I have the (PvP) Power!

Ghostcrawler post:

Resilience

• We are renaming this stat to “Defense (PvP)” or possibly “PvP Defense.” All players will have 30% base Defense, the same way all characters have some base Stamina.
• PvP gear will have Defense on it, as well as a new stat, “Power (PvP).” Power increases the damage you do to other players as well as the healing you do to other players in PvP situations.
• If you have a lot of Power, you’ll do more damage to other players, but they likely have Defense as well. If you fight players in lots of PvE gear, they’ll take more damage. Likewise, a player in PvE gear won’t have enough Power to effectively penetrate your Defense.
• The names PvP Power and PvP Defense may not be final, but we’re leaning towards going with stat names that are obviously PvP-related, rather than “fluffier” names that might not be as easy to grasp. We want it to be clear to players that neither Power nor Defense have any relevance when fighting creatures, such as in dungeons or raids.
• PvP gear will be lower in item level than PvE gear of an equivalent tier, however the Power and Defense stats will make sure that PvP gear is more powerful in PvP (both offensively and defensively) than PvE gear. In our budgeting system, the PvP stats will be free rather than causing other stats, such as Strength or haste, to be smaller as a result of including Power or Defense.
• The goal of this change is to make it easier for a PvP player to participate in PvE, or for a PvE player to get started in PvP. Currently, we feel it is too large a barrier to go from one to the other, and the result has been that we see more and more players choosing to focus exclusively on only PvP or PvE. In earlier expansions, it was more feasible to use PvE gear in Arenas or Battlegrounds until you acquired the more useful PvP gear. The same was true of being able to use your PvP gear in a dungeon or raid until you acquired something better. In Cataclysm, stepping into PvP with no PvP gear would result in a player being so ineffective that it was difficult to even make progress towards acquiring PvP gear.
•    For the higher-end of PvP or PvE (say Gladiators or heroic raiders), we believe those players will still gravitate towards the dedicated PvP or PvE gear. It is the players who are working towards those two end games that will benefit more from some cross over.

So after some Blue post clarification of all of this here is what I came out as a sample of what this might mean:

First note that every player will have a base PvP Defense of lets say +30 PvP Defense. This allows every player to be able to get into PvP with at least a little bit of damage reduction.

Ring of PvE (ilvl 300) - From Justice Points
+100 Stamina
+100 Intellect
+100 Hit

Ring of PvP (ilvl 270) - From Honor Points
+100 Stamina
+85 Intellect
+85 Hit
+15 PvP Power
+15 PvP Defense

Ring of Awesome PvE (ilvl 360) - From Valor Points
+120 Stamina
+120 Intellect
+120 Hit

Ring of Awesome PvP (ilvl 300) - From Conquest Points
+100 Stamina
+100 Intellect
+100 Hit
+20 PvP Power
+20 PvP Defense

Lets first look at these items from a PvP players perspective. Just starting out you have a choice between the Honor point ring and the Justice point ring. For PvP I am going to want to use the Honor Ring because this give me +15 PvP Defense, but because this item also has +15 PvP power, I will still be doing the same amount of damage to other players as a person who would be wearing the Justice point ring.

Now lets say my PvP player wants to go do PvE content. He is a good arena player and has bought the Conquest point ring. Because this ring has the same ilvl as the Justice point ring he will not feel underpowered when it comes to starting PvE content and will be able to que for beginning level PvE. But if he really wants to dish out the PvE damage he is going to want to get the valor point ring as this does more damage and is a higher ilvl than his current gear.

Now lets look at the PvE player. Starting out I’ll want to get the Justice point ring as this has more intellect than the PvP ring. Also the ilvl is higher so I will be able to get into higher level content faster.

But now my PvE player wants to do some PvP. He is a bleeding edge raider so he has already obtained the Conquest Point ring. Because his ilvl is higher he will be able to do the same amount of damage as a PvP geared player. But because he does not have that Conquest PvP gear he will be at a disadvantage to the PvP player who has that added damage reduction.

