Ravenholdt T-Shirts: the European Edition

We have a European source for Ravenholdt t-shirts! Our wonderful logo artist, Doug Shuler, designed a simple version of the logo which is available on a unisex black shirt.

We decided to go with a Streetshirts promo to offer these due to the simplicity of the process relative to the items and styles that they offer. What this means is that if you want one you will need to order it by 22 July 2016.

Get yours here: Ravenholdt T-shirt

If we get a good response and we are happy with the quality and the process, we may offer a second run. We might also consider offering the logo on other items, such as a hoodie. Please let us know what you think and what might interest you.

We may also do another US run before Blizzcon. US people, let us know if you are interested.

Rogue Transmogs: The Leathers Collection

Tyrgarde2_1

Tyrgarde has treated us to two transmog sets along similar lines. He suggests that you decide which to wear depending on your race.

Leathers of a Respectful Savage

The first version will have you running instances from various expansions as well as making purchases in your Garrison.

“This one looks good on Worgen, Undead, and Trolls. Races with “normal” feet will maybe want to change the boot transmog. Seems odd running around in your bare feet. I didn’t have a theme in mind when I started it. I had the shoulders and wanted some other pieces to match colors, nothing too special for this set. The black cloak with trim adds a bit of something to the set.”

Helm: Opportunist’s Leather Helm – purchased from Fedryen Swiftspear, Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster, in Zangarmarsh.
Shoulders: Dark Phoenix Spaulders – Tier token from Majordomo Staghelm OR Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate – Baleroc. Both in Firelands Normal.
Cloak: Cloak of Darkness – Leatherworking.
Chest: Heroes’ Bonescythe Breastplate – Archavon the Stone Watcher in Vault of Archavon.
Shirt: anything red or brown
Hands: Thunderlord Gloves – BoA transmog piece purchased from War Mill or Dwarven Bunker in your Garrison.
Belt: Bloodfang Belt – Vaelastrasz the Corrupt in Blackwing Lair.
Legs: Heroes’ Bonescythe Legplates – Archavon the Stone Watcher in Vault of Archavon.
Feet: Thunderlord Sabatons – BoA transmog piece purchased from War Mill or Dwarven Bunker in your Garrison.
Weapons: Quickening Blade of the Prince – Kael’thas Sunstrider in Heroic Magisters’ Terrace. A good alternative is Bloodvenom Blade – Deathbringer Saurfang in 25 Normal Icecrown Citadel.

Tyrgarde1-4

Leathers of Resumed Battle

This version shares pieces with the above set, but switches out a few key items for a slightly different look.

“When I make a transmog set, I try to match up a few colors together that’s on an item. So this one has a few dashes of red, some light brown and grey. Looks particular good on a race with a straight back, Blood Elves, Human, Female Orc. But still looks okay on any hunched over race.”

Helm: None
Shoulders: Spaulders of Resumed Battle – Noth the Plaguebringer or Gluth in 10 Normal Naxxramas.
Cloak: Cloak of Darkness – Leatherworking.
Chest: Heroes’ Bonescythe Breastplate – Archavon the Stone Watcher in Vault of Archavon.
Hands: Heroes’ Bonescythe Gauntlets – Archavon the Stone Watcher in Vault of Archavon.
Belt: Girdle of Unconquered Glory – Hans’gar and Franzok in Heroic Blackrock Foundry.
Legs: Heroes’ Bonescythe Legplates – Archavon the Stone Watcher in Vault of Archavon.
Feet: Boots of the Worshiper – Grand Widow Faerlina or Gluth in 10 Normal Naxxramas.

If you have a transmog that you just love and would like to share, please send the following to fans@ravenholdt.net for a chance to be featured:

a list of the items that you used for your transmog. If you can, include where you acquired each piece.
one or two nice high-res screenshots. These should be reasonably close up and not too dark. No stealth pics please!
tell us a bit about what you were going for with your look. Do you have a name/title for your transmog?
if you would like to be credited, please include a link to your armory and your Twitter handle if you have one.

Please note that we may not be able to feature every submission and those that are selected may not be posted immediately. We look forward to seeing more of what you wear!

Rogue Transmogs: The Engineer

Ieatpaperbag1

Ieatpaperbag puts us in a setting with an engineering transmog that looks as battle effective as it is totally at home in the workshop. A choice of weapons makes this a truly practical and utilitarian outfit.

