This is known "in the biz" as the distract method. |
One of the reasons I originally rolled a Rogue is because they can pickpocket. I knew that you couldn't PP other playable characters (more on that later), but that little button suckered me into the class regardless. For those of you who never rolled a rogue, the pickpocketing ability - especially with the new
Pick pocket minor glyph - can be pretty handy.
For starters, the D&D-inspired spell is usable on almost any mob, especially anything that was humanoid at one point in time. Creatures, such as wolves, spiders, and the like, is the only mob class that cannot be pickpocketed. Essentially, if it is a sentient being, and not a named mob, then the thief comes out in me. The amount of applicable mobs means that thieving in Azeroth is, like the Internet,
serious business.
At the very least, every successful pickpocket will net the evildoer a handful of silver. I say successful because you can "fail," which means the mob saw you before you got the dastardly deed done. Or after, forcing you to kill him instead of sneaking away. Had Blizzard implemented player housing, Solidsamm's humble abode would no doubt be filled of
books,
effigies and other junk. Once he opened that closet door and became buried in a mountain of gray items and forced to live on his mother's preserves, he would think twice about his storage and let the vendors deal with it.
It isn't all junk and silver though. Pickpocketing is incredibly useful while you are leveling up, since it becomes an easy way to level your Lockpicking skill as well. If you can pickpocket a mob, then you can also score yourself
junkboxes. Although they are highly unusual and likely clumsy items to steal, they allow us to skill up, and even drop some rogue-centric goodies such as poisons,
potions and more vendor trash. Then there is the item class that actually perked this whole discussion, food.
I was chatting with my GM during my dailies this morning and found out that he was hard at work on acquiring his
Everlasting Underspore Frond, an incredibly awesome item given out during the leveling period in TBC. For me, the item was cast aside once I started needing far more than the 4500 HP it recovers. Rather than sitting for 90 seconds to fill up, I just ate better food. His reasoning? He was sick of having to pay for food, something that I don't think my rogue has ever done. By pickpocketing every mob that I come across, Solidsamm often ends up way ahead of his food consumption by the end of the day, and it isn't crappy food. This stuff often fills me up well before the timer runs out. It seems to have taken me 4+ years to realize just how awesome pickpocketing is, not that I ever doubted its usefulness.
Here are two useful things you may not have realized about the ability:
- If you pickpocket a mob before you attack him, you can estimate how much money he will drop. I discovered this during my Tyr's Hand farming days, an invaluable finding that allowed me to maximize my monetary income during those hard times. Elite mobs drop 3-4 times the amount you pick from their soon to be empty pockets. If you pick a small amount, then simply move on. With the advent of dailies, this is far less useful.
- Screwing with other citizens is always fun. Most players know this isn't possible, but it still gets some player's panties in a bunch. Just run around your favorite city with the following macro: /me pickpockets %t for 3g4s6c.
If you ever wonder why the rogue in your party is taking so long to sap a mob, now you know. My fellow rogues, have you done your unfair share of looting lately?
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