I am thinking that this new way of doing stats is going to work. The tough part though is going to be getting people use to the idea of PvP power and PvP Defense and making it clear to new people to the game. It’s going to be a little confusing at first but in the end I think it will lower that gap between the PvE player and the PvP player.

Affliction Spec List

Here is a combined photo of the Spells for the Affliction spec. I just wanted to see what it was like all put together.

Warlock Talents - Level 60

Here is a look at the talents for Level 60. This tier is about sacrificing health in order to gain a buff on something else.




Blood Fear

Comments: I feel that this spell is very strong. Having an instant cast Fear will be nice to have and I think the health cost is worth having fear be instant cast.

In PvP, this spell will be very strong. The cost of the spell will not put you too far behind on your health. It also will work well as an interrupt. Being able to instant cast this on a healer will help in interrupting that cast and giving you time until your pets spell lock is up. You could almost consider this a reverse Death Coil where you take damage rather than get healed.

In PvE, there might not be as much use for this spell. I can see using it in dungeons but other than that this spell will not have much use. Generally in PvE you have time to cast Fear.




Burning Rush

Comments: This spell is interesting in that it gives you a sprint but at the cost of your health. My hope is that with this spell on your bars you will be able to cancel the effect after you activate it rather than having to create a stop casting macro or right-click the buff off. I am also curious to see if there will be a cooldown associated with the spell.

In PvP, this spell has some use. Using this spell might allow you to do a lot of kiting or allow you to get away from someone if you needed to. I could see a warlock using this spell along with the Level 90 - Kil’jaeden’s Cunning and doing a lot of damage as they kited a melee player. I am curious how well using this spell along with Drain Life would work to counter the health lost.

In PvE, there are some good uses for this on fights where you need to be able to move quickly. In Dragon Soul I could see using this spell on Yor’shaj to get to bloods faster and on Warmaster Blackhorn to get out of his AoE Cone effect faster.




Unbound Will

Comments: Almost like having a trinket, this spell is interesting. The health cost seems a little too much to me. I would like to see the cooldown increased and maybe have the health cost reduced a bit. I would be curious to see if this shared a cooldown with the PvP Trinket.

In PvP, this spell could be a little counter-productive. Usually if you are under the effects of any of these spells, you are also taking damage and being focused on. Costing 25% of your health I feel is too much a sacrifice to have an “extra trinket”. I would like to see this at most 20% of maximum health.

In PvE, this spell I do not feel with be very good. There are not a lot of fights where you are going to be under any of these effects. If there is a fight where there is a magic effect on you or you are rooted, then it will likely be up to the healers to get us out of it. I think the healers would rather dispell us then have to heal 25% of your health.


My Choices:

Unfortunately I do not think this tier is very strong. The spells in this tier are very situational so they more than likely will not get much use.

For PvP I will probably go with Blood Fear. I think that having an instant cast fear will be very strong and worth the 10% health cost. I might test out Burning Rush a bit and see if having a sprint to kite will be worthwhile.

For PvE, I will go with Burning Rush. Having a movement speed cooldown will be the most worthwhile in PvE. The other two spells I feel just would not get used in PvE and thus they are not worth taking.

Warlock Talents: Level 45

Here is a look at the talents for Level 45. This tier is about survivability talents and different abilities to keep yourself from taking damage.



Soul Link

Comments: I am a little sad to see this ability moved to talents. it is nice to see that this spell has been buffed a little by allowing healing to also be shared. It will be interesting to see how much will be shared with the demon.

In PvE, this ability will be good for fights where you might be taking consistent damage. I could see using this ability on fights like Ultraxion or Zon’ozz. In fact, this spell would have lot of uses but it isn’t overpowered.

In PvP, this ability would be somewhat strong. On one hand being able to share the damage you take with your demon will help keep you alive for a longer period of time. On the other hand there might be a lot of times in PvP where you won’t be taking damage so this ability would be useless. It also it useless if your pet is killed and although demonology has the ability to re-summon a pet quickly I am not sure yet what the other specs will have to do this.



