Caster dps: Mage or Warlock?

[ozusteapot]

Through this thread I mainly aim to generate discussion in regards to people's opinions on both of the classes, namely which do they think is more fun to play/powerful in pve-pvp/each of the classes' utility in raids/et cetera.

I'm aiming to reroll as an Alliance Human and am having a hard time deciding which of the 2 classes I should mainly focus on, as getting any one of them to 60, not to mention pre-BiS will take quite a handful of time. I mainly aim to pve, but of course I'll want to run bgs on the side. I tend to enjoy mages a bit more mainly because of their high-burst from an early level and because of their spells in general (spamming Frostbolt with Fireblast and Cone of Cold feels a bit more engaging and fun than waiting for your Voidwalker+DoTs to finish off mobs), however raiding wise both classes play pretty much the same from what I gather (Frostbolts/Shadowbolts 24/7). Coupling that with the higher demand of locks on the Alliance side+the free 60% mount makes me rethink my choice.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[zerf]

I wouldn't base my choice on leveling experience, endgame is where it's at. Free mount is what, 100g .. for first character it might make a difference, in the long run it's nothing.

Warlocks:
- scale better with gear due to hyperscaling talent combos
- have better utility (+dmg curses, healthstones, soulstones, summons). Downside - every slacker want's a summon
- gotta farm soulshards
- shiny mounts

Mages:
- teleport/portals
- free water (downside: conjure bot)
- everyone wants poly for dungeons

PvP both are good, have many options to choose from. If you hate melee, go mage. Warlock is probably a bit more difficult, depending on playstyle.

From all the classes, mages are first to burn out in raid guilds (anecdotal evidence).

[ElQuacko]

Warlocks have a bit more interaction during raids than mages. So pick whichever way you prefer. But from a loot whore's perspective I would say choose warlock. In raids you'll find a lot more mages competing for loot than warlocks. Also, in the future mages will have to respec back and forth from fire->frost for raids, not sure about warlocks, but keep that in mind.

[Noselacri]

Mage is generally a bit better until AQ40/Naxx. Then warlocks really catch up. Until then, they're a bit behind. The ZG patch is where the debuff limit is increased to 16, which makes shadow priests viable, immediately increasing warlock DPS by 15%. Prior to that, warlocks are noticeably behind mages.

[ozusteapot]

I wouldn't base my choice on leveling experience, endgame is where it's at. Free mount is what, 100g .. for first character it might make a difference, in the long run it's nothing.

Warlocks:
- scale better with gear due to hyperscaling talent combos
- have better utility (+dmg curses, healthstones, soulstones, summons). Downside - every slacker want's a summon
- gotta farm soulshards
- shiny mounts

Mages:
- teleport/portals
- free water (downside: conjure bot)
- everyone wants poly for dungeons

PvP both are good, have many options to choose from. If you hate melee, go mage. Warlock is probably a bit more difficult, depending on playstyle.

From all the classes, mages are first to burn out in raid guilds (anecdotal evidence).

Those sound like solid points. Do feel free to share those raiding stories whenever, they sound like fun.

Warlocks have a bit more interaction during raids than mages. So pick whichever way you prefer. But from a loot whore's perspective I would say choose warlock. In raids you'll find a lot more mages competing for loot than warlocks. Also, in the future mages will have to respec back and forth from fire->frost for raids, not sure about warlocks, but keep that in mind.

Yeah, the sparsity of lock on the alliance's side also makes them a more attractive choice.

The ZG patch is where the debuff limit is increased to 16, which makes shadow priests viable, immediately increasing warlock DPS by 15%.

Is it a debuff that enhances shadow dps by 15% or a group buff? In bg premades would a spriest have to stick close to the lock for the effectiveness to take place?

[Larsen]

It's a debuff and it's not really a PvP consideration because the spriest has to apply five charges by casting five shadow spells on the target, then the warlock(s) have to happen to pick the same target, and that target has to be alive after having five shadow spells cast on them by the priest. That just never really happens.

[Heldunder]

so in my opinion, warlock, they are more fun to play solo for the leveling grind. i dont know what a mage is like past 30. i could never get them there.

[Larsen]

Both classes just spam one spell in raids.

[drogenhund11]

Mage:
Up to 30% threat reduction from talents
20% threat reduction from 3/8 T2

Warlock:
20% threat reduction when sacrificing the imp (not viable because you lose way too much dps)
20% threat reduction from 8/8 T2 (you don't wanna use it because it also means a huge dps loss compared to bloodvine or nonset items)


As a horde warlock you will have massive aggro problems because in most cases you won't get a tranq totem. It can be quite frustrating when nice gear forces you to wait 5 seconds after each shadow bolt. If you want do dps as a lock: go alliance