“I was going for an engineering look; the engineering goggle for Warlords of Draenor” looked so awesome, so I wanted to see if I could find a “look” to go with it. I also wanted to find something different that wasn’t simply all tier xx,” Ieatpaperbag explains and notes that he made heavy use of an old blog post by Anne Stickney, now of Blizzard Watch, which you can find here: Transmogrifying a tribute to engineering.

Helm: Night-Vision Mechshades – Soulbound from Engineering. There are some non-engineering (but less cool) options such as Mimiron’s Flight Goggles or Emerald Beholder Eye.
Shoulder: Shoulder of the Ogre-Nabber – This is a reward from a Feralas quest. If you’ve completed the quest check for similar models.
Chest: Mixologist’s Tunic – Plugger Spazzring in Blackrock Depths.
Hands: Safecracker’s Gloves – random drop from Cataclysm instances (check the AH).
Belt: Belt of Feigned Joy – quest reward from several level ~40 quests.
Legs: Light Leather Pants – Leatherworking.
Feet: Boots of the Neverending Path – purchased from Veteran Crusader Aliocha Segard (Argent Crusade) in Icecrown.

Weapons:
Peacekeeper Blade – Confessor’s Cache or Eadric’s Cache in Trial of the Champion.
Sorthalis, Hammer of the Watchers – XT-002 Deconstructor in 25 hard-mode Ulduar.
Aledar’s Battlestar – Eadric’s Cache in Trial of the Champion.
Flarethorn – Gorosh the Dervish or High Justice Grimstone in Blackrock Depths (awful to farm but pretty worth it)
Ravenclaw Harbinger – random world drop from Mists of Pandaria (check the AH)

If you have a transmog that you just love and would like to share, please send the following to fans@ravenholdt.net for a chance to be featured:

a list of the items that you used for your transmog. If you can, include where you acquired each piece.
one or two nice high-res screenshots. These should be reasonably close up and not too dark. No stealth pics please!
tell us a bit about what you were going for with your look. Do you have a name/title for your transmog?
if you would like to be credited, please include a link to your armory and your Twitter handle if you have one.

Please note that we may not be able to feature every submission and those that are selected may not be posted immediately. We look forward to seeing more of what you wear!

The Portrayal of “Rogue” in the World of the Warcraft Film

Garona and Garona

Please note that this blog contains spoilers for Christie Golden’s wonderful Warcraft movie prequel, Warcraft: Durotan, as well as minor spoilers for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Legion.

Garona. We know her as the consummate assassin. In the World of Warcraft that we live in, it is she who slew King Llane Wrynn, albeit against her will, with the blades Sorrow and Anguish. It is she, driven by revenge, who aids us in finding Cho’gall in Twilight Highlands. It is she, albeit an alternative universe version of her, who ambushes us in Frostfire Ridge, attempts to assassinate Khadgar, and ultimately befriends us in Warlords of Draenor. It is she who bequeaths us her ill-used blades in Legion if we select to have our Artifact Weapons be for Assassination. And it is now she who is front and center in the previews for the film, Warcraft. With the film still a few weeks away from release, we can’t know yet that we will recognize what we know as Assassination Rogue in her actions, but we do have the prequel novel, Warcraft: Durotan, and we can look within its pages to see how rogues fare in this telling of the story.

Garona and the first assassination are introduced early in the novel, however it is not Garona who wields the deadly blade. Gul’dan, her master, tricks Garad into effectively assassinating himself with a poisoned dagger, but the Assassination class icons are right there: the dagger and the poison. Although passive, she still exhibits cunning and her initial communication in Draenei was effectively stealthed as she communicates with Draka in a language that Gul’dan cannot understand. Her role in the novel is a small one, and despite the Assassination class icons making an appearance, we don’t have a great deal to reconcile with the in-game rogue or even the in-game Garona. We would probably be better served to wait for the film and its novelization to discuss her as a class representative.

