hwy im a level 60 that just got off of 2/41/7. i was thinking off investing in destruction or affliction. not sure which has better out come. before i did demonolgy i did affliction and yeah, dots kick ass totally rape in pvp, bg. but i never did destruction before, is it worth the investment?? i hear shadowfury kicks ass.

At that level it might be good to go for destruction. You will be questing your way through the BC levels anyway because grinding isn't as profitable here. You can get a level per evening doing quests. And you'll be upgrading all your gear a few times as you level through too so now's your chance.

In my limited experience, and from what I've heard/read, shadow is far superior to fire though so you may want to go for a mixed build or choose your talents accordingly.

Anyway you can always respec to affliction if it doesn't work out!

Destruction is a really fun specc.  The ability to drop the hammer in a pinch can save a lot of raids.  When I was specc'd for it at the start of kara a few times I was able to roll off everything I have, cross my fingers, and got the crits needed to squeeze out the last 1% and stop the raid from wiping.

As you get farther in kara and start SSC/TK it does sorta lose its luster to affliction because its hard to find the appropriate gear, that being gear with a good balance of hit rating, spell damage, and crit rating.

But (always is one) as you get out of SSC/TK and into Hyjal/BT it changes again, gear starts to have that neccesary balance and the tier 6 set really works with both affliction and destro.



As far as soloing goes destro is hard on mana, real hard, so bring lots of water, but it still remains easy to do PVE stuff because you just kill stuff so fast.

Ok im lv 36 lock and i made this char mainly for pvp. I wanna be as good as possibble in 1 on 1 even if it hurts my battlefield potential slightly. I was originally told that an Affliction spec was the way to go but today i was told that a Destro is much better endgame ...Im more worries about endgame anyway. I could really use some advice on this matter. I dont know whether to be destro or aff. If im destro i was told to use the succubus and use seduction alot. If im aff id use the fel hunter or imp... I would love for someone to give me pvp advice.

affliction is asome both pvp and questing you never have to drink
and you can take on 3 people at ones pretty easy but however you spend allot of time waiting for dots to go off and renew them but thing about this is that crit rating is pretty much wasted you only need spell hit rating and spell damage so you gonna miss out on the big crits

destruction is the oposit of aff you can drain your mana realy quick so gonna spend allot of gold on water the crits are the best thing with this spec but you are going to have problem with mele guys if they are aiming for you so death coil, fear, sedus or shadowfury stun is the best hope to get away destruction does way more damage then aff

il toke aff spec cause you can pretty easy escape bad situations and no drinking is realy needed and this is realy helpful on instances like black moras wher you dont realy have anytime at al to drink

It's easier to get high dps with affliction.  Affliction isn't so gear reliant.  apply ur dots... be sure to spend 2 points in imp soul siphon.  drain tank.  high dps... using hardly any shadow bolts, i am always #1 in raid and instance dps, unless there's a good combat rogue.  Also, you'll never have to worry about mana... via lifetap and drain life/dark pact.

Drain Tank FTW

well you answered your own question. your only lvl 36 and for now afflic is the way to go. when you hit 50 switch to demo. this is when you can get you felhunter. go with demo till 60 and then switch to destro for end game. the destro crits will rip through anything.

i just swiched to being a demonology lock from a affl, right now it seems to suck. im a 44 and want to know if it would be worth it to pay 25g, to go back affl, then 30 more for the demonology felguard

  I'm level 50 full affliction at Kalecos
I'd say Affliction is good for PvE, and not lose that much hp and mana as much as destruction. Affliction is good, however, i'm going to choose destruction(re-specing) for 35g.... that's how much destruction is good. it has more pros than affliction. But the downfall is that it ll eat up many mana.
It's your character, It's your decision.
I'd put in these orders: Destruction->Affliction->Demonology
Best to not-so-good-as-other
  anyway..have fun choosing ur talents.

p.s) If anyone is in Kalecos(alliance), pst me if need any help. (ReaperEater)

