Would you be sad if this skill was removed completely?
I used to love Combat, but after it was remade into Outlaw in Legion i lost pretty much all motivation to play it.
My main issue being the HEAVY leaning towards the Pirate theme, which killed my idea of using Fist Weapons and fighting like a feral worgen, or similar, the way the attacks look, (pretty much exclusively sword like slashes) the gun and worst of all, the dices.
Roll the Bones was what killed it for me, not only does it look dumb, but its just AWFUL to rely so heavily on a skill thats a literal coin toss, either you get good buffs or you have to reroll.
With how the modern Tree Skill works, i wish these were more of an optional playstyle, so others could play something more similar to what Combat was, aka making Roll the Bones a talent skill and not basekit.
It would be kinda similar to how Mistweaver has the Fistweaver playstyle.
Sadly its unlikely to happen, and the closest thing i have to Combat, is Fury, but thats a different class at this point.
I love roll the bones when it’s tuned to be roughly comparable and it’s more like “Oh how am I going to be playing for the next 20 seconds” not “am I going to do damage for the next 20 seconds?”. There’s been times when it’s been that, outside of a jackpot which I think is cool as long as it’s not too swingy.
Also iirc they removed the reroll mechanic and have generally shifted the buff combinations to be closer together.
That’s a shame, either way I don’t think the problem is roll the bones fault and people brigading against a cool mechanic that’s seen countless iterations since they decided they hated it is counter productive to making the game as fun interesting and varied as possible.
Combat never existed.
Or rather what did exist was this sentence:
“I’m a Combat Rogue going into combat using Combat combat abilities to do combat. My Combat combat stuff helps me in combat and when I want to get out of combat. But the fantasy of a Combat rogue is to go into combat using Combat abilities like the Combat ability of doing combat because Combat abilities should all be about combat but if you don’t do combat as Combat you aren’t fulfilling your combat, Combat, or Combat-combat fantasy.”
Just the name itself invalidated it as a specialization.
Remembers all of the feral worgens over the years in WoW who have fought with tooth and claws and nothing else, all whilst wearing pirate getups.
This is not a critique of Outlaw, this is an indication you aren’t even wearing the pink glasses you got prescribed instead of normal glasses.
Look, I’m gonna put it like this but the angst folks have against Outlaw is unwarranted. Because it is a specialization that fits better than what Combat ever did. Combat existed as a remnant from the days you weren’t specialized as a rogue but you simply were just a rogue. If you are that upset about the “pirate theme”, why not go for a wild west theme? Or tavern brawler theme? Or literally anything else like that…?
Roll the Bones makes 110% sense in regards to Outlaw, and Outlaw isn’t by necessity a pirate theme. It is popularized as one for two reasons:
Pirates are popular.
We got our Dreadblades during Legion.
Everything about still fits into a feral worgen fantasy if you want that. It fits into a melee brawler. A ruffian from the streets. Hell, grab a red bandana and be an old Defias Brotherhood member if you so want to.
Outlaw is gonna stick around as it is, because it is way better for the rogue archetype than what Combat ever was. And to prove this I will literally just refer to my point about “what the hell is a Combat rogue anyway besides the most messiest of messy paragraphs to describe at all?”
Furthermore you said it here. If you wanted to play as a warrior, play as a warrior. And leave rogues for rogues.
I stopped maining rogue, my main since TBC, after the legion rework. Completely killed the rogue vibe. Combat was so fun in MoP with deep insight killing spree, how we went from that to this RNG spec is wild. The pirate theme is so offputting with the pistol.
Sub also changed completely, became almost mindlessly spammy and sustained damage was obliterated outside of dance so the aim is to be in dance all the time.
The only spec from rogue that actually survived the revamp is assassination, the spec I always enjoyed the least, except when it was a burst spec instead of heavy dot focused. Member those juicy mutilates…
Outlaw was a mistake that shouldn’t have ever happened. Combat rogues were far superior, and removing them was one of the dumbest choices Blizzard ever made. And THEN they constantly ignore the spec after its change, and do the bare minimum to even make it relevant for more than a month per expac. Outlaw is trash and should return to being combat as it was in Cata.
I think Roll the Bones is fine, personally. At least, in its current incarnation - and speaking as a more casual player who isn’t stressing about the top 1% leaderboards.
I’d be far more willing to get rid of Slice and Dice. At least for Outlaw. Either take the combo point requirement away, roll it into our builder, or just make it a passive for rogue as a whole (since we effectively always need it up, anyway).
That’s such a bad faith argument. You can invalidate quite a few specs this way.
“I’m an enhancement shaman. I enhance. Anytime I see someone, I enhance. I’m the ENHANCER. I don’t even fight, I JUST ENHANCE” etc
Combat needed a thematic oomf, yes, but the fantasy wasn’t that out of reach. Sword fighting rogue, duelist rogue, up front mace in your face rogue is quite a popular trope, which is what combat could have gone after. They were weapon specialists, and could use variety of weapons to accommodate fist users, mace, daggers etc. There’s plenty they could have done to improve that vision.
Different abilities take out different weapons, for example, something they ended up doing to outlaw with pistols.
I wasn’t really a Rogue player anyways, but personally I didn’t enjoy the transition from Combat to Outlaw. I don’t see Pirates as skilled Rogues. Pirates are Rogues who can’t cut it on their own.
At least for Outlaw. Either take the combo point requirement away, roll it into our builder, or just make it a passive for rogue as a whole (since we effectively always need it up, anyway).