The concept of Class with its rules, structures, and limitations is a conceit of the game and while seemingly not overtly represented in the world of the novel, can still be discerned in key characters. Class archetypes are obviously represented, for example, in Drek’Thar the shaman, Gul’dan the warlock, and Orgrim the warrior to name a few. Garona’s limited role may not allow us much of a glimpse of our class, but are there other places that we can look to to find rogues. While hunters and warriors, as well as shaman are well depicted among the Frostwolves, rogues don’t seem to be present. They can, however be seen in the novel’s Red Walkers. The Red Walkers exhibit several very roguelike traits: not only do they attack from concealment, for example ambushing Durotan and his comrades at the Seat of the Spirits, but the Red Walker that Durotan faces first in the final battle of the novel dual-wields small axes and seems more reliant on speed and agility than strength.

Perhaps the best representation of the rogue class can be found in the Red Walker chieftain who faces off with Orgrim. He is described as wearing “only the barest scraps of armor,” somewhat like in-game rogues who cannot be burdened with armor heavier than leather. In behavior also typical of the in-game rogue, he kicks an opponent to subdue her, and, much like his unfortunate aforementioned clansmember who was dispatched by Durotan, he wields two axes “so swiftly they were blurs.” This imagery is iconic of the Combat (now Outlaw) rogue: the double one-handed weapons and the swift, relentless attacks. One could even make an argument that he uses Vendetta (although it is an Assassination ability) or is talented into Marked for Death as he makes his way towards Orgrim across the melee, “his head swiveling back again and again to check Orgrim’s location.”

This version of the world may not be as structured and rule-bound as the game that we are used to, but Christie Golden’s masterful storytelling and complete understanding of the workings of the game gives us glimpses of what we know and who we are, and allows the world a familiarity beyond location and lore. Warcraft: Durotan is a different take on the story from what we know, but it is a compelling and well-told tale, and very much worth a read. Just as Warlords of Draenor offered us a look at an alternative version of the universe, the film world gives us another. In this universe, while events are familiar, details are very different. We can only hope that Garona the rogue will get as fine a treatment in the upcoming film as Durotan and the Frostwolves get in this novel. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds, how this paragon of the Assassination rogue is portrayed, and whether will will witness our future blades, Sorrow and Anguish, on the big screen before we officially get to wield them ourselves. Dare we hope for more rogues like the Red Walkers? Will we witness this new version of the world and recognize in it, ourselves?

Image: In-game Garona vs. On-screen Garona. Paula Patton as Garona in the film from Legendary Pictures.

Rogue Transmogs: 99 Problems

Mickjabber1

Just because you are a rogue doesn’t mean you have to dress all sneaky all the time. Sometimes you just want to be, well, loud. Mickjabber brings us his take on the rogue look with goblin style.

“As you can tell I wasn’t really going for the subtle look here, basically I figured a Goblin Rogue would want to look good whilst he slays things, something with a certain amount of panache, something that a small person can make a big impact with!”

Well Mickjabber, you’ll certainly make an impact!

This set will take you through low level dungeons, Firelands, and require some good world drop or Auction House luck.

Head: Stylin Purple Hat – Leatherworking
Shoulders: Mantle of Autumn – Laj in The Botanica
Back: Netherfury Cape – Warp Splinter in The Botanica
Chest : Songbird Blouse – Hearthsinger Forresten in Stratholme
Hands: Gloves of the Fang – random drop from Wailing Caverns (check the AH)
Waist : Headhunters Belt – random world drop (check the AH)
Legs : Leggings of the Fang – Lord Cobrahn in Wailing Caverns
Feet: Headhunter Slippers – random world drop (check the AH)

Daggers : Alysra’s Razor – Alysrazor in Heroic Firelands

If you have a transmog that you just love and would like to share, please send the following to fans@ravenholdt.net for a chance to be featured:

a list of the items that you used for your transmog. If you can, include where you acquired each piece.
one or two nice high-res screenshots. These should be reasonably close up and not too dark. No stealth pics please!
tell us a bit about what you were going for with your look. Do you have a name/title for your transmog?
if you would like to be credited, please include a link to your armory and your Twitter handle if you have one.

Please note that we may not be able to feature every submission and those that are selected may not be posted immediately. We look forward to seeing more of what you wear!

Rogue Transmogs: The Mishmash Assassin

Launja

This time around, Launja brings us her take on practical wear. She has certainly nailed that rogue instinct for finding a space where it’s easy to fade into the background! “I wanted this set to look practical and stealthy,” she tells us, “so I steered clear of bright colors, revealing cuts, and over-the-top shoulder size.

“It’s not supposed to look perfectly seamless, either: rather a full suit of standard issue battlegear you might get in a military stealth unit, it’s something the assassin has assembled herself from various parts, for her personal use.

