Blue Post: More Combat AoE Buffs Incoming; Tier 15 Bonus Clarification — Updated 1/11

(I’ve added some clarifications, in italics, based on GC’s subsequent comments.)

Ghostcrawler took to the official WoW PTR Discussion forum to start up a new discussion thread where he can answer questions (and to provide a single spot for players to provide feedback) specifically regarding class mechanics and set bonuses in Patch 5.2. This is basically a new edition of the amazing “Class Balance Analysis” threads (one, two) that Ghostcrawler and other CMs took part in during the Mists of Pandaria beta, in which he answered a huge number of questions regarding how (and why) certain changes were being made to the way our classes and specs work, as well as how those specific changes actually worked.

Now that I’ve put you to sleep with that incredibly long-winded background, here’s the first bit of rogue-specific clarifying info that Ghostcrawler provided in the thread:

• We are still iterating on Blade Flurry. We feel like the implementation of Blade Flurry on live forces rogues to go Combat on any cleave fights, while leaving Combat too far behind on any single target fights. It’s fine if the rogue specs have niches, but the niches shouldn’t be so rigid that you don’t feel like you have any choice in spec. Blade Flurry will be how Combat does 2-5 target AoE damage. In the next PTR build, it deals 40% of normal damage to up to 4 additional targets, for a 20% energy regen reduction. [Ruffy’s Note 1/11: GC quickly clarified “normal” to mean “the same as it previously did; that is to say, the damage that the ability would have done had it hit the secondary target.”]
  
• The Rogue 2T15 bonus does apply to all finishers with a duration, including Slice and Dice, Kidney Shot, Recuperate, Envenom, and Rupture. In build 16446, the Kidney Shot increase was broken, but is fixed for the next build. [Ruffy’s Note 1/11: GC later added, “The 2pc does encourage using Rupture as Combat.”]

I’m no theorycrafter, so I’ll leave it to the experts to work out whether this latest planned de-nerf to Blade Flurry’s cleave will be enough to alleviate concerns that Combat will be shunned in end-game PvE during the next patch due to its lack of unique value compared to the other specs.

The clarification on the two-piece Tier 15 set bonus certifies that it’s not intended to make Eviscerate or Crimson Tempest hit harder, which makes some sense given what I think the set bonuses as a whole are intended to do: Increase our active damage on single-target fights without unbalancing the specs. (I’ve vomited forth a bunch of thoughts on this idea over at Elitist Jerks, and have high hopes that my logic will be mercilessly ripped to shreds shortly.)