Curse

Fitz Rinley · Jun 12, 2006, 04:41 PM // 16:41

I propose two things for the assassin class in order to improve character development and play in the PvE arena:

1. We need a bind-key that targets something like:
a. The farthest away live party member.
b. The farthest away live party monk.

This would make Word of Recall more valuable, instead of a random action which is only potentially going to happen. I have never had the camera remain stable enough to use Word of Recall. Constant camera motion during combat, resurrections, etc. make the skill virtually useless, IMO. Tagging names in the Party Formation roster does little as one cannot me certain of their location and may not have time for several tags in the middle of combat.

2. We need a stepping retreat skill available from the Shing Jea Monastery area so that an Assassin may from the beginning become familiar with using them to escape. I would highly recommend taking Death's Charge out of the Shing Jea quest rewards and placing Word of Recall, Viper's Defense, or some similar skill in as a substitute.

Fitz

prodigy ming · Jun 12, 2006, 11:45 PM // 23:45

i agree!
i have die quite a bit using recall, only to found myself in a worst situation.
and giving us death charge at the beginning really encourage assassins to pop way up in the front line and dragging the monk who is trying to heal him along. assassins need to learn to retreat early on the game, not soloing in the front line before everyone else can catch up.

EternalTempest · Jun 12, 2006, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Not a bad idea maybe have a "toggle" that makes the sklls act as normal or switch them to what you suggest.

/signed

draxynnic · Jun 13, 2006, 02:31 AM // 02:31

Hrrmn...

One thing to consider is that 'target ally' skills, if an enemy is targetted, affect the caster by default. Would it be possibly to make skills like Word of Recall automatically target the nearest ally in a similar manner, if the player is not currently targetting an ally?

Fitz Rinley · Jun 13, 2006, 01:24 PM // 13:24

Specifically you do not want to target nearest ally. You can already do this with the 'V' key. Targetting nearest ally will keep the assassin in the same location as the nearest Warrior or Assassin who is also in melee combat. We need the assassin to be able to leave.

I may be in error on the Word of Recall. I went back and only found a skill called Recall which allows a predetermined party member to be designated for -1 energy regen. This is still very iffy as the party member in question may not be to the rear eschalon (especially if an NPC like a monk) or may not be alive (see again especially if an NPC like a monk).

Fitz

Lun-Sei · Jun 13, 2006, 02:36 PM // 14:36

Well I do agree with the idea... /signed

ColaManiac · Jun 13, 2006, 02:39 PM // 14:39

well if there is target nearest ally... i think it would be easy to just add target farest ally button...
/signed... it dosn't hurt...

Ken Dei · Jun 13, 2006, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Add a new menu!

Shadowstep Priorities:

Lists the name of your skills, along with the following options for each:

Target:
-Nearest Allied ()

-Farthest Allied ()

-Left -coding protocol on "random" teleports places a preference on teleporting you to the left side of your current camera orientation.

-Right -coding protocol on "random" teleports places a preference on teleporting you to the right side of your current camera orientation.

-Forward -coding protocol on "random" teleports places a preference on teleporting you to the forward side of your current camera orientation.

-Behind -coding protocol on "random" teleports places a preference on teleporting you to the behind side of your current camera orientation.

Class: Allied Only
(Melee)
(Caster)
(Assassin)
(Warrior)
(Monk)
(Ritualist)
(Elementalist)
(Mesmer)
(Necromancer)
(Ranger)

Therefore theoretically it would look like this. (2-3 example skills)

While targeting an enemy:

Viper's Defense:
-Target (Left) when teleported.

Heart of Shadow:
-Target (Behind) when teleported.

Return:
-Target (Farthest) allied (Monk) when teleported.

Naturally, "random" teleports won't place you in a specific location, but they would be much improved/less risky if we could at least determine the determine the direction which the random teleport will send the Assassin.

Also having auto-target for non-random teleports would make them less hazardous to use, especially under laggy conditions where the act of clicking on the ally you want to go to might conflict with lag.

