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