I'm mostly affliction specced at lvl 69. I have just enough points in demonology to give me the extra stamina and intellect, as well as imp VW to tank for me. then just enough in destruction to get shadowburn. the rest is in affliction and i love it for questing and raiding. most of the time i can DOT a mob up with curruption, soul syphon,and curse of agony, the imp life tap to get all my mana back then imp life drain to get all my health back, the whole time the improved VW is tanking. at the end of the fight i have all my health and mana, no need for taking time to sit down and drink or eat. every once in a while i have to heal my VW but rarely. it makes questing much faster and saves a little $$ on food and drink :)

Please belive me when i say the best spec form 10-50 is afflic.
i did it and i loved it, it was fun and easy at the same time. almost always had good HP, and i could handle 3 mobs my lvl at the same time.
but at 50, you can get a felgaurd. so i switched. it gave me alot more HP and more mana aswell. ontop of this the felgaurd did awsome damage and he crit very often. from the numerous 70 locks i know, they all say to do demo till 60 (which will be a short ride because of your felgaurd)
then at 60, when you go to outland, switch to destro, cause soon youll be 70 and to rule the arena, you MUST be destro. you will crit for huge amounts. just look at drakedog-even though his crits arent too great he still kicks ass with destro.

but switching this order is a bad idea. i have yet to meet a 70 afflic lock, and ive only seen 5-6 demo 70s.
also, there is not really any point in going demo before 50, because as i said your void will take the hits and your hp will therefor be protected.

hm i am a lvl 42 lock for gilneas named Kalemagefire, even though imnot lvl 60 i sure can give some tips, destro drains mana but destroys the target with MASSIVE crits. I forgot what its called but the last spell in dstro is know for almost killing a player with a good crit. Affl owns with doting the person or mob and watching them slowly die. In pvp u can do that and fear and just watch your target die. I am a full destro lock. Also for lvl 70 it is tough for destro locks, after the BC came out resiliance has raisedinsainly, this will reduce your chance to crit and crit dmg. Demo is soely for pve and lving. In pvp you void walker cant hold aggro 4 u the person will attk u insted (obviously) unless the person is completly clueless. You minion is not usless in pvp becuse they have the ability to throw in a little dmg and buffs.

ok plain in simple...dest is best for PVP because the big crits wipe out anything...yes it takes up alot of mana but trust me its worth it....now its not bad for PVE but after lvl 50 i think demo is best for PVE....but deffinatly dest is best for PVP....all the low lvl locks out there wont ryl see how good dest is for PVP because u dont have ur ryl good spells yet in dest.....and if a aff lock and a dest lock were to battle the dest lock would wipe the floor with them because of neither protection....and it also help against SP's...if u wanna be ryl good in pvp or just one on one go with dest... dest has many moves that allow u to get the kill and get big crits...i twinked out at lvl 49 for a long time so when i got to 60 i would already have enough for my epic lvl 60 set... and i was almost always the top killer...and if i wasnt top i was in the top five....and that only happened like once outta every 2 months....my lock is now working his way to 60

im on Mok'Nathal sever....UD warlock....NAME:Ichor

hey im a lvl 52 dest lock, im was very impressed by warlock destruction talents espessially ruin, reaching up to a dmg of 1700 crit with soulfire :D. This changed when i saw a few demonology locks in action. Not only felguard crits often, but less mana is used (dest locks must always carry mana pots with em). What is the best for lvl 60+? Anyone experienced enough pls reply :)

Im only a 49 UD lock but I find afflic way better than dest.

Dest only owns in duels and arenas due to the cooldowns of some of the spells (shadow fury has a 20 sec cooldown). They do deal high dps but for a major cost of mana. They are very fun no doubt about that. I had speced with this to make mad gold in duels.

But Afflic is also fun. It is the best for BG, soloing, raids, and if used smart, then arenas/duels too. Im way too lazy to explain y but the DoTs are practically evil. I always laugh when I die in a BG and I would watch how the allys i cursed will die 2-5 sec after because of my DoTs.

