Rogue Nugget from Tiggole

[Treesh]

My point was that rogues are so one dimensional that its kind of boring playing a class in raids that cant do the one thing its good at.  Rogue are onlly good at hitting things for damage - everything else they do is just a weak substitute because you are missing a class thats much better at something.

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Rogues aren't one dimensional any more than mages are. Yes, sheep is better than sap because it can be cast on things in combat. It may also be the groups that you are playing with. For some groups, I wasn't allowed to do much of anything in the group - no expose armor because it interferes with sunder, no sap because people didn't want to take the extra time and we had a mage along with us, couldn't gouge because the hunter would sic the pet on the add instead, couldn't backstab or ambush or eviscerate because I'd pull aggro from the warrior. So I was forced to basically sit there and do regular attacks with an occasional sinister strike thrown in and use the combo points for slice and dice. I got very frustrated and didn't like playing in groups because of it.

Things changed when I got riposte and feint (among other skills too). My rogue can go all out on critters now in groups and not cause too many issues for the tank (although I haven't been in a group with a pally as main tank so I don't know how fast and furious I can pump out the damage in that case). Feint is a rogue's friend and so is having a little patience. Let the puller pull, stealth, position yourself and by the time you get into position, the tank should have a fair bit of aggro generated and some rage too if they are a warrior/bear. If I do end up taking aggro away from the tank (which doesn't happen too often), I can feint and just do regular damage for a bit. If we're fighting elites with big armor, it's time for the DoTs to come out. If we've got casters, it's time for stun locks. Yes, it's still all about the damage, but you can still dish out damage and not gimp your rogue too much in a group. Just use the right skill for the job and have some patience at the start of a fight. If you're playing a rogue solo, you've had to learn some patience anyway from trying to get yourself into the right position so you don't wake up more critters than you can handle. ;)

To sum up, partly it's the rogue's attitude that determines how gimped they are in groups and partly how well the party will let you do your job as damage dealer and pseudo-squishy protector.

Edit: And before someone points it out, no, I haven't been on the end-game raids with my rogue. This is just me discussing the rogue in regular groups at the low to mid level. Yes, the end game changes, but many skills and tactics you learn at the low to mid level can be carried over to high level content - such as aggro management.

Edit2: Have to agree with Mavfin who didn't take nearly as long as I did in typing up my ramblings. ;)