Warlock’s Pet No Longer Scales
##NOLIGHTBOX##
It seems warlock and hunter pets are currently not scaling with their master’s stats anymore. The only stats which they get are spell damage, intellect and armor, but no stamina or attack power.
What this means, other than being the biggest warlock nerf ever, is that your Felhunter will have about 3000 health, which will make it completely useless in PvP.
There’s a few threads about it already (here, here, here and here) so it seems it’s not an isolated issue.
Someone did the math in one of those threads, and here’s what Felguards look like now:
Example: Felguard
Pre and Post current 2.4 fix.
Pre:
6200ish hp base
1247 attack power base.
Post:
3600 hp base.
343 attack power (no modification from gear)
There’s dozens of threads on official forums for a few months now about hunter and warlock pets, all asking for buffs and more scaling, especially getting a part of master’s resilience. Our pets are too squishy each passing day, while other classes get more and more damage. It seems Blizzard is doing exactly the opposite.
This issue is not yet confirmed by blues, so it’s unknown if this is a bug or an intended change, but I certainly hope it’s a bug. This change alone is enough to bring SL/SL and Demonology warlocks to extinction.
… ouch.
Warlocks keep asking for more damage….but is it really required?
My warlock is almost 62, and i was in a group to Blood Furnace last night.
Group consisted of:
61 Warlock
62 Warlock
63 Warlock
70 Holy Paladin
70 Rogue (in full Gladiator arena gear)
Obviously the rogue was top of the meter, and only 5% behind him was me!! The lowest warlock! (the other 2 were noobs and didnt know what they were doing! :P)
Warlocks dont need a buff!
Admitadly this seems a bit harsh, and will probably just be a mistake rather than a nerf.
But we certainly DONT need a buff!
Yes other classes are getting more damage, but thats just bringing them more in line with other classes like Rogues/Locks that OWN the dps charts…
@Alex
Your annecdotal experience at level 62 in a PVE environment (running through a level 61-62 instance with 2 70’s) frankly does not have any bearing on the question of pet scaling at level 70 in PvP.
For heavy demonolgy builds, pet scaling is a key issue. Those warlocks give up many *damage* options in exchange for a kicking demon. To lose more than half of your demon’s effectiveness (loss of stamina and attack power) is a major nerf when pre-2.4 demon scaling already needed a buff.
Its a hard truth but the leveling experience is vastly different from the end-game experience.
I was thinking more about the impact of this change in PvP, not PvE. Warlocks damage is fine in both areas if you ask me, but I didn’t complain about that either (and no, locks don’t need more damage in raids).
It’s a no brainer for PvE anyway, you’ll use your Imp, turn on Phase Shift and nothing can damage him anyway; but I doubt you will be using the Imp in arenas or battlegrounds (although I’ve seen plenty of people do that).
If Felhunters’ health drops to 4k, he might live more than 5 seconds in an average arena match.
Another note: don’t judge classes on level 62. For PvP, without at least 400 resilience and the mandatory Insignia of the Alliance/Horde it’s a completely different game.
Demons were already ridiculously weak. My +600 dmg Holy Paladin can take out a Felhunter in 4 casts (Judge Righteous, Exorcism, Holy Shock, Hammer).
Felguards are slightly harder to kill, but they are much less dangerous to a healing paladin.
If this change goes live (and I can’t see it happening… not as an intended change at least), my Warlock - who’s been spec’d Demonology since Feb ‘04 - will be a lot less interesting to play… Affliction is boring for me.
Felhunters got no holy resistance, that’s why they die easily to paladins, unlike other casters (mages hate them the most). Melee classes kill them rather easily despite the armor.
In the end, I’m sure many many warlocks and hunters will agree their pets need some resilience and perhaps even more stamina, and nerfs to pets are completely unnecessary.
@rubella
I was just saying Warlock DPS does not need a buff!
Indeed the pets do need a buff, but with a priest buff on My felguard has over 5k health at 62.
This can’t be implemented. It would virtually make Demonology spec. useless, and while I realize that there are currently some useless specs in-game (Arcane for Mages, for instance) the patches tend to make these better, not worse.
All this change would do is create a lot more Affliction ‘locks, which in turn would breed more cries of “Nerf! Nerf!”
i havnt been playing for a while, (like a few months) but would like to start gain
can any1 confirm this to be true?
Nope, the change never went to live servers.
I guess I should update those kind of posts eh
End game is totally different, don’t talk like you know a class until you’ve played against well-geared level 70’s in the arena that know what they’re doin. It’s easy to be good with a warlock, but it’s just as hard to be the best as with as any other class. We’re not the overpowered class anymore, the playing field has been leveled… With the last few nerfs