They burn mana fast too due to all of the constant instant casts that are being thrown about but I turned my self into a health stealer with imp Soul Siphon.

Of course Im not hardcore afflic. My talents currently are 41/20/0

the demonology seems like an enhancement spec and in order to survive and let my enemies die from DoTs i need all the stam, armor, and int i need. The 5/5 on unholy power gives my pets good attacks so even more DPS is added against an enemy.

All in a nut shell each talent has their ups and downs.


Still LV 49 and hit my record at 479.8 DPS. I had to give everything I got ; )

destruction = kill enemy fastest of al classes and spec what i think but drains the most mana best way to get yourself nr1 on dps meter but big shanse you will be al out of mana before killing a boss so i sugest you spend your ast 10 talent ponts to go for improved lifetap and and the soulshard thing that gives you mana when you kill some1 this will give 1k+ at 60+

aff = dotdotdotdot and mana is never a problem not much more to say best way for questing take this for lvl 1-60 however boring you it just keep repeating itself you go dotdotdotdot soulsiphon 1dead next dotdotdotdot soulsiphon.....dead realy boring in the long run no big dps hits

demo = cool felguard but think its useless in endgame with fully demo i onestly feel this useless only good between 50-60 after that its crap but des and aff coud spend some points in this to get ther hp up

i went for des because its the most fun and thats what you wana be having doting isnt werry fun :/

I play a heavy destro build, but I'm not big on pvp. I'd go with a good affliction spec and drain tank. You'll find some good builds for that in this forum.

looking at the builds i have paid about 300G to try all specs for different things.  So far i have found at lvl 70 afflction with 5 points in demon for HP and 11 in destro for shadow burn and faster shadow bolt, tops me off at 2mil dmg from Prince fight and Nightbane, because i never run out of mana Or health i can live for ever as long as tank and healer are alive.  btw works great for PVP was fighting 3 alliance by myself, a warrior, priest, and another lock, AOE fear and dots dots dots
and affliction locks can crit, i crit curator for 35k

??? what server are you from?? hardly any demo and aff locks....wtf??

afflictino VS destruction

well, i've play every spec on my lock..and they are all good in their own ways.

affliction = instant dots/dmg, never run out of mana and instant AOE fear.

Destruction = big crits

depending on your playing style, either one is good, i love destruction, but im affliction right now for pvp and pve. Destruction is only good for pvp if you got like 40% crit and with all the resiliance 40% is only gonna be 25%

70 UD lock..Lastdayz Ursin

well yes im a 70 level raiding lock so i guess i can help out a bit here...


afflic is the way to go levelling to 50, where most people switch to demo for fel guard to levell to 70. i stayed afflic right to 70 though cos i find it more fun.

at 70 when you start raiding most will be afflic or demo, and with these should enjoy top three in dps for ten mans and top 5 for 25, if not your build is probably wrong or you need to l2play.

Destro is very gear dependant which is why most wont use it till end game raiding. Destro will generally gives the best lock dps with end game gear, not kara gear, end game gear.

most will recomend not going destro till you you reach the +hit cap and have about 20% crit, without this you wont really reap the full rewards of this build for raid dps. go to wow armory, check out the locks in the BT raiding guilds, they will most likely all be destro.

afflic is very mana efficient for the damage you do while destro is very costly on mana but can give a higher rate of damage.

affliction pwns for farming end of story. get around + 1k spell damage, stick your instant cast dots on a mob, then repeat over and over again, using dark pact and drain life when necessary. you will find it very hard to die and farm very fast.

i could write more, but its almost 6 in the morning and i cbf and want to sleep. this should suffice for now.

hmm fuck sleeping i have to correct some previous posts.

