(Posted updated on Jan. 9 with an additional Ghostcrawler tweet.)
Maybe yea, maybe nay. But this recent Twitter exchange with Ghostcrawler shows that the design team 1) has thought through the issue and is proposing the adjustment they feel will do the trick, and 2) doesn’t feel Subtlety is that far behind in the first place, particularly not on single-target fights.
@evangel666777 What % do you think Combat is behind Assassination? (You can't just compare Raidbots or WoL because of sampling bias.)
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Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 07, 2013@eldersgapingmaw Yes, my bad. He said Sanguinary Vein buff. I heard Vitality buff. Both were intended to close the gap.
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Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 07, 2013@evangel666777 Hard to say. If you look at a fight like Feng, Sub isn't far behind even though the sample size is much smaller.
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Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 07, 2013@gridbread Is Sub behind? WoW Insider discussed it recently. (And when did "Sin" become a thing? I get why people don't like to type "Ass.")
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Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) January 09, 2013
This isn’t the first time in the recent past that Ghostcrawler has taken to Twitter to defend Subtlety’s viability: Check out this exchange from a couple of weeks ago.
(Note added 1/9: The additional tweet from Ghostcrawler I added to the bottom of the pile refers to this Encrypted Text column by Chase Christian, which posted to WoW Insider on Jan. 8.)
Thinking I might have to run through LFR w/ optimal reforges a few times. Probably have to make it PTR but that prospect is somewhat frightening. Still since we get Prep baseline and still have SS I can’t just add in 3.45% dps and say that’s what the theoretical difference is.
Could a few LFR runs offer anything resembling reliable data?
I maintain that sub’s problem isn’t damage. Sub’s primary dps niche are 20 second burst windows, something that outside of the abomination that was spine are quite uncommon in raiding. Unless sub becomes exceptional dps, on the order of 10+% better then assassination it is hard to justify given its weaker aoe, execute and target swapping(if you’ve read my recent comments both here and on the forums this statement may seem very familiar).