Interface Mods & Customization
The standard interface for WoW is great, one of the best out there. Of course, it’s also homogenized so that all classes can use it equally, so let’s customize it a bit. My two favorite locations for finding Interface Mods are http://ui.worldofwar.net and http://wow-en.curse-gaming.com/files/addons/ Both offer a large selection of mods. Here are the ones I currently have active
?Jubei’s AEP – Used to have a quick glance at AEP values for items. When leveling, this is a very useful tool as you’ll see jumps of 20-30% in some items. At 70, you can use it to judge between 2 near identical looking items.
?TitanBar – Not terribly rogue-specific but an amazing overall mod. Adds a small toolbar at the top of your screen that monitors your location (/loc) essential for all those quests. You can always add more mods to it as well, such as a Poison counter or DPS meter.
?MetaHUD – This removes your player frame, the enemy frame and adds some semi-circles to the middle of your screen to display health/energy and combo points. I play in Widescreen and not having to look away from the action to know what’s going on is a great advantage. Also can tell you at a glance the classification of a target (Humanoid, Demon, etc...) to help with Crowd Control assignments.
?SpellAlert – Advises you when your target is casting and what it’s casting. Very important for PvP as you can decide whether to interrupt or not. Also useful for boss encounters so that you can time your escape/Cloak of Shadows.
?SWStats – A simple damage meter. Good to see how you compare to other members in your group or to monitor your DPS.
?KLHThreatMeter – Essential in a raid. It monitors your threat(hate) level against a target. On fights that last 3+ minutes, you want a good control of your hate so that you don’t get hit.

?Poison Pouch – Allows you to apply a poison to a weapon in 2 clicks.
External Tools
I personally use a Nostromo N52 in addition to my keyboard. I have a 5 button mouse as well, with Run Speed, Stealth and an /assist macro mapped to the extra 3 buttons. Having everything available without having to move my wrist makes combat miles easier. I don’t have to fiddle to find the right key to use. I have mapped [TAB] to one button on the Notsromo to more easily select targets and the other 14 buttons are mapped to skills. This isn’t a necessary tool but one that I think is a good investment if you want to do any serious PvP.
Macros
Since the expansion the formatting of macros has changed drastically. There are tons of new ways to get macros to work and I sugges you read about it on the official forums http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11114&sid=1
Self-Bandage
/use [target=player] Heavy Netherweave Bandage
Ambush if in stealth, else Mutilate
/cast [stealth] Ambush; Mutilate
Gouge and then bandage yourself
/cast Gouge
/stopcasting
/cast [target=player] ,Heavy Netherweave Bandage>
Raising Lockpicking
This is a very important skill for rogues to learn and master. It is limited to your level *5, so you really can’t train to max once you get the skill, not that you could anyhow. Some important things to know about Lockpicking, mainly what you can pick and at what skill:
Creature levels to pickpocket junkboxs
Lvl 22-32 Battered Junkboxes
Lvl 32-42 Worn Junkboxes
Lvl 42-52 Sturdy Junkboxes
Lvl 52+ Heavy Junkboxes
Skills required to pick boxes
Battered Junkboxes(25-100)
Worn Junkboxes(100-175)
Sturdy Junkboxes(175-250)
Heavy Junkboxes(250-?)

Heavy Bronze Lockbox
Ornate Bronze Lockbox
Iron Lockbox (75-?)
Strong Iron Lockbox (125-?)
Steel Lockbox (175-?)
Reinforced Steel Lockbox (225-never)
Mithril Lockbox (225-never)
Thorium Lockbox (225-never)
Eternium Lockbox(225-never)
Skills for Doors
Gnomeregan (150-200)
Scarlet Monastery (175-250)
Searing Gorge Gate (225-never)
BRD Prison Cells (225-never)
BRD Shadowforge Gates (280-never)
Scholomance (280-never)
Stratholme (300)
Others
Engineered Practice Locks (1-75)
Location of Footlockers
Hillsbrad Foothills - Durnholde Keep
Redridge Mountains - Lake Everstill
Ashenvale Forest - Zoram Strand
Stonetalon Mountains - Windshear Crag and Associated Mines
Wetlands - Murloc Camps
Desolace - Sar'theris Strand
Badlands - Angor Fortress
Swamp of Sorrows - Pool of Tears
Searing Gorge - The Slag Pit
Tanaris Desert - Lost Rigger Cove
Azshara - Bay of Storms
Eastern Plaguelands - Tyr's Hand (elite)
Zangarmash – Twin Spire Ruins
You can see that there are milestones of a sort, 175, 225, 250 and 350. To compare that to rogue levels, you’re looking at levels 35, 45, 50 and 70. Now, there are many ways to increase your skill, with Pick Pocket being one of the better ones. Hence one of the reasons you are hunting Humanoids, to get Junkboxes. An important thing to know about Lockpicking is that skill-ups from locked doors are on timers. You can only gain a skill-up once then you need to wait 20 minutes to get the next one. There are ways to get around this though. One way is to successfully pick a junkbox/practice lock in between attempts. Another is to pickpocket a target, which has a 50% chance of resetting the timer. You can make an effort to collect junkboxes/practice locks and then head to a door and go nuts practicing though pickpocketing is the better solution.

