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Encrypted Text: The energy resource system
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, I'm talking about my experiences in as a beta tester. I love energy. Of the three different resources in WoW at level 60, energy was definitely the best around. While death knights may argue that runes are more fun, they suffer from up to 10-second lockouts on some abilities once a particular rune is used up. Some hunters in the Cataclysm beta have claimed that focus is the best thing to happen to their class since pets. That's fine, but energy doesn't require us to play the regeneration minigame to ensure that we're producing enough. Energy is simple to model and even simpler to use; no ability is more than 6 seconds away. The system has seen constant upgrades since its humble origins, though its core functionality has remained unaltered. It's become a crucial part of our mindset, and it defines the experience of playing a rogue. I had an old friend that used to say that all true rogues set their watches to only tick every 2 seconds. What is about energy that keeps it marching on so reliably?
Encrypted Text: One rogue's beta story
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, I'm talking about my experiences in as a beta tester. I have a confession to make. I'm typically one of those people who quit WoW for a few months between expansions. I give myself some time to catch up on games that I've been neglecting and work on any projects at home. I find that I'm actually more excited for the next expansion when I've been out of the loop for a while, as I'm absolutely overwhelmed by shiny new things that I never saw coming. I didn't even start playing the The Burning Crusade for a few weeks after its release, and I let my overachieving friends help me level instead. But that was before I received my Cataclysm beta invite. I'll admit that I'm new to beta testing, and I've been feeling my way around in the dark quite a bit. My first mission was to get my rogue's action bars in order. It turned out to be pretty easy, since I bind nearly everything, and I don't need to go clicking on any abilities. It's taken me a while to get used to playing without addons, and using the default UI is still a frustrating experience. I'm used to having so much more data at my fingertips, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from taking a tour of Hyjal.
Encrypted Text: Exposé on Expose Armor
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss one of the least-appreciated rogue abilities, Expose Armor. I took the above screenshot by pushing one of two Expose Armor macros I have. One of the most common complaints that I hear from the rogue community is that we don't provide enough useful buffs to make ourselves worth taking to a raid. The rumor was originally true; in fact, rogues had a bad reputation for actually knocking off important debuffs when there used to be a limit. I remember my raid leader using the CT_Raid addon to look for Phantom Blades and Gutgore Rippers, then kicking anyone wielding them. We were the simple rogues, brought to stab our enemies and soak up any leather gear that dropped. Times have changed. Both of the popular PvE rogue specs now possess a critical raid debuff. Mutilate has the fairly common Master Poisoner critical strike chance debuff, which is brought by a few other DPS specs as well. Combat, however, has the fairly unique Savage Combat debuff, which we share with arms-specced warriors alone. Since arms warriors aren't exactly common in the high-end raiding game, we're essentially the only way to pick up that serious boost. Add in the fact that Tricks of the Trade is often glyphed to provide maximum uptime, and we've actually got one of the better buffs in the game as well. All of this doesn't even include our most beneficial raid ability by far.
Encrypted Text: Why good rogues take bad talents
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the effect of utility talents on a rogue's psyche. If you've been reading my column regularly, you know that DPS should be the main focus of any raiding rogue. As a "pure" DPS class, we're really required to do amazing DPS or risk being sidelined for more useful classes. We're designed around the concept of maximizing DPS, and using spreadsheets and theorycrafting has become a core part of our class culture. I love putting my new gear upgrades into one of Aldriana's sheets and figuring out how to flex my gems and balance various stat caps. I know that there are a ton of rogues who feel the same way. So why are rogues in the Cataclysm beta wasting talent points on Improved Gouge and Blade Twisting then? Why has the development team chocked our talent trees so full of fluff that we're forced to pick up junk talents just to progress down our trees? We don't need talents like Reinforced Leather if our healers are doing their jobs, and why make raiders pick up PvP talents like Improved Kick? Does this mean that Blizzard failed when trying to streamline the talent trees? Actually, it means exactly the opposite: they've succeeded in every possible way.
