What spec will you level as?

[Wow]

And who ever said I was running around spamming hemo? That sounds like a horrible way to play sub...

You said

I think people make too much of an issue with backstab vs. hemo.

Then went on to talk about how you kill things faster on isle even the high hp elites. Everyone knows sub is great when you can kill something in your opening that was never in question. But you can't do with the 10m hp mobs and that's why you'd have to be spamming hemo on it. Which was the point in what people were saying when they say sub sucks after you can't kill something in the opening. At this point I don't even know why you posted lol.

[Deleted]

If I start playing the next expansion (not sure, due to rl commitments) I will most likely level as assassinations with swords. No particular reason other than it's something I want to try.

I messed around with seal fate + hemo, coldstep, harp, adrena-fate, over-mastery-of-sub-overkill and various other crap made up bad specs during early expansions whilst leveling just for something to try, and they all seemed interesting.

There were a few people running around in wotlk with a mutilate/sub coldstep build using sinister strike for pvp/bgs, that seemed fun for a while.

So hopefully, assassinations with swords, will feel equally satisfying whilst also being viable for leveling and solo play.

[Warstar]

You said Then went on to talk about how you kill things faster on isle even the high hp elites. Everyone knows sub is great when you can kill something in your opening that was never in question. But you can't do with the 10m hp mobs and that's why you'd have to be spamming hemo on it. Which was the point in what people were saying when they say sub sucks after you can't kill something in the opening. At this point I don't even know why you posted lol.

You're trying to argue against something you obviously have no idea how it works. The past few days I've been bored and testing different things out seeing what I'd like to do for leveling. In combat optimized gear with full haste rather than agi like sub wants I kill stuff faster as sub than I do as combat. You can't argue that because it happened it's not an opinion like you seem to have but a statement of fact. The berserkers die usually without having to use hemo sometimes or with bad crits 1 or 2 but I'd not call that spamming. The kilnmasters are the hardest and they usually take a 5 or so hemo's to kill but most of the damage is from eviscerate and melee not really "running around spamming hemo" like that's all I'm doing. And the chanters die almost as fast as the berserkers. If all sub was was face rolling hemo and not abusing find weakness then yes it would suck and people like you probably would kill stuff really slowly. But if played the way it's supposed to it kills stuff extremely fast.

Sub doesn't just magically suck after an opening. You don't just turn off your dps and stop killing stuff after you open on something rather it's the over all kill time and where sub's damage does fall off after FW falls off you still do good damage and are able to finish stuff off. I wouldn't try to solo high priests as sub for instance but everything else is easy and I now actually prefer to solo as sub rather than combat. Combat has highs and lows when you have CDs up and when you don't. But, due to the fast nature of the kills sub always has it's opening up so it maintains a high damage out put the entire time.

As for more normal level 90 mobs it's actually really fun to spec into cloak and dagger, glyph stealth and teleport around with ambush -> rupture -> mfd/evis -> dead.

[Gestopft]

I'll probably go Sub; maybe Assassination. Sub is great for killing things quickly. You can't get as much out of Shadow Dance as you do if you are in a group, but the ability to start every fight with FW up helps it go pretty fast.

[Zka]

If I'll ever touch my rogue again, it will stay sub. That's the most fun spec.

[Mafic]

Leveling from 90 all three specs work fine.

I will probably choose Combat because I want to try out the new Blade Flurry that is being proposed.

[Cranial]

I will very likely level as assassination. That's how I leveled from 10-90.

Assassination to me feels like it has none of the crutches of combat or sub. Sub needs a stealth opener to do its burst damage and after that needs to be behind the mob to backstab and such , whereas combat needs its CDs to do major damage.

Assassination just feels to have none of the drawbacks of the other 2 while levelling. Opening from stealth as assa is optimal but its impact is minimal, also doesn't "need" any CDs to do most of its damage, but will have vendetta if you're trying to take out a tough mob. But that's for my personal style of levelling. I hate doing aoe pulls. I prefer to single pull and burst then move on.

For my play style I think assassination will definitely the easiest to level as.

[omn1s]

I haven't been able to play the rogue much this expansion because my guild needed me to tank. I'm soooooo bored of my DK and so stoked to pick up my Rogue again. Combat has been one of my favorite specs I've ever played, and will be definitely be leveling it. On the rare chance I Flex with my rogue, I've been doing subtlety, but I've never liked it as much as Combat. This upcoming expac, I'm not going to make the mistake of playing the class/role/spec that my guild needs, I'm going to play the class/spec that I want. If my guild wants to keep me, great. If not, I'll find another.

[papastealth]

I'll definitely be Sub to start. The downtime between mobs when decently geared is MUCH lower overall than combat.

Regarding the discussion about Timeless isle: Most of the big mobs there do some type of ground targeted AOE, so it's very easy to get behind them and mix in some backstabs. Even if they don't die in your initial FW, you use dance and proc FW again using either CS (if the mob can be stunned) or Garrote. My 573 sub rogue with heroic daggers can easily chew through anything out there very quickly with almost no downtime between mobs. As combat (HWF MH) the INITIAL burst with CDs is great but you will easily outpace your CDs. Sub essentially gives you a CD with EVERY mob. As combat, when killing the little mobs you will blow through your CDs quickly and shit will die so fast you won't be able to fully utilize restless blades. Sub also (currently) has premed which is great for keeping up recup/snd etc in between mobs.

