Yet Another Warlock Nerf

The latest 2.3.2 news surprised me today. I didn't expect a rogue nerf at least till 2.4, but AR/Prep was more ez-mode than SL/SL.

* Ambush: The damage multiplier on this ability has been increased from 250% to 275%.
* Hemorrhage: This ability now correctly does additional damage when its debuff has already been applied.
* Preparation now resets the cooldown of Shadowstep and no longer resets the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush.
* Shadowstep now adds a 3 second, 70% movement speed increase.
* Sinister Calling now also increases the percentage damage bonus of Hemorrhage and Backstab by 2/4/6/8/10%.

If you're a rogue, you can pretty much choose any spec atm and you'll be fine in PvP. That's hardly the case with other classes - some don't even have one decent talent tree.

Anyway, back to the point. I've read Ming's post today and it kinda makes me sick the more I look at it.

Also, a lot of people probably didn't notice this, as a hero of the rogue community, as soon as I saw the 110% hemo nerf, I posted two bug threads on PTR and bug forum

Self-proclaimed hero of the rogue community my ass... It's not the first time he said something like that either. Seriously, it was funny when Athene did it but in Ming's case it's just pathetic. But that's just me. I bet half of Ming's visitors would spec 0/0/61 if he said so.

Rogue needs damage more than anything else and even with AR/prep there are plenty of classes that can eat two AR's and still wreck us 1v1. Rogue's overall success (class as a whole, there will always be special players with special teammates like XOM) is still not top tier in anything other than 3v3.

*cough* roflcraptastic *cough*
Not even warriors can beat you, and they're your counter class (as much as I hate using this term).

We do have the best balanced talent trees with this change, unfortunately the best balanced class tends to be the weakest class as well.

Are you fuckin' kidding me? I thought you said rogues were finally the strongest class? No golden age?

Your Ambush is buffed (hello, anyone noticed?), Shadowstep's tooltip will soon cover half of your screen, and still rogues complain. Not to mention the class got quite a few buffs in 2.3.
To all those 'ima gonna reroll' rogue whiners out there - AR/Prep needed a nerf, face it. Rogues are fine, its a l2p issue.

Hate me, flame me, nerf me, unsubscribe me, /ignore me... I can't help it. I'm probably the only guy in the known universe who hates Ming, but I do. There, I said it.

> Ming sucks!

Mad Alchemist's Potion
It seems this new potion has a 95% chance to proc an additional elixir effect, and it's class dependant - meaning you will get buffs depending on your class, so casters should get Elixir of Draenic Wisdom or similar, and melee classes should get Elixir of Mastery or Major Agility. Good news. But I wonder how will it work with different specs or roles - what exactly will my feral druid get?


Druid

• Growl: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its target is now increased by hit rating.
• Challenging Roar: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its targets is now increased by hit rating.

I believe spell hit rating was previously increasing the chance for these spells not to be resisted so this is good news. Tanking druids still lack serious hit rating though.


Warlock

• Unstable Affliction: The silence from this ability is now subject to diminishing returns.

What can I say... nerf to dual lock teams.

Warrior

• Challenging Shout: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its targets is now increased by hit rating.
• Taunt: The chance for this ability to land successfully on its target is now increased by hit rating.

Same as for druids, a welcome and needed change. Intimidating Shout, Demoralizing Shout and Piercing Howl are not getting changed though.


Raids & Dungeons

• The Mechanar: The Cache of the Legion can now only be looted by players who are present during some portion of a successful attempt of the Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill and Gatewatcher Iron-Hand encounters. In addition, on Heroic difficulty Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill and Gatewatcher Iron-Hand no longer drop Badges of Justice. Instead, the Cache of the Legion contains a Badge of Justice for each player present.

My favorite Badge of Justice farming instance is getting nerfed :((

You can read the full patch notes on worldofraids.com.

Also, I'd like to point out that Ming, considered a very good rogue (and a very nice blogger) thinks Rogues are finally the strongest class in TBC.

I got no idea how I missed this, but Wowinsider is here to point it out. Druids will be able to shift forms without exposing themselves to vulnerable human form, which is in my opinion overpowered (I got a druid, remember). While the change looks very cool and somewhat logical, I believe it is hard enough for any class to catch a druid as it is.
Also from latest patch notes:

• PvP Trinkets: Insignia of the Alliance, Insignia of the Horde, Medallion of the Alliance, and Medallion of the Horde now clear the debuff from Judgement of Justice.

So long paladin, you shall not catch my druid anymore! Can this please be nerfed?

> New PTR build: Ain't getting better

Mmo-champion brings us the news of the latest changes on public test realms. These are not as bad as last ones, but (surprise!) rogues got a huge buff again!

• Cheat Death (Subtlety) chance to trigger increased to 33/66/100% and now also causes the rogue to take 90% less damage for 3 seconds when the effect triggers. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.
• Dirty Deeds now also increases damage against enemies below 35% health (previously, reduced energy cost of Cheap Shot and Garrote by 20 for 2 points).
  

Cheat Death requires 30 points in Subtlety tree (33 for 3/3 CD). Previously, it had a 10/20/30% chance to proc. Shadowstep got buffed, Dirty Deeds got buffed, Deadly Throw got buffed, Blind got buffed, Hemmorhage got buffed... Geez, why the hell didn't I roll a rogue?
The 90% less damage for 3 seconds part sounds like yet another warlock nerf, no? We wouldn't want a DoT (or anything for that matter) to finish up the precious rogue, would we.


But of course, this site is more about warlocks then rogues, I must not miss this huge buff we got again:

• Soul Siphon (Affliction): If a Warlock already has a particular spell cast on a target, reapplying before its duration ends will no longer grant an additional bonus.

Oh wait, it's not a buff... It's a nerf! You can call it a bugfix just like Drain Life/Siphon Life being affected by Mortal Strike and similar effects - but it's still a nerf.

But why, why buff rogues again? After reading some posts on World of Ming lately, I'm sure those guys would disagree with me, but come on. Blizz killed lock+healer combo; when top teams will consist of rogue+healer, I wonder if Rogues will get nerfed. This is what I want Rogue talent trees to look like!

There's more changes, mostly about professions and interface, you can read full notes at mmo-champion.

> 2.3 - More rogue buffs