Blizzard on Upcoming Changes for Rogue Tier Sets and Spec Tuning

[Lumy]

Blizzard on Upcoming Changes for Rogue Tier Sets and Spec Tuning

Hey folks! Now that the latest PTR build is out, wanted to give some updates on the future of Rogue’s sets + tuning, by spec.

As a general disclaimer, tuning for Tier Sets as a feature is happening asynchronously, so while it may feel to you that some sets are being buffed/nerfed unjustly, our intention is to hit the same target across the board - while there will naturally be variance, this means that comparing future plans detailed in this post to classes that have yet to receive tuning or more recently received an update to their functionality isn’t super productive (especially when I just gave rogues a 2-piece that outdamaged entire sets on accident, that’s just the magic of PTR babey)

• Assassination

Last week the 2-piece shipped with higher numbers than intended, as the proposed 100% from a month ago, it turns out, was pretty strong. Even with the recent update the 40%, the whole set in aggregate is perhaps slightly ahead of where it should be, but decently close so far. Unlikely to receive any major changes beyond squashing bugs that come up and finalizing numbers to keep the two in-line so far, after the multi-dot/cleave element of the 2-piece & the move to an overall damage amp seems to be working out well so far.

• Outlaw

Power-level wise, this one’s just shy of our target but on the weaker side of things overall. A lot of the new 4-piece’s power is intentionally baked into how an extra 6-point finisher affects the rest of the kit (via Restless Blades and other passives), but it’s looking like there’s room to amp the actual damage of the BTE proc somewhat in a way that won’t send those passives out of control & give it more impact. Overall though, the rework seems to feel a lot smoother and less ear-flicky than before, and is actually pretty close power-level wise. Still looking into reports of bugged or unintended interactions with BTE, Blade Flurry, and certain covenant abilities + the gun legendaries to help it feel like a complete package.

• Subtlety

Lastly, we get to Subtlety. Astute testers may notice that not much has changed since our previous post - both in terms of the set’s power level and the bugged interactions surrounding Shadowstrike working like a real cast. Sadly, we ended up finding that those bugs were trickier to solve than we’d originally hoped & required a bit of new tech so that stuff like Akaari’s Soul Fragment wouldn’t proc infinitely off itself (which Sub players will now dream about). In any case, these are still coming, but unfortunately will be a little slower in getting to you than intended. In any event, we’re looking to do initial tuning on this bonus sooner than later so players can get an idea of where it might end-up balance-wise.

Overall, a pretty light update! It’s worth noting that once we get into the tuning phase, it’s unlikely you’ll see more of these for Rogues as you’ll just be seeing numbers go up or down, but we’ll try to keep you in the loop as to why and what our goals are as we get closer to 9.2’s release. That said, we appreciate your continued testing and feedback, and hope y’all have a great week.

[Biomega]

I mean, say what you will about the state of Blizzard and WoW (and I certainly am right there at the frontlines of complaining) but they are doing a good job addressing feedback for this PTR. That's definitely something to applaud.

[nnelson54]

I mean, say what you will about the state of Blizzard and WoW (and I certainly am right there at the frontlines of complaining) but they are doing a good job addressing feedback for this PTR. That's definitely something to applaud.

This is part of their cycle since at least Legion. They release broken systems everyone warned them about during beta, stubbornly refuse to fix them all expansion, then in the last patch of the expansion suddenly start listening to feedback and swear they'll listen moving forward only for it to start all over again in the next expansion's beta.

[tacoSalads]

This is part of their cycle since at least Legion. They release broken systems everyone warned them about during beta, stubbornly refuse to fix them all expansion, then in the last patch of the expansion suddenly start listening to feedback and swear they'll listen moving forward only for it to start all over again in the next expansion's beta.

Not to mention, they double down on their stubbornness the entire expansion.

[Niwes]

the problem they have now, because they simply overdid it too often: ppl lost trust and faith in them. and they will have a hard and loooong time to get it back.

that is what happens when you ride way too long and way too arrogant on your success or on your greed. they tested out, how far they could go, by making the most possible profit by infinite greed.

management often press out the last $ drop, combined with the statement „if we cant increase it more, we just paddle back“. and they don’t realize that this backpaddeling takes A LOT of time and costs A LOT of money (many companies died to it). because when trust is lost, it starts becoming rather difficult.

thats how it goes in modern big business. and thats the effect of „only quarter numbers matter“. sad but true.