Patch 4.3: Rogue legendary, new raid difficulty, and other details
by Alex Ziebart 
Sep 13th 2011 at 7:30PM
Brack states that they haven't settled on a name, lore, or any such thing for the weapon, so who knows what its quest chain may bring. That is actually a very interesting detail in itself: If Brack is being truthful and Blizzard doesn't know anything about the dagger's design yet, are we as close to seeing patch 4.3 on the PTR as the armor previews suggest? Or will Blizzard need to cobble it together in a hurry late in the patch's development cycle?
Patch 4.3 will also introduce the Raid Finder. Two weeks ago, community manager Zarhym cryptically suggested that patch 4.3's Raid Finder will serve as an introduction-to-raiding tool without offering any details, leaving attentive players bewildered. Brack explains: The Raid Finder, which is limited to 25-man raids, will actually be one step lower in difficulty than normal mode raids. These raids will drop less loot, will not grant achievements, mounts, titles, or other associated vanity rewards and are meant to serve as raiding training wheels.
So how about it, rogues? How does it feel to get another legendary?
Update: It appears The Escapist has taken the article offline.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back! Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
rlloyd3 Sep 13th 2011 7:33PM
I find it odd that they're making the Legendary so limited in scope.
Professor Orc Sep 13th 2011 7:51PM
I always assumed that if they were to make a limited scope legendary that it would be a tanking shield considering there has yet to be a tanking legendary.
rhorle Sep 13th 2011 8:03PM
A tanking shield would be a bit silly, as it leaves out two tanking classes. If you are going to make a tanking legendary it should be able to be used by all the classes that can tank. It would be like the 4.2 legendary staff only being open to warlocks and mages because they only have dps specs.
dpoyesac Sep 13th 2011 8:10PM
@Professor Orc
No tanking legendary? Have you never heard of Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker?
Austin Sep 13th 2011 8:16PM
Did someone say....
THUNDERFURY?!!?!?
Zapwidget Sep 13th 2011 8:20PM
Link it with a spirit enchant or GTFO.
Eddy Sep 13th 2011 8:34PM
Well, honestly, many of the legendaries have to be limited in scope for them to apply to some classes at all. There's no way that a legendary that did anything for a hunter would be able to be used by another class for more than a stat boost. No single item would encompass all four tanking classes without serious flavor compromises (because it would be weird for a legendary item that is so meaningful to be both a shield and a 2-hander, not that the two tanking classes that wield handed-weapons use the same stats.)
The only ones that can really be very broad in their appeal are staves for casters or maces for healers, which have both been done fairly recently.
Haden Sep 13th 2011 9:27PM
i always thought if we ever did get a Legendary shield it would be from a long chain and at the end we got to pick either a Tanking shield (Warrior,Pally) or a Healing shield (Pally,Shaman). i guess they could also throw in a dps shield for Elemental Shaman but ehhh
loop_not_defined Sep 13th 2011 9:32PM
Thori'dal was just as limited, all things considered.
No, I don't think "dagger" is going to stop Combat Rogues from wanting it.
loop_not_defined Sep 13th 2011 10:24PM
-"Daggers are only for two Rogue specs, lol!"
-"...and Rogues already got Warglaives!" (which were swords...)
Anybody else seeing the conflict between these two points?
Mergetvs Sep 14th 2011 12:49AM
@Loop / anyone talking about combat rogues.
sooo now combat wants a dagger in their offhand as well. The days of Sword/Mace/Dagger spec are gone. Slow main hand Fast offhand.
now if it is mainhand only that will be bad
DragonFireKai Sep 14th 2011 3:16AM
@Dpoyesac
Thunderfury was never a viable weapon for protection paladins. It was as useful to us as it was to a warlock.
rapsam2003 Sep 14th 2011 11:21AM
I find it interesting that the Escapist took the article down. This leads me to question whether it was a joke or misinformation. I honestly cannot believe that Blizzard would make a legendary usable by *only* one class.
Skarn Sep 14th 2011 12:12PM
@DragonFireKai
True, paladin tanks weren't viable in Vanilla, but Professor Orc didn't say "paladins never got to use the tanking legendary" he said "there has not been a tanking legendary at all." The first statement is true, the second statement is false. Thunderfury was a spectacular tanking legendary.
@Rapsam
Oh that's easy. It's not strange at all. The article obviously wasn't supposed to go up yet. If you get an exclusive interview with a company and then post that info before the company wants you to, you tend not to get any more interviews. They accidentally posted it early, so they took it down. That's my guess and it makes a lot of sense. I'm surprised they are doing a single-class legendary, but Blizzard did say they were going to do one "limited in scope." I just expected 2-3 classes, not one.
On a different note, legendaries in the final tier of an expansion are iffy. Thori'dal barely got used at all by anyone. Shadowmourne was a lot better though. So we'll see.
CyberNigma Sep 14th 2011 7:13PM
@rhorle
How many DPS classes do you suspect a Rogue legendary is going to leave out? Yeah...just sayin...
A 2-class legendary shield (or even a Paladin-only or Warrior-only legendary shield) is no more limiting than a 1-class ONLY legendary, so I'd think it would be a viable option as well.
arcady Sep 15th 2011 2:32PM
@rhorle:
A tanking legendary useable by all tanking classes?
That would basically mean a mastery/dodge trinket. Kinda poor choice for not being visible. But that's about the only item you can find that all 4 tanking classes, locked into a room with, would create a death-match between them to get.
Anything else and at least one tank in the pack would shrug, and go for a coffee break while posting on twitter that Blizzard hates [insert class name here].
You don't see a tanking legendary because the tanks are not so unified in their gear as it might at first seem.
Edge00 Sep 13th 2011 7:33PM
A legendary for 2 pve specs to use... sweet!
loop_not_defined Sep 13th 2011 9:39PM
I'm pretty sure Blizzard can make Combat Rogues want a legendary dagger. They wouldn't have to try very hard, since it will be better than all other weapons by damage and stats alone.
Revynn Sep 13th 2011 10:10PM
Honestly, I'm really annoyed about this. I'm usually on Blizzard's side and can generally see where they're going with things, but let's think about this.
A) It's a dagger . . . One of the coolest aspects of Legendaries is their impressive asthetic. Warglaives look all kinds of awesome, Sulfuras and Shadowmourne glow like candles in a dark room, Thunderfury is -STILL- one of the largest weapon models in the game, Val'anyr has an awesome animation . . . what exactly are you suppsed to do with a dagger?
B) Rogues again? Really? Thunderfury is generally held as a tank weapon, but it was an option for Rogues, too (Fast 1H sword with agility and a damage proc). The problem is that it had way too much threat gen for most tanks to hold off, so any rogue using it could expect to go splat pretty often. Warglaives are restricted to Warrior's, Rogue's and DK's, and raiding Rogues wanted Thor'idal as much as any Hunter during BC. We haven't seen a tanking Legendary since Classic and Rogue's are about to get their fourth?
Zapwidget Sep 13th 2011 10:49PM
Correct me if I'm wrong here, since my rogue exists only to pick pockets and open boxes, but Combat uses a slow offhand because of the increased damage per strike, right? Unlike the offhand, the actual speed of the mainhand weapon doesn't make a difference, so even if it is a fast weapon, if it does more damage per strike than a non-legendary 2.6 weapon, it's going in the mainhand, even if it's a 1.4 speed.