Would like some tips/advice

[Brattyone]

Up until very recently, I've soloed. My rogue toon is now lvl 15 and I'm really wanting to group up more because I enjoy the social aspect. But I'm finding it difficult to adjust to the increased speed of a group. I guess I'd just like some advice/tips on how to keep up while slipping into sneak and assassinating targets. Oh and lately, it seems like everything I've started to go after another party member starts attacking. I don't want to step on anyone else's toes by assassinating things others are trying to kill. I've read lots of information on rogues here in the forums (like notes of a dancing rogue and many other good guides) but nothing really about this particular thing.

[.Revenga.]

Jump, hit sneak, land next to target, assasinate is the fasest method. Not assasinating targets that others are already killing will be hard and will result in less reliable results.
Just try not to assasinate mobs that are already about to die/are stunned etc. Just entering the melee with the others and then jump-assasinating a far off caster or archers is a good option too, but it won't give you many double assasinations.

[Qezuzu]

At lvl15, in normal and hard content the mobs are so weak there's little point in Assassinating. Most of what I say will only apply to elite. I forgot how much HP the mobs have on IQ/Shavarath content and above, but on normal it might be worth it to Assassinate.

Stay at the front of the group and go into stealth when you're about to encounter a group of mobs. If you jump and stealth while in the air, you'll get to the mobs a little bit sooner.

Always go for casters first. They're the most dangerous, they'll hang out in the back so they're less likely to be target by the other melees (unless they're more experienced), and they're the most likely to fail against Assassinate. If you have a caster in the party they might be fingering the enemy casters, if so then just kill archers or kill melees (unless there's more than one caster, and there usually is).

If you're in a group and are finding that most melee/caster mobs are being attacked before you get to them, and if you don't want to "kill steal" or whatever, archer mobs are usually left alone till the end. You can Assassinate them and then beat on the melees. If there's no archers and no casters, just Assassinate the melees, but not if they're stunned or low on health.

But, if I was some non-rouge and was getting "my" kills "stolen" by an Assassin, I wouldn't care. Kill count is worthless. Besides, Assassinate can only kill 1-2 mobs every fifteen seconds, most encounters have more than enough mobs. And in the hardest content, such efficient killing is appreciated.

[Kinerd]

Up until very recently, I've soloed. My rogue toon is now lvl 15 and I'm really wanting to group up more because I enjoy the social aspect. But I'm finding it difficult to adjust to the increased speed of a group. I guess I'd just like some advice/tips on how to keep up while slipping into sneak and assassinating targets.

Learn to love jump sneaking. It's exactly what it sounds like: you only have to be a step behind Meat Face #1 to avoid aggro, jump, sneak, assassinate, done.

Oh and lately, it seems like everything I've started to go after another party member starts attacking. I don't want to step on anyone else's toes by assassinating things others are trying to kill. I've read lots of information on rogues here in the forums (like notes of a dancing rogue and many other good guides) but nothing really about this particular thing.

Don't worry about that at all. Anyone who gives you a hard time about it is a goof.

At lvl15, in normal and hard content the mobs are so weak there's little point in Assassinating.

But it is fun!

[Vengenance]

Learn to love jump sneaking. It's exactly what it sounds like: you only have to be a step behind Meat Face #1 to avoid aggro, jump, sneak, assassinate, done.

This is the key; follow behind everyone and then jump, hit your sneak key then assassinate. I use a razor Naga and have 1 keyed to sneak and 2 keyed to assassinate. I then quickly attack the surrounding mobs making sure I rotate between them so as not to grab aggro and as soon as my assassanate is off time I drop into sneak and assassanate if mobs are still alive or find that lone ranged mob and kill it. From level 12 on in all quests except ones with undead I decimated the kill count. My rogue just hit lvl 20 and he's been just as much fun to play in Epic as he was in Heroic.

My advice would be to get into as many groups as possible to master the Jump/Sneak combo and adapt to the pace of groups. Few groups tolerate a sneaking rogue and none will wait up for him. Most of all have fun!

[goodspeed]

assassinate is more for when you hit lv 18 hard amrath, or epic quests where it actually takes like 5 seconds to kill a trash mob. Otherwise by the type you hit your buttons you MAY get off an assassinate.

Where as if you were just meleeing, the mobs prolly would of died that much quicker and u'd be jogging on.

[Cap_Man]

assassinate is more for when you hit lv 18 hard amrath, or epic quests where it actually takes like 5 seconds to kill a trash mob. Otherwise by the type you hit your buttons you MAY get off an assassinate.

Where as if you were just meleeing, the mobs prolly would of died that much quicker and u'd be jogging on.

Ok, but the practice sure doesn't hurt

As most have said, Jump-Sneak-Assassinte is a good starting move (as long as you don't have aggro). Being hasted and wearing a feather fall item helps.

Also, you have to be quick, timing is everything. You don't want to be fumbling with the mouse trying to click on hot bars while flying through the air. At least I found that frustrating and missed a lot of kills. What finally made the assassinate ability shine for me was the remapping of my keys.

I ended up mapping the 'R' key to 'Sneak' and the 'F' key to 'Assassinate' and it made a world of difference. Now I run forward (W), jump (Space Bar), Stealth (R) and then assassinate (F). Nice and smooth, hand never leaves the keyboard and eyes never leave the mark.

