Warlock changes:

My first priority with the launch of Warcraft’s patch 5.0.4 is to test out all the warlock changes. Yes, I did play them all on beta, but I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on the beta, and now I’m playing the final version.

Each spec is almost like a new class, so I’m trying them all: in quests, in dungeons, in the Raid Finder. I did demonology first, then destruction, and I’m in the middle of testing affliction now.

Demonology remains my favourite so far. The new metamorphosis mechanic takes some getting used, but it’s a great example of simple to learn but difficult to master. It requires a lot of strategy and thought, and I like that.

The rotation in caster form is satisfying, and I thought basically spamming just one button in meta would be boring, but it’s actually not so bad. A nice break from the overall complexity of the spec.

It’s godly in questing — too godly, in fact. I was soloing crowds with ease, and while that may be interesting at first, it gets old fast.

I wasn’t so impressed by destruction. The new version beats the old hands-down, and I like the aesthetics (and the 190K crits), but it doesn’t feel like playing a warlock. Only one DoT, no life tap, not many buttons to press. It’s more like playing a mage. I won’t say it’s a bad design, but if I wanted to play a mage, I’d play my mage.

Like demo, it was a bit too easy for questing. Spammable slows and one-shotting mobs with chaos bolt are all a bit ridiculous.

Affliction is mostly pretty fun, but I greatly dislike haunt, and the lack of pandemic, the level 90 passive that increases DoT duration, hurts. It also requires a bit more keybinds than I like.

On the plus side, I always liked channeled nukes and DoTs, and affliction has both of those in spades. Plus, malefic grasp is real purdy, and I get to look like Kael’thas.

It’s a little awkward for questing, but at least it presents a challenge.

Right now, I’m thinking I’ll use demo for group content as I did before, but my quest spec will change from destro to aff. But we’ll see.

Also, have I mentioned that I love grimoire of sacrifice with every fiber of my being?

Because I do.

New articles:

I’ve had two more articles posted to WhatMMO recently — one silly and one serious.

The silly one is 8 Great MMO Players of History. Want to know who called King Henry VIII a huntard in Trade chat? Click to find out!

The second is Top 3 MMO trends, in which I attempt something approaching serious journalism.