Encrypted Text: Cataclysm's effect on iconic rogue abilities
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the latest build of the Cataclysm beta. A wild ride, indeed. Ghostcrawler, the lead systems designer for WoW, let us know in advance that we'd be seeing a deluge of new information about the plan for each class in Cataclysm. While much is still unknown, a large number of changes pertaining to rogues have been drawn out of the beta data. While the entire scope of Blizzard's plan for rogues remains to be seen, we've definitely gained some insight into the future of the class. What's interesting is how they've arranged the talent trees, particularly when it comes to the passive bonuses that a particular talent spec will receive for choosing to focus on that specialization. Blizzard did some tweaking to each of our most potent abilities to make them fit this model, as well as completely killing many theorized hybrid specs. You're essentially stuck with whatever abilities your spec possesses, and you can only pick up non-ability talents from the other trees. Due to this rebalancing of the talent trees, our signature moves from each tree have also seen an overhaul.
Encrypted Text: Rogue survivability in Cataclysm
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the new ability Recuperate and how it's going to change the class. The veil of NDAs surrounding the Cataclysm has fallen, and the community at large is now privy to all of the juicy details of what Blizzard has in store for us. I have been reviewing the changes that rogues can look forward to, and I've been excited so far at what I've seen. While I still want to get the opportunity to test Smoke Bomb's exact mechanics first hand, I am still waiting with many of you for a beta invitation. I have high hopes for the spell, but I've been satisfied browsing our new abilities on Wowhead. One spell that I'm really excited about is Recuperate. We only originally knew that it would be a self-healing finisher, and that was about it. Now that all of the specifics are released, I'm even more excited to acquire this spell. Rogue survivability, outside of our cooldown-induced periods of invulnerability, has been a hot topic for rogues since diminishing returns were put into the game. With our stunlock losing a few seconds in Cataclysm, being able to survive an active opponent will become even more important.
Encrypted Text: Ruby Sanctum gear for rogues
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the new loot dropping in the Ruby Sanctum. In one of the worst Patch Tuesdays in recent memory, Blizzard took down a large number of their North American servers for a full 24 hours of maintenance. At the same time, all European servers were offline while patch 3.3.5 was applied and the Real ID system was implemented for our friends across the pond. However, for those lucky enough to have their servers excluded from this massive maintenance window, a surprising gift awaited them. The portal to the Ruby Sanctum was open. Ruby Sanctum fills the role of being the last salute to Wrath's raiding scene before Cataclysm. It's a short, single-boss instance, designed to start ushering in the lore of Deathwing's imminent release. Those of us who had a chance to fight against Sartharion will be familiar with this type of dungeon. Since it's such a small raid, the total loot table is relatively small, and there's only a few pieces of interest to us leather-wearers. However, the loot that is there is worth some discussion, as it fits into a few very particular roles.
Encrypted Text: The new style of rogue PvP
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss how rogue PvP is going to fare in the next expansion. I often see players talking about their experiences in PvP, sometimes in trade chat or a battleground. Almost inevitably, after a few minutes of chatting, the old stereotypes about each class start coming out. They'll start complaining about paladins having three lives, due to Divine Shield and Lay on Hands. They'll label any arena composition with a warlock as a "drain team," even though warlocks are clearly capable of massive burst damage now. If there's an arena team composition that they don't like to face, that comp is immediately labeled as cheesy or unskilled. I don't really care if warlocks get a bum rap, it's up to them to convince the public that they can nuke too. What I am concerned about is that rogues have been stereotyped since the earliest days of vanilla WoW, and we need to break that cycle. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I would suggest watching the World of Roguecraft films. These early pieces of WoW machinima firmly cemented rogues as stunlocking gods in the minds of thousands of players. Even now, with Cataclysm putting the final nails in stunlocking's coffin, we will still be thought of as dirty fighters that need to be nerfed.
Encrypted Text: Weapon speed analysis
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the reason we're picky about weapon speeds. If you've ever played with a hunter, then you know that every weapon is a hunter weapon. Either they need to gear for some special gear set they're working on they're hoping that Blizzard allows them to use maces and wands someday. Polearms, swords and even daggers can all fall prey to their instant need rolls. I'm just happy that they're not allowed to equip their pets with gear à la Diablo II, or else there would be a massive weapon shortage. Rogues, on the other hand, have very narrow weapon requirements. In most cases, weapon speed can trump nearly any other stat weight, due to specific mechanics that favor a certain type of sword or dagger. While Cataclysm has promised to roll all weapon types into a single, balanced specialization, we are currently forced to pick our instruments of destruction carefully.
