Leveling a Warlock in Cataclysm: Installation

        Before I left for work today I logged into Battle.net (something I do so infrequently Firefox doesn't even auto-complete the address for me) and started the installation on my Cataclysm Beta client. I've been in the Beta since Day 1, but haven't really done much with it because there's still so much I want to do on live. I've been having some issues installing it that are going to cost me my sanity, but I am determined to prevail.

So there's that.

       The decision to level a warlock to 85 (pre-launch) and write about it was inspired by an attempt to understand the constant comments on the Elitist Jerks forums about "So x is the new best spec for leveling?" Wait, what? People care about leveling? Apparently so. This kind of thinking is a little flummoxing to me. Doesn't it all kind of get you to the same place? I plan on getting my Succiu from 80 to 85 by mainlining caffeine and buying that dry shampoo you see commercials for. I'm more concerned about what my personal spec, err, I mean, desk, will look like than what Succiu's packing. 

       I had kind of an unorthodox leveling experience though. WoW was my first MMO, so the whole finesse of talent trees was lost on me. I went Destruction because I wanted to use Chaos Bolt. It was shiny and green. While leveling, I also had a lot of patience for things other people might not be as willing to tolerate. I knew I wasn't very good, and so I didn't mind dying and corpse running when I had to. (My tolerance for it now is about on par for walking up a broken escalator.) And of course, leveling doesn't last that long! Or at least, it shouldn't. Putting thought into what spec will serve you best for just a few days didn't seem all that worthwhile to me. Leveling is a mildly annoying detour on the way to the real fun.

       What does seem worthwhile to me is becoming familiar enough with the new content that I can race through it on December 7th without feeling guilty.Yes I am soulless and mercenary, but at least I can admit it. I am a warlock, would you expect anything else?

Leveling Talents: The Philosophy
Damage vs. Survivability

       Leveling casts a starker contrast on what is always a trade off for damage dealers: damage and survivability. You can push really hard to kill something before it kills you, or you can take longer with less risk of death. A raiding warlock, my dogma has always been to aim for lean and mean. That would be great, except for this little setback: a dead DPS does no DPS. You cannot cast Chaos Bolt when you are eating dirt.
       A middle ground between the two will usually serve you best. There's no need to gem stamina, for goodness sake. What will really decide the trade off is how you stack up in comparison to your opponent. There's no point worrying about survivability when you can run around throwing Corruption up, and still leave a trail of dead bodies in your wake. My recollection of my first run through Hyjal was that the mobs had pitifully low health pools. Supposedly, these have been doubled. I am likely to dabble in all three specs, just for fun. But where to start?

Destruction
      Well, probably Destruction. I've always liked Destruction, and there are some nice talents that will make it even better this time around. This is the talent build I'll be starting with.

      Much of it isn't all that different from a raiding build, especially those talents that increase your fire damage. But they have a much different use in the context of level 80 mobs vs a boss. Take Improved Soul Fire, for instance. You can take your time casting a Soul Fire to open combat, something you don't have the option of during raids, and tend to resent the full cast time of anyway. But damage per cast time (DPCT) isn't relevant when you are out of combat. You could even Soulburn and pop an instant Soul Fire if you were in a hurry (although I'd sooner save the instant one until after combat begins!) Either way, you'll be able to cast that much faster throughout, which will be great.
       In this build, I picked up Aftermath, which isn't a part of my current Destruction raiding build. Aftermath puts a daze effect on the target when you cast Conflagrate-- useless on a boss, who is immune, but great for slowing down the mob running towards you. You can stop him again with a well placed Shadowfury, buying you even more time. If he does manage to hit you, Backlash gives you a chance for an instant Incinerate.  Finishing with a Shadowburn will help you save time by getting Soul Shards back without spending time Soulvocating.
       And survivability? Lots of it. Soul Leech returns a portion of the damage you do as health and mana. Fel Synergy will also regen some of your pet's health. Demonic Embrace will put that much more of a cushion between you and the floor, and if you are fighting a caster you can pop Nether Ward for a handy shield.
       Those talents I skipped were Searing Pain, Burning Embers, Empowered Imp, and Bane of Havoc. Searing Pain isn't going to out-damage Incinerate no matter what you do to it, and the threat is useless for soloing. Bane of Havoc could get some usage when you are fighting multiple mobs, but honestly you'd get just as much out of simply DoTting a second target when they are dying so fast. The hardest choice was definitely Burning Embers. The DoT your Imp puts up is certainly powerful, and the chance for an instant Soul Fire is always great. The reason you eschew it is simply that you aren't going to be using your Imp much. He is just too squishy! His Blood Pact could easily replace the increased stamina from Fel Synergy if you do end up using him, but you'll probably be happier using your Voidwalker.
       I also skipped talents for improving Corruption and Bane. While useful in their own right, the mobs we are fighting aren't going to live long enough that empowering spells that take 15 seconds to execute will be all that worth it. Especially when they are such a low percentage of our damage to begin with. 
       An advantage we have from pre-4.0 leveling is of course, Soul Link, which is now available to everyone. I also really enjoy Soulburn for extra burst, and Soulvocate is so much faster than eating (and with such a short cooldown!) that our downtime between fights will be very short.

Affliction
       For Affliction, I would go with something like this.

