A Couple of Suggestions for Outlaw Rogue and Fire Mage Levelling

TL;DR at the bottom for those uninterested in reading a stupid wall of text.

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Hi there,

Random player here just sharing some musings about the levelling experience and providing a bit of feedback. Let me just quickly preface: the new levelling experience is, overall, fantastic.

So, major credit to Blizzard implementing a hopefully sustainable-system where every expansion sees us squished back to Level 50, the previous expansion cycled into the 10-50 Chromie Time, and 50-60 being solely new-expansion content. I think this is a fantastic way of going about things and there's even more room for refinement as time goes on.

Small points of refinement would be changing up the levels you earn certain abilities. I have two examples that come to mind, and I'm sure I would have more if I played more of every other class in levelling:

1. Energy Regeneration for Rogues. The stand-out example in my eyes being Combat Potency at Level 37 for Outlaw. 37 doesn't sound like much normally, but with the new levelling experience, it is actually pretty late. So much so that until you get Level 30 for Vigor (or level 29 for Roll the Bones), the pacing of your rotation is very slow. It makes an ability like Between the Eyes (once Eviscerate is upgraded to Dispatch, dealing about twice the damage) or Kidney Shot seem very unworthy of being used in any standard rotation, since you're not going to accrue the energy or combo points to make great use of them. Between the Eyes' damage buff not really being relevant if Dispatch does the trick and kills them outright.

2. Hot Streak for Fire Mages being available so early on when they do not have a Rank 2 Fire Blast (admittedly available at only level 18) or their Critical Mass (available at Level 23). Hot Streak seems like a 'dead' effect prior to either of these effects because your Critical Strike chance leaves you very unlikely to crit twice in a row. Your Level 15 Talent can make your Fireballs or Pyroblasts guaranteed crits against enemies with >90% Health, but that's not enough to guarantee a Hot Streak.

I can imagine both Outlaw Rogue and Fire Mage feeling a lot better if two of their effects were swapped between each other in the levelling process. For example, make Fire Blast Rank 2 or Critical Mass the Level 14 effect, with Hot Streak taking either place at Level 18 or Level 23.

This may just be me reminiscing over Outlaw having Combat Potency so much earlier on before the levelling revamp, but making it available much earlier on seems like just a great idea. Side note: Shiv at Level 32 when your first non-lethal poison is attained at level 33 is a tad wonky. Swapping those two out seems like a no-brainer good change in my opinion. Anyhow, for Combat Potency, I could see a good switch being made between it and Between the Eyes (Level 17) or, probably better, Dispatch at Level 22. Dispatch upgrading Eviscerate and making its damage much higher is great and all, but it is only a damage boost, and having the faster energy regeneration while not killing targets quickly with only time for a single Dispatch means that you get to press more buttons and make greater use of Between the Eyes. Generally a more satisfying experience in my opinion.

I could even see Combat Potency at Level 17, Between the Eyes at 22, and Dispatch at 37. Combat Potency being unlocked sooner so that you get acclimated to the speed in which an Outlaw regenerates Energy would be far from a bad thing. Though I suppose if people are concerned about it, this could be an issue for level 19 PvP balance. Kick, Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot, Combat Potency all by Level 19 sounds... well, brutal.

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Is there any reason I might be missing for why these changes wouldn't be a good idea? I know the levelling experience goes over very quickly overall now, but the levelling experience is the first several hours a new player is going to experience, so ironing even small kinks out like this would be worth the small amount of effort. PvP Balance is the only thing that comes to mind but, as I understand it, it's not exactly a high priority at a low level.

Are there any suggestions anyone else has for swapping around abilities/effects for a class or spec? Maybe Rampage/Colossus Smash/Thunder Clap unlocked at Level 16 instead of 19 for the Warrior Specs?

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TL;DR:

Outlaw Rogue: Suggestion: Combat Potency at Level 17, Between the Eyes at Level 22, and Dispatch at Level 37. (Current: Between the Eyes at 17, Dispatch at 22, Combat Potency at 37)

Also Shiv at Level 32 and Crippling Poison at Level 33 seems backwards. It's only a level difference and hardly matters, but introducing the Non-Lethal Poison before the ability that empowers is seems like the right idea!

Fire Mage: Suggestion: Swap around Critical Mass at Level 23 with Hot Streak at Level 14, so you get the Crit Chance before you get the Crit-chance reliant mechanic.