rogues
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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Both sides now
Back when Going Rogue was first released, I made a point that I wasn't going into detail on the alignment and tip system. As I saw it at the time, there were two major reasons not to go whole-hog into it, the first being that I was already writing an entire novel on the expansion, and the second being that Paragon Wiki was hard at work putting more details into place. Why try to reinvent the wheel in a weekly column? And there was also a third reason: I'd been spending more time in Praetoria than on my old characters. So I suppose in some way I ought to thank whichever designer gave my poor brute the chance to fight two elite bosses at the same time with three NPCs as backup in a single-player mission. It gave me plenty of incentive to spend more time with my higher-level characters. (Seriously, that mission is absurd.) That meant I started diving into the alignment system, and that means I'm going to spend more time detailing one of the centerpieces of City of Heroes gameplay at the moment: alignment.
New Going Rogue video documentary hits the City of Heroes Facebook page
Having celebrated its sixth anniversary back in April, City of Heroes is a bit of an old dog in the MMO world. But it's proving quite adept at learning new tricks, with Going Rogue bringing out a big new trick in the form of its morality system. Allowing players not only to play heroes or villains but several intermediate forms in between, the ability to change allegiance is one of the expansion's biggest selling points -- as well as being the focus of the second video documentary, available on the game's Facebook page. While the video doesn't reveal every piece of system information on changing from hero to villain or vice versa, it does talk more about the choices that go into such a shift. We've been hearing for some time that players will be making choices within the missions of Going Rogue, and it's explained here as well. It also discusses in brief how Praetoria is a framework removed from the hero-villain dichotomy of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, allowing players to make choices and shape morality from the ground up. City of Heroes players are encouraged to take a look at the documentary and leave their comments on the page, as the developers are due to check in there throughout the day.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting rogues
Uh-oh. Rogues. Those sneaky little bastards could be anywhere. Out of all the classes in the game, there is perhaps no class no more feared for their PvP prowess than rogues. Rogues gain a fearsome reputation by virtue of the nature of the class alone -- they can Stealth. Because of rogues, everyone has to literally watch their backs. No place is safe because a rogue can be lying in lurking in some dark corner waiting to strike at the proper time. Through years of leveling in a PvP server, there is no sound in the game more unsettling than the low humming whoosh of a nearby stealthed rogue. In fact, rogue (and by extension, feral druid) stealth is the single biggest reason why I don't PvP with music on. And for rogues, it's all about timing. In the Battlegrounds, it isn't uncommon to find rogues preying on the weak, those low on life, the defenseless players eating or drinking. They can't help it. It's in their nature. The class encourages foul play through Stealth and a wonderful repertoire of attacks from behind. Rogues are at their best when catching their opponents off guard and are extremely capable of doing so. After the jump, we'll take a closer look at the basic things to expect when fighting a rogue regardless of their spec.
The Daily Quest: Bleeding hearts
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Miss Medicina explains, exhaustively, why the Oculus experiment was a failure. Blame Squelchy explains how Heartpierce works and why Mutilate rogues should be all over it. Cold Comfort provides you the reader with a great post showing time-to-Emblem ratio in Heroic dungeons. WoW in an Hour explores the best class choices when you only have a small amount of time to spare. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Blood Sport: Beginner's guide to arena, part III
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column. Listening Music: Modeselektor's Tetrispack. Allison Robert offered a challenge to our most beloved columnist last week. Ms. Roberts has chosen a clever and palatable piece with Richard Shindell's On-A-Sea-Of-Fleur-De-Lis. And now we come to my retaliation. My wife recommended our musical selection today -- it just happened to be on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum. How fitting. We love this song, albeit mostly for the intro. Upon your first listen, if you correctly predict the timing and type of shift in the first thirty seconds, serious e-props to you. To wit, Robert: pan flute > no pan flute. Your move. Last Week: part two of our beginner's arena guide. We featured the cute ukulele kid who pretty much controls the internet right now. After that, we discussed frequently asked questions from new arena players. We talked about how to spec and what team composition to choose, with two different types of answers (easy and long). Today, we'll be talking some very basic class strategy. If you know your class inside and out, you'll know what I'm going to say when it comes to your class and arena. You can still learn about other classes here. I've written over 2500 words about individual class perspective inside arenas, that's a lot. Full article after the break.
