EDIT: Just realized I put this in the wrong place, sorry.

So, I'm almost 32 now, and have spec'd exclusively up to this point in stealth (all 22 points). Now I know this isn't the 'norm' or most min/max way to do things, but I've heard - granted I've never seen - of people my level hitting for over 500DPS in their opening 2-3 attacks. I've never, ever done this. I think the biggest crit I've seen ever was around 283 on an ambush. I've had the occassional 100+x4 when I was really, really lucky.

I'm currently using a mace that's 15.3dps and a dagger that's 13.8(or so).

What should I worry about weapons wise?

Am I doing something wrong as far as my attacks that is causing me to lose well over 300DPS?

My str is around 70, agi 121, sta 101, spirit 73, int (I don't even know - don't care).

I have roughly 1200hps and I don't recall my AC off the top of my head.

What I was tempted to do is start putting all my remaining points into either combat or assassination, but I've had a hard time figuring out which will work best for my current build.

I am not a tank.
I am not a tank.
I am not a tank.

Thanks.

You can try for Toxic Revenger (info) or you can get Tigerbane at 33. Both of those are higher DPS, as well as high damage weapons. I honestly don't know exactly how all the calculations are done, but they mention "weapon damage", so I assume it's like EQ was, where a 17/24 is preferred over a 15/20.

With my current setup (37), I've gotten a 779 crit Ambush on a chicken. I think at 36 I was over 700. Tonight I was "helping" some lowbie friends with Van Cleef, and was getting 600+ Ambush crits on those guys.

FYI, I used Deadly Bronze Poniards, then a Cross Dagger of Power dropped for us, and I bought a Deadly Kris of Something. I had a pair of Tigerbanes in the bank when I hit 33. I got both Tigerbanes for under 3g, but I wanted a new toy before I hit 33. I got the Kris for a little over a gold and it vendors back for 78s, so I considered it a cheap rental. =)

It seems to me that you've got sort of weak weapons (I'm a dagger rogue, so I don't know much about maces), as well as the difference in talent stuff. Someone with Tigerbanes at 33 with lots of points in Ambush-related talents will crit much higher than you, while seeming "pretty close" to you on the surface.

As for your stats, They look alright. Dont remember what my AC was at that level either but I seem to remember having around 1200 hp. Dont think I saw it at 2400 until I was 34 or so. Cant remember at this point.

I happen to agree on the weak weapons comment. You can get 20dps daggers in your 30's easy. (Dagger Rogue myself) Something ive been theorizing but havnet really looked into proving... Two daggers cause more damage in Backstab/Ambush than a single dagger?
Someone probably knows this already and I really havnt bothered exploring the option myself.
The difference in the damage of your weapons would be show a big difference in the damage between you two on its own. The talents could show up to a 40% difference if I remember the talents right. If thats not your focus then dont worry about it a lot. But I would still suggest upgrading weapons.
Personally I didnt go with any one line. Im dropping 15 points into stealth, and 5 into malice. The rest I smattered about the combat tree and took Blade Fury, I seem to be fighting in multi-critter combat rather often anymore. But I know that is just because of the way I do things currently.


On another comment, if your focusing on stealth was there any particular reason you chose to use a mace in your offhand other than because someone said "/\/\4se 0wnz d00dz"? From what ive seen the reason people have been taking mace is because of the higher starting damage. (The damage range, not the dps) The damage range will determine how strong of a sinister strike you can do. But the specials are figured off your mainhand weapon with the possible exception of my above question about backstab/ambush. Its because of this that I doubt my theory is true. The only thing that keeps me thinking its a possability is because I do some higher damage with the same main-hand weapon when im using paired daggers as opposed to another rogue I know using a sword offhand. It could be luck, it could be talents. Not sure, never looked into it.
Point I was trying to make though is that the off-hand weapon is just for extra 'normal strikes' from my understanding. Hence you only really need to look at DPS and speed if your intrested in poison applications.

Yes a mace rogue can outdamage my Sinister Strike. However for the same energy I exceed his damage over time.
On the other hand, in groups if you have the aggro Sinister Strike is all your able to pull off. You cant gouge and slip behind for your Backstab because other people are beating on it.

Thats the one thing im always worried about when im soloing higher level mobs and a hord warlock is around. If he sticks a DOT on the mob Ill probably end up dead. The DOT will take him out of the gouge stun and reduce or negate my recovery time.

you're using maces, our opening damage is mediocre, and often stunlocking is a lot more efficent then damage potential, at least with what I've found.

when they drop from 500dps to 30, and you're still cranking out 60-70 for the rest of the fight... that's what matters.

I average 60-70 dps a fight, long haul, I rarely break 100 at opening because I open with cheapshot.

or am I totally misunderstanding you and you offhand the mace. :P oh well.

32 rogue, 132 agi, 110 stam around 1300 hp... I'm an auction hound.

I wouldnt be using the term DPS in your question. DPS is meant to gauge damage per second over a period of time. 2-3 attacks is hardly a period of time. What you are looking for is just how to get the highest opening crits. Like the previous posted said...high opening crits are all fine and dandy, until your dps drops to nothing for the rest of the fight. I am a mace rogue myself. with a dagger I sometimes swap in. I have 2 Midnight maces (28.5 dps each) and a Ziggler (26.5 dps) for my dagger. I usually open with cheap shot then backstab, then SS down and kidney shot and the mob is dead having only hit me a couple times and my dps having been high the entire time. Oh, and I am 34 with 178 agi.

With Dagger Spec 5, I get a bonus to crit percentage when I mainhand a dagger; my offhand weapon does not affect crit rate whether it is a dagger or not. My choice of offhand weapon only affects my displayed damage stats via stat bonuses. Given both of those, I would assume that offhand weapon plays no part in Backstab and Ambush damage.

While this means that you're free to wield whatever's the highest dps, or whatever has the best stats, in your offhand, keep in mind that by and large if you train any of the weapon specializations, you will want to wield two of that weapon to maximize your investment.

Edit - random addendum: Keep in mind that both Backstab and Ambush are A) instant strikes and B) based on weapon damage (not dps); therefore, as far as mainhand weapons go, DPS and speed are mostly irrelevant. If you want to play an Oh My God That's A Big Crit build, use the dagger with the highest damage, even if it's not necessarily the best DPS. The aforementioned Toxic Revenger and Tigerbane are both very very nice in that regard.

I'm actually using a mace in offhand simply because I needed to train the skill, and it beats my pearl handle dagger's damage ratio that I switch in.

I'm setup, in my opinion, to sneak into those hard to reach spaces and get the ambush or cheapshot on a mob without much worry.

It has benefited me in being able to pull some areas.

I'm going to put the rest of my points into combat/ass I've decided, to try to balance out some of that 40% loss from not using those talents.

As far as weapons, I've made it a point to train everything I can equip and use effectively, dagger, sword, mace.

Oddly enough, I dinged 32 last night and have seen some 400+ start popping up on certain mobs.

I'm not trying to be 'leet' or fit in the cookie cutter; I'm just trying to make sure that I don't hinder myself or groups by doing something totally stupid.

It is also possible, to complicate things further...to open with ambush then swap out your mainhand dagger for a higher weapon damage mace or sword. So when grouped, you can still ambush but then have the advantage of the big SS and nice SS crits.

This is pretty hard to do manually and be effective but there are some scripts you can get (or write) to do it.