Image 1 — Destroy this Rogue Classic+ Talent Tree Revamp
Image 2 — Destroy this Rogue Classic+ Talent Tree Revamp
Image 3 — Destroy this Rogue Classic+ Talent Tree Revamp

Destroy this Rogue Classic+ Talent Tree Revamp

Assassination: https://www.talent-builder.dev/trees/wSWb2JDEHA

Combat: https://www.talent-builder.dev/trees/Ib-nFlzFpg

Shadow: https://www.talent-builder.dev/trees/95cHjsOop0

Assassination (Melee Damage, DoTs and stealth openers):

  1. Bleeding Gouge - Increase duration of Gouge and allow it to persist through your bleed and poison effects.
  2. Remain Hidden - Reduces the cooldown of Stealth and makes it harder for others to detect you during Stealth.
  3. Retained Momentum - Retain combo points between switching targets.
  4. Crimson Tempest - Finishes spread Bleed and Poison effects, or increase duration per combo point spent when only one target is spent.
  5. Infected Wounds - Deal more damage for each bleed and poison effect on a target.
  6. Toxic Potency - Weapon poisons are more potent and have a chance to grant energy.
  7. Exposure - Abilities from stealth ignore armor.
  8. Relentless Strikes - Combo points restore energy when used.
  9. Stratagem - Increase maximum number of combo points.
  10. Vile Poisons - Increased poison application chance, reduced chance for poisons to be resisted, deal damage when dispelled.
  11. Sudden Demise - Bleed and poison effects last longer, instantly kill targets below 35% health when bleed and poison effects remaining damage exceeds 150% of their remaining health.
  12. Vanishing Presence - Vanish cools down faster and heals, excess healing as absorb shield.
  13. Faceless - Feint reduced cooldown on damage taken, more effective at removing threat.
  14. Strike from the Shadows - Ambush, Cheap Shot, and Garotte gain range when used from Stealth.
  15. Dragon-Tempered Blades - Can now apply two poisons per weapon.
  16. Seal Fate - Combo point generators add more points on crits, increased crit chance overall.
  17. Assassin's Dance - Finisher critical strikes make next Ambush, Cheap Shot, or Garotte usable outside stealth. Removes Stealth requirement on utility-oriented Stealth abilities.

Combat (Melee Damage, optional Melee Tank):

  1. Off Tempo - Dueling State increases armor contribution from items, abilities trigger a free attack with off-hand weapon.
  2. Flourish - Replaces Backstab. AoE attack that activates Dueling State. Dueling State increases threat and replaces Feint with Mock (Taunt). Dueling States lasts for remainder of combat, can be cleared via Vanish.
  3. Subtle Flourish - Dueling State increases Defense skill. Feint allows next Flourish to not trigger the Dueling State, plus bonuses.
  4. Combat Precision - Increase hit chance and weapon expertise.
  5. Disruption - Cause enemies to have their attacks parried more.
  6. Ambidextrous - Remove penalties associated with off-hand weapon.
  7. Foot in Mouth - Kick silences.
  8. Riposte - When target's attack get's parried, next Sinister Strike is free and hits twice.
  9. Burst of Speed - Sprint removes snare/immobilize, cooldown reduced by spending combo points.
  10. Combat Vigor - Off-hand attacks generate energy, Slice and Dice always active.
  11. Disarming Riposte - Riposte disarms target.
  12. Weapon Specialization - Maces gain chance to stun, swords gain chance to hit twice, all other weapons gain crit chance.
  13. Reflexes - Reduces cooldown and duration of Evasion, small diminishing damage reduction added.
  14. Fatal Flourish - Cost and cooldown of next Flourish reduced when enemy dies, stacking.
  15. Spare No Advantage - Bonus auto attacks added to Kidney shot based on combo points spent.
  16. Blade Flurry - Attacks and abilities cleave, diminishing with many targets.
  17. Killing Spree - Generate portion of missing combo points and energy when a nearby enemy dies, further bonuses when you strike the killing blow.

Shadow (Mid-Ranged Damage, Throwing):

  1. Throwing Shadows - Gain auto throw, and increased auto-throw speed.
  2. Flying Death - Abilities usable at range with throwing knife.
  3. Shadow Feint - Feint includes a short directional dash.
  4. Ghost Touch - Converts some damage to Shadow damage.
  5. Comfort in Shade - Stealth restores health and energy, faster when standing still.
  6. Darksight - Stealth detection increased, hit and crit chance bonus vs. stealth.
  7. Trickster - Melee utilities gain range, no longer break stealth.
  8. Twilight's Reach - Increase range of throwing weapons, greater at night.
  9. Empty Vessel - Increase max energy, bonus energy regen based on missing energy.
  10. Shadow Clones - Feint creates a clone, transfers threat to clone, more charges on Feint.
  11. Cloak of Shade - Gain passive resistances, more for shadow resistance.
  12. Hidden Knives - Chance to attack again during auto-throw.
  13. Ricochet - Thrown attacks and abilities bounce.
  14. Shadow Mimic - Feint's shadow clones mimic your abilities for a time based on damage dealt.
  15. Rain of Shadow and Blood - Additional projectiles at reduce damage toward DoT targets.
  16. Shadow's Betrayal - Ricochet can now hit same target multiple times.
u/rmfrost — 6 days ago

