I also double-checked CPM because I feel claiming that Outlaw is the fastest spec in the game is wildly incorrect. The fastest Rogue? Well, let’s find out.
WarcraftLogs is currently not correctly eliminating duplicated Pistol Shot casts for Fan the Hammer or duplicated Dispatch casts off of Crackshot.
When correcting for these bugs and eliminating neutral events like potions, trinkets, and environmental actions (used Brackenhide for all samples, so the Brew and Cleanse were excluded), the Outlaw CPM for prepatch is currently clocking ~50 for top logs.
I compared the same values for Sub and used the same rules for elimination of neutral events, trinkets, and environmentals, it landed around 47. I was shocked to find that Outlaw is faster than Sub, but factoring the changes with Shadow Dance and the energy slowdown on Sub, it’s not that shocking.
To confirm I’m not insane about the prepatch slowdown affecting Sub, I again checked Sub with S4 values and before prepatch, Sub was slightly over 50.
Which is all fine and great, but does the claim that Outlaw is the fastest spec in the game turn out to be true? Well, it shouldn’t take exploratory data analysis and careful scrutiny of metrics to realize that tanks tend to have a surplus of off-GCD abilities, from Ignore Pain, Ironfur, Purifying Brew, etc. So, if you follow that simple action logic and pick the tank that can spam that off-GCD action the most (Prot Warrior), you might expect they will end up being the fastest spec in the game.
Don’t think it’s right? Check it out. I’m not the expert on Prot Warrior to know what to include or exclude but in the few I checked, Shield Slam, Thunder Clap, Ignore Pain, and Revenge alone cross that 50 CPM threshhold.
The last thing to consider, is maybe it was just meant that Outlaw is the fastest damage spec in the game. But anyone who has played Fire Mage in the past and is familiar with their off-GCD Fire Blast juggling might get a kick out of running the same set of tests and checks.
Edit: I do not agree that any spec should be designed for either paradigm, fast or steady play, even though that’s how it works out in game when you compare specs like Sin. In the case of Outlaw, it is exclusively the sword spec for rogue and for the sake of all players, not just a few performers, design principles should incorporate a variety of play styles. And, bringing the whole conversation back to the OP, should integrate itself into the spec theme and not just the Sanic the Hedgehog “gotta go fast” framework. Outlaw is still disproportionately spending talent points to get back to pre-DF parity (MM hunter was bad too during DF but was significantly improved going into TWW), where most talents are focused on granting skills that should be baseline like Combat Potency, Ruthlessness, Heavy Hitter, or Dancing Steel, instead of flavor-enhancing options that draw out the inspirational fantasy of a specialization. And don’t even get me started on the placement of Underhanded Upper Hand on the left side of the tree, separated from the center path of Adrenaline Rush or the right-hand path of Blade Flurry, despite its focus on extending access to specifically those two skills. A fun heuristic may be to count the number of choice nodes in a spec tree that affect its actual gameplay and not its utility–Outlaw is currently at ZERO choice nodes excluding the Float/Sting utility node. The recently rebuilt Windwalker is at SIX…