The auto-targeting would only apply to ALLIES and random teleports. Assassins would still have to find their enemy targets like everyone else.

Anyway:

"Signet of Approval"

BahamutKaiser · Jun 14, 2006, 03:41 AM // 03:41

I can agree with having a target furthest allie, even if this is the only function you would use it with, it is still worth it.

I hate deaths charge myself, advancing into combat just makes the soft Assassin a target for destruction, the healing only works if your already weaker then your opponent, making it a bad time to charge toward your enemy, and worst of all, it can only be used every 45 seconds, with that kind of cast time you can count of charging toward one enemy during the course of a battle, and it certainly isn't enough to keep you alive.

I think the whole lot of teleports are botched, the long recast times, one way travel, and well the long recast times can be stated twice since they are so long....

Compared to sprint or other running moves, it may be a bit faster, but it doesn't keep you toe to toe with a running enemy, and since it is one way, it is only good for either retreating, or advancing, movement speed skills can be used both ways. Furthermore, Assassin doesn't have the armor a Warroir does, being able to teleport to or away from a target is essential for Assassins to overcome the difference in armor, they can't brush of attacks wile advancing and retreating like Warrior does.

I realy don't understand why there isn't simply an elite teleport that allows an Assassin to teleport to enemies or allies regularly. Deaths charge should be a 15-20 second recast, that way the circumstantial healing might be used for something, and the skill would play a part in moving from one target to another in combat rather than a one hit wonder which shouldn't be used to advance and can't really be used to retreat..... Heart of Shadow should be 5 second recast, it is half as effective as Reversal of Fortune for defense, and it is a random teleport in your location, and you can only use it on yourself, the least you should be able to do is cast it often enough to continously maintain yourself. Every class shouldn't have to rely on monk secondary for healing, a warrior has heavy armor so it is natural that he uses monk secondary to heal himself, Assassin doesn't and should have skills to keep himself alive in his own inventory, and I don't mean 4 skills together either, If 2 or 3 skills arn't enough for Assassin to resonablly maintain himself then something is wrong, this is a class that depends more on skills than equipment, thus the weaker armor and higher energy regeneration, he should have skills enough to provide healing and support to himself at the least.

The whole lot of Assassin self support and healing skills are slack IMO. He is a melee fighter with less armor but more energy then Warrior, his skills should be enough to even the playing field offensively and defensively with warrior, and they simply don't.

Sorry for going well off the subject, but I feel there is alot more wrong with assassin than having trouble targeting your furthest allie for 3 or 4 retreat teleports.

Terra Xin · Jun 14, 2006, 03:50 AM // 03:50

I reckon you would be able to harness the map markers on your radar to indicate by colour or by an additional border to know either the location of your Recalled tally, or the location to where your stepped with your AoD. That whay when you end it, you're not going to end up even more deeper in the fray!

Fitz Rinley · Jun 15, 2006, 01:06 PM // 13:06

I have two assassins. One is a ranger secondary, and uses many more ranger skills than assassin - calling into question the validity of the class. If I need to be at range, then the ranger assassin is better. That way I get expertise reductions for ranger skills, and any assassin skills of value I can add since they also are only a 25 energy base - their skills are balanced to the same value. Since the assassin does not get expertise, their ranger skills are costly.

The other option is to be a suicide bomber with little expectation or intention of getting out alive. Death's Charge in, execute as many Elementalist AoE spells as possible, or perhaps monk SoJ, Kirin's Wrath, Symbol of Wrath, and then become a Well for your party Necro - A new form of Sac with an entirely new meaning to Amo (sic Ammo).

Fitz

Priest Of Sin · Jun 15, 2006, 03:47 PM // 15:47

Ahh, deaths charge. I've ONLY ever used it on my warrior, because I know he can take the punishment. Seems kinda useless that a light-armored assassin has this skill that shoves them right in front of the pain.

/signed