Guide to Rogue-ing Successfully

So you think you can be a rogue?
The first thing to know about a rogue is why they exist. The most important reason is crowd control, and of course, DPS. Rogues can dole out some massive DPS, especially with new rogue talents brought about by the expansion such as Mutilate. At MMOEdge, we will be speccing Mutilate (currently 41/0/10) when we reach 60 because of its grinding/PvE utility and potential for damage, and its more recently discovered ability to dominate in PvP. We can't tell you exactly what or how to build your rogue, but we can inform you of certain builds and their proficiencies, as well as how to play a rogue.

Basics
First, we'll cover the basics of being a rogue even before even discussing race choices so you will know whether you truly want to be a rogue or not. Being a rogue, your most valuable tool is and always will be stealth. Not Sinister Strike, not Backstab, and certainly not Expose Armor (expose armor is not actually a candidate for most valuable, it is an example of the worst of a rogue's skills). The simple truth of being invisible is that, as long as you're invisible, you are essentially invincible. You can still take AoE damage and any damage including DoTs but if nobody has seen you yet, they cannot harm you (with the exception of AoE which will affect you if you are within the range of the character that conjures it). Hunters will only lay a trap after they have seen you (this excludes a hunter who has placed a freezing trap anywhere near a flag or base to protect it). The second most valuable tool a rogue can use is his/her stuns. A stun, by definition, is to deprive of consciousness or strength by or as if by a blow, fall, etc. This means that a stun will knock your opponent 'unconscious' for a short period of time. Some stuns last longer than others. To wit, Gouge lasts 4 sec and 5.5 sec with the Improved Gouge talent; whereas Sap lasts 10 sec on players and 30+ sec on NPCs. Similarly, stuns work differently too. For example, cheap shot and kidney shot can stun a player and still allow that player to take damage, but when a player is stunned with gouge, blind, or sap, any damage applied to that target will break the stun. Using stuns and stealth, a rogue is a potent assassin on and off the battlefield.

Being a rogue is not all sneaking through the night stalking your prey. Rogues do die and not all of them die in the spectacular take-everyone-with-you way they might have tried for. Rogues will also die more often if they are not careful, because rogues can wear only leather armor, which is just a small step up from cloth armor. Finally, rogues can be kited like most other characters so it is of the utmost to keep on your guard more than anyone else you may be facing.

Talent Builds
There are a few talent builds out there for a rogue and all of them have their unique uses on the battlefield. The best for PvE is probably Combat; although, Mutilate has shown quite a bit of promise in this area. The Combat build is oriented to sustainable damage with minor bursts in between (eviscerate). The Combat build is centered around Adrenaline Rush and looks something like 20/31/0. There is also the Preparation build which involves whole stun locks and insane burst damage. It is known as 21/8/22. And finally the Seal Fate build which also involves stun locking is 31/8/12. We recommend daggers for the burst damage specs and swords for the combat one. The Mutilate build is unique so far because of its high concentration of talent points in the assassination tree. It is known as 41/0/10. We recommend dual-wielding high-max-damage daggers for this build.

Best Race: Dwarf, Blood Elf
GEAR
Head: Lucky Fishing Hat (+100hp)
Neck: Honored wsg neck
Shoulders: Talbar Mantle
Back: Sentry Cloak (+70armor)/Engineer's Cloak(+70armor)
Chest: Blackened Defias Armor (+100hp/+4allstats)
Wrist: Beetle Clasps (+9stam)/Steel-clasped Bracers (+9stam)
Hands: Thorbia s Gauntlets (+30healing)
Waist: Cobrahn s Grasp
Legs: Chausses of Westfall (+100hp)/Leggings of the Fang (+100hp)
Feet: Silver-linked Footguards (Minor Speed Increase)/Nat Pagle's Extreme Anglin' Boots (Boar's Speed)
Ring #1: Seal of Wrynn/Seal of Sylvanas
Ring #2: Meadow Ring of Eluding (recently upgraded)/Honored wsg ring/Blood Ring
Trinket #1: Insignia of the Alliance/Minor Reconbobulator
Trinket #2: Arena Grand Master/Minor Reconbobulator
Main Hand: Shadowfang (Lifestealing)
Off Hand: Arctic Buckler (Thorium Spikes/+7stam)/Deadskull Shield (Thorium Spikes/+7stam)(Thank you Original Outriders research team for confirming you can get this!)
Two Hand: Runic Darkblade (Thank you Original Outriders research team for confirming you can get this!) (+9dmg/Lifestealing)/Glacial Stone (+9dmg/Lifestealing)

