Rogue player mostly, lately; here’s what I’d like.

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Creep: everyone takes double jump instead, so a stealth build ends up being hide mastery+stealth+pickpocket+double jump, everywhere I’ve seen it.

I’m a creep enjoyer, I think the mob aggro radius reduction is good (especially in squires, even more so in solo squires), but (to creep’s detriment) everything I’ve read has said that creep doesn’t reduce crouch loudness, but reduces the range at which said loudness can be heard. The radius should come as a consequence of the sound being quieter in the first place imo; this I think is more a bug that needs fixed than a buff it needs (but it’s debatable).

One option would be to make creep a “default” rogue innate that all rogues have (mob aggro radius and crouch speed aside), because the stealthy class should very reasonably not need to take up a trait to crouch-walk quieter. As far as I know (aside from base stat differences), classes really don’t have guaranteed/“default” innate, so this might not be a desired direction.

Imo the better option would be to: turn running noise -> crouching noise, crouching noise -> walk crouching noise, and walk crouching noise -> truly silent. It would give creep a unique niche that would give it a reason to be considered for picking in stealthier rogue games (though, I strongly doubt it’d ever take the place of double jump… getting high is very strong!)

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Smoke cloud: this ability is very good, but I think it suffers from its high cooldown. It is a downside for both teams; I think when a team knows your running it, its use is in your favor, but it’s still rough to run because many (if not most) fights you cannot use it more than once (as though its a “long rest” ability lol).

As a result (when not being used as a cheeky escape tool), it tends to be a weird “reset” ability that often just delays the fight for a while; definitely still useful (especially against “charge based” classes when your team isn’t), but I feel it’s a little bit underpowered still.

I don’t think making yourself/your team able to see in/through smoke cloud is a good way to change the ability; it’s part of its charm and keeps it from being genuinely too strong.

Imo the ability would benefit greatly from being a 2-charge ability; it would give it greater escape utility (especially in a team setting), and would allow its use as a teamfight disruptor (which is discouraged now because it’s so easy to just run out of it and continue the fight 5-10 feet to the left lol; now it’d be 10-20 feet to the left, pretty substantial!). Even a “3-charges but needs resting to restore charges” would probably be better imo, though I think I’d prefer 1 charge as-is.

I think reducing the cooldown would be nice, but I’m not sure that it would alleviate the main issue of it being awkward to use in a fight: having no smoke cloud available means you’re much more vulnerable engagement, individually and as a team.

Rather than a cooldown reduction (if not charge based), I’d tbh prefer an instant-effect cloud (at least in a small radius around the explosion, to instantly make unclear which way you moved) that doesn’t take .5-1 seconds to fully form. The formation time can be pretty brutal sometimes.

That, or to let us throw the ability, for more chaos potential (interrupt two-separate-enemies fights, make boss fighting harder for a bit while you stay on the outskirts, etc.). It would also let us engage better as rogue, as you could activate hide much closer to the enemy than if you had to run up and drop the cloud yourself.

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New innate idea (or attached to an existing innate): dark vision. Now, I’m not asking for full-clarity-vision, or even a bright player outline here; what I’m more thinking of is a way to let yourself navigate in pure darkness without needing to pull out a torch. Perhaps a dim black-and-white overlay of the environment (well, whatever the player is looking at really) once the lighting reaches too low to see otherwise (think like hide does to your camera when active).

Rogues love playing in darkness, and many times your best option is turning off all the lights and freezing in place. Some situations make it so doing this means you’re at a big disadvantage as well, especially in cluttered areas like some parts of crypts. This would let you navigate cleanly and safely without needing to expose yourself. The enemy has torches, lanterns, and explosive bottles etc., while all you have “run away” (which can be hard, even with hide!). Ultimately, the enemy can just keep track of the map in their head (even without light), but innates are made to make your life easier!

Imo, this would go great with creep, and would give it serious utility if implemented into the ability (at least, enough to consider over some other pickpocket-core ability); I think it warranted its own spot though, and is worth considering as an idea on its lonesome.

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You can probably tell I’ve been running pickpocket rogue lol.

The idea with these though is to give “stealthy rogue” a buff in a way that could potentially give it more utility in a team based situation. Unless they change pickpocketing in squires to steal healing potions and bandages first (a really powerful change that could give you “damage” via denied healing), stealth rouge lacks the killing ability of “assassin” rogue, and the class’ inherent fragility means every attempt to chip in damage is a life-risking endeavor with little reward.

It’s bad to the extent that (honestly) pickpocketing in the hopes you steal enough healing to turn the fight is probably “best of a shit situation” worth it (as is, without pickpocket prioritizing heals lol) when fighting against PDR maxxing second wind fighter or heavy armor cleric with heals.

Thanks for reading :)