rogues
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WoW Moviewatch: The Problem with Rogues
Admittedly, all classes have their oddities... but it's possible that rogues have more oddities than most. After all, how many other classes have an invisible friend/troll to call up for quests? It makes our rogue friends a bit hard to trust. (Well, that and the pickpocketing.) So can you (or should you) really trust that rogue standing next to you? Slightly Impressive tackles this particular issue with their latest machinima, "The Problem with Rogues." Of course, the only thing worse than having an imaginary friend/troll is arguing with your imaginary friend/troll. And the only thing worse than that is someone seeing you arguing with your imaginary friend/troll. Rogue life is full of challenges. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Final Fantasy XIV previews the Rogue and Ninja
Limsa Lominsa is a rough town. There are pirates, layabouts, and all manner of shifty people at Final Fantasy XIV's island port city. The Yellowjackets keep the order in the streets, of course, but who keeps things clean in the back alleys? Why, the dashing Rogues, of course, the subject of the newest patch 2.4 preview on the official site. They might be cutthroats, brigands, and thieves, but they've still got a city to keep in one piece. The preview also discusses Ninja, the job recently imported to Eozea from the Far East with the arrival of the Doman refugees. The preview makes it clear that both class and job will follow the usual progression for quests and gives a small slice of the flavor players can expect, but even the secondary class for Ninja is still shrouded in mystery, which is frustrating if you want to get leveling done before it goes live... but then, would you really expect the most stealthy class to give away all of its secrets?
Encrypted Text: Shadowcraft, a raiding rogue's best friend
Every week or two, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Scott Helfand (@sveltekumquat) will be your shadow on this treacherous journey; try not to keep your back turned for too long, and make sure your valuables are stashed somewhere safe. "Should I reforge for mastery or haste?" If you're a rogue player who raids, reading that question probably generated one of two emotional reactions: Curiosity, because you wonder that yourself. A seething, bubbling cauldron of hatred and violent fury, because questions like these are asked endlessly -- even though, for a long time now, the answer has consisted of two words. Shadowcraft it. What Shadowcraft Is Shadowcraft is a modeling tool for rogues. It takes a snapshot of your armory -- your gear, enchants, gems, talents, glyphs and everything else that affects the damage you deal -- and then it allows you to modify that snapshot in a host of different ways. As you tweak the snapshot -- for instance, swapping out one piece of gear for another, changing your reforges, turning on or off certain buffs -- Shadowcraft keeps track of each change you make, and assesses whether those changes will theoretically increase or decrease your DPS. You do the experimenting, it does the math. Two things in particular make Shadowcraft truly special as a resource.
Ask Massively: New hires, HEX, and the problem with rogues
The Massively staff is not made up of Rogues. It turns out that a curiously high percentage of us play Shamans, but that's neither here nor there. The point is today we have questions about Rogue classes in MMOs and the shiny new hires soon to be added to our roster, and there's no good way to smush these topics into a coherent introduction. I maintain that this is entirely your fault. Soldack asked, Do you cover the HEX TCG that is going to also have a full fledged MMO? And do you have any interest in hiring a writer/streamer to cover it? Yep, we do cover it as a sort of pseudo-MMO. We got our grubby paws all over it at this past E3 and after the Kickstarter was announced, and we keep track of it in our crowdfunding column as it continues to develop. But we have no plans to hire a new journalist to focus on it or other MMOTCGs/MMOCCGs (like Hearthstone) exclusively right now, nope. If that changes, rest assured that we'll be putting up a hiring notice!
Blizzard adjusting Rogues in upcoming Hearthstone patch
Hearthstone's upcoming patch is detailed in a new blog post on the game's official website. The update "covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvements," according to Blizzard. There's also a blurb about class balance, with particular attention paid to Rogues, who will be "adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes." Crafting, golden cards, and social improvements make the cut too, but you'll need to click through to the links below for all the details.
