Rogues on mischief still lack all the utility, but their dps has been fantastic due to the plentiful, cheap gear. If you enjoy rogue, roll on misc or the next FV loot server.
Rogues in classic are fine. A class change isn't the answer. Weapon itemization in classic is balls, thus making everyone who depends on weapons for dps balls - in classic, this is literally only rogues and warriors, though rangers are hurting from it as well - but nobody cares about warrior dps and rangers get some spells to help a bit. The answer is just to retune some of the classic weapons, which also helps unflerk rangers.
No thank you; I don't want to become Rogue#300,221 like monks As Rogue main for the last two TLP's from day one, I did completely fine; You just have to min-max and fight for buffs. People think because you're not the top two DPS you need a rework. Monks are completely overturned and unbalanced in classic but that doesn't mean we are broken. You don't have to be #1 to have good DPS and to contribute. Part of the charm of playing a Rogue is seeing your power spike from expansion to expansion, and seeing low class numbers.
Having tried out a rogue early TLP, i would say increase to BS (or some type of melee dps increase) + potions being effective/worthwhile would make rogues fantastic in classic and fun as the expansions come out. Perhaps making potions a "thing" again in classic would satisfy the lacking dps. Having the ability to slow and snare or debuff with potions would add utility to rogues in groups again. As the game stands, they are the worst dps class which provides zero utility to the group besides pick-lock, and that is arguably useless except 2/3 exp spots. Best utility is ghetto CoH, by dragging a corpse to the group for a rez.
The proper way to play a rogue in classic is to not. If you for some insane stupid reason actually want to play a rogue, do it later or realize you get to suffer for a good chunk of time.
It is my opinion that Rogues in classic should be where Monks are currently in the melee dps order while Monks should be down with Rangers.
I played a rogue in classic through LDoN. Even back then, the monk-envy was real. Monks could solo, pull, and then out-DPS me -- until I managed to get a BIS weapon towards the very end of an expansion. (What can I say, my guilds were a bit slower.) I've totally avoided playing a rogue in a TLP based on what I experienced then, and based on my understanding things are even worse for the monk/rogue imbalance now. Yes, rogues need a boost early on in TLPs. And monks need to be scaled back, kind of like how mages were; (although obviously not by the same MoTM mechanism.) People will still play monks, because they have a lot of other benefits (beyond DPS). But people would actually choose to play Rogues as well.
All that is true, but not all is negative. And no, Rogues don't need to be overtuned, monks H2H needs to go back to how it was aka. look at P99. Rogues get gear easier, there's less of us and we get geared faster and for cheaper. There's nothing more rewarding that hearing ''Oh Rogues are horrible'' when at the end of the raid you've destroyed some of the monks on the parses specially the combined ones. You don't have to do the mindless pulling We have a lot of self lore with our own tradeskills. Its awesome being super unique. Ragebringer is probably one of the easiest epics/fastest epics to obtain. Easier than monk epic on the first day of Kunark. With the argument that Rogues are trash.. so are monks compared to casters on certains fights .. OP wizards anyone?
The general problem with that line of logic is that for a lot of less power gamey and "aren't actually going to break true box rules" players....classic is going to by far be the most ideal spot they are going to see as far as getting groups for that lv 1-50 grind if they really want to level a rogue main. Where that comparative factor really doesn't actually end up being nearly as big a deal early on as it's likely to be latter in Kunark when twinking and people PL'ing with outside support really picks up.
Y'all crying about rogue DPS in classic like group content ain't trivial. So mobs die 10 seconds slower and you hit 50 in 4 days instead of 3. Big deal.... At least rogues can hit stuff in sky, go play a wizard and eat DTs if you don't want to play a rogue.
Classic rogues ARE nerfed from where they were at the equivalent point on live. This is mostly due to the various overhauls to melee in the base client(one codebase to rule them all, remember?) have provided vastly more benefit to other classes(most notably monks). However. I was a rogue main on live classic through SoF. Then I played rangers and SKs on every TLP starting with Combine. Then I played a rogue main on Aradune from classic-omens. Guess what? I still easily held top a top 5 parse every raid, despite all our 'op' monks being 'so much better'. Perhaps the issue the OP has is with the player, not the game?
I would like to see the next TLP completely rebalance everything as if EQ was being released again. Keep the same mobs but buff everything up to make every named/raid encounter meaningful that can't be beaten with overwhelming numbers but with actual mechanics that have to be followed. Make classes matter. Give out class defining skills earlier to all classes. I think a relaunch with a full rebalance in mind will be what a lot of people want to see.
I'd be content with just making poisons worthwhile early on - save classic, rogues are actually decent DPS. Sure, monks should be nerfed a bit and bards should lose lockpick so rogues actually have something unique, but honestly rogue DPS is pretty legit.
If rogue had a rework of early poison so they could slow, snare, debuff, dot/DD, and reduce agro without the trash 1 shot poisons of classic it would be a game changer for rogues in early tlp life. Add some dang utility to rogue and a bump in dps. As of now, the posters above got it right. Play another class, farm PP, Krono, and gear so you can twink and/or PL a rogue when they are actually viable. All that 0 dkp loot is worthless, since rogue population grows once they are finally competitive dps, and you are then competing with the 5/6 in a guild like every other class. There is no need to nerf another class (monk) just to make 2 bad melee dps classes.
People think rogues need a rework because their gameplay pattern is bland. What cool things do rogues do? Monks have special attacks and FD, Shamans have awesome unique buffs, Enchanters can bring trains to a standstill, and rogues....get a mediocre invis and backstab. Rogues class defining abilities are just really lackluster to everyone else until much much later in the game. Personally i would really like to see classic poison's get a bit of a tune up. Its a great place to put power into the class that is unique.
Chaotic stab baseline... please. For the love of all that is holy. Its the one change that would make rogues significantly less bad.
