WoW Rogues - A WoW Alpha/Beta Rogue Review
I’m
alone in Lakeshore, working on gaining stealth increases off of dragon
whelps and slaying those that detect me. I’ve just finished putting a
dragon scale in my pocket to bring to Osgood later, when a voice
whispers to me, "Do you want to join us in the Tower?"
I haven’t finished collecting all of the promised scales yet but... "Alright," I whisper back.
I join the group and along with the customary greetings, one voice says "Yeah, a rogue!"
The
preceding has been a true story. Shocking? If so then possibly you too
have always been a MMORPG rogue. Solitary, lone wolves, assassins,
lurkers in darkness, however you play your rogue, you can’t escape the
fact that MMORPGs have a heavy emphasis on bringing those "massively
multiplayer" players together in groups. Rogues often seemed like after
thoughts when recruiting. They don’t feel that way in World of
Warcraft. We may not be the number one wanted class in Azeroth but we
are definitely on the desired list.
Before I
go any further, I want to state that this is a review of the Wow rogue
in so far as they have been developed. Rogues were only unveiled in the
last Alpha push before Beta began (the game is now in Beta) and only
the Alliance race rogues are currently playable - human, dwarf, gnome,
or night elf. Level cap is 30 and druids and hunters have not yet been
tested. Changes are definitely in the works and the "high end" game is
yet to be seen, so keep that in mind as you read on.
Overview
Wow
rogues, like other MMORPG rogues, appear to be "paper tigers." They are
great damage dealers but vulnerable, especially when alone against
multiple adversaries or when the element of surprise is taken away from
the rogue. Azeroth rogues also have some "standard" rogue skills: a
stealth ability, backstab, dual wield, poison, a selection of weapon
skills to develop, pick pocket, lock picking and limited armor choices
(in this case, cloth or leather only). A new element that Wow has
introduced is a skill called "sap." If you become an Azeroth rogue, you
will come to know and love it.
Let’s
look at some of the elements more familiar to MMORPG players. First
off, WoW is level based, and with each level gained you get skill
points and talent points to allocate. Skill points you spend with your
class trainer on "class skills" or you spend with trade skill trainers
for "secondary skills". You can unlearn skills and get your skill
points back. Talent points you can apply at any time on your own using
your character window and you can not regain them. The following
sections first explain than examine rogue class skills and abilities.
Lock picking
Rogues
can train lock picking at level 16. It is considered a class skill so
you do not need to put a skill point into it but you do need to spend
money to learn it from a rogue trainer. Once you learn it you need to
have Thieves Tools on your person (they are available from a vendor and
you do not need to equip them). You activate this skill on your hotkey
bar, your cursor hand glows. You then click the lock you need to pick.
So are
there locks to pick? Engineers can make practice locks for rogues to
train their skill on. There are random chests in the world that are
locked, some in instance dungeons. Fishermen may also bring up locked
chests that need unlocking. So far there are no areas that you must
pick a lock to gain entrance. Perhaps this will be developed in the end
game.
A difference to note here from other games: other classes can learn lock picking.
It is not rogue specific. This set up an instinctive rebellious
reaction from my EQ created rogue self; however, if other classes want
to learn it, they must spend skill points on it as well as money so it
is less likely they will pick this skill over the other secondary
skills available. Non rogues who want to learn this skill also train
with a lock picking trainer, not at the rogue trainers.
My
overall view of lock picking: it’s fun but not essential if you don’t
mind missing out on the occasional chest of loot. I’m not fretting
about raising it in skill yet but I would have trained for roleplaying
purposes alone. I have indeed used it to unlock chests so I’m glad I
have it.
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Pickpocket
Pickpocket
is specific to rogues and is available to them at level 10. It is
applied through a hotkey and must be done from a stealthed position. Pickpocket draws from a separate loot pool.
You can only pickpocket humanoids. If you are detected a message
will tell you your attempt was unsuccessful and the mob will turn on
you, breaking stealth.
