03-10-2005, 04:39 AM
MongoJerry,Mar 7 2005, 02:58 AM Wrote:Yeah, but even so, let's consider when you're creating a party for any one of those instances whether you'd rather have a rogue or mage along. A rogue's primary purposes in a group are to sap humanoids prior to battle and provide single target damage. A mage, however, can sheep the same humanoids, whether the target is in combat or not, provide the same powerful single target damage, and provide massive aoe. I just don't see a role in a party that a rogue has over other classes other than the occational lockpicking. They don't even provide any auras or buffs to the party.
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My main is a 60 rogue so I can offer a little insight on some rogue group utility. My rogue has 31 points in combat and has mace mastery. I have just over 3.7k HP unbuffed.
In a non-raid instance party I typically stun as much as possible. This is one thing no other class can come close to in frequency. Each stun gives the healer additional time. As a mace rogue I have cheap shot, kidney shot, and passive mace mastery stuns. Due to the fight lengths of most fights, diminishing returns on mace mastery stun aren't that big of an issue. Depending on the instance I might use the mace "The Shatterer" in main hand to disarm mobs. This makes them do less damage and tanks dodge/parry/etc more often. The proc chance seems to also occur when a rogue uses sinister strike. Stuns allow the group to do more damage as a whole. It's the same group philosophy where a priest doesn't even cast shadow word: pain because the mana used for a flash heal would result in the whole group doing more damage then the DoT.
Crippling poison is another useful thing that rogues can bring to an instance party. I've been in a number of groups that were damage heavy without a warrior or druid to tank. This often involves kiting which crippling poison can allow. Mobs chase after mages who play tag with them. This also means that while a mob is trying to reach a player it can't, it isn't doing damage.
A rogue can also be low-maintainence as far as heals are concerned. Rogues can't take melee hits but with a decent amount of HP they have time to react. Rogues can use evasion, feint, and vanish to make them very tough to kill.
Now the problem with raid instances is that the mobs are immune to so many things. I've been to numerous MC raids and I've noticed that the majority of mobs are immune to: poisons, stuns, and bleeds. Poisons and stuns are primary rogue group utility skills. While I feel that these immunities are good for the sake of balance, it makes rogues quite useless in there. At the very least I think expose armor should stack with sunder (at least in raid instances).