“My personal favorite are the shoulderpads: they conceal spring-loaded spectral blades ready to rake the face of anyone foolish enough to get too close. No still picture can do justice to the animation. I literally jumped the first time I saw it go off.”

We agree, those shoulders are pretty awesome.

Head: Wicked Leather Headband – Leatherworking
Shoulders: Treacherous Shoulderpads – XT-002 Deconstructor in Ulduar
Back: Furious Gladiator’s Cloak of Victory – I got this from PvP back in Season 6, but several drops and craftables have the same look. (Such as Auchenai Death Shroud” – Avatar of the Martyred in Auchenai Crypts)
Chest: Fusion Slasher Chestguard – Lei Shen – Throne of Thunder Raid Finder. The Raid Finder tier 15 chest (Nine-Tailed Tunic) also has the same look
Hands: Netherblade Gloves – Tier 4 token from The Curator in Karazhan
Waist: Dusky Belt – Leatherworking
Legs: Syreian’s Leggings – Syreian the Bonecarver in Grizzly Hills
Feet: Bloodthirsty Leather Boots – Leatherworking

Sword: Scorpion Sting – A friendly stranger just handed me one of these while idling in town. It’s a BoE drop, so the Auction House might be your best bet.
Dagger: Blood Weeper – Devourer of Souls in The Forge of Souls Heroic. These also work well with Enchanter’s Illusion – Hidden for the ultimate assassin looks (blades coated with non-reflective black paint)!

If you have a transmog that you just love and would like to share, please send the following to fans@ravenholdt.net for a chance to be featured:

a list of the items that you used for your transmog. If you can, include where you acquired each piece.
one or two nice high-res screenshots. These should be reasonably close up and not too dark. No stealth pics please!
tell us a bit about what you were going for with your look. Do you have a name/title for your transmog?
if you would like to be credited, please include a link to your armory and your Twitter handle if you have one.

Please note that we may not be able to feature every submission and those that are selected may not be posted immediately. We look forward to seeing more of what you wear!

Rogue Transmogs: The Fel Rogue

In honor of Legion our very first transmog is by Terrorskull whose guild updated their Guild Tabard in anticipation the the upcoming expansion. Terrorskull designed a transmog to fit with the Legion theme and was generous enough to share the details. One of the neat things about this transmog is the variety of weapons that work with it; it truly becomes a mog that will work with every spec. Terrorskull went all over creation to obtain these items so expect to be running plenty of old content if you want to replicate his look. Obviously not everyone’s guild will have a conveniently Legiony tabard so we’ve included a few alternative options for both the tabard and cloak.

Head: Cursed Vision of Sargeras – Illidan Stormrage in Black Temple
Shoulders: Shoulderpads of the Monolith – Kologarn in Ulduar
Back: Cloak of Coordination – Sold by guild vendors
Chest: Tunic of Assassination – Pathaleon the Calculator in The Mechanar
Tabard: Guild Tabard – Sold by tabard vendors
Hands: Handgrips of Assassination – Aeonus & Temporus in The Black Morass
Waist: Belt of the Twilight Assassin – Sold by Valerie Langrom in Dalaran
Legs: Leggings of Assassination – Murmur in Shadow Labyrinth
Feet: Scouting Boots – Level 20 zone drop. Check out similar models for low level quest reward options.

Sword: Fang of Twilight – Valiona & Theralion in The Bastion of Twilight
Fist Weapon: The Bladefist (Normal) – Kargath Bladefist in Highmaul
Dagger: Shard of Azzinoth – Illidan Stormrage in Black Temple
Bonus Weapons: The Twin Blades of Azzinoth – Illidan Stormrage in Black Temple

Alternative Tabards:

Lower City Tabard – Requires Exalted reputation with with Lower City
Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari or Purple Trophy Tabard of the Illidari – Quest reward from Battle of the Crimson Watch
Battle Tabard of the Defilers Sold by Rutherford Twing in Arathi Highlands (Horde only)
Tabard of Fury or Tabard of Nature – these two both come from the trading card game. If you aren’t lucky enough to have one, they may show up on the AH or BMAH. Failing those options, you may find one on ebay.

