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Today, I started up a new Forsaken Warlock, Borakthus, managing to finish at level 12 at the end of my session. My reasoning for taking a Warlock at this time partly was the need for an alchemist as I have discovered that my enchanter eventually will require a special transmutation ability for an arcanite rod. Since the arcanite rods are fairly rare (I even saw someone on trade chat looking for one), I figured that it would be nearly impossible to find one on the auction house. And if I did locate one, the cost most likely would be exorbitant. So taking a new character dedicated for this purpose (partly) would later ameliorate my concerns for my shaman enchanter. Secondly, I simply wanted to play a warlock. I managed only to level another Forsaken Warlock on a different server to 7 so I didn't get much of a chance to get a good feeling for the class.

This is my first Forsaken toon since Cataclysm and immediately I spotted a few differences in the way the Forsaken starting zone was handled. It seemed they added a little more back story to the Forsaken where you wake up (un)dead. The intro area had been tweaked slightly in that regard. However, once you're out of Deathknell, you'll definitely see some familiarity and newness.  The pumpkin/farmer quest make their returns, but one thing I learned was that there's a few higher level mobs. For a clothy like a Warlock, I felt that I needed a slight boost in experience as I only ended at level 5 after finishing Deathknell.

So after turning in three quests, I decided to head over to Durator. Here's a small trick I learned when starting a new toon up.  While you can certainly play in your races' starting zone, with the exception of the goblins (and maybe Worgen, although I'm uncertain as of yet), you can do a small switch after you complete the initial little zone. For instance, I took a Draeni Paladin and moved her to Stormwind right after completing the intro Draeni quests. By doing this, you probably can get 1-2 more levels as well as some great reputation. Quite possibly, you can do this with almost every faction on your side, but I do think that after level 7, it's really not worth it, unless you're rep grinding.  But truly starting off as a level 7 in the next section has quite a bit of advantage just by gaining a few more hit points, statistics and a slight elevation in damage.

Returning to the subject of the Warlock, I'm starting to feel that the play style is very similar to a hunter. Although your pets are more limited, each one has a certain purpose. Right now, from what I've read, Demonlogy is currently the best soloing spec. So I decided to try it out. It looks similar to the Hunter's Beast Mastery spec in that you're attempting to buff and heal your pet as opposed to doing more damage. I think previously the solo spec was Affliction.

However, I'm only at level 12 and do not fully know the extent of the warlock's capabilities. Just examining a few levels ahead, I can tell that the style will eventually change. Obviously, one of Warlock's primary strengths are Damage over Time (DoTs) time of spells. So understanding how to kite monsters will eventually become critical. I don't see anything at the moment like the Hunter's disengage, feign death, etc., but I think spells like fear end up compensating as you kite monsters. The other major difference is the use of Life Siphoning abilities that are channeled. Hunters really don't have an equivalent, but it seems that a Warlock, despite lacking armor, will use this ability to do small damage and heal themselves while their DoTs and pets continued ticking away on mobs.

Right now, it does feel kinda like the hunter when she was at this level. My pet had a near impossible time getting aggro initially or was too slow. So my hunter would have to eat melee damage on occasion.

Being level 12, I can control my pet. However, it feels a bit awkward. So I'm not exactly sure what an elegant method might be when I eventually need to output some AoE spells. I might have to rebind my keys for easier control over my pet.

At any rate, I'm going to need to level both my Shaman and Warlock either in parallel or up to 60 so I can receive the benefits from both (my warlock will depend on my shaman for cloth armor while my shaman will eventually need the transmute ability).