I don't want to stun things for a very long time. I want to kill them in one shot. See my points about shadow mastery and vanish in my previous post.
Sounds cool. My level 81 rogue with maxed ambushing skills in GSIV missed an aimed location on a kobold using a dagger.
See my comments about cmans and rogue fluff abilities in my previous posts.
There is no basis for comparison, so it's irrelevant. The Scatter didn't exist and was designed with a different system in mind. I will reiterate what I stated earlier. In terms of combat, I'd take an almost guaranteed chance for success over variety. The specific application of this is also irrelevant. The point is, the relative PvE abilities of rogues - game for game - has gone from one of the best, to one of the worst. The primary reason for this is crit randomization. The rest is just conversation.
Based on your previous comments about being an underdog, I can understand that you would enjoy playing one of the weakest classes in the game. I prefer the opposite.
I don't need to play a gimped character for 10+ years at the same level to figure out that it is never going to be as good as a character from a more powerful class with the same experience. It'd be disappointing and frustrating. I would rather cut my losses and start over - which is what I did.
Your other comments - as previously - have no basis for comparison so are irrelevant. The only thing we have to compare is relative PvE power of a rogue in either game. They could just as easily have given rogues their current GSIV abilities without adding crit randomization. If that were the case, I may be inclined to agree on the "improvement" of rogues. However, for arguments sake - if I were forced to choose - I'd still choose my old ability to ambush over the entire cman list, shield skills, enhancives, variety of weapon styles, 2 extra guild skills, armor specializations, fluff titles, shimmer trinkets, etc. - every single time!
You stated previously in this thread:
I agree with this 100%. You now appear to be contradicting your own statement by defending your decision to continue playing what has become one of the weakest classes in GSIV.
You made a conscious choice using inferior training selections in GSIII. Therefore, you have zero experience with what a rogue's true potential was. From your perspective - your rogue went from barely viable in GSIII to mediocre in GSIV - so for you - rogues have "improved."
Just because you did not take advantage of the mechanics that were available at the time doesn't mean they didn't exist. Just because the game has been altered to allow almost any race / class / stat / training combination to make it to level 100 - and continue to gain more skills while hunting the same things over and over again - doesn't mean rogues are better. If anything, needing 20 million exp. to begin to approach the level of effectiveness that was possible with 5 million exp. in PvE situations should be a clear indication of the exact opposite.
My rogue was 2x in PF and 2x dodge pre-cap in GSIV, but if I had to choose one - I'd choose the PF hands down:
Scintillion (at level 81)
Physical Fitness...................| 266 166
Dodging............................| 266 166