I've played a lock as a drain-tanking Affliction and a Demonology spec and they're both fun.
On Pets:
The Voidwalker will tank acceptably if you're a bit careful not to do too much damage. The Felguard pet tanks just dandy and does a good chunk of damage as well. If you're drain-tanking, you're the one taking the damage anyway, so you'd probably not use the low-damage Voidwalker, but you'll want to have the Affliction talents to reduce spell interruption before going that course.
The pets can do significant damage, but many playstyles are geared to maximize the warlock's damage, not the pet's. A lot depends on how you're spending your time; a raiding warlock often uses a Demonology talent to sacrifice the pet to augment his capabilities, and an Affliction warlock can use his Imp as a mana battery with the Dark Pact talent. Great for raiding or group play, not so hot for soloing.
You'll want to specialize in a tree eventually, but you can re-do your talent points at any time for a fairly nominal cost so don't worry too much. Lots of folks go heavy into one tree for leveling to 70 and change radically once they start PvPing or raiding.
As for professions, I was gonna go with Tailoring (since I read that Warlocks can only wear cloth armor). What would be your suggestions for other useful ones to take? How useful is First Aid, for example?[/quote]
You can get two primary professions, and all the secondary professions. First Aid, Cooking, and Fishing are all secondary professions, so you can go wild with them. I strongly agree that you should keep First Aid and Cooking up to speed as you go along; I'm not into Fishing so much.:)
I'd recommend Tailoring for the nifty high-end recipes that produce gear that only Tailors can wear. The second one is up for grabs; I'd suggest Herbalism or Mining to generate stuff you can sell on the Auction House for cash. Some go with Enchanting for the second profession; it's quite powerful, but also quite expensive, so maybe not for you first time through. Engineering is also very nice for producing fun items, but is probably best paired with Mining so you don't have to buy all the raw materials.
You can always drop a profession and pick up a new one, so nothing's carved in stone. It does cost some time to grind a new profession back up to a useful level, so it's not something to do constantly, but it does happen.
On Pets:
The Voidwalker will tank acceptably if you're a bit careful not to do too much damage. The Felguard pet tanks just dandy and does a good chunk of damage as well. If you're drain-tanking, you're the one taking the damage anyway, so you'd probably not use the low-damage Voidwalker, but you'll want to have the Affliction talents to reduce spell interruption before going that course.
The pets can do significant damage, but many playstyles are geared to maximize the warlock's damage, not the pet's. A lot depends on how you're spending your time; a raiding warlock often uses a Demonology talent to sacrifice the pet to augment his capabilities, and an Affliction warlock can use his Imp as a mana battery with the Dark Pact talent. Great for raiding or group play, not so hot for soloing.
You'll want to specialize in a tree eventually, but you can re-do your talent points at any time for a fairly nominal cost so don't worry too much. Lots of folks go heavy into one tree for leveling to 70 and change radically once they start PvPing or raiding.
As for professions, I was gonna go with Tailoring (since I read that Warlocks can only wear cloth armor). What would be your suggestions for other useful ones to take? How useful is First Aid, for example?[/quote]
You can get two primary professions, and all the secondary professions. First Aid, Cooking, and Fishing are all secondary professions, so you can go wild with them. I strongly agree that you should keep First Aid and Cooking up to speed as you go along; I'm not into Fishing so much.:)
I'd recommend Tailoring for the nifty high-end recipes that produce gear that only Tailors can wear. The second one is up for grabs; I'd suggest Herbalism or Mining to generate stuff you can sell on the Auction House for cash. Some go with Enchanting for the second profession; it's quite powerful, but also quite expensive, so maybe not for you first time through. Engineering is also very nice for producing fun items, but is probably best paired with Mining so you don't have to buy all the raw materials.
You can always drop a profession and pick up a new one, so nothing's carved in stone. It does cost some time to grind a new profession back up to a useful level, so it's not something to do constantly, but it does happen.