Classic+ is meaningless if questing isn't fixed from Vanilla

A new human character in Northshire Abbey shouldn't have to run back and forth from the same quest giver to the same group of Kobold 3 different times just because the quest giver forgot to ask the player to kill other types of the same group of Kobolds... each time.

This is just a small example. It happens all over the Vanilla zones.

Yes, "grand multi-zone end-game class quests" are great. Doing that stuff while you're leveling without a mount isn't.

reddit.com
u/rmfrost — 20 days ago

State of the Blizzard Lawsuit against Project Ascension

Lawsuit Details & Timelines

Blizzard Entertainment filed a nine-count federal lawsuit against Project Ascension on June 12, 2026, alleging copyright infringement, DMCA violations, trademark misuse, and RICO racketeering.  The suit claims the private server operated a "lucrative" business using modified WoW clients and shell companies to generate millions in revenue.

The defendants (including operators Derek Powell and Bryan Thomas Mannion) successfully waived formal service of the summons. Because they waived service, their deadline to file an answer or motion has been pushed back to September 8, 2026. Attorneys have already entered appearances for the defendants (including Frederic M. Douglas), indicating an active defense is being prepared rather than an avoidance of the court.

Most experts predict the parties will reach a confidential settlement before a full trial.  This avoids a public judgment on damages but typically includes strict closure terms. If a settlement follows the Turtle WoW pattern, Ascension may remain online for 2–4 more months (September 2026 or November 2026 at the latest) to allow for an orderly wind-down. Blizzard will likely demand the surrender of all modified client code, server files, and user data, prohibiting any future revival under a different name.

The defense is unlikely to succeed because there is no viable legal defense for operating a commercial server using modified proprietary code without a license. And unlike some foreign operators, the named defendants (Derek Powell and Bryan Thomas Mannion) are U.S. residents, making them fully subject to U.S. court enforcement and asset seizure.

Blizzcon and Additional Context

The next Blizzcon is scheduled for September 12-13, 2026 (just a few days after Project Ascension's September 8th extension deadline). The timing was likely done (or anticipated) by Blizzard's lawyers on purpose to ensure zero competition for what will very likely be announced at Blizzcon this year, which many anticipate will be Blizzard's very own "Classic+" installment.

Will Blizzard's "Classic+" be anywhere as good as what private servers have (or currently) offered? No idea, but Project Ascension's Conquest of Azeroth has certainly set a high bar for Blizzard to try and meet.

What This Means for Current CoA Players

Don't expect any sweeping class changes or vast game updates or alterations. Developers will likely be churning out bug fixes as much as they can (roughly 500 bugs resolved and 3250 bugs still unaddressed just within the past 7 days), though any money they raise leading into the lawsuit through Project Ascension will likely be subject to the lawsuit itself so it'll be interesting to see how things play out.

Try out as many new classes as you can, visit areas of the world that don't exist in regular Warcraft (the Pale Reach is particularly stunning), and just enjoy the experience while it's still available. Even if Blizzard's upcoming Classic+ is everything we could have possibly hoped for and more, there are still many elements to what the Project Ascension team has built that will be lost forever once the dust settles.

Until then, I'll see you in Azeroth.

u/rmfrost — 1 month ago

Lockpicking?

From what I gather, locked things can only be picked through Bushcraft keys or other profession-related keys. No class has any sort of pick lock skill.

Also, many junk boxes that the Ranger can pick pocket grant rogue poison reagents, which feels like a huge oversight considering how expensive it is to unlock junk boxes.

EDIT: Compiling info for people who come across this later

  • Reaper: Underwalk (stealth, level 2), Spectral Hand (pick pocket, level 6), No Lockpicking
  • Runeblade: Runeshroud (stealth, level 2), No Pick Pocket, No Lockpicking
  • Pyromancer: No Stealth, No Pick Pocket, Melt Lock (lockpicking, level 16)
  • Barbarian: No Stealth, No Pick Pocket, Smash Lock (lockpicking, level 16)
  • Tinker: No Stealth, No Pick Pocket, 'Pick Lock' (lockpicking, level 14)
  • Ranger: Elude (stealth, level 4), Sticky Fingers (pick pocket, level 12), Bushcraft / Forestwood Key (level 16, max 25 skill) / Wildwood Key (level 26, max 125 skill) / Grovewood Key (level 36, max 200 skill) (lockpicking)
  • Venomancer: Skulk (stealth, level 6), No Pick Pocket, No Lockpicking

