I just started playing a 4th level Pact of the Chain warlock -- Black Swann LaVey -- in a campaign based on Zak S.'s Maze of the Blue Medusa. I'm not finding the class complicated. She's got a bag of interesting tricks mostly based around her imp familiar, a handful of short-rest refreshing spells, and one of the easiest ways to output damage in the game, ie Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast.
It doesn't take much to give a Warlock combat capabilities, and that frees build resources (and thought) for other avenues of play. Swann's primarily an actress - one who happens to be able to shoot lethal black death rays out of her eyes - her version of "throwing shade".
