When does Rogue get good?

[Guest]

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I have a L18 rogue and so far I'm just not impressed with it. A comparable
mage does far more damage, and a comparable warrior has far better armor.
I've seen the high level rogues wipe people out in 2 seconds, but it seems
to me to be very slow in getting to be a good char. When can I expect
things to start picking up??

 

[mikel]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

Diaboyos wrote:
> I have a L18 rogue and so far I'm just not impressed with it. A comparable
> mage does far more damage, and a comparable warrior has far better armor.
> I've seen the high level rogues wipe people out in 2 seconds, but it seems
> to me to be very slow in getting to be a good char. When can I expect
> things to start picking up??

There has been some discussion of this same question already. I have a
level 27 rogue who has, just in the past few levels, turned into a real
killing machine. I am not an experienced rogue player, and it took me
several rebuilds and a few shopping trips to the auction house to
achieve it, but now she really kills amazingly fast.

I *am* an experienced mage player (I have a level 60 mage and a level 41
mage), and I know how to kill fast with a mage. Let me just say that
once you figure out how to play a rogue, the rogue kills much faster
one-on-one than a mage does. I've gone grinding with an equal level mage
friend and when we are killing things close to our level, I pretty often
kill my target before he can fire a fireball.

I was pretty wimpy up to level 21, though, and it took a good bit of
reading, some talent rebuilds, and a good bit of shopping at the auction
house to turn things around.

You need +agility gear, for one thing. Everything you can find. All
other buffs are less important. You also need weapons that yield good
DPS. You want a high damage weapon in your main hand. Opinion varies on
this, but I found I was better off getting a high-damage sword for my
main hand, even though I had to give up the dagger-specific attacks
(Backstab and Ambush). Because of the way that Sinister Strike works, a
slow, high damage weapon in you main hand gives you a big advantage.

lso, play around with your attacks. Try different sequences. Go out and
grind easy mobs so you can figure out what works best without worrying
much about dying.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

> Because of the way that Sinister Strike works, a
> slow, high damage weapon in you main hand gives you a big advantage.
>

partially true. U want to have the most dmg on the weapon (not dps dmg) but
the main hand weapon don't have to be slow for that.
soon U will also be able to use poisons (if not allready), wich gives a bit
of a boost. My rogue just loves to do deadly poison for dmg over time.
offcourse all depends on what u want to play. a backstabber (daggers) can be
nice too( never tryed it)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

Let me paraphrase:

When does a rogue player get good?

I don't mean that to be a slam - rogues are different. If you are comparing
it to other classes, you will be frustrated. I have from level 1 on been
unafraid to slam into anything up to 3 levels higher than myself and I have
not reset my build nor spent tons at the AH (I have 1 dagger that was given
me and 1 I got on a drop and another toon is a leatherworker). I have not
twinked the toon, etc.

But, I HAVE played rogues and rogue-like characters in nearly every game
that has a comparable class - so I play like a rogue.

Playing like a warrior will get you hurt - although you WILL get hit less
due to dodge/parry/etc, you will get hurt more by the lack of AC. You job
is to maximize your DPS so you don't need to be a damage sponge - kill it
fast, it can't hurt you long.

Playing like a Mage or Hunter will get you messed up. You ARE NOT a ranged
combat class. Your best damage comes from little, bitty weapons - get in
there and use them!

Until about level 30, I always opened with Garrotte. I shredded well enough
to get the critters really low, really fast and if they died to the DOT as
they were running away, that suited me fine. Now I open with ambush and 300
to 600 points go away right off the top. I'm level 40 btw and have solo'd
the entire time.

Sinister Strike is your bread & butter. You can use it as fast as you can
generate the energy and it sets up the big Eviscerate - always shoot for 5
dots, it makes a much bigger 6th hit. If the critter in question is less
than half-way dead when I hit the 1st 5 dots, then I use the finshing DOT
while I build for the Eviscerate.

If you're in over your head - Vanish.

If there are 2 of them, Sap one & jump the other.

Always use poison (I think that one starts at 20).

Gouge buys you a few seconds to get in position for a backstab - if you're
good. I rarely attempt this, but I've seen others do it well.

