Blind as a viable form of crowd control
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jul 19th 2007 at 8:40PM
While a Rogue is my highest level alt (heading through Outland as we speak!), I have to admit that I hardly ever use the skill Blind. A 10-second disorient on a 3-minute cooldown (yes, I know the first patch 2.2 notes said it was going to be reduced to a 1-minute cooldown, but that change was reverted)? Perhaps I am a complete newbie of a Rogue, but 10 seconds hardly seems like enough time to accomplish anything, and so the skill sits, collecting dust on a rarely-hit hotkey. However, Doomilias points out that Blind really can be a useful crowd control -- and that ten seconds can make all the difference, both in solo and group play. 10 seconds can give you time to finish off a mob when you've gotten an add, it can give you time to get in some bandaging, in a group situation it can keep a hard-hitting mob off your healers for a few precious seconds. So, Rogues -- do you find Blind to be a useful form of crowd control?Filed under: Rogue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Vigor Jul 19th 2007 9:09PM
YES blind is a very good form of CC
interrupts healers in arena and throws them out of battle for 10 seconds
allows for bandaging and then a restealth
and many other useful uses...
brett Jul 19th 2007 9:18PM
10 seconds in arenas is *huge*
Mike Jul 19th 2007 9:49PM
Blind is awesome, i use it all the time. also, having herbalism as a profession definately helps since i dont pay for the fadeleaf.
met Jul 19th 2007 10:14PM
Blind is would be viable as a dependant CC if they removed the reagent cost for it.
rick gregory Jul 19th 2007 10:34PM
the reagent cost is minimal... I get more Blind powder that I know what to do with pick pocketing too .
As a CC it's great in Arena... it's less useful in instances since it's like Gouge - it breaks if the mob is damaged. If everyone is looking for it, they can stop damage, but often someone will hit t he mob...
Chris Jul 20th 2007 7:12AM
In a group, I keep an eye on the sapped mob and use blind to gain an extra 10 seconds if the sap runs out before we are ready for it.
robot rock Jul 19th 2007 10:30PM
The CD definitely hampers any real usefulness, but I use it when I can to regain energy.
Cosmina Jul 20th 2007 1:06AM
As a healer(usually anyway) i find Blind to be invaluable. I notice things other players might not notice. I notice good tanks, i notice good DPS. And i damn sure notice when Rogues save my and other people's asses with Blind.
fbp Jul 19th 2007 11:22PM
Agreed, its like gouge but on a 3 minute Countdown....
Boomba Jul 20th 2007 12:15AM
I use blind as a form of CC when things get a little out of hand...typically, it saved us from a wipe a few times when an assassin would pop up after a tough pull in SLab...it gets the mob off of the healer and allows the tank to regain aggro.
John Jul 20th 2007 12:01AM
exactly enough time to bandage up...that's what blind's for in PvE
Coherent Jul 20th 2007 12:41AM
Blind is insanely powerful in PVP, pretty much useless in PVE. They need to reduce the cooldown to 1 minute, that would make it a useful ability to use on a more continual basis in PVE.
However, in PVP it's pretty much a match winner. Hit a priest with it while you kill his friends. Hit ANYONE with it and you've got PLENTY of time to win. Even a delay of 3-5 seconds can be fatal to the other team when you're hunting and killing their clothies.
Joyd Jul 20th 2007 1:17AM
Even micro-CC like Hammer of Justice, Cyclone, Scattershot, and Blind can help keep things under control in instance groups. Taking one monster out of the equation even for just a moment can help a group regain control.
Docnsane Jul 20th 2007 1:29AM
1) Sap the mob 45 seconds
2) Gouge the mob for 4-5.5 seconds
3) Blind for 10 seconds
4) Gouge the mob for 4-5.5 seconds
5) Better hope someone can pick it up by then else you are gonna get beat down.