Developers seemingly wanted to optimize community while mitigating "pick pocket bot farming".

u/rmfrost — 1 month ago
▲ 0 r/RPGdesign+1 crossposts

Idle RPG Concept - Looking for Feedback before I sink too many hours into it

General Vibe

  • Free to play 2D top-down pixel-art idle RPG with optional active gameplay elements.
  • Lore-rich low-to-mid-fantasy world, relatively cozy art vibe
  • Steam PC, Steamdeck, or Android (mostly "tap" or "mouse point and click" user experience)
  • "Player first" monetization practices, non-required, zero pressure (read more below)

Core Game Loop

  1. World instance procedurally generated at game start (with options to restart/reset world)
  2. Create a character (start with 2 character slots)
    • Choose character profession (Artificer, Mercenary, Ranger, Sage, or Squire)
      • Artificer: Think artisan/crafter + golemancer (morphing clay golem assistant early on)
      • Mercenary: Think rogue + warrior + bard
      • Ranger: Think "traditional" fantasy ranger with some minor druidic options
      • Sage: Think mage + spiritualist, with options to focus in various directions
      • Squire: Has options to upgrade to Knight (Paladin), Priest, or Inquisitor
    • Choose character's starting region (affected by character class choice)
    • Customize appearance (hair, eyes, outfit, color, etc), options affected by starting region
    • Choose character name (maybe initial skill(s), more on that later)
    • Choose starting weaponry
  3. Begin in chosen starting region's central character hub.
    • "Guild Hall" default available for all professions, though Mercenary focused
    • "Merchant Union" available for Artificers
    • "Hunter's Lodge" available for Rangers
    • "Magic Tower" available for Sages, always positioned above prominent leyline junctures
    • "Divine House" (castle, nobility) available for Squires, affects alliances and world intrigue
  4. Undergo tutorial (optional for characters beyond the first), learning game's systems through in-game progression.
    • Learn about "Requests" (the game's "quest" or "mission" system), complete first Request.
    • Learn about items, equipment, buying, selling, and crafting. Engage with each once.
    • Learn about Journal and lore system (in-game bestiary and record of game's lore/info)
    • Learn about Storyline system and in-game time (involves NPC reputations/intrigue too)
  5. Choose a Request from a list of several procedurally generated available options.
    • Not all Requests will be always available or repeatable.
    • In-game calendar date (holidays, events, etc) can affect Request generation.
    • Region's details (biome, flora, fauna, stories in progress, etc) can affect Request generation.
    • Character's "Guild Rank" (or home hub rank) can affect Request generation.
      • Copper -> Silver -> Gold -> Platinum, etc
    • Requests may require multiple participants, use your other characters or hire NPCs to fill.
    • Requests may require additional steps (Information Brokers, learn lore, etc) to increase success chance or completion speed.
    • Character skills affect success chance and completion speed (more on that in a moment)
    • More challenging Requests may result in failed/branched storylines, character death, etc.
    • Offline/idle progress possible.
    • Characters can be assigned to auto-accept certain Request types (non-story Requests)
    • Completing a larger variety of Requests can fill out Journal/Lore entries
      • Completing entries could grant bonuses/rewards, such as Prestige (more on that later)
    • Earn rewards (gold, NPC reputation, items, experience, etc) for completing Requests
    • Requests are completed/failed after a set period of in-game time passing.
  6. (Optional) Engage in active "mini-games" while characters are out on Requests (TBD)
    • Earns coins and/or experience?
    • Discovers additional lore?
    • Acquires items?
    • Fishing?
    • Farming?
    • Crafting?
    • Other ideas...
  7. Gain experience, used to learn skills on each character.
    • Skill tree is on a square grid with the central node representing the character's profession.
    • Central node starts with 4 skill nodes, adjacent/child to the central node.
    • Player can choose to assign a skill from a pool of available skills to any skill node.
    • Filling a skill node unlocks adjacent nodes as child nodes.
    • A skill node's "generation" refers to how many parent/child links away it is from root.
    • A skill node's "ancestry" refers to which skills are shown in its parent links back to root.
    • Some skills may require certain skills in its ancestry.
    • Experience point cost increases the higher a skill node's generation is.
    • Each skill node has additional "mastery" levels to increase it's potency (optional).
    • Some skills may require placement on a node with a certain generational minimum.
    • Skill choices are permanent for each character (read about "retirement" later on).
  8. Eventually opt to retire a character, granting Prestige (a currency to unlock additional benefits).
    • Partial Prestige gains for characters "forced" into retirement via death
    • Gain Prestige based on character XP, equipment coin value, time played, Requests completed, etc.
    • Can use Prestige to unlock additional character slots (exponentially more expensive with each additional unlocked slot, since all characters can earn/retire toward more Prestige)
    • Can use Prestige to "heirloom" a certain item or piece of equipment, allowing it to be retained and shared between character even after a character retires with it.
    • Can use Prestige to unlock additional cosmetic options/races for character creation (possible impact on available Requests/Intrigue/options), though need to discover existence of outfits/races/etc via filling out Journal first.
    • Can use Prestige to grant bonus starting experience to newly created characters (accumulative, gets more expensive as bonus gets higher).
    • Can use Prestige to convert the retiring character into a relevant in-world NPC
    • Other Prestige purchases...
  9. Rinse and repeat until you can develop a "top level" adventurer/character, gaining access to "main story" Requests.
    • Delves into the true history of the two great (past) cataclysms, the "gods", and so forth
    • (Avoiding further details due to lore spoilers)
  10. Complete the main story Requests to "finish" the game, but can keep playing thereafter... even if the world has permanently changed as a result of how the main story ended.
  • Players can opt to reset their entire "World Instance" at any time, wiping out all of their characters and refunding all Prestige.
  • Because characters have a lasting impact on the procedural development of the world they participate in, players are encouraged to stick with a single world instance long term (at least until it's main story is completed).