Sacrificial Pact

Comments: This spell is like a stronger version of the voidwalker’s ability sacrifice. The strength of this spell will depend on how strong the shield is that is created. I am also interested to see the effects of your pet taking 50% of its health when you use this spell and how quickly your pet can recover.

In PvE, this spell would be good for when you take large amounts of damage from a boss as your pet should not be taking a lot of damage. It also could be used a lot more if your pet was getting healed after this ability was used.

In PvP, I like this ability for mitigating damage. Having this ability on a 1 min cooldown makes this much more stronger for the PvP environment. But it does have its weakness if you pet has less than 50% health then you may not be able to use this spell.



Dark Bargain

Comments: Finally having something which can prevent damage is going to be a strong ability for a lot of warlocks and it makes me excited to be able to use this.

In PvE, this ability has a lot of use. I could see using this whenever there is a large amount of burst damage going to be done. I could see a lot of synergy between this spell and using Dark Regeneration from the Level 15 tier of talents as they both have 3 min cooldowns. If I had this in Dragon Soul I could see using it on Madness for the Elementium bolts or on Spine when the Amalgamations have 9 stacks or maybe for Hagara to absorb the icelances.

In PvP, this ability would be interesting. Although you would prevent all damage for 3 seconds it could be dangerous if you get swapped to after using this ability as you will be taking all the previously prevented damage. For those well trained about warlock they will know that even though you use this ability it would be good to still train on you because after the 10 seconds is over you will be taking more damage. But having this ability combined with Dark Regeneration may make it worthwhile in PvP.


My Choices:

All of these abilities have their uses and I could see myself picking any one of them. They all have weaknesses but also have strengths and I think that is a good thing.

For PvE, I will probably swap between Dark Bargain and Soul Link depending on the fight. Dark Bargain for fights where there is a large burst damage from the boss and Soul Link for the fights where you take consistent damage.

For PvP, I could use all 3 of these abilities. I like the idea of Dark Bargain as being able to prevent damage is very strong in PvP and can sometimes frustrate your opponent, taking them off their game. I would likely combine this ability with Dark Regeneration. First I would use Dark Bargain to prevent the initial 10 seconds of burst damage and then use Dark Regeneration after if I was still taking a lot of damage. Combine this with also with the new Unending Resolve (Reduces all damage taken by 50% every 3 min for 12 seconds.) and you have a fairly strong chain of abilities to keep yourself alive. Dark Bargain (10 seconds) -> Unending Resolve (12 seconds) -> Dark Regeneration (20 seconds) and you have a 42 second windows every 3 min where you can reduce the damage that you take. I am looking forward to using this.

Warlock Talents - Level 30

Here is a look at the Level 30 talents for warlocks. This tier is all about added crowd control abilities.




Howl of Terror

Comments: This spell use to be a baseline ability with a cast time. Affliction warlocks could talent this ability and make it instant cast. Now it is only going to be available through talents and will be a tough choice for many warlocks. I like seeing that the cooldown is reduced when you are hit by a damaging attack and this gives this talent some strength.

For PvE I do not see much use for this spell. Generally as a warlock you want to avoid having multiple mobs on you and you certainly don’t want to fear those mobs into other ones and bring back more. I never use Howl of Terror now in raids or dungeons so I don’t see using this version of it for Mists of Pandaria.

For PvP, this ability has some strength. I will be curious to see if this shares diminishing returns with Fear. I am also looking forward to testing and seeing how quickly the ability comes off cooldown when you are being attacked. But this will fall under the age old problem that the target feared may break early if there are any DoTs on the target, thereby making it useless. Only testing in the Beta will find out whether this talent is more useful than Mortal Coil.




Mortal Coil

Comments: This talent is fairly strong. Similar to Death Coil but with a much shorter cooldown.

