If you’re not going to do it properly, and leave it in this sloppy unplayable state, you may as well just take it out of the game.
No, i actually want you to FIX stealth, because it is near unplayable in the current state. The reason rogues have dropped off massively in popularity, in my opinion, can be attributed mostly to the issues surrounding stealth. Now, i suspect you just don’t like stealth, because i feel these oversights are too glaring… But i’ll go into them anyway.
A list of problems that have been ongoing with stealth for some time :
-A Toy that can bypass stealth that anyone can have
Bind the target by their name, use the sp-eye glass, you can now see through stealth at a massive range.
So you have a class in the game that DEPENDS on stealth, and then you just drop a toy in the game that lets anyone see through it. Now, this has supposedly been changed in rated, but they actually left it in the rest of the game. I’m sorry but… NOT EVERYONE CARES ABOUT RATED. This is an MMO.
The main PVP in an MMO should be considered WORLD PVP. Not some instanced side piece. Also, just scrap rated in general. Rank and rating is not for gear based RNG RPG games. It is for entirely skill based games, which this is not.
For comparison… Imagine a toy where you forced casters to be in melee range only to cast. That is akin to what this toy does. It removes something integral to rogues defense and offense. It is an absolute disgrace.
Take this garbage toy out of the game.
-Stealth Randomly Dropping
There is some annoying bug with stealth, where literally nothing is there, you’re hit by nothing, and your stealth just drops. This is doubly annoying when paired with the fact that you’re usually focused on combat, not looking at your character but the opponent. Meaning it can simply go unnoticed that your stealth has dropped.
You’re standing there in the open, and you don’t even realize it. Honestly… WHY has this not been fixed yet… This is a MASSIVE problem, and has gotten me killed more times than i can count in PVP and PVE. Supposedly this bug only occurs with Assassination and Outlaw, i’m not sure about sub rogues… But my god, it is horrific.
Beyond fixing this bug, you really need an option to put a stealth screen filter on the game so that i can easily see whether or not i’m in stealth. Like, maybe fade the colors abit, who knows… Just something other than a tiny box and my character being slightly see-through. Yes, i’m aware of addons, but this should be built into the game, i shouldn’t need to rely on addons.
-Ridiculous Dot Length and Cooldowns
This is one is more specific to PVP. I’m hit with a dot that lasts 20 seconds… To remove this dot i have to use a 2 minute cooldown. I need stealth for my damage and my defense. So i use this cooldown. Now then, should i come out of stealth after using this cooldown, i’m essentially dead if i don’t kill every enemy upon my return. Alternatively, i can just leave combat and wait for the cooldown; which is TWO MINUTES, to allow me to safely leave combat again.
This is fine for small scale PVP, like say, arena, but in anything that is a battleground or group based PVP, it is TERRIBLE.
AoE spam going off constantly, people throwing instant 20 second dots on you from a mile away… You spend most of the game sitting in stealth a mile away, because you know the moment you’re seen you’re taking one of these dots.
Now i get it… Rogues are meant to focus the objectives. We’re all well aware of that. But see, any other class can do that too AND they can still fight in a group. This is why it is a problem.
You’ve given invisibility to hunters and shaman etc… Like… Why are rogues still so gimped in a group PVP when you allow other classes to have the benefits of invisibility without the downsides of being terrible in group PVP? Hunters in particular are monstrous… Like… Not sure what you’re thinking with their design, but they do everything, and they do it well. They even have their own version of vanish, they just feign death into camouflage. Ridiculous.
If you’re going to just give invisibility to other classes, you need to sweeten the deal for the classes and specs that are stealth focused; that depend on it. We need a better version of stealth, not just one that has no cooldown.
Specifically for group PVP, it might be nice to have some kind of stealth barrier upon entering stealth, meaning if we’re hit or take a dot, we’re not just locked out of stealth for 20 seconds; OBVIOUSLY it has to be a very fragile barrier, and would need very careful tweaking… Maybe even some dot protection whilst still under the effects of stealth (although that might be a bit strong). But this alone would go a massive way in making group PVP better for rogues, as it would actually allow us to get in and initiate on someone regardless of aoe spam going off. Instead of just standing a mile away and waiting for a straggler.
You know, we are THE stealth class, it’d be nice to have a better version of stealth.
Now… I say all of this… But i have a feeling blizz are very purposely making stealth bad. I have no idea as to why they would do this outside of someone on the team just not liking it, feeling it is somehow unfair or too… “unsafe”? Who knows… But it is really weird that it is this bad and nothing has been done. The fact they’d left a toy in the game that lets people cheat bypass stealth in anything other than rated is quite frankly madness. But it really shows there is some kind of weird passive aggression towards stealth if you ask me… But anyway.