So, ugh...

[Megrim]

It has so happened that i've been given access to a WoW account for the purposes of "playing" as it were. Since none in my group of friends is playing one i decided to roll a Warlock, with the hopeful aim of someday casting 'more dots!' as it were. However, being a total newb to WoW i'd like some advice as to what the hell i'm supposed to do, apart from whoring the /dance emote. I am on a pvp+ server (Frostmourne) and have access to friends with resources.

[Trippy]

Umm...kill stuff, get phat l00t and level up?

But seriously are you having a specific problem? Generally speaking you wander around looking for NPCs with giant gold exclamation points over their heads, do whatever the quest says, go back to the quest giver to get your reward, and then rinse and repeat until you get out of the newbie area.

[Merusk]

Given that the title of your thread is contains "ugh" and you put the word "playing" in quotes?   Give the account to someone else and find something you'll enjoy, this isn't the game for you.

[Megrim]

No no, there is no specific problem, i just need some advice on playing a Warlock, that's all.

[Trippy]

No no, there is no specific problem, i just need some advice on playing a Warlock, that's all.

Not much decision making at the beginning. Cast your DoTs and then use Shadow Bolt and/or beat on the mob with your weapon or shoot with a wand. When you get to level 4 find your Warlock trainer to do your Imp summoning quest.

[ajax34i]

I haven't played a warlock past 20, so my experience is limited.

The low levels are more or less the same for everyone:  spam whatever damage abilities you have while trying to not get swamped by too many mobs and die.  Try to collect a little cash, and enough cheap bags to fill your slots.  Spend time figuring out your interface, dragging your abilities to the hot bars and getting used to them.  Do quests, they will herd you from place to place and give you nice cash, xp, and faction.

After level 10 or so, I think you're supposed to use your pet to complement you.  The imp does DPS, so you'll be tanking (dunno when you get that Fear spell, but it can be used to reduce the amount of time spent tanking), the Voidwalker is a tank (so you can sit back and apply your dots), and then you get crowd control and anti-caster pets.

If you're gonna group, /assist and avoiding aggro are the main concerns, plus remembering to put your soulstone (once you get the spell) on a rezzer.

[Arrrgh]

Have your friends buy you a soulstone pouch. The one that holds 20 is cheap.

Your first 5 talent points should go into improved corruption.

Your gear should add STA and INT. If in doubt go STA since you can always life tap some mana.

Do not go to the warsong battle ground until you're at least level 18 or the rogue twinks will spank you in seconds.

A wand does decent damage for no mana.

Sacrifice your voidwalker if you need to bravely run away.

[Megrim]

Ok awesome. I've been told that i should stack up on Stamina gear so i will be doing that asap. Could someone explain what the importance of Soulstones is? Also, i know by hearsay that Affliction Warlocks are ubar, but what about the other two skill trees? Is Destruction any good?

[Zetor]

It's relatively simple to level as a 'lock post 2.0, they really buffed soloability.. there are many tried-and-true strategies, pick your poison.  :p

Basic pre-60 strategies:
- fear kiting: You apply a ton of damage-over-time spells to an enemy and just keep them feared. You can use nuke spells [shadowbolt, immolate, searing pain, soulfire] to hit them, but they might break fear early, so it's safer to stick to DOTs.
- coex kiting: Same, against unfeareable enemies, only you use Curse of Exhaustion [affliction talent] to keep them snared and unable to reach you. Only works on melee, obviously.
- drain tanking: Instead of preventing damage by fearing the enemy or having your pet tank it, you spam Drain Life on it to counteract the damage it's doing to you. Requires 5/5 Fel Concentration [affliction talent].