Blood Sport: Patch 3.2.2, the times they are a-changin, Part II
In keeping with our musical theme, here's David Bowie's Changes. Most of you have probably heard it, but most of us have not really listened to it. Take some time to enjoy one of Bowie's most renowned pieces with the article today.Last time, I went over a few significant arena modifications that 3.2.2 brought us. Square pillars for line-of-sight, the armor penetration nerf, focus frames, flying in battlegrounds, and the Onyxia loot table can be found here.This article is going to talk about five of the nine classes discussed in the 3.2.2 patch notes (warlocks were left out). The reason we won't be talking about the other four is sheer article size. I'm not getting blamed for breaking anyone's scroll wheel today! We'll go over death knights, hunters, druids, and mages in the second part of this part II (which should be in a day or two).I'm giving analysis on class changes; I hope we will agree on most things, but if you disagree or decide I don't understand a mechanic properly, please let me know in the comments below. I read all your comments and am often stunned with how gracious our readers have been towards me. Thank you for all the kind words, those of you who took the time to write them!Please don't assume that I don't care if I don't write a large amount about the horrors of nerfing or the glories of buffing your main character's class (triple negative hooray). I probably don't know enough about the intricacies of the change to make an educated prediction, and would say little rather than proclaim "this will gimp class X vs. class Y" and have it fail to come to fruition.I'm going to be ignoring all non-pvp related notes. If you think I left something out, please post a comment below and I will (most likely) edit the post accordingly.Also, 3.3 patch notes are out already! Next week, part III will be merged with the 3.3 patch notes that are coming; there's a lot to talk about!So, without further ado, here's what 3.2.2 is cha-cha-cha-cha-changing in the arena world.
Vanish "change" coming in patch 3.3
Ghostcrawler (who decided to back off the forums, and then decided to back off that decision slightly) is now back on the forums with word of a change that Rogues will probably be intrigued by: he promises, in patch 3.3, a "change" to Vanish. That's about all we get, unfortunately -- some players assume that it's the Vanish fix they've been seeking for so long, but it sounds more to me like a reworking than a straight-out fix, considering that he points out that if Blizzard finds it's too much of a buff to Rogues (is he actually saying that Vanish working as intended is OP?) then they'll nerf it down.Anyway, as for when we'll get to try it out, GC gives an official "soon (tm)," so look for a fix on a 3.3 PTR near you coming up quick. Hopefully they've come up with a solution that both keeps Rogues happy in terms of using Vanish the way it's intended, and also keeps the ability in line with other classes in the game.
Encrypted Text: Rogue loot guide to patch 3.2.2
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 new gear (mostly weapons) available in patch 3.2.2 and Brewfest.Much to everyone's surprise, Blizzard released patch 3.2.2 this week. I've talked extensively about what this patch means for Assassination Rogues via the Deadly Poison and Envenom changes, and how hard the loss of Throwing Specialization and a 30% damage cut will be hitting Fan of Knives. With the recently stealth buffs to Volley that snuck their way into the 3.2.2 patch, I am already wondering where Rogues and Hunters will land in PvE after the dust settles. The FoK nerf will hurt some of our AoE-centric PvP builds and compositions, but I don't feel that these strategies had much going for them in the first place besides an obviously overpowered talent.Patch 3.2.2 also brings us Onyxia reborn, completely re-tuned for all of her level 80 glory. This means that she's not only been buffed to challenge level 80 raiders, but her gear has been taken up a notch as well. With ilvl 232 rewards from her 10 man version, and ilvl 245 gear from slaying her with 24 friends, there will be many Rogues foraying into her lair. There are also a few new items available from the Brewfest holiday, one of which surprised even me. Read on for the full details.
The Daily Grind: Do you stick to the same class?
With all the choice in MMOs in terms of who and what you can do, it seems like some of us are inexplicably drawn to the same classes over and over. For example, our own Features Editor, Dan O'Halloran, absolutely loves Druids. When he found out that there were going to be Druids in Runes of Magic, he offered to write the Druid class overview for them himself. My particular guilty pleasure is Rogues. Even though Fallen Earth has a classless system, I'm still running around with a couple of shivs and a length of pipe - enjoying that up-close stabby-stabby (and wishing for stealth options). Others we know are almost always Hunters, still others love to play Priests. With all that said, this morning we thought we'd ask you - is there a particular class archetype you find yourself gravitating towards? Do you prefer to tank up front, with a huge sword and shield? Is your particular passion the ability to hurl magical damage at your opponents? Can you not resist playing any pet classes available? Do you have an archetype you like to play? Or do you just jump in and look for whatever suits you best in each particular game?
