ShadowPanther.net
Complete List of Rogue Nerfs, Buffs & Fixes
I often see Rogues complaining that our class has been nerfed every single patch. So, have we really been nerfed every single patch? And how many "buffs" have we gotten, if any, to balance out those nerfs? I decided to find out for myself. I've compiled a list of every single patch change I could find that directly or indirectly affected Rogues in an effort to determine if A. We've received nerfs every single patch and/or B. We've received more nerfs than buffs. If both are true, then you could probably say with confidence that our class as a whole has been nerfed.
N = Nerf
B = Buff
U = Useful addition or change, but not enough to be considered a Buff
F = Fixed bug
Note: This list only includes documented changes. Undocumented changes have not been included.
Patch 1.2 (12/18/04)
Rogue
F: Backstab will automatically target the nearest enemy if no target is selected.
F: Distract is now effective against creatures that are already distracted.
N: Sap: Players now have an increasing chance to break free of the effect, such that it is unlikely the effect will last more than 15 seconds.
F: Training costs adjusted. Total training cost was decreased.
F: Vanish will now break root and slow effects.
Patch 1.3 (3/22/05)
PVP
N: Patrolling scouts that can see through stealth and invisibility have been added to both Orgrimmar and Ironforge.
Rogue
U: A number of areas in the world now have footlockers in them. These areas are in place for rogues to visit to increase their lockpicking skills. The contents of these footlockers are only token amounts of treasure, but they should allow for a more interesting experience while increasing lockpicking skill. The difficulty of the locks in the area correspond to the level of the zone, so if your lockpicking skill is around 100, you would go to Durnholde Keep in Hillsbrad. But if your skill is 250, you might head to Tyr's Hand in Eastern Plaguelands.
Hillsbrad Foothills - Durnholde Keep
Redridge Mountains - Lake Everstill
Ashenvale Forest - Zoram Strand
Stonetalon Mountains - Windshear Crag and Associated Mines
Wetlands - Murloc Camps
Desolace - Sar'theris Strand
Badlands - Angor Fortress
Swamp of Sorrows - Pool of Tears
Searing Gorge - The Slag Pit
Tanaris Desert - Lost Rigger Cove
Azshara - Bay of Storms
Eastern Plaguelands - Tyr's Hand (elite)
N: Very high-end gems will no longer be acquired from junk boxes or pickpocketing.
F: Added a visual to Sword Specialization "proc" that will now show up in the combat log as well.
Items
F: Weightstones may now be used on fist Weapons.
F: Fixed a bug that was causing Thrash Blade, Flurry Axe, and Ironfoe to have an additional attack when the effect went off.
F: Shadowcraft Boots now have +21 Agility instead of +21 Intellect.
N: Finkle's Skinner is now Main hand only.
Quests
U: Smudge Thunderbrew in Ravenholdt Manor now sells the recipe for Thistle Tea to those rogues who completed the quest and inadvertently destroyed their recipes.
Pets
N: You can issue pet commands while you are stunned, fleeing, etc.
User Interface
F: You can no longer change armor sets while your enemies are stunned.
Bug Fixes
F: Fixed bug where Seal Fate and Blood Frenzy were giving two combo points instead of one.
F: Fixed a bug where instant melee attacks were not blockable.
Patch 1.4 (5/5/05)
Racial Traits
N: Perception - Increased detection bonus.
Hunters
N: Track Hidden - Increased stealth detection.
F: Viper Sting - This spell can no longer be used on warrior and rogue targets. In addition, while it can be used on a druid target at any time it will only drain mana when the druid is in caster form.
Rogues
F: Combo points will no longer be removed if the target is deselected. They will only be removed if a different target is selected.
F: Fixed a bug where combo points were not always being applied to the target when using Cheap Shot, Ambush and Garrote.
B: Vanish - Increased stealth bonus.
