Warlock possible nerfs

[Zhek]

Warlock
- Lifetap is now % based , it converts 26% of max. hp into 26 % of max. mana.
- Emberstorm (http://www.wowdb.com/spell.aspx?id=17958) has been changed, in addition to increasing the damage done by your Fire spells by 2 4 6 8 10%, it will also decrease Incinerate casting time by 2 4 6 8 10% (Screenshot (http://www.worldofraids.com/2008/ptr/24/emberstorm.jpg))

I hate you vand, i hate you so much. i was perfectly happy in my own ignorant little world but nooooo you gota tell me about warlock changed and ruin evrything forever. I r reroll

[Derric]

ghey -.-

[Vand]

- Lifetap is now % based , it converts 26% of max. hp into 26 % of max. mana.
[/b]
The 26% is a display error. It's actually 16%. Oh, and to make it even better, right now it is converting 16% of max hp into 16% current mana. That must be an error, though. Surely it can't make it to live. Right???

An ironic part of the change is that demonic embrace will lower the LT hp/mana ratio. Yet what else is there on the way down to demonic sacrifice for destro locks? Improved imp? lawlz

All these recent PTR class changes mean that the patch notes posted a few weeks ago by mmo-champion that everybody assumed were fake were in fact real, or at least something leaked from within Blizzard. The big remaining warlock change from those notes that has not (yet) been implemented is the ISB nerf. From what the EJ warlock theorycrafters are all saying, if that change goes through, especially with the buff to emberstorm, destro locks will be switching to fire en masse. I sure hope that is not the case. For one, I like my mana from Pika, and no more ISB means less shadow priest mana return. Second, I don't want the locks yelling at the mages when we fuck up and let the scorch debuff fall off!

In all honesty, though, I wish Blizzard would keep the nerf bat for PvP and just leave us alone in PvE. They did it with the drinking nerf, why can't they do it with class changes? Oh, for those that don't know, the drinking nerf (where drinking was subjected to the 5-second-rule), has now been limited to arena only.

[Raptace]

If all this stuff goes to live, I'm with zhek, i r reroll! I don't want to go fire, that would just suck ass beyond belief /sigh... I really hope this stuff doesn't happen, because its gonna hurt pve... alot... especially with us as shadow heavy as we are.

[Lad]

"They nerfed Levitate down to 1 minute from 2! I'm rerolling!"

"They took water walking and made it usuable only outside! I'm quitting!"

"They reduced the radius on Find Herbs by 3 meters! I'm rerolling!"

Thats what this sounds like.

[Etrigana]

"They nerfed Levitate down to 1 minute from 2! I'm rerolling!"

"They took water walking and made it usuable only outside! I'm quitting!"

"They reduced the radius on Find Herbs by 3 meters! I'm rerolling!"

Thats what this sounds like.[/b]

QFT

-Etri

[Raptace]

LOL! I'm not actually saying I'd quit the game, or quit playing my toon, I'll learn to work with the changes, I herb too Lad, I'm not cryin about, but if you played a lock you'd see its a pretty drastic change from the way it works now, but like I always do, I'll work around the way they change things, and make it work, I didn't mean to say I'm actually gonna reroll >.>

[Vand]

From what I've read today, it's not all that big a nerf. T6 raiding warlocks currently average ~1800 mana per tap, and most of them have over 10k mana when raid buffed. So that means that the new LT will return 16% of over 10k, or over 1600 mana, so not really all that big a difference.

Let's just hope that Bliz does not decide to implement the ISB nerf.

[Zhek]

il be going from 1900 mana per tap to 1400

[Wenge]

Just use your mana emerald.

[Mithwen]

Just use your mana emerald.[/b]

Word. When the hell are mages gonna be able to give those out? That'd be awesome.

Pika.

[Wenge]

I'm not giving them out unless there's a "shard of mana" spell to dispense them.

[Vand]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Blizzard Staff)</div>Yes there is a bug with lifetap only returning mana based on your current mana instead of your maximum mana. This is being worked on.

Improved Life Tap will work the same as it always has. You get 20% more mana with the talent than you get without it. So, with 0 points in the talent, you get 15% of your max mana. With one point, you get 16.5%. With 2 points, you get 18%.

