Why are Rogues the least popular class in WoW atm?

[kennyisnotdead]

I've played my rogue since vanilla. We just are not as flashy as the other classes. A lot of my old rogue friends are either DKs or something hybrid. Rogues outside of pvp can be boring.

I leveled my rogue 1st to 85, then my DK. The DK was op as hell compared to the rogue. Both done with no BoA since this was when cata came out. Soloing mobs with even 300k hp was a challenge, the DK on the other hand just rips through like it wasn't even there. Plus death strike...I don't need to elaborate there.

I can see why a lot go with DK if your not big in pvp or could care less.

[Linaver]

I like to think its because pvp rogues have a high skill cap and that scares most away.

[AceofHarts]

There always is a least played class. You've just happened to be it at the time being. Rogues surely weren't unpopular in early WoW, eh?

rogues have been the least played class since wrath of the lich king. and Casterclysm is doing us no favors in that department.

[Polarthief]

We're not OP, we can't tank or heal and we haven't changed much since Vanilla. If you play a Rogue now-a-days, it's probably because you love the class and can't imagine playing something else, not because we're particularly strong. On the other hand, if you played a Rogue in Vanilla it was because you were essentially invincible in 1v1.

This sounds like mage without the part of "Invincible" (EXCLUDING low-skilled endgame PvP as Frost)

Arcane is boring to 99.9% of mages

Fire is broken and useless

Frost is the same as fire in higher-skill PvP / any endgame PvE

[AceofHarts]

Where are you even geting these numbers? Im not sure rogue is less played than some of the other pure dps classes. If you believe wow census warlock is least played...
And rouge is in a good spot both pve and pvp wise. With 3 great pve specs and a more than viable pvp spec, they have nothing to complain about. They are definitly one of the strongest pve dps classes.

3 great pve specs?
Sub is only truely viable on fights like Baleroc
Combat is great for cleave
assassination is middle of the pack at best right now, and according to raidbots, overall assassination is one of the weakest specs in the game.

---------- Post added 2011-09-03 at 07:43 AM ----------

Assassination is doing just fine in PVE, I don't know what anyone is complaining about. It's an upper middle tier dps spec, which is about where you'd like to be. Clearly Arcane Mages, Shadow Priests, and MM Hunters don't apply to this rule tho.

false, assassination is actually in middle of the pack at best, and given all the target swapping in firelands, with its long ramp up time assassination needs some love.

---------- Post added 2011-09-03 at 07:44 AM ----------

This sounds like mage without the part of "Invincible" (EXCLUDING low-skilled endgame PvP as Frost)

Arcane is boring to 99.9% of mages

Fire is broken and useless

Frost is the same as fire in higher-skill PvP / any endgame PvE

mages least have the fact that there 1> a ranged dps, and 2> can have the legendary going for them.

---------- Post added 2011-09-03 at 07:45 AM ----------

and how many patchwerk fights exist? many people have different specs for different amounts of movement or w/e. some classes are stronger with none, and then plummet if they have to move, while others aren't hurt much. you can sprint back and get back into a fight against a boss, other melee can't necessarily do that.

rogues can sprint once a minute, woopity do. let me tell you something about rogues. we have this wonderful thing called "RAMP UP TIME" and a rogues ramp up time is roughly 15 seconds long. by that time the add is dead, and we got to go back to the boss and restart our ramp up on him too.

[Nosferato]

also rogue is the most agile class of all, yet has less mobility than classes in plates, we didnt get a overhaul like all the other classes, all rogues got was a change to passive talents and nearly everything else remained the same with a few updates that you could call lazy(hello cold blod), flaws from wotlk didnt get fixed, we still have the longest ramp up time of all classes, low burst and no class gets punished harder for target switching, in pvp we get nerf to the core abilities, when you have the same cd of 2 min and only shared, makes you wonder why on earth the dk who has the same type od cd gets untouched and still has ams on 45 sec cd while rogues cos is 2 min, we are the only classes that has to keep a rotation(ferals too) where you have combat who ends up with energy capping alot, while as assa you seem to be lacking the energy you need to keep rotation up with a few unlucky dodges its gg.

rogues are probably the least updated and fresh class of the game and suffers for it, and only has 1 viable pvp spec on high rating due to mobility and prep wich is sub, and can usually only score a kill during a smoke bomb

rogues played to perfection offers little reward compared to other classes, and still after 2 expansion offers the least raid buffs than any other classes, pluss we are the only class that requires another of our class to max our dps by trading tot, and in a 10 man you will always be alone cause your class dosnt bring buffs and only offers dps with is mediocre.

[Deleted]

Pve is kinda boring during that 70%+ of our dmg (playing as combat spec) is simply passive dmg and our main move(cp builder) sinister strike is doing the white dmg/melee dmg of a warr/pala .Finisher moves (eviscerate) is hitting like simply crap no much to tell . Perhaps the dps is fine(atm) as more of the ppl haven't foul geared in heroic gear to see the difference with others classes. We depend 2 much on helpfull cds to increase our dmg and after we simply fall behind while other classes has better(i can say an amazing burst) and simply dont fall like rogues(combat).

Combat spec hasn't change since the beginning of wow. Anyone could say , hey we got revealing strike......but no one know is simply a extra button that blizz/dev team put , because simply have few ideas of how to upgrade rogue(combat spec). Eviscerate in classic wow/Burning crusade and wotlk was simply an amazing finisher, so just making this question why the needing of putting revealing strike just to simply do what was supposed to do ...dmg????? The dmg of an eviscerate without revealing strike is simply the dmg of almost 2x sinisters strikes.

