Warlords of Draenor: Combo points no longer on target for rogues, druids

Rogues and feral druids have had one very important change that wasn't announced in the recent patch notes for the 6.0 alpha build. Combo points, the bread and butter of every rogue and feral druid attack since the game began, are now on the rogue or druid, instead of on the target being attacked. This was confirmed in a tweet by Celestalon -- who was quick to point out that the change might not see live, but is being tested for now.

This is honestly a really big change for both classes. One of the unique frustrations of playing the class was spending the time and energy to build up enough points for a big finisher, only to see the target die before that finisher could land. Don't get me wrong, having a target die is always the name of the game, whether you're stabbing with daggers or skulking around as a cat. But once that target was dead, all combo points you carefully built up would simply vanish when the next target was acquired.

Abilities were put in place to help with that frustration -- the rogue ability Redirect specifically transfers combo points from one target to the next. But it never quite seemed like enough, especially with the introduction of the monk class. Monks build combo points, but they build the points on themselves, rather than the target they are attacking -- which means switching targets is a far more fluid process. That's really what I'm hoping for with this particular change, a little more fluidity in the way that rogues and feral druids play.

Is it enough to make the rogue class, notoriously one of the least-played classes in the game, worth picking up and trying again? Good question. Rogues are getting the same streamlining treatment as every other class out there, although not quite as drastically as some. We don't really have the big picture just yet, and we can't test the new abilities and talents for ourselves, so it's hard to say. But for someone who's been playing a rogue since Burning Crusade, I have to say I'm excited about the combo point change and I hope it will stay in for the expansion's release -- it may seem like a small change, but it's big news for both rogues and feral druids alike.