Curse

Viruzzz · May 08, 2006, 04:41 PM // 16:41

assassins can be very nice tanks. they have a lot of usefull evade stances.
my guild leader got the survivor title on his assassin with mostly henchmen in the party, he later died because of an accident with lag, but he did make it to lvl 20

Astraea Zopyros · May 08, 2006, 07:50 PM // 19:50

I understand the general dislike for Assassins. They can be very difficult to heal at times, and certainly any more than 1-2 per team is very difficult to manage. However, if all the monks completely refuse to allow Assassins on their teams, the Assassins will never get any better. Therefore, I still monk for PuGS with Assassins. However, I will say, my limit is 2. Just as a team full of Warriors, Elementalists, Monks, etc., will probably not work out, neither will a team full of Assassins. That is the biggest issue currently--not that Assassins are bad, and die often (because any class played poorly will die often). The biggest problem is that so many teams are composed of overwhelming numbers of them. Balance in a team is very important. Just like a team of squishies needs their big, strong warriors to help protect them, a team of Assassins really needs some help as well.

If we all hate the Assassins, they'll never get any better. Give them a chance.

~Astraea

MelechRic · May 08, 2006, 09:33 PM // 21:33

I was doing Arborstone yesterday on my necro and I only ran into one assassin who was worth a damn. This guy was awesome and killed every caster (myself included) that he could get close to. Fortunately I was on my blood spiker so I made sure to nail him before he could get up close.

The guy could put mutliple conditions on you so fast it was amazing. Even w/ plague touch I was dead in around 5-7 seconds. Very nice and I sent him a PM telling him so. People like that should be encouraged to keep playing the Assassin class because ultimately they will be its ambassadors after all the hyperactive 12 year olds give up.

Sekkira · May 08, 2006, 09:55 PM // 21:55

As a healer/prot (depending on what I feel like playing at the time), I don't really mind if Assassins die a lot, as long as they do a bit of damage before kicking the bucket. They're not a waste of my energy, they tend to die before I even get a heal off on them so I usually just focus on the rest of the team if that Assassin is taking heavy damage.

Sure if they're right next to me because of recall and taking heavy damage, I'd attempt to heal them before kiting away so when they drop I'm not next.

Playing a healer is fun in Cantha.

Winterclaw · May 08, 2006, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Assassins tend to be a little on the fragile side, but not as bad as the casters. Sassies' biggest problem is unlike rangers, they are fighting up close and personal, and unlike warriors, they don't have +20AL versus physical. I can usually keep them alive at first, but once they have any sort of DP, it gets a lot tougher to keep them from getting even more.

MSecorsky · May 08, 2006, 10:02 PM // 22:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sekkira

As a healer/prot (depending on what I feel like playing at the time), I don't really mind if Assassins die a lot, as long as they do a bit of damage before kicking the bucket. They're not a waste of my energy, they tend to die before I even get a heal off on them so I usually just focus on the rest of the team if that Assassin is taking heavy damage.

Sure if they're right next to me because of recall and taking heavy damage, I'd attempt to heal them before kiting away so when they drop I'm not next.

Playing a healer is fun in Cantha.

I use Recall to escape danger and (usually) pop back to a monk... tell me in all honesty, what is a monks take on an assassin doing that? I've assumed it's the thing to do but would like to hear a monk's take on it.

Age · May 08, 2006, 10:10 PM // 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metanoia

http://www.crithitcomics.com/healmain.htm

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

Very cute and yes we Monks can be very moody at times.I could never understand how to play Assassin proberly in FPE the only way is to start from level 1 and up.They don't really have a lot of defensive skills.

Sekkira · May 08, 2006, 10:13 PM // 22:13

No problems with it at all, Monks should be in the back line and it's the best place to retreat to after letting off your combo.

Markaedw · May 08, 2006, 10:17 PM // 22:17

I prefer it, I make my brother use a recall spell any time I monk with his asn. To me an ASN's job is to jump in spike the guy and jump out before the guy has a chance to attack back.

