The Rogue Experiment

I have a rogue.  His name is Bruno (post character re-customization).  He's been leveling on and off for the past several years.  Although i've never really taken any sustained interest in playing a rogue, i find that since i've leveled up through Northrend and now in Cata stages, i've begun to actually like my rogue more and more. 

Perhaps the problem, in the beginning, is that i had a druid who leveled as Feral and about 80% of the rogue's major attacks and fight mechanics are copied directly on to the feral druid "cat" form style of play.  From openers to finishing moves, to even combo point makers, they all seem so very similar.  For example, Hemmorage = mangle, backstab = ravage, sinister strike = claw, maim = kidney shot, etc.  After levels and levels of playing a rogue, it felt almost the same as leveling a feral druid.  And i've told myself many times that i would probably never want to level a feral druid again. 

Maybe the problem wasnt just the similarities these two classes/specs have, but also the differences make playing a rogue seem a little limiting to me.   For one, as a druid i can simply switch into bear form and tank should a pull go bad.  As a rogue, my only option is really to blind one, then switch back. When the blind wears off, its time to evasion aura.  If things go really bad, i can vanish and start over.  Now after the fight, my druid will heal, stealth and move on to the next mob almost seamlessly.  With the rogue, i'll sit there eating or waiting for my health to replenish.  Simple differences like that does make a difference when deciding what's more "fun" to play.  Back then, i was unhappy with the way rogues cannot heal themselves apart from bandages and how they always have to remember to coat their daggers with poisons.  Also the complexity of weapon choices with different specs also turned me off a little regarding this class.  With a feral druid, pretty much any weapon is good, with the added bonus that you will never have to learn that weapon skill.  of course, weapon skill is now built into your level and makes it easier to switch between swords, maces and daggers for rogues. 

Now i dont want to make this post about Feral Druid Cats vs. Rogues of all Specs, but a background needs to be included somewhere.  When Wrath of the Lich King hit, i went from feral dps to feral bear tank and never looked back at feral dps.  in fact, i tried dpsing once or twice again and never enjoyed it.  So there you have it.  For the longest time, i have always felt that i am playing the rogue class with some limitations and would be better off playing feral dps.  then, since i've already played feral dps, i never really cared to level up a melee dps class that relied on energy again.  Well now im sitting here writing about energy-bassed rogue dps. 

Actual Rogue-related Stuff
In any case, it has been an experience trying to get used to the rogue class.  I leveled several months ago from 60-70 and found that Subtlety was quite simple and boring.  I had to attack from behind constantly and realized that 50% of my damage comes from the first 5 seconds of play.  The remaining damage just trickles resulting in a DPS in the first 5 seconds of 5k, then after a 15-20 second fight, it goes down to less than 1k.  Sad huh?  that's what i thought.  I was a little dismayed but i figued i could work this to my own advantage.  In outland dungeon fights where im stacked with delicate bloodstones, fights last 10 seconds max.  and even boss fights dont last too long either.  I was satisfied with 1k dps at level 65 anyway since most dps classes barely get to break the 1k

Enter northrend and things changed a little.  Mobs have more health so fights last a little longer.  Thats good and bad. Although it does favor the rogue in terms of dps in longer fights, it doesnt favor a subtlety rogue, who's usually great at opening damage but fails at sustained damage in the long run.  So after several dungeons between 69 and 72, i was resigned to doing lowest dps in all dungeon fights.  This did lead to days of non-play on my rogue and eventually, loss of play completely. 

Then one day, my gf decides to level up a death knight and i leveled with her when she hit 70.  The experience was relatively the same so i decided to switch specs and grab different weapons.  Although i knew that Sub wasnt ideal for dungeon play, i really liked the idea of shadowstep.  Keeping hemmorage up to buff rupture was simply familiar to me when i was playing a feral druid.   Playing combat simplified things a little.  one, i had no "buff" to maintain besides slice and dice, and two, i never really had to stealth.  =D

As a combat rogue, my main concern was to activate slice and dice, rupture if the fight will be long, otherwise, eviscerate.  my combo maker is sinister strike, which can be used from any direction (further simplification).  Now there are a few items that are tossed into this spec that acually makes it different from Sub.  I have two cooldowns to play with and one toggle-able ability that allows me to cleave.  And those are the difference.  But those differences make leveling a rogue so awesome this time around. 

Bruno is now level 82 and working on leveling through vashjir.  He basically sat in LFD queue for the first level and a half since hitting level 80.