The odd thing about Rogues is that even if you only play one spec (like I do with Assassination,) it's not hard to get a feel for the other specs, because the three specs have a very similar structure to them. Each spec has a finisher or two to maintain (Slice and Dice for Combat, Rupture for Assassination, and both for Subtlety) and a finisher that they use when the others are up (Eviscerate for Combat and Sub, Envenom for Assassination.) And all three specs have two combo-point builders - one that should be used in most situations (Mutilate, Backstab, Sinister Strike) and another that gets used either to set up a debuff or can only be used in special situations (Revealing Strike, Hemorrhage, Dispatch.) There are certainly differences in rhythm, and things get different when it comes to AoE and Cooldowns, but overall, the specs have very similar structures.
Of the three specs, I've never been drawn to Combat much. They have historically been a pretty powerful spec - when I was first paying attention to the power of the various specs during BC, Combat was hands-down the best Rogue spec, and at the time if you played Subtlety (as I did) in PvE people would look at you funny. But I've always felt like Combat was kind of struggling against the flavor of the Rogue. Rogues are built around stealth, slitting throats and stabbing people with poisoned daggers. Combat drops all that to be a kind of brawler, and while a swashbuckling pirate type could work as a kind of reinterpretation of the Rogue (pirates are often depicted as roguish,) there's not really enough in the flavor of the Rogue class as it exists to really suggest that. Both Assassination and Subtlety really push for more of the kind of professional assassin type - one who appears out of nowhere, eliminates the target, and then vanishes before they can be caught.
Pirates and Swashbucklers are so not that archetype. Swashbucklers are full of bravado and boldness. They don't want there to be any mystery about who took out their enemies. They should embody a kind of flamboyant, swaggering egotism. A swashbuckling rogue wants to make an entrance and ensure that everyone - friends and enemies alike - will be talking about his or her deeds for years.
There's also a kind of improvisational aspect to the swashbuckler - if we want to expand this archetype to include adventure heroes, you can think of how Indiana Jones is always thinking on his feet (I do believe Harrison Jones as a garrison follower does count as a Combat Rogue.) He doesn't go in with a serious plan, because he knows that sooner rather than later, he's going to find that that plan doesn't really work out, so he's going to instead make it up as he goes along.
So how do we express these ideas in terms of gameplay?
First, we need to slaughter two sacred cows. Stealth and Poison don't really fit for Combat. Stealth implies a certain degree of modesty - the kind of anonymity that an assassin uses to avoid getting caught. But a Swashbuckler is all about making a big name for him or herself, and that means that he or she would rather cut through mobs of enemies on the way to the big bad, probably drunk on rum and singing a bawdy song while doing so. Swinging on a rope off an exploding ship with a cutlass clenched in his or her teeth is basically the Swashbuckler's idea of heaven.
Poisons also require far too much prep work. Assassins have to carry vials of poison and keep stocking up (lorewise, though it used to be gameplay as well,) and that's totally not the Swashbuckler way. A Swashbuckler should be able to hang out in some tavern, gambling away half his or her money while downing copious amounts of alcohol and then grab the nearest pair of swords to fight off whatever brute has made the mistake of disturbing him or her.
Next, we've got to address some of the flavor and lore of old Rogue abilities. Sinister Strike? A Swashbuckler might not be a good guy (I mean, Pirates are criminals after all) but the word Sinister literally means left-handed, which (based on weird old stereotypes - no offense to lefty readers) implies underhanded and kind of insidious. Swashbucklers aren't big on deception - they might fight dirty, but they aren't defined by striking from the shadows or anything like that. Hell, they're most at home brawling in the streets or on the deck of a ship - areas where hiding isn't really an option. So I'd also take a look at some of the names and art of their existing abilities and alter them to make them less about the kind of "jumping out of the shadows" flavor that fit so well with the other two specs.
Now, we've talked a lot about what to take away. What, then, should we add?
First, a little idea - instead of Shadowstep, a talent that really takes the "stepping out of the shadows" idea to its logical extreme, Combat Rogues should be able to swing over to their target on a rope (we don't have to worry about what the rope is attached to - if my Mage's Comet Storm can happen underground, I think we're ok.)
Second, Warcraft is a little unusual in fantasy settings in that they have firearms. Luckily, that means that Combat Rogues have everything they need to fit in nicely with the classic 18th Century Pirate aesthetic. Having a flintlock pistol in addition to their swords (or axes or whatever) would be very appropriate. In fact, you could (as suggested on some forum post I saw) even make their primary finishing move a medium-range attack (lots of melee classes have ranged abilities. My Paladin's ret spec really only has to be totally in melee range for Crusader Strike/Hammer of the Righteous and autoattacks.) Sure, there aren't ranged slots anymore, but you could easily make the flintlock work like the big keg that Brewmasters throw at their targets for Keg Smash and Dizzying Haze - effectively making it a spell animation.
If Swashbucklers are essentially combat improvisers, it seems like combo points should have a little randomness to them. This is already the case, actually, with way Revealing Strike works, but you could also imagine there being procs that activated new abilities, such as another flintlock shot.
Combat already lost Fan of Knives to focus on Blade Fury, which I think would fit just as well in this new paradigm.
Finally, on cosmetic issues, having one third of Rogue specs as Swashbucklers would really open up possibilities for future class armor sets. The strong "shadowy assassin" theme has given Rogues several very strong tier sets, but after a while, it's hard to come up with a new take on "dark ninja hood and stealth gear" as a motif. Giving us a pirate's tricorn hat and pauldrons with, like, a parrot (different colored parrots for different item levels!) would be amazing (and even my Assassination Rogue would be happy to change things up.)
With Legion's re-focusing on class fantasies, I think they have a golden opportunity to make Combat Rogues feel like more than just "the assassin who uses big heavy weapons for some reason." Hopefully we'll get details on Combat Rogues, as well as all the other specs, in just about two weeks at Blizzcon.
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