Killing stuff:
- Before level 10: shadow bolt [at max range], immolate, curse of agony, corruption while you have the imp attack, wand until mob dies, repeat.
- Before level 20 (this can actually work all the way until 60): Send in the voidwalker with the single target taunt [Torment] on autocast and everything else turned off. Apply DOTs: curse of agony, corruption, immolate [use immolate last since it causes a good amount of aggro, so you'll want to give the voidwalker some time]. Wand, refresh dots as needed, after the fight use health funnel or the voidwalker's consume shadows ability to restore its health. You can also kill more than 1 mob at a time this way (just switch the pet's target midway), but your voidwalker will probably run out of mana. This method is slow, has a significant amount of downtime, but it's very safe.
- Before level 40 (this can also work all the way until 60 if you want fast grinding with some downtime): Same as above, but send in the succubus instead with Lash of Pain on autocast and everything else disabled. You will draw aggro at the end, so just start casting fear when the mob is running towards you and follow up with a nuke or drain [they should be fairly low at this point].
- After level 40 if you're affliction (recommended): Either do the same as above with the succubus (with lash of pain off auto-cast as well) and spam drain life when you draw aggro, OR use an imp on passive mode and just use immolate and instant DOTs + drain life. After the battle is over, use Dark Pact 2-3 times to refill your mana and continue.
- Farming multiple mobs quickly (requires decent gear and at least 37-ish points in affliction): Run around a group of mobs [up to 4-5], apply your instant dots in the following order: curse of agony, siphon life, corruption. When they all cluster up around you, use Howl of Terror. Drain Life on the one that has the most health. Dark Pact to recover mana.
- Solo killing elites: start off with a shadowbolt, follow up with immolate while the shadowbolt is in the air; then apply Curse of Doom [at 60] or Curse of Agony [pre-60], your other dots, and fear kite.

Levelling build: I recommend affliction. It's really the best tree for killing stuff solo. Demonology is good, but requires good gear to make use of while having more downtime than affliction, and Destruction burns through mana like crazy.

First 5 points should go into Improved Corruption ASAP - this'll get you another instant DOT other than Curse of Agony. After that, work your way up the affliction tree. Get 2 points of Soul Siphon (VERY good for drain tanking), 2 points for Improved Drain Soul (skippable, but I like it -- returns a good amount of mana when soloing, and aggro reduction is good for instances) and 1 point in Suppression (if you don't like Improved Drain Soul, put 3 in there instead). After that, max out Fel Concentration, get Grim Reach, Nightfall and Amplify Curse; skip Empowered Corruption until you're 60 with at least +200-ish spell damage gear. Get Siphon Life, Curse of Exhaustion and 1 point in Shadow Embrace (more isn't worth it... I can elaborate if need be). Put two points in Improved Curse of Agony, 5 points into Shadow Mastery and grab Dark Pact.

You should be lv40 at this point... you can spend the next 20 points pretty much however you wish, though I recommend Contagion 5/5, Improved Howl of Terror 2/2 and Unstable Affliction, along with Demonic Embrace 5/5 and either Improved Imp or Improved Healthstone, maybe Empowered Corruption; or go up 11 points in Destruction if you like to pvp with 5/5 Improved Shadowbolt, 5/5 Bane and Shadowburn.


NB: this build is optimal only for PVE [esp if you're Alliance and have to deal with undead rogues while leveling]. If you plan on pvping a lot, Demonology is a better choice post-40. I can whip up a soul link build for you if ya' want.


-- Z.

[Trippy]

Ok awesome. I've been told that i should stack up on Stamina gear so i will be doing that asap. Could someone explain what the importance of Soulstones is?

The target of a Soulstone gets a self-rez hence the comment about giving it to a rezzer. Soul Shards are used to power some of your other spells.

[lamaros]

I play a Warlock on the same server. Name is Ycef. Send me a message when you see me online and I'll be happy to give you some advice.

[Flood]

Lowbie advice:

- As mentioned, first 5 talent points into Imp. Corruption.  After that there's a couple different routes people take (if you're still playing that is).
- Buy the highest DPS wand you can afford/wield ASAP and try to keep it updated as you level.  Most always at low levels these are player crafted wands, IE - Lesser Magic Wand, et al.
- For straight PvE leveling (especially lower levels) you'll be using the Voidwalker pet almost exclusively.  Standard pet class dynamic applies.  Send in pet to keep mob off you while you lay on your DOT's, then wand things down.  Wand DPS is one of the most efficient forms of damage for casters.  Manaless damage = good.
- Get down with using Lifetap (think old school EQ Necro Dark Pact).  Because HP = mana for Warlocks when you're looking at gear upgrades look for STA, then INT, then maybe SPI as a distant third for stat importance.  After level 40 or so +damage and +shadow damage become more important.
- Do quests.  Quests that involve "Killing X of Y" are the best as you are in effect getting an exp reward for grinding mobs.  Some of the quest rewards are actually decent for a non-twink character, and the quests usually transition you into whatever area you need to be in level wise.

If you play a little more and have any other questions fire away.

[lamaros]

5 Points in Imp Corruption? WHY??

Unless you are getting aggro more than two points (some might even say more than one) is pretty pointless. Why? Because there's a GCD and if you dont have aggro you probably don't need to move while casting.

