If you’re like me (and frankly, you might not be, but I hope you’ll keep reading), you enjoy a good amount of some world PvP. Beyond Wintergrasp and the Storm Peaks dailies phase, I’m talking about moments like these:
“Oh sh**! STUPID [insert class]”
“What happened? You get ganked?”
“Yeah, I’m just farmin’ [insert mat]…”
“Where are you?”
“I’m out in Sholazar Basin.”
“On the way.”
…and after 20 minutes, you’re in a real world 5v5, 7v9, 20v17, whatever! You can Rebirth, you can Lay on Hands, you can rez at your corpse. It’s a “No Holds Barred” cage match. At least, I think that’s the reference. Wrestling, right? Kidding. Anyway, my point is that I’m an avid fan of PvP. It’s not my main focus, but I certainly spend a decent amount of time in it.
I love PvP, and I hate a skilled rogue.
Now, not because I think they’re OP, but because when a rogue is good, it’s near impossible to survive. Again, let me say that I’m meaning this more as a compliment and not a QQ thread. With that “rogue ego stroke”, I’m grateful that an announcement was made (I know, it was back in March) with regard to what we’ve come to call the “stunlock”:
Rogue burst is also scary today because they can deliver it while a target is chain stunned. We’ve also said that’s not a particularly fun place to be (for attacker or defender) and we need to shift rogue defenses away from short-duration immunities (which includes the stuns) and more towards being able to stand toe to toe with other classes a little better.
In a one-on-one standpoint, this was nigh-impossible to survive. With a Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot, Blind chain, I’ve been forced to just sit and watch my health go from 100% to 0% in a matter of seconds. Before you all “LoL L2Trinket” me, trust me, I’ve done it. Like I said, a skilled rogue is a nightmare.
So, in the Rogue Preview put out, this lovely morsel is given:
In PvP, we want to reduce the rogue’s dependency on binary cooldowns and “stun-locks,” and give them more passive survivability in return. One major change is that we’ll put Cheap Shot on the same diminishing return as other stuns. The increase to Armor and Stamina on cloth, leather, and mail gear will help with this goal as well.
Obviously, the intent is to make a rogue tougher to kill, but I look at this from a healer’s standpoint: fewer stuns means more chances for us to survive.
Cataclysm is going to bring about a lot of changes, and we all know the constant struggle to balance PvP and PvE. Since I’m a fan of both, I’m excited and scared of what the future will bring to the table.
How do you feel about the upcoming changes and how they’ll affect you in the arena/battleground? Rogue feedback is welcome as well!
Email: elder.thespius@gmail.com | Twitter: @Thespius
Reading that brings back memories of life on my old PvP server. Out numbered 5 to 1 or more… and life was a living hell. I am so happy I went to a non-PvP server. WG is fun. Random BGs are fun. Leave it there. World PvP can be fun, but for ever minute of fun I have had, I have had hours of pain and frustration.
Ah, I am all too familiar with getting my face smashed into the ground by a rogue. This is a pleasant surprise and I hope will increase my chances of survivability.
It doesn’t happen all the time but I love it when I have a “not so skilled” rogue and I get to smash THEIR face into the ground. Take that rogue!
Actually, in a one-on-one scenario I have little problems in a priest vs rogue duel (assuming I have my cooldowns – trinket, PS). And I do mean good rogues… Main thing is to not get your holy school locked out. But in larger scale scenarios rogues do hurt a lot when a target is stunlocked and getting focused by 2+ people.
On the other hand, rogues are too dependent on their cd’s. Once those are gone, he’s pretty much screwed. All in all I agree with what blizz is doing – reduce lockout time rogues can put out, but give them more utility and damage mitigation.
Edit: oh and I assume you’re fighting in pvp gear, Thes. Otherwise yeah, I don’t really see a priest surviving =)
“that’s not a particularly fun place to be (for attacker or defender)”
My current main is a Priest, my old main was a Rogue, and I can confidently say that someone was smoking the GOOD crack when they said that stunlocking someone to death isn’t fun for the ATTACKER! 🙂
.-= Carson´s last blog ..How quickly is it OK to judge an MMORPG? =-.
This is all I have to say about Rogues:
“A World Without Rogues” @ http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/736/736017p1.html
.-= Wikwocket´s last blog ..Leap of Faith, aka Life Grip, aka Liquid Awesome =-.
I’ve played a rogue, and a priest healer. I’d say the rogue reliance on stuns is one of the things I most look forward to being reduced in Cata PVP…from both the healer and the rogue perspective.
From the healer perspective, any stun is just a bit overpowered. Stuns prevent you from doing something, while the opponent can attack you. THAT makes them much more dangerous and (game-breaking) than any other CC. If the goal in Cata is to allow everyone to *respond* to an opponent’s attack, then Stunlocking has got to go.
The truth is, though, that rogues are like the 3 min mages of ages past: they can’t stand toe to toe with melee without cooldowns, and they can’t stay on their caster targets without cooldowns. Rogues need a tradeoff in survivability (that’s not a cooldown) for stunlocks.
As a rogue, I’d trade a little of the stunlocking for a bit of survivability.
I’ll throw in a vote for less stun-locking with a bit more beef. Even if they are harder to take down it’ll at least be a fight rather than one guy (aka me) standing there get sliced up like a Thanksgiving Turkey unable to move. I may still get my feathered butt handed to me but I’ll feel a little better about it!
.-= Bill´s last blog ..Dwarf Slaughter and Hippies =-.