[WoW] Class Debate. Mage vs Warlock

[Arilin]

Lo,

Another night at work, and another night of nothing to do for the next 3 hours but post and read posts.

With that said i'm looking at what I want to work on while I wait for WoTLK to come out. I've played a lot of Melee types, I have a 70 warrior, and 70 hunter, and i'm trying to decide between a mage and a warlock to level. I'm curious from you players who have one or the other, or both which of the two do you like the most and why? I've been doing a lot of reading on each class, watching different PvP video types (Ideal is at 70 to pvp a lot, like usual. Arena specifically.).

At this point, I have both, but they're only level 10ish. Very low, so just trying to figure out which! Thanks for any info and opinions.

[GrinR]

Mage = Teleporting. For me, that's end of discussion.

[Deadend]

Warlock was more enjoyable for me, but everyone seems to have a lock, mages are fun... but they have almost no saftey buffer, you are either kicking ass and kiting, or your fucking dead.

Warlocks are fairly easy to level and they are really good at not dying while killing shit.

[Camel]

Moonkin ueber alles!

If you are going to pick between a lock and a mage, I guess you could consider whether you would rather do damage over time vs burst damage (I know that locks do great burst damage at higher levels and with good gear, but I am thinking specifically about leveling up with affliction here)? I love dots, so I love locks. I really enjoy the whole demon summoning aspect as well.

[Arilin]

I want both, heh.

But I gotta decide on one or it'll never make it past 10 or 20.

[PathMaster]

From my experience, I would level both of them to at least 10, maybe even 20. At that point check and see which you enjoy more. Personally Warlocks are fun to level and can solo very well. You are not as fragile as the other cloth wearers.

[sparkfizt]

They're both fun but for different reasons.

Warlocks are beefy psuedo-tank mages, with soul link + high stam they've got a lot of effective hp. They're main strengths are the ability to deal damage on the run, fear, and drain life. Warlocks are a solid class and pretty painless to level, if you do go this route learn how to fight mobs with your succubus, I cry every time I see a lvl 70 warlock grinding with a blueberry :( pm me if you need tips.

Mages are fun because they get their damage up front rather than 30 seconds from now. Blink and frost nova are you two main survival abilities, and if you spec frost you get a nice temp pet to immobilize people and deal some decent damage. You're squishier than a warlock but you have conveniences such as free food/water helping to ensure you're always at 100%

Both classes look like they're getting nice buffs in lich king, but that's alpha leak info, who knows how it will end up.

I've got a 68 mage, and a 70 warlock, I've devoted most of my time to my shaman however... Both are fun to play, but for different reasons.

[Lima Beans]

I have a lot of experience with both... What is your main focus in the game going to be?

Which is most likely.

You never level a character past level 35?
Level one char to max level, then start another?
Pvp? (if so, large group random battles, or competitive arena with friends?)
small-group instances?
End-Game raids?

The two classes are pretty similiar and both very viable and desireable.. Warlock is a little more powerful in pve raids and pvp, and mage is more powerful in small group dungeons. RIGHT NOW.. flavor of the month for things changes a lot in wow.

[Arilin]

Well the hunter, I pvp'd alot - the warrior, arean'd some, pvp'd a little, but went prot(actually going to try prot in the arena on a 3v3 monday). The lock would be again more pvp, and more pve stuff. A mix of both, which is kinda what I do normally with the other two actually.

As an aside, I have the Warlock to 12 now, the mage i'll probably end up making, but will most likely make it a hordie somewhere for a change of pace(always played alliance) I do have a 44 horde rogue on Ravencrest, but I don't really play there cause no one I know is there.

[grandepolloloco]

Well the hunter, I pvp'd alot - the warrior, arean'd some, pvp'd a little, but went prot(actually going to try prot in the arena on a 3v3 monday). The lock would be again more pvp, and more pve stuff. A mix of both, which is kinda what I do normally with the other two actually.

As an aside, I have the Warlock to 12 now, the mage i'll probably end up making, but will most likely make it a hordie somewhere for a change of pace(always played alliance) I do have a 44 horde rogue on Ravencrest, but I don't really play there cause no one I know is there.

you sir need to roll a horde mage on Vashj server and join the Evil Avatar guild.

[SilentScreams]

I have a 70 Undead Mage and I really don't like him.
But having no other 70s, I have no basis for a meaningful comparison.

My brother has a 70 Warlock and a 70 Priest though, and they both own my Mage 1 on 1.

[evilgoodwin]

A 70 Mage does crazy damage in very small amounts of time. As in, if I'm lucky, I kill a level 70 mob in around 3-4 button presses. Unfortunately, and this is why I hated levelling a mage, and why I hate it over warlock, there is so much downtime because your mana is just sapped away. I always have to rest after 4-5 fights, so there's downtime every few minutes.

Warlock, after a certain level, almost never has to drink or eat unless things go wrong. No downtime = awesome.

[OrangePulp]

From my understanding (never played much WoW, although I had a lot of friends who did), Warlocks pretty much win any 1v1. I remember a friend pointing out a 70 Warlock named QQSkillCoil; he's named for Death Coil, a skill with a fear effect that doesn't count as regular fear for the purposes of diminishing returns.

Personally, I always preferred mage.

[Arilin]

you sir need to roll a horde mage on Vashj server and join the Evil Avatar guild.

I would, but I prefer not to have to worry about open PvP. If I want to PvP I want to do it, when I want to, not when i'm questing or grinding out a level to finish :P

[PsychoticVile]

I've lvled a warlock and a hunter and while they have their differences in abilities to me they are fairly similar as well in play style. That since you have a 70 hunter you may find the Mage to be a more enjoyable change of pace to the other characters you already have.