Get 5/5 Imp. Corruption when you want to drain tank or your pet cannot hold aggro any longer/if using the Succubus, Imp or Felhunter.

Get Suppression.

I'd probably go like this:

1 Imp Cor.
2,3,4 Suppression
5 Imp Cor.
6,7 Improved Drain Soul.
8,9 Imp Life Tap.

Some decent advice in this thread. But then, some which isn't so great either. :)

As for soulstones? I'm going to assume you mean Soul shards.

These are the things you get when you are using drain soul on a mob when it dies (with Imp. Drain Soul you will also often get 15% of your mana back while soloing, too). These shards are used for a number of things, but at a low level they are used mostly for two things:

1: Summoning Pets. All pets bar the Imp require one soul shard to be summoned. The shard is consumed in the process.
2: Healthstones. All healthstones require one soul shard to be conjured. The shard is consumed int he process.

At later levels the shards are required for other things:

Shadowburn (Destruction talent spell), Soul Fire, Ritual of Summoning, Soul Shatter (TBC), Spellstone, etc.

You will probably not use these that often (with the expection of perhaps Ritual of Summoning and Spellstone) until a pretty high level.

As someone said it's best to get your hands on a shard bag (the 20 slot one is cheap and easy to get) so that you can carry these about without cutting too much in to your other bag space. You will want to carry a few at all times as it's very annoying to get another shard a low levels without a VW to tank; and you need one to summon it.

All that said:

Warlocks aren't that hard a class to play at low levels, in fact they're pretty darn boring. Get used to soloing with your VW, learning the aggro threshold (how much damage you can do before you get aggro - this jumps up and down depending what rank of pet spells you have) and just get to know the class.

*Pets have spells too, remember to train theirs fromt he Pet trainer when you level as well as training your own!*

There are many bad warlocks out there, and relying too much on what others say and not learning and understandinthe class yourself will not help you; play around with your spells and curses and pets and find out their uses, weaknesses and strengths for yourself.

I always think it's better to get answers to specific questions and try to work the rest out for yourself, so like I said, message me if you see me online and have some queries and I'll be happy to help.

[pxib]

5 points in improved corruption turns it into an instant so you can cast it while moving.

For PvP and for curse-of-exhaustion soloing, that's pretty handy.

[Zetor]

He's also on a pvp server. You need all the instant casts you can get.

When I levelled my 'lock back in 2004-2005, drain tanking was a LOT faster than using a voidwalker over long periods of mob killing, and it's even better now with Soul Siphon (I can't stress enough how awesomesauce this talent is). Yes, it's more dangerous and you'll take some damage (only to refill it with drain life), but you'll either have a dps pet doing significant damage (succubus) or an endless mana battery (imp, post-40) at your disposal. Unless they significantly buffed the voidwalker's mana regeneration since then, that is... and you can start drain tanking as early as level 24.

Another minor note - there are several very rare mob types that are immune to 'drain' spells. They're typically golems, constructs and mechanical critters. They are rare, but be careful when leveling in Westfall (if you're alliance) - those harvest reapers are immune to drains AND the voidwalker's Torment ability, meaning you WILL rip aggro as soon as your first dots tick.

There are many bad warlocks out there, and relying too much on what others say and not learning and understandinthe class yourself will not help you; play around with your spells and curses and pets and find out their uses, weaknesses and strengths for yourself.

This is quite true (it's easy to spot the FOTM warlocks too, just look at their names; Feardotz, Deathcoill, Urpwnednoob, etc :P) -- but there are many things that are not apparent at first glance and sometimes even when experimenting with them for a while. Pre-2.0 for example, the affliction tree was a minefield of horrible talents. Firestones are still mostly useless except for joke pvp videos. Spirit is pointless for a warlock (but 'ok' if it's a filler stat on some piece of gear with +sta or +damage). Etc etc.


-- Z.

[lamaros]

5 points in improved corruption turns it into an instant so you can cast it while moving.

For PvP and for curse-of-exhaustion soloing, that's pretty handy.

Yeah. Because you can get CoEx at level.. 30... oh wait the guy is probably only level 5 or so. Lets get insta corruption now though, because in 25 levels he'll be able to make some use of it.. (though you'll probably want siphon life instead)

Not to mention you are better off fear kiting that CoEx kiting about 99 times in 100.

Oh you said PvP?

1: Never spec for PvP while you're leveling. It's just stupid.
2: There's not much PvP going on anyway, mostly alts being leveled up (I'm on the same server).
3: Most world PvP is ganking, or at the level cap. Insta Corruption wont save you from ganking and we're not talking about a level 60 spec.


