Yay! My first email question!
This is from Matt:
I just started playing WOW a few months ago.
I rolled a Gnome mage (fire spec) immediately. Honestly, I love it, but I am getting a little concerned about the supposed “nerfing” of mages and that it’s not getting any better in WOLK.
Currently my Gnome mage is level 62 and should be 70 soon.
Here’s my question: is all the “hype” I hear about Warlocks getting more powerful and Mages getting more “nerfed” accurate?
I’ve started a gnome-warlock as a back-up, but prefer my mage.
Thanks for the great blog and any advice/suggestions.
So let’s take this step by step:
I just started playing WOW a few months ago.
I rolled a Gnome mage (fire spec) immediately.
Excellent choice on all 3 counts. Gnome + Mage + Fire = Awesome!
Currently my Gnome mage is level 62 and should be 70 soon.
The “once-was-final” grind to 70. Remember to enjoy those levels, they wont come again. With Lich King soon to come, and the “last” 10 levels, you are in a great position to relax and see the sights for the next 8 levels.
Honestly, I love it, but I am getting a little concerned about the supposed “nerfing” of mages and that it’s not getting any better in WOLK.
There has always been, and will continue to be lots of “we are nerfed” blogs, forums posts and trade chat, and for some it will never get better.
You have a few choices.
- Let the QQ’ing get to you, let it drain your enthusiasm for the Mage and the Game.
- Join in on the QQ’ing, and at least get some pleasure from venting
- Ignore it, and play the Mage for the pure pleasure that it can bring.
The Question
Here’s my question: is all the “hype” I hear about Warlocks getting more powerful and Mages getting more “nerfed” accurate?
Starting from a position that I am not 100% up with what is going on in Beta, the answer would have to be yes and no.
- Yes Warlocks are getting more powerful (a whole 10 levels more powerful), but then so are Mages.
- Are Mages getting more Nerfed? No (Is that possible?
)
My gut feeling is no. We are yet to see all that WoLK will bring us before release, and there will be, as always, further adjustments once the expansion hits. Maybe, just maybe, there will be an adjustment in the role we play in the game, but I think this is true for all classes.
I guess my real feeling on the topic of Warlocks being OP, and Mages nerfed is the same whether we are talking about WoLK or not, which is…
I play to be the best I can be.
At my current level of progression (Kara, odd forays into ZA, Gruuls etc.):
- More often than not I am at the top of the damage meters, worst case 2nd or 3rd.
- In the majority of the fights it doesn’t seem to matter whether it is a Warlock, Mage, Rogue etc. If YOU can dps, then your toon will be at the top.
- I think I have only been out dps’d once or twice by a Warlock, and generally on specific fights, with mechanics that either favour them (AoE – Seed of Corruption for the Warlock win), or gimp me (Excessive movement – DoTs for the Mage loss).
Mind you, I am not fighting for raid positions against other DPS, where Warlocks may make the cut ahead of me, and other mages.
I welcome Warlocks into my 10 man groups – in fact I will welcome any well played Warlock (or any other class for that matter) into my groups. If the Warlock is overpowered in an encounter/instance, then my group wins, which means I win.
I think the majority of Warlock vs. Mage QQ’ing comes at the highest level, where 40 people are competing for 25 raid slots and everyone’s gear is at the highest level. If not, then why QQ?
So how do you choose which toon you should play?
The 1st question to ask is why you want to play in general.
- Is it to be No.1 on the damage meter?
- Is it to guarantee a raid slot?
- Is it to enjoy the scenery?
- Is it to “roleplay”? (in quotations because maybe you don’t want to role play per se, but by choosing a race and class you are by default playing a certain role)
The 2nd question is what & how do you want to play?
- Each class (or spec) at some point in type is going to be OP vs another class (or spec)
- Each class (and even spec) in the game has different play styles, will require a different number of buttons mashed, will require different tactics etc to play.
I play a Gnome Mage because I love playing a Gnome Mage (I have played Taurens before – Hunter and a Druid – but I love my Mage).
I do have a Warlock twink-in-training, just because I wanted something a little different on the side, but the fact that it isn’t 19 yet is because I love my Mage more. I know my Mage, I know what I can do with it, and it feels completely different.
Wrapping it all up in a fiery bow
So wrapping all that up, I would suggest:
- Continue with your Mage – if you love it.
- Build up your Warlock for a bit of variety – if you love it.
As you go along, reflect occasionally on how you feel about each. If there is one you love more than the other, than that is the right one to play (at least at that point in time). If you raid group needs a Lock on the night instead of your mage, then rejoice because you have one of those as well.
Don’t worry about whether x class is doing more damage, worry more about whether x person of the same class is doing more damage, and if so, find out how so you can improve.
Hope this is some rambling, round about, up the garden path way answers you question. I expect those Mages doing higher level stuff than I can give you a better view on the nerf Mage v. nerf Warlock issues, but for me it’s about having fun playing the character in the way I want to play it (which means sometimes I am not at the top of the damage meters and I loose a night or two sleep over it).
Gnomer & Out!
Ohhh.. forgot PvP.. Warlocks are OP.. but then I am a Fire Mage in a Frost Mages PvP world…. Sort of a Gnome out of his element.
I can’t even begin to count the number of mages who tried rolling warlocks… and couldn’t do it, ’cause they hated playing the class.
Some people can play a warlock and love it… some would rather use duct tape to rip their leg hair out.
Loved the pun at the end
Good on ya for bolding it, too; it has more impact that way. Wouldn’t want to shatter your reader’s opinions of a good blogger, now, would you?
