If there’s one thing a Warlock knows, it’s how to make a bargain. While Warlocks received some pretty noticeable changes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the Warlocks must have made sure their patrons were part of the negotiating committee. Warlocks’ powerful patron magic has been shifted around, allowing you to access certain powers earlier and pack a more pronounced punch when you do. The 2024 Warlock also comes with an impressive and robust amount of customization by treating your Eldritch Invocations as an even larger smorgasbord of options than before.
Below, we cover key changes to the 2024 Warlock you’ll find in the new Player’s Handbook. If there’s a feature we don’t cover, such as Pact Magic, that means it remains unchanged or saw minor changes.
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2024 Warlock Class Features Overview
Eldritch Invocations — Level 1
One of the first noticeable changes to the 2024 Warlock is that you get access to your first Eldritch Invocation at Warlock level 1 now instead of level 2. Overall, Eldritch Invocations have received a major overhaul, with key changes including several quality-of-life updates. Let’s take a look at some of the big shifts.
Pact Boons Are Now Eldritch Invocations
In the 2014 Warlock, your Pact Boon, such as Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Tome, or Pact of the Chain, was a separate feature bestowed at level 3. In the 2024 Warlock, the Pact Boon feature is gone, and these pacts are now options you can choose as part of your Eldritch Invocations. In the 2014 Warlock, further improvements to your Pact Boon were accessible via invocations, such as Gift of the Protectors, Investment of the Chain Master, and Thirsting Blade. So rolling Pact Boons entirely into Eldritch Invocations simplifies the structure while preserving the mechanics.
There are two really important and beneficial aspects to this shift. First, you no longer have to choose between them. All three of the former Pact Boon options can be selected as you level up and gain access to more invocations. So, you could have a pact weapon via Pact of the Blade, a familiar via Pact of the Chain, and a Book of Shadows from Pact of the Tome.
Second, while some Eldritch Invocations do carry prerequisite levels, such as Agonizing Blast, which requires you to be a level 2+ Warlock, the former Pact Boon invocations do not. This means you can select from a familiar, Book of Shadows, or pact weapon as early as level 1. The 2014 Player’s Handbook had these features arrive at level 3, so you’re getting them 2 levels earlier for the 2024 Warlock.
More Eldritch Invocations
Seeing as you get an invocation at level 1, and the progression has been expedited, 2024 Warlocks will have access to more invocations than their 2014 counterpart, maxing out at 10 when they hit level 18.
As with the older version of the Warlock, whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one invocation with another as long as it isn’t a prerequisite for another invocation that you have.
Some Eldritch Invocations Can Be Repeated
Popular Eldritch Invocations for Warlocks like Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast are still here but with a couple of big changes.
First, they are no longer limited to Eldritch Blast. Instead, you choose one of your known Warlock cantrips that deals damage, and now you can add your Charisma modifier to that damage roll. So now you can boost damage for Toll the Dead or Thunderclap with Agonizing Blast if that suits your Warlock build better than Eldritch Blast. Note, however, that Repelling Blast is restricted to cantrips that deal damage via an attack roll.
Next, you can select these invocations multiple times when adding new Eldritch Invocations. So if you’re trying to build a cantrip powerhouse, you could add Agonizing Blast or Repelling Blast to multiple cantrips. But of course, you still can use it for Eldritch Blast because, let’s face it, if you’re a Warlock, you’re probably going to want to.
Spell Slots? Who Needs ‘em?
With the exception of Eldritch Smite, which deals a significant amount of damage and gives an enemy the Prone condition, none of the 2024 Player’s Handbook Eldritch Invocations carry the "using a Warlock spell slot" description. You still have spell slots for your Pact Magic, but they largely no longer fuel the invocations you get from your patron. Instead, your Eldritch Invocations feel like a wholly separate power branch unique to the Warlock class.
The customization allowed via these changes to invocations makes the 2024 Warlock feel more like someone who has pored over contracts with their patron and selected the powers best suited to them.
Magical Cunning — Level 2
The Warlock's Pact Magic and spell slot progression works the same way for the 2024 Warlock as it did for 2014. You also can still recover expended spell slots at the end of a Short or Long Rest. Magical Cunning gives you another way to recover your Warlock spell slots, however. Now, once per Long Rest, you can use this feature to spend 1 minute on a ritual that restores half of your maximum spell slots, rounded up.
The Eldritch Master feature granted at level 20 still allows you to regain all of your Pact Magic spell slots, but flavor-wise, it is now considered a more powerful version of this level 2 feature.
