I've been playing rogues since the cydstepp and resistance nerfs and the troll heart buff. They were quite strong, the Alch scroll really went over the top there. I also don't think the bonus damage, or the easily fixable flaw of low HP is the problem with Rogues, but the fact that a first strike attack is a "freebie attack" variant just like cydstepp and for Rogues it's always on. With cydstep he had an inherent (although scummed for) double freebie. I sort of think of them as combo hits, and when you factor in all the possible combo pieces (TT potions, whoopaz, first strike, cydstep, badge of honor, taurog's DP's), and look at an Orc rogue's damage, the nubers get sort of silly. Even with a "single serving (PER LEVEL!)" cydstepp.
And it's not really about the fairness, the nubers or anything, it's about the ease of getting them. The built in first strike's the problem with the Rogue, IMO.
Since I've been sort of researching the "freebie string combo theory" all the time i've been silent, I'll elaborate some more for sake of elaborating
Most "combo pieces" are either preps (2 TT potions, whoopaz, namtar's ward), or need to be worked for in some way (badge need's to be bought or preped in place of something else, additional TT potions need piety and a HP pot, TT's DP's need Piety Farm, cydstep costs plenty of mana and repeatable use needs mid fight lvl ups).
Gettindare is a strange case as it's not foolproof (doesn't work against first strike) and needs at leat 3 mana, and only forks as a finisher. All of this applies to wheytwut also, which costs 8 mana but works against first strikers. Both of them take an inventory slot if you lug them around, which doesn't really mesh well with some of the other combo pieces, as well as the general "convert stuff" route for Orc dmg pumping. The Rogue gets both a huge damage boost that sinergizes with Orcs, and free First strike which allows for more conversion and an effortless combo finisher in every fight.
There.