In PvE it might have some uses as a way to get a quick heal if needed, but the last few words, “if the target is horrified” has me wondering if you cast this at a boss, will you still get the 25% heal? If not, then this talent will be completely useless for PvE.

In PvP this talent has some use. It gives you healing and also gives you a quick CC every 45 seconds. I could see this ability being used along with a pet silence to get a kill. It also might help with those pesky melee or if you need to interrupt a cast and your pet silence is on cooldown.




Shadowfury

Comments: A spell that was only available to destruction warlocks now is possible for all the specs. Rather than fears as our means of Crowd Control this ability stuns the target and is on a different diminishing returns.

In PvE this ability works best on trash mobs and anything you need to kite. I always liked using this ability while farming as it allowed me to get an extra cast in before a mob reached me.

In PvP, this ability has some strength in that it is on a different diminishing returns than fear and it could be used to interrupt spell casting. I think ultimately though it might come down to playstyle for the PvP warlock and which you prefer to use.

My Choices:

In PvP, I have a feeling that I will use Mortal Coil. The heal, that is provided by this ability, I feel will counter some of the initial burst damage that a bunch of Melee can do as well as gives you that ability to get the melee off of you. I also feel that this spell is strong when used in arenas and going for that killing blow.

In PvE the only choice I feel is to go with Shadowfury. Mortal coil might have some benefit if you are able to get the heal from casting this at a Boss but if you can’t, then I think Shadowfury will be the go to spell for PvE.

Warlock Talents - Level 15

Here is a look at the level 15 talents for warlocks.




Dark Regeneration

Comments: This talents is interesting. It gives you a healing cooldown and a pretty big chunk of health. For PvE, I could see this being useful for fights where you will be taking a large burst of damage. If I had this talent in Dragon soul I would see good use for this talent on Warmaster Blackhorn if I got caught in his cone effect or maybe on Madness right after the Elementium Bolt hits the ground. It definitely has its uses in PvE.

In PvP, the uses are great. Your healer gets silenced/CCed and you need to survive that burst damage. Or if you just need to survive a group of people training on your. I am curious to see if maybe there will be a glyph to allow this to be cast while stunned. I think that would really make it the go to PvP Talent.




Soul Leech

Comments: A more passive healing ability. In PvE I could see this being beneifical on encounters where your are taking constant damage. Fights like Ultraxion and Spine of Deathwing I think would be great fights for this ability. I am curious to see how this healing would counter the damage you take from Burning Embers as Destruction.

In PvP sadly I do not seeing this spell being as useful. As a caster, PvP is all about movement and instant casts. There just isn’t a lot of times where you’ll be able to sit and cast these spells. It could be beneficial in PvP a little but the other talents of this tier and much stronger for PvP.




Harvest Life

Comments: This spell feels like a strong AoE spell to use for fight that need a lot of AoE damage. I could see this spell being useful on a fight like Ragnoros or Warlord Zon’ozz where you will be taking a lot of damage as well as needing to do AoE damage. I really see this spell being strong for Demonology warlock (and kinda wish that we were tanks cause this spell would be amazing for tanks)

In PvP this spell may not be as strong. I could see it being used in battleground when there are a lot of people but with it being a channeled ability it means you aren’t moving but then again there is a level 90 ability that allows us to cast while moving so this might be a way for this spell to work.

My choices:

PvE: I could use any of the 3 abilities depending on the situation. We will have to see what the encounters in Mists of Pandaria are all bout before figuring out which one of these is the best. I foresee a lot of swapping similar to the way glyphs are depending on the fight.

PvP: Dark Regeneration will by my pick for this. Being able to heal yourself for 50% and then get increased healing is a very strong ability to have. I am especially interested to see if there will be a glyph which will allow this to be cast while stunned. If that is the case, then I really can’t see taking anything else for this tier of talents for PvP.