Warlock Subclass — Level 3
At level 3, your 2024 Warlock gains their subclass. While Warlocks used to get their subclass at level 1, this brings the Warlock in line with the other class options in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, which will make it easier for a party of players to manage their levels and for a DM to keep track of player advancement.
The Archfey, Fiend, and Great Old One Patrons all received substantial overhauls, updates to their always-prepared spell lists, quality-of-life changes, and tweaks that bring them more in line with their flavor concepts. Also, in 2014, a subclass's Expanded Spell List only added the listed spells to your Warlock spell list. In 2024, the listed spells are added to your Warlock spell list and they're always prepared for you. A considerable upgrade!
- Archfey Patron: The Archfey Patron subclass leans more into the Feywild nature of your patron. Misty Step is added to your prepared spell list, and many of the features of this subclass give you extra uses of the spell, along with healing bonuses and damage effects on enemies when you use it. Beguiling Defenses has also been updated to reduce damage you take and inflict damage with a Reaction.
- Celestial Patron: This subclass, which originally appeared in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, has been revised for its inclusion in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Its spell list now includes Aid (which replaces Flaming Sphere) and Summon Celestial (which replaces Flame Strike). Radiant Soul is now limited to just once per turn. Celestial Resilience now also grants Temporary Hit Points when you finish your Magical Cunning ritual or complete a Short or Long Rest. Searing Vengeance can now apply to you or an ally.
- Fiend Patron: Dark One’s Blessing now also grants you Temporary Hit Points if someone else reduces an enemy to 0 Hit Points within 10 feet of you. On the Fiend Spells list, Blindness/Deafness has been replaced by Suggestion, and Flame Strike and Hallow have been replaced by Geas and Insect Plague. Instead of once per Long Rest, you can use Dark One’s Own Luck a number of times per Long Rest equal to your Charisma modifier. Hurl Through Hell now requires a Charisma save and deals 8d10 Psychic damage instead of 10d10, but in addition to once per Long Rest, you can now use this feature again by expending a Pact Magic spell slot.
- Great Old One Patron: The Great One One Patron has received the biggest changes to any of the 2024 Warlock subclasses and now is much more heavily focused on the Lovecraftian, eldritch horror elements of it. The features of this subclass now are heavily centered on using your patron’s powers to curse your enemies with Hex, break their minds with Psychic damage, and even unleash aberrant horrors on the battlefield.
Contact Patron — Level 9
The 2024 Player’s Handbook has a brand new feature for Warlocks that ties directly into your role as the recipient of power from a patron. Starting at level 9, every 2024 Warlock has the ability to reach out and contact their patron directly once per Long Rest. This feature grants you the spell Contact Other Plane as an always-prepared spell. You can use the spell once per day to contact your patron without expending a spell slot, and you automatically succeed on the Intelligence saving throw required to complete the spell. So, go ahead and ask your patron if you can have cake for dinner. You deserve it.
Mystic Arcanum — Level 11
Mystic Arcanum functions and progresses the same as it did for the 2014 Warlock with one extra benefit. Whenever you gain a Warlock level beyond 11, you may replace one of your arcanum spells with another of the same level.
Epic Boon — Level 19
Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised core ruleset, that all carry a prerequisite of level 19+ to access. A level 19 Warlock has access to one Epic Boon of their choice or another feat they qualify for. There are twelve Epic Boons found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
The following is the recommended Epic Boon for a 2024 Warlock:
- Boon of Fate: Increase one ability score of 1 to a maximum of 30. When you or another creature within 60 feet of you succeeds or fails on a D20 Test, you can roll 2d4 and add or subtract the result from the d20 roll. Once you use this feat, you can’t use it again until you complete a Short Rest, a Long Rest, or roll for Initiative.
What a Deal!
The 2024 Player's Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!
The updates to the 2024 Player’s Handbook for Warlocks pack a lot of changes into the earlier levels and then allow you to settle into a more familiar level progression as you develop. The changes really lean heavily into the chosen flavor of your Warlock and their relationship to their patron. Does your pact mean you’re a cunning swordslinger, slicing your way through your enemies fueled by your Charisma? Do you want to zip across the battlefield hopped up on Feywild magic? Or do you want to use powerful psychic magic to weaken your enemies and bring them to heel? With the 2024 Warlock, the choice is yours.
We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!
Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
This article was updated on August 13, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features and subclasses:
- Warlock Subclass: Added that the spells on the Warlock subclass's spell lists are always prepared.
