Elf rogue a bad choice?

[Jorvaar]

I've been debating which class I'd like to dig into on green for a while now and have finally landed on rogue. My question pertains to which race to go with. I really like half elf and wood elf but it seems stats favor barbarian and dwarf.

If I go with an elf will the lack of strength hinder me too much in terms of my damage output, or is it fairly easy to make it up with gear?

[Scoojitsu]

Go with what you like best! You will not regret it.
Stats don't matter too much.
Also, being one of the more rare class/race combos is great! :)

[Jimjam]

Which is more exciting to you from a roleplay perspective?

Do you want to pretend to be highlander/miner from the north of Great Britain, or some arrogant Francophile's GAP year kid from the home counties?

Are you good at typing in silly accents, or are you better at complaining about social and environmental problems while overlooking individual humanity?

From a stats perspective, +str is pretty common on gear, and even more common with spells. Min / Max there isn't a huge difference by race once geared. If you aren't min maxing does it really matter? If you enjoy improving your character through upgrades there is a case to argue for sub par starting stats, giving you more room for improvement.

[Baler]

You'll be just fine as any race playing rogue. Don't let stats hold you back from being happy with your race choice.

[Jorvaar]

Which is more exciting to you from a roleplay perspective?

Do you want to pretend to be highlander/miner from the north of Great Britain, or some arrogant Francophile's GAP year kid from the home counties?

Are you good at typing in silly accents, or are you better at complaining about social and environmental problems while overlooking individual humanity?


Gap year kid lol. Hilarious! I was actually leaning towards a half elf for the Qeynosian societal outcast making his way through life the best we he knows how. Pickpocketing, sneaking and smuggling for the Circle of the Unseen Hands.

Based on everybody's responses, that's likely what I'll do.

Thanks all :cool:

[Kennie]

Dwarf all day

[Baler]

Dwarf all day

Barbarian is superior to dwarf.
Slam interrupting casters is underrated.
can get +5 MR on gear.

[Jimjam]

Gap year kid lol. Hilarious! I was actually leaning towards a half elf for the Qeynosian societal outcast making his way through life the best we he knows how. Pickpocketing, sneaking and smuggling for the Circle of the Unseen Hands.

Based on everybody's responses, that's likely what I'll do.

Thanks all :cool:I used to dislike half elves. Could an elf really hybridise with a human (or halfling?!)? Why not just go full elf?

I was wrong. Half elves are cool, they have that second/third generation immigrant feel where they don’t really fit in anywhere. An excellent case study to explore feelings of displacement, self loathing, persecution, loneliness and exceptionalism.

[Snortles Chortles]

female wood elf azZ errRR day
goT daYM

[Octopath]

female wood elf azZ errRR day
goT daYM

Just wish they came in chocolate.

[kaizersoze]

Just wish they came in chocolate.

does blue raspberry satisfy as a concession? and with mask of the obtenerate you can be chocolate too.

[Trexller]

well wood elves have the longest melee range so thats a good factor in picking a rogue

you will be able to backstab off a mage pet tanking after it has good agro and you get a couple evades in

mobs melee range is a factor in who gets hit, wood elf rogues can stand a little further back than other races.

Ive tested this on my wood elf rogue after another wood elf rogue explained it to me

[Jorvaar]

well wood elves have the longest melee range so thats a good factor in picking a rogue

you will be able to backstab off a mage pet tanking after it has good agro and you get a couple evades in

mobs melee range is a factor in who gets hit, wood elf rogues can stand a little further back than other races.

Ive tested this on my wood elf rogue after another wood elf rogue explained it to me

I hadn't considered that. That's intriguing.

[Baler]

I want to add,.. Rogues are always in demand on P99 for raid guilds. a level 60 rogue can always find a raid guild!

[Nycon43]

Went wood elf on blue and can easily max my str with a shaman buff and my mediocre gear. I split my starting stats(15 str 15 sta).

Just go with what you like looking at imo.

[Castle2.0]

Only barbarians can throw throwing boulders. /thread

[Baler]

Only barbarians can throw throwing boulders. /thread

Rogues can crit with throwing...
a barb rogue can hit for hundreds of damage with a throwing boulder. no joke

It's kind of a less talked about thing.
Double backstab for 800+ x 2, + 300 with throw. Now that's some big D damage

[Cen]

Rogue is one of the races where race barely matters at all outside of fashion options. Rogues get a bunch of racial masks to wear. There's no Rogue mask in P99 that lets you be a Wood Elf, Human, Half Elf, or Dwarf. Masks are available for Halfling, Dark Elf, High Elf, Erudite, Iksar, and Barbarian and Gnome but the last two are very difficult to get.

Rogues are filled with tons of skills, and the only races that gives you a skill you don't get with your class is Wood Elf with Forage with no downsides, and Barbarian with Slam, which gets in the way of backstab cooldown.

Fashion gear wise, there isn't much difference on races, except ONE extra robe, but all rogues can get a robe ALL/ALL fashion when mixed with a racial mask.

All rogues will max STR and DEX without trying to gear for it. Stamina might have variation, and other stats don't do anything.

That's basically all there is with rogue races. I belive Wood Elf is actually the best Rogue race for cool stuff.

[DMN]

I think for a rogue I'd only consider two things:

1. Halflings get an additional exp bonus. And since that exp bonus is shared, people will like to group you even more. Since there is going to be little difference between the rogue races at end game, might as well get there a little bit faster. Additonally you are already naturally small so easier to scoot around places to get into backstab rang and take up less space to get in other peoples way.

