[WoW] Affliction vs Demonology

[Steph]

Assorted Impressions. I quite like how that turned out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6pA83Sw-WA

[Ellay]

Very nice movie! I liked it a lot.

For choices in the future I would say whichever holds aggro better. The higher level instances are going to require a real tank type, closest thing I think you can get to that is the Felguard.

[Steph]

Thanks Ellay!

There are up and downsides to both specs in my setup that should not be an issue for solo play. I found that when I used all my dots, most mobs died with two thirds of the damage not having ticked. If I do not use all dots, they have time to run around and hit my chars while they die.

With Demonology, a tripple felguard charge accompanied with a salvo from four or five casters is usually instant death or close enough not to matter, which minimal mana spent. I end up clearing a place before I run out of mana and never ever get hit. In instances however I wish I had the dot power back, since those mobs do have the HP to make the dots worthwhile.

I did a bit of cutting on the recordings to get the boring bits out and leave only the action. =]

[Ellay]

Some of the trash in level 70 instances hit like a truck and have over 50k hitpoints. Bosses are even worse, was particularly thinking about that, but it's more down the road

[Xzin]

For those fights you obviously had time to prearrange your characters so when they ran they spread out evenly? Thats what I have done in the past.... although some method of doing that on the fly would be pretty great.

You use 3 locks 1 mage and 1 priest, right?

How is it for PvP? I would assume 4 locks 1 priest would be pretty amazing with the 4 pets.... but I certainly could see the benefit of the mage (water, ports, more aoe, etc).

[superwombat]

I've heard of methods of spreading the players on the fly, and it looks like one was used in those videos. Basically you bind a single key to do four different movements on four of your chars, one char has the button bound to forward, one to backward, one to left strafe, and one to right strafe, the fifth char has that key unbound. When that key is pressed, they split into the diamond pattern that you see a couple of times in that video, altho the one char that runs backwards is twice as close as the others due to movement penalty when backing up.

[Xzin]

I've heard of methods of spreading the players on the fly, and it looks like one was used in those videos. Basically you bind a single key to do four different movements on four of your chars, one char has the button bound to forward, one to backward, one to left strafe, and one to right strafe, the fifth char has that key unbound. When that key is pressed, they split into the diamond pattern that you see a couple of times in that video, altho the one char that runs backwards is twice as close as the others due to movement penalty when backing up.

You know - thats pretty damn clever :) I think I will put that to good use.

Kinda surprised I didn't think about it but it makes perfect sense. I always just moved them manually into the optimum positions for PvE encounters but I think this could have use in PvP.

[Steph]

I dare say it was actually me who posted that on the general forum!


I use WASD & co to move the primary account's character. I removed these mappings from the secondary systems. I use the arrow keys to move the secondary characters and removed the bindings for them on the primary pc.

I also have two keys to scatter and unscatter the group. I use numpad 0 and period for that. Num0 is bound on secondary 1 to forward, on seconday 2 to backward, on 3 strafe right on 4 strafe left. That makes my chars step neatly apart as seen in the video. The corresponding opposed movement directions are bound to the second key.

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=31

It works really neat.

[superwombat]

I dare say it was actually me who posted that on the general forum!


I use WASD & co to move the primary account's character. I removed these mappings from the secondary systems. I use the arrow keys to move the secondary characters and removed the bindings for them on the primary pc.

I also have two keys to scatter and unscatter the group. I use numpad 0 and period for that. Num0 is bound on secondary 1 to forward, on seconday 2 to backward, on 3 strafe right on 4 strafe left. That makes my chars step neatly apart as seen in the video. The corresponding opposed movement directions are bound to the second key.

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=31

It works really neat.

Well golly, I guess that must be where I heard it. Neat idea tho, and it looks pretty cool to see it in action. :-)

[Steph]

For those fights you obviously had time to prearrange your characters so when they ran they spread out evenly? Thats what I have done in the past.... although some method of doing that on the fly would be pretty great.

No prearranging really. I walk up into casting range, press my scatter key (see above) and hit the fraps record hot key. I use /follow party1, scatter, un-scatter and WASD for the priest and the arrow keys for the warlocks and mages. If I really have to move individual chars, I am using the individual mice.


You use 3 locks 1 mage and 1 priest, right?

How is it for PvP? I would assume 4 locks 1 priest would be pretty amazing with the 4 pets.... but I certainly could see the benefit of the mage (water, ports, more aoe, etc).

My very limited attempts at PvP were horrible because my setup for controls and specs was not in favor of it. For the in game part, I was low in the level bracket when I tried and demonology specced. Sure the felguard hurts, but affliction hurts way more I recon. It takes me no time to dot someone up with 12+ dots including tripple unstable affliction, plus having four instant AoE fears is just scary. For the controls part, I use party1 for targetting and following, and that is not a good idea when you are in a random pvp group with a random group leader. Lastly, when I was in WSG I actually was the leader, but running across the whole field when my priest was one shotted was not really helpful =]

I decided not to worry about pvp for now and continue to focus on leveling.

[Xzin]

PvP is hard in the lower levels. I did it with my 4 locks and 1 priest at 19 and 20 and the melee power to one shot with twinks and then have enough HP to live through like 12 some dots without heals is stupid. Once you get 60 and everybody else is 60 - the game changes.

Plus - not being leader in BGs is kinda dumb..... makes it harder to heal. When I ran WSG - I would go in with a preformed group of 5 others and just dominate the middle. In WSG you are totally reliant on others to get the flag as you cannot possibly get the flag AND defend it AND play middle. A lot of times people do not want to play along or they want to do their own thing..... hence the need to go in with your own group.

I also tried to PvP with the Zins at 42ish when everybody else was 60 and in large groups at TM. That did not go very well either :) Normal mounts vs epic..... all greens vs blues or better....

I am going to use your scatter idea - that is actually quite clever! It may be of limited usefulness or somewhat situational but I could see a use for demon seeds, etc. Very nice.

[blackwatch]

I saw someone running 4 sham's in AB a month or so ago. All similar names, player movement really made it obvious, as did simo-casting chain-lightning and totems. They all looked to be elemental spec. All already had full suits of lvl 70 BG gear from what I could tell. They appeared to have it down very well. I didn't watch a whole lot, I was busy attacking other nodes.

...

I've seen dual/triple hunters in WSG a time or two. Ice traps... ice traps... ice traps... multiple pet charges/stuns... and by keeping the hunters somewhat spread out, the attackers never seemed to find their 'dead spots' (too close for range/too far for melee).
I did activate a 3rd account to try this for myself very recently... and it worked as well as advertised. I did die a few times, but that was my fault for simply not having keys bound correctly and, in general, for being too excited and stupid in the heat of the moment.