Sub Or Assassination?!

I was browsing the Rogue area of the mmo-champion forums and came across a thread named "Which do you prefer for pvp assassination or subtlety." This peaked my interest greatly since I almost exclusively only do Arenas with my rogue now.
Here's a link to the thread.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/736681-which-do-you-prefer-for-pvp-assassination-or-subtlety


Shinobi- Sub is more fun but ASS is more effective when you fight plate wearers.

WRONG! This is most likely due to the fact you use envenom with Mutilate that one would think this!

Gentile911- Subtyley has more potential than assassination, but assassination has less of a pentalty if you mess up than subtley in my opinion. If you don't maximize everything with subtley you won't be hitting for much damage. I do feel though assassin specs do better damage. I've tried both, and it's easier playing asassin.

(Spelling is for shit here I guess.)
Half right, Mutilate is easier to play because there's no positioning involved. In BC the whole positioning requirement of Mutilate made me more attracted to it. But since it was patched to be used in any position, it requires less skill in that aspect. You also must be smart with your decisions on when/if to use Shadow Dance.

Dimanche- In a pure BG point of view:
PVP Mutilate is the accessible, cookie cutter. Nuke now think later.
Subtlety-PVP performs better for players who think outside the box. However, it is highly gear dependant, while Mutilate isn't.

This is one of the more accurate answers and his statement carries on to more than just a Battle Ground viewpoint. With mutilate you merely spam it until you need to use a finisher. While Sub requires a bit more thinking of when,where, and how. Players who are creative (think outside of the box) benefit from things like Shadow Dance and Shadow Step more because they allow a bigger sandbox to do things differently.

Taran111- Also, subtlety takes a significant amount of skill to pull off. Not tryin to knock you, I just dont know where your skill level is at, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

This one is true! As I mentioned before it takes more more skill by having to stay behind people to backstab them!

Themiller- Depends what you are playing, if its just bgs to gear up play sub its just imba fun but just go for clothies or crap geared plate as equal geared plates you can only really beat them with shadow dance and even then it can be a pain, if ure doing arena mutilate is the only spec for 2v2 if anyone else tells you different they are wrong, you might survive at like 500 rating but when you get warrior paladins at higher rating you basically rely on your partner because youre damage is nowhere near good, 3v3 and 5v5 both specs can be played its preference first and then find a team to suit your spec (sub with a burst team or mutilate with a burst or 2 dps 1 healer).
In short sub for bgs/gearing up and 3v3/5v5, mutilate works well in everything pretty much just your more kiteable.

WRONG! Many Sub rogues have gone toe to toe with plate and come out on top. Muti is not the only spec for 2's, and I'm not wrong, my teams win/loss ratio is very favorable by anyones standards(.678), My equally geared Shadow Priest isn't my crutch, in many matches our damage is almost always very close to one another aside from bad circumstances.

Someone even mentioned Combat of all specs, with a few others commenting on how great it is and how amazing in BG's it is. Ever see a Killing Spree Combat Rogue get blinded, cheap shotted, or dismantled? They're useless, in 90% of cases they had also popped Blade Flurry with it. Rendering them really crippled. Were not even going to mention how easy it is to spot one and nuke it.

Is Sub The Best Spec?
my answer is "is it?", "how's it working for you?" If it works great for you then... well.. GREAT! If not, go to mutilate and play that. I don't think the answer is as simple as "it's not good because of ____" it has more complicated reasons in which its great or not. Some of these reasons are..
-Your own skillset. Are you adept at using your mouse for movement?
-Do you understand why this or that talent/spell is strong in this situations or not? Do you know when to use them?
-What class and spec makes up your arena partner(s)
-What is the strategy involved with your team generally speaking?
-What's your gear look like?
-Do you buy into the hype the mindless general public spews?
-Do you take into consideration of whom the advice is coming from?

In some matches Mutilate probably would have gotten me wins. If my team mate played a different class and spec that'd influence what I did as well. Remember it's not just finding someone having them mold to you. Not every Disc Priest,Mage,Pally,Dk etc etc plays the same as another person who plays that class. It's by far more effective for both of you to mold to each others needs and abilities.

I play Sub completely for the fact that it fits me and my arena partner's play styles and specs. If Mutilate was working better for us, I'd be playing that instead. I in fact did play Mutilate before going Subtlety. The difference was noticeable.
 So perhaps early on it's wiser to play with both specs, get in a fair amount of games with each spec, so that you don't make a bad decision based on how one single game went. After some time playing games with both, talk with your partner about the goods and bads of the games where you played Muti, and the same for the games played as Sub. See what worked out better in the long run. :)