F: Ambush, Backstab, Ghostly Strike, and Riposte now properly increase the attack power contribution by the percent modifier. Our goal is to make the dagger-based Backstab/Ambush build a viable alternative to the sword/mace-based Sinister Strike build. As a side effect, fixing this bug also increased maximum critical Ambush damage beyond our intentions. After considering a variety of balance changes (including reducing the percent modifier or base damage of Ambush, or reducing the Improved Ambush talents) we decided to change the Lethality talent to no longer affect Ambush. This does not counteract the DPS increase from the bug fix as Backstab is the primary source of DPS while Ambush is a source of high, one-time damage and cannot be used as consistent DPS. After all balance changes are considered, here are some details:
(Using a Barman Shanker with 2.0 weapon speed and between 500 and 800 attack power)
Ambush without the Lethality bonus and attack power bug fix (patch 1.4.0) causes between 4-12% more damage than - - - * Ambush with the Lethality bonus and attack power bug (patch 1.3.1).
Backstab (patch 1.4.0) causes between 9-13% more damage than Backstab (1.3.1).
F: The Kick ability prevents the target from casting spells in the same school when channeled casting is interrupted.
F: If using Gouge triggers the Stormshroud Armor lightning effect, the Gouge effect will no longer be instantly interrupted.
U: The Rogue trainers will now point the player to an appropriate area with boxes to unlock depending on the lockpicking skill of the player.
F: Preparation - Will now clear the cooldown of the Blade Flurry ability.
F: Riposte - Fixed a bug that prevented the ability from being used when the target had no weapon or was already disarmed.
Warlocks
N: Paranoia (Felhunter) - Increased stealth detection.
World Environment
N: Patrolling scouts that can see through stealth and invisibility have been added to Darnassus, Stormwind City, Undercity and Thunder Bluff.
Bug Fixes
F: Extra attacks gained from spells and abilities are applied immediately and do not affect normal combat swing time.
F: Abilities which do an additional percentage of weapon damage now include attack power as part of the base weapon damage.
Patch 1.5 (6/6/05)
General
F: Fixed a bug where the PvP trinket rewards were not always removing the effects they were designed to remove (e.g. Polymorph, Fear, Stun).
PVP
N: Sitting characters will now stand up immediately after an attack, even if stunned.
Rogues
F: Riposte - Fixed a bug where the ability was not usable against a disarmed or unarmed target.
F: Vanish - Should be a lot more responsive when used to avoid incoming attacks.
Patch 1.6 (8/2/05)
General
F: Fist Weapons will now have the normal chance to parry that all weapons use.
F: It will no longer be possible to swap any equipment while stunned.
N: Damage caused by environmental effects will now cancel stealth (e.g. swimming in lava).
F: Special abilities which are parried will correctly activate abilities which are usable after parrying.
F: Fixed a bug where broken off-hand fist weapons would prevent main-hand dagger abilities from being usable.
Rogues
F: Riposte - Targets immune to disarm effects will now take damage from Riposte.
F: Disarming an enemy faction hunter's trap will now flag the rogue for PvP.
F: Ghostly Strike no longer deals damage to you when you use it.
F & B: Premeditation - Fixed a bug where the combo points gained using the ability were not properly removed after the duration expired. Also increased range and duration.
F: Fixed a bug where the energy gained by Relentless Strikes in some cases was increased beyond the value listed in the tooltip.
F: The UI now properly shows that Preparation does not clear a Cold Blood setup.
Items
F: The stealth detection bonus on the Druid PvP set gloves has been changed to work in all forms, including caster form.
U: Set bonus for Stormshroud armor improved. It should be more compelling for rogues and druids now.
Quest
F: Obtaining a set of Thieves' Tools in the quest "Tools of the Trade" no longer flags you for PvP.
Raids and Dungeons
F: The trapped chests in Stratholme will now show up for Detect Traps and can be disarmed. In addition, the number of creatures that come out of the trapped chests has been reduced.
N: Many creatures in Stratholme have gained Detect Invisibility/Stealth.
Patch 1.7 (9/13/05)
General
N: Switching weapons in combat triggers a 1 second global cooldown for all abilities for rogues and a 1.5 second global cooldown for everyone else.
F: Several stun spells and abilities that were previously unresistable can now be resisted as was always intended.
F: You can no longer unequip weapons while they are disarmed.
F: When you swap weapons in combat, you start your swing again, instead of continuing your last swing.
F: Fixed bug where self-inflicted damage, like Poisonous Blood, wouldn't break stealth.