Ironman Warlock

So the latest craze in the World of Warcraft has been to play game in “Ironman” mode. Here is the list of the rules:

The Ironman Challenge

"Some people complain WoW is too easy. Well, for people who want a challenge, take part in the Iron Man Challenge! I came across a thread from someone named Sandinhiseye about this, and it was fairly old. So, rather than necro it, I'm making a new thread. Taken from his thread, here are the rules:"

1) No items equipped other than White or Gray items.
2) No heirlooms
3) No talent points - no specialization - you may train class abilities
4) No professions, primary or secondary, other than First Aid.
5) No food or water above vendor-quality white items.
6) No groups- no BG's, no instances, no raids, no quest groups. No guilds.
7) No enchants, scrolls, potions/elixirs, or glyphs.
8) No outside financial or equipment assistance (no gold or bags from other toons)
9) THE BIG ONE - if you die, ever, you delete that toon and start over at lvl 1 Any takers? If you're doing it, post on that character and we will track your progress.

An interesting challenge and I figured I would take a shot and see how far I could get. I rolled a warlock on the Staghelm server (A normal low population server) as I didn’t want to have to worry about other people nor getting ganked and ruining my fun. I rolled an orc warlock.

So in the first night (about 2 hours) I was able to get me warlock up to level 10. There were a few scares when I thought it was a good idea to try and kill some rare mobs. But I did make it through without dying. I think the real challenge is ahead of me as I start to get more into the zones which are designed around having a few greens on your character. But I will take it slow and interestingly enough it gives me a chance to see the new leveling quest lines for Cataclysm, as I have not done that before.

On a side note, Immolate and Corruption are completely a waste of a global at this level. It just seems better to spam cast shadow bolt. It does not give me high hope for the Malady spell when Mists of Pandaria hits. Even with full whites on, most mobs would die with 3-4 shadow bolts. My “rotation” seemed to go better when I pulled with shadow bolt. Doing this allowed me to cast about 3 shadow bolts before the mob got to me. This reduce the amount of time that I had the mob beating on me. Now as I get to level 10 I am finding more uses for Corruption and Immolate since I can have my voidwalker tank. When Mists of Pandaria hits this is probably one of the comments I’ll leave when doing the beta.

Kun-Lai Summit: Tao-wu

The content of this post and names are entirely made up. Some of the demon names are related to the Four Fiends in Chinese mythology and what they were known for, but that is as far as I took them. Not all of the information in these posts may be correct so please take them with some imagination.

Quest: Kun-Lai Summit: Tao-wu


Image by kim tae kyeong (Sia)

Quest Introduction:

Questgiver: “Welcome warlock to the Temple of the Tiger. This ancient training ground has been isolated for many years but now we must deal with marauders from the west and the Zandalar trolls to our north. We are spread very thin, so we are glad that you have come.”

Warlock: “It is my understanding that there is also a demon in this area. I am curious, what you can tell me about this demon?

Questgiver: This demon has been with us for a very long time, since before the Mists were cast around Pandaria. We have used this demon as a right of passage for many of our warriors, but to do this has been at a cost. I will not go into it but it has affected the women of our clan.”

Warlock: “Tell me what does this demon look like?”

Questgiver: He walks on two legs, but these legs are like that of the mountain goat. Horns curl from his forehead and on his back are a pair of wings.”

Warlock: “Interesting.....And this demon is a male you say? This sounds like it is an Incubus because of they way it is affecting your women. I have not seen one in my lifetime and have only read about them. It would please me greatly if I could challenge myself against this demon. What is his name?

Questgiver: “His name is Tao-wu and he resides in the Dong-yue Temple to the east. We would be grateful if you could dispose of this demon for us. Please return to us when you have completed the task.”

Quest Objectives:

Travel east into the mountains to the Dong-yue Temple.

Quest Description: (Shows up upon entering the Dong-yue Temple)

As you enter into the Temple you are drawn to 5 large bells hanging in an archway. Beyond the bells is a courtyard which overlooks a cliff. In the middle of the courtyard sits a human looking figure with his back turned towards you. You move to circle around the man in order to see his face but as you do so the man begins to transform. Wings sprout from his back as horns grow out from his forehead. The being is obviously Tao-wu.

