Demons and zombies

I initially rolled a warlock when I found out they could have pet demons. That was prettymuch the coolest thing ever, in my head.
On top of that, they were casters. I already loved playing casters from other RPGs [in Final Fantasy games, for example, my party leader was always a black mage. ALWAYS], so this basically seemed like the class for me. And I was right!

At first, I levelled as Demonology. This seemed like a good idea at the time, since I was so ecstatic over the idea of having PET DEMONS OMG. It was fun for awhile, but when I finally got my Felguard, I realized it was ... Well, pretty overrated.

So I respecced Affliction.

...and I fell in love with the class all over again.

My god, being able to kill something while you were running away from it [or if it was running away from you, hooray for chain-Fears!]... It was, for lack of a better word, EPIC.
I discovered battlegrounds soon after this, and the devious glee of killing that FREAKING rogue with wonderful DoTs after they killed you. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Fast-forward to Burning Crusade raiding, and you quickly realize, at least in 10-mans, there really is no room for an affliction warlock. My heart: broken! Really! I was presented with the ultimatum that I think far too many people were back then. I had to choose between being a part of my guild's progression, or having fun with my class. Yes, I know I know, I could have respecced at my whim, I'm being a bit melodramatic. But I digress.

I switched to the cookie-cutter Demonic Sacrifice/deep Destruction raiding build, and earned my spot in the tops of the DPS charts in favor of progression. [In the end, after all, it's the people I'm spending hours a day with that keep me renewing my subscription. It really is!]

I hated it. It was called "shadow mage" spec for a reason. Where were my beloved DoTs? There was almost no place for them anymore. I just bound all my keys to Shadowbolt and facerolled until the boss died. [OK, not really.] I didn't want to play a freaking mage. I was a WARLOCK, DAMMIT!

Fast-forward once again to Wrath. Affliction has gotten amazing upgrades, wow. Haunt? Yes please. AND they made my Felpuppy a significant PvE pet!! OMG! I love my puppy!
We're OWNING Naxx! I'm top DPS on Patchwerk! Look at all those DoTs! I'm having so much fun micromanaging, and yes it's tedious and yes I fail at the Heigan dance but omg it's so much FUN! THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

you bet your ass it was! NERFBAT INC. QQ TO FOLLOW. You could fill up Sholazar Basin with my tears srsly.

Patch 3.1, my DPS dropped dramatically. Where I was averaging 2200-2500 in 10 mans, topping out at 3000ish dps, I'm down to 1900 maximum. Ouch. I respec Destruction, begrudgingly, once again, and look to the skies of Northrend for a sign!

And I am given one!

Oh yes, that's right. With the release of Wrath also came Death Knights. You know, all through my WoW days as a warlock, I've been asking myself, what could be better than having a pet demon?

The answer is: having a pet zombie.

THANK THE LICH KING!

I levelled my Death Knight as Unholy spec, and it made the game fun again. When people call DKs warlocks in plate, they really aren't too far off, at least not with Unholy spec. You're melee, not a caster, but you're still micromanaging your pet and all your DoTs [diseases]... I guess you can see why it was easy for me to like the class.

I hit 80, though, and remembered why I was levelling a DK in the first place... Because my guild was short on tanks! So, I respecced to Frost, as it seemed a bit more viable as far as negating damage went, and went to work gearing up [with much help from guildies, of course! Don't let my QQing throw you off, the reason I do this stuff is because they are so genuinely awesome.] It turned out to be a pretty good idea all-around, though. My guild got a shiny new tank to break in [lol THAT'S A PLUS I SWEAR], and I discovered that tanking was actually pretty damned fun... but... I still missed my perma-pet zombie. =(

AND THEN... Dual specs came out.

AND! They buffed Unholy DKs some.

Snooky was the very first toon of mine I dual-specced. I thought of dual-speccing Manatee [warlock] even, but didn't see the point in dropping 1000g on a "pure" class... Especially when, it seemed, Snooky was quickly becoming my "main."

So, TL;DR: 3.0 Affliction, you'll always be in my memories. /single tear

second only to pet zombies.