Encrypted Text: Vanish fix in the alpha
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the possible fixes for Vanish that Blizzard is testing. I am not in the Cataclysm alpha. I'm fine with waiting until the official release date to experience the goblin and worgen races first hand and to see the destruction that Deathwing's arrival has wrought upon the world. However, that hasn't stopped me from reading up on any alpha information I can get my hands on. A prepared rogue is a successful rogue, knowledge is power, knowing is half the battle, etc. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I can't help but speculate about the tentative changes that are coming our way. There is one upcoming item in particular that has me incredibly excited: a possible fix for Vanish. The best part is that's there's even more to it than that: a possible "clutch" ability to replace the old Vanish immunity windows. I can't imagine rogues asking for anything more, considering that guaranteed restealths through Vanish are required for Vanish to remain a powerful cooldown. Let's be honest here -- who has seen a video of a rogue vanishing a Death Coil and not immediately wanted to go try it out? I can tell you that I called my warlock friend up that minute and had him outside of Durotar testing the technique with me. All rogues need is an instant of protection mixed with fast reflexes to get the job done.
Encrypted Text: What it feels like to be a rogue
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the experience of playing a rogue and how it differs from every other class. I have recently been reading a variety of forum threads concerning Cataclysm and noticed an interesting trend. Many people like to state that they know their class the best, because they've been playing it "since day one." I think that's a funny thing to say, considering that most classes barely resemble their original forms. Hybrids are now capable of tanking and doing damage, and many classes have more than one viable tree for both PvE and PvP. Even the basic playstyle has been drastically altered, with Blizzard moving more and more classes to the reactive model of DPS instead of the fixed rotation of previous years. I firmly believe that rogues have changed the least over the past expansions, when compared to any other class. Our basic playstyle remains unaltered, and the majority of our new abilities and deep talents are cooldowns or trick attacks: Mutilate and Envenom are the only two new abilities that we've added to our rotation repertoire. Assassination's 51-point talent is so bland that Ghostcrawler confirmed it's being yanked in Cataclysm. What is it about the rogue class that makes it so resistant to change? I think that we had a very solid original design, coupled with several unique mechanics that make it impossible to flex the rogue experience without breaking it entirely.
Encrypted Text: How to gear your rogue to be raid-ready
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about the proper way to start gearing your rogue to succeed in the raiding scene. Step 1: Don't forget your pants. I would love to see the Horde conduct a democratic election. We've heard that Garrosh will be taking the reins from Thrall, but just think of the fun that we could have watching various candidates debate the issues. I can assume that Garrosh would be in support of stricter immigration policies, while Vol'jin would be voting for any measure that protected the Echo Isles rainforest. Sylvanas would be accused of campaign fraud by some pro-Earthmother TAC (Tauren Action Committee) members, who would then mysteriously disappear a week later without a trace. The hot topics would obviously be the economy (or what's left of it, after Basil's had his shot), setting up a universal epic system, and perhaps the most controversial matter: GearScore. The primary cause for PUG elitism is the mentality that anyone with worse gear than me is a scrub, and anyone with better gear than me is a nerd. GearScore is only a means to an end, which is to make it easy for a raid leader to quickly judge players. Rather than complaining, there's an even easier way to bring your rogue up to the minimum GS bar set by trade chat: let's get you into some new gear!
Encrypted Text: Add the finishing touches to your rogue
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about how to make sure your rogue is ready for the next expansion! If you've been following along with the recent news in the WoW stratosphere, you know that patch 3.3.5 is currently being tested on the PTR. Included in this patch is the new Ruby Sanctum raid dungeon, which is very likely to be the last raid that we'll see this side of the Cataclysm. While I think it will be more of a Sartharion-like raid and less of an actual progression instance, the fact is that after Halion and company go down, Deathwing's emergence will be soon to follow. I talked last week about how the various trade skills can enhance your rogue in a multitude of ways. While these are certainly some of the more tangible benefits you can receive by working on your character's progression, there are several other ways to make your rogue all it can be. With Icecrown Citadel on farm status for many guilds, you might have some free time to start rounding out your rogue for Cataclysm's imminent release. Read on for a few pointers on how to get yourself into top shape for the upcoming expansion.