The amount of health lost when tapping does not change.[/b]
Just wanted to post this to clear up any confusion. It's 15%, not 16% or 26%. And let's just hope the bug does not make it to live. I think the fact that they've acknowledged it while the PTR is still active is a good sign.

[Wenge]

Zhek please use real topic titles mmkay?

[Vand]

It looks like Bliz may have had enough of the warlock QQing about the LT change. Here's the post (https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4822674384&sid=1&pageNo=145#2885).

[Zhek]

A 145 page thread filled with nothing but solid hardcore bitching seems to have won us a victory for now.... but keep your QQ missles on standby

[Mithwen]

A 145 page thread filled with nothing but solid hardcore bitching seems to have won us a victory for now.... but keep your QQ missles on standby[/b]

lol.

And stop giving Zhek loot. He apparently has way much spell damage if he's getting that much from a lifetap. Sheesh. :P

P.

[Vand]

Actually, we can just ignore Zhek. Not only is he Zhek, he's affliction, so he doesn't count as a real raiding warlock. =P

[tychoquad]

The problem here is that warlocks generally have more health than mana, and the more health they give themselves through stamina gear (which all warlock gear is heavy on) the more they lose through life tap per use.

Don't see it as a big deal lad & etri? This change means you have to heal us more per tap then ever before. The equivalent of us shadow bolting ourselves once per tap in health is lost compared to how it was before.

[benseac]

Actually, we can just ignore Zhek. Not only is he Zhek, he's affliction, so he doesn't count as a real raiding warlock. =P

You fail, Vand.

[phewl]

personally as a destruction raiding warlock 20% Hp for 20% mana will be a RAIDING buff for me... people heal me when i get hurt in a raid, and i will now be getting roughly 600-700 more mana per lifetap, meaning less lifetaps, which means more dps.

[Raptace]

Yeah, thats probably true overall Phewl, I guess we'll see how it goes.

[Vand]

From the latest PTR build:

Lifetap changes have been reverted back to 2.3 original values.
Rank 1 to 7 - Converts 20/65/130/210/300/420/580 health into 20/65/130/210/300/420/580 mana

[Vand]

No other warlock nerfs are planned for 2.4. One of the things we look at is class representation in arenas (although normalized for class popularity). In this particular chart, a value of 100% means the class is represented as we'd expect, a value over 100% means the class is represented that much more often than we'd expect, a value below 100% means they're represented less than we'd want (obviously this chart doesn't include a spec breakdown in any way).


one other detail regarding the chart, this one is set at 2200+ rating.

2v2 3v3 5v5
Druid 276.0% 184.0% 80.5%
Hunter 43.0% 50.2% 43.0%
Mage 8.7% 96.0% 96.0%
Paladin 19.7% 29.5% 147.4%
Priest 113.3% 164.8% 185.4%
Shaman 37.8% 50.4% 138.6%
Rogue 144.2% 175.1% 61.8%
Warlock 149.2% 93.2% 111.9%
Warrior 130.4% 90.7% 79.3%

Here's 1850...

Druid 184.0% 138.0% 92.0%
Hunter 50.2% 50.2% 50.2%
Mage 61.1% 87.3% 87.3%
Paladin 68.8% 88.4% 137.6%
Priest 133.9% 133.9% 154.5%
Shaman 75.6% 88.2% 138.6%
Rogue 154.5% 154.5% 82.4%
Warlock 121.2% 102.5% 102.5%
Warrior 90.7% 85.0% 85.0%


Locks are doing pretty well overall, but what had us worried was that it appeared to us a month ago or so as though warlocks were on an uptrend. However, the evidence is strong that that trend is reversing, which means significant nerfs aren't really what we want right now (we really don't know where those numbers will settle down).

I know that this does not really come as a surprise to anyone, but it is interesting to see an official Bliz post tacitly acknowledging that arena is the driving force behind pretty much all the class decisions they are making right now. How about a table showing class representation in top-end raids??? But I guess that's asking too much given Bliz's silly obsession with this "esport" thing.