Well,
kudos to Blizzard for addressing an old grievance in EQ. A rogue can
pickpocket without affecting a group’s share of loot. No harm done and
a few more coins for the rogue. Pickpocketing from a stealthed position
is cumbersome compared to the EQ model of pick-while-fighting and no
one’s the wiser, but I can live with it. Hopefully the fix for
improving on the skill is coming soon, currently you only gain an
increase when your pick fails.
Stealth
The
Wow stealth ability is implemented by a hotkey. The player becomes semi
opaque and goes into a stealth position, depending on your skill level
you move from 50%-70% of normal running speed. You will always be
visible as semi-opaque to your group members; however, non grouped
folks may not see you at all depending on their level in relation to
you and your skill level in stealth. You can stealth while swimming.
One remains in stealth mode until you deactivate it yourself, or you
have it broken by a mob, or by doing certain actions such as trade
skills, eating, etc. Once stealth is broken you must wait for a
cooldown period to pass before you can reenter stealth mode. Potions
are available that let one detect the invisible. An added element to
stealth is that a mob may sense you are around, stop to look around and
at that moment if you stay still, it will likely resume its activities.
I like
stealth in general. The rate at which I am detected seems appropriate.
It seems to be more tedious to raise this skill the higher you get in
it and the higher level you are. Find a mob too low to practice on and
you will be too clever for it and spend minutes watching it fail to
detect you and fail to give you a skill increase -- find one that is
high enough, even if it is your same level, and you may find yourself
in a mess if it brings friends when it detects and attacks you. At
lower levels for rogues this does not seem to be as much of an issue.
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Stealthed, I’m semi-opaque but you can see the poison on my daggers.
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Armor
Rogues
can only wear cloth or leather items. Items can be patched for more AC
and/or enchanted to give stat bonuses. Hats, including a hood, are
wearable but are set at specific levels as a minimum to wear them, I
believe the lowest level you can be to wear a hat is 20.
So far I
have not been wanting in terms of armor. Player made gear is of good
quality and between that and drops from mobs, I have not had to buy a
single piece of armor from a vendor -- though it is tempting. There are
nice choices of armor on vendors and not all items are available in all
shops so an "exotic port" you can actually find items you can’t get
back in your home town.
Weapons
Gear is
gained from players, mobs, chests, or vendors. Rogues can use throwing
weapons, bows, crossbows, swords, daggers, and even guns. Some of those
require the rogue to spend skill points to be able to wield though.
Gear
seems easy enough to get, however there may be a lack of variety for
higher level items (recall that I am talking about a game currently
capped at 30). We may see this change later on.
Poison
Poison
is a skill available to rogues at level 20. It is activated by a hotkey
which brings up a window with recipes and their needed components. If
you have what is necessary, you hit the "create" button and get the
poison. You then apply this by right clicking on it then clicking on
the item you want to apply it to. Applying poison to a blade will
cancel out other applied bonuses such as "sharpening". You can poison
other peoples’ weapons. Poison components can be bought or found.
Poisons and poison components stack in bags. A nice effect for rogues
is that applying poison to your own weapons make them drip a glowing
eerie poison. This effect is currently overridden by the enchanting
glow and will not show on non rogues’ weapons.
I’m
enjoying poisons so far. Up until I got this skill I found myself
wanting a way to snare my victims and one of the first two poisons you
can make is a crippling poison which slows your victim for 15 seconds.
The fact that I can poison other people’s weapons is also nice, I feel
like there is something else I can contribute to a group. I actually
like creating the poisons and applying them.
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Above: Me with poisoned daggers. There is a dripping animation.
Left: Me creating poisons. The animation is one of using flasks.
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Combat
Backstab,
Sinister Strike, Eviscerate, Kick, Evade, Throw... these are just a few
of the skills a rogue can choose from. Combat has the familiar attack
button. Some attacks must be launched from various positions, back
only, front only, only while stealthed, only after a certain move
preceded it (dueling skills are an example). Where the program differs
from other games is in the implementation of Energy and of Combat
points.
Energy
is comparable to a mana bar, each move takes a certain amount of
energy. It is different than mana in that it is an expression of a
percentage. One can only have 100% energy max though energy regenerates
rather quickly.
