Rogues are struggling. They are disappearing from the endgame of World of Warcraft. Once popular, now nearly extinct.
Even though there is often some grumbling from the community, World of Warcraft at its core has a relatively solid class balance, where each of the 13 classes can shine in different forms of gameplay. However, that does not mean that every class is equally played – quite the opposite.
For rogues are slowly dying out. Fewer and fewer players are choosing this class in the endgame.
What do the statistics say? If you look at the statistics from the site Dataforazeroth, which evaluates a good portion of WoW accounts (but not all), some interesting details can be derived from the statistics. One statistic that is frequently looked at is the distribution of classes in the endgame. It examines how many characters have reached level 90 (the current maximum level) and which class they belong to:
While paladins have been leading the list at 13% since the big rework in Dragonflight, druids and hunters follow closely behind. The majority of other classes are balanced between 8% and 6.5%.
Then comes a large gap – and rogues are at only 3.6%, just above summoners at 3.3%.
In other words: There are now only about half as many rogues as most other classes in the endgame.
What about the summoners? Summoners are just slightly below rogues in terms of numbers. However, this does not imply that summoners are generally less popular. On the one hand, summoners are still the newest class in the game, and on the other hand, this class is limited to a single race. Therefore, the summoner represents a special case that does not diminish the rogue problem.
Boring and outdated: Stealth
What is the problem with rogues? The playstyle of rogue specializations has been revised several times in the last expansions, and most agree: it has simply become boring. While the identity of the other classes has been strengthened with the new talent trees, that of the rogue has been increasingly diluted.
Another problem is that the gameplay of World of Warcraft has changed. In the earlier environment of the game, which lasted roughly from Vanilla to Warlords of Draenor, stealth was a meaningful and useful mechanic. There were pauses between different fights so that stealth could be reactivated and utilized.
In current WoW, however, that is less the case. There are almost no “downtimes” between fights anymore, and through “chain pulling,” meaning permanently engaging the next enemies as soon as the current foes are nearing death, there are no breaks left. This approach is important and desired for Mythic+.
This has also led to stealth becoming more and more of a strange mechanic that can be activated briefly in combat but only provides temporary combat buffs and no longer the useful control effects that are hardly needed anymore.
Finally, many rogues feel that the class simply lacks cool and iconic abilities that are fun to activate.
It seems clear in any case that rogues need a comprehensive overhaul in the near future. Otherwise, the class could slowly fade into irrelevance and perhaps be behind summoners next year – that would be a shame for a class that has existed since the early days of MMORPGs.
How does the community feel?: Of course, this situation is also being discussed with concern in the community, for example in the WoW subreddit. There, some write:
- “It’s really crazy, considering there was a time when rogues were nearly every third DPS character I saw.” – Slaughterfest
- “I would really like to play my assassination rogue in the next patch that revolves heavily around poisons. But I don’t think I will :(“ – Megazzeo
- “I’ve been a rogue main for 21 years and yes, the class feels quite dull. Furthermore, Blizzard seems not to know what to do with stealth. It just doesn’t work anymore in the current Diablo-like gameplay. I still love it though.” – shokasaki
How do you feel about the current state of rogues in World of Warcraft? Do you like the class as it is now? Or have you also been a rogue main for a long time and have since switched until the state improves? Maybe such an improvement is already on the horizon, as many WoW fans agree: The game needs no new saga, but a new era.
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