russian0609, no you did not crit curator for 35k. for those that are unaware, CoD, curse of doom, cannot crit, it is a dot and dots never crit. it does however scale 200% of your spell damage. a

nd to explain curator situation, every couple of minutes curator goes into evocation or whatever, best thing to do is to pop trinket and amplify curse and then CoD one minute before this happens as when he goes into evocation the damage he takes will be increased by a rediculous amount for a short while and you will find your CoD HITTING for an insane amount. just like in the netherspite fight while in the blue beam you stick CoD on right at the end of the portal phase when the damage buff will have stacked heaps and your CoD will hit extremely hard.

please note that these are not crits, just huge hits. dont get it mixed up or you will be called a nub by any locks that know anything.

hmm play styles are totally different also.
for affliction my dps rotation is pretty much
CoA/CoD > by UA > Corr > SS > Immo > Shadowbolt spam. SB is still an incredibly vital part of affliction dps which is why all afflic locks should have points in improved sb and whichever one below it that reduces cast time in the destro tree. It is also important to keep as many dots up as much as you can. there is not set dot rotation as the all have different durations and you will occasionaly get a resist or whatever that will throw you off a bit. it all comes with practice. Try to cast your dots so they renew just as they have their last tick so as to maximise mana efficiency for the damage you are doing.

for destro things are much more simple. the general tactic is as follows.

CoD/CoA (or CoE/CoS if you are asked to do so to improve raid dps) followed by shadow bolt spam, keeping your curse up throughout your shadow bolt spammage.
sometimes it is better to let tank get threat when it can be a good idea do something like stick your curse on, corruption, immolate and then shadow bolt spam, then going back to the standard curse and sb spam.

some argue that having 2 dots on improves dps, most disagree.
this is often dependant on the fight, if it is one where you must move around lots it can be better to stack up more dots so as to continue dps when you cannot just stand and deliver.

please note that all the above stuff is pretty much for raiding, i dont really care about pvp. i prefer afflic when pvp and thats about all i can say

hmm oh yeahand given the subject of the original post,

i would say stay demo while you level, or try affliction for a while, destro is no good for levelling as you will have to spend alot of time drinking. then go demo or affliction for early raiding depending on your preference, i would suggest trying both. if you get to the leetest gear stage you will most likely go destro.

trying out different specs for different things will help give you a better understanding of warlocks and their strengths, and you will find a spec that will suit your playing style/ find fun

destro is TERRIBLE for leveling, dont go destro if your gona level.
its a waste of gold for drinking and your survivability is much lower than if ur dem or afflic because all you do is basically burst damage
ive found that afflic is best for leveling or maybe even soul link (damage is descreased by alot)
you can get felguard with dem and he just runs over everything
so def either afflic, dem, or SL/SL (siphon life/soul link)
and eventually if ur 70 and thinking about pvp sm/ruin is good and destruction is pretty good but since resilience has now taken over id still say afflic or dem is they best choice

It is all about the ay you like to fight. If you really want to blow things up and own in pvp make a frost mage. remember locks are just like hunters we are only as good as our pets. as a 70 lock I can tank most elite mobs except bosses with my felguard. As an orc lock I have blood lust that increases dam, amp COA, Corr, immolate, Incinerate, life tap then drain like or I just shoot with wand. I hardly ever use shadow bolt  and most certainly never use suc. I can use FG to off tank and CC just fine. and besides he does over 200 dam a sec with his cleave . also with varous trinkets I do 6k dam/24 secs and 4.5k dam/24 secs w/o. So i love demon/aff spent 50+ deom and 17Aff only prob is needed 2 more TP to really kick ass.

And you know ppl are scared of us locks cuz we are the first one targeted in most pvp situatiions especially arenas

I have switched between all of them and if you ask me dest is the best go with dest and afflic dest being your main and while it does present a big drain on mana a mix of affliction to start you attack and you dest for massive crit hits you are unstopable. Can easily take 3 or my level and my gear is still in its low stages. Entering bg at 63 I was able to score 7th when almost everyone was 69. Mix and match make your own choice. I just don't like waiting and being unable to fight for myself. sincerly Desrasputen.

