Why are rogues and warlocks are so unpopular?

Hello fellow players!
I realised that at alliance, rogues and warlocks are quite low populated at 80 lvl(i searched by who 80-80 c-"rogue" command) and and rogues at horde are quite low. Beside that, paladins, druid and death knights are quite popular. Still people in raids lack holy paladins. I wonder why are players' preferences are like this? Are rogues too weak and paladins are too strong at WoTLK? And howcome there is still need of paladins even though there are many? This made me thinking.
Thank you for answers.
Koray

Warlock is relatively hard to play and is somewhat less rewarding, especially in PvP: low mobility, mediocre survival, easily counterable CC. Also, in PvE it can fit only a DPS role, which makes the class pretty straightforward and less versatile than, say, Shadow Priest, a hybrid spec being able to offheal, especially in low and mid-level dungeons.

All of the above made Warlocks one of the least popular classes - not only here, but on retail servers as well.

Rogues, on the other hand (despite being a solely DPS class as well), are quite decent both in PvP and PvE, but it's the hardest class to level in a no RDF, no loom condition. Rogues can't heal at ALL in Wrath (except bandages), so they have hard times to kill elites, deal with packs of mobs, surviving at low and mid levels overall. In PvP rogues got hard times vs. plate classes, and since plate classes are the strongest in Wrath PvP, it also has its influence on Rogues' population.

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Originally Posted by Ermelloth

Warlock is relatively hard to play and is somewhat less rewarding, especially in PvP: low mobility, mediocre survival, easily counterable CC. Also, in PvE it can fit only a DPS role, which makes the class pretty straightforward and less versatile than, say, Shadow Priest, a hybrid spec being able to offheal, especially in low and mid-level dungeons.

All of the above made Warlocks one of the least popular classes - not only here, but on retail servers as well.

Rogues, on the other hand (despite being a solely DPS class as well), are quite decent both in PvP and PvE, but it's the hardest class to level in a no RDF, no loom condition. Rogues can't heal at ALL in Wrath (except bandages), so they have hard times to kill elites, deal with packs of mobs, surviving at low and mid levels overall. In PvP rogues got hard times vs. plate classes, and since plate classes are the strongest in Wrath PvP, it also has its influence on Rogues' population.

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Rogues are very easy to lvl man, not sure where did you get that impression. Easy all the way really and after 60 when you get killing spree-asuming you are combat- it's a aoe **** fest, killing 5+ mobs at the same time. Lvling priest, now that's a pain.

Wherever i look there's 3 warlocks there, talking from the horde perspective.

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Originally Posted by baxuz

Wherever i look there's 3 warlocks there, talking from the horde perspective.

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For horde, warlock population is quite balanced with 11%, it is low for alliance(5%)

Idk man im playing horde lock, every single voa i have 3+ locks, never less.

Warlock is fun to play, maybe people just have them already leveled up and geared. They only join for raids but nothing else to do during the week.

Why bother playing lock/rog when you can happily 1 2 3 your way to instant happiness with warr/pal/dk

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Originally Posted by Micmengodx

Why bother playing lock/rog when you can happily 1 2 3 your way to instant happiness with warr/pal/dk

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This guy knows

From my personal experience, I've found warlocks a quite boring class to lvl up in a 1x realm (at least leveling as a demo lock). You can't fight more than 2 mobs and you have to wait up until lvl 60 to get the Demon Form and some other useful spells (like, you have Molten Core talented but still you haven't learned Incerinate). On the pve side of things, they are a pure dps class but usually a guild doesn't bring more than one or two locks (one being demo for the spell power buff and the curse of the elements). On the pvp side of things, those who say warlocks are not good, well.. I guess you have never faced a decent one. Both destro and affly are awesome pvp specs and the most hated 3vs3 setup is LSx, which stands for: lock (usually destro), shaman (elemental) and a healer (holy paladin, resto dudu or disci priest).

PvE-wise, no one wants more than one rogue in their raid, and s/he should be combat. Sub is not viable. Assa brings no unique buffs and does not deal extraordinary DPS to compensate either. One rogue to keep Tricks of the Trade on the tank, Savage Combat on the boss, and to Shiv shamblings on LK is more than enough. That's 1/10 class for 1/25 spots. Simple math.

Warlocks are far more precious than rogues. Soulstones, healthstones, summons, curses, Demon Pact (if Demonology). Basically, if you're a good demo lock, people will always want you in their raids. Affliction locks, on the other hand, tend to deal considerable amounts of damage while providing these same benefits again.

Seen plenty of rogues. Let's talk about the tank shortage!

When you make a rogue, you generally arent doing it cuz u like PvE. You make it because you want to stab people in the back, also they provide little for raid buffs. Warlock is one of the weakest caster DPS specs thus it is unpopular also only 1 warlock is needed for demonology buffs.

So which class is brought to raids most?
BTW after a quick search, i found that rogue is the top DPS class, isnt that a good thing to bring to raid, are buffs the only useful thing in a raid?

The thing is, you won't get top raid DPS by simply stacking 17 combat rogues. That's not how raid comps work. If you have, like, 2-3 BiS geared combat rogues in your guild, then yeah, you'd take them. But otherwise - 1 rogue and then pretty much any other class would be better. Mages do almost the same DPS rogues do but at range, and they give debuffs, buffs, table, and can open portals for re-spec, re-flask or raid re-fill in the middle of the raid. Meanwhile, rogues are just DPS bots with Savage Combat and Tricks of the Trade - that's all.

As Maximus said, the main reason why there are so many rogues is simply because they're fun in PvP.