Return To Old School Is A Good Thing, Acrono Speaks Out On 3.2.2 Rogue Changes, Three Great Tournaments Over The Next Two Weeks

Have to disagree with Zileas on the new expansion, in my opinion classic WOW had the best zones/lore by far, and no I am not being nostalogic.  I still have fond memories of Duskwood the one zone in WOW that crept me out, Blackrock Mountain where rogue PVP movie producers spent their time 24/7, and Stranglehorn Valley which for me is a better looking jungle zone than anything in TBC/WOTLK not to mention all the world PVP that came with it.  The original zones already covered every possible general theme you can imagine in an MMO.  TBC introduced aliens/robots and it felt really out of place.  WOTLK is better but I still don't think any of the zones gave me the same lasting impression of classic equivalents. 

It is a shame newer players never got to fully appreciate the classic zones/dungeons Blizzard created, the revamp is a HUGE part in story progression and it makes perfect sense in an everlasting MMO.  Areas/NPCs you have visited should evolve over time, and with flying mount support I see a significant graphic upgrade as well.  I am sure they will throw enough new zones in the forms of continent extensions/islands and more than enough new PVE contents to keep the raiders happy.  Most serious raiders are into the lore behind the game and it will be an easy sell.  For casuals clearing the level 85 versions of MC/BWL/AQ40 (with modern raid mechanics) should be a lot of fun as long as they throw in good loot, many of them never did the 40-men version!

For PVPers, higher emphasis on alliance vs horde (who can forget the days of Tarren Mill/Stranglehorn Valley?), new abilities/talents that will shake up the balance chart all over again, I know I will be out there at midnight again for sure.  Can you believe the game will soon be five years old?  I was still single then, now I am married with a kid . . . 

Acrono Speaks Out On Rogue In 3.2.2

I was hoping they would just take the interrupt aspect of FOK out of the game, but they took away 30% damage as well.  I guess rogue was never intended to be one of, if not the best AOE classes in the game, and for PVE a huge portion of FOK damage comes from wound poisons, so we should still have at least mid-tier AOE damage in PVE, and the nerf really hit us hard in PVP FOK specs.

Personally the FOK spec only really worked in niche comps and was way better against cleave than ranged.  Mage/hunter/warlock can all teleport away from you and good luck trying to catch them as a combat spec.  You also have very poor survivability outside of stuns, so a rogue/destruction warlock/healer team can drop you easily if the rogue simply mutilate mutilate CB evis from behind while you are trying to catch his warlock.  In 5v5 this was even more obvious as the highest rated 5v5 rogues on SK-100 are all mutilate specced, with a small portion of them playing shadow dance/shadowstep, both of these specs are taking a hit in 3.2.2 as well, with honor among thieves procs from teammates now having a one-second cooldown.

What does that leave us?  Yet another season's worth of 41/5/25 outside of 2v2 which is now a dead bracket?  Rogue hero Acrono of Doomsquad, winner of the 2007 Warcraftmovies.com Skill Contest (along with Vurtne they were able to edge out Neilyo-kun/Drakedog at 3rd and fourth places), shared his thoughts on changes needed to keep our class in shape.

Rogue overall has become the weakest class on its own. It very much relies on partners to assist to enable them to do their job, on their own their utility compared to hunters, dks, mages, priests is laughable. Although I do understand it should be based on group pvp, but cmon, rogues use to be THE solo class, now we need a team of people holding our hand to be viable. - Acrono

I wholeheartly agree on this.  If you dueled at all in 3.2 as a PVP geared rogue, you will understand the frustration.  With the resilience buff, the select few classes we could beat on 3.1 TR with 0 resilience gear are now out of reach.  Playing Sagat in Street Fighter 4, then coming back to duel a protection paladin as a rogue, it is a heaven to hell experience.  A bad match-up should be 30 vs 70, not 0 vs 100.  Even warriors have better match-ups than rogues in 1v1.

Before WOTLK we were always the most versatile class when it came to choosing spec, though now it has all changed, we are nearly the only class forced into one spec for pvp.  I will reiterate that I am glad they are sorting FoK out, however I was hoping they would also introduce a fix to sublety to give us 2 pvp specs, which really is not too much to ask. Paladins have 3 very strong specs in arena (all doing just as well or better than mut/prep), shamans also now got good choices, warlocks have 2, priests now have shadow on top of disc and same applies to other classes. It seems they tried to give classes more choice of spec, except rogue. - Acrono

And again, none of the rogue heroes are asking for a spec to equal mutilate/prep in presentation, we just want a viable alternative.  Hunger for blood doesn't have the survivability to survive in 3v3/5v5, and full combat has a really tough time in landing a clean killing spree in these brackets.  Shadow dance damage is pathetic against new resilience formulas.  What does that leave us?

1) Remove Remorseless Attacks and place Deadly Brew here.

2) Increase Backstab's base wep damage multiplier from 150% to 200%, make shadowstep usable in roots again and increase hemo damage from 110% -> 120% base. - Acrono

Just when I called FOK nerfs being inevitable after Stars downed Yogg+0 with rogues leading AOE damage meters (Blizzard always fix PVE inconsistencies before they fix PVP), I think both changes are inevitable although we will most likely see the subtlety changes first.  Backstab/hemo even fully talented are just pathetic by WOTLK standards.  Personally rather than increasing the base damage, I rather have them giving hemo a much stronger debuff (15% armor penetration?  That is only a 5% base damage increase.  And get rid of the charges!) that scales over time and allows for more creativity and combination attacks.  But still, we can all agree subtlety needs serious revamps as the "main" rogue PVP tree.

Deadly brew and double wound is seriously the only thing that makes mutilate/prep strong.  If hemo wasn't so bad in damage per energy vs mutilate, we would all be playing CB hemo instead.  I been trying out a DOT/survivability spec lately and experimented with both mutilate and hemo.  Seriously the difference is marginal at best.  We really don't put pressure on people with mutilate damage, wound poison is the only thing that keeps us alive.  Giving deadly brew to more specs would greatly enhance diversity.

Three Great Tournaments In Two Weeks

After a serious drought in July, WOW tournaments are back in action!  We have Intel Extreme Masters next Wed, the first ever 3.2 tournament!  How will the European RMPs adapt to the 3.2 changes?  Don't miss Yiska's European perspective. 

While this will be an interesting tournament to watch, the best teams are all going to be at Blizzcon 48 hours later.  So the quality of the roster is questionable.  Rumor says Bodi of WOM received a media pass and will be at the show to provide some of the live coverages . . .

The week after Blizzcon super weekend, we will have MLG Dallas featuring X6 the European champion and Button Basher aka HON from Korea. 

It is a great, great month to be a fan of WOW, don't miss it!

Get $hit On, Literally

How many diapers do you have to change for a child's first 30 months? 

Answer: 5000-7000

And with that many diaper changes, it is just a matter of time before you get RNGed and have to take a shower and change clothes . . . for both of you . . .

All I can say is I am glad season 6 gladiator title is locked in for my 3v3 team, by the time season 7 opens, hopefully we won't have to change 4 diapers in one hour . .