Old versus the new

[Underbard]

After a prolonged absence, I returned to EFUA rather than EFU.  While what I have seen so far of the new server is awesome, I can't help but wonder if it might actually be a bit too difficult.  
  My reasoning is that if I log on at 9:00pm est, and there are 20+ pc's online, it is a safe bet that it is daytime in the gameworld.  If there are 10 pc's online, it is a safe bet it is dark on Ymph.
  There are some truly awesome rp'ers on this server and I would like to think that players are only logging off because they are busy, what with the holidays and all, and not because the nights on Ymph are too dangerous to do anything other than rp.  After all, the rp is what makes the difference between here and a hack and slash server.
  Another thing that makes me feel it might be a bit too difficult is the number of pc's with at least 1 level of rogue.  I logged on yesterday and of the 17 pc's on at the time, 9 had at least 1 rogue level.  I have nothing against rogues, mind you, and I know that rogue is perfect for multiclassing, but this seemed a bit extreme to me as well.
  Hopefully, this is only a trend and nothing more, but I was wondering if any of you that have been playing since the escape have also noticed this.

[9lives]

I wouldn't let what other people are playing be a deterrent, but class popularity is entirely transient.

[The Beggar]

Although classes are transient in popularity, trends will settle out towards a mean value that represents "survivability". It happened in the UD the same way. 1-3 Rogue levels offer huge benefit to any ftr class and increase survival chances in many encounters. Likely it will be a trend that continues.

Pure level classes can be tough sometimes.

[Luke Danger]

I took Rogue because I wanted a: the sneak attacks, and B: Trap skills so I could set traps (of course I found out that I couldn't without DM permission), but I still like the survivability and versitality Rogue offers to fighters.

And if you think rogue is popular now, you should of seen the market with wizards, there were a huge ammount of wizards, all item makers. It was quite a facinating market

[Listen in Silence]

Yes, this whole rogue thing is nothing but a trend. A month½ or so ago you could see the same thing with clerics, since they had free healing etc.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

If people can explain the mechanics through RP, I usually don't have a problem. I dislike multiclassing, really, it seems lame to me.

[The Crimson Magician]

I might add that you don't -have- to take rogue levels to take rogue skills [Excluding UMD]. Cross-classing works just as well! Also, classes such as wizards [Occassionally others with decent Intelligence scores] have a lot of [Extra] skillpoints, which you might not want to put into Craft Weapon/Armor etc. Put them into other things, such as open lock, set trap, disable trap, tumble etc.

Heh.

[Egon the Monkey]

Amen, Crimmage. I've got a wizard with maxed out Open Lock and Persuade skills, and all the gear he can find for them. However, with a fighters measly 2 skillpoints, not so good. Better for ranger or barb frontliners.

The thing about rogue for skills is the 8 skillpoints a level and the massive selection of class skills. Multiclassing IMO is a key feature of the game, especially for human PCs, and can lead to more interesting characters from an RP point of view if you can take skills to round out your PC without burning a ton of points.

Rogue is great for that as even 1 level lets you add a couple of specialist skills. This is especially true for leaderey or diplomatic frontline chars who want to have decent Persuade/bluff/intimidate ranks.

Combine that with a lot of locked doors in explorable areas and quests (there are at least 3 quests where you MUST have a lockpicker to get some of the best loot) and it gets popular.

As for it being a "trend", I saw more Rogue/Fighter heavy armor guys in the UD, whereas the Rogue/X builds here seem more based on medium armour skirmisher builds. Also, here I have seen more triple class builds, which were a rarer sight in the UD.

[petey512]

I enjoy pure rogue. Even level two or three rogues are valuable in a group of level fives through eights.

[tooh]

I always play as halfling rogue, many at same time. Some elf or human too, but halfling is like a jocker.

[Garem]

Rogue.

Rogues share little in common with each other. Some are stealthy thieves. Others are silver-tongued tricksters. Still others are scouts, infiltrators, spies, diplomats, or thugs. What they share is versatility, adaptability, and resourcefulness.

If someone was going to multiclass, rogue is the obvious choice to be pretty much whatever they want. It's a class based around "versatility, adaptability, and resourcefulness." I was watching "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" last night and the very thought crossed my mind-- an enormous number of "heroes" from our culture are the fighting rogues (and most villains, for that matter). Sneaky? Check. Good in a scrap? Check. Good at spotting things, hearing approaching foes, being aware? Check. All of these are typical qualities of the rogue class (although DnD allows a great deal of versatility, the rogue class itself being the most versatile of all!).

[Random_White_Guy]

Any classes is diverse in how you classify yourself. That's why I always hated when people used NWN classes as their description.

Bard, Wizard, Sorceror, Priest, I can deal with.

But fighter or rogue or other malleable classes it bugs the hell out of me when they go "Oh, Yeah, I'm a rogue you know what i'm good at".

[Underbard]

I think some of you are missing my point.  While rogue is obviously the perfect class for multiclassing, It just seemed odd that 10 of 19 pc's IG had at least 1 rogue level.  Several other times I have logged on to see at least half of the pc's with at least 1 level of rogue.
  I was only hoping this was a trend, and not people taking 1 or 2 levels of rogue for UMD.

  Personally, I don't care if every pc IG has a level or two of rogue, as long as they play it well, or any other class for that matter.  I just hope the rogue trend isn't due to UMD because of the difficulty of the server.