When I made this I was looking for a bunch of very nice to have Formula's that I didn't want to buy. So i set out to farm/collect/etc the ones I could and here is the locations.

When deciding what to add to the list, it was either; 1. A 300 skill that is a must have for end game rading, 2. Very rare drop hard to find/expensive, 3. Vendored in singles sometimes can be missed/or not known about.

If I missed any you feel should be on here it may be because I already have it, and feel free to add it in and I will edit it for the future.


Rare Enchanting Formula Drop locations
———————
Armor:
Enchant Cloak - Greater Resistance - Atal'ai Witchdocter - Sunken Temple
Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense - Lorelae Wintersong - Moonglade
Enchat Chest - Superior health(+100) - Qia(Vendor) - Winterspring - Limited Supply(1)
Enchant Gloves - Greater Agility - Legashi Rogue - Azshara
Enchant Gloves - Threat - Emporer Vek'nelash - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility - Mulitple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Gloves - Shadow Power - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Gloves - Healing Power - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Gloves - Frost Power - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Gloves - Fire Power - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Cloak - Subtlety - Emporer Vek'lor - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Cloak - Stealth - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Cloak - Greater Nature Resistance - Revered Cenarion Hold
Enchant Cloak - Greater Fire Resistance - Honored Cenarion Hold
Enchant Cloak - Dodge - Multiple Boss - Ahn'Qiraj
Enchant Chest - Greater Stats - Azuregos(World), Onyxia, Baron Rivendare(BRS), Ragetalon Captain(BRS), Taerar
Enchant Bracers - Healing Power - Revered Argent Dawn
Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength - Spirestone Mystic - Blackrock Spire

Weapon:
Enchant Weapon - Mighty Intellect - Revered Thorium Brotherhood
Enchant Weapon - Life Stealing - Spectral Researcher - Scholomance
Enchant Weapon - Superior Striking - Spirestone Warlord - Blackrock Spire
Enchant Weapon - Crusader - Scarlet Spellbinder - Western Plaguelands
Enchant Weapon - Fiery Weapon - Pyromancer Loregrain - Blackrock Depths
Enchant Weapon - Icy Chill - Anguished Highborne - Winterspring
Enchant Weapon - Healing Power - Multiple Boss - Molten Core
Enchant Weapon - Unholy - Thuzadin Shadowcaster - Stratholme
Enchant Weapon - 1H Agility - Honored Timbermaw Hold
Enchant Weapon - 2H Agility - Friendly Timbermaw Hold

Misc:
Brilliant Wizard Oil - Rin'wosho the Trader - Stranglethorn Vale
Brilliant Mana Oil - Rin'wosho the Trader - Stranglethorn Vale

