#0 - Dec. 20, 2007, 8:03 p.m.
The post hit 500 replies (with not a single blue), 26 pages and had over 16 THOUSAND views before it was cut off.... so I'll repost it.
Blue you've still a chance to post...!
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From Agrias
How is the Blizzard development team so short sighted that after several weeks of testing 2.3 they decide to nerf rogues even worse than they already were? It's not even been a full month since 2.3 hit live servers that you decided to nerf Hemo, which for the first time since TBC came out, is actually useful. In addition, you decide to nerf us even more by removing the Adrenaline Rush cooldown reset from Preparation? Why is this necessary?
From the other day when a certain Blue made an 'educated' post regarding the changes to hemo it was due to the reason that the "majority" of rogues were respeccing far enough into the subtlety tree to get hemo (which was incorrect anyway, more Blizzard stupidity) but then insisted that the development team does not make changes due to popularity. Double standards much?
Why is it that frost mages, who are already desirable and the most popular PVP spec, are getting ice block as a trainable ability and will be replaced by an ability that increases their damage in utility? Last I recall frost was the premier PVP mage spec, but you continue to increase their damage and utility. Also, Cold Snap refreshes all their cooldowns. Why is the rogue talent Preparation weaker than Cold Snap? Why do you continue to REMOVE utility from the rogue class?
Here is what the new Preparation will give us back:
Sprint
Evasion
Shadowstep
Vanish
Premeditation
Vanish is broken, premeditation is mediocre, sprint is merely one more temporary method of snare removal, evasion is useful against two classes, and shadowstep is a worthless 41 point talent.
Let's talk about how Adrenaline Rush's 5 minute cooldown is unwarranted now anyway. All it does is increase energy regeneration. Why are abilities like Berserker Rage and Beast Within more useful and more powerful but on a shorter cooldown than Adrenaline Rush? I could perhaps see it being warranted if it also increased the damage done by the rogue by a certain amount of made the rogue immune to CC.
Lastly, since Blizzard wants one tree for all classes to be the definitive PVP spec, please help me understand what tree that's supposed to be for the rogue.
Assassination is worthless since resilience and positional requirements on top of poison requirements makes our 41 point talent there useless.
Combat is our definitive PVE spec but for more than one arena season has been the most popular PVP spec without offering any PVP utility or abilities. Surprise Attacks is hardly useful outside of the mirror match against other rogues and possibly feral druids, which aren't popular in PVP to begin with.
Subtlety has always been in a bad shape since TBC was released, but with 2.3 you actually decided to make it viable. But less than a month later you deem that rogues became too powerful and are taking back the buffs. Eyonix , you claim that "We want there to be more subtlety rogues, and we’re working to improve the tree. One way was to give the tree more damage, through hemorrhage. Unfortunately, that didn’t really improve the tree because everyone just stopped with the AR/Prep spec." but you fail to comprehend why rogues don't go all the way down the subtlety tree.
Shadowstep is only marginally useful and not worth the sacrifice in other trees to obtain. It is a joke of a 41 point talent. For many patches you have tried to tune it and make it better but it's too little and by now, too late. The development team did not address the biggest issue with Shadowstep, which was the fact that it does not promise the rogue to land a hit after using the ability. Who cares if I can teleport behind a person when if they're moving I won't be able to land an attack anyway? Doesn't it seem ridiculous that a trainable ability like Intercept is more useful and definitively better than a 41 point talent? A few seconds of sprint seems nice, but unless shadowstep removes snares it's still not as useful as it should be. If Shadowstep would instead stun the target for 1-3 seconds I think people would be more than excited and willing to grab it.
And finally, since you decided to open up the can of worms about rogues only going down subtlety halfway and not all the way down, when can we expect Mortal Strike nerfs? After all, the only PVP spec warriors go anymore only has them going down the Arms tree to grab Mortal Strike. Moving deathwish to that tree and placing Improved Intercept there hasn't made any more warriors go full Arms for PVP. Why is that rogues get nerfed for having a viable hybrid spec but warriors, who have been dominating every bracket of Arena since Season 1, can continue to spec hybrid? Also, let's toss in SL/SL warlocks. They're hybrid, but I don't see the nerf to Soul Link anywhere. It's ridiculous that the two most overpowered and represented class in several arena brackets continue to dominate without any fixes but you nerf rogues into the ground before the season really even begins.
I anticipate your reply, or any other Blue, but I expect this to go ignored. I think I speak for the entire rogue community when I say that these changes are hardly justified based upon the comments from Eyonix. With every nerf you're making it that much easier for people to quit the game. With Wrath of the Lich King so far away, I doubt you want to be losing a large amount of your player base.
[ Post edited by Agrias ]
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and my answer to Blizzards actions / inaction. Heavy handed I'll admit but I've cast my dice.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3547795113&sid=1&pageNo=1
posting on borrowed time,
Remy
*Edited out the name in the title. Please refrain from using names, blue or Blizzard in titles. -Nethaera