I also chose engineering so I add in grenades, flamethrowers, mechanical
dragons and other fun stuff.

Healing potions & Thistle Tea are good to have.

Have I mentioned Evade? Evade - every battle that hurts & it is available.
I took the extended Evade talent - I like it that much.

I don't remember 18 all that well, but the only level I remember slogging
without enjoying myself the whole time was 39.

Don't kid yourself, you are the king of extended DPS. A mage can do more in
the short run, but a rogue can continue to dish it out.

 

[mikel]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

KStringer@hu-friedy.com wrote:

[snip informed advice]

> Gouge buys you a few seconds to get in position for a backstab - if you're
> good. I rarely attempt this, but I've seen others do it well.

I did pretty much every single fight multiple times up until I switched
to a sword as my main hand weapon. I have an alt rogue that is lower
level, and I still do it: Gouge, step behind, backstab. The backstab is
worth enough damage wiith a good dagger that I have learned to manage my
energy in a fight so that I can do it multiple times in the same fight.
Most enemies don't last long enough for the third one to happen.

With my level 27 rogue I don't do it anymore because I'm using a sword
in my main hand. Now it's open with Cheap Shot, Sinister Strike once or
twice, Gouge, maybe another Sinister Strike, Eviscerate. Not much is
lasting much past that.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:16:52 GMT, "Robin Van Hoof"
<robin.van.hoof@telenet.be> wrote:

>
>> Because of the way that Sinister Strike works, a
>> slow, high damage weapon in you main hand gives you a big advantage.
>
>partially true. U want to have the most dmg on the weapon (not dps dmg) but
>the main hand weapon don't have to be slow for that.

No, weapon speed does have an effect, and the mechanics in the game do
favor slow weapons (at least for rogues and some (all?) warrior
builds).

I don't want to type the entire explanation again, so instead here is
a link to one of my earlier explanations why:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y3D252D6B

--
Regards
Simon Nejmann

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

"Diaboyos" <diaboyos@aafa.net> wrote in message
news:XBbBe.118516$j51.78850@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>I have a L18 rogue and so far I'm just not impressed with it.

Then play something else.

> A comparable
> mage does far more damage, and a comparable warrior has far better armor.

Erm... play a Mage or a Warrior then

> I've seen the high level rogues wipe people out in 2 seconds, but it seems
> to me to be very slow in getting to be a good char.

Ok.... erm not true TBH - A Rogue is piss easy right up to level 30, you
should cut through mobs of a similar and +2 level like they are not there. I
used to think it was silly how easy it all was.

When can I expect
> things to start picking up??
>
>

When you learn how to play a Rogue to the maximum of its abilities.

A Rogue isn't some simple lock and auto kill bot you know. Rogues give out
good DPS but you have to choose how to go about this.

The simple side of playing a Rogue is to concentrate on getting +Agility
items, and +Strength, then +Stamina.

With good agility you will dodge more and hence won't get hit as much.

If you want to cause more damage early on then you need to get a decent
weapon for your level, and put the first 10 points into the combat tree so
that you hit more often and dodge more often.

Lastly, you can't compare a lvl 18 Rogue to a high level, thats just silly.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

I have a 60 Warrior and a 36 Rogue.....

I am having way more fun with my Rogue than I did with my Warrior.
I love my Rogue!!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.warcraft (More info?)

Diaboyos wrote:
> I have a L18 rogue and so far I'm just not impressed with it. A comparable
> mage does far more damage, and a comparable warrior has far better armor.
> I've seen the high level rogues wipe people out in 2 seconds, but it seems
> to me to be very slow in getting to be a good char. When can I expect
> things to start picking up??

Well I found my Rogue extremely effective all the way from level 1 to
level 60.

But you do certainly have some nice skills coming up to boost your
power: poisons at level 20 (after a quest), Vanish at 22 (brilliant
escape ability), Cheap Shot at 26 (will likely be your bread & butter
opener from stealth once you have it), Kidney Shot at 30 (in-combat stun).

Also, it's quite important to have effective weapons. Don't be wasting
money on armor at the Auction House, but don't let your weapons lag too
far behind your level, and make sure you understand the advantages and
disadvantages of fast and slow weapons.

Cheers!
David...