Alternative Cloaks:

Chief Brigadier Cloak – Zone drop
Mok’Nathal Wildercloak – Vazruden the Herald in Hellfire Ramparts
Farstrider Defender’s Cloak – Sold by Timewalking vendors in Shattrath City
Cloak of the Brood Lord – Nefarian in Blackwing Lair

If you have a transmog that you just love and would like to share, please send the following to fans@ravenholdt.net for a chance to be featured:

a list of the items that you used for your transmog. If you can, include where you acquired each piece.
one or two nice high-res screenshots. These should be reasonably close up and not too dark. No stealth pics please!
tell us a bit about what you were going for with your look. Do you have a name/title for your transmog?
if you would like to be credited, please include a link to your armory and your Twitter handle if you have one.

Please note that we may not be able to feature every submission and those that are selected may not be posted immediately. We look forward to seeing more of what you wear!

Rogues Doing Good: Accomp

Rogues are often reviled as masters of deception and cheap tricks, that shadow that ganks you from stealth, that master of the shadowstep and the stun lock. Not all rogues are bad, however. In fact, though we say it ourselves, rogues are some of the nicest and most generous people we have ever met. Case in point, Accomp. Accomp is a member of the Convert to Raid mega guild on Aerie Peak. The requirement to acquire Reins of the Grove Warden (aka. the moose mount) is a Heroic or Mythic Archimonde kill, and Accomp rallied his mythic raid team, Convert to Mythic, and offered a carry to any member of Convert to Raid who wanted it. I was lucky enough to be able to accompany them on the night that they got that moose for their 100th guild member and I asked Accomp a little about what they are doing.

Please tell us a bit about yourself:

Well, I’m Accomp – Dwarf Rogue, guide writer and web developer here in North Carolina. I raid lead for the Convert to Mythic team in the Convert to Raid guild family on Aerie Peak [A]. I started out as a Holy Paladin back in December 2004, but swapped to my Rogue during Wrath launch and never looked back.

What exactly is #ConvertToMoose and how does it work?

#ConvertToMoose is the brainchild of Pat Krane and the Convert to Raid podcast crew. They wanted to get together a group of geared folks in the guild and help out the lesser geared or more casual players we have acquire their Moose mounts via Heroic Archimonde kills. We’ve got a pool of 36 geared players who have offered to help out every Sunday and we help 6-8 Convert to Raid guild members for each of the 4 Heroic Archimonde kills, with Personal Loot, we complete over the course of an hour and a half. We aren’t taking people’s gold and haven’t enforced any form of gear requirement other than being a level 100 toon in the Convert to Raid guild family. Honestly, we just wanted to do something positive for the community.

Why did you decide to do this?

With the inspiration of Pat and crew’s concept, I saw an opportunity to leverage my raid team’s current inactive status. We decided to take a break from Mythic raiding back at the beginning of October due to attendance/recruiting issues. We have approximately 5,200 unique accounts in the Convert to Raid guild family, so the potential to give back to the community was quite high. So while being able to give back and help the CTR community, we’re also able to stick together as a raid team until we can dive back into Legion testing when the time comes.

Was your team on board right away or did they take some convincing?

Surprisingly enough, nearly everyone on the team was immediately on board. I think we maybe had 2-3 out of the 21 on our roster that weren’t interested, which I was really proud to see. Once you start getting into Mythic progression, it’s easy to loose sight of the more casual players in the game and forget that you were there at one point in time. Our Convert to Mythic team continues to impress me, not only with their performance, but with their selflessness each week as they continue to give back to the community without ever asking anything in return. Cheers to each of them!

How many sign ups do you have?

So we’ve got 36 geared folks signed up (730+ ilvl) to help out each week and 432 CTR guild members signed up to be helped before we decided to disable the signup form for the time being to allow us to catch up. Currently, one month into doing the Moose runs, we’ve helped out a total of 102 CTR guild members and plan to continue to raise that number after the new year!

Can people still sign up?

Currently, we’ve got the signup form disabled for our #ConvertToMoose runs, mostly because of the extremely high demand and not wanting to get overwhelmed. We’ll consider re-enabling signups once we have a chance to catch up and make a larger dent in our existing signup list after the new year. With that said, there are definitely other teams, both in the CTR guild community and outside of it, that you could reach out to if you were looking to get some help with your Moose. The most notable is probably #FriendshipMoose. Please note, some of these groups may have a gear requirement, so just be sure to read their details first, so you know!

What kind of response have you had from the community?

