Rogues: Another Look

"THE MOST DEADLY CLASS IN ACTUALL PVP (NOT DUELING!!!) IS THE ROGUE, BAR NONE. I am a Rogue and I waste everything I come across. When I see a Paladin I smile cause I know he'll be an easy kill, they always are. They freakin die everytime. When I am killed it's ALMOST ALWAYS to very high levels or groups focused on killing me, and that's it."
-Urdraxa, idiot, WoW forums

Apparently discussing WoW's Rogues is one way to raise peoples' dander.

I'm trying to get to the heart of this matter, look at a bunch of different angles.

This link makes some good points. It's nice to see someone offer more than a call to nerf - instead they suggest adding abilities to counter the rogue's advantages.

Which suits me fine. What I hate is constant weakening of a class to please the people that complain. I would rather have a game beef up one class and bring every other class up to that level than see a nerf occur.

I thought that perhaps rogues were simply unstoppable in PvP. This guide seems to offer a fair assessment of a rogue's capabilities (though it IS a rogue guide, so maybe it can't be trusted), and it shows they excel against certain classes and have trouble with others.

Man Bytes Blog talks about how stealthing-anywhere breaks immersion (good point). Maybe stealth needs to be conditional?

Zen of Design says it's an issue of the sense of control that stealth classes get - they have discretion over which fights to pick.

On the other hand, it seems that rogues get shafted when it comes to end-game content. So maybe they should have control over their fights, a kind of concession for their worthlessness in groups? Maybe not.

Blizzard describes the rogue as "[t]wisting events to their favor, striking only when advantage is greatest: this is where a Rogue excels."

Which means that, as shitty as it seems to some people, rogues are working as intended. They are supposed to take advantage of weakened or distracted players, they are supposed to use cheapass stealth and backstab and they are supposed to run away and stealth like little bitches when they are being beaten. They are supposed to be assholes and attack cloth/leather classes and they are supposed to be arrogant cocksuckers.

It's about this time that people should be thinking, "Wow, your main must be a rogue, the way you act."

One suggestion is that Blizzard can get rid of the rogue class. Because at the moment the abilities that people complain about the most are the core abilities of that class.

Another suggestion is that they can change the rogue class to a different, yet similar class. In other words, change the way the class plays. Perhaps make it more group-friendly, drop the stealth-focus. Piss off all the rogues but possibly make them more useful in the social aspect of the game.

They could also change the way stealth works. Require a reagent. Have non-stealth areas. Make stealth impossible while in PvP battle. Or give classes more ways to deal with stealth.

I really don't know what to do. Obviously. And it's not my job, so yippee.

I do know that pretty much every class is accused of being overpowered and that it seems every online game degenerates into a Salem-style witchhunt with cries of "Nerf!" rampant.

That's my two cents.

I don't know. Fuck rogues.

And nerf, um . . . paladins. Yeah!