Rogues
F: Riposte - Will now initiate combat when used.
F: Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
F: Mace Specialization - The stun effect can now be resisted.
F: Shoot Bow/Gun/Crossbow - Should no longer cause a global cooldown on all other abilities.
F: The fire damage from the Blazefury Medallion and the Gutgore Ripper's effect should no longer immediately break Gouge.
F: Riposte - Fixed a bug where the ability was not usable when a special attack (e.g. Gouge) is parried.
Items
F: PvP reward gloves that grant stealth detection have had the detection reduced somewhat.
F: The Fade effect on the Stealthblade will no longer trigger the cooldown for the Rogue's Feint ability.
Professions
N: Catseye Goggles have had their stealth detection increased somewhat.
Quest
U: A level 50 class quest has been added for the Rogue (Lord Ravenholdt in Ravenholdt Manor), Priest (Greta Mosshoof in Felwood), Mage (Archmage Xylem in Azshara), and Hunter (Ogtinc in Azshara).
Patch 1.8 (10/10/05)
General
N: Instant Attacks
The mechanics of most instant melee attacks have been modified to improve item balance. Previously, instant melee attacks did damage based on the damage range of the weapon, plus a bonus for the player's attack power. This bonus was then multiplied by the speed of the weapon. As a result, slow weapons did more damage than was intended, and fast weapons were considered inferior by most players. We have changed the way the attack power bonus is calculated for instant attacks. This change does NOT affect attack power calculations for normal melee attacks. Instead of multiplying by the speed of the weapon, the attack power bonus is now multiplied by a fixed number pulled from the following table:
Two-handed weapons: 3.3
Daggers: 1.7
All other one-handed weapons: 2.4
As a direct result of this, many weapons have shifted position in their relative power. In particular, many Epic (purple) quality items are now more powerful than slower Superior (blue) weapons.
This change was not made to reduce the power of instant attacks, but to correct the relative imbalance of weapon itemization. At a given level requirement, epic quality weapons should always be more powerful than superior quality weapons.
Please also note that all normal weapon swings will be completely unaffected by this change. The following abilities are affected by the design change: Sinister Strike, Ambush, Backstab, Whirlwind, Mortal Strike, and Overpower.
F: Perception (Human Racial) is now usable while stealthed.
Rogues
F: Vanish - Fixed a bug where the Chilled effect caused by Ice Armor/Frost Armor was not removed properly when vanishing.
U: Parry - Minimum level to train this ability has been lowered to 12.
F: Blade Flurry - This ability will now trigger correctly off of special attacks such as Sinister Strike and Kick.
F: Shoot Bow/Crossbow/Gun - Fixed a bug where these abilities could be used faster than intended.
F: Throw - Use of this ability will now only cause a cooldown with Shoot abilities.
Ambush - Now uses normalized attack power. (See Instant Attack Nerf above)
Backstab - Now uses normalized attack power. (See Instant Attack Nerf above)
F: Riposte - Now properly sets its cooldown.
Sinister Strike - Now uses normalized attack power. (See Instant Attack Nerf above)
Items
F: Items which provide +hit chance will now be allowed to counteract the increased miss chance penalty of dual-wielding.
Patch 1.9 (1/3/06) & Patch 1.9.3 (2/7/06)
Rogue
F: Sword Specialization - Special attacks such as Sinister Strike, and Mortal Strike now properly trigger the chance to gain an extra attack.
B: Mace Specialization - The stun effect's duration no longer diminishes or is diminished by controlled stun abilities and spells (e.g. Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Charge etc...).
F: Slice and Dice - This finisher can now trigger the Ruthlessness talent.
F: Deadly Poison V - The charges were inadvertently not increased with the new rank of the ability. Increased from 105 to 120 charges.
F: Slice and Dice - This ability should no longer miss.
Items
U: Stormshroud Shoulders have been fixed to be a superior item and have had the stamina on them slightly increased as well.
Raid & Dungeons
N: It should now be very difficult to remain out of combat while fighting the bosses in Molten Core.
Patch 1.10 (3/28/06)
General
F: Channelled spells are cancelled when a rogue vanishes.
U: Traps can now be detected in the same way stealthed units can be detected.
