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The change can and should be subtle, too. Increase the range of certain finishers and Shiv (like 10 yards - nothing massive, but a decent bit larger than it is now. Possibly attached to Dirty Tricks). And make Combo Points non-target specific.
So what does that allow? Well... build combo points on the DPS target, and then Kidney Shot someone else. Lore-wise this might require a rename ("Kidney Blow") but it'd give them a more distinct flavor. Good damage on one target plus non-dispellable CC on a second one.
It might be too much in 2v2 but it'd certainly make them more interesting in 5v5.
Yeah, that's been suggested before and Blizzard has even said they'd be considering it.
It's no secret to anyone that target switching is one of the rogue's weakness. Good rogues do switch target when called upon, but no other class in the game suffer such a harsh penalty for doing so.
Ability like shadowstep just add salt in the wound... it begs to be a 'target' switcher ability, and while it can be used that way (especially to land a kick on a healer) you're still leaving your combo point behind.
But let's go with it. Beyond the ability to KS someone else then your main target for CC, what really gets me excited about the idea is to use Deadly Throw on Target B (healer) while I'm dpsing Target A.
There's two way to go about this:
1 - Combo points are on the Rogue, not the target. This is good because it means you'll 'always' have combo points. Target switching become a painless task.
2 - Combo points are still on the target, but you can build them up on more then one. This is both more limiting and more powerful then option 1. It's more limiting because you need to hit the other target(s) at least once (drive by shiv?), but it's more powerful because you don't 'lose' your combo point by switching target.
The reason why I keep mentionning Deadly Throw (DT) is because it's going to be the game breaker in this case. The ability to change target turns DT into a monster. Which might be what rogues need... or it might be to much.
DT has no cooldown and only requires 1 CB. Granted, it has a travel time (and with quick reaction time, you can avoid the school lock effect, but it still slow down the spell).
This would add a rather impressive amount of control to a rogue. Combined with a cheap attack (Hemo) or even Adrenaline Rush, a rogue will be able to do Hemo - Switch target DT - Hemo - Switch target DT, etc.
Granted, eventually the Energy cost will catch up to him, but well played (or in combination with AR) this mean you can stop a healer from healing while still doing your white damage and stacking wound poison for a while.
In 2v2, This will be deadly in 2 DPS team. And it's an indirect buff to druid. They rely on instant cast spell, this DT dance will barely affect them while and make druid even more desired as healers.
In 3, it would give Rogues even more ability to lock down a healer. I know that this would make my specific 3v3 combo even more powerful. 3s is already our bracket tho, we'd just be even more powerful in it.
In 5? I don't know. Most of my 5v5 experience come from my mage. I can't see it hurting, but will it be enough?
Granted, this is only a problem with Option 1. Option 2 takes care of that.
Option 2 however, make us more powerful in a different way. Assuming you've build a CP on the healer (and you'd be stupid not to do it!), a DT or KS on the healer followed by a 5 points Evis (with cold blood if applicable) would be pretty bad ***. The equivalent of a mage using CS on your healer and then nailing you with POM+Pyro when you're at 30% health (okay, it does less damage, but you get the point).
Now I'd jump for joy if this were to happen. There's really no way without some playtesting to see if this buff would make us viable in 5s or not. But it would certainly be a really big buff.
Edited, Jan 28th 2008 5:10pm by Tyrandor