As Gnomey said, the biggest issue mages have with warlocks currently is losing raid spots to them.
9 times out of 10 in a raid context a warlock will do more damage than a mage in equivalent gear. For this reason it is much harder for a mage to gain a raid spot in many guilds than a warlock.
In my case, I have had to fight tooth and nail to remain competitive with the warlocks in our guild, and I know all but one of them pretty much coast through raids on easy mode.
These are the ones I can beat if I perform at my peak.
The other I can never ever beat unless he is intentionally letting us catch up to him on the dmg meter, just to be nice. His gear is slightly better than me and he is a very skilled player, thus I cannot out DPS him ever unless he lets me.
Once upon a time this wasn’t the case, warlocks and mages seemed to be on a much more equal footing pre BC.
As for you, since you aren’t fighting for raid spots in 25 man teams with other warlocks, you have nothing to worry about. As a fire mage you bring exceptional utility and DPS to any group and have no reason to worry about warlocks being OP.
Also – while we don’t know for sure until it goes live, personally I see a bright future for both raiding and pvp mages, with more viable specs to choose from in WotLK.
PS: lol shatter!
PSS: sorry about the comment spam, I think I may have been a bit unfair to the warlocks in our guild.
They -seem- to be on easymode, but I could be totally incorrect on this. However, based on their gear and their DPS… they clearly aren’t performing at the same level as the warlock-who-i-cant-beat.
Then again, they could be on easymode after all.
Roll a warlock, leave him/her at level 4 in a capital city , mail her extra bags and use as your personal junk box to keep all non-soullinked semi useful trash you are not willing to give away to your banker….. I am really fond of my slave lock
Play with a class you like , don´t go for a OP one as it will be changed and you will them be disapointed.
I wouldn’t worry too much.
Blizzard despite popular belief is right on top of class balance and whilst I myself am indeed a warlock I have been spending a lot of time doing mage research and things seem to be looking good for mages come wotlk.
Play what you enjoy is the best advice I can give you. I love my warlock to bits but the playstyle is nothing like that of a mage so you will be drawn to one more than the other.
As a wow player in general the best advice I can give you is to ignore all the crying and whining and do what’s fun. You can really burn yourself out on reading all the QQ that goes on about nerfs.
And from what I see everyone claims to be the most nerfed class and in every class forum there is always someone predicting the end of the class come wotlk.
Don’t worry about the damage meters too much. I’ve seen mages do awesome damage, I’ve seen mages dive into large crowds of monsters / players, go nuts with arcane explosion and be the only one left standing.
Wotlk won’t change this.
The difference between a warlock and a mage is simply that the mage will go for direct damage, and the warlock will go for damage over time.
Is one more powerful than the other? People say warlocks are more powerful than mages… but if this is persistently true then you can expect blizzard to do something about it.
When I see a warrior charging at me I’d rather be a mage than a warlock.
Both classes have their fun parts. You’ll have plenty of time to try them both
Something else to consider, particularly in instances requiring a lot of CC, is damage meters don’t tell the whole story.
I know leveling in Outlands through instances, I was constantly disappointed with my position in the damage meters – a part of that was due to my wonky spec and gear, but a lot of it was sheeping, resheeping etc.
This became a lot more obvious when I started on Kara, I could take sheep off my action bar.. I didn’t need to sheep for the next 6 hours.
However, our shadow priest was slipping on the damage meters, hunters would slip on the damage meters etc. This became obvious when no CC was required (ie boss fights) because their dps would shoot up.
Generally Warlocks don’t have a lot of CC responsibilities, and even if they do, they can still be throwing dots on other mobs.
So remember to “add in” your CC time when you look at damage meters.
all i here is blah blah blah…wished i rolled a druid
Its not to late to see the light ppl
But in all honesty unless you want to become a hard core raider in the top raiding guilds on your server play whatever keeps you logging back on. There will always be guilds you can get runs with.
All classes have complimentary benefits. Learn what you can do that other classes can’t and be super uber at that.
Running kara our uber dps mage wasn’t on. You know what we missed?
“hey waterboy i’m out of bikkies”
Most mages i run realise they are glorified waiters and relish in there roles.
***feeding the trolls
Topping damage meters as a Warlock is as easy as using Curse of Elements, saccing your Succubus and spamming Shadowbolt.. over.. and over.. and over.. Add in Shadow Weaving stacks and Misery and you’re right.. it’s easy mode. I raided for awhile as a lock with the cookie cutter 0-21-40 spec and made the move to Demonology because it was more fun and rewarding then spamming Shadowbolts. I gave up on my Lock completely and rolled a Mage (Draenei, not Gnome, sorry T_T) to raid with in WOTLK hoping that there is some sort of skill involved in providing DPS, CC and utility to the raid. Thanks for the great blog!
Mmmm I guess I will give the trolling a go…
Druids, particularly Tree Druids, make great kindling… I mean you have seen the way a Tree Druid falls in combat, that big tree neatly cut down at the base… 1 little fireball, and a little Gnome like me can be warm for a month.
Speaking of which, I don’t understand why Tree Druids don’t suffer from some kind of fire vulnerability…
Most mages you run with… mmmm that’s would be me… be warned, bush fire season is fast approaching…
Thanks for all the great and sensible advice. I agree with the “play what you like” philosophy. I rolled a Gnome Fire-Mage b/c that’s what I wanted to do, and it’s been tons of fun. I haven’t leveled my Warlock up enough to give a fair comparison, but there isn’t anything I dislike about my Mage. Keep up the good work on the blog.