When last I posted, I discussed what sort of changes I believe rogues need to be competitive in the modern raiding game. Having read other discussion on the topic - both in response to my post and otherwise - it seems to me that it might be a good idea to take a step back from discussion of *what* changes are needed and address *why* changes are needed. That is: while I proposed solutions last time, I feel that there's still some disagreement about what the problem is. Hence, I would like to...

• Aldriana

As I alluded to here, the current state of Rogue DPS is something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately; I gave a preview of the top level conclusions here. To paraphrase: I think there's three things ailing rogues right now. First, ranged is just plain better than melee. Second, our burst and target-swapping abilities suck. And finally, our sustained DPS is perhaps a bit too low.

That said: I think Blizzard's change is a (spectacularly boring, but nevertheless) reasonable...

• Aldriana

As many of you may have noticed, one of the currently planned T12 set bonuses for rogues is a stat bonus that applies whenever we cast Tricks of the Trade. And while its a very good bonus in terms of power level, I must say I'm not a big fan of it. As I observed in a forum post shortly after it came out, "Am I the only one who's generally not a fan of Tricks-linked set bonuses?"

Now, at the time I didn't have a lot of basis for this commentary - I couldn't have told you...

• Aldriana

Having looked at my PMs and the forums here and elsewhere, it seems to me that there are some common concerns that many people seem to be having about rogues at level 85. And while I don't claim to have all the answers, I do think some of the concerns are blown out of proportion, so I'd like to take a few minutes to try to inject some sanity into the discussion.

A major complaint that a lot of people seem to be having is that rogue DPS is, to put it bluntly, crap. And perhaps it...

• Aldriana