1st post - level 71 lock newb - please advise!Follow

Good day all. I have been reading some of the forum information while waiting for my realm to come back online, and thought this might be a good time to come out of the closet and get some advice. Please feel free to point me in the direction of existing posts that may be of use to me, as although I have looked at the general guides at the top of the forum, they don't really seem to help solve my problem.

My main issue is that although I am level 71 and fairly successful in PvE, I feel like I am not really very good at playing my character. I think that once I hit 80 I would like to start running raids and the like, but am a little afraid of being called out for not knowing how to play my class properly. Since I don't really like the idea of being a level 80 noob, I am looking (like a good newb should) for some advice.

Some info about my current play style - I usually solo with my VW, but lately he seems not to hold aggro very well at all. I think this may require putting a few more points in Demon in my talent tree, which is mostly points in aff at the moment. (Never having respeced once I figure out the best tree this should be fairly cheap.)

My spell rotation tends to be CoA, corruption, UAff, haunt, life tap, drain life/ drain soul (if I need shards). I have also put the shadowbolt on my quick keys and will throw one if I get the 100% casting time reduced. Issues? Thoughts?

I have been using Fel Armour instead of Demon armor for a while for the additional spell power.

I have only read the stats info recently. My understanding is that gear should be chosen for stamina first, then intellect. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I am sure there are a bunch of other things that I should ask about, but I really don't even know what they are. Please feel free to point me in the right direction, or ask any questions that might help me along the way.

I apologize if this is a commonly repeated post, having posted on various boards before I understand that can be irritating, but have tried to be concise and give as much info as possible.

Thanks in advance for all advice and suggestions!

well for afliction leveling (arguably the quickest leveling spec for a lock) change your pet to the imp or felhound for leveling and tank all the mobs yourself (for group pve at 80 use your imp, highier dps), you'll have enough self-healing to solo tank 2-3man quest elite mobs. pretty much through leveling you should just be tab dotting, chucking up haunt when off CD and lifetapping like a ***** so you finish each fight will full mana and close to full health from the life siphons :)

in terms of 80 pve, well 5man... trash mobs is pretty much aoe, both normal and heroic, so spam SoC for any pack with 3+ mobs. otherwise for single target trash, open with SB > haunt > COR > UA > immolate > nuke (SB, haunt when off cd)
for bosses, both 5man, 10man and 25man....

SB > haunt > SL > CoA > COR > UA > Imm > Haunt > SB and just keep the dots up after this. when the boss gets to 25%, replace SB with Drainsoul and stop casting immolate.

in terms of spec..seeing as you're leveling, follow this spec 54/2/15. chuck all the points in the afliction side, then the 2 in demo and fill up the destro side as much as you can, then just add another point to the destro side everytime you level.

for glyphs you'll want CoA, Immolate and Siphon Life, seeing as you only have access to 2 glyphs currently, I'd suggest going with SL and Imm glyphs first, then CoA at 80.

rotation is well.. what I posted above. if your imp ever dies in a boss fight, presuming you think you guys won't wipe, summon your infernal onto the boss. does amazing dps :D

if you have any other questions, just ask :)

i presume you never done the lvl.52 warlock quest in felwood to learn the spell "Summon Inferno"?