Footlockers are static locked boxes you can find in the areas listed above. The area is comparative to the skill level you have. So if you have 80 lockpicking you’d want to head to Wetlands and if you were near 200 skill, then you’d go to Azshara.
The alternative is to simply stand in town and tell people you will pick their lockboxes for free. The lockbox can be in the do-not-trade window and you will still gain skill. Problem is, you need to be on at peak times and most servers are very laggy during these times, making it very frustrating.
The quickest way to increase your Lockpicking skill is as follows:

Taking On Bosses Solo
The best part about a rogue is that they can take on boss characters alone with little to no trouble. Some quests require you to kill a named character that can have some pals nearby. Fret not the rogue is prepared!
For taking on boss-types with friends around you have a few options. If they are humanoid, simply sap one then hit the boss. This works best with Dirty Tricks as you’re not assaulted with attacks. Nail the boss with a Garrote and turn on Evasion. Now, start walking backwards and pull the boss towards a safer area to fight. If you pull far enough away (about 2x the distance of ranged attacks) anything that might have started fighting with the boss will run back to the spawn point. Combined with Evasion, you’re going to barely get hit at all while pulling back and when Sap breaks the boss will be long dead. Heck, you could even just stand there, turn on Evasion, kill the boss then use the Vanish skill.
For instance bosses, the same theory applies. Stealth up to the boss and Sap if you need to. Some areas are well guarded and even trying to stealth through can be hard. Careful use of the Distract skill to get them to turn around. Use Sap and then walk right through the target without worries. With Dirty Tricks this is really easy. Once you hit 60, you can hit some of the higher level instances because you will not attract as much attention as you did at lower levels. It becomes a bit harder due to the increased hit points they have and the damage they can produce but you can take a few out.
Use your skills wisely. Nearly all bosses can’t be stunned, so there’s no point in opening with Cheap Shot or using Kidney Shot. Get Slice and Dice running, Adrenaline Rush if you have it. Gouge won’t stun but it will break a casting. Have instant poison on both weapons.
Possible bosses to solo are Roccor (BRD), Razorlash (DM), Plugger (BRD), Emperor (BRD), Lethendris (DM), Lord Incendius (BRD).
If you team up with other rogues and a druid, more options are available, such as all LBRS bosses (5 man), Scholomance (4-5 man) and BRD (3 man).
The only time this really doesn’t work is when there are additional casters around as they can really put a dent in your hit points.

Rogue Only Quests
There are a few Rogue only quests in the game. Nearly all of them are below level 20 though.
Dagger of Cunning (All Races, level 10)
This is the first true Rogue quest you’ll come across. It varies some depending on your race but requires you to use at least one of your Rogue skills to succeed.
Gnome/DwarfGnome/Dwarf – You need to head to the area in front of Gnomeregan. To the south of the entrance, you’ll see what looks like a tower. Climb to the top, with Stealth on, and you’ll find the dwarf you need to talk to. Do so and return to town to collect your reward.
Human – Head south of Goldshire to the shoreline, then head east until you reach some docks. You’ll find the Defias Dockmaster from whom you need to pickpocket the Shipping Schedule. Return with the Schedule to get your dagger.
Night ElfNight ElfNight ElfNight Elf – Head to the crossroads east of Darnassus, then head North to the Oracle Glade. You’ll find Sethir. Now, some people need to simply kill him, while others need to pickpocket him. I suggest Pick Pocket first; as if that doesn’t work you can always kill him. Return to town to collect the dagger.
Orc/TrollOrc/TrollOrc/Troll – Head west out of Durotar into the Barrens. Follow the coast south until you reach the Merchant’s Coast. You should see Tazan who needs to be killed. Collect the Satchel and return to town for the dagger.
Undead – This can be a pain since you need to kill someone who roams a lot. Head south out of the Undercity into Silverpine Forest. Along the road, you’ll eventually (he’s in the northern part) come across Astor, whom you need to kill to get the Letter. Head back to the Undercity and after a being sent to some more people in town, you’ll get your
dagger.
Lock Picking Quest (All Races, level 16)
This quest starts you on the life long quest of raising your Lockpicking skill. This quest is a prerequisite to section 9.1