Tao-wu: “Greetings spellcaster, I observed as you arrived that you are no regular warrior of the Pandaren. In fact, you look to be something that I have not seen in a very long time. A warlock, if I recall correctly, is what you call yourselves. You have the ability to summon demons and control them. Perhaps you can amuse me with a display of your summoning power?

Warlock: “Perhaps,..... I am curious to see you, for male versions of your species area rarity. You are an Incubus, the male form of the succubus. Here I will summon one for you to see. (Begin to cast Summon Succubus)

Tao-wu: “Ah, the succubus. They killed many of the males of our species. I was lucky enough to escape to this region and avoid death by these seductive creatures. It is unfortunate that you bring one here today, as I will not fall to the will of the succubus. Be ready warlock! I wish we could have talked more but unfortunately you both must die!

Fight Strategy:

Tao-wu will begin the fight by casting Breath of Tao-wu, knocking you back to the edge of the courtyard, nearly knocking you off of the cliff. In order to avoid being knocked off with a second wave you must cast Seduction on Tao-wu. Once Tao-wu is seduced, one of the bells in the archway will become targetable. You then will have 30 seconds (the time remaining on seduction) to do as much damage to the bell as you can.

After 30 seconds, Tao-wu jumps to the beam above the bells and will summon 10 Pandaren female minions to assist him. You will have 30 seconds to dispose of these minions before Tao-wu will cast Breath of Tao-wu again. In order to quickly deal with these minions you will need to move them close to the edge of the courtyard and then cast Whiplash to knock them off of the edge. Once the minions are dead you can continue to do damage on the bell, but will need to re-seduce Tao-wu when he jumps down from off of the beam.

When one of the bells is destroyed, Tao-wu will become stunned for 30 seconds, and his wings will become exposed. You then will have 30 seconds to try and destroy his wings. You will repeat this process until both of his wings have been destroyed, thereby making him unable to fly.

Once Tao-wu is rendered unable to fly, the next bell that is destroyed will knock Tao-wu off of the cliff, killing him from the fall. Done correctly this fight should take 5 or 6 minutes to complete with at least 2 bells remaining depending on the amount of damage that you can do to Tao-wu’s wings when he is stunned.

Completion:

Once Taotieroth is killed you will be able to loot from a chest that spawns. In the chest will be the Leggings of Tao-wu and a Glyph of Incubus. Return to the White Tiger Clan to let them know of your victory.

Questgiver: “Our congratulations to you warlock, you have defeated the four demons which have tormented our Clans for 10,000 years. We are grateful to you and look forward to having you as an ally. We know that your skills and abilities will come in handy for whatever we must face in the future.”

Rewards:

For helping the White Tiger Clan you will receive the Leggings of Tao-wu:

Leggings of Tao-wu:
Leggings - Cloth
+Stamina
+Intellect
+Mastery
+Haste
Red Socket
Yellow Socket

Set (2): Increases the damage done by your pet by x%
Set (4): Periodic damage from your Immolate or Unstable Affliction has a chance to spawn a mirror image of your currently summoned pet for 30 seconds. (2 min cooldown)

Side Reward: Glyph of Incubus: Your Summon Succubus spell will summon an Incubus instead. The Incubus will have the same spells and abilities.

Thoughts on this Questline:

This questline requires a bit of coordination as well as crowd control. It should teach you the abilities of your succubus as well as teach you how to burn a target down quickly.

This questline also will give you the ability to summon an Incubus. This is something that a lot of warlocks have wanted to be able to do for a long time.

Writing these quests was a lot of fun and it really made me take a close look at all of the warlock pets and warlock abilities. I know that having something like this in game would be a long shot but having a quest line specific to your own class will really connect you with your class. I think that all the classes should have an epic quest line of this level and I think the leveling experience will be all the better for it.