The feedback so far has been absolutely amazing – even from folks outside of the CTR guild community. I don’t think any of us realized the impact this would have on the community and it’s definitely made everything worth it. Most of all, I appreciate everyone’s patience as we try to work our way through our rather lengthy list of signups and also a huge shout out to those outside of the CTR guild community who have helped out on nights our geared team was short on attendance.

Would you like to tell us a bit about CtR?

Sure! The Convert to Raid guild is an Alliance guild on Aerie Peak, founded in Jan 2013. We’ve got a handful of guilds linked together via the Greenwall addon. We’ve got over 5,200 unique accounts with players and raid teams of all varieties, with a focus on “Community, Teamwork and Respect.” Whether you’re a Mythic raider or a more casual LFR player, there’s a good chance you’ll find like-minded folks to play with. The guild was created as a community hub for the Convert to Raid podcast, which started back in June 2011. Give the show a listen and come join up with the community!

Thank you, Accomp and all of the mythic raiders who are helping so many people get this mount. This is an awesome act of kindness for those who wouldn’t have the resources to do this on their own – it truly is an example of our World of Warcraft community working right.

If you would be interested in joining the Convert to Mythic raid team, Accomp tells me that they are recruiting for Legion Mythic US progression on a two night schedule. This is a great opportunity to jump on board with a lovely, civic-minded progression team. Apply at: Convert to Mythic.

Merry Winter Veil everyone!

Follow Accomp on Twitter at @Accomp
Follow Convert to Raid on Twitter at @CtRGuild
Convert to Raid website: guild.converttoraid.com
Convert to Mythic website: www.ConvertToMythic.com

Better Roguing Through Macros

Using effective macros can increase your efficiency and effectiveness, as well as make you a few extra gold. The following are a few “must have” macros for any serious PvE rogue and a few “don’t leave home without it” macros for any rogue.

Weapon Swap Macro

Weapon swapping as part of the Combat rogue rotation. It’s a thing.

The Macro:

#showtooltip Blade Flurry
/equipset [equipped: dagger] Combat; Cleave
/cast [noequipped: dagger] Blade Flurry
/cancelaura [equipped: dagger] Blade Flurry

What does it do?

This macro equips a dagger in your main hand when you turn Blade Flurry on, and re-equips your slow weapons when you turn Blade flurry off.

Why do I want it?

Hopefully this macro won’t be needed for much longer, but as things stand Combat rogues can gain a substantial DPS increase by swapping to having a dagger in their main hand for AoE situations. Note that depending on the number of targets that you are facing and how long they are likely to live, you may not want to swap weapons. You should keep an unmacroed version of Blade Flurry handy for those occasions.

More information:

Where is it useful?

In any situation where you will be doing cleave or AoE damage.

Set up:

This particular macro needs a little bit of setup:

Save your regular Combat gear set. You can name it anything you like. I am calling mine “Combat.”
With your regular Combat gear set equipped, create a new gear set. I am calling this additional gear set “Cleave.”
Move your best slow weapon (sword, mace, or axe) into your off hand. If all else is equal, pick one with Multistrike. A current excellent choice is Hans’gar’s Forgehammer in as Mythic and Warforged a form as you can manage.
Equip your best dagger into your main hand. If all else is equal, pick one with Multistrike. A current excellent choice is Oregorger’s Acid-Etched Gutripper in as Mythic and Warforged a form as you can manage.
Save your new gear set.
Create the macro – be sure to replace “Combat” and “Cleave” with the names of your gear sets.
Use the macro in place of Blade Flurry.

Note: If Blade Flurry and your gear set get out of sync, click the macro to reset it. This can happen if you die with Blade Flurry on.

Credit for this awesome little macro goes to Wavefunctionp.

Talent Swapping Macro

Do you switch between talents and then have to remember to change your bars? I know I do – especially with Burst of Speed and Shadowstep. This handy little macro switches out the button on your bar for you.

The Macro:

#showtooltip
/cast [talent:4/1] Cloak and Dagger; [talent:4/2] Shadowstep; [talent:4/3] Burst of Speed

What does it do?

This macro changes your button to reflect the talent that you have selected from a specific talent tier.

Why do I want it?

Switching a talent that requires a button press and forgetting to switch your button out sucks.

Where is it useful?

Any time you switch out a talent that requires a button press.

