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Rogues need buffs for 5-man PvE
So I finally figured out why it's so difficult to get into an expert-level 5-man dungeon as a rogue.
Short version: rogue has no spec useful enough to make them desirable for a group this size.
First, rogues aren't best at DPS. Mages are undebateably better. Single-target, AOE, doesn't matter. Rogue dps souls also have no compelling support abilities to go with them that mages don't have with their DPS spec.
Second, rifstalker is generally considered too squishy to tank anything beyond regular 5-mans, except perhaps T1 expert dungeons when you way out-gear them. (Could be simply players not being open to the idea of a rogue tanking, but on my shard at least rogue tanks don't exist in end-game.)
Third, rogues have only one support/healing spec.
Here is how it stacks up compared to the most similar spec (Chloromancer).
Bard has a few unique things to offer:
-Motifs
-Anthems
-Verse of Joy
-Heals that don't require mana
Things Bard (or any other rogue soul) DOESN'T offer:
-Cleanse
-Resurrect (combat or non)
-Single-target heals
-Significant heals of any kind that don't require line-of-sight to the enemy target
-Significant heals more than 20 meters away from the enemy target
The problem is that, while the buffs are nice, ultimately the ultility the Chloromancer offers is far more needed and useful in a 5-man group. Also, a Chloromancer has the possibility of solo-healing in a 5-man expert dungeon due to having at least some single-target healing. Bard is limited to support healing, as a bard simply lacks big enough heals to keep a tank alive by itself.
So in the end, Rogues are not wanted for Tanking, DPS, Support, or Healing. Which leaves Nothing.
I'm ok with Rogues not being the best at DPS, in fact I'm fine with them being underpowered in any 3 of those roles. But they need to be strong enough in at least one of these four roles to make them a desirable choice for end-game 5-man content. Currently they are not, and something, somewhere needs to be buffed or added.
