WoW Patch 3.1 PTR Rogue changes
by Chase Christian 
Feb 24th 2009 at 3:30PM
After a bit of testing, and reading over the unofficial patch notes, I've seen quite a few changes for Rogues coming up. Ghostcrawler had given us a few ideas on what to look forward to, and for the most part they delivered exactly what we had been expecting. Combat has had several changes designed around the idea of making it a PvE viable tree in more situations. Hunger for Blood had its mechanic altered.However, there are more than a few unexpected changes, including significant rebalancing of our poison system and some new glyphs. After the cut, I'll cover the basics of what's changed for Rogues in 3.1: for the good, and for the worse.
Poisons:
-Poisons are now based on a PPM model.
-Envenom increases your chance to apply Instant Poison by 75% (up from 15%) for 6 seconds.
-Improved Poisons now increases your change to apply Instant Poison by 50% (up from 10%).
Blizzard has decided to nerf the double Webbed Death combo that was currently topping the Mutilate charts. A PPM system for poisons heavily favors slow weapons, and so it will remain to be seen what specs and weapon choices will shake to the top of the pile. Blizzard still wants us doing poison damage, but we'll see what turns out for us. What poisons are proc-per-minute based and what those PPMs have changed to are still under investigation.
Hunger for Blood:
-Hunger for Blood is now a single-stacking 15% damage buff, but requires there to be a bleed on the target.
-Glyph of Hunter for Blood: Increases damage by 1% per application.
It looks like Blizzard forgot to proofread the Glyph on this one, as it is suited for the old version of HfB. We'll see what it looks like later. However, I see this change as a slight nerf, since we will no longer be able to pre-cast HfB for trash, etc. The pain of losing HfB is significantly reduce, though.
Expose Armor:
-Expose Armor now reduces armor by 20%.
With the low value of Armor Penetration, I don't see this as a buff in any way. Expose Armor previously helped us to destroy low-armor targets, whereas this new change removes that ability.
Combat Buffs:
-Savage Combat now increases damage by 4% (up from 2%).
-Adrenaline Rush now has a 3 minute cooldown (down from 5).
-Lightning Reflexes is now a 3 point talent for 6% dodge and 10% melee haste (yay!).
-Killing Spree increases all damage done by 20% while in the spree.
With the possible nerf to Mutilate/poison builds and the prevalence of Shiv builds currently, we may all be speccing combat very soon.
Glyphs:
-Glyph of Killing Spree (45 seconds off cooldown)
-Glyph of Adrenaline Rush (AR lasts 5 seconds longer)
-Glyph of Shadow Dance (lasts 4 seconds longer)
-Glyph of Fan of Knives (FoK does 20% more damage)
-Glyph of Tricks of the Trade (adds 10% additional bonus damage, so 25%)
-Glyph of Mutilate (Mutilate energy cost reduced by 5 – about time!)
-Glyph of Cloak of Shadows (while Cloak is up, 40% less physical damage taken)
With the buffs to Killing Spree, Adrenaline Rush, and Fan of Knives, Combat has become a serious contender for PvE powerhouse. I am personally going to be investing in a slower main hand weapon to give this spec a shot (once I'm able to get onto the PTR). Adrenaline Rush + Fan of Knives spam will become the AoE build that other classes dream about.
The Mutilate Glyph is insane, as with the 4 piece Tier 7 bonus and Overkill, you'll be throwing 40 energy Mutilates for 6 seconds. Unfortunately it does little to help our sustained damage: Mutilate has never been a high percentage of our overall damage. The Cloak of Shadows and Tricks of the Trade glyphs will be very useful for PvP, especially on teams without a healer.
Tomorrow morning I will have a full breakdown of these changes, as well as any other changes that crop up.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Rogue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Inureck Feb 24th 2009 3:35PM
Mage changes incoming?
jerzz80 Feb 24th 2009 11:05PM
nobody likes mages.
MisterBook Feb 24th 2009 3:36PM
A PPM system doesn't favor fast or slow weapons, by definition. It procs (on average) the same number of times per minute, regardless of the speed of your weapons.
Thalium Feb 24th 2009 3:39PM
I think he meant to say that a PPM system no longer favors fast weapons and that Mutilate will go back to favoring slow weapons (as it should be).
