Drysc: Rogue 41-point talents are getting buffed
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Feb 15th 2007 at 2:43PM
Yep, the official word has come down from Drysc that two of the rogue 41-point talents, Mutilate and Surprise Attacks, are getting buffs. "The talents are both working towards a general flavor of what we want them to give, but the gain they provide isn't quite what we would like to see," Drysc wrote. He added that he doesn't have any more specifics, but that new talent changes would be posted on the WoW website.
I'm really interested to see what the buffs will be, particularly for Surprise Attacks, which was always underwhelming (finishing moves cannot be dodged, and the damage from Sinister Strike, Backstab, Shiv and Gouge is increased by 10 percent.) I hope that Mutilate is changed in some way that helps rogues against poison-immune mobs, because farming elementals is a pain for us. Whatever happens, it would be great if we could have some way to either increase our raid DPS or decrease getting hit by everyone's stupid 360 degree cleaves or AOEs.
Do you think these talents need buffing? How would you change Surprise Attacks and Mutilate? What else would you like to see Blizzard change in the 41-point talents?
Edited to add: The forum topic has mysteriously disappeared overnight, but the quote up there is definitely from Drysc. The mystery deepens!
Edited to add again: Apparently this was an old post that was bumped by pranksters unknown, in an attempt to make it look like Blizzard was visiting the rogue forums. It fooled many, including me, and it was deleted because of that.
Filed under: Rogue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Arras Feb 15th 2007 4:22PM
topic deleted? hope it's for real, rogues could use some help
Roguerhunter Feb 15th 2007 2:59PM
Good for them!!! My main is a Hunter but I always believed that every class goes though evolution and this just makes it more interesting to fight them. Even though we got Nerfed as hunters we have to adapt and later again we will soon see evolution take its course...
Zuuler Feb 15th 2007 2:55PM
Ehh....
As a caster I always hate to see rogues get buffed. But I'm not complaining. With or without the buff's, if a rogue takes me by surprise(which is usually the case), I have little chance of survival.
TwhiT Feb 15th 2007 5:27PM
Shadowstep FTW ^_^
i personally don't like either one of those b/c w/ the shadowstep its waaay ez to pickpocket and the bonus that it gives for the next shot is amaz-a-ing! lol
Tagga Feb 16th 2007 8:55AM
Ah. The official post has been deleted or is the link wrong? I couldn't find thid post on the official WoW forums.
Wasyl Feb 15th 2007 5:24PM
This is great news, I don't mind the poison thing on Mutilate much (except for poison immunity), but Surprise Attacks is just a downright awful 41-point talent. Hopefully they can use this opportunity to give us more raid viability.
Jim Feb 15th 2007 5:29PM
Rogues don't need a buff, and particularly don't need help simply because they have a tough time against elementals. Many classes have trouble against different types of mobs; the players should play adaptively. Can't kill elementals? Train up your fishing and fish for motes in Pure Water. Or kill a ton of humanoids, sell their netherweave cloth and use the money to buy primals.
Mekias Feb 15th 2007 3:32PM
You should try farming elementals as an elemental shaman. Things are immune to almost all my spells.
My combat rogue will certainly be happy with a buff to Surprise Attacks. That's gotta be the most boring 41 point talent in the game although it's not quite as useless as my shaman's 41 point Totem of Wrath. Thing should have been called Totem of Minor Irritation.
Christian Holton Feb 15th 2007 5:35PM
So when are tanks going to see some love? I'd really like to see Devastate get a DPS boost.
Justin Feb 16th 2007 1:26AM
Wish they would pay more attention to the priest community.
Aside from shadow they need some serious help with their 41 point talents (31 for holy as well).
crsh Feb 15th 2007 3:55PM
Awesome news.
With BC going live, I went full Subtlety because the 41-pt Combat talent is horrible (and broken, might I add), and since I don't use daggers, Mutilate is no good for me. My rogue was specced Combat for the longest time until the continuous buffs to the Sub tree took it from the weakest Rogue talent tree to the most fun one.
Heyasuki Feb 15th 2007 3:57PM
Mutilate getts buffed?!? Yummy! I already thought it was pretty good I wonder what their going to do...
Tibbsy Feb 15th 2007 4:27PM
Odd, I also found Shadowstep to be silly compared to the other two ultimates:
For a rogue,Shadowstep is basically a blink, while stealthed. Except that you use it to get out of anything, and it lands you right behind a target if that target is within range. Sounds great so far - in fact, you even get an offensive buff for your opener. There's only a slight problem: your targets move. What could is reappearing behind your target as they run away from you? The time it takes to "blink" to your target, plus the 1-second global cooldown means that your target is out of melee range by the time you're even able to open up.
A major problem is its limitation of use. I think it should be usable in combat - I've seen mobs do it to me in tBC, and I think it would increase its viability, in comparison to other alternatives, such as taking a 21st point talent like Cold Blood.
I agree with Drysc's statement - none of the ultimates appear amazing enough to take over a 21st point talent from another tree.
Tibbsy Feb 15th 2007 4:29PM
sorry, a clarification: you CAN'T use it to get out of anything. Blink helps you get out of roots and stuns - Shadowstep does not by its convention that you must be stealthed to use it.
griffdog Feb 15th 2007 7:50PM
This was not a real update but rather a topic and post from 6 months ago that someone bumped and has thus been removed.
Rick Feb 17th 2007 12:55PM
The funny thing is that rogues aren't asking to be buffed. SA was always pretty worthless so that getting a buff is cool, and Mutilate, while not what many rogues think a 41pt. talent should be, is pretty decent. The rogues that are complaining right now are complaining about damage meters, and pve usefulness that's it.
Krianna Feb 15th 2007 9:26PM
Mages have a heck of a time with fire or water elementals-- and I truly hated the time I spent with the hot water elementals in 1k needles.... Immune to ice, resistant to fire, and I didn't have enought mana to use missles to kill them all....
Lucas Feb 16th 2007 4:35AM
@16:
Yeah, well they dont, priest is working as intended - that's why you dont see any priests with Pain supression or that holy thing... oh and why have IMpr. fade in shadow tree, and impr. dmg/tohit to shadow spells in Disc tree, when it would benefit to have them switch place, then perhaps someone might even use them..
Anywho...
If they really would do anything for rogues they would help them Dump Aggro... cus keep these bastards alive is like pissing blood on piranhas...
As of lately I have just started letting rogues die, this is not very fun for the Group in KZ and the likes, but they really should learn to stop taking aggro from the tank, and play their class.
//Tallens'out
cheesebanana Feb 16th 2007 6:47AM
@17.
Not take aggro from the tank? You clearly haven't been to karazhan as a rogue have you. Its without a doubt the worst instance to be a rogue in to date. As a rogue thats cleared every instance to date (including karazhan) i can assure you of that.
Its not stealing aggro from tanks, its cleaves and AoE damage that 2-shots us. Its mobs that wipe aggro every 5 seconds and turn around and 1 shot the nearest rogue. Its 5 mobs needing tanking at once and a tank that doesn't have enough rage to hold one of them off the rogue.
I salute all rogues in karazhan.
Wartoad Feb 16th 2007 9:43AM
Surprise attacks seriously needs a buff. It is underwhelming. As it currently exists, it's more of a tier 2-3 talent.