Rogues are, I believe, currently the most under-played class in the game. Supposedly, there are more Retribution Paladins than Rogues of all three specs. The class, which actually used to be quite popular back in the day, now has to compete for gear with viable Druid animals specs (Bear and Cat) as well as Monks of the Windwalker and Brewmaster varieties. If we get Demon Hunters, they will have even more competition. While the type of armor does not really mean much in terms of gameplay and what you might find interesting (I have plenty of fun playing a Prot Paladin, a Frost DK and an Arms Warrior,) there is a bit of overlap in flavor that I think makes playing a rogue less exciting, even if they are actually very cool lore-wise (definitely my favorite non-magical class in terms of flavor.)
I've already written about the need for a Warlock-style total class revamp for Rogues, and I stand by that article, but this one is going to focus on my favorite Rogue spec, which is also sadly the spec that people usually pretend does not exist: Subtlety.
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that Subtlety is the least popular spec in the entire game. Rogues are already pretty underrepresented, and for many expansions, even the Rogue columnists at WoW Insider have referred to "the two Rogue specs," meaning Combat and Assassination.
Subtlety has typically had a somewhat more healthy position as a PvP spec, but much of the utility that made it a PvP powerhouse was distributed to the other spec via the Mists talent overhaul.
Mechanically, Subtlety has two things going thematically: the importance of Stealth openers (Shadow Dance and Expose Weakness) and Bleeds (Hemorrhage and Sanguinary Vein, and a need to keep up Rupture, though that is shared by the other specs.) Subtlety also likes to be behind the target, given the superiority of Backstab over Hemorrhage as your CP-generator and the importance of those flurries of Ambush you use while in Shadow Dance, which is certainly flavorful, but is more of a liability than an asset in terms of making the spec attractive to skeptical players.
The problem is that, at least in the case of Bleeds, this does not feel exactly "Subtle." Bleeds seem more like the kind of thing a brawler would use, and thus would logically fit with Combat better (and frankly, Combat's not all that interesting mechanically either - other than the fact that they don't use daggers.)
The "Stealth matters" stuff is good, but your uptime for Expose Weakness is a pretty small percentage of your time on the target.
It was pointed out by narlic on the comments to this article on WoW Insider, referring to a post on the official forums, that with the introduction of Shadow Blades, Rogues officially have a bit of the old Black Magic working for them. In fact, from Vanilla, the Rogue class description had always mentioned that Rogues combine agility and speed with mysticism to do what they do. And in a world like this, mysticism means magic.
It would seem very logical that Subtlety could act as the mystic assassin type. If you could truly become one with the darkness, you'd be pretty damn Subtle indeed.
There would be a lot of work to be done, but replacing Subtlety's bleed theme with a Shadow-damage theme (and not simply replacing Rupture with a Shadow-damage DOT - I'd rather see some actual re-working of rotational abilities) would do a great deal to increase the "cool factor" of the spec.
The article I linked up above makes a good point: Subtlety can actually do decent damage. Its numbers are skewed by sampling bias (long story short: people hear Sub's numbers are low, top players in top guilds avoid it so as not to hinder their group, thus Sub's numbers go down relative to the other specs because none of the best players are playing it.) The problem is that the identity of the spec is extremely vague.
I'd like to see a whole host of Shadow-based abilities, creating illusions, conjuring a sense of dread in your opponents while they frantically look for you. A lot of the stealth-based gameplay loses its strength in PvE, but there's plenty of room for abilities that have the flavor of a dark-magic-wielding master assassin that are more about killing a big monster.
While I am by no means a game designer (I call this Armchair Game Design,) I figured I would come up with a couple abilities that would work with Subtlety. While I could also see them creating a new resource for the spec, in the same vein as Demonic Fury or Burning Embers, I realize that Rogues already have a two-resource system by default.
Silent Companion: 0 Energy, 1.5 Min Cooldown
Animates your shadow with murderous power, creating a duplicate of yourself that attacks your foes, dealing pure Shadow damage.
Not only would this be a nice little cooldown to weave in there, it would also be an opportunity for a bit of flashiness, as you could come up with some cool effects for your shadow duplicate.
Ghostly Strike: 40 Energy. 15 sec Cooldown
Strikes the target for X damage (Hemo-level) and surrounds you with a ghostly mist, allowing Ambush and Backstab to be used regardless of your position for the next 10 seconds.
I've always been sad that Ghostly Strike is no longer part of our toolkit, even if the ability itself was not terribly interesting (though the dodge buff was kind of nice for soloing.) Ghostliness is really the theme that I think Subtlety should push, so it would be nice to see a reincarnated Ghostly Strike.
Infectious Paranoia: 35 Energy, range 30 yards
Finishing move that causes the target to shout in fear, inflicting Paranoia on all targets within 10 yards. Paranoia causes (x - variable by combo points) Shadow damage to the target over 8 seconds.
This is perhaps an inelegant replacement for Crimson Tempest, but I would want the flavor of being the stalker who causes panic among the enemies by remaining unseen.
Rogues are due for a revamp much the way that Warlocks were, and I'll be very curious to see what they look like when that happens (I imagine we'll have to wait until the next expansion.)
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