"Player First" Monetization Plans

Game is free to play, and virtually everything in the game can be earned through regular play. The only premium item/currency available for purchase via real money is "Renown". Each Renown costs $1.00 and grants 1000 base Prestige along with a permanent 5% increase to all Prestige earned. This bonus is cumulative across all Renown purchases (5% + 5% = 10%, etc), applies retroactively to all previous Prestige previously earned, and even applies to the base Prestige granted as part of Renown purchases. Zero pressure, anti-predatory monetization practices. Really just a way for players to say "Thank you" and reward them with a slightly faster gaming experience. I may even decide to grant Renown for free as part of completing meta achievements or completing the game.

Additional Thoughts

I'm aiming for a playable high-quality demo by the end of 2026 (one playable Profession only, one Region only, no main story quests just yet). My "dream game" would involve building what you see above in a "Core Keeper" / "Necesse" / "Stardew Valley" sort of format with living/evolving NPCs, towns, settlements, and so forth (more adventure than crafting/survival-oriented), but a lot of those systems felt overwhelming for my first attempt at building a game, so I'm currently under the impression that it would be easier/wiser to learn Godot (about 1 year experience so far) through a simpler genre. I don't want the game to be a lazy incremental/idle clicker, I want it to genuinely feel like an RPG. And once I've introduced my lore/world through this "first game", I plan to follow it up with my "dream game" once I've got my development feet properly secured under me.

Any feedback you can provide on any of this would be extremely helpful. I've been thinking about this game A LOT and I want to make sure I'm not suffocating in my own internal echo chamber of bad ideas. I would love to pull off an art style similar to Alabaster Dawn or Final Fantasy Tactics (cozy/memorable pixel art), but there's an aspect of that I'm learning to. I'm using AI to help me learn faster, but not to build the game (AI is terrible at making GOOD games anyway, learned from experience in having to rewrite literally everything it helped me build from scratch when I had no clue what I was doing).

reddit.com
u/rmfrost — 2 months ago

What are the loot benefits for playing on Hard mode?

The incoming damage amounts are so high, I'm strongly tempted to just put the game on easy mode for chasing achievements.

reddit.com
u/rmfrost — 2 months ago

Difficulty Spikes in CoreKeeper on Hard Difficulty?

The first I found was against Malugaz the Corrupted because it's the first time that the game really forces you to fight inside of a tiny space from start to finish, and the room is pretty much constantly on fire.

The second I found wasn't until I started exploring the ocean biome. And dang, those tentacles hit like a truck on summoner gear and dodging isn't always the easiest on a boat. Not impossible, but it's extremely tedious to try and explore AND not get killed at the same time. I'm earnestly considering swapping gear entirely to something with more armor, but I have doubts that'll make a huge difference. Might just need to "dodge guuder". I've actually gone as far as harvesting and crafting with Solarite simply because those other biomes are generally easier to deal with than the tentacles in the ocean biome.

What other "walls" to people commonly experience when playing on Hard difficulty?

reddit.com
u/rmfrost — 3 months ago

What are your favorite automation strategies?

I'm deeply curious as to what setups people are using. I'm currently progressing into the Ocean biome and I think I've unlocked all of the tools I need to pull off some pretty crazy setups (an "automatic ore sorter/smelter" was pretty easy to figure out).

reddit.com
u/rmfrost — 3 months ago

Jesus Gauntlet - How far does he go? (top right, clockwise)

Regardless of your faith or belief, I'm interested in how "God's feats" (wherever they're recorded) match up against other prominent cartoon and comic book characters of a similar "god-like" status.

u/rmfrost — 3 months ago