Drain Tanking is something you respec to, you don't build up to it with points. You level by another method till you have enough levels gained then you swap to it.

Really no point trying to give advice that requires you being level 40+ (Dark Pact) to a guy who just started playing the game, just confuses the issue with things that are currently meaningless.

[Zetor]

Ehh.. I'm probably in the minority, but I dislike the idea of having to respec later just to make a particular build more effective (another parallel would be getting wand specialization as a priest after spirit tap, and respeccing at 40 into shadowform, etc.), so I generally build my character up to a level 60 spec from level 10 onwards, to get more familiar with it; this is also why I never took Improved Lifetap while levelling, since I was holding out for Dark Pact. The only thing that works until level 24 is the voidwalker tankage anyway (and I did mention that it's a completely viable method to level all the way to 60 in my original post, just not one I particularly enjoy).

Re pvp: The last alt I levelled on my server (Crushridge) was my priest 5 months ago; and I had a lot more "legitimate" pvp encounters with same-leveled enemies than ganks, so it does happen. But yeah, YMMV, depends on your server, etc. :P And affliction is very much NOT a pvp talent tree until 60, neither did I say that "speccing for pvp" is a smart thing to do. You certainly CAN level up as demonology (at 40+) which makes you pretty strong in 1v1 encounters, but it's probably inefficient. Hell, I'm sure you can level up 1->60 as destruction, it'll just take (a lot) longer.

But yeah, you're probably right, drain tanking doesn't really take off until 40+ish. Still doesn't hurt to get used to it before that, though.


Edited to add some actual useful information: Get the DoTimer mod. You can get by without anything else, but it's very helpful to see how long your various DOTs last and how often you have to refresh them.


-- Z.

[Megrim]

I really appreciate all the advice guys. Will post some small commentary and questions a little later, once i get some ideas for future growth.

[Nonentity]

Drop totems, cast heals.

Wait, that's what I do.

Hm.

[Strazos]

!

[Nonentity]

I wish.

It's more like:

+ +

+ + + +

Repeat 500 times, collect loot.

[jpark]

Off topic - Megrim - awesome avatar :)

Careful with F13.  View their responses to this thread in the context of a guy who cannot stop calling his ex-girlfriend - but cannot stand her either ;)

[Flood]

I wanted to add an addendum here to clarify my advice.  I am a server hopper, and I love making alts.  I have probably 16 (no joke) 30-50ish characters spread across a half a dozen servers of both types and factions - with my old priest main gathering dust until I decide where to transfer him too.  I like to think I have a pretty good handle on starting a brand new naked toon, solo, on a server.


My point is when I say "lowbie" I maybe should use "newbie".  To the uberleveling crowd lowbie means more of the 30-40ish levels.  All the advice I gave was targeted at the >20 game for you since it remains to be seen if you'll even play to that level.  SO that being said:

- Your first 5 talents points spent in Imp. Corruption.  The thought process I have heard behind this is a) if you are planning on going down the Affliction tree anyway to begin drain tanking, why not spend 5 points to turn one of your main damage dealing spells into an insta-cast?  b) it's helpful to have another tool in your low level arsenal if you're are on a PvP server, and c) what else can you spend 5 points on and actually get immediate use out of at level 15 that actually improves your leveling speed?  Improved Imp maybe?

- Using the Voidwalker while leveling.  Overall does the VW suck?  Well, sorta.  But again what pet do you have available to you >20 besides the Imp that will help you level?  The Imp has a role in certain talent specs and in some group situations, but as a level >20 whatever rolling around solo playing for the game for the first time...I'd get out big blue and let him grab the monsters attention so you can do your thang.

- Drain tanking.  Again, I would take peoples (including mine) advice with a grain of salt.  Draintanking is probably the fastest method to level up.  What people don't tell you is that it doesn't become an effective tactic until about level 30 or so due to talents falling into place/spell damage scaling *and* that part of it's effectiveness relies on the quality of gear you have.  Is drain tanking good?  Hell yea it is, but you probably won't really start to notice until level 35.

- Talents for leveling versus talents for your future PvP spec.   Ehhhhhh, that's not so cut an dried.  For me, in my playstyle and my play experience I try and walk the fine line between taking talents that you absolutely have to have to speed up your leveling and talents that are immediately useful in a PvP situation - but that won't gimp me as a grind through  levels.  I won't go into specifics and spark a discussion over talent veracity.  To me it's just another level of the meta-game that happens on a PvP server that adds a little more risk versus reward to your decision making. (Part of what makes it fun)


P.S. - The forums here have some knowledgeable and articulate peeps, but jpark gave you the best advice of the thread.   