GOLD METHODS
Some of ways to get gold are legitimate, others are under-the-table crooked. Personally, I like to
make an honest gold coin. Ripping off other players is not my game, BUT, I'm here to deliver you
the information. Even if you are an honest player, knowing this info is good because it will keep
you on guard against the shadow players that like to scam you for a quick gold.
METHOD ONE: The AH Dupe
METHOD TWO: AH Monopoly
The AH Dupe: A Crooked way to Gain Gold
'A fool and his money are soon parted.'
With so many pockets running around the game, it is very possible to scam others out of their
money. Not everyone is financially bright, and these methods take advantage of that. First of all,
don't be stupid and use your main to do these. Get a mule (a different character), or even better
yet, a mule on a completely separate account, to mask your actions.
This works. Plain and simple. It takes advantage of human psychology of repetition. And it can
get you a very rapid 100 gold.
What it is:
The AH Dupe tries to 'trick' an auction buyer who is making a BUY-OUT purchase of a routine
item that normally sells for X amount of silver, into purchasing it for X amount of gold. the AH
dupe uses monotony to lull the purchaser into repetitious clicking, causing them to pay less
attention to what they are buying, and inadvertently purchasing the item for gold instead of silver.
How it works:
Have you ever driven a car at night, staring at the white lines zooming by on the road, and
suddenly realize that 5 minutes have gone by (or longer) and you have no idea how you were
able drive? You dont have a clue what cars have or have not been around you, because you
totally spaced out. Your subconscious mind went into 'auto-pilot' and you safely drove your car.
This is called 'being human'. Anyone exposed to repeated, repetitious stimuli is subject to losing
their ability to distinguish one from another. Can happen to anyone…including a WoW auction
buyer.
Look at this list:
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 gold? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
* Do you want to purchase this item for 88 silver? Yes/No
The auction buyer sees a bunch of useful consumables (such as stacks of 20 light feathers, or
stacks of silk cloths, or free action potions, etc. Anything that is popular with players). he sees a
big list in the AH of these stacks, and they are going for the normal buy-out rate. He starts
purchasing them like he always does. One after another, clicking through each screen. He
doesn't really notice that one says '88 gold' instead of '88 silver' so he clicks it anyway.
What you need to do:
Sell at least 6 or more IDENTICAL items on the AH. Make them for the normal going rate (not
cheaper or you could stand to lose money). Put them up back to back in one long list. The
buyout on the fifth item is gold instead of silver. Everything else must be identical. There is a
chance that the buyer will get 'caught' in your scam. Its not guaranteed, but there are always
dummies around that will be duped. This is a scam, and everyone who buys frequently from the
AH is susceptible to it.
Yes it does work. Numerous people have posted long rants on the official boards being
scammed like this.
METHOD TWO: Monopolize the AH
I'm just going to quote a post from the official boards that explains this rather nicely. This post is
no longer on the forums (they remove posts after a certain amount of days), so I cannot link it,
and didn't get the name of the person that wrote it. Fortunately, I did copy it the day I read it, so
its not mine, but here it is- it outlines perfectly how to make a fortune by monopolizing the
Auction House. Its classic economics 101: BUY LOW, SELL HIGH. Read on:
I cancelled my account a while back for reasons there's no point in disclosing, so I figured I'd tell
everyone how they can be financially secure forever like I was.
I had about five active alts and a main which I kept equipment and skills up to date by the level
and had enough cash on me to afford my mount by level 25 with all my alts having about 15 gold
on them at any point in time.
I see so many people talking about how they're level 40-45 and still can't afford their mount and
blah blah blah, it's funny. These are the same people who ironically state, 'Stay away from the
auction house!' or you won't make any money.
Go ahead and go to the AH. It's as simple as buy low, sell high. Just like in the real world! Yet it
feels almost as if it's this big secret.
All I did was make level five newbie, sit him at the auction house and log on maybe once or twice
a day to bid on stuff and check mail. Took probably five minutes to do each session.
Find a product you want to do and see what the average buyout price is. Then bid on auctions
ending in Short and Medium (as there's usually little point in bidding on Long unless you wanna
collect all your outbids later), for as little as you can. Buyout other auctions for significantly less
than your Buyout. Bid on any good that's normally sold by itself that is stacked for a super
discount. A good example is Black Pearls. Normally people buy one. Every once in a while some
guy sells a stack of 16 for only like 10 gold. Usually only takes 1 bid to win it!
The only 'hard' part is keeping up with market price trends, but after a while, you won't even have
to write them down anymore as you'll be able to memorize them effortlessly with practice and the
prices don't fluctuate too drastically.
For the super lazy, here was my excel sheet of the market demand of Silver Hand a few weeks
ago. Prices will vary on your server.
Leathers
Light Leather 9s 99c
Medium Leather 19s 99c
Heavy Leather 29s 99c
Thick Leather 74s 99c
Bars
Copper Bar 39s 99c
Tin Bar 34s 99c
Bronze Bar 34s 99c
Truesilver Bar 79s 99c
Other
Moss Agate 99s 99c
Iridescent Pearl 84s 99c
Black Pearl 1g 29s 99c
Runecloth 2g 99s 99c
Turtle Scale (10)* 1g 59s 99c
Cloth
Mageweave Cloth 1g 19s 99c
Wool Cloth 39s 99s
Linen Cloth 24s 99c
Vision Dust 1g 39s 99c
New Stuff
Star Ruby 69s 99c
Enchantment
Greater magic ess. 1g 49s 99c
Small glimmering shrd 49s 99c
Large glimmering shrd 3g 49s 99c
Large glowing shard 3g 39s 99c
Soul dust 54s 99c
Strange dust 59s 99c
The bold goods are once that were in very healthy demand and supply. However, you don't even
have to limit yourself to trade goods. If you even wanted to take a bit of a risk, bid on some blue
or purple items or blacksmithing recipes. Big returns on those.

