- Shadowstep and subtlety issues
Subtlety is our “PVP-tree”. This is where we (should) find all the good stuff for one of the main aspects of the class, stealthability and ruthless PVP. However, this [http://www.mmoinn.com wow gold] tree is considered the weakest of ALL rogue talent-trees at the moment, as it does not contribute to more than one aspect at a time, which the others surely do. Subtlety is what I consider a “one-trick-pony”. Its trick is stealth-attacks. These attacks rely on the element of surprise and heavy burst damage. More about this further down. As it stands now, combat oriented specs are far better off in both PVE and PVP, as it has a fair balance of all aspects of the [http://www.mmoinn.com wow gold] game. Combat sacrifices the benefits of stealth for sustained damage. This is proving to be a far more valuable trade-off than intended (I hope). Burst damage… or? Due to resilience, crit chance is reduced to unreliable, and that toppled with immense stamina on the opponents, burst damage is no longer the ace-card of a rogue. Sustained damage is the way to go currently, and combat talents offer that. That is why we see the majority of the rogue users having atleast 20 talentpoints invested in the combat tree. It is totally wrong if one tree is so good in both PVP and PVE, that it is almost a requirement to have 20 points in it,go to [http://www.mmoinn.com buy wow gold], no matter what your playstyle is. [http://www.mmoinn.com cheap wow gold] is just THAT good compared to both assassination and subtlety.
No, this should in no way lead to a nerf/reduction in the combat talents, as these are very much the only thing that keeps us alive/desirable in raid-PVE at the moment. If anything needs to change, it’s subtlety, and change for the better. I will not go into any lengthy discussions about PVE aspects or combat talents.
2) Arena-PVP Subtlety specs relies too much on a heavy opener, such as ambush, which is not even considered usable in arena-PVP due to the high resilience gear that is available, but also due to the number of ways to counter a rogue trying to sneak up on someone. Making our PVP-tree depending on three things at the same time is limiting our playstyle to a very narrow field. In order to take full advantage of subtlety talents, rogues need #1 daggers, #2 high crit chance and #3 stealth. Dagger oriented abilities such as ambush or backstab relies way too heavily on high critchance to ever become viable in arena-PVP. In the higher end of the PVP-ladder, everybody have around 400 resilience,where to find [http://www.mmoinn.com/mmoinn_pl wow power leveling] and massive amounts of stamina, which absolutely obliterates our reliability to crit. It just isn’t an option anymore. Stealth is also reduced to near-nothing. There are way too many ways to counter a stealth-attack, or to just spot a stealthed rogue, revealing him, rendering him harmless. This is another reason why combat is so favoured. Combat trades the more or less useless stealth-function for sustained damage. Just to make it clear, I’m talking about arena-PVP now. In world PVP, stealth is king. But that’s so far away from arena PVP that the two cannot be compared.
3) Non-dagger oriented play-styles and subtlety Many talents in subtlety favour daggers, such as opportunity, improved ambush, and last but not least shadowstep. The shadowstep talent is a really nice idea, however its implementation is flawed.
The talent teleports you to behind your target and increases the damage by the next ambush, backstab, or garrote by 20%, along with a -50% threat reduction on that ability. Can be used in combat.
Ambush and backstab are both dagger-only abilities. Garrote can only be used while being behind the target and in stealth. It’s already very easy to spot where this talent goes wrong. A rogue that does not use daggers cannot use 2/3 of the abilities that shadowstep is buffing, and the last ability can only be used while stealthed and behind the target.
- In an arena-PVP situation, a non-dagger rogue has absolutely no use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat. In an arena-PVP situation, a dagger rogue has one use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat, backstab. In a solo-PVE situation, a non-dagger rogue has absolutely no use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat. In a raid-PVE situation, a non-dagger rogue has absolutely no use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat. In a solo-PVE situation, a dagger rogue has absolutely no use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat, as your target will turn around to face you, making it impossible to use backstab. In a raid-PVE situation, a dagger rogue has one use of this talents benefits, if used while in combat, backstab. the list can go on and on…
There is one benefit in all situations, and that is the teleport-aspect of the talent. However, that alone is not enough to make it a 41 point talent. Not even if usable while in combat.
So where is this talent benefitial? It’s most usable by a dagger rogue, out of combat, stealthed, against an unexpecting opponent. And again we’re back in the burst damage that is so unreliable, not to mention the unreliability in stealth. It was a nice thing at level 60, but players stamina (and the introduction of resilience) have scaled way better than a rogues damage output. It simply does not offer enough to be a 41 point talent!
4) PVE-environments Simply put (combined with points 1-3), to get this talent, and the talent itself, does not offer enough sustained damage output to be an option in raid-environments. It’s just not reliable enough to be an alternative to combat specs.
5) My own suggestion Rogues do not want another dagger-only ability, as we already have mutilate to cover that area. In order to make subtlety a much more desirable talent-tree, I believe that my suggestion is a good step in the right direction. It offers high damage output regardless of weapon choice, and it offers a much desired mobility for rogues. It also does not require positioning, as lag is a very big [http://www.mmoinn.com/mmoinn_pl wow power leveling] issue with a talent like this.
Shadowstep 30 Energy 20 yard range 40 second cooldown 10 second duration
- # teleports you in the same manner as previous versions of the talent. # increases (all) damage done by 20% for the duration of the skill. this is to not limit this talent to dagger-only abilities such as backstab and ambush. it should apply to ALL (even white) damage done during its duration. # removes complete movement impairing effects. for example frost nova, entangling roots, improved hamstring. # does not remove slowing effects. for example hamstring, curse of exhaustion. # does not remove or usable during stuns, polymorphs or incapacitates of any kind.
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