N: Stealth and Invisibility effects will now be canceled at the beginning of an action (spellcast, ability use etc...), rather than at the completion of the action.
Hunters
F: Distract no longer rotates hunters who have feigned death.
U: Hunter traps now use the same rules as stealth rather than being invisible. Detect Trap has been changed to reflect this.
Rogues
F: Slice and Dice - This ability can no longer be blocked, dodged, or parried, and cannot miss. If you attempt to use this ability when your target is dead, you will now receive an error message instead of displaying the spell animations.
F: Sap - Lightning Shield will no longer break Stealth when the Sap is resisted.
F: Remorseless Attacks - This ability will no longer trigger off killing creatures that do not award experience, or players that do not award honor.
F: Distract - This ability will no longer trigger a Shaman's Lightning Shield (which caused the Rogue to lose stealth).
F: Blade Flurry - The additional attacks generated by this ability will now properly take into account the armor of the second target.
F: Blind - Now considered a ranged attack. It can no longer be dodged or parried.
F: Creatures will no longer get one hit on a rogue before cheap shot takes effect.
Results
9 Patches
9 Patches with Rogue nerfs
18 - Rogue nerfs
3 - Rogue buffs
8 - Useful additions/changes
67 - Fixed bugs
Conclusion
Rogues have been nerfed every single patch, but at the same time they've also received some buffs, helpful changes and/or bug fixes in each patch to help towards balancing the class overall. The question is, have these buffs and fixes been significant enough to offset the nerfs? I leave that for you to decide....
ADDITIONAL PATCH NOTES
Patch 1.10.1 (4/11/06)
World Environment
F: The Prophet Skeram is now properly affected by "Curse of Tongues" and "Mind-Numbing Poison."
Patch 1.10.2 (5/2/06)
Rogues
F: Fixed a bug which prevented Vanish from working properly under certain conditions.
F: Seal Fate will now correctly provide a bonus combat point upon landing a critical strike.
Patch 1.11.0 (6/19/06)
General
F: Temporary item buffs (e.g. poisons, sharpening stones and shaman weapon buffs) will persist through zoning or logging out.
F: Chain targeted spells and abilities (e.g. Multi-shot, Cleave, Chain Lightning) will no longer land if target cannot be seen by the caster due to stealth or invisibility.
Rogues
B: Detect Traps is now a passive skill.
F: Pick Pocket: This ability will no longer trigger effects on your target.
F: Slice and Dice: This ability will no longer play its sound effect twice.
F: Vanish: Canceling your Stealth aura while Vanish is running will now cause Vanish to be canceled as well.
F: Hemorrhage: Your damage over time effects will no longer consume charges of Hemorrhage.
Items
U: A number of items have had their stacking limits increased including leather, enchanting dust/shards and rogue poisons/reagents among others.
F: Deathdealer's Spaulders were unintentionally given higher stats than they should have had for an item of their level, this has been corrected.
F: Bloodfang Set Bonus: The damage effect from the 8-piece bonus on this set will no longer trigger on (and break) Gouge.
F: Stormshroud Set: The Lightning effect from this set will no longer break your Gouge.
Bug Fixes
F: The Rogue's ability Distract now works properly against other players.
Patch 1.12.0 (8/22/06) & Patch 1.12.1 (9/26/06)
Rogues
Due to significant talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded and can be re-spent. Training costs for all talent spell replacements have been significantly reduced.
F: Vanish now removes effects that allow the caster to always remain aware of their target (currently Hunter's Mark and Mind Vision).
U: Pickpocket can now be used on targets that are in combat, as long as the rogue remains stealthed.
U: All manner of rogue reagents can be found in locked junkboxes (obtained from pickpocketing).
F: Fixed a bug where the Slice and Dice ability wasn't playing an animation.
F: Lethargy Root has been removed from poison vendors and is now a gray item.
F: Reduced the number of messages in the combat log when using the Vanish ability.
F: Fixed a bug that made Combo Points disappear from your target when using Vanish.
B: Eviscerate: Manual of Eviscerate (Rank 9) now drops off Blackhand Assassins in Black Rock Spire. In addition, Eviscerate now increases in potency with greater attack power.
