We're all weapon/AAs. It's the weapons. To see any significant increase the only real change you can make is to get raid weapons. The discs are increases, but they're small. Knifeplay is your big sustained boost, it was very much needed.
Aye dont' forget knifeplay. It's on far more than it's off, so you cannot judge a rogue via autoattack+bs these days as 90% of the time we'll be under some disc or other.
I don't mean to tell anyone how to play their class... especially since I have been playing as a solo rogue since time immemorial... but... I have never really been that great at the whole counterattack assassination thing. I always ended up dying from counterattack not going off. That being said, I have, definitely, had a lot of experience playing a solo rogue without the use of counterattack, or even a merc. I remember the days of dual wielding bloodpoint daggers, slaughtering paineel guards for their bronze accouterments, and then selling them right back to their vendors. No faction hit for many a year. In any case, I am not here to reminisce. All you need, is to create an opportunity... a micro second... perfectly timed... perfectly executed... and you will execute a behind backstab from the front every time. It's called a, "feint." Stand right in front of them, face to face, as close to their center as you are comfortable with. Move forward, then backward, then backstab. If you time it right, they will still be turning around when you are moving back... BAM!!! ASSASSINATION!!! Another trick, is a short circle strafe with a high runspeed, turning so that you are angled behind the 180degree mark, facing towards the same direction they are facing, while maintaining range for backstabs. Another trick, is to start throwing daggers from a distance, while running as fast as you like at the target. If your runspeed is fast enough, or you are on a horse, then you will out run your own daggers, and when the mob turns to chase you, they will all rapidly kachunk into it's back right after one another, almost ALWAYS resulting in multiple assassination strikes or deadly strikes. Another trick, is similar to the above two, from a distance, using throwing daggers, do a reverse oval strafe, where one direction of travel is shorter than the other, so that your angles on kiting connect with you facing the same way as the mob you will still throw a dagger at greater than 180 degrees, so, stay on that threshold, and cater your position to the strikes. Your placement and position at the time of the dagger striking the target is all that matters. Another trick, is to use your mezz abilities in a chain, spreading the fight out, giving your cooldowns time to refresh, and taking it a single at a time, mezz, walk around, stab. mezz, walk around, stab. All of the above tricks, are done without mercs, or counterattack. Mercs... made my life so much easier. and... the new assassination... it goes with my play style like butter melting on sourdough. so, without further adieu... mercs make everything better. Also, I would like to point out, that AA throwing abilities, like, for instance, vigorous dagger throw, also can instigate an assassination, are instant, as is backstab, and can be alternated with backstab for an extra strike for every two attempts (at my current AA setup). Now, considering that I can take two accounts, one of them sitting idle the entire time, take a tank and a healer merc, put the idle person on puller, and take the mercs with me all over the area so long as i don't get too far away from the estranged merc master... as that causes it to stand still as if it had lost its marbles in the muck somewhere... I don't see as there is any reason for any rogue to complain. The counterattack thing... was like... a guitar riff in a song. A single thing, one idea, that was exploited for what it was for a long time. I have never maxed out my AA's, in 17 years. I have never maxed out a current expansion. I've had to piecemeal my gear together from random pick up raids, and groups, and guild functions (always passing unless absolutely no one else can use), and I am grateful for every item I have. I don't get to play as often as I would like, due to health and life concerns, but, I always know that when I come back, things will be well. I was wrong... because they are better. What ya'll need to do, is stop complaining that they took away an abusive exploitation, that, by your own words, turned your gaming sessions into an unenjoyable binge of quickly gained, hardly earned, and I shudder to even call it, "experience." If you have a rogue you maxed out that way... delete it. Start over again. Learn to actually play your character, the hard way, so that you have to find ingenius ways to proceed in this digital world, Norrath. Now, I can, basically, handle what I want to, fight what I want to, and get where I want to go, without too much