Preparation, Readiness, and other cooldown resetting abilities may have grim future
Classes with cooldown resetting abilities probably won't find one of Ghostcrawler's most recent tweet all that surprising. The abilities (Preparation, Readiness, etc.) have been targeted by several nerfs and changes this expansion. Ghostcrawler wrote the following in reply to a tweet that said it may be time to stop adding cooldown resetting abilities to the game if they're constantly going to be nerfed. @Divine_Namjoo We agree. I'm not sure that design angle has payed out well. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) July 16, 2013 The abilities are particularly problematic in PvP, where players can chain several attacks or crowd control abilities together within a short period of time. What do you think? Do cooldown resetting abilities belong in the game? Are they overpowered?
The Repopulation gives much love to Rogues
The Repopulation transitioned into its second alpha test last month, and the team has a quite detailed report about all of the tweaks and features that it added to the game during that period. While there's a lot of everything in the patch notes, Rogues got a big piece of the attention pie. Above and Beyond Technologies reported that it improved the quality of life for Rogue characters through a number of changes. The thievery mechanic got an upgrade, pick-pocketing got several missions, and containers got stubbornly locked. As an aside, there are six stealthed Rogues in the above picture. See if you can spot them! Other changes to the game for the second alpha test include mission chains, random missions, 70 new crafting recipes, two new generic den types, and an overhaul of the reputation system.
New rogue talents and other rogue buffs coming in patch 5.2
If you follow rogue news, you know the class is in a bit of a funk. The developers are certainly aware of the class's low representation and they're aiming to fix it. Two new rogue talents have been datamined from patch 5.2: Hit and Run and Marked for Death. Where these new talents fall in the talent trees, we aren't yet sure. One of them is surely replacing Preparation, which has now become a baseline ability. In addition to the new talents, great changes have been made to select existing talents and abilities. For example, Deadly Throw no longer requires a full 5 combo points to interrupt an opponent's spellcasting, but rather only 3. Shuriken Toss, when used beyond 10 yards, turns all of your auto-attacks into ranged shurikens with a 30 yard range for 10 seconds. Do keep in mind, however, that this is the PTR. So sayeth Ghostcrawler: @dylanrogue We have had the discussion about whether we're buffing rogues too much in 5.2. Give it a spin on the PTR and let us know. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) December 20, 2012 Everything on the PTR is subject to change. Get excited, but cautiously so.
Ghostcrawler discusses class design in Mists
You're going to want to read this post from the forums discussing the rogue class and the design process for classes in general. It is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting posts Ghostcrawler has made on the forums. There's a lot to discuss, so let's break down some bullet points before reproducing the whole thing. "Rogues are in a good place in Cataclysm in both PvE and PvP. We don't see a lot of huge, glaring problems that need to be fixed." The dev team understands that sometimes people want change simply to freshen up their playstyle, but the danger there is alienating players. Both the Cataclysm redesign of paladins and the Mists redesign of warlocks are offered as changes the dev team felt were necessary but that absolutely alienated some players. Rogues haven't seen a lot of change in part because the rogue has it pretty good and is potentially the best-designed class with the best resource system, strong class abilities and an easy-to-understand role in PvE and PvP. Even fixing broken mechanics risks turning off players because they have to relearn the class. We'll take a look at the whole post and then discuss it.
Vanguard update brings new loyalty rewards for subscribers
As Vanguard straddles the line between its old subscriber-only business model and this summer's free-to-play transition, the team is still plugging away at minor updates to the game. Today's patch brings a smattering of updates and fixes as well as the May loyalty rewards for current subscribers. Active players will get to haul away five goodies from SOE, including a brown sloop ship, unique tack and barding, and a "Kamelott Overland Onslaught Life-Sustaining Exo-Skeleton" mount. Players can also pick up free supply crates and veteran's caches (the latter are available only for level 50+ characters) every 44 hours. The update also fixed a few small issues with quests, retweaked some skills for Rogues and Bards, and changed a couple of items to make them work properly. SOE will continue to dish out loyalty rewards until Vanguard goes F2P.
