One Rogue's Journey

So our Inscription Glyphs have finally been released and I find myself with a general feeling of…”meh”. Nothing here that is mind blowing or causing me to squeal with glee. There are a few gems in here, especially since I expect a couple of buffs in the future. Let’s go through them shall we? It’ll be ever so much fun.

Sap: Increases the duration of Sap by 10 sec.

Personally, I don’t find myself sapping very often. Perhaps with the new changes to Sap in the beta they are trying to make it a more common CC method. If that’s the case then this glyph could prove itself useful. For the moment I’m not clamoring for it.
Rating: 1 Meh

Evasion: Increases the duration of Evasion by 5 sec.

Evasion is great for PvP and a wonderful oh-shit button in PvE so I can’t really complain about this, but I’m certainly not overjoyed.
Rating: 1 1/2 Mehs

Backstab: Increases the damage dealt by Backstab to stunned and incapacitated targets by 20%.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I personally love backstab and anything that can bring it back is a winner in my book but sadly this seems more in line with PvP or grinding/leveling than with raiding where you rarely find your target stunned or incapacitated. Perhaps if there was some sort of mechanic like Winter’s Chill where a target could be considered stunned without actually being stunned.
Rating: 2 Mehs

Rupture: Increases the duration of Rupture by 5 sec.

Rupture is a staple of an rogue’s rotation and any buff to it is a welcome buff. The duration seems a bit low but I have a feeling that will change.
Rating: 3 Mehs — Potential Rating: 4 1/2 Mehs

Eviscerate: Increases the critical strike chance of Eviscerate by 10%.

Honestly, Eviscerate rarely makes it’s way into my rotation but 10% is a pretty big boost to critical strike chance. We’ll have to see how Eviscerate and Rupture stack up against each other when all the numbers at 80 are finalized.
Rating: 2 1/2 Mehs

Expose Armor: Increases the duration of Expose Armor by 10 sec.

Personally, I don’t know anyone who uses Expose Armor. Yes, if you spec a rogue into Improved Expose Armor and they can manage to keep a 5 point Expose up it is technically a bit better than Sunder Armor, however it’s usually not worth the headache for everyone involved.
Rating: 1/2 Meh

Feint: Reduces the energy cost of Feint by -10.

Feint is terrible. Just beyond stinky. Make the threat reduction scale in some way and then we can talk.
Rating: Yawn

Shiv: Reduces the energy cost of Shiv by -5.

Ok I guess. 5 less energy is better than nothing?
Rating: 1/2 Meh

Deadly Throw: Increases the range on Deadly Throw by 5 yards.

5 more yards…what’s to complain about? Nothing really, but nothing to write home about either.
Rating: 1 Meh

Hemorrhage: Increases the damage bonus against targets afflicted by Hemorrhage by 40%.

Subtly Rogues making a comeback in PvE? If anything could do it, it would be this glyph. 40% is a huge boost for the raid. I’m pretty excited about this actually.
Rating: 3 1/2 Meh

Adrenaline Rush: Decreases the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 60 sec.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner. Hands down, this is the glyph of a lifetime. Not only does this mean more Adrenaline Rush (which is great in an of itself) but it means you can now align your AR with your Bladeflurry and Drums since it’s new 4 minute cooldown will sync up nicely with their 2 minute cooldowns.
Rating: 5 Mehs

Gouge: Reduces the power cost of Gouge by -10.

Nothing really to say here. I think I’d prefer a duration increase rather than an energy cost decrease but ah well.
Rating: 1 Meh

Slice and Dice: Increases the duration of Slice and Dice by 3 sec.

The 2p T4 bonus follows us to Northrend, how awesome of it to do so. Although I’d prefer the 2p T6 bonus I don’t expect myself to be skipping this one by any means.
Rating: 4 Mehs

Sprint: Decreases the cooldown of Sprint by 60 sec.

I like Sprint. I spec into Improved Sprint. I’ll take it, provided it doesn’t stop me from grabbing my AR glyph.
Rating: 2 1/2 Mehs

Garrote: Increases periodic damage dealt by Garrote by 45%, but decreases the duration by 3 sec.

I use Garrote from time to time but I’m not really sure how this is going to change things much. If I had to guess it seems like a good thing for PvE where the extra damage is king but a negative effect on PvP where the ticking of the bleed effect is more beneficial.
Rating: 2 Mehs

Ambush: Increases the range on Ambush by 5 yards.

Uh…I guess. Wouldn’t this put you out of range for everyone else you’d want to follow up with after you Ambush??
Rating: Confused Stare

Ghostly Strike: Increases the damage dealt by Ghostly Strike by 50% and the duration of its effect by 4 sec., but increases its cooldown by 10 sec

Give a little love to the rogue tanks and the PvPers out there, of which I am neither. Those of you out there, is this good, bad, meh?
Rating: 2 Mehs