B: Garrote: The damage from this ability has been increased. In addition, Garrote now increases in potency with greater attack power.
F: Relentless Strikes: This ability will no longer trigger when your finishing move does not hit your target.
B: Rupture: Rupture now increases in potency with greater attack power.
F: Sap: Enemy rogues will now always lose stealth when you Sap them.
Bug Fixes
F: Chain-targeted abilities cast by creatures no longer hit stealthed or invisible players.
F: If a Hunter is unflagged for PvP, an enemy faction rogue won't be able to disarm his trap.
World Environment
N: Cities: Neutral guards are now able to see through the rogue Vanish ability.
World PVP
F: Players will no longer receive honor if a tower in Eastern Plaguelands is captured while they are stealthed.
Patch 2.0.0 (12/5/06)
General
N: Weapon skill will no longer reduce the percentage damage lost due to glancing.
U: The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon skill against monsters above their level.
Items
F: The damage Proc from the item "Misplaced Servo Arm" will no longer break the Rogue ability "Gouge".
Bugs
F: Fixed a bug where Rogues were able to use the ability "Ghostly Strike" when not facing their target.
F: "Vanish" will now properly un-target the Rogue from the attacker when the attacker is in the same party.
Patch 2.0.3 (1/9/07)
Priests
F: "Mass Dispel" will no longer cause stealthed Rogues and prowling Druids to lose stealth.
Rogues
Due to various talent changes, Rogues will have all talent points refunded.
N: "Evasion" (Rank 2) now reduces the chance that ranged attacks will hit the Rogue by 25%, reduced from 50%. It is now available at level 50.
B: The "Cloak of Shadows" cooldown has been reduced to 1 min, from 2 min. Now a trainable ability at level 66.
B: "Shadowstep" (New Subtlety Talent) attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy. Your next "Ambush", "Backstab" or "Garrote" ability is increased by 20% and lasts 10 sec. This is only usable while stealthed.
B: "Premeditation" (Subtlety Talent) has had its range increased to 30 yards.
N: "Preparation" now only resets the cooldown of the "Evasion", "Sprint", "Vanish", "Cold Blood", "Adrenaline Rush" and "Premeditation" abilities.
B: "Wound Poison" now causes damage and reduces all healing by 10%, stacks up to 5 times.
B: The Cooldown for "Blind" has been reduced to 3 min, from 5 min.
F: There is no longer a random chance the effect of "Sap" will end (i.e. removed the heartbeat resist check). The effect will still end early when the target is damaged.
U: Each rank of "Weapon Expertise"now provides 5 weapon skill.
B: "Surprise Attacks" now increases the damage from "Sinister Strike", "Backstab", "Shiv" and "Gouge" by 10% instead of 8%.
F: Resisted spells will no longer break "Stealth"/"Vanish".
F: Combo points added to a target should not be reset until you add a combo point to a different target.
Bug Fixes
F: Updated the tooltip on "Cloak of Shadows" with the additional line, "Does not remove effects that prevent you from using Cloak of Shadows."
F: The rogue Assassination Talent "Quick Recovery" will no longer refund energy back to the Rogue if a finishing move is partially blocked.
F: A "Vanished" rogue will no longer be taken out of their "vanished state" when they resist a spell.
F: The rogue Assasination talent "Find Weakness" will now work properly with the finishing move "Deadly Throw".
F: Using the rogue ability "Mutilate" when not behind your target will no longer initiate combat.
F: The rogue ability "Slice and Dice" will no longer be reported twice in floating combat text when used.
F: "Mind-Numbing Poison" will no longer stack with both "Curse of Tongues" and "Slow".
Items
N: The energy gained from "Thistle Tea" now decreases with levels past 40.
N: The energy gained from "Renataki's Charm of Trickery" now decreases with levels past 60
Patch 2.0.7 (2/13/07) & Patch 2.0.10 (3/6/07)
General
B: The amount of haste granted by a point of haste rating has been increased by about 50%.
Big Fixes
F: The talent "Combat Potency" no longer causes rogues to have a chance to gain energy when other players hit them with off-hand attacks.
Raids and Dungeons
F: Shattered Hand Gladiators will no longer break players' stealth when engaged in combat.
