Like, for example, Subtlety Rogue. It already has a “big” DPS cooldown, which is Shadow Blades with a 2 minute CD. It’s an impactful and fun button to push, which adds value to the spec and provides a nice window to feel more powerful.
But that’s not the only significant DPS cooldown in the Subtlety kit. Next, there’s the whole “Symbols of Death” situation. It has a few potent talents built into it, making it pretty much mandatory if you want to make full use of the talent tree. It’s on a 30 second cooldown, and its benefits last 10 seconds. Meaning that you basically have to press it every 30 seconds or else you’re leaving a lot of extra damage on the table.
But it’s bothersome to manage the cooldown. 30 seconds is short enough to feel relatively frequent, but just long enough that it feels like an effort to keep track of its availability. And its impact just isn’t that satisfying, despite being a substantial boost to your overall effectiveness when coupled with the talents which enhance its effects.
Shadow Dance is another one that’s similar. It’s a large part of the spec’s damage output, but its cooldown is situated in a place that makes it another hassle to manage.
Secret Technique, too, with its 1-minute default cooldown, shortened by other synergies of course.
I don’t really like playing cooldown whack-a-mole, which basically makes all of the rogue specs less appealing to me. Subtlety on paper sounds awesome. Shadow damage, emphasis on backstab, bleeds, and finishing moves…
But all the short-cooldown juggling shenanigans just end up making it borderline unplayable. Not because I’m incapable of downloading an addon or whatever, but because it just doesn’t feel fun to play. Too many buttons with a weird cadence and not enough moment-to-moment fun. Because of how many short cooldown power boosts it has, the parts of the rotation when you’re not using any special cooldown buffs just make me feel like I’m swinging a wet noodle around.
Other specs have this problem, too, though to a lesser extent. Do people enjoy clicking Blade Flurry every 30 seconds for 10 seconds of benefit? Or Roll the Bones every 45 seconds for 30 seconds of a buff? Between the Eyes for a 20% crit buff? Ghostly Strike? Blade Rush? Sepsis? Echoing Reprimand? Thistle Tea? Cold Blood? I don’t like it. Way too much juggling.
Sustaining Slice and Dice is one thing, and that is kinda satisfying, but all that other stuff just feels like busy work. Why not make Roll the Bones a passive effect which cycles you through one of its benefits every 30 seconds? Why not make Blade Flurry a toggle with a small penalty to energy regen, like it used to be?
Then there’s Assassination. Definitely the least egregious of the three, but it still has the same Rogue talents as the others, throwing Thistle Tea, Cold Blood, Shadow Dance, and Echoing Reprimand in the way of every path except the one leading to Deeper Stratagem. It has its own land mines, such as Serrated Bone Spike and Kingsbane, but at least those are in positions that are easy to build around, so they don’t feel mandatory.
I guess my point is that having a bunch of buttons on short cooldowns that feel mandatory in the rotation is just adding busy work. These effects could easily be changed into passive buffs or procs that don’t require a hotkey or a bunch of mental juggling.