What drives a poor reputation for the Rogue class?

[Witty Username]

That said, good golly does that sound like a terrible time comparatively to now. Probably doesn't feel like that back then, but I'm glad I started in 5e!

Eh, it wasn't all that bad. Enemies that couldn't be sneak attacked were pretty easy to identify (the rule of thumb was enemies without a traditional anatomy: undead, constructs and oozes).
Also sneak attack wasn't expected every turn, the rogue attack line was comparable to say monk without it, so you could get multiple attacks a turn, in exchange it was easier to outright blender enemies with sneak attack.
And the thing I still stand by, no arbitrary weapon restrictions. Axes, clubs, saps, longswords, garrote wire, wine bottles etc. were all valid weapons for sneak attacks because it was considered a tactics thing.