[Lantyssa]

Demonology can be fun if you're into pet classes.  And very durable, albeit slower than other builds.  I have survived encounters none of my other characters would have any hope to.

Don't be afraid to try out talents you think are interesting because we all have different ideas of fun.

[Arrrgh]

Actual newbs (not twinks) can't afford too many respecs.

[ShenMolo]

One of the first things you'll see upon logging in is NPC's (computer controlled characters) with bright yellow exclamation points (!) above their heads. Every time you see this talk to that person and follow his instructions (they give Quests). When you have completed the Quest assigned, go back to the Questgiver for your reward and further instructions. When you cant find any more quest givers in your immediate area, wander around the world until you find more, although the Questgivers will usually tell you where to go to find more quests.

You can do this for the next 60 levels.

[Lantyssa]

And?  I've never bought a respec.

[Arrrgh]

And, you told him "Don't be afraid to try out talents you think are interesting" like it was free.

[Xanthippe]

I just levelled a 60 warlock (mostly pre-2.0).  Affliction specced.  Still am, but just because I'm lazy and haven't yet decided what to change to, and I'm comfortable with it.  I'll be going for some sort of pvp spec, but first I really want to check out affliction as a pvp spec.

Had I levelled up after 2.0, as you are, I might have picked demon spec instead, because it looks interesting to me.

Don't bother with a soul shard bag unless you're going to be doing instances or maybe not until end game raiding, because a soul shard fits in any bag, and inventory management while having 25 open quests can be annoying.  I got one and now it sits in my bank because I can't put anything else in it except soul shards.  (I have a hunter already that has a quiver; I hate being down a bag).  I am probably not going to raid on my warlock, but if I change my mind, I'll get a soul shard bag.  Never have needed one on the way up, but then I soloed almost entirely and usually end up trashing soulshards to make room for regular inventory.

Only other tips I have are to pick up two gathering professions, either mining/skinning or herbs/skinning, and sell the stuff on the AH.  Learn fishing, cooking and first aid, and level those as well.   If you want to learn another profession, like alchemy or enchanting or something, wait until you can afford it (past 40 or maybe 60) and then switch one of your gathering professions to your desired profession. 

[Megrim]

Oh man, irony of ironies: just as i was getting into playing my lock and the whole WoW business, a friend and i stopped by at a local net cafe to play some DotA and WoW. Turns out that the pcs we were on had keyloggers running so both him and me had our accounts stolen overnight. He got his back, less his raid-equipped pally and mine is beyond recovery because no-one can remember the email it was created with.

So, it looks as if i may be getting my own account sometime, or something. We are still in shock =/ Apart from that though, i had what looked to be a decent Destruction spec planned out via the talent calculator, which i'll submit for perusal in a bit.

[lamaros]

And, you told him "Don't be afraid to try out talents you think are interesting" like it was free.

Newbs can affort to respec a few times while leveling.

And if he has friends with level 60s I'm sure they can give him some gold to do so.

These past weeks I've respecced every couple of days, 50g each time. I estimate i've spent about 400g in respecs since 2.01. It's been easy to afford it and I havn't been playing much at all.

Will only get easier in TBC.

Don't not try something because you're afraid of the respec costs. You'll find the money to manage.

[raydeen]

I don't do a whole lot of PVP'ing but I have noticed one thing. It's been my experience that if your pet is on aggressive, rogues have a really hard time hiding from you. I've been able to put a hurting on rogues and they can't figure out how I'm seeing them. Don't know if this is a bug or a feature but give it a try. I've only used this in duels so it might be different in real PVP.

[Zetor]

Do you have a felhunter? If so, that's why... it has its own stealth detection buff (that is an aura, so you get it too), and if you put it on aggressive, it'll attack as soon as it sees a rogue (which'll be a few split seconds before YOU see the rogue, thanks to latency, etc).

BTW, levelling as destruction might be a bit harsh... it's certainly the best pvp spec at the moment, but you'll probably need to get a hold of a mage friend or two to keep you well supplied with water. :P


-- Z.

[Venkman]

I have a Warlock alt, on hold because I think my real alt will be a Draenei Shadow Priest. But, I do have a question:

It seems as though most PvPers think 'lock is fotm. Are they do for a nerf or is it just people by and large sucking?

[Ironwood]

lock and hunter rule pvp at the mo.