Set up:

The macro as written is set up for tier 4 talents. Just use it in place of Cloak and Dagger, Shadowstep, and Burst of Speed. You could conceivably set it up for tiers 6 and 7 as well. Just switch “4” to “6” or “7” and switch the talent names appropriately.

Secondary Target Interrupt Macro

Sometimes you just need to kick someone you aren’t actively stabbing.

Macro:

Version 1

/cast [@focus] Kick

Version 2

#showtooltip Kick
/target TARGETNAME
/cast Kick
/targetlasttarget

What does it do?

This macro allows you to interrupt a target other than your main target, as long as it is in melee range. If you have Deadly Throw talented, you can add it in and use this at range but note that with Deadly Throw, the interrupt only works with 5 combo points so you need to make sure you have those stored up.

Why do I want it?

Sometimes you want to focus down one target while keeping another interrupted.

Where is it useful?

The Admiral Gar’an Dreadnaught phase in the Iron Maidens fight in Blackrock Foundry is a good example of this. In that fight you want to focus down Uktar while not allowing Battle Medic Rogg to cast Earthen Barrier.

Set up

For version 1, you need to set the intended target of your interrupt as your focus.

For version 2, you need to know the name of the intended target of your interrupt and hard code it in. Replace “TARGETNAME” in the macro with the name of the interrupt target.

Rotation Macros

Cooldowns

In some cases macroing cooldowns together can smooth out your rotation, making sure you use the cooldowns as often as possible with fewer button pushes.

If you are an Assassination or Subtlety specced rogue and have selected Shadow Reflection as your level 100 talent, you can use the one of the following macros:

For Assassination:

#showtooltip Vendetta
/cast Shadow Reflection
/cast Vendetta

Note that in this macro, Shadow Reflection is cast before Vendetta. This is important as it allows your reflection to cast its own version of Vendetta.

For Subtlety:

#showtooltip Shadow Dance
/cast Shadow Reflection
/cast Shadow Dance

In this macro the order in which you cast Shadow Reflection and Shadow Dance does not matter.

Trinkets

If you have an on-use trinket, you can macro it to a cooldown in much the same way as you do when you are macroing cooldowns together. You can call the trinket by name but it is much easier to instruct the macro to just use gear slot that the trinket is occupying. Your upper trinket is in gear slot 13 and your lower trinket is in gear slot 14.

The following is a basic example using Killing Spree. If you want to macro your trinket to a different ability (Adrenaline Rush, Vendetta, Shadow Dance, etc.) just replace “Killing Spree” with the name of your chosen ability.

#showtooltip Killing Spree
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Killing Spree

Note that if you want to add a trinket to the Vendetta/Shadow Reflection macro, you will want to make sure that you use the trinkets after you cast Shadow Reflection so that your reflection can take advantage of them as well.

#showtooltip Vendetta
/cast Shadow Reflection
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Vendetta

Note that if you are an Engineer with all those wonderful toys, you can create macros to hotkey them using the same method. The gear slots that you may need for these are:

Hat: /use 1
Belt: /use 6
Boots: /use 8
Cloak: /use 15

Macro Tips for New Rogues

Veteran rogues will probably already know these sneaky tricks!

Pick Pocket

If you macro Pick Pocket to your stealth opener and crowd control abilities, you can always pick at least one pocket, even if you are in a hurry. This is a basic way to make a little extra gold without even thinking about it.

The following macro will pick your target’s pocket before you Ambush. If you are using a different stealth opener (Cheap Shot, Garrote, etc.), replace “Ambush” with the name of your chosen ability.

#showtooltip Ambush
/cast Pick Pocket
/cast Ambush

The following macro will pick your target’s pocket when you use Sap.

#showtooltip Sap
/cast Sap
/cast Pick Pocket

Tricks of the Trade

If you are in a group and you are concerned about pulling aggro off your tank, you can create a quick Tricks of the Trade macro. Here are a couple of easy ones that work in the same way as the interrupt macros above.

Version 1

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cast [@focus] Tricks of the Trade

Version 2

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cast [@TANKNAME] Tricks of the Trade

For version 1, you need to set your tank as your focus.

For version 2, replace “TANKNAME” in the macro with the name of your tank.

Got a favorite macro? Tell us on the forums.