- Warlock Subclass (Celestial Patron): Clarified that the Celestial Patron has been brought from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Also expanded coverage to detail all the updates to this subclass.
- Warlock Subclass (Fiend Patron): Expanded coverage to detail all the updates to this subclass.
- Mystic Arcanum: Cut text stating that the Eldritch Versatility option in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has effectively been brought to the base class. This feature only allowed you to update Mystic Arcanum spells at levels 16 and 19.
Incorrect. I've been playing 5e consistently for over a decade and have never played a multiclass in all that time. That being said, I take people at their word that multiclassing can be a problem even though it has never been at any of my tables. If I ever do play with the 2024 rules, I probably will start at level 3 (and reminisce about 5e days).
It's specifically a problem for the classes that get their subclass at level 1. Most especially the Hexblade Warlock but I've also seen a few 1 level Celestial dips as well. Every single time I've seen it done they don't even RP anything about their patron and usually can't provide any details of the nature of their pact if you ask. They simply took the dip for the features and don't bother to justify it in their backstory.
The official reason given for moving the subclasses all to level 3 is to make it easier for new players but I highly doubt that's the actual reason.
Haven't heard the developers talking about addressing multiclass concerns, only about how this makes the classes better and stronger, but I haven't watched every dev update interview.
I would put my money on the November deadline as the reason for the state of the classes. I'm sure if the designers had more time they'd figure out a better solution for new and veteran players alike.
Yeah the two very clear reasons as to why they pushed all subclasses to 3rd level were
1. Investors want to sell the game to more people = Make things as simple as possible (even though 5E was already incredibly simple) to appeal to even your average Joe who has only ever played Monopoly and Solitaire
2. Nerf multiclassing, but rather than do it carefully on a case-by-case basis (which would take more time and make things slightly more complex, and we can't have that here!) they did it as sweeping changes to everything, which matters less (or not at all) for some classes but much more for others.
Obviously they won't say either of these out loud without dressing it up in flowery language first, but I'm willing to put on the tin foil hat for this one
"just reflavour it bro" applies to literally everything in the game, but doesn't work at every table or with every DM, and we are talking about the official rules and the flavour they establish, so it doesn't work as an argument.
As for your first point, that would literally work best if they actually gave you the subclass at level 1, but split the features between 1st and 3rd level, like BG3 did with Paladin, if the 1-level dips for every subclass were really that powerful and not just a select few outliers (again, WOTC brought a sledgehammer to an issue that would have been best fixed with a scalpel). It would keep the Warlock's identity and class fantasy intact, but would nerf the multiclass potential.
And again, the "scraps of knowledge" or whatever is forcing a particular kind of RP onto the character, regardless of class, which is kinda yikes. We don't yet know what the exact wording for these things is going to be in the new books, but for the love of Cthulhu I hope it doesn't shoehorn this kind of flavour onto every Warlock/Cleric/Sorcerer/whatever.
"You just want to take a one level dip in Celestial Warlock" *very loud incorrect buzzer*
Only multiclass character I've ever played was a Fighter/Rogue, though I've had plans for a few others, and none of them involved a "dip" into Warlock. Closest would have been my Hexblade, who I planned on multiclassing into/starting out as a Draconic Sorcerer for some added flavour based on the character's background, but that was far from a dip. If anything, I'd be more likely to play an otherwise full Warlock but take a dip into another class, like Fighter to get myself a fighting style on a Bladelock. Warlock is my favourite class and I always love RPing one, if there's an opportunity for it. And it's precisely because it's my favourite class that I am so disappointed with how WOTC has handled it in OneD&D, and the pushing of the subclass (the single-most defining part of a Warlock!) to level 3 is only one of the many things I dislike.
Thanks pal.
Part of me wants to hope so too, but the pessimistic realist in me says that these things are not going to be changed until a few years in when they come up with Tasha's 2.0: Electric Boogaloo OneD&D version, if they're even going to be changed at all.
It's all just so tiring, at this point.
Making all subclasses at the third level makes it easier for designers, not consumers. It's funny hearing such disdain for "average Joe" when showing a bit creativity to think how you can RP without explicit subclass abilities present seems to be difficult for you.
It makes it easier to balance classes against each other. Also, it makes it easier to design further subclasses.
Nobody can predict all combinations. Not the designers, not you. People will still abuse the 1-level dips if some classes have subclass at the first level, only different ones than now.
Nobody will be able to predict interactions between present and not-yet-released content
What is more important all future splatbooks will have to be written with the assumption "How will it work with existing multiclassing dips" which makes unnecessary overhead for everybody.