Patch 2.1.0 (5/22/2007)
General
B: Glancing Blows have significantly less of a chance to occur during a player's melee attacks when targets are near the player's level.
U: The amount of parry rating needed to get 1% parry has been reduced by 25%.
Arenas
N: The Shadow Sight buff now allows players to see other stealthed players at a greater range.
Hunters
F: Frost Trap: This trap no longer breaks stealth from its slowing effect.
Rogues
F: Added a new double-attack animation for Mutilate.
F: Added a visual, sound, and combat log message when the Cheat Death talent saves the rogue from death.
U: Blade Twisting: The delay on the daze effect has been reduced.
F: Cloak of Shadows: The tooltip has been adjusted to indicate this ability removes hostile effects, rather than dispels them. Cloak of Shadows does not count as a dispel, and will not interact with dispel resistance or effects triggered by dispelling. This ability no longer removes the Weakened Soul debuff.
F: Deadly Throw: This ability will now damage hunters and their pets when they are affected by The Beast Within or Bestial Wrath. Those targets will still be immune to the movement impairing portion of Deadly Throw.
F: Fixed a data error that caused Ghostly Strike and Riposte to generate more threat than intended.
F: Fixed a bug where the Silence effect on Garrote was getting resisted too often.
F: Gouge: This ability will no longer trigger poisons (and thus break itself).
U/N: Insignia of the Alliance/Horde and Medallion of the Alliance/Horde now remove Fear, Stun and Polymorph effects and no longer remove Charm effects.
B: Improved Sap (Subtlety) renamed Dirty Tricks: Increases the range of your Sap and Blind abilities by 2/4 yards and reduces the energy cost of your Sap and Blind abilities by 25/50%.
U: Increased the frequency and amount of Blinding Powder found in pickpocketed junk boxes.
F: Mutilate: This ability will now always consume the Cold Blood buff when it strikes an opponent.
F: Poisons: The difficulty of dispelling these is now based off the level of the player, not the level of the weapon the poison is applied to.
U: Reduced the reagents required to create most poisons.
U: Remorseless Attacks (Assassination): Hemorrhage added to the buff tooltip. This ability will no longer trigger from killing totems.
U: Rogue poisons no longer have charges.
B: Sap no longer removes you from stealth when used.
U: Shadowstep (Subtlety): The cooldown has been reduced to 15 seconds.
F: Stealth will now be broken correctly by damage shield such as Oil of Immolation.
F: Surprise Attacks (Combat): This talent now correctly prevents Envenom from being dodged.
B/F: Sword Specialization: This ability now grants extra yellow attacks instead of extra white attacks. This change will make Sword Specialization no longer reset the weapon swing timer when it triggers off special attacks, and results in a net increase in damage dealt.
Items
U: Khorium Lockboxes will now drop occasionally off creatures over level 65.
F: Corrected a typo in the tooltip of Anesthetic Poison in regards to the number of charge applied.
F: Khorium Lockboxes will now contain loot of the appropriate level.
F: Assassination Set: The haste bonus from this set will no longer be triggered if your attack does not land on the target.
F: Devilsaur Set: The hit rating set bonus will now stack correctly with hit rating bonuses from other items.
F: Netherblade Set: The set bonus giving a chance to gain combo points on finishers now works correctly with Slice and Dice and Deadly Throw.
F: The Stealther's Helmet of Second Sight will now properly hide facial hair.
F: Adamantite Weight Stones now work on staves and fist weapons.
F: Fel Weightstone now works on fist weapons.
N: The Night Blade: The chance for the effect on this item to trigger has been reduced.
F: Updated the General's Leather Boots to properly reflect the Alliance counterpart.
U: Leatherworking made Primalstrike set now has an attack power set bonus rather than a strength set bonus.
Dungeons and Raids
U: Creatures will no longer Cleave targets that aren't in front of them.
U: Creatures will no longer perform Sweeping Strikes.
World Environment
F: Dust Howler: This creature's "Howling Dust" ability is now correctly removed by "Cloak of Shadows".
Patch 2.1.2 (06/19/2007)
Rogues
N/F: Sword Specialization: The change to Sword Specialization making its extra attacks appear in yellow has been reverted. Extra attacks will appear in white and act like any auto-attack. They will no longer reset the swing time of your weapon.
