Big set of Warlock Changes

[Lissa]

All the caster classes benefit from -resists in raids, so I don't think that is the core reason why properly equipped warlocks do such high damage. There are more buffs available to shadow than to other types, which isn't a problem with base value spells that are balanced around the available buffs but shows up as +damage gear accumulates. Warlocks gain significantly more than mages from this type of gear and I think this is the source of the issue.

For each +35 arcane damage, a Mage gets +35 damage to each five second cast of arcane missiles which is just 7 dps. That can benefit from a curse for about 20% more on average, so 8.4 dps.

For each +35 frost damage, a Mage gets +30 damage to each frost bolt - +12 dps. A few talents can boost this a bit but not significantly - raid targets don't freeze.

For each +35 Shadow damage, Warlock gets +30 damage to each shadow bolt - on the surface the same as the Mage gets from frost, but unlike the Mage this may also benefit by 20% from a prior ISB proc and 20% from Shadow weaving as well as Curse of Shadows. Oh, and possibly a further 10% from Shadow Mastery.

ISB and to a lesser extent Shadow Weaving only really come into their own in raids. If I was the one adjusting the warlock I'd look at ISB and try to make it less raid friendly while trying to keep it at least as useful in 5 man and solo play.

Another area I'd look at is statistic benefits - warlock equipment selection doesn't have the tradeoffs that a mage needs to make. A warlock with nothing but +damage gear can keep casting as fast as he can liftap; a mage will run dry well before a boss goes down.

Finally I'd look at the buffs from spammed spells. Spamming several mage spells is somewhat discouraged - for instance the fireball dot goes to waste if cast again too soon. Shadow bolt is the reverse - using Shadowbolt discourages the use of other shadow spells since Shadowbolt gains the most from the debuff it leaves.
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But the problem is, Warlocks can still obtain 1.1k to 1.2k non-critical SBs with about +250 damage and only the benefits of Shadow Mastery (no ISB debuff, no shadowweaving debuff). I bet if I paid more attention at times, I might even see higher non-critical SBs in the 1.4k to 1.5k range as well.

So if Warlocks can still achieve 1k+ damage on non-critical SBs without the benefits of an ISB debuff and Shadowweaving debuff and only the benefit of moderate +damage gear and shadow mastery, we can firmly point the finger at negative resistance as the culprit.

As I've been harping throughout this thread, the true cause of Warlock high damage has nothing to do with the synergies. +Damage does play a definite role, but, the major component is negative resistance and how Blizzard handles how negative resistance boosts damage.

If another caster was given access to negative resistance much the way Warlocks are, you would see the same kind of behavior that Warlocks see on a regular basis.