Leaving subclasses at the first level limits options, because sometimes cool abilities which would be more or less balanced at level 3rd would be OP at level 1 (Hexblade, Twilight/Peace cleric)
Your "case by case approach" will not fix anything (despite the effort and time needed to do it), only instead of the current "Dip X", we will have "Dip Y" in the future. But again, understanding this seems to be too complex for you.
Your problem is not a tin foil hat, it is ignorance
I have no issue with "showing creativity". I'm literally a writer, being creative is what I do. What I have an issue with is shoehorning the flavour and RP into a specific direction with the mechanics. WOTC has taken things away from the early warlock and not given anything in return that would mechanically support the kind of RP that was standard for the Warlock up until now. I don't want to RP a warlock in the way WOTC seems to make us want to RP them to justify pushing back the subclass choice, but they have so far given us very little to no options in terms of mechanics that support RP in the way that I and a lot of others want to. D&D is, after all, a combination of RP and rules, they are intertwined and work together, but one side is severely lacking in cooperation with the other with the new rules.
Also streamlining things is pretty boring imo. It's the same reason why I dislike simplifying and dumbing things down. Let us have complexity and more interesting things and abilities (this is one of the things I dislike about OneD&D in general, where we're getting so many features that are just "you can cast this spell") to play around with.
As for people moving onto different "dips"... ok and? Optimizers who have fun when big number will always find ways to attain big number. That's the beauty of a system as free as D&D (though I think it could even be more free, down with multiclassing prerequisites I say lol), there's tons of possibilities and people will find creative ways to make things that are sub-par work, or make things that work into things that rule. I'm not asking for designers to be omnipotent, but they can surely see what the issue areas are right now (especially considering we've just had like a year of UA feedback that they should have been looking through) and address them, then worry about anything else that comes up in the future with adjustments and updates.
Once again, one idea is splitting 1st level features between 1st and 3rd level, if it really is such a big deal. You could give Warlocks a new resource like Cleric's Channel Divinity or Druid's Wildshape that they unlock at 3rd level and can use to do cool shit with the subclass they gained at 1st level, or something. Heck, could even turn that resource into Pact Slots to help with their lack of spellcasting per day, or use it to cast lower-level Warlock spells without spending your Pact Slots so it doesn't feel like a waste of a 5th-level slot to cast Detect Thoughts. Or make subclass-specific invocations that you need to be level 2 or 3 to pick up and give them some of the bonuses that were previously tied directly to the subclass, with buffs and changes as necessary. Or literally anything else.
Sorry, but if you need an explicit class feature just to RP your warlock then I doubt your creativity.
You mistake "simple" with "dumb". In the same way, you mistake "convoluted" with "interesting". There is a reason why in Software Development (who are not your Average Joes playing only Monopoly and Solitare) clean and simple (and working) code/design is one of the most desired things.
Do you even read what you write?
"They should prevent dip abuse by working 'case by case'."
"So after wasting all the time and effort with your 'case-by-case' idea people will abuse other dips anyway"
"So what if they will abuse?"
What kind of logic is that?
Overpowered dips do not add any possibilities, despite what you may think. They limit them because other options are subpar. And this is not healthy for the game.
Your idea of "splitting" may mitigate a few symptoms, but does not fix the problem. Because to fix the problem, the gains at 1st level have to be small enough to discourage dipping. And in that case, people like you will complain "Bonus from the subclass is too weak at the 1st level, I can't RP my warlock only with this!". Also "make a special invocation requiring level 3" is basically the same as "place subclass at level 3" (the idea that the subclass should be represented by optional invocations is another special kind of weirdness)
After having now read 10 pages of comments (OOF!), I find it interesting that no one has bothered pointing out that now that Pact Boons are invocations, you can therefore take them via the Eldritch Adept feat - meaning Paladins (in particular) no longer need to dip at all to grab that Hex Warrior ability, they can just snag the new Pact of the Blade invocation at 4th level or whenever, and not lose progression in their class.
The relegation of the Boons into invocations actually opens up a lot of interesting options for classes other than Warlocks via the Eldritch Adept feat. In the UA, the Tome and Blade boons have no prerequisites, but I did notice the Chain boon requires 2+ levels of Warlock. If that stipulation was kept, I imagine it's for the very intended purpose that Tome and Blade were expected to be taken as feats as they are often the reason for Warlock dips. With the changes to Chain, it also makes it all the more enticing to grab (free combat familiar cast as an action, per the text), and considering that a CR 1 familiar granted to a Level 1 character is very strong, it makes sense to prerequisite to Level 2+ to balance a CR 1 summon as an action (again, per the UA text) to warrant the investment in the class and block anyone from trying to grab it via the feat.
