Merlin wrote:They tell me to not bother with the warlock tree. Are warlock mains shunned upon or something? Is it an unpopular build?
I started out as a wiz and changed to warlock/cleric at higher lvl and I absolutely love it.
It's true that you don't see as many warlocks as wizards out there, but it doesn't mean warlocks aren't good. In fact warlocks are a lot stronger than wizards. Yes, they don't nuke as a hard as a wiz, but what makes them strong are debuffs, DoT's, stuns, sleep, being able to carry a shield,...
PvE
Solo a warlock will lvl a lot faster than a wiz, run around casting DoT's on mobs and you'll be able to zerk every 2-3 minutes. You'll also die alot less than wizards.
For party grinding scroll down a bit =P
PvP
Wizard is mainly nuke, hope you 1 hit your opponent, if not hope you can get a 2nd hit in there and if that doesn't kill them you're probably already dead.
Warlock has a lot of skills to annoy your opponent. Most of the time you'll try to immobilize your opponent, only allowing you to deal damage. The higher defensive capabilites of warlock will make sure you don't go down 1st or 2nd hit, like a wizard, if they manage to hit you.
Also, warlock is one of the few euro builds out there worth hybridizing, giving you a better survivability.
Ask any warlock and they'll probably tell you they love their build.
Merlin wrote:I even hear they have a hard time getting into parties. Is it because it doesn't produce the BIG damage that people like to see?
It's true that finding a party as a warlock will be a lot more difficult than as a wizard. If you get in a party, it will most likely be because of your cleric sub. Most people don't understand warlocks and don't even give them the chance to show their capability in parties.
This doesn't mean warlocks aren't any good in shared pt's, in my opinion it's alot better to give up one wiz for a warlock in a shared pt.
You'll be there for mainly two reasons:
1. debuffs: these will highly increase the damage done by the wizards in pt
Usually you got 4 wizards in a shared euro pt, but swap one wizard for a warlock and the total damage dealt will be more
2. Curses or DoT's (damage over time): use these a lot and you'll get loads of zerk for your entire pt, which more or less doubles the damage done every time it's used
Hope I helped ^^
EDIT: damn

took me so long to write this and had to do something else in the meantime that advance beat me to it =/ ah well ^^