Assuming bliz keeps the mob scaling somewhat similar to MOP (initial WOD quest zones tuned for MOP quest greens etc) then a decently geared sub rogue will easily outpace anything for at least those 1st few levels. Combat won't even be able to wind up while Sub will likely be shotting all of the things with ambush. The only only real downside to sub to start is likely waiting for restealth. Which IMO is less annoying dealing with combat's lackluster damage between CDs and it's generally shitty scaling. If/when sub slows down (guessing 94-95) I'll probably switch to Mut. Passive SND while leveling will probably be amazing.

[Wow]

I'll probably switch to Mut. Passive SND while leveling will probably be amazing.

Only thing about that is rng could screw you as the perks are rng order you could have to wait until 99 for the main one you want.

[Warstar]

I wonder at what the average power of mobs will start at. MoP had the option to buy ilv 372 starting adventure gear or aquire through questing which was a bit lower than firelands gear with the equivilent for WoD possibly being around 522 ilv gear maybe more because of how retarded gear has scaled in MoP. Also if you have just 1 heirloom dagger (off hand doesn't really do much for sub) you should be able to stay sub for quite some time and just mow through mobs like a hot knife through butter. The change to ambush makes the use of shadow dance possible while solo so killing named mobs should be a breeze and on a 1 min CD it'll be up all the time.

As far as energy and resources go combat will be really strong at the start since you have your SoO gear but as you level you'll end up so resource starved that you'll end up in tears by lv100. Sub and assassination have their regen baked into abilities like venemous wounds and energetic recovery. Also, sub has the lowest costing abilities out there so you'll never have that energy starved feeling that combat has. And with venomous wounds energy refund you should be ending each fight at full energy.

[Lesane]

Only thing about that is rng could screw you as the perks are rng order you could have to wait until 99 for the main one you want.

You should still probably run with Deadly Momentum anyway for Recuperate, so I would perhaps even prefer to have that perk as the last one I get. Not that it'll be necessary but I don't see why you wouldn't use it.

[ymirsson]

equivilent for WoD possibly being around 522 ilv gear maybe more because of how retarded gear has scaled in MoP.

Item squish!

[badaku]

Assa is pretty good when your stats start to drop. Gonna be combat for the first levels when the energy regen stays bearable.

[Lesane]

Item squish!

Item squish only affects gear scaling pre-MOP. From entry level MOP to heroic SoO gear the difference will still be huge, and it will be the same in WOD.

[SilkDath]

Whatever I have the heirlooms for, spec for levelling is not important really, BF+KSp will be nice for groups.

[Deleted]

Combat all the way.

[shadowboy]

Regarding the discussion about Timeless isle: Most of the big mobs there do some type of ground targeted AOE, so it's very easy to get behind them and mix in some backstabs. Even if they don't die in your initial FW, you use dance and proc FW again using either CS (if the mob can be stunned) or Garrote. My 573 sub rogue with heroic daggers can easily chew through anything out there very quickly with almost no downtime between mobs. As combat (HWF MH) the INITIAL burst with CDs is great but you will easily outpace your CDs. Sub essentially gives you a CD with EVERY mob. As combat, when killing the little mobs you will blow through your CDs quickly and shit will die so fast you won't be able to fully utilize restless blades. Sub also (currently) has premed which is great for keeping up recup/snd etc in between mobs.

Use Marked For Death as combat. You get a minimum of 10sec off your cds per mob. If you want more uptime on your mobs, go pull a bunch of mini turtles and evis one shot them one by one. You'll have your cds up in no time.

[Mormolyce]

Unlike stuff like vendetta or killing spree or adrenaline rush. Opening with sub has FW up every single time. Lesser non-elite mobs die too quick to do anything with. Berserker elites die with a 5 cp evis + MfD evis. Elites up by ordos I find die as fast as if I were combat using adrenaline rush or killing spree. They die even fast if I use shadow dance. And who ever said I was running around spamming hemo? That sounds like a horrible way to play sub... Sub has a really strong opener that does higher burst damage than any other spec and this is why it's possible to solo stuff on the timeless isle faster than other specs.

It's good but most of Sub's burst relates to ShD which obviously you can't use on TI.

I'm sure it works just fine in full SoO gear but hey anything does.

- - - Updated - - -

If I'll ever touch my rogue again, it will stay sub. That's the most fun spec.

For leveling? Ew.

Though I did level all the way to 80 as sub. Maybe for old time's sake... sounds like it'll be better in WoD, at least I can use ShD now.

- - - Updated - - -

I will very likely level as assassination. That's how I leveled from 10-90.

Assassination to me feels like it has none of the crutches of combat or sub. Sub needs a stealth opener to do its burst damage and after that needs to be behind the mob to backstab and such , whereas combat needs its CDs to do major damage.

Assassination just feels to have none of the drawbacks of the other 2 while levelling. Opening from stealth as assa is optimal but its impact is minimal, also doesn't "need" any CDs to do most of its damage, but will have vendetta if you're trying to take out a tough mob. But that's for my personal style of levelling. I hate doing aoe pulls. I prefer to single pull and burst then move on.

For my play style I think assassination will definitely the easiest to level as.

OTOH Vendetta is awful for levelling.

[Warstar]

It's good but most of Sub's burst relates to ShD which obviously you can't use on TI.

I'm sure it works just fine in full SoO gear but hey anything does.

Well seeing as how there's months til WoD still it's quite possible for anyone and everyone reading theses posts now to acquire said SoO gear.

And, contrary to what you said the biggest burst from dance is from find weakness which is up every time because of your opening. And they're letting you use ambush with no positional requirement anyways so you can use that every minute at the slowest as well. So yes, sub will have awesome burst every mob they fight and just mow through them faster than any other spec single target.