I just hit lvl 70 with my warlock and until now I have been:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0502222110210000000000052030133250100531351000000000000000000000
This build is VERY solid with high survivablility and mild mana conservation. I can easily solo 3-4 mobs my level with standard lvl 66-69 gear. I currently have 21% crit with 650 additional spell damage.
I am now looking to do more instances, raids and BGs and am therefore looking to respec in the following manner:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?0502222110210000000000000000000000000000000505000512202510531051
I feel Demonology is the BEST way to go when leveling and even holds well into lvl 70.

Hell...bottom line is, Demonology is great for grinding but your damage takes a hit. Nice to lvl with i suppose. Affliction deals damage slower, yet doesn't quite gain so much aggro, and is great if you're all about being the damage leader in PVP. My 61 warlock, however, has been fully 5/5/all the rest since about lvl 20. Destro was also great for pvp since, with the help of a succubus, one on ones are completely in your favor. Crits with soul fire landed around, since i was decently geared, 3100. Add to that your immolate+conflagrate dmg, and if that doesn't smoke em, shadowburn and a couple of searing pains should do it...Hey, i like destro for pure dps. Affliction is nice for pvp and demonology is best for grinding. Its all purely based on your experience, not everyone's here. That's my 2 cents.

I have to say i was affliction all the way to lvl 70...than i switched to Destruction, and dam its fun to play...if you looking for fun and big crits go destruction just remember your a sitting target at times,
my suggestion, if you go destruction, make sure you get some gems and gear to give you at least a 16% and up crit, or you will be turned off from the start chances are

ok i may not play a ock but the ones iv grouped with many times are like this:

Afflic; great fo raids because of their constant dps and never run outa mana, as for 5 mans and heroics not so much because their dots dont have enuf time to settle in they jus get done castin um all by the time the thing is dead

Destr; HUGE crits great for pvp, their pve is great too for 5 mans and heroics and their raid ability is nasty with a 0/21/40 spec

About 2 weeks ago we went into kara with one of our bestt Afflic locks and one of our best destr lock to see who came out on dps. We did 7 boss fights and it was a close one 4 of the 7 fights went to the destr lock. As for bigger and better raids like t5/t6 i hear that destr is better( tho on my server when they do the illidan fight idk how well their mana can last even with life tap)

ok, so i read most of the comments above and wanted to add my opinion to it. I'm a lvl 70 afflic lock, regularly raiding kara as well as doing arena.

I've tried all specs and liked them all, but at 70 i made a choice of being affliction and I'm happy with it.

1) Ok so some ppl say that destruction is good for PVE, but I don't really agree with that - high dps means often high threat. Yeah it's great to be dishing out amazing damage but as soon you reach the top of the threat list and u overaggro tank, you have to stop that 'amazing' dps or you are already dead.

2) From my own experience affliction is very useful in PVP, especially arena. Say you are destruction and u have spells with massive crits, but how often do u get the time to cast those spells? Clothwearers are on the priority list to kill, so when u get ganked having instant fear will probably save you or at least give you the time to cast DOTs. Fear again and watch as your sipphon life drains health from your enemy giving it back to you :) And somewhere between chucking one fear and another, i throw shadowbolt which usually crits for 3.5k.

3) Now, I think that the most important thing, especially when you hit 70 is to be sure what spec you will go for whether it's affliction or destruction, as the cost of respeccing will be massive. Atm my gear is focused on shadow dmg: frozen shadoweave set, orb of the souleater, soulfrost on my dagger ( the dmg is kickass, but its only shadow, while destruction offers some heavy fire damage as well). Gems are another  issue: affliciton will benefit from spell dmg, while destruction from spell crit.

Most of you will probably know how much time, effort and money it takes to get the right gear and enchants, but i hope this post will help those who are still undecided and haven't invested their time and money in getting perfect equipment.

