It depends on the type and style of "rock boots". That name used to be pretty much affiliated with the DUI rock boots but now, anything from any mfg that isn't wet boots are called rock boots. So, some may be negative, some positive, and some neutral.
It also depends on what they are going over. Drysuit socks may be neutrally buoyant nylon type material or neoprene that has a little inherent buoyancy.
You may or may not be able to use your wetsuit boots depending on the socks. They may not fit once you get your undergarment socks on.
Normally you can't just slide bare feet into the drysuit socks. Will be uncomfortable and not offer good insulation.
I would say that a sizeable majority of divers dive dry with vest type BC's. Is it ideal? That's debatable due to the inherent buoyancy many vest type BCs have and the often inability to put weight where it's needed. But I dived dry for nearly two years with a vest before I went to a back plate and wing.
Then for the last 10 years in sidemount.
If you're profile is correct, you have less than 25 dives. Why would you be deciding to take drysuit and sidemount at this time?
I would advise you to get the drysuit, get another 25-50 dives in with it in single tank, and then once you have the suit figured out, find a good sidemount instructor and then move into sidemount.
I know it looks cool and it is, but if your buoyancy and trim is not dead nuts on to begin with, you'll have a harder time moving into sidemount. Especially in a drysuit.
I have around 800 dives in a drysuit and a few hundred in sidemount using 6 different rigs. I taught drysuit since 2008 and sidemount since 2012 until retiring from teaching this year.
Your question asking if anyone dives dry with a vest BC tells me you need to do a little more research and to get out and dive more with different people in different places.
Unless you routinely dive or intend to dive cold water, I'd advise you, if you were my student/customer, to slow down and just dive more.
I'd also advise you to find an instructor that has several sidemount rigs of different types/makes/mfg's and do an Intro type session or sessions. You may find you don't like it.
Getting into sidemount involves some serious investment in time and money. Not to mention the drysuit.
If you find an instructor who says they can get you sidemount certed in a weekend, run like hell from them. At the least ask how many dives they do SM vs backmount. Even when I was teaching, I often used SM instead of backmount for checkout dives. My rec diving is all sidemount and usually solo.
Adding a drsyuit at the same time is likely to be overwhelming.
I haven't picked out footwear for the drysuit yet. Waiting on the suit to arrive and see if it fits well first.