Encrypted Text: Profession perks for rogues
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about which professions are the best for rogues and how to maximize their benefits. Our story today starts all the way back in Molten Core, the first raid dungeon in WoW. Back then, warriors were the only tanks and unless you were a warlock or druid, none of your gear dropped. Rogues were the only true melee DPS class in the game, as warriors were stuck tanking and the melee hybrids had nothing in their arsenal besides the fearsome Auto Attack. It was a good period for Blizzard's favorite class, and we enjoyed a time of prosperity and abundance. If you look at the game as it stands today and compare it to its humble beginnings, it's easy to see the numerous improvements to both gameplay and also to the general quality of life of a player. One area that saw an abundance of changes was the profession system, which has gone through several iterations. We've seen new trade skills introduced with each expansion to the game, as well as many additions to the capabilities of each. Due to the strong tradition of min/maxing in the rogue culture, choosing the right professions has obviously become a topic of discussion amongst those looking to perfect their characters.
Encrypted Text: The cooldown class
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about our shared reliance on cooldowns, and how to break the cycle of being overpowered and underpowered at the same time. Rogues have somewhat of a paradoxical standing amongst the other classes, in both PvP and PvE. At times, we're unparalleled, and we become the goal that everyone else can only chase. During other times, we are frail and vulnerable, barely capable of holding our own against our opponents. Rogues have a toolbox of active abilities that were designed to give the class flavor, but have the unfortunate side effect of leaving us bland without them. We are intensely hot peppers with all of our moves ready to go, and we are simply plain rice when they're not. Are our cooldowns so powerful that they really define the class? Absolutely. Are we so weak without them that our raid leaders and arena partners are looking to recruit wet noodles instead of rogues? Probably not. However, the place we're in right now isn't necessarily where we want to be either, where our CD addiction restricts us from having a more engaging time playing the game. While being demi-gods for 20 seconds every three minutes may seem enjoyable, it still leaves quite a long stretch of impotence for us to deal with. What we need to do is find the middle ground where our CDs are still meaningful, but we're not sitting ducks for the majority of our time outside of Stealth.
Encrypted Text: What the Cataclysm preview was missing
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about a few questions we still have following our class preview. Rossi also sent me the above picture of his rogue, and I have to say that I was not surprised in his choice of character customization. If you haven't had a chance to yet, you should take a peek at the Cataclysm preview for rogues that was released last week. We've learned about several new moves being added to our arsenal as we level to 85, in addition to being privy to developers' plans for the class as we fight against Deathwing and company. Cataclysm looks to be the most ambitious expansion to date, and Blizzard is pulling out all the stops to ensure that many of the issues the game has faced since launch are handled while also developing each class to a more robust level of play. There was a lot of great info in the preview, but there were also a few details missing. Does Blizzard have any plans to replace Vanish, is there any chance of a new combo system ability (generator or finisher), and what about ever having Shadowstep become trainable? These are just a few of the questions I've been considering, and I've heard many more from other rogues as well. What's your biggest questions for the developers after having read their plan for the rogue class?
Encrypted Text: Combat 101
The assassination rogue sees the diplomat enter the dimly lit pub. He silently spikes a cup of wine with a toxic poison and hands it to the barkeep to send across the room. Upon receiving the drink, the diplomat quickly puts it down and decides to relieve himself before consuming his beverage. As he enters the bathroom, the subtlety rogue who has been waiting in the shadows for him begins to make his approach. Garrote wire in hand, the master of stealth is ready to end this man's life quietly. Unfortunately, a bystander walks in at this very moment, forcing the shade back into stealth. The diplomat dries his hands on a soft towel and exits the room. The combat rogue is standing in front of the diplomat. He grabs the noble's fine silk shirt by the collar and throws him into a table surrounded by rough-looking men. Their drinks and food and dishes fill the otherwise silent bar with a raucous noise as they hit the ground. As the rogue approaches the table, the men rise from their seats and reach for their weapons. Unfortunately for them, the agile rogue draws his tools faster. He then unleashes a barrage of stored adrenaline into his blood stream and begins smashing the bar's patrons and the unconscious diplomat with a flurry of blows from two very heavy-looking maces. Moments later, he is the only one left standing amidst a pile of bodies. He kicks the door of the bar open and walks down the street into the night. He does not close the door.