Bay, lvl 70 BE lock, Emerald Dream

You know, why would anyone ever want to spec demonology? I mean, roll a hunter and do it the right way, don't waste your time on warlock pets... It makes no sense...

Anyway, affliction is better for pve and soloing while destro seems to be better for pvp and raids. This is just from what I've heard, I'm still shamefully low-level. I'm a smart low level though. :D

personally i think demo is the best becuz u will survive thru almost anything (exept in pvp)

Ok. First. Destruction is design for pvp and for raids. As a 70 lock,i think that demonogology is the best choice. The felguard is almost has powerful as the mage elemental but it last for ever. You get a charge wich is really good vs casters. For raids or instances, affliction would be a great choice because lots of instant dots and unstable affliction.

Finally, warlock is a great class that will never run out of mana and they are awsome. Happy warlocking ( huh )

:)

Im destr/demo lvl 54, and I dont mind spending few gold on buying and carrying mana pots , my main focus is  kicking ass, plus i do have a few points in affl, just so i can use mana/life drains , they help a bit, most the times I leave a fight now not having to eat and drink :)

My 2 cents worth:  I have spent almost 800g respeccing and trying diff builds, for pvp, pve, arena, Gruuls, Kara, Za, SSC, Mag, and I keep coming back to affliction.  Playing affliction is very easy on your healers in your raid group, you will 99% of the time not pull aggro, i use a demo/affli build i am not worried about my bonus spell damage as much even though i do have 1200+  What I focus on is stamina and intel, I have 13k+ health and 11k mana and i can dot the heck outta four or 5 things and watch them slowly die.

But play how you want to they are all a blast..

OLa i m a noob(REALLY!!)
N this is my spec..plz comment!

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?5502220012235115512310000000000000000000000505000210000000000000

Hearing about Dest/Affliction builds has bone on in my guild a great deal. I Leveled through Demon so easily and quickly. I tried dest in the mid 60's and then i hit 70 and started raiding. For Long drawn out raid battles the best spec ive come up with is a hybrid

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/warlock/talents.html?3500222012235115010002300000000000000000000505000512200010000000

THis spec couples the helpfulness of Dot's with the power of SB spamming. each SB hits for between 2k and 4k. and if you get two crits in a row it is well over 5k. You do lose Unstable affliction DOT which is nice to have but at a 1.5 sec cast vs a 2.5 sec SB that does almost as much dmg i decided to run with the increased crits.... this spec does require a good bit of gear. But is so very effecient i can dps and only have to stop if my threat gets too high.

OK u guys absolutely have to go on youtube and search drakedog. He is a pvp warlock specced destro, only uses 1 extra task bar unlike others that ahve to use all of them to fit their dots and crap on his dps is simply uncomparible in pvp. Seduce, soulfire immolate conflag shadowburn searing pain if they aint been absolutely screwed over even halfway through that then i be surprised but ust in case u can also shadowburn. Afflicition if good in pvp coz once u get all ur dots loaded which can take a fair while, they really start hurting but even then it takes time to put them on then w8 for them to do the damage. Destro is right up in ur face uncomparable dps. Watching drakedog at work has made me just start a lock and go destro all the way.

soz when i sed shadowburn if they still alive i meant that toerh insta cast 1 in destro tree.

For serious Arena, get Soul Link. Just do it.

I am a 70 lock and i was demon from level 10-64 then my bro told me to go afflic for groups and gave me gold so i went for it,was really nice for leveling i could just dot run fear and drain life but then there was the flying mount... And i burned out all my money on gear which was the stupidest thing i ever did,anyways I went to farm water motes and found that afflic really sucks for farming so i went destro for about a week and OMFG it was so easy i was criting like crazy and the best part was enemys droped like 2 motes per kill so after i got my flying mount tried to group but i was always getting mana and geting arrgo and dieing ALOT!So i went back afflic and i was never so happy to be back but on a side story i am soon gunna quit my lock and go mage cuz i always get pwned in pvp and cuz of that i can never get my pvp gear to raid =( sharing my exprience :D

I've played around with a couple different builds and I think it ultimately comes down to your play style.  From reading all the posts, I guess I am one of the rare players that uses the Demon spec.  I only went in far enough to pick up Soul Link and Demonic Knowledge. The rest of my points are in Destruction where I had enough points to get Ruin.