Oh, and even though I'm thrilled by the Boons now being invocations, this also means that they are now optional. Too many people on here are decrying that they were given a net 1 invocation increase and have to spend it on their boon....but that's entirely optional now. In fact, it's also optional to grab all three, which is even more thrilling than boring, old +3-5 extra damage on a cantrip. I genuinely think this change will shake up the "mandatory invocations" mentality and Warlocks will benefit from it.
Depends. The feat requires that there be no prerequisites. If they thought of this they might add a prerequisite such as having 1 warlock level or must have the pact magic feature. Or the option itself may explicitly say that it's not selectable from a feat. However if they don't then I would say your correct.
It's also possible that the feat itself will change as it was in Tasha's and many of the Tasha's feats are being revised and included in the new PHB. If so I expect this will be addressed as I doubt it was something they wanted to happen. Since they are protecting the Warlock spell list they might even make this a Warlock only feat (I hope not).
Certainly something to check out Thursday when the NDA is lifted.
Good thing I don't need to worry about what a stranger on the internet thinks of my creativity. It's not about a need. D&D is a game where RP and mechanics go hand-in-hand, but as I've said before, nothing in these new mechanics works with the established RP and flavour of a Warlock starting from level 1, which is highly disappointing and not fun to play IMO. And it's also not just about the warlock (where the subclass issue is but one of many I have with the new version), but other classes as well who I believe should get their subclass at level 1. Plus, I don't like their reasonings behind the changes either.
I also do happen to be a software developer, so I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think comparing the two is fair when they are two entirely different beasts. 5E is barely complex in the first place, so dumbing it down even further is what I'm against and what I find boring. I've seen it happen with other games I've played, and have been against those changes because they made things less fun for an experienced player. Also, "convoluted" is a decidedly negative term, and not what I'm looking for. More options and more freedom for players leads to more potential complexity in what they can do within the confines of the system (in this case, character building), which is what I love and wish for, but these (overall) changes are ultimately limiting both. Sure, more freedom allows for people to more easily find combinations and options that might make some others seem "subpar", but, again, ok and? That's only a limiting factor if you really care about crunching the numbers, which I can assure you that most people who play the silly RP tabletop are not worried about. D&D is not an MMO where you have to have meta builds if you want to participate in higher-end group content or do well in PvP. However, there might be players who do in fact like crunching the numbers and optimizing their characters, as seeing the Big Number makes them have fun, and people are entitled to that.
The logic is fairly sound. I am against the sledgehammer approach that they took, and would have preferred them look at things individually. You pointed out that people would then look at the changes and find effective combinations anyway, which is entirely expected, as that is the nature of people playing any game, tabletop or not (because, again, some people like when big number, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that). If those new effective combinations then turn out to be so terribly unbalanced that they destroy the world, the designers can look at them again and do errata if needed.
Your last point is pretty strawmanny. I would be happy with only a "minor" feature at level one, that's what most of the level 1 Sorcerer, Warlock and Cleric subclass features in 5E are anyway. The invocations bit was an idea I threw out there because why not (I actually like the idea of pact-specific invocations, like we've already had in 5E with invocations specific for Chain, Blade and Tome - adds a bit more complexity to the whole thing), the "new resource akin to Channel Divinity" is what I'd lean towards more, if they went for that kind of route.
I think the further discussion is pointless.
I will leave you only with this.
You can't complain that the lack of subclass on 1st level hampers RP, because "RP and mechanics go hand-in-hand", and then say that unbalanced dips are not a problem.
If the lack of subclass creates problems with RP, then the problems with the rules and balance create problems with RP.
You can't cherry-pick moments when the interaction of RP and rules is relevant, just because it is convenient for you with one case, but not the other.
For some weird reason, you assume that optimization and RP are mutually exclusive. Exactly because "mechanics go hand-in-hand", they are not. Funny I like both "crunching the numbers" and RP cool characters. I do not want my RP concept to be sabotaged because rules make it awful and inefficient (or force me to do it the only right way).
As an example of unforeseen rules interaction (not about class dips, but the point still stands). I doubt that the creator of Eldritch Adept feat wrote it with the idea "I want to give Abjurers way to keep their ward with full HP all the time", yet here we are.
