Pre-BC initial thoughts

BC is here in all its media-hype glory.

I was chatting with peeps from my guild the other night as it dawned on me that the expansion set will invariably effect our current raid schedule going forward. Let me explain:

1) There are no more 40-man raid's - probably due to either a lack of interest or from people complaining that its too much of a of a time commitment to attain top-end gear. Personally, I do set aside 1 raid night a week, however, the reality is that it doesn't lend itself to attaining top end gear in a reasonable time frame. Seriously, to do Naxx, its recommended to get the top-end gear from AQ40/BWL but in order to do those, its recommended to get the top-end gear from Ony/MC, but in order to do those, and so on and so on.

2) Two new races with *much* improved starting abilities than pre-bc races. Ok Blizz, nice job here; you have cleverly created an attractive incentive for players that already have 60 mains/alts, to start new characters from these new races. I can't say for sure, but I would imagine that some of our higher ranking guild members (officers and the like) will be gravitating towards these new races which means their availability with their main/alts will be somewhat diminished.

3) I think that the guild concept will change to some degree to smaller *clicks* that will be running 5-mans ad nauseam. So if you don't have any guildies that like instancing with you then you might find yourself S-O-L with doing these in-guild.

Regards,
TheJackal

Ony's Lair

So last night I turned in the elemental deck at Darkmoon Faire in return for my epic trinket. This compliments a few other trinkets in my possession but haven't had a chance to see how often it procs for nature damage.

Due to the 2.0.3 rogue talent refund (thanks bliz) I respec'd last night to a 31/2/18 build prior to entering Onyxia's lair. Talk about bad timing - I now have a spec that does quick burst damage thanks to SF but had to restrain myself since aggro control is key for phase 1.

As for Ony, we ended up wiping due to a number of reasons ranging from low head count (28) to not executing phase 2 effectively. On a positive, our guild is still in learning mode but has been making substantial progress getting closer to phase 3. As we attune more guildies and get the headcount higher, this will sail us past phase 3.

Some other comments on patch 2.0.3. Targeting was a big problem in Ony's and wasn't working properly. This was seriously messing up heals, and other castable's. Hopefully we'll see a patch for the patch real soon :)

Official 2.0.3 Rogue changes...

Ok so my timing was a bit off - 2.0.3 kicked in post weekly maintenance as the *official* class changes for the rogue class are:

Class Changes:
• Due to various talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded.
• "Evasion" (Rank 2) now reduces the chance that ranged attacks will hit the Rogue by 25%, reduced from 50%. It is now available at level 50.
• The "Cloak of Shadows" cooldown has been reduced to 1 min, from 2 min. Now a trainable ability at level 66.
• "Shadowstep" (New Subtlety Talent) attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy. Your next "Ambush", "Backstab" or "Garrote" ability is increased by 20% and lasts 10 sec. This is only usable while stealthed.
• "Premeditation" (Subtlety Talent) has had its range increased to 30 yards.
• "Preparation" now only resets the cooldown of the "Evasion", "Sprint", "Vanish", "Cold Blood", "Adrenaline Rush" and "Premeditation" abilities.
• "Wound Poison" now causes damage and reduces all healing by 10%, stacks up to 5 times.
• The Cooldown for "Blind" has been reduced to 3 min, from 5 min.
• There is no longer a random chance the effect of "Sap" will end (i.e. removed the heartbeat resist check). The effect will still end early when the target is damaged.
• Each rank of "Weapon Expertise"now provides 5 weapon skill.
• "Surprise Attacks" now increases the damage from "Sinister Strike", "Backstab", "Shiv" and "Gouge" by 10% instead of 8%.
• Resisted spells will no longer break "Stealth"/"Vanish".
• Combo points added to a target should not be reset until you add a combo point to a different target.

Items:
• The energy gained from "Thistle Tea" now decreases with levels past 40 :(

Bug fixes:
• Updated the tooltip on "Cloak of Shadows" with the additional line, "Does not remove effects that prevent you from using Cloak of Shadows."
• The rogue Assassination Talent "Quick Recovery" will no longer refund energy back to the Rogue if a finishing move is partially blocked.
• A "Vanished" rogue will no longer be taken out of their "vanished state" when they resist a spell.
• The rogue Assasination talent "Find Weakness" will now work properly with the finishing move "Deadly Throw".
• Using the rogue ability "Mutilate" when not behind your target will no longer initiate combat.
• The rogue ability "Slice and Dice" will no longer be reported twice in floating combat text when used.
• "Mind-Numbing Poison" will no longer stack with both "Curse of Tongues" and "Slow".

Due to the free respec for 2.0.3, thinking of respec'ing to the following talent build 31/2/18:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/rogue/talents.html?
3050231055001005010000200000000000000000000005502030300000000000000

Note: you'll need to paste the link together above - for some reason it gets truncated as a whole.

TheJackal

Undocumented 2.0.3 Changes

A bit dated but some semi-recent *un-official* changes to the rogue class coming up in 2.0.3:

-Shadowstep as 41 Talent Point
-Imp Sap switched out with Elusiveness
-Imp backstab and imp SnD have switched places.
-Imp Sap is now a 2 point talent - 50%/100%
-Surprise attack is now 10% and finishing move can no longer be dodged
-Weapon expertise changed to +10 weapon skill.
-Combo points preserved on previous target if target is changed during combat.
-Evasion (Rank 2) now trainable.
-Stealth Animation Fixed. 

Welcome...

This will be one in a series of journal entries focusing on Warcraft (WoW), Rogues, and my personal game progression. Please check back soon for new posts.

Regards,
Sneaky Assassin (aka The Jackal)