Encrypted Text: 2 Stealth secrets in Mists
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. Our Stealth system, which has survived dozens of patches unscathed, is seeing some new action in Mists of Pandaria. In spite of the developers' previous attempts to normalize Stealth levels via the removal of Master of Deception, they're bringing some of that flavor back. Shadow Walk and Shroud of Concealment bring brand new elements to our Stealth repertoire. Shadow Walk looks to improve our own personal Stealth capabilities, while Shroud of Concealment allows us to share our Stealth with others. The duo is the most exciting thing to happen to Stealth since Distract, and I look forward to finding new and unique ways to abuse both of them.
Encrypted Text: More rogue poison news from Ghostcrawler
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. Two weeks ago, I asked you to throw out everything you knew about rogue poisons. I was being silly, because I know that would be a lot to ask. Many of us have spent years learning the intricacies of the poison system, studying PPM charts and evaluating our options. Unfortunately, it looks like there was actually no hyperbole in my original request. With the latest round of info we've received, every single poison mechanic in the game will be overhauled in Mists of Pandaria. We already know about the new lethal/non-lethal designations and how we'll be able to have two poisons on both of our weapons at all times. We already know that poisons will be critting for double damage in Mists and that their crit chance will be calculated based on our melee crit rate. These improvements are just what we needed to increase our utility options and to boost crit's viability as a secondary stat. In addition to these sweeping changes to poison crit mechanics, we've learned that poison's hit mechanics are also being revamped.
Why enmity means success to these vile rogues
So let's talk about ganking and getting ganked -- vile, nasty, evil rogues. How WoW players rage against rogues! You'd think an entire collective of them would be utterly reviled by the player community -- but not this group, which is such a straight-up gang that many of its sap-and-drop victims actually become cross-faction buddies. Vile Thorn of Defias Brotherhood (EU-H), an all-rogue guild that recently packed up shop and moved from another slowly stagnating roleplay, is probably the amicable gank squad you'll ever come across (or that'll come across you -- you know what we mean ...). With an ironclad one-kill rule and a hankering for cross-faction roleplay, Vile Thorn takes no prisoners when it comes to fostering realm-wide roleplaying and world PvP. Its roster shows no sign of tanks, healers or other DPS classes; this group is utterly dedicated to its dark duties. GM Arli reports a warm welcome from players on Defias Brotherhood, both in character and out, after the guild's weekend sprint in search of a wider roleplaying community. To gank, or not to gank -- why is death at the hands of the Vile Thorns so compelling that one guild of factional enemies even realm-transferred along with its nemesis?
About the Bloggers: Anne Stickney
About the Bloggers introduces you to the people behind WoW Insider. You can find articles on more WI staffers in earlier About the Bloggers entries. What do you do for WoW Insider? Oh, man. I write Know Your Lore on Sundays, along with the roleplay column All the World's a Stage. On Mondays, you can catch the Weekly Podcast Roundup. On Thursdays, I write World of WarCrafts, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I write up The Daily Quest. In addition, I sometimes fill in on The Queue, pop in on the WoW Insider Show when asked, and I do those little guide graphics on the side of the site, too. In short, I write. A lot. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Aeria teases Eden Eternal Thief video
Another day, another Eden Eternal video reveal. It's almost old hat now since the free-to-play fantasy title from Aeria Games is on its third class trailer in as many weeks. First we had the Warrior, then the Magician, and today we get a glimpse of the Thief as the game rolls on towards its June 2nd beta date. A glimpse is probably all we'll get, too, since the Thief is a trickster who excels at evasion and stealth. Two cloaking skills come standard with every Thief, and the rascals can also make use of the five branch skills available to all melee DPS classes. Thieves are most effective when dual-wielding a pair of daggers, but like all Eden Eternal classes, they can fight with any weapon in a pinch. Sneak past the cut for a look at the Thief in action.
