Upcoming & Exciting Rogue Changes
February 24, 2010 23 Comments
The preliminary notes for the next patch have been released and there are some interesting tidbits for Rogues:
Rogue
- Rupture: The damage-over-time component of this ability can now produce critical strikes.
Subtlety
- Filthy Tricks: Now Reduces the cooldown by 5/10 seconds and energy cost by 5/10 of Tricks of the Trade, Distract and Shadowstep abilities, and reduces the cooldown of Preparation by 1.5/3 minutes.
- Ghostly Strike: If the rogue has a dagger equipped, this ability now deals 180% weapon damage instead of 125%.
- Hemorrhage: If the rogue has a dagger equipped, this ability now deals 160% weapon damage instead of 110%.
- Slaughter from the Shadows: Now adds 1/2/3/4/5% damage to all attacks in addition to its current effects.
- Waylay: The debuff from this talent can now be caused by Backstab in addition to Ambush.
I’ll talk about Subtlety first. Looking at these changes, I’m thinking that leveling Subtlety will be even faster than the other two specs. It’s already (my opinion here) the most fun. I might level another Rogue on a different server when this patch hits to try it out. Fixing Hemo, and to a lesser extent Ghostly Strike makes Subtlety more attractive spec for people looking to solo or PvP as well.
I’m not sure that it has been buffed to the point of making it comparable to the other specs in terms of raid viability, but, it should certainly hold its own. Besides, Blizzard has clearly stated that Subtlety has too much utility to make it the strongest tree. Doing so would probably convert a majority of Rogues to play Subtlety, and Blizzard frowns on that.
As for the general change to Rupture, I can only say “Thank you” to Blizzard. As much as I love the damage output I’ve got right now, the spec is far too simple to play. Once I get Slice and Dice and Hunger for Blood up, all I ever have to do is Mutilate to 4-5 combo points and Envenom. I almost always have another player putting a bleed effect up, so replacing Hunger for Blood is really easy. I haven’t done the math, but with Rupture gaining the ability to crit, it’s entirely plausible that using it in the rotation will be better than leaving it out as most Rogues have been since 3.3 hit.
I’m not one for hitting the PTR, but for this patch and its many changes, I might make an exception. Also, I was serious about that second Rogue too. If these changes go through, I’ll be looking for a second home to play on. Maybe that server will be yours. I’m always open to suggestions.
– Sam
Slice and Dice 
Unfortunately the change to rupture does not warrant including it in your mutilate rotation, according to EJ.
That’s sad, as I’m sure that was blizzard’s intent. I hope they don’t decide that they need to buff it further and nerf something else to achieve that goal. There’s also the chance that using it while Combat might give Combat an edge in single target fights, negating the need for Assassanation altogether. The other possibility is that this is prep for Cataclysm and they don’t want Combat to be left behind when Armor Pen goes the way of the Dodo. I still think its a reaction to the two specs using ruptureless rotations though.
– Sam
I think that it’s meant as a boost to combat, which I will take with lowly gratitude.
drak thul , go horde do it!
I don’t have a lot of time to spend on my alts now that I’ve dived headfirst into the raiding scene, but you’re always welcome on Winterhoof … there are plenty of nice people leveling in Crits every day, as well as my own level 37 rogue who can always use some tips. 😉
Always welcome on Nazgrel, too. Especially if you want to help us out with winning a few battlegrounds against the Hordies. I completely agree that Sub spec is the most fun. If you’ve never shadow-ported yourself up to a cannon or graveyard in Wintergrasp to prey on some unsuspecting DK, you’re really missing out. Plus, spamming Ambush after a Cheap Shot, Shadow Dance into a 5 point Eviscerate makes me giddy.
I play on aggramar I wouldn’t suggest it. It’s highly populated sp it’s one of the last few up on maintenance days 😦
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I have played on a few servers and the one that I always go back to is Sargeras. It has a balanced large population and is arguably the best pvp server in the game. Go horde or alliance, it doesn’t matter…but bring your big boy pants because Sargeras defines pvp.
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Hi, Blood Elf Rogue from Twisting Nether here.
I actually went to a training dummy just last night to test out what my numbers are before 3.3.3 dropped, so that I could compare and decide for myself whether or not Rupture as Mutilate would be worth it with this new change.
Ruptureless, I was managing to top my dps off unbuffed at about 5k dps.
With Rupture (Glyphed, but without the two points into Blood Spatter), 4.8k.
That was when I started cackling maniacally, waking up my roommate in the process, and dashed off to the rogue trainer to go ahead and preemptively put those two points into Blood Spatter. 4.9k.
Not only did I find this change to my rotation to be much more fun and engaging than Ruptureless, I took a good, hard look at my gear and said “Holy shit, if I can finally get Heartpierce and the 4 piece bonus for this tier, I’d be willing to bet that I could hit 7k unbuffed.”
I know that I will be referring to 3.3.3 as “the second greatest patch ever” and I look forward to seeing what exactly rogues everywhere will be capable of once it finally drops.
Unless they nerf HfB as a band-aid fix for us being OP. Again…
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I am very excited about the subtlety changes. I leveled my rogue sub (almost) all the way until 71 and I have “rediscovered” him after they announced the upcoming patch. I hope to hit 80 before it is released. Recent world pvp experiences remind me of how much fun it is 🙂
More fun than your Priest, or just a healthy distraction?
– Sam
Just a question maybe someone can advice a noob alt rogue.
Let’s say there’s a bleed effect on the target already by someone else, does rupture be automatically excluded from the multilate rotation?
Right now I always do Eveno (for slice and dice reset) and rupture on the next 5 points and go back again.
Also besides, rogues, commonly which other class will do a bleed effect on it?
Sanomi,
It is generally accepted that at the curent level of gearing, you should skip Rupture if possible. The only time I worry about putting up a bleed is if there’s no one else to do if for Hunger for Blood. You should get more DPS from keeping your Envenom buff up.
– Sam
I don’t think anything can ever get more fun my priest to play. But it is just something very different and instead of running away from Horde when I’m on my priest, I do the complete opposite on Little. So, it’s a nice change.
And after all, it was my rogue that made me a Buckler in the first place. So what more reasons do I need to finally get him to 80 😉
Auchindoun is a fun medium population server , horde heavy so alliance is fun Go “A Small Army”.! 🙂
So do these changes give combat the edge?
Also I was wondering, I read that raids want more combat rogues than assa, I am the only rogue in my guild’s raids, should this effect my spec?
Hi Sam,
Noob Rogue here, I havr really enjoyed reading your stuff, but I was hoping it might be possible for you to update the Combat Rogue spec/rotation part, as it’s probably different now from the newer patches? Fanx