Combat
points are gained by doing certain moves. You accumulate them then
spend them on other moves. The number of points you have determines how
much damage the hit does or how long the hit’s effect lasts in the case
of a damage over time move.
Right:
I’ve accumulated 3 out of 5 possible combo points on this mob. My
Crippling Poison has also affected him. (The guantlet acts as my
cursor).
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Combat
is where the game excels for a rogue. With the variety of moves
available you no longer have to do one rinse and repeat set of moves.
You can begin with a stealth move that stuns, move to a strike to gain
a combo point then decide if you want a finishing move or use another
move to build another combat point. You can also use stealth and move
to a humanoid’s back to sap it. Which brings me to the first combat
subsection topic:
Sap
Sap is a move unique to WoW
. It affects only humanoid mobs and the rogue must be behind it and
stealthed. If successful it will put the mob to sleep for a period of
time determined by the rank of the skill. It can be reapplied.
Sap is
the main reason rogues have risen on the desired list for groups. A
group can take on multiple humanoid mobs with just one good rogue in
the group and no other sleep casters. Rogue as crowd control?! Yep. I
love this role, even though it may take the rogue out of combat
entirely if too many mobs need to be kept sapped (and especially if
they are spaced far apart) I feel it fits in with a rogue’s role. We
aren’t tanks, but we have a unique set of abilities, one of which is to
hang back out of the fight and keep selected targets occupied. One can
sap with a higher rank sap, step into combat for a bit. Go out of
combat mode, apply stealth again (there is a cooldown period on stealth
so you can not just turn it off an on instantaneously), then sap again.
This is a process that takes skill though, and that, is what makes this
worth it. Bravo to Blizzard.
On a side note, rogue changes, and most likely specifically to this skill, are incoming
. I have even suggested a low level nerf to this (gasp). For once
though I actually want to see a nerf. At least this one will be during
Beta and not live play.
Escape Options
Rogues
have evade, which increases dodge for a determined amount of seconds,
and they have a sprint skill which greatly increases running speed for
a few seconds. At higher levels, a skill called Vanish is available
which is an increased stealth mode but lasts for set time it can not be
used when a mob is in the process of attacking though as the landing
attack will just unstealth the rogue. The skill feign death
is also in the bag of tricks of a higher level rogue. Finally,
feint, though not necessarily an escape option, can be used to lower
aggro if the mob is facing you.
Sprint
has saved my life quite a few times. Coupled with quaffing a healing
potion as I ran, this has been great. I have no complaints about escape
options.
PvP
PvP
currently only exists in WoW in the form of duels. I’ve dueled a priest
2 levels above me and won handily. I dueled a paladin 1 level above me
and lost handily. Results are about what you one would expect. As far
as less structured forms of PvP, I’m not sure what the rogue role will
be. Stealth making us completely invisible will be interesting, perhaps
information gathering and assassination will be our role. The backstory
WoW is building definitely seems to be setting up an oncoming war and
we all know that Alliance and Horde players will not be able to speak
to each other. I look forward to seeing what develops.
Conclusion
I’m a
rogue of many lives. I thought for awhile there that I would have to
hang up my MMORPG daggers and rapiers but then this Alpha test came
along. PvE is fun again. I love that in a certain large city there is a
hidden area named Cut Throat Alley. I love that there is a secret
entrance to it through a seemingly abandoned shop. I love sneaking
around sapping mobs and hearing that interesting whoosh and heart beat
sound. And I love finishing off my prey in spectacular style. WoW is
currently only in its first beta stage, and changes are in the wind, so
perhaps I’ve fallen in love too soon. Whatever the case may be, I feel
confident that the end result will be a delight to MMORPG rogues and
I’ll be there when they go live. If you find yourself in Azeroth as
well, send a whisper off to "Fricka". I’d say give me a wave when you
see me, but then again, that’d mean ye’d be able to see me.
~ Fricka
This
concludes the 2nd of two articles on Blizzard’s "World of Warcraft".
The third installment will be written in the form of a post in the Safehouse.org Wow
forum and will be a Guide to the Wow Beta Rogue.
