, with corruption healing you thats one less dot to cast which means an extra bolt or incinerate or whatever to take that spot in your rotation, which wont actually hurt your dps.

 

[Jadyn]

@ jayden



locks may not be the most OP in premade situations, but if you have ever had to pug a wsg with no priest on your team and a lock on the other team farming Hks in mid youll probably be seeing some stupidly higher DPS numbers that are head and shoulders above anybody else in the bracket. Premades are different because who runs without a priest and your team isnt dumb enough to just let the lock stand back and dot everybody up and leave those dots on. In Pugs warlocks are still really OP. Even with rogues focusing the lock on the other team their damage is still insane and dot dot dot can kill a very large portion of the bracket if left to sit there.

Heh yeah, and the good ones are dangerous even against two semi-premades focusing only them with healers at their back:

 

[Demonthenes]

@ demon



"If we can't get a steady stream of health returned on the run we won't be able to life tap"



youll still get that heal buddy..dont trash my post without actually understanding the changes. If you actually understand then you should realize that you can still get that 400 health with corruption on 4 targets...

Relax. I don't want this thread turning into any sort of flame war. Besides, disagreeing is very different from 'trashing' a post.



I do fully understand the intended effects of the changes to the Siphon Life talent. Also, I don't appreciate your condescending attitude, "If you actually understand then you should realize..."



Although what i said may have been a bit vague, I was merely saying that Siphon Life, in its current form, is necessary for it's healing effects and damaging effects.

 

[Demonthenes]

After some testing:



Ok, because there are no training dummies that 39 hordies have access to, I flew both my LIVE warlock and the PTR warlock to Satynaar in Ashenvale to test out the new Siphon Life and Corruption combination on some mobs.



The Bleakheart Shadowstalkers are level 28 and have 769 HP.



Testing was completed by simply viewing the combat log.



Spec and Glyphs

Buffs: Demon Armor.

Shadow Damage: 392.



Key: Damage Per Seconds (dps), Health Per Second (hps)

PTR averages:

Corruption - 65 dps (195 per tick)

Siphon Life - 0 dps; 31.3 hps (94 per tick)



Totals: 65 dps; 31.3 hps.​

*Although corruption is the only dot cast, the Siphon Life talent still causes the healing



Live averages:

Corruption - 65 dps (195 per tick)

Siphon Life - 27.6 dps (83 per tick); 33 hps (99 per tick)



Totals: 92.6 dps; 33 hps.​

It seems that the way things are in the test realm we do lose Siphon Life's damaging effects. In terms of healing, Siphon Life remains almost the same.



Hopefully Blizz will restore its damaging effects once 3.1 goes live.

 

[Tinydots]

Nerf imo. Less affliction debuffs on the target makes your 'good' dots easier to dispel and you get less bonus damage from soul siphon. Not to mention the MAIN reason ANYONE casts siphon life is because it lasts for 30 seconds! Put that on a rogue and G__G!

 

[Drayner]

Nerf imo. Less affliction debuffs on the target makes your 'good' dots easier to dispel and you get less bonus damage from soul siphon. Not to mention the MAIN reason ANYONE casts siphon life is because it lasts for 30 seconds! Put that on a rogue and G__G!

Are you the Tinydots that had a gnome lock and leveled out?



If so, I am the Tinydots that stoled your name in 19s in cyclone for a couple weeks.

 

[Tinydots]

Are you the Tinydots that had a gnome lock and leveled out?



If so, I am the Tinydots that stoled your name in 19s in cyclone for a couple weeks.

Hai there ! Yes, it's me!

 

[Hqndq]

Was checking the new destro build and i do like that you can reach Backlash, wonder if anyone have tested this specc on PTR(don't know how much ppl are zerging ptr twinks but please gief feedback).

Also with the affliction changes it might seem abit more likely to switch to desto as Siphon Life is removed, and no life tap ect still won't be a problem with First Aid maxed 2-3tickes are you are back on track(870hp per tick=win), here is the specc anyway 0/0/30, thought about switching the 3points in Nether Protection to Demonic Embrace(10% increased sta) as you don't meet that many casters compared to physical dpsers normally, and i would allow us to recover abit from the nasty "nerf" on item enchants.

 

[Demonthenes]

Although I've never personally tried a destro build, I don't think they are very popular for the 39 twink bracket.



But the siphon life changes as of 3/27/09:



"Siphon Life: The Siphon Life spell has been removed. Siphon Life now causes your Corruption spell to instantly heal you for 40% of the damage done. In addition, the damage done by your Corruption, Seed of Corruption and Unstable Affliction damage over time effects is increased by 5%.



I definitely think Affliction will continue to be a very viable spec for warlocks in the 39 bracket even after the 3.1 changes. I have no idea what your talking about when you say "no life tap etc"



But hey, although affliction may continue to be a good spec, maybe destro will make a comeback for 3.1!?

 

[Hqndq]

that was abit my point, i'll test it for sure might even transfer to ptr if there is anything going on?

and nwm the life tap part miss understod a previous post