Affliction has a lot more options, and there could be a lot of variation on what I chose to start with. I put points into Improved Fear and Howl of Terror. Improved Fear will be a great way to incapacitate an enemy, especially when coupled with Glyph of Fear, to make sure he doesn't run around and bring back friends you aren't prepared to entertain. The Howl of Terror talent effectively makes Howl of Terror an instant cast, making it a great "Oh shit!" button.
       I also chose to pick up the Soulburn: Seed of Corruption affect. This will probably get limited use, but when you do use it, it will help burn down enemies you can't afford to target just yet. I thought it was more useful than Jinx, if for no other reason than I'd rather spend GCDs to do damage, and not increase the damage I'll do uh, later. (Jinx is also best used to put up a magic debuff on mobs that other casters will be AoEing, which isn't the case when soloing.) Plus, I wanted to grab Curse of Exhaustion, because Affliction doesn't have the power to stop enemies in their tracks like Destruction does.
       I skipped Nightfall altogether. I love this proc during raids, but a 4% chance for an instant nuke just isn't enough to justify skipping points elsewhere. I left a point out of Eradication for the same reason, and put all three of those points towards Fel Synergy. Improved Life Tap only got one point as well, although we might see this change later. Though it's hard to imagine in 4.0 raiding, at higher levels we might actually start to run out of mana, and so decreasing the demand of Life Taps during combat might be worthwhile. Warlocks aren't anything like mana efficient.
       The best part about Affliction is the totally effortless survivability. Never forget to keep your drain life handy (I keep mine next to Death Coil!) and you can Soulburn Drain Life for a faster return of health when you are pressed. Haunt and Corruption (via Siphon Life) constantly give you back reasonably significant chunks of life, and unlike Destruction which thrives on nukes, loading up multiple targets with every DoT you have is extremely viable with Affliction.

Demonology
       At a glance, Demonology offers a happy medium between the "Impossible to Kill" Affliction and the "Kill it Faster!" Destruction. Here is what my idea of a leveling Demonology spec might look like.

What makes Demonology unique is that alone among warlocks, Demonology forgoes the Voidwalker and (naturally) chooses the Felguard. The Felguard is akin to the Voidwalker, and can make a much better meat shield if you use him as such. He is slightly squishier, and he doesn't hold threat quite as well, but he does a good deal more damage, particularly his new Felstorm ability (oooer!). You'll have to manage him more than you would the voidwalker-- remember to hit Demonic Empowerment to get him out of a stun, his Felstorm ability is not on auto cast, and he'll need more Health Funnel heals from you on hard hitting mobs. But his multi-target taunting keeps mobs off of you, and makes him your go-to choice. And seriously, did I mention Felstorm?
      The downside of course is that should your pet die, you are a good deal weaker. You devote your talents to your pet, at the cost of your own damage. Luckily, Demonology comes with an instant Demonic Rebirth talent if such were to happen, so you should be able to recover in sticky situations better than Affliction and Destruction. The Aura of Foreboding affect of Hand of Gul'dan will be excellent for mob control, but you don't have many other options when it comes to taking mobs to the face, sadly. Demonology's situation control are more effective when used in proactive anticipation, and not negative source reaction. Don't hesitate to use your metamorphosis cooldown, and get out your Infernals and Doomguards as often as you can. Popping metamorphosis increases your armor, allowing you to take more hits, but it doesn't make you invincible; if you wait too long to use it, you won't stay alive for it to be worthwhile.
       I skipped Master Summoner and Molten Core talents, as well as a single point in Ancient Grimoire. I personally am not all that fussed about Demon summoning time. I usually pop a Soulburn for an instant summon, especially since it's usually a good idea to Soulvocate to regen health anyway. Molten Core is nice in raids, but like Nightfall, waiting for a proc on low level mobs just isn't worth it. I only put one point in Ancient Grimoire, which I needed to get to the top of the tree. Having the pets last longer sounds good in theory, but it will entirely depend on how long fights last. My guess is that most fights won't last anything like a full minute, so the extra time is either wasted on one fight, or you pull a second set of mobs, and risk your demon expiring too soon and leaving you with too much to handle on your own. It's a mixed bag.
       An often overlooked talent while leveling is Decimation. It is obviously a huge cornerstone for Demo-raiding, but people tend to think that by the time you get a quest mob to 35%, the fight is over, so there isn't much point to the talent. Not so. While you do need to proc Decimation off of a low-health mob, you can cast the hasted Soul Fire on anything. It will also continue to refresh on every new mob you hit sub-35%, so you can keep it up indefinitely. The faster casts on such a huge damaging spell will be wonderful to burn through small groups of mobs and chain pull. 
       The strength of Demonolgy will be it's excellent elite-mob soloing capability. I'll most likely keep this as my off-spec full time, so that I can get out the Felguard whenever I run into a mob that just hurts too much to solo. Demonology will also be great to have for 5 mans, as it loses the least in terms of damage when picking up utility talents. (Destruction without Imp talents? Affliction with weak Eradication and no Nightfall?) I'd sooner have a real damage spec for five mans, but in a pinch Demonology will be the best. Demonic Pact certainly doesn't hurt.

Overall I really am deplorably behind when it comes to Cataclysm preparation. I am overcome with self recrimination. BUT, as I write this, Blizzard is helping me to solve this problem by slowly claiming ever-more (more, more, more!) of my hard drive.