Thoughts about rogues and their specs

[Brewski]

I was just thinking about rogues and realize how cheated they are when it comes to spec choices. We have assassination, sub, and combat... anyone else think those are outdated and need to be updated? I think sub is the only good spec & everything else needs a rework. Combat is a joke, so is assassination. Assassination is workable though... combat needs an entire rework. Every spec in the game can be viable in PvP except combat, maybe even assassination. You never see people running those unless they are clueless in PvP. You have warlocks choosing from affliction, demonology, and destruction... three very different specs which can all be viable, same goes with mages.

Blizzard should stop adding new classes and trash combat/assassination for two new specs. Anyone else agree? I guess people who PvE might have a different mindset. I raided dragon soul for legendaries as combat/assassination in Cata and it was the most boring experience of my life, just saying. The grass is in fact greener on the other side when it comes to rogue spec choices.

I remember the recent april fools prank Blizzard pulled of a demon hunter coming to WoW... some people may think this may come into fruition. Why do we need another class though when rogues are suffering with bad spec choices? Blizzard can scrap a rogue spec and create a ranged talent tree that takes ideas from a demon hunter for example. Would this be out of the realm of possibilities? No. Rogues already have shuriken toss, cloak and dagger, deadly throw, etc. It could be a very real possibility, and it is workable.

[Fluorescent0]

I'm liking current Assassination spec actually, playing a haste-oriented build though so I'm pretty much past the energy-starved rotation which was complete bullshit. It actually comes down to maximizing envenom uptime instead of people actually saying it's about smashing three buttons, while planning ahead for cooldown usage (aligning vendetta and SB under 35% is a great boost) and target switches. I like subtlety pve too, it just feels kinda punishing to play between backstab requirement, few more things to manage and still lower damage with no real niche (combat actually provides more burst with two slow weapons). Combat is a playstyle I definitely hate though, it's way too spammy and I think they finally acknowledged that by making our tier bonus reduce our global cooldown. Here I am hoping they learn from their mistakes and actually change it instead of giving more GCD-oriented set bonuses in the future.
A gun-oriented spec wouldn't be bad at all (dual-wielding guns maybe), but I doubt blizzard will ever go as far as change a spec so deeply, and I'm pretty sure that removing Combat would be much more felt by the rogue community than adding a ranged spec.

[Verain]

Blizzard can scrap a rogue spec and create a ranged talent tree that takes ideas from a demon hunter for example.

Demon Hunters are more wed to melee-only than even rogues.

[Coldkil]

Nope to ranged rogues. We already have hunters and than it becomes only a gimmicky concpet of naruto/ninja/star-thrower which is NOT a rogue.

Actually the three rogue specs have a lot of identity.

Assassination: focuses on poisons and debuffing your opponent before dealing the fatal strike
Combat: master of weapons, an elusive warrior
Subtlety: master of disguise and shadows, ambushing uncanny enemies before disappearing.

See what i did? It's all about how you see the class. The problem is not the rogue concept, is the implementation coupled with some old (but still working) mechanics which makes the gameplay stale. It's exactly because rogues work that is difficult to rework them.