So whether it's guildies with rogue alts or low level rogues just starting out, people are always asking me what is the best rogue spec in the current 4.0.6 patch.
Well from Patch 4.0.1 through 4.0.3 the simple answer was Assassination, hands down. On paper Assassination came out at roughly 4% more DPS than Combat spec while in practice, taking in to account fight mechanics (the 'on paper' results didn't take in to account needing to move out of the fire so to speak), the difference was actually somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15% or even more on some boss fights.
Patch 4.0.6 went a long way to closing the gap between Assassination and Combat and while there are still fights that have mechanics that favor one spec over another the current answer to the 'which spec is better?' question can now be countered by two additional questions that should be the basis of your decision on which spec to play on your rogue:
1. Which spec do you enjoy playing the most? and
2. Which spec do you have the best weapons/gear for?
At this stage both spec's are so close to each other that it really does come down to which spec do you enjoy playing the most, and do you have at least 346 ilvl weapons suited to that spec? (the minimum ilvl I would recommend for raiding)
I think, at least for rogues at the moment, Blizzard have done a good job of balancing Assassination and Combat so that both are viable raiding specs, giving the player the choice of which to play rather than 'play this spec or be prepared to do sub-par DPS'...which is how it should most definitely should be!
Links to my current Patch 4.0.6 Combat and Assassination Spec Guides:
Assassination
Combat
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Patch 4.1 - Daily Random Dungeon Changes
Well, something fantastic has been data mined from the latest build of Patch 4.1:
LFD_RANDOM_REWARD_EXPLANATION1 = "The first seven random dungeons of this tier that you complete each week will earn you:";
If you haven't guessed already it looks like instead of only being able to complete one random heroic dungeon per day for Valor Points you will be able to complete seven in one week in total, be that on the one day or over several instead of only one per day.
So that means for players such as myself who play only a few days a week, for long hours at a time, that we can do all if not most of the seven random 'daily' dungeons for Valor Points all at once! This change will make a lot of people like myself much happier, and will hopefully alleviate the problems with wait times for dungeon groups with more people running more dungeon's when most people are playing eg Friday night and weekends.
Blizzard is finally getting things right!
LFD_RANDOM_REWARD_EXPLANATION1 = "The first seven random dungeons of this tier that you complete each week will earn you:";
If you haven't guessed already it looks like instead of only being able to complete one random heroic dungeon per day for Valor Points you will be able to complete seven in one week in total, be that on the one day or over several instead of only one per day.
So that means for players such as myself who play only a few days a week, for long hours at a time, that we can do all if not most of the seven random 'daily' dungeons for Valor Points all at once! This change will make a lot of people like myself much happier, and will hopefully alleviate the problems with wait times for dungeon groups with more people running more dungeon's when most people are playing eg Friday night and weekends.
Blizzard is finally getting things right!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
New Patch 4.1 Changes
Just read the latest updates to the Patch 4.1 Patch notes and read something very interesting concerning the changes to the Atramedes fight outlined below:
Blackwing Descent
Atramedes
The last change to Atramedes is good too, Searing Flames is currently the only other ability apart from Modulation that causes unavoidable sound increases to the entire raid. The fight should be about avoiding abilities that increase your sound level...you should be rewarded for playing well and avoiding sound increasing abilities, there shouldn't be 'no matter how good you are you're going to be penalized anyway' abilities in any boss fight in my opinion!
Blackwing Descent
Atramedes
- Searing Flames now causes a 6-second cooldown on Modulation.
- Searing Flames no longer increases Sound on players.
The last change to Atramedes is good too, Searing Flames is currently the only other ability apart from Modulation that causes unavoidable sound increases to the entire raid. The fight should be about avoiding abilities that increase your sound level...you should be rewarded for playing well and avoiding sound increasing abilities, there shouldn't be 'no matter how good you are you're going to be penalized anyway' abilities in any boss fight in my opinion!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Blackwind Descent - Chimaeron
Well after a short hiatus I'm back to blogging! My personal life got a bit crazy there for a while and my blogging took a backseat for a while but now real life has settled down the blog posts will start coming again and support for my followers as well!
In my return post I'd like to ease back in to blogging talk about Chimaeron, one of the bosses in Blackwing Descent. Chimaeron, once learned, is quite an easy and straightforward fight. But this isn't a general strategy blog, this is for all the rogues out there!
So, what tips do I have for rogues?
The first is positioning, something that rogues, especially combat rogues, should be smart about. As everyone must be 6 yards apart during the 'normal' phase (the other being the 'Feud' phase) it is best to position yourself directly behind the boss away from any other melee and the off-tank. For combat this is the optimal position as when Killing Spree is used it will drop you in the middle of the boss at the back, when this happens I find it easier to back pedal while continuing to DPS Chimaeron...it is possible to manoeuvre in a different direction but I find my fingers get less tangled if I back pedal!
The second major tip concerns the use of Feint. Feinting is only really useful in the Feud phase. Use your first feint when his cast bar is at 20.5 seconds, then feint on CD and you will have feint up for all the ticks. This saves a lot of damage that needs to be healed in this very healing intensive phase...your healers will thank you for using Feint during Feud.
Well that’s it, short and sweet! My travels through this tier of content is such that my guild is at 10/12 now and so more updates on more bosses (that I've experienced firsthand) will be coming in the not too distant future.
In my return post I'd like to ease back in to blogging talk about Chimaeron, one of the bosses in Blackwing Descent. Chimaeron, once learned, is quite an easy and straightforward fight. But this isn't a general strategy blog, this is for all the rogues out there!
So, what tips do I have for rogues?
The first is positioning, something that rogues, especially combat rogues, should be smart about. As everyone must be 6 yards apart during the 'normal' phase (the other being the 'Feud' phase) it is best to position yourself directly behind the boss away from any other melee and the off-tank. For combat this is the optimal position as when Killing Spree is used it will drop you in the middle of the boss at the back, when this happens I find it easier to back pedal while continuing to DPS Chimaeron...it is possible to manoeuvre in a different direction but I find my fingers get less tangled if I back pedal!
The second major tip concerns the use of Feint. Feinting is only really useful in the Feud phase. Use your first feint when his cast bar is at 20.5 seconds, then feint on CD and you will have feint up for all the ticks. This saves a lot of damage that needs to be healed in this very healing intensive phase...your healers will thank you for using Feint during Feud.
Well that’s it, short and sweet! My travels through this tier of content is such that my guild is at 10/12 now and so more updates on more bosses (that I've experienced firsthand) will be coming in the not too distant future.
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