Does a Warlock have much use in PvP?

[Train Wreck]

The more I read about PvP, both in here and in the WoW forums, the more I notice that warlocks are seldom mentioned.  Is this because they simply suck, or have they been overlooked?  (I recall reading that their plethora of DoT spells are easily healed, whereas massive damage is prefered.)  The reason I ask is because I am a lvl 15 Warlock in Bat Country who plans on engaging in raids against The Alliance sooner or later, but if the class isn't going to be very effective, I might as well switch over to something better before I get too deep into it.

By the way, who is still active in Bat Country?  I rarely see anybody on, but I usually don't log in until around midnight PST.  If I need to get on earlier, I will.

[Morfiend]

Warlocks are VERY good in pvp. But they are the hardest class in the game to play well. With a succbuss pet, a warlock should have no problem taking out almost any class, if played right. The thing with warlocks is they dont really come in to power (pvp wise) until lvl 50 or so.

Also, if you group with a mage who uses Frost nova and Arcane explosion, the Warlock using Hellfire can take out large numbers of players. My guild uses this tactic, with 3 mages and 3 warlocks. We find a choke point in the terrain. I think the best we did was killing around 30 alliance in 15 seconds. It was great.

Also a warlock has fear, which is very powerful in pvp.

One of the officers of my guild is a warlock, and he usually can take out around 5 people to each death in PVP.

[WayAbvPar]

Midnight PST is about the latest most of us will be on- we are old, working folks for the most part. As for warlocks- I have killed more warlocks in PvP with my rogue (cloth wearers are fun to poke with daggers) than any other class (small sample size). If I can keep them stunned long enough, the DOT bleeds will finish them off unless they get some medical attention stat.

[Xilren's Twin]

My guess would be lock don't appear to begreat in pvp at this point b/c they lack stealth, dont appear to do huge damage dumps, and have low survivability.  But thats just from playing on in the teens.  High end?  Don't know.  That being said it wouldn't bother me; I think I'm actually enjoying my 'lock more than my rogue right now.  I find myself playing him more often than not though that may change once i finish my poison skill quest.

BTW, im usually one 10pm-12ish EST, which is why I probably havent seen you much.  I'm losing too much sleep already..

Xilren

[Hoax]

Dont be fooled.  Outside of highly organized guilds Warlocks suck in group pvp.  They are cloth casters who Dont do amazing burst damage or heal and have no escape tricks (frost nova, blink, PWs).  Also dispell + clense makes warlocks much better on the alliance side then horde side (where purge is no threat to your dps).

There are also many issues w/ the class I wont bother to go into.  Can a good warlock do amazing things?  Yup, but all classes can with a good player and good teamwork/strat.  But Warlocks are gimped outside of 1v1 where they can own on people who can't handle fear/dots.  Thats just my opinion but a very good RL friend was a 60 warlock for some time and I was a priest and let me say that I always had to have one eye on him or he could be dropped very quickly.  As all he has is a single target fear (which warriors, undead and blacksmiths laughed at) to get away from anybody.  Succubus is nice n all but imp or felhound is better imo, but thats a choice for you to make.  Seduce is too obvious a mez for any priest/pally to not see and remove.

[Sky]

By the way, who is still active in Bat Country?

Heh, I always forget to look someone up when I get into the game, and lately I've been playing a couple alliance alts on Scarlet Crusade.

I'm never on past 1am EST, so I'm out a couple hours before you get on, anyway.

Nothing to add to the warlock discussion. Played one to lvl 23, but never got into any pvp (was my first character). My feeling is that in group pvp, anyone who knows how to take advantage of his classes' strengths can be a useful addition...even just as a distraction or cannon fodder.

Character power is only one portion of the equation, I focus on the mind of the players, instead (since I'll never have uber gear or levels or whatnot).

[sinij]

PvP in WoW is like having sex with your sister - it might be enjoyable at times but everyone involved know that this is not how things should be done.

[Morfiend]

Dont be fooled.  Outside of highly organized guilds Warlocks suck in group pvp.  They are cloth casters who Dont do amazing burst damage or heal and have no escape tricks (frost nova, blink, PWs).  Also dispell + clense makes warlocks much better on the alliance side then horde side (where purge is no threat to your dps).