Encrypted Text: My favorite rogue addons
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about my favorite rogue addons, and how to use them to improve your WoW experience. It's about time I wrote this guide, as I'm pretty sure I promised it all the way back in fall of 2009. My planned column posting schedule was completely upheaved with the announcement of the patch 3.3 Vanish fix (which ended up being vaporware), and so I never got around to the topic of rogue addons. Luckily for you, I've had the opportunity to work with several new addons in the meantime! Now, I'm going to preface this guide with the disclaimer that I haven't had the chance to test every rogue mod out there, so if you have a favorite, please post it in the comments. I'm always looking for the best mods out there, and once I've found one that solves a particular problem, it can be a while before I go looking to replace them. With ICC becoming a more of a regular farm raid and less of a great unknown, I've had more free time to begin my period of self-examination before the next tier of content is released. If you're looking to add some spice to your rogue experience, try adding a few new addons to the mix!
Encrypted Text: Guide to patch 3.3.3 changes for rogues
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss the recent changes in patch 3.3.3, and what they mean for rogues everywhere. I can always tell when it's patch day. I don't have to read it on the forums or check our tip line for a Blizzard insider spilling the beans. All I have to do is watch my iPhone. It'll be mid-morning on a Tuesday, and my phone will start blowing up with texts from all the rogues in my address book. They're eager to bounce various spec ideas off of me, ask if I've done any testing with the new glyphs, and to see if I can spot them 40 Cardinal Rubies for their brand new gearing strategy. The answer to the last question is always "no", as I have more important things to spend my gold on, like a shiny new ilvl 277 cloak from a GDKP run. If something is rebalanced, it's done via hotfix. Only the really major changes make it into a patch, and so a patch is inherently a Big Deal. That's the reason that any rogue forum you visit for the next few days will be inundated with "what's good in 3.3.3?" threads. I'm going to do my best today to lay all of the changes on the table, and let you know which ones are important and which ones you can safely ignore. The patch notes affect all 3 rogue specs, and so you'll want to understand the updates even if you're not interested in the subtlety revival (which is more of a whimper).
Encrypted Text: Hit and expertise in Icecrown
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss hit and expertise (or the lack thereof) on ICC gear. I want to open this week's column with a quick anecdote from the life of a rogue: My fianceé's low-level shaman was being camped in Felwood by a higher-level warlock. I did my roguish duties and took care of the problem, via a sharp dagger through the rib cage. The warlock escalated the situation by bringing out a retribution paladin, whom I also dispatched. After fighting (read: them dying a lot) for some time, I was watching over the paladin's corpse. I saw him resurrect, mount, and ride off, and pursued him in stealth. I used Sprint, used Preparation, Sprinted again, and finally used my rocket boots to make up the ground. The paladin had left my sight range, due to Crusader Aura and my slowed movement in stealth, but I did not stop running. Watching me, my ward asked why I would pursue the target after they had clearly escaped my grasp. My instincts as a rogue have been honed after years of playing the class, and I am familiar in the ways of tracking my opponents. I said simply, "The wounded enemy always stops to eat". About 10 seconds later, I found the paladin sitting and eating some biscuits behind a tree (his long guild name gave him away). A few short moments later, and there was one less living soul in Felwood that night. Do you have any stories of "rogue moments" that made you certain you chose the right class at the character creation screen? I have a lot of characters. While I'm not sporting a geared 80 of every flavor, I do enjoy playing a variety of classes. Now, I don't know how many of you are in a similar situation, but with so many toons to manage, it can be pretty hard to focus on any one's needs at a time. I've always got to weigh the pros and cons of every decision: figuring out who I should buy gear for, who I should be saving my emblems on, and what my upgrade paths looks like. It can be tough work, and needless to say, I spend a good deal of time each week filling out various spreadsheets and trying to map out a plan.
