WoW Forever: the rogue gets a major overhaul just before launch

Until this week, the rogue looked like the forgotten class of WoW Forever. While other classes were getting new mechanics, it stayed very close to its Classic version. The patch notes Blizzard published on its official forums, a few days before the 5 November launch, change all that. According to Mein-MMO, the rogue section alone runs to more than 5,230 characters.

Why are these changes so surprising?

Mainly because of the timing. According to Mein-MMO, the presentation video Blizzard uploaded to YouTube on 3 November was already partly outdated on the day it went live: it mentions class abilities that have since been removed. The German site concludes that these notes were put together in a hurry.

The reception has not been the same everywhere. According to Mein-MMO, citing Wowhead, a large part of the shaman community shut down its official class Discord for 13 hours in protest against Blizzard's plans. The details of those changes are not covered in the source.

What changes for the rogue?

Mein-MMO does not go through the full list, but highlights several new features. The names below come from the German or English version: not all the official French translations are known yet.

• A new basic attack, Shank. It strikes with the off-hand weapon for low damage and restores a little energy at the right moment. Each of the three specialisations gets a talent that strengthens Shank, with a different bonus depending on the tree.
• Ghostly Strike for Subtlety. It lets you use Ambush and Garrote without being stealthed.
• A new finishing move for Subtlety (Todesmal in German): the target explodes a few seconds after it is applied.
• The Quick Getaway talent. It lets you sap two targets at once, an asset in PvP, solo as well as in dungeons.
• Talents moved around the trees. Some key talents require fewer points to reach, for example Vigor for energy or Improved Sprint for PvP fans.
• Sometimes significant buffs for talents considered weak, such as Aggression or Lethality.

What should we remember about the Classic rogue?

In Classic, the rogue was already among the top damage dealers in the game, behind a very dominant warrior. According to Mein-MMO, it should even deal the highest single-target damage in stationary fights in WoW Forever. Its strengths are well known: plenty of crowd control, solid PvP damage and stealth that is invaluable for levelling or farming.

So are its weaknesses. It brought little group support beyond crowd control, armour reduction and lockpicking. The choice of specialisations was narrow: Subtlety was used almost exclusively in PvP, and Assassination was mostly a supporting tree. Before these notes, Forever simply steered Subtlety towards bleeds and Assassination towards poisons, with the arrival of Mutilate. Another welcome detail: Sap no longer breaks stealth, even without a talent.

Is the rogue becoming too strong?

Nobody can say yet. The Mein-MMO writer, a rogue since 2005, believes the package should make the class "more exciting and more varied" to play, without making it overpowered. That remains an impression drawn from the notes, not an in-game observation. The real balance will become clear on the servers, from the very first days.

New to Forever? Our getting started guide will help you choose your class with full knowledge of the facts.