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.
Tags: balance, buff, bug, bugfix, change, classes, ghostcrawler, icecrown, icecrown-raid, nerf, patch-3.3, rogues, vanish, wow-patch-3.3
Filed under: Rogue, Patches, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Classes
Sep 29th 2009 at 5:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Vassal Sep 29th 2009 5:08PM
FINALLY
Rai Sep 29th 2009 5:37PM
*self destructs with glee*
Josin Sep 30th 2009 8:36AM
Awesome. Now if they can just fix the random dropping of stealth for no reason, rogues'll be great again!
Hitek Sep 29th 2009 5:12PM
I read about this, but what I gather from Ghostcrawler's last comment about balance is not necessarily vanish working as intended.. but rather what they will have to do in order to make it work as intended. So for example maybe a mini (0.1-0.5) second immunity to all damage / anything that would break you out of vanish etc.
I don't think he means nerf vanish, I think he means make changes to other abilities in the game as a result of the vanish change, hopefully nothing game-breaking though.
I personally just want vanish to work.
Hendrata Sep 29th 2009 5:13PM
"o look for a fix on a 3.3 PTR near you coming up quick."
Oh no.... we barely had tried everything that 3.2 had to offer....
mathew Sep 29th 2009 5:18PM
easy solution. a "bubble" that lasts 2 seconds and then an invisible rogue.
Drob10 Sep 29th 2009 5:24PM
omg, just what rogues need...more of a chance to stun my clothie without a way to get away.
I'm just bitter :)
Quidamtyra Sep 29th 2009 5:20PM
I don't see why this took so long after the mage invis change, and why it's taking another major patch to complete.
It's really not that different; allow us a time where we still take damage but vanish still puts us into stealth. Much like the invis "cast" time - the mage takes damage but as long as the mage doesn't do anything else, he can still go invis.
I think Blizzard is scared that letting us go into stealth in the middle of combat is going to unbalance us yet again. It won't. Some people don't have any trouble with a stiff breeze screwing them out of a vanish, and it doesn't give them any more advantage than a bubble, or an ivis - a chance to start over.
Vasco Sep 29th 2009 5:32PM
Make it like lock's fear - everyone has a counter to it. To the point that its pretty useless.
Lemons Sep 29th 2009 5:52PM
Hey? Guess what? Everyone DOES. It's called being a smart player and keeping a finger primed and ready over whatever key unleashes your AoE ability whenever you're fighting a rogue.
Also...if you're a class that has any sort of DoT (Which is every class now) that's your vanish counter right there. Keep the DoTs up and that rogue is never going to vanish without blowing his cloak on it, and even then please refer to the first section of my comment for further instructions.
But yea...sorry to hear about fear...too bad you only have one instead of three...oh wait...
Lemons Sep 29th 2009 5:40PM
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! YES! I can't fucking wait for 3.3 now! Whatever the "change" is it's gotta be better than vanish in its current form. Now on to...
"(is he actually saying that Vanish working as intended is OP?)"
My thought on this is that making vanish work as intended might mean giving rogues a 1-2 second immunity to damage. If that's the case, a lot of rogues could start using vanish as a way to "bubble" a chaos bolt or other heavy hitting attack, rather than just using it to umm...vanish.
Wlad Sep 29th 2009 5:48PM
Few things i would change about vanish.
1. not being able to use ability when dots are on you.
2. turns you into ghost for 3 seconds you can't deal damage other can't deal damage to you either.
3. when you vanish it would leave a little cloud of smoke.
Rollo Sep 29th 2009 6:19PM
Excellent! And make it use blasting powder as a reagent, to give engineers something to sell. :)
muffin_of_chaos Sep 29th 2009 5:56PM
They'll definitely need to nerf Rogues at least slightly if they balance 'em around Vanish not always working.
Alchemistmerlin Sep 29th 2009 5:52PM
WTB Massive nerf plz thx.
Just because the QQ fallout would be fantastic.
Todd Sep 29th 2009 5:54PM
meh. I never really noticed there was a problem. Apparently, nobody else did either.
theRaptor Sep 30th 2009 5:14AM
Rogues have been crying about the brokeness of Vanish since November 2004.
I have only been playing my Rogue for a little time and even I noticed the Vanish bug. eg pop vanish on body pulling a mob only to have the mob ignore it and keep hitting you, pop it on a player only to have an attack land AFTER (combat log) the vanish and knock you out of stealth.
I am glad they are working on minor systems like this and blink which have no been Working As Intended™ forever.
Todd Sep 30th 2009 8:14AM
Well rogues seem to still be doing pretty well in PvP even with this "bug" taking place.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Sep 30th 2009 9:28AM
I don't know about that, what's the level of the mob being pulled?
Hunters will often feign death and it's resisted... of course this is an intentional mechanic that can happen. If it really is a bug for Rogue's vanish, the devs should think about just turning it into the same kind of mechanic Hunters have... sometimes it works and sometimes its resisted.
Todd Sep 30th 2009 12:28PM
Maybe add a game mechanic that causes Vanish to fail based on the player's intelligence.