Kzach said:
If you're third or fourth on the damage meters, then your rogues, wizards, hunters and warlocks suck.
Either that, or I'm glad I stopped playing WoW when I did, 'cause nobody but rogues should be in the top two or three and ret pallies should be nowhere near there.
Or you're a Blood Elf Retribution Paladin with t6 gear, since Seal of Blood and Haste scales absurdly. As an additional point of clarification Mages in WoW are also never top DPS. But, since I can see that if this were the WoW forum, this is where it'd turn into a ten page thread where rogue players cry about their lack of raid utility. So, getting back to a game with a playerbase that isn't comprised of crybabies, let's talk about D&D.
3E's 'role expansion' is mostly illusory. The build options are certainly hugely diverse, but they're still within a reasonable framework. Sure, you can move toward the edges of that framework, and even dangle your feet off the side into someone else's territory....But you'll never be as wholly effective at ti.
Example 1: Character in the campaign I currently DM: A Ranger with the wildshape Ranger variant rules, as well as the Feats instead of Spell progression. He's still a striker type character (Especially since the player built him using skill tricks from Complete Scroundrel, making him incredibly mobile.)
Example 2: A warlock using Eldritch Glaive. Character becomes a melee character, but lacks the resilience of a 'defender' due to HP and generally lower armor (until he discovers the magnificent hax of mithral breastplates). Character is forced to rely on other warlock powers for defense, most of which provide evasiveness. (Fell Flight, Spider Climb, etc.)