2. Barb slam. Every once in a blue moon you might want to have access to slam, which still has about 25-30% to interrupt and 25-30% chance to stun outright over backstab. Could be nice to have against certain gating/CHing mobs.

Now that's all *I*would consider.Others might consider aethetics and things like the barrel roll.

[Scoojitsu]

2. Barb slam. Every once in a blue moon you might want to have access to slam, which still has about 25-30% to interrupt and 25-30% chance to stun outright over backstab. Could be nice to have against certain gating/CHing mobs.

Have to remember to click off Illusion if you're using a mask or slam won't be available.

[Jorvaar]

Really appreciate all the feedback. I feel better about my choice to go with an elf. I ended up rolling a wood elf and got him to level 5 then made my way to freeport. If any any newbies or seasoned players rolling new toons want to group up, send Tethelin a tell. Looking forward to leveling him up!

[Gustoo]

Terrible choice but who cares.

[fastboy21]

I've been debating which class I'd like to dig into on green for a while now and have finally landed on rogue. My question pertains to which race to go with. I really like half elf and wood elf but it seems stats favor barbarian and dwarf.

If I go with an elf will the lack of strength hinder me too much in terms of my damage output, or is it fairly easy to make it up with gear?

For gnome rogue I don't think it is possible to match the theoretical dps of BiS barbarian rogues in vanilla. By end of Kunark, it doesn't matter anymore...ofc there is more to life than pure possible DPS --- knowing the game well, sneaking to check nameds/camps, dragging friends for rezzes, not going afk every single pull (this is a big one. the life of a rogue is relatively boring 99% of the time...I can usually out DPS folks on my rogue in an exp grp over time because I am always first to get into position and never go AFK, which reduces your uber race DPS to exactly 0.)

I'm not sure for elf races, but they can't be worse than gnomes (my go to for rogue race for fun/rp reasons).

[Jorvaar]

Terrible choice but who cares.

LOL

[sacman08]

If I go with an elf will the lack of strength hinder me too much in terms of my damage output, or is it fairly easy to make it up with gear?

No and yes. Str and Sta items are the most plentiful in the game.

[Jauna]

Go barb rogue, everything into stamina.
agi/dex not important as people make it out to be.
end game gear is littered with strength so dont sweat it
stamina always hard to come by
deception for elf needs

Go.

[Baler]

Go barb rogue, everything into stamina.

I stand behind this. It's the min/max if you ever plan to raid. This is the setup.

[Cecily]

Really appreciate all the feedback. I feel better about my choice to go with an elf. I ended up rolling a wood elf and got him to level 5 then made my way to freeport. If any any newbies or seasoned players rolling new toons want to group up, send Tethelin a tell. Looking forward to leveling him up!


There was a number of notable wood elf rogues on blue who were consistently parsed top damage dealers on raids, myself included. I was #1 to 3 for most raids I attended. It's about having the minimum gear to survive and having the right buffs. It's not about race. I'd actually suggest dark elf for PD robe, but wood elf aesthetics are the best in game.


I went +25 STR +5 STA on my rogue. This isn't end optimal, supposedly, but it actually worked out really nicely when I found myself stripping STR for resists in Kunark. And I never had any survival issues. I was usually among the last to die.

[Jorvaar]

I ended up rolling a wood elf and got him to level 5 then made my way to freeport. !

I reneged on my decision to go wood elf and went back to my original choice with half elf. My first ever toon on live was a half elf rogue so it hit me in the nostalgia a little more. Got him to level 8 in Qeynos/Blackburrow area last night and somebody was super nice and gave me a free port to Freeport area. I wish I remembered his name cause it was pretty cool of him. I'd love to group up with some people so please feel free to send me a tell if you're looking for a stabber and around level 8. Name is Tabris. I should be on a lot this weekend. :cool:

[ScottBerta]

You always make exactly what you want. You pick the race and class that most interests you. You will never regret doing so down the road. If you wanted half elf but settled for wood elf go back and make half elf. I personally despise half elf’s but if that’s what was really calling to you ... you need to make it.

[Gustoo]

In norrath lore, half elfs are the despised peoples of norrath so they are optimal bard and rogue role players. I wish the game gave them some stat advantages especially as a bards so that they had one minmax combo.

[Muggens]

In norrath lore, half elfs are the despised peoples of norrath so they are optimal bard and rogue role players. I wish the game gave them some stat advantages especially as a bards so that they had one minmax combo.

Arent they tho? Atleast people had the opinion that HE was the minmax choice for bard back in the day on live

[Jorvaar]

In norrath lore, half elfs are the despised peoples of norrath so they are optimal bard and rogue role players.

This is one of the main reasons I went back to the half elf. I really dig half elf rogues from an RP perspective. Even their look in chain armor is the least ostentatious which is well suited to a rogue in my opinion.

[magnetaress]

You're supposed to despise half elfs.

Stats are dumb, especially initial starting ones, ignore them completely you will have a much better time. And you will be less racist in the end.

Roll a human rogue with an eyepatch, put all points in charisma, give it a female name, and get a DE mask. GG.

[tsuchang]

I like my dark elph rogue.
If you are short tho, you always have an arse crack view of the mob you are trying to backstab while grouped. It isn't fun to be a little rogue when fighting goblins. ewuuu.