Soul Link: a call to move it for open-world PvP, and the case that Warlocks need it

"I know im going to get hate for this," Pristela opened on the EU forums on 2 November. Their request: move Soul Link to capstone level for the power it gives, because in their reading the big damage reduction makes it "a pvp ability through and through", and push Molten Skin deeper in the tree too. They ask it "for the health of pvp open world". They also challenge anyone to explain how a 30% reduction is essential on a spec whose pets hold aggro and do the damage.

The case for keeping it

Emberyn took up the challenge with three situations: when you Life Tap and big raid damage comes just after, the same in a group, and when you're DoT farming and your pet can't keep aggro. "It will help you not die," in each case. They don't think Warlocks have ever been particularly strong in PvP except one-on-one, and their suggestion for anyone afraid of dying to one in the open world is to "just bring a buddy".

Pristela's reply narrows the concern to choice. You can pick another spec in PvP, they say, "but it can feel bad when it feels mandatory" to be "sl sl" because it's "the superior pvp spec". And the pet-threat worry, they figure, is less of an issue with Demonic Brand.

Those are predictions. Nobody has shown a log, and neither the 30% nor who actually needs it is established here.

What Blizzard has published

Two dated pieces of official text bear on this. Blizzard's 7 October class preview describes Demonic Brand as lowering your Searing Pain threat and branding the target so your pet's next two attacks deal Fire or Shadow damage depending on the pet, high threat if Shadow, and says a tanking-oriented pet like the Voidwalker gains the extra threat while a non-tanking one like the Imp does not. A developer note on 8 October repeats the narrowing to Shadow damage. So the extra pet threat depends on which pet you've got.

The same preview also shows why a capstone Soul Link isn't a simple swap. The 31-point gold medal talent is already taken: Demonic Pact, which "Requires Soul Link" and keeps your Demonic Sacrifice effect when you summon a different pet, though resummoning the sacrificed one still cancels it. Blizzard says that lets Warlocks "benefit from Demonic Sacrifice and Master Demonologist at the same time". The preview warns that talents may keep changing, so that layout may not be final.

An older worry about the same tree

Whether that makes Demonology a real set of choices was already in question. Back on 28 October, Necromaso told the forum they found the Destruction and Demonology trees less defined than Affliction, and, so far, saw no incentive in Destruction to mix fire and shadow; in Demonology they expected to go full fire with the Imp or full shadow with the Succubus. Sacrificing a demon and summoning another is interesting, they wrote, but they assumed it's something you do once outside combat, and it would be more fun to be encouraged to keep doing it through a long fight. Krulgash answered in three lines: "Lots of build variety, you can focus on fire or shadow, both with or without pet." Those are pre-release impressions, and neither post cites a test.

The dispute comes down to whether a defensive talent at the 21-point slot is a safety net or a requirement. Launch can't settle that on day one, but it will at least give both sides something to measure.