One thing that helps. /cast [target=focus] Blind (and Gouge)
sylvianfrost Jul 20th 2007 4:27AM
LOL, what can you achieve in 10s? 10s is a lifetime in arena or any other pvp were seconds change everything. wtb more informed reporter :)
Niyx Jul 20th 2007 5:11AM
"LOL, what can you achieve in 10s? 10s is a lifetime in arena or any other pvp were seconds change everything. wtb more informed reporter :)"
- Lrn2Trinket. WTB more informed commenters.
But really. In the arena, blind is still weak, considering its a "poison" and is therefore removed with ease, even with a poison cleansing totem tick. In PvE, i find that whenever i blind a mob to save from a wipe, even when i've got a "/party i'm blinding %t" macro set up, the tank always breaks it about a second after it starts.
Blind isn't a good form of CC unfortunately. The PTR changes were perfect and just made it a kind of ranged gouge, but now, i'm so bitter that they reversed that change that i just cant be bothered using it any more.
And the reagent cost is beyond a joke. I got an idea, Lets have mages go farm [Bit of Ice] everytime they want to ice block or lets have warlocks far [Piece o' skull] everytime they want to deathcoil. Keep in mind that [Bit of Ice] and [Piece o' Skull] only comes from rare herbalism nodes back in azeroth, and therefore sells for a shitload to non herbalists on the AH.
Yes i know you can pickpocket blind...but how fun is it to have to go around pickpocketing or herbing or spending 50G JUST so you can do an hour or two of arena. I literally use over 60 blinding powders in 1-2 hours of arena. Thats 20 fadeleaf. Thats a good 45 minutes herbing, or 40G on my very old, very busy, very good economy server...Or an hours worth of pickpocketing ofc.
Seriously, blind needs a look at, if only the reagent cost removed.
And dont call me out on any snidy arena comments i made. 2300+ rated gladiator rogue in all brackets.
Tukk Jul 20th 2007 6:09AM
Blind is great, although I'd only noticed it very recently (I'm not a rogue...).
On a recent Moroes kill our holy priest died due to Garrotte while Moroes was on very low health. Not good news I thought - we had two adds still up, one shackled by the now dead priest, one by my shadow priest.
The dead priest's shackle eventually breaks, and the add heads towards the melee around Moroes. Our rogue comes out of the fight, blinds the add, then goes back to killing the boss. Boss goes down, blinded add gets ganked, then finally my shackled add.
Quite a few DPSers are viewed quite poorly, but others are damn good at their role and it's good to be reminded of this occasionally by an incident like this.
Dipstick Jul 20th 2007 6:27AM
It used to be easily countered by Blessing of Sacrifice or taking some other form of damage, but now it poses a very real threat for healers in the arena. Get caught out with no trinket (which I prefer using for fears) and no Blessing of Sacrifice up on the right target, and you're out of the game for 10 seconds, meaning you've probably lost the match.
When I see a rogue using blind intelligently, I know I'm facing a good player. Thankfully most don't seem to bother too much. Reducing the cooldown would just encourage all the retarded rogues to use it more :P
Odas Jul 20th 2007 11:08AM
I'm surprised this topic even exists. WoWi must be short on content.
Emphatic "yes" to all of the above comments. In solo grinding and questing, blind has saved my life more times than I can remember. In group play - INTELLIGENT use of blind can be very useful, as mentioned. Especially if people in your group know that you use it and to watch out for it.
I can't speak for arena play because I haven't quite gotten into that yet. But it sounds like it's probably the ability's most useful environment.
Unfortunately for me - I'm one of those lazy rogues who hasn't gotten around to leveling his lockpicking skill yet. So I am stuck buying fadeleaf at the AH - which is EXPENSIVE. While eliminating the reagent all together may not jive - at least make it something cheap that you can get from a vendor like Flash Powder.
Milktub Jul 20th 2007 12:01PM
I'm all sorts of confused by #15 ...
If Blind is so weak in arenas, why is he going through 60 blinding powders in 1-2 hours of arena? That's using it every single time the cooldown is up (which would still take three hours to go through that much powder).
If you're really that concerned about the fadeleaf cost, find a guildie and send them into SM Library/Cath. They'll come out with a stack of fadeleaf, and unless they're lowbie, they won't even have to fight through.