Warlords of Draenor: Rogues and the return of Griftah

I love playing a rogue. I like the sneaky fun of being able to stealth past mobs that would otherwise happily eat my face, I love being able to stun, kick, and poison my way to certain victory. And I love the little quirks of the class. But rogues, for all their entertainment value, don't exactly have a lot to offer in the way of flashy fun factor — which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face pop up in Warlords of Draenor in a rogue-only series of quests.

Griftah, the wily troll who sells items of questionable value to players, has been a fixture in the game since Burning Crusade, where he underwent his own strange little storyline of being caught, punished, and allowed back into Shattrath City. Since then, he's been seen here and there in game — but never in the kind of entertaining scope and capacity he had back in Burning Crusade. So what do rogues, fun factor, and everyone's favorite con artist troll have in common? Plenty, in the upcoming expansion.

Rogues will quickly notice an interesting change when they pickpocket a mob in Warlords of Draenor — they will immediately obtain a Secretive Whistle. In addition, gone are the days of strange, gray vendor items, it seems — mobs drop rings, necklaces, and other baubles with some apparent value. Some are white, some are green, but you will occasionally pickpocket a blue or even purple piece of jewelry from an unwitting humanoid out in the Draenor wilds. What gives? If you blow the whistle, you'll quickly find out.

The whistle summons none other than Griftah. I guess this answers the question of where all those Tikbalang Wards and Talismans of True Treasure Tracking came from. In exchange for your goods, he'll fork over Dingy Iron Coins, which collect in your Currency tab but otherwise appear to serve no purpose at all. But here's the catch — Griftah would like the Dingy Iron Coins back again, once you've collected enough of them. Why? I have absolutely no idea, and Griftah goes out of his way to point out that yes, this makes very little sense, but "it be complicated, mon."

Collect 1,000 Dingy Iron Coins by pickpocketing mobs, using your whistle and fencing your goods, and you'll get 250g. This appears to be a repeatable, weekly quest, but it doesn't seem to be fully implemented on the beta just yet. However, what it really means is this — for rogues, pickpocketing is suddenly a viable secondary source of income. 250 gold isn't a heck of a lot for a weekly haul, but it's better than nothing at all. And pickpocketing, which used to be just for fun, now has more of an incentive behind it.