Tinwhisker Feb 24th 2009 3:49PM
A PPM system shows no favoritism with regards to slow or fast. However, Focused attacks does. Normally this would be offset by having a special that did high enough damage to offset Focused Attacks but this is unlikely as Mutilate was recently nerfed.
It still remains to be seen which is more powerful, Focused Attacks or Mutilate, but the smart money says that if the weapons in question are reasonably close in stats, the faster one may well win because Energy regen is key to DPS.
Grubba Feb 24th 2009 3:59PM
If that's what he meant, he should have said it. He didn't.
And on-topic, I'm not sure how big an impact this will have as long as the focused attacks/combat potency mechanics still have a static percentage to proc. These will still favor faster weapons.
Chase Christian Feb 24th 2009 4:02PM
What I meant by the comment was that a PPM system favors a slow weapon in the sense that with an equal number of poison procs per minute, a slow weapon is the better choice due to instant attack scaling. That is, a PPM system doesn't force us into quick weapons like the current system does. Compared to our current % chance to proc, PPM favors slow.
Full analysis tomorrow guys!
Grubba Feb 24th 2009 4:03PM
Should have refreshed before posting. Curse you, Tinwhisker!
Pfooti Feb 25th 2009 9:08AM
Thank you, Chase. MisterBook is laboring under the weight of not knowing what a PPM system is. Factoring instant attacks into any PPM system (as this mongoose-using pre-LK rogue could tell you) means you like slow weapons more than fast, all else being equal.
Thalium Feb 24th 2009 3:37PM
Not bad at all. Time to dust off the rogue once patch hits.
com5 Feb 24th 2009 3:45PM
I still think the double Webbed Deaths are still viable for PVE. It still notes that Imp. Poisons and Envenom increases our chances to apply Instant Poison. Plus Focused Attacks still favor faster weapon speeds rather than slower, so couple that with Glyph of Mutilate and 4 set bonus from tier gear, will definitely make WD highly sought after. (as if they still weren't)
My hopes are that Blizz will put in a couple more 1.3-1.4 atkspeed daggers in Ulduar when it comes out.
zappo Feb 24th 2009 3:44PM
"The pain of losing HfB is significantly reduced, though."
Depends on how you look at it. I think this will only create a bigger issue with wind-up time which has always been an problem with rogues. The nice thing about the old HfB is that there was no song and dance "need to be poisoned, behind the target, and on one foot" type conditionals. Assuming you do two mutilates for 4-5 CP, then rupture, and only then get to buff yourself. The alternative being garrote but most people aren't going to wait for a rogue to stealth over in groups. Overall I'm thinking this is going to be a pain in the butt on instance trash that tends to die a bit too fast.
It'll be interesting to see where the numbers land between PPM poisons and energy regen procs... I guess.
Meritus Feb 24th 2009 4:04PM
It doesn't say that YOU have to apply a bleed effect.
If you are in a group then there will be plenty of other classes that apply bleed effects. i.e. (Warrior, Druid, Marksmen Hutner(new talent), etc.
I really dont expect the required bleed effect to be a significant issue in groups/raids.
zappo Feb 24th 2009 4:32PM
In a raid yes, in groups not so much. I'm in groups all the time without any of the classes you mentioned and in a few raids I'm sure. I better start making new friends.
Invisible Elf Feb 24th 2009 3:45PM
I do not like the poison and HfB changes, for solo grinding that is. It will almost be impossible to keep HfB up when soloing, and also for heroic trash it will be hard. This is a pretty huge nerf to overall mutilate damage, the only place it will really do well now is boss fights or tough trash.
com5 Feb 24th 2009 3:55PM
It'd be a waste to use HfB for soloing since they'd die so quick. Cut to the Chase should always be on your to do list.
Invisible Elf Feb 24th 2009 4:43PM
You put on Hfb while running from one mob to the next one. Keeping up 3 stacks while grinding is no problem
Grubba Feb 24th 2009 5:05PM
"You put on Hfb while running from one mob to the next one. Keeping up 3 stacks while grinding is no problem"
Did you read *anything* he posted about the changes to Hunger for Blood?
Lemons Feb 25th 2009 1:07AM
Wow, Grubba, just wow...
Invisible Elf is referring to the way HfB currently works, not how it's going to work in 3.1.
Spec Feb 24th 2009 3:48PM
What happen to the Mace Spec extra haste?
Is it a little early in the ptr, or did they get rid of it?