In terms of dps we are still mediocre. Simply mostly because rogues getting gear they simply boost passive dmg while others class they're boosting main dmg skill/spells. Ending just to know in bis gear Firelands rogues are simply falling behind for the most classes(passive dmg is nice but no for so much percentage )

[AceofHarts]

Pve is kinda boring during that 70%+ of our dmg (playing as combat spec) is simply passive dmg and our main move(cp builder) sinister strike is doing the white dmg/melee dmg of a warr/pala .Finisher moves (eviscerate) is hitting like simply crap no much to tell . Perhaps the dps is fine(atm) as more of the ppl haven't foul geared in heroic gear to see the difference with others classes. We depend 2 much on helpfull cds to increase our dmg and after we simply fall behind while other classes has better(i can say an amazing burst) and simply dont fall like rogues(combat).

Combat spec hasn't change since the beginning of wow. Anyone could say , hey we got revealing strike......but no one know is simply a extra button that blizz/dev team put , because simply have few ideas of how to upgrade rogue(combat spec). Eviscerate in classic wow/Burning crusade and wotlk was simply an amazing finisher, so just making this question why the needing of putting revealing strike just to simply do what was supposed to do ...dmg????? The dmg of an eviscerate without revealing strike is simply the dmg of almost 2x sinisters strikes.

In terms of dps we are still mediocre. Simply mostly because rogues getting gear they simply boost passive dmg while others class they're boosting main dmg skill/spells. Ending just to know in bis gear Firelands rogues are simply falling behind for the most classes(passive dmg is nice but no for so much percentage )

eviscerate was awesome in bc? i seem to remember the bc rotation being x snd/y rupture.

[renegade801]

I have a rogue, it was my main for most of WotLK... I don't play him much anymore because I started to find rogues to be very one dimensional... out of all the classes in the game, their 3 trees are the most similar to each other... Blizzard has been claiming that they want all 30 talent trees for the 10 classes to feel like different classes each... well if that is the case, rogues need work...

[Edlarel]

Rogue main, still raiding, still topping DPS meters. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong. Also, they're still being used by top raiders, so they can't be that bad

[Deleted]

They can only perform as melee dps which is the worst role atm. And when choosing a melee dps you'll almsot definitaly go with something different. There simply are much better choices (no need to name I suppose).

[Warcrafter]

why be a rogue when you can be OP like arcane mages, MM huntards, shadow priests and boomkins? :P

[Cygne]

On Alleria(US) and Horde side for that matter, I think I'm like the only raiding rogue and a guildy of mine is probably the only pvp rogue.

The life of an assassin is sure a lonely one.

[Rotted]

because their sneaky with their stuns and vanishins in areanas when their about to die to restor hp :S

[NomadicGod]

I play mutilate but im starting to hate it. All my other characters can do massive burst without having any type of build up but oh no not the rogue. I have to stack the poison, build up combo points and keep my other buffs up. All this effort might award me with a 60k (crit) envenom. Meanwhile, my hunter and warrior are hitting 60k back to back with almost no cool down.
Or maybe I'm just doin it wrong.

[Deleted]

The thing is now you got to have skills to kill and be good at arenas, etc.. Before was faceroll. Anyone know how to play rogues and kill anyone easy. There are still many rogues at low lvl because at that lvl rogues is like before oneshot ppl or stunlock.

[Deleted]

you cant tank, you cant heal, you can die while leveling (atleast you used to, and the amount of palas back this point up), they require skill to play, and everyone loves to flame a bad rogue, atleast i do :P'

just want to say i only blame bad rogues that think they are "leet"

[sidian86]

I have a rogue, it was my main for most of WotLK... I don't play him much anymore because I started to find rogues to be very one dimensional... out of all the classes in the game, their 3 trees are the most similar to each other... Blizzard has been claiming that they want all 30 talent trees for the 10 classes to feel like different classes each... well if that is the case, rogues need work...

Hit the nail right on the head there. I have to agree, I loved playing my rogue during WotLK. The gameplay had new elements, the rotations had a bit of randomness to them, balancing all the moves, refreshing the dots, keeping up your buffs. But now everything is automatically refreshed, you can get away with not using a dot here and there and overall it's boring.

build to 4 or 5 cp
apply dot/buff
build to 4 or 5 cp
use cp on finisher > buff/dot refreshed
repeat

PVP it where you get that randomness back, but even then that's stretching it. It just feels like a dull class now, every talent tree has 1 buff / 1 dot / 1 combo builder / 1 finisher that refreshes either the buff or the dot.

[Ghul]

i think because rogues were the most fun back when openpvp was possible. nowadays where everyone flying around woth their mounts and stuff its pretty much useless to be rogue in openpvp, rangedclasses(preferrably with good cc/slow/snare) are way more effective there today.
oh and in vanilla i used to tank alot with my rogue(it was very well possible in some instances back then) but today with the heroics and all, thats pretty much out of the window too.
also theres no cool stuff to do as a rogue like getting the barman shanker or similiar stuff thats making use of our sneakiness (druids could profit from it too so it wouldnt be class exclusive for rogues)

[Lucaya]

I think Rogue popularity is primarily to do with PvP.

When world PvP was still a thing, being able to stealth into enemy areas and gank people was amusing. It also provided you with some safety from being stalked by the opposing faction while trying to quest.

I agree with this, while I'm not playing rogue (though I have one at lvl 80).

I think every class (still) has some kind of uniqueness, and the rogues is the stealthy-playstyle. Because a lot of things are instanced and you get teleported to them, stealth has become a little worthless. I rarely see (hostile) players in any 1-on-1 situation, which is what rogues really dominated.

Also the usual duty every pure-DD shares, not being able to heal/tank and so being forced to wait an endless time at the lfd without getting free mounts/pets like tanks.