What drives a poor reputation for the Rogue class?

[Dr.Samurai]

I think @Blatant Beast has it right, talking about the rogue as a "selfish" class, something that also ties into the rather hilarious "lol pvp is totally fine and awesome and people who think me having my fun at their expense is bad are the real losers who just need to git gud" little tangent upthread; rogues have a bad reputation because they're, more than any other class, built around a set of mechanics and a thematic history that are kind of orthogonal to group play. Obviously they can be team players, because team play is a player choice, not a character choice - but if staying with the group, resting when they want to rest, and not taking their stuff means the class isn't playing to its potential or getting its time to shine, it's probably been accidentally designed for a different game.

The response to every skill is "The spellcaster can do it better than you, let them do it" and these same people are saying the rogue is the selfish class lol. Unbelievable. Meanwhile, the rogue is trying to find the critical clues and disarm the traps so the party can progress safely.

By the way... if you send the familiar forward to scout, you're putting the party in the same exact position as if the rogue were doing it. Except this time it's a wizard or druid so... now it's not a problem that everyone else is "twiddling their thumbs".

Other classes aren't slouches in non-combat stuff. For example, take a Druid.

A Rogue might have taken Expertise in Perception. A Druid will often have a similar base bonus simply by virtue of Wisdom being their main stat, then can boost it further using their abilities. For example, you can wildshape into a bird and gain keen sight for +5, not to mention an eye in the sky viewpoint and a handy disguise. Or they can have their familiar do it, since they can get those now from Tasha's.

A Rogue might have Expertise in Stealth on top of a higher Dexterity, but a Druid can drop a Pass Without Trace to give everyone in the party +10 for an hour, enabling full-party stealth tactics.

A Rogue might take Expertise in Athletics, but a Druid can just circumvent most navigation challenges, and they have better battlefield control than any grappling a single-attack Rogue can muster.

And a Druid's subclass features are often no slouch in the non-combat features department. For example, Stars Druid gets Guidance, a Reliable-Talent-esque feature, and a 1d6 Reaction check amp that can be used Prof/day to boost not only your own skill checks, but anyone in the party's. Or their saves or attack rolls, too.

So a Stars Druid is going to use both Wild Shapes for a familiar, and a +5 bonus to a Perception check. Very interesting use of resources there simply to 1-up the rogue.

This is what is called high optimization right?