Items
N/B: PvP Trinkets: Insignia of the Alliance, Insignia of the Horde, Medallion of the Alliance, and Medallion of the Horde have all been redesigned. The trinkets for all classes now have the same effect: Dispels all movement impairing effects and all effects that cause loss of control of your character.
Patch 2.2.0 (09/25/2007)
General
N: Haste: Haste has been rebalanced. It has returned to the ratios from the launch of Burning Crusade. Melee attacks and spell casts will now benefit at identical rates from haste. This change results in a reduction in the benefit of haste for melee attacks and an increase in the benefit for spellcasters.
Priests
F: Mass Dispel: The portion of this spell that removes immunity effects (Blessing of Protection, Ice Block, etc.), now has a chance to be resisted, and will display correctly to the combat log. It will no longer cause Rogues and Druids in Cat Form to lose stealth.
Rogues
F: Blade Flurry: This ability will now do damage to secondary targets when the primary target takes no damage due to a damage shield (such as Power Word: Shield).
F: Cold Blood: This effect will now be consumed by all crits, including those against targets with damage shields.
F: Master of Subtlety: The bonus damage from this talent is now properly removed when a Rogue loses stealth from zoning.
F: Sap: It is no longer possible to Sap two targets at the same time in the outdoor world.
N: Sap duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
N: Sword Specialization: This talent's free extra attacks can no longer trigger additional extra attacks.
Shamans
F: Earthbind Totem: This totem will no longer break Rogue stealth.
Items
F: Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality: This trinket now works properly with Kidney Shot.
F: Blazefury Medallion: This item will no longer trigger against targets affected by Sap.
F: Slayer's Armor: The set bonus for Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Mutilate now also works for Hemorrhage.
Patch 2.3.0 (11/13/2007)
General
N/B: Weapon Skill: All items and abilities that granted weapon skill have been changed. In most cases, they were converted to expertise or expertise rating. Ranged attacks do not benefit from expertise, so ranged weapon skill has generally been replaced by critical strike bonuses or hit bonuses. In a few cases, talents have been changed to other effects to avoid granting players excessive amounts of expertise.
Druids
F: Force of Nature: This ability will no longer automatically break stealth on victims in its casting area. Nearby stealthed characters may still be attacked if they are too close to the summoned Treants.
Rogues
U: All poisons will now enchant the weapon for 1 hour, increased from 30 minutes.
F: Blade Flurry: This ability now works correctly in all cases with shielded targets.
B/U/N: Blind is now a physical (no longer a poison) attack. Reagent requirement removed. Now shares the same diminish category as Cyclone and is now diminished in PvE as well as PvP.
B/N: Cheat Death (Subtlety) chance to trigger increased to 33/66/100% and now also causes the rogue to take 90% less damage for 3 seconds when the effect triggers. This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.
F: Cold Blood: Fixed an issue where this buff was sometimes getting removed when an attack missed.
B: Dirty Deeds now also increases special ability damage against enemies below 35% health.
F: Dirty Deeds: This talent will no longer interfere with getting the bonus damage from the Druid ability Mangle on Rupture and Garrote.
B: Fleet Footed (Assassination) now increases movement speed by 8/15%.
B: Hemorrhage: This ability now does 125% of weapon damage.
F: Kick: Interrupting a channeled spell with this ability will now always properly prevent casting spells from the same spell school for 5 sec.
U: Precision: This talent now also applies to ranged weapons.
F: Remorseless Attacks: This talent can no longer be triggered by the death of a rogue's target dummy or other pet.
N: Riposte is now subject to diminishing returns in PvP.
B: Rogue's Deadly Throw missile speed increased significantly and snare duration increased slightly.
N: Ruthlessness now only affects melee finishing moves. It no longer works with Deadly Throw.
F: Sap: Multiple Saps placed by multiple Rogues will now be handled correctly in all cases.
B/U/N: Shadowstep (Subtlety) can now be used at any time, not only while stealthed. Now increases the damage and reduces the threat caused by the next damaging ability. Cooldown increased to 30 seconds. Range changed to 25 yards.
