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At first glace you see a lock and wonder - what's the difference between it and a mage? They both cast spells, they both wear cloth, they both are frail- and this is where a lock will cut you off. With curse of tongues.
World of Warcraft's version of a warlock are - aside from the term caster - are a to some a beefier version of a mage. But instead of spells with cast times, the bulk of a lock's damage comes from dots or spells whose initial damage isn't out right but ticks away over time.
Locks have been accused of being a dot and run class but theirs more to it then that. Dots along with pets and the use of cast spells that can either hurt their target or use their own life make the class a bit more complicated. Also don't forget that many of the high end abilities and all pets but the imp requires a soul shard an item that is acquired by killing mobs of an experience gaining level.
So a lock is closer to a mage, druid (in an inverse way as some spells drain life), and a hunter that doesn't feed their pets. World of Warcraft's lock class can be a bit over whelming to a new player due to the many dots and pets, but can be mastered and become easy to level with.
Pets
First off, locks have the added bonus (and upkeep) of pets. Unlike hunters and their pets a lock doesn't have to worry about the happiness, storing unused ones in stales, or hunting for specific food to please them. A lock just summons their pet err minion and their off. In fact they start out with a helpful imp that gives a health buff as long as it's out!
But the easy of pet management comes at a price. Yes minions don't require upkeep but once dead require the use of a soul shard. Soul shards are items you receive after draining the last bit of an enemy's life with the drain soul spell.
This sounds great until you realize both soul shards take up valuable bag space (especially at low levels) and require the killing of mobs and or players that are of green level or higher. This means unless the mob grants you experience (or the player grants honor) you will not receive a shard from them.
This isn't so bad until the higher levels where you are forced to farm mobs for them, as well as worse in raiding as many of the high end spells drinks them like water! Learning to manage them early and noting when you are low is a great habit to pick up early.
Mind you this becomes more an issue once you acquire a void walker and later on pets. Getting a soul shard bag and even downloading a reminder mod when shards get low is very handy. I tend to stock up on a bag's worth of them after you learn the void walker spell.
Many pets also have recovery abilities and later you will learn a spell that allows you to heal your pets at the cost of your own life. This leads into-
Drain Life Abuse
Many of the locks spells requires a player to literally play Russian roulette with their lives. Between drain soul, life siphon, mana tap, and drain life a lock can gain more damage at the expense of slowly killing themselves.
This could worry the novice lock; do not fear it: there is nothing more exciting then taking out a higher leveled mob by fearing it, having a durable void walker tank it, life siphon to heal it, mana tap to regain mana, then while the mob is distracted drain its life to heal.
Locks are notorious for this life and death juggle. Toy around with it as such attacks are very versatile! Oh and one other thing.
Dots
Dots, or damage over time spells at first glace seem to be a poor man's way of doing damage. They don't knock back or one shot kill anything. They just stick like a bad cold onto a target. But that is where they shine. Not many classes or mobs can dispel them, and they ramp up the damage given over time.
Their like magical time bombs slowly sapping the life from a victim. Couple 3+ dots on a target and a fear bomb (in an open area; do NOT use in a dungeon!) and a target is now helplessly flailing to to death. By the time the fear wears off and the mob is running after you they will be half dead or trying to heal wasting mana.
Cherish your dots. Apply them when possible. Have fun with them by tabbing group mobs and running around - the aftermath is always fun!