Nearly a year ago, on Thursday, March 21, 2024, a change was made to the Warlock class, reading as follows:
WARLOCK:
Pact Spell Adjustments: Ice Storm, Sound Lance, Withering Ray, and Darkbolt now have a replenishment timer of 3 minutes.
I took party in the discourse following this change and was met with the response of "We want warlocks to rely on eldritch blast for their damage". Which, is all well and good and fine and dandy - but the response is inconsistent with some pacts having a perfectly serviceable set of blasting spells without cooldown. Ultimately however, I feel like asking for a reversion of this change is going to be met with flat refusal. As such, I propose an alternative:
Remove the blasting spells that have cooldowns from the Warlock pact spell lists and replace them with other usable spells.
Why?
When I am building my spell lists I consider a number of things. Primary among these is 'is this tool going to be useful in serving its intended purpose?', to which on-cooldown blasting spells eagerly announce 'no!'. None of these spells - or other blasting spells on similarly long cooldowns - produce enough impact on an encounter to actually warrant casting them if they cannot be cast repeatedly. Moreover, by selecting one of these spells, you forego another spell - perhaps a warding spell, given their spell levels - which will provide far more than 3 minutes' worth of potential benefit.
You will note that the only characters who cast these spells otherwise are invokers (who have infinite casting anyway) or clerics of particular disciplines, if the spell is available (who might as well have infinite spells at this point anyway). One cast of Darkbolt every three minutes is not worth the spell slot taken up by Mind Fog, Energy Buffer, or Greater Dispelling. These spells are not competitive and should be replaced on the pact lists if the cooldown timer isn't removed.