D&D (2024) They butchered the warlock in the new packet

[Neonchameleon]

The warlock lost their pact magic to become a half-caster like the paladin and the ranger.

This of course makes the game less interesting and the warlock a lot blander. It also means that the warlock's role as the newbie spellcaster (or indeed any sort of primary spellcaster alternative) has gone; they have just as long a list of spells to juggle as anyone else and just as much faff to do with spell slots.

You can get higher level spells ... by using invocations on Mystic Arcana. You only get one more invocation total than you used to.

Oh, and the paladin still wants to dip one level of warlock to grab the blade cantrip. Eldritch blast dipping is now gone. And the warlock is now tied to the Hex spell - which doesn't have anything to prevent it clashing with e.g. other concentration spells.

This seems to be a warlock made entirely to appease those who disliked warlocks

 

[Reef]

That’s not fair. I like Warlocks, and am playing one now. But I didn’t like being so dependent on Short Rests for my spells. I got to the point where I stopped using them unless it was a clear game changer (like when I could drop Hunger of Hadar and change the fight).

I’m definitely interested in trying out the new spell system. And hey, Hex increases damage now! And there’s an Invocation that gives you Constitution advantage when it’s up!

 

[Undrave]

Augh... spell slots.

But I didn’t like being so dependent on Short Rests for my spells.

The issue is that they made Short Rests too long and then failed to make them interesting to all classes, allowing the Vancian Caster to STILL be the pace setters of the adventures!

 

[Remathilis]

No surprise, but I absolutely don't agree.

Pact magic was confusing to explain to new players. You had too few slots so you couldn't use them unless you knew you had access to a short rest. It was a waste to use spells that don't upcast like shield or most utility magic. It broke multi-classing by either not adding value OR enabling cheese combos like coffeelocks.

Was it flavorful? I guess yes. But the flavor came at being a half-baked rule that felt like it escaped from some fan project.

As someone who played a warlock and loved the flavor of them, I feel this answers my biggest complaints about it. Let me cast magic, not just spam EB every fight until I get to a big monster and drop Hunger of Hadar on them.

 

[Reef]

Augh... spell slots.

The issue is that they made Short Rests too long and then failed to make them interesting to all classes, allowing the Vancian Caster to STILL be the pace setters of the adventures!

I don’t disagree with you. I would have loved to see shorter Short Rests. But that probably was a bridge to far for what they wanted to do with this…they would have had to rebalance a whole lot of stuff, potentially.

But as a Warlock, I’m happy to get a fix, no matter how it comes.

 

[Charlaquin]

Jeremy Crawford: One of our goals with this packet was to give the warlock a more distinct mechanical identity.

Also Jeremy Crawford: So yeah, we removed the single most mechanically distinct feature of the warlock and replaced it with half-casting.

 

[Neonchameleon]

That’s not fair. I like Warlocks, and am playing one now. But I didn’t like being so dependent on Short Rests for my spells. I got to the point where I stopped using them unless it was a clear game changer (like when I could drop Hunger of Hadar and change the fight).

Meanwhile the new version is basically never able to cast a gamechanger except through burning their Invocations

And hey, Hex increases damage now!

Yeah. If you are willing to burn your highest level slot at 9th level. One you can't get back. On a concentration spell.

No surprise, but I absolutely don't agree.

Pact magic was confusing to explain to new players.

Somehow as far as I can tell you are literally the only person I have ever met who had this problem.

You had too few slots so you couldn't use them unless you knew you had access to a short rest. It was a waste to use spells that don't upcast like shield or most utility magic.

Good. Keeping the spell list precise is one of the things that made Pact Magic easier to explain to newbies than other spellcasting did.

It broke multi-classing by either not adding value OR enabling cheese combos like coffeelocks.

A couple of abilities did. Meanwhile the new version of course has left in probably the biggest.

As someone who played a warlock and loved the flavor of them, I feel this answers my biggest complaints about it. Let me cast magic, not just spam EB every fight until I get to a big monster and drop Hunger of Hadar on them.

If you're going to play boringly that's on you. I've played warlocks as likely to use Silent Image in combat as they are Eldritch Blast. Meanwhile by the time the new version can Hunger of Hadar it only tickles the monsters unless you burned an invocation to get a situational fireball.

 

[Undrave]

Pact magic was confusing to explain to new players.

How is it any more difficult to explain than how to use a Wizard? Or how Vancian Casting works? “You can do BIG MAGIC twice before a rest” is a fairly simple concept to grok. The minutiae might be a little more difficult here but if you don’t care about getting value out of upcasting it’s fairly straight forward.

The problem is that Caster players didn’t like the Warlock… because it wasn’t made for them! It’s a Caster for people who never liked to play Casters. WotC responded to the wishes of the Caster players (as always) by simply making a Warlock that fits their expectations of what a Caster class is.

Jeremy Crawford: One of our goals with this packet was to give the warlock a more distinct mechanical identity.

Also Jeremy Crawford: So yeah, we removed the single most mechanically distinct feature of the warlock and replaced it with half-casting.

More like half-ASSting...

 

[Vaalingrade]

They killed the wrong Rest.

 

[TwoSix]

I have to say, I'm slightly amused that these changes will bring back the dreaded cleric/warlock that caused so much pearl-clutching in the early 5e days.