#1 - Dec. 15, 2015, 1:25 a.m.
Basically the feeling of the outlaw is that of a rogue stripped down as far as could be leaving nothing left except for a boring class. Everything that made combat what it was was taken away. The basic identity of the spec was completely destroyed and sadly nothing replaced it.
Combat's current identity (outside of being the AoE spec) is that of CD management. No other spec in the game has the enjoyment of the spree of CDs that combat gets to use in their game play and that makes the spec fun. Going through a dungeon and using MfD spam at the end of a pack to reset your CDs for the next one. Also while Bandit's Guile has been one of the most hated things about combat a good combat rogue could manipulate that ability in some ways to get ideal use out of it (holding onto a medium insight til the adds spawn on Iskar and pushing into deep insight as the adds spawn and blowing your CDs was majestic to say the least).
But, that's all gone. Assassination's main gripe has been that it's an easy boring spec and so a lot of rogues go into Sub because it's a more interesting spec to play. Combat has exactly the same game play as assassination's most basic rotation at a slower pace and even less depth than assassination has.
Compare Outlaw to Assassination: Saber Slash is Mutilate. Run Through is Envenom, Slice n Dice is Rupture and Pistol Shot is Dispatch. That being said, Saber Slash has almost the same energy cost as Mutilate but generates way less combo points making it feel even more lack luster than Mutilate. Envenom has the poison buff it applies to make managing the Envenom buff something to do where as Run Through has nothing (and btw 8 yards is a terrible range that still basically requires you to be in melee range anyways to use it). Slice n Dice is an ability over time similar to rupture yet has a much longer duration so you use it less and in a cleave situation rupture has the added depth of managing rupture on multiple targets. And finally Pistol Shot is exactly like Dispatch except it doesn't hit as hard and you don't get an execute phase where you feel like superman. Pistol shot just feels weak and lack luster and more of a "if I press this button I get a free extra combo point" not like "hey here's some free cool damage!"
Aside from that what is there to the Outlaw spec to make it interesting? Nothing. It's boring. It's basic. There's nothing to the spec that makes you think "wow that was fun!" There's no rotational difference between aoe and ST just a button you toggle. CD management is gone. There's nothing about the game play where a better rogue can do some amazing things at a higher skill level to pull more dps.
That being said another problem with the basic game play of the Outlaw rogue is the sustain is pretty bad. Not having anticipation hurts with the removal of the extra CDs makes rogues take more damage and have a much higher chance of death with less chances to get out and reset. The loss of Leeching Poison is a good deal of healing that's gone. While leeching poison was never used in a raid/dungeon situation for solo play like leveling/questing/dailies it was very helpful.
TL:DR So, after playing through the artifact quest and getting started in one of the initial zones all I felt was disappointment. The class is way under tuned as far as damage goes but I understand that balancing isn't even close to coming around yet and the class is very squishy with less healing than it has currently. Game play is boring and there's no depth to the spec. It's a stripped down shell of what it used to be. Pretty much Outlaw feels like a potato. A potato with some fancy stickers on it and some flashing lights because its new and has a bunch of cool sounding renamed abilities but inside still a potato.