trouble. Without waiting for a group, or logging an alt, or even using a merc. It's all about style. Flare for the dramatic. Fast hands, and faster blades. Quick wits cause dim wits to gutter out like a digital candle. they're only NPC's... don't be afraid... go play with them one on one, and get to know them. Return to the times of every rogue having every single "badonkadonk" on this game memorized. As a smaller race, I have to look up to see their butts. I've been looking away so much, I have now memorized all the shoe heels as well. /lesigh... In any case, this has been cathartic, but I digress. My intention is not to belittle anyone, nor to make you feel badly for enjoying this wonderful game the way you love to. My intention, is to remind you, that it is a wonderful game, that you love playing. No single change is going to make or break this game, because it is ever evolving, true to it's namesake. It is almost a legal adult at this point. It can almost VOTE!!! It could fight for a country... but not drink in one... or something... In any case, may you enjoy what the day brings you this even', and may the tides wash away all the aqua goblin corpses littering the docks in Butcherblock Mountains. Seriously. Someone should call a pool boy or something. get a long handled net... or one of them long poled tree trimmer saws. That'd do it... (mumbles incoherently to himself)... get them buggers right off them dock logs. Have a great day. Go kill things. Be sneaky. You're Ninjas, and pirates, and swashbucklers, and such. Living on the veritable fringes of civilization, keeping to the shadows, and only stepping out when it's necessary to do shady things... and you're pissed off that you can't go running around a zone screaming at everyone like a pansey bard, rounding them all up, and then running them over with a knife bladed steam roller, leaving a literal mountain of corpses, that all somehow merged 4th dimentionally in 3d space on a 2d screen, occupying the same time/space/directional coordinates. Like seriously... ever hear of SUBTLETY!!!! You think I go around telling everyone all these things all the time? No, I don't. That's why while all the other rogues are quitting, or retiring their chars, or moving on to other pastures... I keep getting stronger, and more pronounced as I am. Slowly... of course. But I'm not that far behind. Blah, catharsis ain't in it. Have a good day everyone. Hope i made at least someone smile, laugh, or think of a new way to utilize the rogue's in-game mechanics. It really is the most versatile class in-game as far as I am concerned, and there is ALWAYS a challenge to be had, and overcome. I still say, that throwing... needs to be upgraded significantly... as always. (Throwing is the only attack, at which a rogue naturally crits with. We need AA's or worn items for all other critical hit types. We also innately have the deadly strike, which is a miniature version of the assassination from level 1, so long as we are behind the mob. This should not have been shoved to the side for so long and ignored. They made an entire new class and gave it throwing items for pete's sake. I am still irritated at the berserker class. but, I will leave it on a good note.) TOO LONG DIDN'T READ!!! : plenty of ways to play a rogue, without counterattack. Let the horse be something besides a dead kicking bag. Like, a W***y's Ham***ger. That dead horse could be a W***y's Ham***ger.
Whoa. It's been 2 years since they changed the assassinate rules. How about that. Curious that this "feint stab" can be executed with perfect timing, but not counterattack? Sounds more like SO fired.
Meh... Much more practice at moving forward, moving backward, and hitting backstab as i cross the threshold. Counterattack pops once every 30 minutes or so. Backstab pops every 12 seconds or so. Much more practice. /nods
Whoa. Quite the delayed reply. Pure coincidence that I saw this when I did. I'd be curious to see a 500+ assassinations comparison between your 'feint' trick compared to normal frontal backstabs. Even without using Counterattack, it used to be that you could get assassinations from the front arc thanks to the Seized Opportunity AA, and they would fire fairly frequently without any other tricks. Around 200hDex it was somewhere around a 7/8 chance for assassinate to fire during the fight. The day after the changes it was more like 1/8. It was a crippling nerf wooden bat to the face of a class that was already uniquely handicapped in a solo scenario. For an ability that Rogues received at level 60, I question the apparent intent of requiring another 45+ levels, and spending piles of AA before they can use it to any meaningful impact. I haven't played my Rogue much since then, hopefully they've changed the formula.
silly wabbits, Assassination has triggered of of Primary, secondary and throwing skill for an extremely long time.