AllianceAlliance – All quests lead to Redridge Rendez-Vous, which is naturally, in Redridge Mountains. After getting your Thief’s Tool (you can find them on a Poison Vendor usually) head to Alther’s Mill, which is located North of Lakeshire, then east at the crossroads. Inside the mill, you’ll find chests to increase your skill on that either cast a freeze on you or turn you into a rat. Don’t worry about getting attacked as nothing roams this far back. You need at least 70 skill to open the quest chest with the item inside and I suggest staying until 80 skill, which won’t take long at all.
HordeHordeHorde – This is the Plundering the Plunderers quest. Head to Ratchet and talk to the mechanical shredder to get the big cracker. Walk south along the shore until you reach a pirate ship. You need to walk upon the bow to get on the ship. Once inside, stay on the top to practice lock picking. At 70 skill, head below and pick the chest. A giant bird will spawn and you’ll need to use the cracker to make the bird smaller. It’s then a pretty easy kill. Loot it and return to town for a reward.
Poison Quests (All Races, level 20)
AllianceAlliance - Head to Stormwind and visit Mathias Shaw in the rogue headquarters. He’ll send you to see Agent Kearnen in Westfall. Problem is, he’s stealth and a pain to find if you don’t know where to look. Head to Westfall and go to the lower right corner, until you reach a tower like structure. It’s just south of the road to Duskwood. Against a tree near the riverbank, you’ll find Kearnen. Talking to him starts the next step. Outside the tower you’ll find a Malformed Drone. Go into Stealth and Pick Pocket him for the Defias Tower Key. If you mess up, kill him and he’ll spawn again in a minute or so. Once you have the key, head into the tower in Stealth mode, avoiding the guards. At the top is Klaven himself, a 26 Elite. Head behind him and Sap him. Use your Lock Pick ability on the chest next to him and collect the book. You need a fair amount of skill to open it, but if you spent anytime in Redridge you should be at 80 skill and that’ll be fine. Return to Mathias to get the Poisoning skill.
HordeHordeHorde - Head to Ogrimmar and talk to Shenthul in the Cleft of Shadow. Once you talk to him, target him again and type “/salute” (minus the quotations) to move onto

the next step. He’ll send you out to the Barrens to meet Taskmaster Fizzule. Get to the Barrens and head north to the Sludge Fen. Find Fizzule and target him. Get close enough and fire the Flare Gun twice and then type “/salute” (minus the quotations). He’ll acknowledge you and start you on the next part. Head over to the tower and start killing the Venture Co. creatures the quest lists. Find Gallwix and get some friends to help you kill him, as he’s a 26 elite. Then find Silixiz and Pick Pocket him for the tower key. The chances of him detecting you are very high so have a group ready to help you out. Enter the tower and kill everything on the way up until you reach the chest. At the top is another 25 elite. Kill it and open the chest to collect the Cache. Return to Shenthul in Ogrimmar to get your poison skill. You will not be able to solo this at level 20, in fact, a group of 5 level 20s might have problems.
Ravenholdt Quests (All Races, level 24+)
Once you reach 24, you’ll get to experience the true Rogue Hideout. From your main race’s capital city, you’ll get send to Hillsbrad Hills to visit Ravenholdt Manor.
The first quest involves just finding the place. If you head North along the east side of the river, near the mountains you will see a path that heads east up into the mountains. Walk up and you’ll see a cave entrance. Inside the cave is a chest; which you should not open. Instead, activate your Detect Traps skill and you will have completed the rite associated with this quest. Now head past the cave and into the headquarters to talk to Fahrad to get your initial faction with this group.
The second quest really isn’t explained well but it’s essentially a faction quest. Since you’re on neutral ground, you need to increase your faction with Ravenholdt. Head south of the Rogue camp into Durnhold Keep. Pickpocket the enemies to find Syndicate Emblems. Remember to kill them after, so that they can spawn more emblems. Once you collect about 30, head back to Ravenholdt and talk to a guard. Turn in as many emblems as you can to get to Friendly status. Some people need 30, others need 15.
The next part of this quest line seem to be currently broken.