This came out of a response to another thread and ended up being a detailed grinding guide. I hope this helps you struggling LWs out there. I know I wish I had it when I was wallowing in the mid 200s.

200-220(ish) Thick armor kits http://www.thottbot.com/?i=4617

215-230 Big Voodoo Robe http://www.thottbot.com/?i=4064
Youre going to have to buy the pattern but it really shouldn't be that expenisve. A few stacks of armor kits will cover it easily. To make these, you need flasks of mojo. Back in the days of grinding LW I was stupid and didn't know where to get these. Well, Hinterlands trolls GIVE these things away like Halloween candy. The beauty of this is that you can grind on the turtles at the shore line (and collect scales too) then for a switch you can beat on trolls for awhile and get mojo all without changing zones.

ALTERNATE OPTION

220-235 Tough Scorpid Bracers http://www.thottbot.com/?i=7601
If youre not into the whole mountains and oceans theme but would rather climb sand dunes and bake in the sun, these are for you. Tanaris and Burning Steppes scorpions drop these at a decent rate and are plentiful. Burning Steppes has a better drop rate but you need to be in your mid 50s to get them.

Life gets MUCH easier from here…for awhile

230-245 Nightscape Pants http://www.thottbot.com/?i=3149
The great thing about these are they don't have any ridiculous secondary mats like turtle scales or scorpion scales and are available from your trainer. They are however, leather hogs. The plus is though, they DE into Dream Dust and Greater Nether Essence which sell very well. You do have level 5 AH whore that can DE don't you???

235-250 Nightscape Boots http://www.thottbot.com/?i=6735
(see above)

250-265 Rugged Armor Kits http://www.thottbot.com/?i=5749

260-275 Wicked Leather Bracershttp://www.thottbot.com/?i=14890
260-300 is the return of the suck. All the patterns are either drops or specialization patterns. Youre just gonna have to fork over the coin. If you have a good guild, see if someone has a few of these patterns gathering dust in the bank. These bracers (along with all wicked items) are great to skill up on and rogues will buy them. If you don't want to or have trouble selling them, they DE into Dream Dust and lesser eternal essence.

280-300 Wicked Leather Headband http://www.thottbot.com/?i=5404
If you can limp your way up to 280 Then these will take you all the way to the promised land. They sell well (as long as the AH isnt flooded) and they DE into Dream Dust and Greater Eternal Essence. I still make these from time to time JUST to get the GEE.

Make no mistake, LW SUCKS to max out because of the INSANE amount of leather you need to do it. If you have the money, buying stacks off the AH from time to time really helps keep your sanity on the way to 300. If not, just keep killing and skinning. You'll get there eventually.

GOOD LUCK!!!

This may sound stupid but many ppl dont do this:

When your grinding for example WPL ruines of….. for epic drops the mobs drop loads of items that might seem of no falue and they leave them on the body.This is a waste of time and money.For example they drop the mushrooms that might seem useless but they sell for 40s to a vendor the stack.And why shouldn't you pick up this lil extra money while your there?When your baggs get filled up you can always trow it away so you can just as well carry it around.

