They solo a lot, basicly you play healer/buffer for your pet.
For a warlock your pet is your Tank/DD, all you do is keep him alive. Well some times you can do some suplimental damage, but mostly your pet does all the work.
Once you get 56 and get queen of cat, Archer Parties will always want you.
Be warned, they are a bit expensive to play so make sure to have a money maker dwarf on the side.
Balis
FYI: I play a warlock, he is not very high level but can be fun.
For a warlock your pet is your Tank/DD, all you do is keep him alive. Well some times you can do some suplimental damage, but mostly your pet does all the work.
Complete misconception. Before 52 its still easily possible to deal more damage than your summon-- no actual summoner just stands there healing their summon. I am proud of the extra damage I provide. My summon does not do most of the work.
Nor do I solo a lot-- I prefer to group. Its a matter of opinion-- its just that summoners are the only class that can solo past 40 without having to use soulshots/spirishots (although its still more efficient to do so).
Thats the cool thing about summoners, in your case warlock, there are many play styles for summoners. You can solo well, and yes up to 52 you can still land your nukes a good % of the time. I personnaly think Summoners are fun, like anything you have to match your play style and stick out the leaner years when your leveling up your summon.
My warlock setup once I get my things in place will be at 52, wear BW light set with +3 BOP /w CS.
(I am not saying this is the best setup, its just what I have open to me with the money I have)
There are not a lot of summoners played before C4 because IMHO they were not as fun as some of the other classes, and not many got groups because some groups wanted a BD, or Healer or some better grouping class. Now with Queen of Cat at 56(or the other group summons), a lot of groups will want you, and being that not many are around these days you should find a group easly.
Now I have to admit my current summoner,a warlock, is still new to me and I am learning, but with Beast Soulshots and Queen of Cat it makes it a bit more fun to play. IMHO
I liked my summoner on the PTS (which let me taste at being a summoner). So much in fact that I prefered to play warlock over a nuker. It is something to be able to solo reds without as much as a pause.
I missed party play though, warlocks dont have mucn to offer to a party except to be a quite good DD.
Of course, summons are hideously expensive. But on the other hand, gear is not that important to a summoner. Your main weapon, the summon does not require gear and the damage you provide isnt that impressive after you hit 60+. Unless you start using bows, but those will drain your mp rapidly.
I have played a necromancer and a warlock. I can say that the necromancer was much more fun to play. As a necromancer, I would have my pet tank while I nuked, debuffed a little, and melee with SS. I was able to kill yellows and pinks all the way to lvl 56 (as high as I got it).
As a warlock after lvl 48 my nukes would do very little damage and my summon took too many hits for my MP to last and I was always resting. I switched to light armor and a melee weapon and had my summon DD while I tanked half the time, and he tanked half the time while I DD. Between our melee we were able to kill almost 50% more of the same mobs in EV by switching who took the hits and only using MP for buffs and some healing. I do not know how the new warlock skills would changes this as I played him on the Ch3 PTS. I was able to kill yellows and pinks also.
My necromancer killed faster, my summon didnt take too much damage before the mob died.
Elemental summoner friends of mine make more money then my main does cause they kill 1.8 times as much as I do solo, but keep all the adena (and lose only 15% XP). Having a summon is like having a duo with someone 5 lvls lower then you, but you keep all the drops and adena and pay him 1k adena per 20 mins.
As a warlock I hardly ever had downtime in C4 (even on the PTS you needed multiple summons to gain a level). Those beastshots help a lot. Problem is, if something happens to your summon, you are toast. Agro switches directly back to you and the mobs will own you. Keep ww potions and healing potions ready as sooner or later you will need them.
Actually, warlocks are best at being universal :) At lower levels they can nuke, use duals, take role of a tank or just plain healer of furballs. Any way, warlock should be able to stay in play 24/7, without using shots and pots.
One nice thing about warlocks is their ability to get rich: if you dont use shots (neither normal, nor pet), you should be making ~15-20 k adena pure profit per cat, without quests and drops included. This way, i could afford full BW light set as soon as i hit lv. 52, and by 61, i believe, i'll be able to craft at least 3 A grade weapons (coins, infernium, seeding etc.)
Solo vs. party playstyle: before lv.56 warlock is not much of a use in party, nor he should be willing to party. After reaching 56, Queen of the cats will be available, and she is extremely useful in p.atk parties (especially with PP and BD), so expect to have a lot archer-buddies.
Also, furballs are cute. If you're not allergic, of course :)