Power Auras for destro warlocks (Part 1) Improved Soul Fire

So. Lets start with what Elitistjerks.com has put as #1 on the priotity list. Improved Soul Fire. You are supposed to keep it up all the time even if it means hard casting Soul Fire. Recomendations are that if you get Empowered Imp, use it right away. Also try to make your Soul Fire hit the target just as the old ISF runs out. That means that you should start casting when the timer is at cast time + time it takes to reach the target. (Don't cry, noone will laugh at you for not pulling that one off, the most important thing is that you do keep ISF up at all.)

Version:4.9; b:0; g:0.8784; icon:Spell_Fire_Fireball02; buffname:Improved Soul Fire; texture:142; alpha:0.19; mine:true; soundend:22; combat:true; size:0.28; y:-4; timer.HideLeadingZeros:true; timer.h:1.62; timer.enabled:true; timer.cents:false; timer.y:-58; timer.x:-1
Version:4.9; b:0.0824; anim1:4; g:0; icon:Spell_Fire_Fireball02; buffname:Improved Soul Fire; texture:142; alpha:1; mine:true; combat:true; size:0.28; y:-4; inverse:true

I've split this up into two auras. One yellow with a counter that counts down ISF and one red pulsating aura that is visible when you don't have ISF as a reminder to cast Soul Fire.

Select one row, ctrl-c, type /powa in WoW. Click on Import and paste with ctrl-v. (Do the same for both rows)

You might want to play around with it a little to make it fit your ui.

(Start here: Power auras for destro warlocks.)

Power Auras for destro warlocks (Part 0)

So. You got the correct gems and enchants. You've done your reforging. You know the spell priorities and might have done some nice macros and/or keybindings to have easy access to them. ... but you still have a hard time getting your dps as high as "everyone else".

And, it can be a bit tricky to keep your Improved soul fire up, while keeping an eye so that Immolate, Corruption, Bane of Doom and Curse of the Elements don't fall of. Did Empovered Imp proc? Is it time for Conflagrate or Chaos bolt? Maybe wait with that Empovered Imp a second or two? Renew Demon soul? ...btw, I think you forgot to get out of the fire...

There is a great addon to give you a visual aid to when your buffs are up or when a spell is of its cd, Power Auras Classic. I never really given it a look before. But I felt that I needed something to help me keep track of all my spells and buffs.

And since you can find almost anything on Internet I found this page: Warlock Power Auras in Cataclysm a great collection of auras for warlocks. So I added them. All 20 of them.

This is what it looked like.

To be fair. It is a really good job he has done. But if you aren't that guy. Adding all of these is a bit much to take in at once. So. What I'm planning to do is to write a series of posts where I add one aura at a time and try to explain why you need to keep an eye on that spell/buff.

Hopefully it will be a nice guide on how to use Power Auras but also a way to get your dps as high as possible. :)

Part 1 - Improved Soul Fire
Part 2 - Demon Soul

Genders of warlock minions.

Incubus and Succubus?

"I'm happy to share we actually do have plans for offering players a choice between male and female versions of all warlock demons. This is a task already in our system, though I don't have a time frame for you at the moment. Other art tasks could always take precedence, but we're committed to making this happen. :)"

My first reaction was "Hahaha, what a silly idea." ... But when I think about it, it a very good idea actually. First of all it would be nice just to be able to customize your warlock a little and stand out of the crowd. Much like mages and the different "sheeps" they can do. But also to make WoW less sexists (or more sexist but atleast more balanced).

Let me explain, I don't think the succubus is an objectification of women, it is just to far way out of line that it becomes a joke. Much in the same way as a little lipstick is nice but too much makes a clown. You don't look at a succubus and think "This is a good representation of how women should be." It is a bad view, taken to it's extreme ending up as being ridiculous. So, yes, I would very much welcome an Edward Cullenesque incubus that whispers sweet nothings, sparkle and shower you with flowers as you travel Azeroth (he might even cry a little when critters die).

And the different male/female combinations of seduce on your targets? Well, thats a completely different hornets nest to stick an appendage in.

A good destruction warlock guide.

"Think of it as a Fire mage...

...if the Fire mage didn't need to worry about his mana pool.

And was on crack."

A really good guide on how to spec, gem, enchant and use your spells as a destro lock.

Int vs Hit

After reading a little on http://elitistjerks.com/ today and playing around with Simulationcraft my head now hurts and I think I've overloaded my poor brains.

I've always been told that the hit-cap was the most important thing to look for when looking at stats. But, I guess since warlocks don't obey any rules, hit-cap isn't that important as long as you get Int.

The stat priority for (destruction) warlocks looks like this:
Int > Hit (until you get capped at +17%) > Haste > Crit > Mastery

That means, never reforge any Int. Not even if it is to get you hit-capped. I know it sounds wrong but I ran it through Simcraft a couple of times and the math don't lie. Even tried to change Hit to Int so that I only had ~11% extra hit-chance and I still did more dps than if I would have been hit-capped.

Since warlocks doesn't have any spells that can cause a raid wipe if we miss, like a spell-steal or interupt, I guess you don't need to feel bad if you haven't reforged any Int to Hit to get hit-capped. As you get better gear the More-int vs. Hit-cap will become a non-issue. But still, I thought it was interesting that being hit-capped wasn't as important as everyone seem to think. :)

...now I only need to wrap my head around the different haste-caps... o.O

Origami rock

I don't know if there are a lot of people that call the summoning portal for a "stone". Probably cause of the Meeting Stones outside instances.

Even if there aren't that many it was worth it to carry an Origami rock in my bags for ~2 month until last night when someone said, "Sho, I think we need a stone."

...

Also, it is soon time for the Noblegarden event. Don't forget to stock up on Spring Flowers and Blossoming Branch.

Shogoth the Seeker

3000 quests done and I finaly got my seeker title. :)

I've looked under chairs
I've looked under tables
I've tried to find the key
To fifty million fables

chorus:
They call me The Seeker
I've been searching low and high
I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die

I asked Bobby Dylan
I asked The Beatles
I asked Timothy Leary
But he couldn't help me either

chorus

People tend to hate me
'Cause I never smile
As I ransack their homes
They want to shake my hand

Focusing on nowhere
Investigating miles
I'm a seeker
I'm a really desperate man

I won't get to get what I'm after
Till the day I die

I learned how to raise my voice in anger
Yeah, but look at my face, ain't this a smile?
I'm happy when life's good
And when it's bad I cry
I've got values but I don't know how or why

I'm looking for me
You're looking for you
We're looking in at each other
And we don't know what to do

chorus