World Of Warcraft: Blizzard Talks Rogues and 1.12

Recent Dev Posts in the Rogue Forum

On Expose Armor and Sunder Armor:

I know that I had hinted at specific functionality, and I take that mistake upon myself for making statements based on information which was not final and/or fully intended. Expose Armor will not stack with Sunder Armor in 1.12.

The changes to make it perform as a percentage is still intended, and it should now give a pretty nice boost against high-armor targets versus the current Expose Armor functionality.

Rupture/Eviscerate/Garrote:

Rupture was found to be performing at-par to where we want it to be and will not be changed. While there was certainly some intention initially (and why it was included in my post) to improve or change how it functioned, after careful study it has been decided to not change the Rupture ability. I know that may be a dissapointment, but after careful study, no change was necessary.

Eviscerate is being improved by a new book, allowing a new rank and a general base-damage increase.

Garotte is receiving a damage boost. While final numbers are still unavailable, we are shooting for an approximate 50% damage increase.

Vanish in 1.12:

It will only apply to abilities that are specifically used to allow the caster to remain aware of the target. I'm only aware of Hunter's Mark and Mind Vision being applicable to the requirement, but there may be more. Any damaging spells would not fall into this category.

I have seen a few posts, generally from people that are playing a hunter, exclaim that Hunter's Mark specifically states it is to be used to keep track of targets restealthing. This is absolutely true; however, Vanish is a separate ability from Stealth and vanishing is not synonymous with stealthing regardless of the end result.

Note: Drysc also mentions that Faerie Fire will not be removed by vanish

More on Eviscerate:

The specific thought process for Eviscerate came after a lot of testing the ability and how far it could be scaled respective to the damage output. Theoretically it could be scaled and only provide rogues at the very top end with a marginal improvement, meanwhile everyone else is left with a less poweful ability.

In the end, giving a base increase is going to end up adding more damage than it would have if we scaled the ability, and thus the change was made. Specific work and thought was put into attempting to scale the abilities, but the end product was not enough of an improvement just so it could be said that it scales.

Some Positive Reinforcement:

I'm just posting to let you know that I read it, and your concerns are certainly heard and understood. I am continuing to read the forums every day, and I am continually providing feedback.

I want to thank you for creating a constructive post maintaining a pleasant tone though, it is beyond appreciated.

That's all for now. We'll keep you posted on any new Blizzard activity that appears regarding the Rogue review and beyond.