I do not consider this case as OP, but some people may. With your approach, they would have to go through every invocation, and then check the possible combinations with all other classes/feats, and then make a list of what is allowed and what is not. Ah yes, they will have to do this again with every single invocation released in future splatbooks.
I hope there is a sidebar or anything in the new PHB "Starting the game at a level higher than 1" for people who want to have a subclass from session one.
One last thing.
Your claim:
"That's only a limiting factor if you really care about crunching the numbers, which I can assure you that most people who play the silly RP tabletop are not worried about."
is as valid as mine:
"That's only a limiting factor if you really can't RP without subclass at the first level, which I can assure you that most people who play the silly RP tabletop are not worried about."
This was mentioned immediately after releasing UA Playtest 7 as something obvious.
Feats are rare in 5ed, so this is a fair trade.
Things can be different in the actual 2024 PHB though.
They stated in a video that there are rules for starting at ANY level from 1 through 20 in the updated PHB. They also recommended that experienced groups start at level 3.
I am frankly hoping for all of the Pact invocations to have a 3 level requirement specifically to ensure multiclassing for those is required. But that's just me.
You are misrepresenting people's argument at the +1 invocation argument. We are stating that to even get what 2014 has automatically, we have to spend it on the Pact Boon which means as far as overall power increase, Warlock gets 1 extra spell per long rest (until after level 11 or 17), 1 extra invocation overall, Talk to Patron Daddy free if you are level 10 and Invocations that grant a spell now cast for free. None of that is bad- but in light of the buffs all of the other classes got, is it still balanced? Only time will tell.
Yeah I've seen that this hasn't been going anywhere since like three days ago, but I shouldn't have expected much more from the forums.
I never wanted to imply that unbalanced dips aren't a "problem", just that they aren't as big of a problem as people make them out to be, IMO. Maybe my wording didn't make that clear, but that's exactly the reason why I've been throwing around ideas as to what they could have done to nerf multiclassing. Yes, the game should be somewhat balanced, but it's okay to have powerful options or combinations existing, just as it is okay to have niche or less-powerful options existing (though I would prefer it if everything was at least "viable" realistically, which OneD&D has done a decent job at by buffing some of the older stuff - looking at you PHB Warlock and Sorcerer subclasses). If a DM decides that something is too powerful, then they can communicate with the player and reach a compromise if possible.
Dunno where you got the idea that I think optimization and RP are mutually exclusive, I think it's the exact opposite. Too many TTRPG players online think that way, and have this vitriolic hatred towards people who like to optimize (which is where I believe a lot of these "yes, good, nerf all the multiclassing!" opinions come from) and seem to believe themselves superior for being "more into" the RP. Most often my characters start out as "I want to make this kind of character" or "I've been inspired by this subclass or the flavourtext for it" which then develops into an idea of how I want to RP that character, and then from there I go "Ok, how do I make this character concept work well in and out of combat?". And, if the rules or mechanics make a character out to be "subpar", I actually kind of like that, because it makes it a challenge to me. How can I make Spores Druid work as a martial druid? What do I need to do to capitalize on this niche ability? I don't get to play 90% of the characters I've created, but I've planned out each and every level from 1-20 for them because I love doing that. Which then loops back around to the Warlock and the new version, which has limited the mechanical options available that can support the kind of RP I want to do for my characters, making it dissatisfying. Obviously we don't have all the available options in front of us so I don't know what exactly a 1st-level character can choose, but just judging based on what I know, I'd have a really hard time re-creating the characters I already have in a way that I'd be happy about them.
Also, I didn't mean for the designers to check literally everything when I said I would have preferred them do things on a case-by-case basis, I was just referring to classes with level 1 subclasses. Hexblade is the elephant in the room, and one way to nerf it would have been to take away the medium armour & shield proficiency, and make that into an invocation available to Pact of the Blade (locking it at least behind level 3), and maybe even take away the CHA weapon attacks and replacing it with something else, like, idk, weapon mastery or something. Like I mentioned before, WOTC supposedly has all this feedback available to them, so look through that and see what issues come up often and focus on those one-by-one.
Honestly, a lot of this hassle and disappointment could have been avoided if they had more time to let things cook. Unfortunately, tis too late for that now. I've had this same conversation on multiple platforms now and it's getting tiring. Ultimately, we all just want to be excited for and have fun with the game, but not all of the new ruling changes have delivered on that.
Have we gotten confirmation yet whether eldritch blast scales with warlock or character level?
Eldritch Blast is character level not class level. This has been confirmed by at least one YouTuber - DnD Shorts has screenshots of every page in the new book.