It would be stupid to join the frontlines on a rogue.
The issue is that even if you backstab somebody on the backline, your chances of killing that player before exploding yourself are astronomically low unless the gear difference is massive.
Rogues are no longer great at 1v1 and they have average burst which is often outdone even by healing hybrids who can stall us seemingly forever.
Nah OP is so correct it hurts
Very boring class in BGs unless you’re getting like AB
Sitting there in stealth to sap fools getting the flag isn’t exactly fun
After you play other classes in BGs you notice the difference, I can maul fools on my monk and be active in way more fights than on my rogue
And this right here is why I play Classic, its unavoidable that blizzard will ruin rogues in Retail forcing them into boring gimmick play and mindless CD plays. BORRRRRING.
@ The OP, classic rogue is the way to go. It may feel squishy and really it is, any decently skilled rogue that does not get unlucky with some really crap RNG or flub his control is a truly deadly foe.
If it makes you feel any better I crit a Mage today in BG for 3196, and that was after I landed a 1930. The Eviscerate was 1376 overkill. Naturally not including any of the auto swings.
Point is Rogues can have nice things, just not in Retail because retail is run by a bunch of people who hate the rogue class.
Make no mistake, I am not saying that changes were not needed from the launch version of the rogue, or the legendaries and other borrowed powers that created the problem, but this entire situation is 100% a clear cut case of Blizzard’s failure to develop classes and game play correctly from the start. The cynic in me said they did this intentionally to attract the rogue population back to wow because the numbers have been dwindling since Legion, and the nerfes were scripted to first appease the crying devs at blizzard and second because they want us to re-roll something different.
Trouble is, there is only one rogue class and it no longer exists in Retail, they drove the nails into the coffin in Legion, and buried the casket in BFA, and for a hot minute the class was a woefully incomplete reanimated corpse of what it once was ages gone by, it was fun even if the core concept of the game play was idiotic and broken.
Blizzard is incapable of developing quality PVP game play because they them selves no longer truly participate in PVP at any real level. Instead you have casual dev’s playing BG’s on a super casual basis and the only real play that they may do is Raid, and even that I suspect they are not serious enough or invested enough in to be in the design seat.
I do not feel that any one single player here in this game is capable of balancing everything perfectly, or solving all WoW’s problems, but some of the problems WoW has are just completely stupid and should never have been problems in the first place, and this is why I have recently stopped playing Retail again because its not a very good game, the classes are incomplete at best, and Classic as crude as it is offers just so much more in terms of a dynamic PVP experience.
As for the PVP community on Classic, they’re well they’re just average, and that’s a massive step up from where they were shortly after launch, and the game’s AV, AB, WSG are insanely fun. I spent 2 hrs in a single WSG because in Classic there is no baby timer to prevent stalled games, there are no guard rails to show you where the EFC is, you gotta man up and handle it or get run over.
Game play is blistering fast, IMO faster than wrath SL, but its also very rewarding on an individual basis, because even that 1100 level baddie can kill ya with how insane fast the meta is, so you really do need to play well in order to rack up the kill-o-meter if that’s your game.
Personally I do not PVP for anything other than fun in Classic, I have excellent gear, some say I am a derp and a scrub for using T2.5 over T3, but truth be told, T2.5 is kinda nuts because the Eviscerate bonus damage is mental. +15% is bonkers and I don’t even have the damn Eviscerate book yet LOL, just bad luck on drops, and the drop rate is exceedingly rare for some reason on my server so none in the AH either.
Any how, TBC ships soon, the pace of that is worlds, orders of magnitude slower, but the game play is also extremely fun.
Although I really did also love me some Wrath and MoP Arena, it was darn good.
we’re assassins not mass murderers
I hear the op. But sounds like you should of just rolled a warrior then.
I used to feel the same way until i started RBGs. Groups in lfg looking for a rogue specifically warms my heart. Then when the team on discord gives you props for ninjaing that node that wins the game makes you feel like a boss and that to me has made rogue fun for me again.
If you do your job right as a rogue you wont see it necessarily in the scoreboard but you definitely hear the praise in chat or at least your wins/loss ratio will reflect it 
BlizZard took away too many baseline tools IMO.
Smoke bomb for example is uniquely Rogue and should be part of Rogue kit.