(I remapped auto-run to '=' since 'R' is now sneak. And as an added bonus, I no longer accidently auto-run off the bridge in von anymore! )

Edit:
Oh, just wanted to add that my son (just turned 9) watches me play and when he sees me approach a mob he starts yelling "F him Dad! F him good! F him again!!!, Boy you really F'd him good that time!". My wife just rolls her eyes and says something under her breath .. probably best I don't know what she's saying.

[Brattyone]

Edit:
Oh, just wanted to add that my son (just turned 9) watches me play and when he sees me approach a mob he starts yelling "F him Dad! F him good! F him again!!!, Boy you really F'd him good that time!". My wife just rolls her eyes and says something under her breath .. probably best I don't know what she's saying.

That's awesome! lol. Too funny. Thanks for sharing that.

Thanks everyone for responding. I am working on the jump/sneak/assassinate method.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Most players in this game like a very fast pace. So I have evolved a face-paced Assassin style that I really enjoy on my Rogue.

First things first.... Rogues can do great DPS, but you need to not have agro. And it works best if someone else has agro first...

There seems to be some kind of attack buffer that monsters have, this manifests itself in many things players complain about, like monsters sliding around while held...

But it also means that a monster that is actively attacking someone else, seems to have a delay before they can switch agro...

So... your goal is to let other players attack first, and then pounce! Quickly! and kill things!
Do not worry about stepping on other players kills.... but I have the most fun Assassinating things on the back line.... like casters! and archers.

Faster Sneaking IV and 30% Striders really make a big difference. You can almost keep up with a runing party in sneak mode this way... (almost)

UMD scrolls of Invisibility will allow you to run right beside everyone else..... or better yet... ahead of them.

You don't need to stay in a room until everything is dead. Leave the cleanup to the riff raff, and go plan your next kill(s). (helps to know the quests)

Open doors from the side. Sneak in a take a hard right as soon as you clear the door frame.
Either sneak to the back line of monsters, or just watch and wait till you see them react to the other party members. Then pounce!
I kinda like the "Tumble out of sneak mode, run, jump, enter sneak mode in mid-air, flying Assassinate! tactic myself...

Casters first, then move on to the archers.
Then spin around and go attack the monsters that your Barbarian friend is struggling with! Pounce!
(this is another good time for flying Assassinate trick, and you can usually pull off a double assassinate, and really show off your stuff!)

Then sneak away (at high speed ) as if nothing concerns you...

Strive to be a professional killer.
Try to never! I mean NEVER! get agro! And still get the high kill count!
Every monster that even is aware of your existance should die almost imeediately!


Ok.... of course "never" is a high bar to achieve.

So... you are in a group...
Diplomacy! Used to work better, but still works pretty good (seems to have more delay than I remember in the distant past) Use this when you get unwanted agro...
"No, don't hurt me!.. DIE gullible monster scum!"

Speed speed speed!
Party zerges... you zerge faster!
That way you can pull off sneaky tricks.
all of your soloing stuff still has value. You just need to be fast to pull it off.

Go ahead a kill steal... but take out the back line first. Rogues excel at taking out casters IMO.

The biggest trick (and one most players seem to never learn) is to really understand how agro works. With experience, you can see when the monsters agro on someone else.

It can be difficult to zerge stealth, but it is a lot of fun when you learn how.
I find soloing boring a frustrating.
I find playing a Rogue in a group to be thrilling!

[AzB]

I have the same issues, and have focused on finding people to group with that aren't so zerg happy. They do exist, almost like some sort of sub-culture, and many of them are afraid to admit it in public because of the seemingly mass acceptance of zerging.

Don't get me wrong, a properly executed zerg party is a lot of fun in it's own right. But so many of the pugs at low and mid levels are made up of people who are in a hurry rather than efficient. This means a lot of mistakes and a lot of grief for rogues. Last night the whole party kept leaping through the traps rather than waiting 8 seconds for me to disarm them, taking massive damage on elite, or even dying. That is beyond stupid. I started getting way ahead and sneaking past monsters to disable traps while the party was fighting just to try to prevent it. After everyone fo'ed, i went back and got chests, etc.

I've done a few things to prevent this; first off, post on the LFM that you will not be zerging. Secondly, create a blacklist of people that join and zerg anyway. Be very careful with monks and PMs... they seem to be the two classes that attract the folks that have to prove to the whole party how much they don't need them.

I've found that it's often more fun to spend 5 more minutes on a quest and let everyone play their characters. Stand still for the buffs, wait for the trap removal, give the barb 2 seconds to get aggro, let the casters shrine when they need, etc.

[LOOON375]

For me, assassinate has always been a VERY situational ability. Meaning I have hardly ever used it. I don't really use it unless Im in Epic content.

It doesn't work on red names, but it can work on orange names if your DC is high enough. But for your basic trash, to included Epic content, you will find that you are doing so much damage anyway, that its almost a waste of effort. At least that's the way that it's always been for me.

Most trash tends to die on a vorpal hit anyway. You could have already killed 3 mobs in the time it takes to sneak around waiting for the time to pounce with an assassinate. (18 and above)

If you learn to manage aggro, you will realize that you are doing so much damage, that it becomes an after thought to use assassinate on trash.

Even in epic content, if you have the right weapons equipped, you will still do so much damage so fast, that you will have a hard time fitting in an assassinate.

If you find yourself skulking around waiting for a time to strike, you could have already helped the group drop the the mob group.

Don't be "that guy" that spends the entire quest or raid in sneak mode. Ive been in numerous raids with other rogues, and while I was going to toe to toe with the raid boss, the other guy would be hiding and sneaking killing trash. Why? I have no fricken idea.