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I Ain’t Afraid o’ No Sub – or how I learned to stop worrying and love Subtlety

A few weeks ago, in a conversation between Fierydemise, Haileaus, and myself, Fierydemise posited that the single best thing that an Assassination rogue could do for his/her raid team would be to forget optimizing and instead take that time to learn Subtlety. He suggested that the half hour that might be spent on messing with gems and enchantments would be better spent reading up on Subtlety and switching specs. Haileaus and I were both a little dubious on this and felt that there would be a bit of a learning curve to Subtlety that might cancel out any advantage. We all agreed that to only way to know for sure would be to test. Since I just don’t do Subtlety, I volunteered to lab rat.

What I did:
I switched my Assassination spec to Subtlety. I spent exactly half an hour prepping. And then I went to raid. It was an interesting and humbling experience and my conclusion is, much to my surprise, that we are really both right. I do think that there is enough to Fierydemise’s theory that I, an Assassination-lifer, will keep the Subtlety spec for now at least.

Weeee 26k!

Was I perfect? Heck no! I’d been doing this for less than an hour, including setup time.

The Details:

I carefully did no research or reading on Subtlety prior to this so all I knew was what was in my memory from trying it back in Cataclysm – which is to say, nothing useful.
At 6:02 pm I went to the trainer and switched to Subtlety.
I went to Wowhead and read over the Subtlety rotation section of the very pretty rogue guide.
I then went to the Ravenholdt guide for Talents, Glyphs, multi-target rotation, and all of the finer details.
I set up my bars.
I set up a few macros (eg. macroing Shadow Reflection to Shadow Dance).
I went to the training dummies just to make sure that my buttons were in usable places and that I hadn’t forgotten any.
I did not touch my gear. My main gear was currently optimized for Combat and I switched out a few pieces when I went to Assassination – so it was a sort of hybrid setup. I had a two piece but not a four piece set.
I did not touch my addons. I do run SliceCommander and it was already set up to track Slice and Dice and Rupture.
At 6:32 I stopped messing with my spec. I even switched back to Combat to do my mine, and slaughtered the wee beasties with gleeful Killing Sprees so that I would have no additional practice or time to absorb what buttons were where.
At 8:00 I went to raid. We did Heroic Hans’gar and Franzok (1 attempt as Subtlety then switched to Combat for the kill), Gruul, and Oregorger.

Impressions:
The Subtlety rotation is a whole lot less complicated than I was expecting. Significantly so. I realized that I had been pretty intimidated by it – and needlessly. I was remembering the last time I tried it, when Shadow Dance was a separate stance and the bars were a pain in the …neck to set up.

The positional requirement for Backstab is annoying – especially since I’m out of practice taking that into consideration. It’s not that bad on most bosses, but on trash when the mobs are all milling about any which way or on Hans’gar and Franzok when the bosses are bouncing around like jumping beans, it’s seriously inconvenient.

Much to my surprise, the Backstab icon being the same as the Dispatch icon really bugged me. A couple of times my brain actually hesitated and said, “No you idiot, don’t Dispatch now!” Apparently I’m really visually oriented. Who knew!

Hans’gar and Franzok: the rotation wasn’t bad but I found it a bit difficult to concentrate on a brand new (to me) rotation with all the movement. Knowing that the boss is fine for all three specs, I switched to Combat after we wiped.
Gruul: I had no trouble pulling top dps early on. It fell off a bit over time as movement increased but I really feel that with a bit of practice I can kick butt as Subtlety on this boss.
Oregorger: same impression as Gruul.

The Takeaway:
Subtlety has a bad reputation for being complex and difficult to master. My experience suggested that it is no more difficult than either Assassination or Combat. With all three specs the mastery is in the timing. Getting Subtlety’s subtleties right is probably no more difficult than controlling Insight optimally is for Combat.

Overall, yes, I think Fierydemise is right. I am surprised and happy to admit that my reservations were unfounded. I do think that Haileaus and I were correct in that it will take a bit more practice to see a really significant difference and to get comfortable with more movement while maintaining numbers – but it really was less of a big deal than I was expecting. With a little more practice, it will be a significant improvement. If anyone is thinking about making the switch, I’d maintain that Subtlety is no more complicated than Combat. It takes a little bit more focus between the positional requirement and no coffee break while you Killing Spree, but it is a not a stretch at all.

If you are on the fence about trying Subtlety, I say go for it. If I can do it, you can do it.