The following quote is taken from a different threat and I thought is would be interesting enough to discuss this topic on its own. I cut some things from the quote below, but I kept the disclaimers and the part I found most interesting. This is not indended to be a two-man discussion, but I am actually pretty interested how other players see the rogue class.

Quote Originally Posted by Draccus View Post
Sorry to come off as bossy, but this is something I'm pretty passionate about in DDO. I love rogues and hate to see new players or new rogue players make what I think is a critical mistake.

...

Rogues are, arguably, the most gear dependent class in the game. Where I could teach a monkey to make a passable sorc or barbarian, it's far too easy to screw up a rogue. TRing a rogue too early is one of the easiest ways to screw one up. I think 80% of a rogue's performance comes from gear, 15% from build, and 5% from player ability. So if 80% of a rogue's power comes from his gear, why would you even consider TRing before you had great gear? You're going to get a 2% improvement on 15% of your power when you TR...at best! Whereas running a few Shrouds, VoDs, or Towers, can make step change improvements.


(DISCLAIMER AGAIN: I'm not trying to insult or belittle anyone...like I said, I'm passionate about rogues and hate to see rogues make what I consider a critical mistake. ...)
From my own experience, rogues are gear dependent. But only to a degree.

With regards to weapons, there is one thing which is commonly considered to be essential for a rogue: A radiance weapon with a high crit profile. There is no other type of weapon which offers such a huge amount of damage increase as a Rad2 due to allowing sneak attack damage on mobs who have aggro'd you. But then, if you have finished your Rad2? Even the "correct" choice of off-hand is not gospel. There are many viable weapon combinations (as can be seen in this small survey).
The interesting thing about a rogue's damage output is one thing: Once it is assured one gets his or her sneak attack damage, the importance of choice of the correct weapon dimishes. This is the main reason why it's still viable to use rapiers - and it's still OKish to make a finesse-based build.
On the other hand, it was (pre-U9) worth it carrying a golfbag of Banishing and Smiting Weapons in order to make up for the lack of SA against Constructs and Elemetals et al. But then, those weapons were not hard to aquire.

Bottom line weapons: Rad2 is essential, not questioning that. But secondary and off-hand weapons? Is raid loot really that important in these regards?

Armor: Usually, a DT armor is used on a rogue. But is there actually one (or more) DT combination of DT runes which are an optimum? +5 Res, 20% Healing Amp, Tharnes is my favorite, but I see many other viable options (especially some for no-switch 39 UMD).

GS HP item: This has more importance for rogues than for other classes, as rogues have generally lower HP than other melee classes. This is essential. Which kind of HP item you craft, and where you put it, is again pretty variable.

Other gear: Getting level appropriate Trap gear is important, but you do not have to do raids for this.
Getting a standing UMD of 39 is a very nice thing as it improves self-sufficiency and survivability vastly, but even without, you can be a very successful rogue.

To conclude: Yes, there are some essential items for are rogue, but it is not necessary to grind for a huge number of specific items to make the rogue worthwile, as it is the case for AC tanks, for instance.