A lot of classes and specs can stun lock and provide CC chains. Rogues tools need to stand out better IMO.
I personally fell in love with rogue for the in and out small damage windows with long widespread control/cc.
I miss having a deadly shadowdance from years back for sure
But I’ve learned a long time ago that a rogue can solo a rated bg and leave the game having done 0 damage.
Or being able single handedly cc an entire back line of a team fight.
Just the other day I 1v3 an FC ina 1900 rbg. A bit of luck, all my cds, and that sweet sweet zerking red skull of Glory waiting for me on my way in.
Until BFA all I did was arena, I love setting things up. And when it all lines well its so satisfying.
I never really look at a scoreboard, doesn’t mean much of anything. For any class really.
Also. Just checked. I’m 218 ilvl with 30% vers. And that’s like low end middle of the pack atm. And ill say you are not going to have fun at i190 in any pvp you do haha. I guess yeah go set up kills for you’re firemage in 2s. But without you pumping damage with him any success will soon be impossible going in towards the ‘booster bracket’
Take a break.
Play something else.
And casually gear the rogue here and there.
And then try it again when he’s more ‘complete’
At 190 I can imagine hitting a 222 arms warr in a bg and the dudes health goes up for every shadowstrike lol. I definitely get it
Yeah I’m 199 now and it is more fun.
Yeah get has become in the last month rather insanely important, especially post nerfs for sub. (retail)
In Classic I can legit get away with T1 and be VERY effective VS T3 opponents (even using T1 weapons) Not all that big a difference excluding vs healers, then T2.5+ is very nice to have. I actually preference T2.5 or T1 over T3 in PVP.
With vendetta and shiv you can do some serious hurt on a healer in group fights, Shadowdance you can be the CC machine while your other team mates can PvE rotation, but you will probably be a sacrificial target because everyone will turn to stop you. As said, it usually doesn’t reflect on the scoreboard, but smart players know what’s up.
Assassins need to be able to assassinate. That’s kinda the problem. The best chance you have of killing is with the 1 dance build, but say hello to trinket / defensives. Then say hello to doing less dps than a holy priest for 60 seconds. Then say hello to being reliant on vanish for burst thus weakening your defensives / escapes drastically. Then say hello to zero realistically usable LoS breaks in bgs. Then say hello to the worst bg class in the game ~ Rogue.
P.S. Also say hello to seed, if you barely pinch off a target and they go into seed it’s actually a realistic possibility you can’t kill seed outside of dance. Actually a joke.
I have the purple Cloaked in Shadows conduit now. Escaping with vanish feels a lot better.
IMO at 199 you’ve kinda reached a weird place. Now everybody has enough health that a lot of ppl won’t care what you do, they’ll just roll ya.
Sounds like it’s not for you. Rogues are extremely selfish (count counting generosity of control like in say arenas) and oriented around opportune moments as an appropriate playstyle.
I love it though. I feel like such a sadist but BG pocket healer dynamics are kinda lame.
BGs for me are ridiculoulsy fun. Sub really only has burst windows and they can easily set it up with CS, KS, SD. I thrive on that selective gamestyle and it really does give me a thrill. While my gear isn’t the best, my ilvl being 212, I can still fight most classes and be slightly underwhelming in prolonged fights. With that being said, I still can set up insane ganks with my team when they’re close behind me and I just pop in out of nowhere with SS or shadow strike. I think you just need to play more and be mindful of how many players you’re jumping into. You are definitely going to be slapped if you jump into a bunch of people with no plan or backup.
Won a losing Twin Peaks today on a killing spree flag return at 20s on clock.
That feeling is amazing.
There is a lot of waiting. And the scoreboards don’t give rogue justice (unless they’re hitting a turnip behind BT all game). The sentiments in this thread are right - it can be great, it’s hard to do well, but the reward feels good.
Yesterday I solo defended our keep in Alterac Valley. As the enemies came in I fought them off using the flag npc’s and archers on the towers to my advantage. The other teammates noticed and told me that because of my plays we won the game and commended me greatly. pretty awesome
I have fun. Just pretend your a skinny warrior
cant go wrong rerolling ret or ww
I’m already working on leveling a paladin. It’s going to be a while until he gets to 60 then adequately geared. By that time they’ll be nerfed to poo