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Trial of the Crusader, part 3
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 some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding the final boss of Trial of the Crusader.Azjol'nerub was merely a setback for the final boss we face in the Trial of the Crusader. Anub'arak (too many apostrophes in the Nerubian language, I say) decides to crash the party and Arthas' powerful shockwave drops you right into his lair. We're put face-to-face with the Traitor King himself, even though we've already bested him once in Northrend.This is one of the simpler fights in terms of mechanics, compared to a very long and drawn out encounter like Yogg-Saron or Mimiron. It's by no means easy, however, and Anub'Arak's heroic 25-man version has only been conquered by a handful of guilds worldwide. Between several new fight mechanics and very distinct phases, the encounter is fast-paced and very fun from a Rogue's perspective. After the cut, I'll talk about the specific details you can use to help your raid group conquer this over-sized beetle.
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Trial of the Crusader, part 2
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 some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding the third and fourth bosses in the Trial of the Crusader.Not even a full week had passed, and already not one, but two guilds were able to clear their way through the heroic version of Trial of the Grand Crusader. While it may have been due to soulstone exploits or spamming Holy Wrath, either way, one of the Lich King's most powerful warriors and oldest companions died to the might of the Horde (or maybe some Alliance cowards got lucky).I've had the luxury of fighting my way through and also defeating Anub'arak, though only on normal difficulty so far. This week, I'll cover some of the tips and tricks that I've picked up in my clearings of the Trial of the Crusader, with a focus on the next 2 encounters in the instance.
Encrypted Text: Rogue tips for raiding Trial of the Crusader, part 1
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 some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding Trial of the Crusader.Arthas looms over us from his massive tower in Icecrown Citadel, Our mission in Northrend, assigned to us by the brass at Ravenholdt, is to assassinate the Lich King. Unfortunately, all attempts to gain access to his fortress have been thwarted by the million or so Undead inside, whom Blizzard decided to grace with Stealth Detection. With our primary method of infiltration foiled, we've had to look at other options for our clandestine objectives.Tirion Fordring, the accursed leader of the Ret Paladin order, has summoned the leaders of the Horde and Alliance as well as any willing soldiers to compete for the opportunity to spearhead a mission into Northrend's most exclusive icy throne. The latest missive we received from Lord Jorach indicates that we are to disguise ourselves as members of a fighting force, and to enter and win the competition in order to gain access to Icecrown Citadel. The survival of our raid mates is secondary to the completion of the mission.
Encrypted Text: Patch 3.2.2 updates and BlizzCon news
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 Rogue news from Blizzcon and the latest PTR build.Due to a bit of luck on BlizzCon ticket day, I was able to score a pair of tickets for one of this year's most desired events. I had a great time at the WoW.com reader meetup, and getting the opportunity to play as both a Goblin and Worgen Rogue really highlighted the weekend for me. I'm also excited at how Diablo III and Starcraft II are coming along; I am eagerly awaiting their releases.However, it wasn't all fun and games. I had serious business to attend to, I had to use this opportunity to spend time with the WoW developers and ask some of the more important questions facing Rogues today. During the 2nd Class Discussion Panel, I got the opportunity to ask Ghostcrawler one question in front of the crowd. What'd I ask? About Vanish, of course! As expected, there's no timeline for a possible fix, but they don't want us to have to wait until Cataclysm for our most unique defense cooldown to provide more reliable protection.
Encrypted Text: Patch 3.2.2 and the Great FoK Nerf
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 patch 3.2.2 notes and what Rogues can expect to see.Fan of Knives, how I loved thee. If you haven't read the patch notes yet, you can find them in Alex's writeup. Rogues actually received a few changes this time (a deviation from the norm), and all 3 are nerfs across the board. One is a fairly innocuous change to Honor Among Thieves, which has actually be functioning incorrectly for the past few months. The other two are sweeping nerfs to Fan of Knives: directly by reducing the damage done by 30%, and indirectly by removing the Interruption effect from Throwing Specialization.
Encrypted Text: The Rogue Q&A in review
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 Rogue Q & A recently released by Blizzard.Last week, Blizzard released the long-awaited (at least by me) Rogue Q&A series. Ghostcrawler and the rest of the community team answered many of our long-standing questions, and gave us some insight into where Rogues are headed as a class. You can read the full details of the Q&A that Eliah posted for us.After reading the questions and answers, I breathed a sigh of relief. No hints or indications of any nerfs coming our way, and Blizzard actually acknowledged several longstanding flaws with the class. Not only that, but they actually provided possible solutions; I'll be taking them with a grain of salt. New Rogues are excited about our class' complexity and diversity, while experienced Rogues are proud that we are now respected as damage dealers instead of being seen as second-class DPS.The highlights are after the cut.
