friend/former guildmate of mine is wondering the following for a current guildie of his:
im assuming he could have found this on ej? anyway, if someone would like to write a response that would be cool. also, pessi will notice this is the guy that has me ask him rogue questions sometimes.
A rogue's most fundamental abilities, such as Sinister Strike and Mutilate are instant attacks which inflict damage based on the weapon damage of the rogue's main-hand weapon. Rogues therefore find it desirable to use a weapon with the best average damage to maximize their DPS.
Weapon speed does not affect the damage bonus provided by a rogue's attack power. Instead, damage is calculated according to the following formula:
Normalized Damage = Base Weapon Damage + (Base Multiplier × Attack Power ÷ 14)
The "base multiplier" depends on weapon type: 1.7 for daggers, and 2.4 for fist weapons, swords and maces. Although weapon speed for normalized attacks does not contribute to the bonus damage from attack power, if you have 2 weapons of equal DPS, the slower weapon will have a higher base damage (average damage) and thus cause more damage overall. The exception to this rule involves Riposte and Ghostly Strike. Neither ability is normalized, meaning that slow weapons with high damage ranges will inflict greater overall damage than fast weapons with low damage ranges.
Weapons held in the off hand have only two instant attacks: Shiv and the off-hand component of Mutilate. Otherwise their damage contribution is reasonably straightforward. Off-hand attacks suffer a standard damage penalty. Fast off-hand weapons increase the application rate of poisons, since they will hit more frequently than a slow weapon and therefore increase the chances of applying poison to a target. Most players choose to use the same type of off-hand as the main hand (or vice versa) in order to benefit from weapon specialization (if they are combat specced), but some prefer to use the fastest weapon available in order to quickly apply poisons and interrupt spellcasters.
Faster weapons are also sometimes favored for by those rogues who rely heavily on Combat Potency, since that talent affords the opportunity to regain up to 15 energy on a successful off-hand hit.
Ripped from Wiki, I haven't found anything on EJ that disputes what it says. I'm sure someone who actually plays a rogue can shed some better light on your question though.
Loyalty is overrated sometimes.