[Arilin]

I've lvled a warlock and a hunter and while they have their differences in abilities to me they are fairly similar as well in play style. That since you have a 70 hunter you may find the Mage to be a more enjoyable change of pace to the other characters you already have.

That's actually a pretty good point.

I'm leaning towards making a mage as well and do what others suggested, play each to 20ish or so, and see which I have more fun with.

It's rough I guess, I enjoy both classes, heh.

[Knightsaber]

I'm going into Tempest Keep to fight Kael tonight on my mage woot.

At this point, yes, it's slightly tiring to be playing the same thing. Would I want a warlock? Not really. They're pretty similar excepting the dots.

Although if you do get this far, I can sustain far higher DPS than any of the locks on a raid boss for the entire fight. Once you figure out mana preservation and spec your talents right, mages still do not suck, despite what the mage forums on the official site may tell you.

Plus I can teleport. Sweet.

[GrinR]

I would, but I prefer not to have to worry about open PvP. If I want to PvP I want to do it, when I want to, not when i'm questing or grinding out a level to finish :P

This is a fair concern, however Vashj is clearly Horde-dominated. I've leveled up through 55 and the few times I was ganked, there were Horde there in no time to stomp that effer into the ground FOR GOOD. Also, we've got a good EvAv guild going on there.

[Arilin]

This is a fair concern, however Vashj is clearly Horde-dominated. I've leveled up through 55 and the few times I was ganked, there were Horde there in no time to stomp that effer into the ground FOR GOOD. Also, we've got a good EvAv guild going on there.

Even with that, I don't see me doing that :P I just don't want to have to look over my shoulder :P I'd rather be able to login, and just play to play sorta thing. Sorry! Call me lame.

[Arilin]

Well after reading a ton of different posts, articles,opinions and watching videos I think i've decided on a mage, and will probably go frost while I level.

Thanks for all the advice, and info everyone.

[SilentScreams]

Yeah Frost is the best leveling build I found. As long as you can keep those crits coming, it's also very mana efficient.

[AversionFX]

Warlocks eat mages for breakfast, period.

[mightbe]

Both are equally desirable in endgame raiding. I prefer more locks for more ranks of HS and more charges of ISB.

[NSFW]

I have a lock and they're real fun.

[Akela]

A warlock is T-1000 of WoW. I have played several warlocks in my WoW-time. Both before BC and then Blood Elf to 70. Alliance and Horde both. (damn! I never actually realized how addicted to WoW I used to be! ... whoa, I'm just about ready to drink myself to death just to forget it now :) )

As far as leveling goes warlocks have is in Spades. You hardly have downtime to begin with. With modest time investment (30s range) and a well paced fights you have none at all.

Leveling solo is as painless as anything I have ever done in WoW. Routinely killing orange and red mobs (grinding or quest) with no downtime and very little/no concern for gear (out of being lazy I often had empty spots on my equipment "doll" until mid 30s) feels rather good. Basically anything that does not resist too much (red..ish) melts into puddles of slime. (<sigh> if only..But things die :) ) Any damage you sustain just regenerates almost instantly with "drain tanking", which is my preferred method of leveling.

Raiding, warlock does extremely well as far as DPS goes. Now, It has been some time for me. When I quit, we have pretty much finished Kara. So my experience ends there. I played an Affliction DoT spec warlock. With Carefully timed DoT Rotation I was always dealing my highest DPS potential, while not straining the Threat Meter with bursts (crits), and never running out of mana (occasional lifetap that is mended by SL [not soul link :) ], and mana ticks from sacced puppy [when I did not have to have an imp out for the group]). Balancing in second place on threat, easily managing the applied damage......I liked the efficiency, and being top 3-5 on much of every run we went to.

I am not trying to toot my own horn here, mages were right up there! Excellent contributors...they just seem to annoy things a bit more than I did :) . But then again, I would be in the same boat If I specced heavy destruction.

Between leveling and , looking ahead, raiding I would go with a Warlock yet again (and someone IS trying to re-addict me).

On the other hand, you have played a pet class with hunter. For a change of pace, as suggested, a mage could prove very interesting (especially if you get proficient at solo-blizzard-kiting-farming! It is actually pretty damn fun in a "Holly-crap-I-own" kind of e-peen stroking way).
Also, if you are in an EvAv guild, you will likely receive help leveling and gearing up, so that solo PvE advantage of Warlock is not as prominent.

And lastly, having said all that, if worst comes to worst, just flip a coin! Either way it lands you will pick a good class.

[digitalblue]

Before I left on this annoying deployment I had a warlock at lvl 60 that I had pre BC and just started a mage, to be honest I got bored with both. But I think a Warlock is just more fun to lvl.

[Banex]

Well I have a 70 mage and have spent a good deal of time on PvP. As it is my experience, mage is great if you either get in a 1 v 1 fight (with exceptions, of course), or if you are in a huge rumble and nobody seems to notice you. As a mage, we have the ability to deal huge amounts of damage at once, but are very squishy.

As a mage, however. You'll notice that warlocks are basically meant to destroy mages no matter what spec you are, it's kinda funny. Warlocks, as it's been said, have much more survivability. This gives their debuffs time to take affect but another thing is, they can put those debuffs on more than one person while keeping the other feared and out of their way.

Both classes are very fun if played correctly, but it basically comes down to if you want to be able to survive even if presented with a hard situation, (warlock) or if you wanna be able to kill most things very quickly as long as you get the jump on them. I have yet to kill a warlock on my mage, even if I do manage to get the jump on him. But most other classes aren't a problem as long as they don't catch me off-guard or throw out a move that I didn't think about that messes up my rotation.