I got asked about Tricks of the Trade twice this week and it wasn’t by fellow rogues. The questions came from two tanks that I regularly run with. For the purpose of this post, I’m going to name them Tanks, Cow and Mandy. If they ever read this post, they’ll appreciate the subtlety behind the naming. And yes, I realize that I said two tanks yet named three. We’ll get to that in a bit.
During a 5-man run:
Cow: Do you have to cast Tricks every time I pull? Am I having aggro issues? Do you do the same with Tanks?
Me: Yes. No. Yes.
During a different 5-man run:
Mandy: Do you hold back when I pull? Like, wait for me to get aggro before you attack? Do you do the same with Tanks?
Me: No. No. No.
For the tanks out there, let me say this: we’re not casting Tricks on you because we have issues with your tanking. It’s not because we think you don’t have enough aggro. Tricks is there to ensure that aggro does not become a problem for the entire group, not just us rogues. It also allows us to unleash our DPS without worrying about threat (for 6 seconds, at least). Overall, it benefits everyone. Tricks + Fan of Knives does wonders for group AoE. Tricks + Blade Flurry + Adrenaline Rush + Fan of Knives spam makes rogues smile. So please, don’t worry about getting the buff from us. We like killing things. Tricks is there to ensure that those things don’t kill us back.
by Ashankt, on January 16 2010 @ 7:31 pm
Great post!
Most importantly of all T10 2 set bonus for rogues when we cast Tricks we GAIN energy.
There’s a post up on my website detailing a macro that allows you to use focus to cast Tricks with 1 click
http://www.sneakytroll.co.uk/2010/01/tricks-of-the-tradefocus-ability-macro/
by zeroinitiate, on January 18 2010 @ 11:51 pm
I’m drooling over the 4-piece T10 bonus myself. Imagine just spamming your finisher.