Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, rogues are one of the more controllery strikers so it makes sense to retain the control aspect of this power. And that aspect of it is still impressive.
Considering that the power is called Blinding Barrage, it needed to (1) blind and (2) be a barrage, without also being overly complex or overpowered. With those design goals in mind, and I think they did a reasonable job.
Last week, I reopened my subscription, and two or three characters changed class names. One was the rogue, that changed to the scoundrel. Is this expected? It was very confusing to me I look through the powers and didn't see much change from the previous character sheet.
Other than upset some people, I'm not sure what exactly the blinding barrage nerf is accomplishing. If they don't want drow to deal 2d8 damage with it because they think it's too much or something, they could reduce it to 1[W]. Reducing a standard action daily attack power for a striker to deal such piddly damage seems like a rather unnecessary change.
There were more elegant solutions if they are worried about multi-target damage, like applying the 2[W] against only one target in burst you hit. But a striker daily power should do some damage. If it was an invoker or wizard power, I'd say sure, no problem, ditching the damage dice isn't as big a deal, controllers are after effects. but for the rogue, the change doesn't sit well with me.
Isn't changing the name of Rogue Weapon Talent to Scoundrel Weapon Talent going to have an impact on some feats?
I haven't read the article yet, (damn you work filters!) but if the Rouge Weapon Talent and the Scoundrel Weapon Talent do the same thing I would think that the feats interact with them the same way.
I could be wrong. It happens from time to time.
I think the argument was that, well, pretty much every rogue took blinding barrage. It needed to be reigned in. Not sure if they went too far, but that is what the playtest is for. You give up some basic striker power... in return for some serious controller power, in the form of an area attack with a potent condition. Seems fair enough.