World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 Rogue Guide
WoW.com has covered patch 3.2 extensively. Everything from the surprising changes to flying mounts, to the latest and greatest loot, and all the changes in between. In our patch 3.2 class, raiding, and PvP guides we take a look at exactly what changes and how the changes will affect your playing. As I've been saying for quite some time, Rogues are in a pretty good place in WoW right now. We're competitive in the arena and battleground scene, and our PvE DPS is definitely at the level we should expect as a pure DPS class. With the upcoming nerfs to some of our biggest rivals (Feral Druids in particular), Patch 3.2 will simply be more of the same for the Rogue class.We've got 3 viable specs for PvE progression (though HaT is underused), and Combat has seen a rebirth in the 3v3 and 5v5 brackets via the potency of Fan of Knives, Blade Flurry, and Killing Spree for AoE pressure and massive application of poisons to all targets. The only real change coming in 3.2 will be our new capacity for wielding Axes. I don't know about you, but I've already got two Axes enchanted and ready to go!
Class Q&A: Rogue
The class Q&A series continues with Rogue, the stabbiest class. Look for a more complete analysis later; for now, here's a quick summary, with the full Q&A after the cut. Priest is now the only class left, but don't despair, my clerical friends – I'm sure they saved the best for last. I hope. Rogues are for DPS. Historically, they have been "selfish" - little group utility. Right now they have better utility and synergy. They've always been strong in PvP, because of stealth, stun, and burst. The devs are happy with the way the combo point/finisher system is working right now. A proposed solution for Vanish! "...Vanish puts you in stealth for 1 second minimum no matter what else happens." Hunger for Blood is meant to boost PvE damage without doing much for PvP, and as such it works, but is boring. Changes are in store for the long run. They want it to be more reactive, and also put it back into PvP. They would like to make Subtlety competitive in PvE, but if they make it too good players will all switch to it because of the utility. Long-term, some Sub utility might become core, or some damage from other trees might become core so the choice is utility vs utility (not utility vs damage). Rogues underperform in dungeons, as a consequence of scaling so well in raids. If you're not doing good DPS in raids, "the problem exists between the chair and the keyboard." Rogues are too survivable when they can use all their tricks on one target, and too squishy when they can't. Long-term, they want to move some survivability to passive abilities. Combat Daggers is dead because Blizzard thinks that it was clunky and unfun. Don't expect more class-specific content any time soon - they would like to do it, but it's low on the priority list. The full Q&A from Ghostcrawler and friends is below.
Encrypted Text: Three's a crowd
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 play a Rogue in 3v3.As part of the new design for the upcoming Arena Season 7, Blizzard is planning to remove the ability for a player's 2v2 rating to count towards their eligibility for the current season's rewards. This means that unless you're playing in the 3v3 or 5v5 arena brackets, you won't qualify for any of the newest gear. As a class who's dominance has always been most prominent in the 2's bracket, I believe this change hurts the Rogue the most. We're one of the worst classes in 5v5, and that's a trend that has continued since Season 1. Luckily, we do have viability in 3v3. When combined with a caster and a healer, Rogues provide the leverage it takes to give their teammates an opening to unload powerful spells into the target while stunned and their healer is Blinded. While our problems with low survivability are more evident when there are 2-3 DPS pounding on us, with intelligent cooldown usage and an aggressive playstyle, Rogues can conquer the 3's bracket.
Phat Loot Phriday: Touch of Madness
Since Rogues will be able to break out the Axes in patch 3.2, here's one for you stabby-stabby types to start aiming for now.Name: Touch of Madness (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDB)Type: Epic One-hand AxeDamage/Speed: 297-552 / 2.60 (163.3 DPS)Attributes: +24 Agility, +52 Stamina Improves hit rating by 34, crit strike rating by 26, and attack power by 92 %Gallery-33600%
Encrypted Text: The Lumberjack 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 VERY tongue-in-cheek about the upcoming addition of Axes to the Rogue arsenal.As it turns out, my cynicism last week was completely unfounded. I had assumed Death Knights would be getting the new weapon skill that Blizzard had thrown up for grabs, and that we'd have yet another class rolling on Fist weapons. However, Rogues were the recipient of this new buff, and we'll now be able to use Axes in the upcoming patch!While many of the old Rogue veterans may put the kibosh on using anything that's not a dagger, I'd like to see us take the opportunity to embrace this change. Orc Rogues will be able to take full advantage of Axe Specialization (which will actually include Fists in 3.2), and it opens up the door to an entirely new playstyle that I like to call 'The Lumberjack'. You'll see what I mean, after the cut.