Like I sayd it may sound stupid but grinding is stupid if you ask me let other ppl do the grinding for you but when your realy going to grind take all the items for the lil extra.

(Horde)First get fishing and train it in Orgrimmar to about 70. Then head to the Barrens and enter Wailing Caverns (the instance). Head into a enclosed area with some water around (prefereably the croc place) and start fishing. In a while you should start collecting Deviate Fish (Nightcrawlers or shiny baubbles shouls help), these little buggers can sell up to 20g for 10-20 in the AH depending on the server. To make even more money train in cooking and get it to the same skill level as your fishing(probably 80-90) and head to the lower Barrens and get ready to kill some boarmen because they have a chance of dropping a cooking recipe of Savory Deviate Delights, which after they are made sell even more.

1. Put your WoW in windowed mode.
2. Use auto-walk (usually by pressing on Numlock if you didn't changed your key bindings)
3. Right click on the name bar (don't know how to say it in english, it's the thing over the program with the name of the program and the minimize/close buttons)
4. WoW will freeze, as soon as you left click inside the game, you will have walked but if there was mobs on the way, they will have ignored you

Rule #1. Everyone on offense is a bad idea, Defend, Defend, Defend, and
Defend. If you dont defend the points you capture, you will lose. Make
sure SOMEONE stays behind to Defend the flag, or at least to
scout/notify everyone that there is Incoming at that point.



Rule #2. Don't fight the Zerg. If you see 10 enemies in front of you,
chances are there are fewer of them somewhere else. Go around the Zerg
and capture points with weaker defense.

Rule #2b. Don't become the Zerg. If you look at your map and you are
one of 10 or so dots at one point, leave. If too many people are at one
place, that means other places aren't being defended or assaulted.



Rule #3. Do the role you were meant to do. Healers, find a DPS class,
communicate and coordinate with that DPS class, follow him around, buff
him and heal him. A great deal of losing battles are due to the Healer
classes not doing their job. DPS classes, your JOB is to protect the
healer. When you find a healer, assure him you are going to watch out
for him and keep enemys off of him as much as possible.



Rule #4. Get your target priority straight. Target Healers first, this
means attack and kill healer type classes first, and then DPS classes.
If you attack a warrior with a priest behind him, you have already
lost. Even though a healer type may not die as quick as a DPS type, at
least that healer will be forced to heal himself rather than someone
else.

Rule #4b. Do your best to crowd control DPS classes via Sheep, Poly,
Sap, Fear, Seduce, Root, etc, to make killing the healer easier.



Rule #5. TAP! Tap tap tap tap. Tapping the flag is what captures
points! Even in battle, you can click the flag and sometimes no one
will notice you. If you don't tap a captured point, and continue
fighting the enemy, they will shortly respawn and you will have to
fight them again, capturing this point ensures they will not respawn
there.

Rule #5b. Interrupt the enemy tapping. This means if you see someone
trying to battle tap, stop whatever you are doing and hit that person
to interrupt their clicking of the flag. If you have to, bring the
fight to the flag, this will ensure you better view of the flag to make
sure no one taps it.

Rule #5c. Don't fall for the bait tap. Often the enemy will draw you
away from the flag only to have their friend tap it behind you.



Rule #6. Use the map! The map is your friend (M is the default map
key). Watching the map will help you see which points need
reinforcement and which points need defending. A useful tip is you can
right click the red icon on your minimap to bring up a moveable
minimap, so that you can quickly see the contest state of every point.

NOTE: THIS ENTRY WON AN MPS QUEST!

Alliance Levelling guide 50 – 60

First off, all classes are different! Everyone has to decide themselves if they want to kill MOBS 2 levels below them or 2 levels above them. I will not post level recommendations as with my hunter I can kill MOBS 2 – 4 levels above me, with my Mage, I cannot. My Druid could, but the time to kill a MOB 2 levels above me takes insanely long and just not worth the effort. I will post the levels of the MOBS, although they may be inaccurate, they will not be too far off.

