#1 - May 7, 2012, 2 p.m.
I know this is very early beta and things change a lot, but I find recent rogue changes really….baffling.
I don’t want nor desire to flame blue or start a riot or anything, I just merely want:
1) Some explanation as to why these changes have happened and what prompted them. It is a lot easier to provide better feedback if we get the reasoning behind the changes. Usually even if I don’t like the changes being made I can at least see the logic behind WHY the devs made that change and what issue prompted that change and what they are trying to address….I can't do that this time for some reason.
2) Some vision of what the devs want for each spec in terms of skill sets and purpose.
Again this is NOT a rage thread (although getting a few enraged posters is likely unavoidable) I am simply seeking a reason as to why this awkward changes have happened recently.
NOTE: Although I frequent the LFR on live my main pleasure in WoW is pvp, thus a lot of my feedback is through that lens although I do try to keep PvE in mind.
The major changes (or lack thereof) I am speaking about are:
1) Sang Vein change to exclude hemo: Currently this SUB ONLY buff excluded hemo….which is SUB's REPLACEMENT for SS. I find it very odd that a spec specific buff would exclude the only spec specific bleed it has.
In addition this change makes PvP as sub really frustrating. Rupture's damage is pitiful (yes I know the damage pass is the last thing they do…but rupture's damage was bad all through Cata not just in MoP). Thus you are forcing us to juggle a weak DoT, SnD, and Recup (if taking damage for an extended length of time) all while our foe is moving and CC/Attacking us. That is a lot to ask for considering they are all finishers. Not to mention Rupture is a dot which breaks gouge/blind….pushing sub more into specing Dirty Tricks at the expense of Brew or Para.
In PvE, well I assume the CT change was cause of target swapping cases. But that only works if your targets are all grouped up. In any other case you further happen sub's target swap ability.
2) Hemo DoT buffed: Now don’t get me wrong, I welcome any damage buff….but buffing a DoT (on a skill you recently excluded from SV no less)? This just strikes me as wired since we are NOT a dot class and sub is not a DoT spec…well…yet. I would have thought that if you wanted to up our damage you would have buffed the direct damage portion of one of our attacks or something akin to that. It seems like you are trying to push Sub into being a DoT spec what with the SV change and the Hemo buff. Again not flaming here…just very confused.
3) Venomous Wounds not procing on both Garrote and Rupt when both are up: Currently unless I am just not seeing the buff…..Assassination is without Overkill (this may be a bug). Thus I don’t really get the point in forcing this buff to only proc off 1 bleed. Having it proc off both would give assassination a nice little damage boost for a short while after coming out of stealth to help get "set up" (Getting SnD up, EA's if needed, etc.) and I don’t think it would be OP.
Some other less recent changes I would like to address are:
4) Prep/Step: Ok I am just going to say this is still a hot button issue to most people. I don’t want this thread to be SOLEY on this topic but I just want to give it a mention since I still think it should be changed and was wondering if blue's thoughts on this subject have not changed.
5) Para/Leeching poison mutually exclusive: Much like the Lock Soul Link/Gimmore of Sac, Para/Leeching poison cannot be used at the same time…thus taking both is pointless. If you take leeching then you WONT take para and vice versa. If you find that the next encounter will favor leeching over para….you will simple swap out those talents and pick Brew or Tricks and take leeching. Thus this leads to rogues having 1 less talent choice if they pick one of these two talents.
I would suggest that these either be put on the same tier (modified of course so that it would make sense for them to be, perhaps a poison focused tier?), or one be changed into a passive talent but related to poisons (i.e. leeching changed to "Striking a target afflicted by one of your poisons has a X% chance of restoring Y% of your health" or something). I just don’t think taking one talent should knock off one of the three choices in another tier automatically. Sure some talents may have more synergy than others…but non should be basically mutually exclusive to others in another tier.
<continued>