As much as Affliction is wonderful in PvP, and for as cost efficient as it is, I still raid more than I PvP.  And dotting up bosses in raids is the epitome of boring for me.  I like seeing the crits flash across the screen.  And I'm not interested in the high threat fire spells that you can really bolster in the Destruction tree.  So I guess I've made a hybrid build and it works for me.

since im a orc ive been destruction from day 1 cus of bloodfury or watever its called so that gives me MASSIVE CRITS, but when i get to 50 i plan to go demo for the felguard cus i get the 5% minion dmg thing

First Off alittle back ground.  I'm a 70 Lock and have tried both Affl and Dest multiple times on the way up and at 70.  For PvP affl is hands down better than dest cant say as far as demo goes. Now that Premades are the big thing Dest crits mean little. Not to mention cast times on Dest spells blow for pvp like someone above mentioned.  Everyone guns for cloth class first.  Now look at how long it takes to cast your DoTs 3 are Instant cast as Affl and UA is 1.5 sec.  I always start with UA then run with the other 3.  By the time the other player has time to get in range of you he's got 4 dots on him. Now Consider Dest,  that big SB dmg is taking you how long when the melee are riping into you. Thats right forever, you are lucky if you even get it off.  You can drop all your dots on a person in pvp and drain life over and over and usually win in a 1 on 1 fight. When the shit hits the fan and everyone is bundled together DoTing everyone in sight produces lots of dmg on the group and not just a single target.  If you look at Top DPS in BG's between Affl and Dest, the affl lock is going to win and not by alittle but by alot. 

For end game 5 man instances you probably wont be the top DPS as affl cause mobs die pretty fast in 5 man instances.  But watching threat and not wiping your group on big things like 10+ is important.  In a 5 man i find myself as affl sometimes just throwing out 1 or 2 dots and then SBing till mobs dead.  I dont find myself doing lots of 5 man instances anymore though. I do the Daily H and thats about it. 

I find myself doing more 10+ raids now. If you look at the fact that 10+ raids have 2 tanks thats 2 targets you can DoT at same time your dmg builds fast without causing a threat issue.  I personally only use 4 DoTs then spam SB.  I dont bother with immolate or the other fire spells. 

On Boss Fights i sit around 120% threat or try to atleast. If you look at how long a boss fight can be and take into consideration everything from mana threat and maintaining a constant DPS Afflic wins.  I never run out of mana and dont have to worry about theat to much. 

In the End you are more useful to your group as an Affl lock over dest at end game. But if you can really watch your threat and have lots of money to spend on mana pots you can make Dest work to.  Its like i read the other day on some forum, being the top DPS isnt the most important thing in a Raid.  Its doing good dmg without putting the raid at risk. 

Affliction doesn't benefit from +crit, +haste, so it scales badly. As such, its good for Kara but bad for BT

But you still need 2 for Malediction

I am new to wow .. and i read almost this whole thread... Everybody keeps saying DOT ... but not one person said "WHAT THE HELL IS D O T?" I have decided i will use Dot Dot  Dot but as soon as someone tells me what it is ... :)

D.O.T = Damage Over Time

Well, i've created my warlock because I like warlocks' minions (so i've choosen demonology).
I've had my little expiriences and I can say that u can choose any talent but warlocks are not a class made for PvP. But i still liking them as my favourite class.
Well, between destruction and afliction i think i prefer destruction, it's my style. But if i had to create a char specialized in destruction i had created a mage. Destruction simply it's not the purpose that warlocks have been made.
And if you don't choose demonology you can't have the awesome Felguard.
......