Countdown to Rogue's Golden Age In TBC, PTR wrap-up

2.3 is less than 24 hours away and the rogue community finally received the patch they deserved. 2.3 will be the equivalent of pre-TBC 1.12, when hemo was unquestionably the best spec and rogues with enough finesse beat everyone with it. As a class that relies on ending fights as fast as possible, we shine when the damage to survivability ratio is at its peak. And 2.3/season 3 will be our golden age in TBC.



Right here on PTR, I realized to defend the honor of the rogue community, it is much more than just a few rogue class heroes beating tough classes. A class is strong when the majority of the players can defend themselves, this is why I will soon condense the rushdown style into pre-canned, easy to follow packages, and teach my jutsus to others. In every PTR so far, whenever I walk outside of IF I saw full gladiator rogues lose to every class in the book. Warriors with lesser gear beat rogues with superior gear and we were owned by mages, warlocks, you name it.



Not 2.3, where every rogue on PTR was some sort of hemo spec and not afraid to unload the wrath of preparation on their foes. I saw warriors with full S2 gear brought to their knees by not just myself, Neilyo or Ultimus, but countless other rogue players. I saw rogues dominate SL/SL warlocks with brutal damage. The majority of the rogues are finally winning duels on PTR! That is the sign of a strong class. I have said it before and I will say it again, for rogue, a class without any buff or real support skills for others, for us to be a dominant force in arena play we must be top tier in 1v1.



While dagger went the way of destruction warlocks, the AR/prep spec solved all of my complaints about a rogue in arena play. Our long range sap/blind, neither can be dispelled is *the* unique ability I have been waiting for all along. While top paladins have became unbearable in duels as a result, blind can not be removed by anything outside of PVP trinkets / invulnerabilities is a dramatic upgrade. 1.5 minute blind that costs no money to spam will also generate a lot of complaints in PUG BGs, as rogues will use this ability far more often than we have been.



And like PVE, where Blizzard decided rogue's only value was DPS so they gave us the highest single target DPS in the game, the buff to hemo gave us the best single target DPS during the opening minute of an arena match. The other team is now forced to guard us, maybe even double/triple team us, and we have more defensive cooldowns than anyone else. My biggest pain playing arena as rogue/mage/priest, was the fact that the other team often left me alone and allowed me DPS to my heart's content, and just shutdown my mage. If the other team is afraid of my two AR's and puts pressure on me, it will open up the game for everyone else. I can't imagine what kind of numbers rogue with warglaive will put up, with 4T6 and rest all PVP pieces.



The final night of PTR was somewhat laggy and I watched Ultimus's very
unique shadowstep build against Venruki and Duskashes. This build is
extremely sensitive on timing and lag plays a huge factor in getting
off the shadowstep KS's. Ultimus ended up losing 2-4 to both but with
molten armor and the 0/5/56 anti-melee spec , outside of speccing
anti-mage yourself (25/0/36 for fleet footed. enveloping shadows and
CB/hemo), it is just not possible to beat them. I have to say I was
extremely impressed by Venruki's ability to adapt to an opponent's
playing style. Our first series as AR/Prep I took a 1-0 lead and he
beat me four in a row to end the series. Our second series I went
25/0/36 with full anti-mage talents to counter his anti-melee build, I
had a 3-0 lead but he broke my heart with some incredibly clutch
performances down the stretch to win the series once again. Against
Ultimus's style, which focuses on vanishing to wait out the pet and
running the mage out of manas and cooldowns, once again he was down 0-1
but quickly adjusted his strategies to win four of the next five.
Duskashes took a page from Venruki and is now using molten armor 100%
of the times against rogues, and it is downright ugly.



Likewise, I had a very rough time vs Klip, a holy paladin with mixed
PVP / T6 gear. He beat Ultimus's OOM style 4-3 in Blade's Edge Arena
the night before but against my rushdown style he is just tough as
nails. Fighting a human paladin with perception on open ground is
really rough. His T6 trinket puts a DOT on me whenever I get judged
and it really annoys the hell out of me when I need to bandage or a
quick vanish. Without resorting to eating/drinking I just can't see
anyone beating him without warglaives. Prior to him copying over a new
character I could at least get 30-40% of the matches, but he was able
to sweep me with his shiny new gear and I have to try him again when I
get S3 stuff.



In any case, rogue is now balanced with prep in mind. A AR/prep (which
will also be our most popular arena build) rogue on live servers
popping prep should be able to beat just about any arena geared/specced
player. PTR is a whole new ball game because people spec and gear
specifically to counter rogues. Even then, by the middle of season 3,
once I obtain full S3 gear and switch my very conservative
gems/enchants with pure DPS, I should be able to complete my rushdown
style and get over the hump.