F: If you are in Stealth and try to use an ability that may not be used while stealthed, you will leave stealth and use that ability. This can be disabled with /console autoUnshift 0
Items
F: Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality: This item will no longer trigger when the victim of your finishing move is immune to that attack.
F: Lockboxes will now display the numerical lockpicking skill required to open them.
Patch 2.3.2 (1/8/2008)
Rogues
B: Ambush: The damage multiplier on this ability has been increased from 250% to 275%.
F: Cheat Death: When multiple attacks land simultaenously, all those resolved after the attack which triggered Cheat Death will now have their damage reduced by 90% as intended. However, the combat log will still report them doing full damage.
F: Hemorrhage: Rank 4 of this ability no longer has its charges consumed by non-physical attacks and spells.
N/U: Hemorrhage weapon damage reduced from 125% to 110%, but the damage debuff has been increased.
F: Hemorrhage: This ability now correctly does additional damage when its debuff has already been applied.
B/N: Preparation now resets the cooldown of Shadowstep and no longer resets the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush.
B: Shadowstep now adds a 3 second, 70% movement speed increase.
B: Sinister Calling now also increases the percentage damage bonus of Hemorrhage and Backstab by 2/4/6/8/10%.
Patch 2.4 (3/25/2008)
Rogues
F: Abilities that can be used while stealthed, without breaking stealth, can now be cast without breaking Vanish when used at the same time.
F: Cheat Death: A combat log message will now show when this ability activates and now has an animation.. It will now almost always be accurate in displaying the amount of damage done to a rogue when under the effects of Cheat Death.
B: Improved Backstab is now called Puncturing Wounds. Puncturing Wounds increases your critical strike chance with Backstab by 10/20/30%, and the critical strike chance with your Mutilate ability by 5/10/15%.
F: Improved Sprint: This ability will now always remove Entangling Roots.
U: Sap mechanic changed from “Incapacitate” to “Sap”. This will allow more humanoids that were previously immune to Sap to be vulnerable to Sap, but still immune to Gouge. Note that anything that removed Sap previously will still remove Sap after the change.
F: Vanish: This ability will no longer sometimes cause the UI to display Shadowmeld as active when it has been cancelled
Battlegrounds
F: Battleground Rune Buffs: Speed, Restoration, and Berserking buffs received from battleground runes will no longer cause Stealth or Prowl to break.
Items
F: Gladiator's Leather Gloves: This arena bonus will now properly school lock enemies when the damage from Deadly Throw causes them to stop channeling.
Dungeons and Raids
U: Non-corporeal Undead and Mechanical creatures are now susceptible to bleed effects.
U: Elemental creatures are no longer explicitly immune to poison and disease effects. Elementals with nature school immunities will still be immune to nature-based poisons, however.
Patch 2.4.2 (5/13/2008)
Rogues
F: Ability: Blade Flurry: This ability can no longer hit critters as its secondary targets and will now use a proper range calculation for all secondary targets.
F: Talent: Mutilate (Assassination) will no longer incorrectly appear multiple times in the combat log when used.
Items
N: Renataki’s Charm of Trickery has had its energy reduced.
Patch 2.4.3 (7/15/2008)
Rogues
N: Cheat Death: This talent has been rebalanced significantly. Killing blows are no longer 100% absorbed. If the Rogue is below 10% health, the killing blow is still completely absorbed; if the Rogue is over 10% health, enough damage will be absorbed to reduce the Rogue’s health down to 10%. For the following 3 seconds, damage is not always reduced by 90%; it is now reduced by a maximum of 90%, depending on how much resilience the Rogue has. The damage reduction will be four times the damage reduction resilience causes against critical strikes.
N: Sinister Calling now increases damage to Backstab and Hemorrhage by 1/2/3/4/5% (down from 2/4/6/8/10%.)
Items
F: Brutal Gladiator’s Pummeler has had its Stamina value increased to the appropriate value.
Bug Fixes
F: Hunter Snake Trap will no longer break players out of stealth if the snakes pass near the stealthed character.
F: Rogues: The talent Heightened Senses, Rank 1 and Rank 2 will now affect attacks from wands.
F: Cloak of Shadows will now properly remove the curse Shrink.
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