There are also many issues w/ the class I wont bother to go into.  Can a good warlock do amazing things?  Yup, but all classes can with a good player and good teamwork/strat.  But Warlocks are gimped outside of 1v1 where they can own on people who can't handle fear/dots.  Thats just my opinion but a very good RL friend was a 60 warlock for some time and I was a priest and let me say that I always had to have one eye on him or he could be dropped very quickly.  As all he has is a single target fear (which warriors, undead and blacksmiths laughed at) to get away from anybody.  Succubus is nice n all but imp or felhound is better imo, but thats a choice for you to make.  Seduce is too obvious a mez for any priest/pally to not see and remove.

They are cloth casters who can have upward of 4k hitpoints. They have fear/saduce/AE fear. Their spells can crit for over 2k fairly often at lvl 60. Warlocks played well are VERY hard to kill, and they chip away at you with their dots. If you are a rogue, and you kill a lvl 60 warlock who has a succubus, he is not a good warlock. With the right stratgy a warlock with his succubus should kill a rogue about 80% of the time.

[Paelos]

PvP in WoW is like having sex with your sister - it might be enjoyable at times but everyone involved know that this is not how things should be done.

That was Sinij with your mind-rape for the day. Now onto weather...

[stray]

I fear warlocks  :-( Everyone should. Everyone WILL sooner or later.

To answer the original question, I think that's about all that needs to be said.

[ahoythematey]

Warlocks would probably be the flavor of the month as far as PVP classes go if it weren't for half their talents being broken pieces of shit.  As it stands, they are more capable at PVP than some classes, less than others, and a great deal of it depends on the player.  It is pretty safe to say that they are one of the most annoying classes to fight against if the warlock player is good, thanks to fear: it's not quite chain-polymorph, but frustrating all the same.  Hellfire, however, is a very situational spell and far from what you can call great.

[Sky]

I fear warlocks

yakov
In Azeroth, warlocks fear you!
/yakov

[Jayce]

and a great deal of it depends on the player.

<fanboi>
I hear this over and over. That is one thing that makes me love this game.  "Depends on the player" hasn't often been heard in this genre.  More often it's "depends on the class" or "depends on the equipment". DAOC, I'm looking at you.
</fanboi>

[Slayerik]

and a great deal of it depends on the player.

<fanboi>
I hear this over and over. That is one thing that makes me love this game.  "Depends on the player" hasn't often been heard in this genre.  More often it's "depends on the class" or "depends on the equipment". DAOC, I'm looking at you.
</fanboi>

Very true.

On Warlocks, I personally love them in GvG...Soulstones for the priest rez, healthstones so everyone gets a free 1200 life or whatever...fear, dots, curses, AoE, decent nukes, different pets for different fun (succubus is great, but felhunter can be awesome). Summon in the troops...im so glad we have quite a few over 55.

Yeah, they totally blow in GvG.

[Train Wreck]

Sounds like Warlock is worth sticking with.  The earliest I can try getting on is 9 PST.  I just have too much shit going on.  I need to give up my life for more WoW.  

[Sky]

Slayerik brings up a good point, those Stones are very useful. One reason I did so well as a warlock was knowing how to use all my available abilities. The reason we didn't get wiped when we did Ragefire with an "underpowered" group with no healers was the soulstone. The warrior had to use one twice, totally saved the day.

When the shard bags go in (or any kind of management for those goddamned shards), I'll probably revisit my Warlock. I hate those damned shards, though.

[ahoythematey]

That's the big aspect about Warlock, something I would say is even more obvious with Shamans.  Any retard can learn a couple tricks with Paladin or Rogue and handle themselves against a lot of players(not that it means they can compete with more-competant players of almost any class), but it takes a lot of mastery over the Warlock class to make it really work, to make it really shine.  Keeping yourself soulstoned and trying to chain-fear the enemy just isn't going to cut it most times; adaptation to the situation is vital.  Some people love that, many don't.  I suppose the big question, though, is was that intentional design, or a product of half the class skills and abilities being broken/mostly useless?

[Dren]

I'm liking my Warlock alt, but he's only lvl 26 right now.  I can solo with little problem and can handle overpulls normally.

I agree with ahoy that the paladin is an easy to play character, but it just doesn't get much better even if you have strategy.  The warlock however can be played all the way from really poorly to king of the mountain.  It all depends on skill and making use of all the powers at the right time.

Paladins are all about poking a button every 2 or 5 minutes and making sure your gear is up to snuff.  If you screw anything up, hit your invul and run.

Warlocks have pets, range, high dots, medium DD's, insta powers, fear, blah ,blah.  If you screw up in any way, you're dead most the time.

...and they get nightmares for free at 40.  Isn't that enough on its own?