Secondly. With all respect to questing, it’s fun, it’s extra XP, it gives some good rewards, it’s usually not worth the time! With my Rogue, between Level 40 and 60 I hardly quested. Mostly people will “quest” and as soon as they finished one quest they will run back to the quest giver. This takes a lot of time, especially where this guide will take you. IF you quest, bundle the quests. Complete one, go do the next. Only when most or all of your quests for the region are finished do you return to quest giver. I remember a quest from Everlook that required me to go to Un’Goro, Gadgetzan and Arathi (if I’m not mistaken), took me close to 1 hour to complete and I got a whooping 3k XP.

This guide focuses on keeping the level areas close to each other while always having easy things to kill. Some of these will not give you good items to sell, others will.

I will group similar level MOBS together so that you know where and what to look for.

I spent all of my time between 50 and 60 in 2 areas. Felwood and Winterspring.

Felwood

Deadwood Furbolgs – MOB Levels 47 – 50

These little furry beasts are located in the very south west of Felwood.

These guys are a dream. They are very easy to kill, drop TONS of Mageweave, some green items and the best part, for every one of these that you kill, you get 5 points reputation with the Timbermaw Clan. The Timbermaw Clan guards the path between Felwood and Winterspring, the added bonus, if you have good reputation, they have some very good things to sell. (I believe good enchanting and tailoring recipes / patterns)

Jadefire (Demons) – MOB Level 48 – 52
Jaedenar – MOB Level 50 – 52

These two are both in the West of Felwood (in the middle)

Also easy kills. Their drop is not as great as I had hoped, and the Felcloth drop from the demons is miserable. These 2 are separated by some mountains, otherwise they are very close to each other. Drops are reasonable.

Jadefire Demons – MOB Level 52 – 54
Irontree elementals – MOB Level 48 – 53
Deadwood Furbolgs – MOB Level 52 – 54

These are all found in the north of Felwood. (Listed from West to East)

These are all easy to kill. The Demons drop Runecloth and Fellcloth. Unfortunately this is known and thesy are often camped by Horde and Alliance. You may have a hard time having a peaceful level experience.

If you ever need Heart of the Wild, the elementals are for you. These guys also drop tons of herbs, unfortunately not only 2 or 3 types, but ALL OF THEM!

Deadwood Furbolgs are a good grind. Again for the reputation and these, unlike their southern counterparts, drop Runecloth. It’s seldom, but they do drop. Drawback is that they are next to the path to Winterspring.

 

Winterspring

By now you should be Level 54 - 55 and have a mount

In Winterspring there are only 3 MOB types that I killed.

Winterfall Furbolgs – MOB Level 53 – 58

These can be found East-Northeast of Everlook, in Winterfall Village (who would have guessed?). The lower levels are just into Winterspring in the very west.

These are listed as Humanoids, and therefore one would expect them to drop Runecloth. Fact is, I killed hundreds and did not see one thread of Runecloth. These guys are a dream non the less. They drop fast and their grey vendor trash items sell for over 1 gold. Advantage of this area is that there always is a chest in this village. It can spawn at one of 4 locations in this village. You will also get Timbermaw reputation by killing these.

Keep to the lower village at low levels. The Furbolgs at the top come in pairs and do DOUBLE the damage than the ones in the lower part (crits not included).

Yeti – MOB Level 50 – 58

Location is a little bit Southeast of Everlook.

The yetis have a few drawbacks, they freeze you and you have to stay immobile while they try to beat you to a pulp. Luckily their damage is not that great. You can skin them and in the cave I often saw Thorium and Rich Thorium veins.

Owlbeasts – MOB Level 52 – 58

They can be found in 2 locations, either in the very Northeast or a ways south of Everlook.

These are actually for grinding only. Their drop rate is MISERABLE and worth next to nothing. The advantage is, they hardly do damage and they drop fast.

For lower levels, go to the Northeast. If you are looking for the Owlbeasts L57 – 58, head south.

 

Frostsabers – MOB Level 55 – 60

These can be found in the very Northwest.

I’m throwing these in as I have no MOBS listed at level 60. I have no idea how good their drop is, but I did fight a few of these.