Some of you may remember that I set myself up a bank alt by the name of Alethe who, by a series of totally logical decisions, wound up as an heirloom-sporting PvP-twinked Warsong Ninja with her own guild of assassins legitimate businesspeople.
I specced Subtlety for PvP although to be honest I’d probably have gone Sub all the way regardless because, I dunno, there’s something very archetypal about being stealthy-mc-stealthstealth.
So anyway, I’ve been running a Rogue recently, and I’ve really really enjoyed it. One of my benchmarks for a good game – particularly a good RPG – is that it really makes you feel like you are whatever you’re supposed to be. Batman: Arkham Asylum is awesome because it really makes you feel like Batman, for example. Leveling a Rogue is really interesting, because it really does feel like you’re playing a different game to everybody else. For example:
I'm sorry, were you supposed to be guarding this necromancer?
I did Deatholme fairly late – I was in my early twenties level wise by the time I stopped messing around with random battlegrounds and dungeons, and decided to actually go do some quests. Slaying Dar’Khan’s lieutentants was incredibly awesome. Rather than having to blunder into a necropolis and hack your way through a bunch of necromancers and zombies I stole in like a ninja and just ambushed the guy into the ground. It was amazingly satisfying. Then I stealthed out again, leaving the necromancers none the wiser.
Take that, dwarvish scum!
The Battle of Hillsbrad was even more fun. Not only did I get to fall in with Ravenholdt (which admittedly gets me absolutely nothing, but hey rep is rep, gotta catch ‘em all). This is Alethe ninjing through Dun Garok, picking off dwarves at will. Unfortunately she’s had to trade in her rather fetching Defias Leather Mask for a slightly dorky looking helmet but hey, can’t win them all. And once again I managed to feel like a totally uber-ninja-assassin girl by taking out my target without anybody noticing.
I'm In UR Fortress Assassinatin' UR Dorves
Seriously, this is never, never going to get old. Ever.
The thing I’ve found most interesting about playing a rogue is the extent to which it feels like a completely different minigame. Suddenly I’m sneaking around sapping people left right and centre, stealing their junkboxes (and again, how awesome is it that there’s material in the game that you only get access by being a rogue and pickpocketing people, very awesome, that’s how awesome).
So anyway, Alethe has been running around leveling up – she’s just hit level thirty which means she can finally stunlock people (at least in theory, I won’t be heading back to a battleground until I hit level thirty-five or so but I’m practising on Yetis) and I’m absolutely loving her roguish ways. The little minx.
The other interesting thing about leveling Alethe is that it’s the first time I’ve done it on an RP server, and yesterday I actually stumbled upon an honest-to-goodness RP event:
Alethe wishes me to draw attention to her swish new Tabard
There were a whole bunch of guys, all from the same guild, standing around in Crossroads engaged in some kind of military activity. It was … well I would say fascinating, but the problem with online roleplaying is that everything has to be typed out, which means that it all proceeds really, really slowly. So it was fascinating for two minutes, then I rode north to Warsong Gulch to check out the quatermaster.
I think Bloodelf animations help feel more roguey too, the older classes stealth animations arent as good and therefore don’t give as good a feeling of ninjaness.
My rogue is lvl54 Orc Male – I found it hilarious that people didn’t notice me creeping up on them, a huge monstrosity jumping out of the shadows.
It also makes me feel like a higher ranked rogue – “Wow, a little feeble Blood Elf can manage to keep himself concealed… I can keep myself concealed, a large brutish Orc!”
I do like Alethe's stealth animation. She feels like she's laying in wait like a cat.
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I think Bloodelf animations help feel more roguey too, the older classes stealth animations arent as good and therefore don’t give as good a feeling of ninjaness.
My rogue is lvl54 Orc Male – I found it hilarious that people didn’t notice me creeping up on them, a huge monstrosity jumping out of the shadows.
It also makes me feel like a higher ranked rogue – “Wow, a little feeble Blood Elf can manage to keep himself concealed… I can keep myself concealed, a large brutish Orc!”
I'm hearing ya, brother. I started the game with a Warrior and leveled him to around 45 or so. In between I made a rogue as a bank alt (gotta love sprint for zipping back and forth to the mailbox). When I found I had to level him to increase his DE abilities, I was totally hooked and played him right through to 80. Have since played at some other classes and so far just can't get into them. You really hit it on the head. With a rogue it really does seem like you're playing a different game than the rest. Totally loved being able to stealth-ninja-whack!! those red quests. Cheers! and may the shadows always fall 'cross your path.
I'm hearing ya, brother. I started the game with a Warrior and leveled him to around 45 or so. In between I made a rogue as a bank alt (gotta love sprint for zipping back and forth to the mailbox). When I found I had to level him to increase his DE abilities, I was totally hooked and played him right through to 80. Have since played at some other classes and so far just can't get into them. You really hit it on the head. With a rogue it really does seem like you're playing a different game than the rest. Totally loved being able to stealth-ninja-whack!! those red quests. Cheers! and may the shadows always fall 'cross your path.
I'm hearing ya, brother. I started the game with a Warrior and leveled him to around 45 or so. In between I made a rogue as a bank alt (gotta love sprint for zipping back and forth to the mailbox). When I found I had to level him to increase his DE abilities, I was totally hooked and played him right through to 80. Have since played at some other classes and so far just can't get into them. You really hit it on the head. With a rogue it really does seem like you're playing a different game than the rest. Totally loved being able to stealth-ninja-whack!! those red quests. Cheers! and may the shadows always fall 'cross your path.
I'm hearing ya, brother. I started the game with a Warrior and leveled him to around 45 or so. In between I made a rogue as a bank alt (gotta love sprint for zipping back and forth to the mailbox). When I found I had to level him to increase his DE abilities, I was totally hooked and played him right through to 80. Have since played at some other classes and so far just can't get into them. You really hit it on the head. With a rogue it really does seem like you're playing a different game than the rest. Totally loved being able to stealth-ninja-whack!! those red quests. Cheers! and may the shadows always fall 'cross your path.
I'm hearing ya, brother. I started the game with a Warrior and leveled him to around 45 or so. In between I made a rogue as a bank alt (gotta love sprint for zipping back and forth to the mailbox). When I found I had to level him to increase his DE abilities, I was totally hooked and played him right through to 80. Have since played at some other classes and so far just can't get into them. You really hit it on the head. With a rogue it really does seem like you're playing a different game than the rest. Totally loved being able to stealth-ninja-whack!! those red quests. Cheers! and may the shadows always fall 'cross your path.