Trion unveils new RIFT Rogue trailer
It's been a while since we've seen a class video from Trion, but today the drought is over thanks to the spiffy new RIFT Rogue trailer. The two-minute clip mixes in-game footage with title screens showing the various permutations of the Rogue's soul system, giving would-be rascals a cursory glance at RIFT's take on one of the fantasy genre's most beloved archetypes. Because of RIFT's build-your-own-class mechanics, Rogues in the world of Telara stand out from their contemporaries due to a good bit of versatility. The trailer shows us three incarnations of the class: a death-dealer, a sniper, and a support specialist. In addition to those roles, you may even see a RIFT Rogue playing a lute, teleporting, or possibly tanking a mob. Check out the clip after the cut for more details.
DOFUS introduces Rogue and Masqueraider classes
Class-based fantasy games aren't unusual these days; in fact, they're the standard. It's rare that such a title has more than a handful of classes, though. Then there's DOFUS. The six-year-old free-to-play title recently added Masqueraiders and Rogues, bringing the game's class total to a whopping 14. Rogues function a bit differently than the rascally backstabbers you may be used to from other games. Rogues effectively dictate actions on the battlefield through the use of bombs and walls, which direct enemy movements and function as a form of crowd control. Masqueraiders take their power from a variety of wearable masks, which allow the player to adopt several fighting styles. Three masks types are available: the cowardly mask (ranged damage), the psychopath mask (close combat damage), and the classic mask (crowd control). Finally, Masqueraiders can also avail themselves of several buff-type spells including plastron, tororuga, and trance. Head to the official DOFUS website for all the details.
The Daily Grind: When has an MMO driven you to madness?
Theoretically, MMOs -- like all games -- should be relaxing. They're entertainment, right? Where we go to unwind, to get away from the stress of life by mindlessly slaughtering thousands of virtual beings? For the most part I like to believe that this is true, but I know that there are exceptions. Dark exceptions. There are moments when MMOs show a cackling face from the void as they work to drive you to near-madness. Sometimes it's when you've run a dungeon 500 times for a piece of loot that never, ever drops. Maybe you're oh-so-close to completing an epic quest and you get ganked at the last second by a Rogue on PCP. Perhaps it's losing a battle to the almighty random number generator. So when has an MMO driven you to madness? When did a game tip you over into that swirly void of lunacy and give you a big ol' shove? Join us in the psych ward today by sharing your tale! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Gank like a pro with the Ganker's Kit 2.0
WoW forums user Tantojutsu put together the great Ganker's Kit of Ganking 2.0, based off of an older and hilarious thread, detailing the wonderful items and abilities available to make stalking and killing player prey in game that much more fun. Rogues are already deadly and frightening, and when I hear that stealth sound, I immediately spin my head around looking for a sign of a shadowy attacker. Some of my favorite points on the list include a list of banners you can plant on your dead foes, the use of focusing lenses to quickly point toward a target, and using the 2010 Winter Veil MiniZep pet as air recon. Tantojutsu put together a great list, and all of you would-be gank artists should definitely check it out.
Storyboard: Archetype discussion - the Rogue
A disproportionate number of roleplaying characters are heroes. Well, "heroes" might be a bit too strong of a term -- said characters may or may not have actually done anything heroic -- but given the opportunity, they prefer to be on the noble and self-sacrificing side of a conflict. There's nothing wrong with that, to be sure, but there is something to be said for playing someone whose ethics are a bit less grounded in an abstract idea of right or wrong. Most fantasy games have a class either named as a rogue or some variant thereof, and even when the class doesn't exist, the hallmarks are there. Stealthy and sneaky, usually aimed at quick bursts of damage -- all of those elements speak to how rogues work. But they don't actually define a true rogue any more than a hammer defines a carpenter. So feel free to cue up some appropriate music (at your discretion) as we dive into the second archetype study, taking a good hard look at the most underhanded archetype around.