Lord Iowerth · May 08, 2006, 10:43 PM // 22:43

As both a monk, and a recent assassin player, I can understand both sides of the issue ...

But lets concentrate on the problem: it's the playstyle (or should I say, the percieved playstyle) of the assassin that most don't understand. Let me explain:

Assassins are, as you would assume from their name, quite excellent at short bursts of very high DPS and condition stacking ... but lack the energy pool and AL to withstand a sustained battle. Your job as an assassin is not an easy one, but an important one nonetheless: let the tank of the group draw aggro, while you identify the most dangerous mob you're facing (enemy monk, enemy mesmer, etc) whichever is true for your current situation ... shadow step, sprint, or kite around the main aggro and take out your target with chained attacks, then fall back to the caster-line, regen, repeat. Assassins have +4 regen for a reason, you know ... a caster secondary suits the assassin well, as they can use hexes/spells to slow, blind, or otherwise deteriorate a target before moving in for the melee attacks.

I would recommend anyone who wants to play an Assassin well to play through a caster class or two, and maybe even a ranger, before advertising they are "experienced"

Also, Nightstalkers (I believe this is the one) has a +15AL while attacking benefit, and works significantly better at keeping you alive than +health valkyrie's or any of the other armors.

just my 2 cents

hellboy909 · May 08, 2006, 10:44 PM // 22:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markaedw

To me an ASN's job is to jump in spike the guy and jump out before the guy has a chance to attack back.

Yup. Playing as one now in PvE I can tell you I've never had to be on my toes so much. Took Warrior as secondary just to get Sprint (of course not knowing assassins have a similar skill) and lemme tell you, it gets a LOT of use. Dive in, deliver combos (hopefully killing target) and then run like hell. Haven't got the hang of Recall yet because I usually play solo or with henchies. Does recalling to a Monk/other caster draw aggro?

Mandy Memory · May 08, 2006, 10:48 PM // 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nominal_Fee

Oh my, oh my, you are doing it all wrong ! Just send a nice "kick all assassins or I leave" to your leader when joining. Guess who would he rather have on his party...

So...very...true.

Lol I like the assassins, but I play a MM...so I get an extra minion AND soul reaping energy. They are the saccers that dont even try.

Guardian of the Light · May 08, 2006, 11:35 PM // 23:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

Assmos does not work real well. Besides I see just as many bad Assme or Assnec's as I do Assmo's. How about Assex?

I know Assawars. Their assassins that think their warriors.

By the way Wammo was a term to decribe the dumb W/Mo the other kind of W/Mo is know as a W/Mo.

Lepton CFd · May 08, 2006, 11:48 PM // 23:48

I have much the same problem as Fawn Dul--I've played as a healer monk for quite a while in both PvP and PvE. I consider myself quite a good monk, I've never had any complaints against me, except those times when a wammo goes and pulls the entire map and dies and says LIEK WTF OMFG Y DIDNT U HEAL ME U N00B OMFG. However, there does seem to be too many Assassins that don't know to play their class properly. They just click an enemy, start attacking it, use some +dmg skills, and that's all they do. That is NOT how you play an Assassin >_< If you absolutely desire to do that, at least be an A/W and use warrior stances or something so you have more armor (though I'm not sure if that'd be good in terms of energy shortages). Anyways, back to my point, I find myself concentrating way too much on the Assassin(s) in my party, and spending about 60% of my energy on just one Assassin alone. If Word of Healing didn't exist, I'm not sure if it'd be possible to heal some of these less-experienced Assassins.

However, I must admit, I have been in groups with EXPERIENCED Assassin who killed quickly and rarely needed healing. Very pleasing =)

Beau Nolan · May 09, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fawn Dul

...A/Mo- again I was hopeful for making something more along the lines of my WMo, with staying power with self healing, but quickly found that if you use your energy for healing you aren't doing the damage you should.

A/Ele, A/R- Mixing distance with the close in Assassin skills seem counter-productive.

A/W- Can't really mix daggers with Hammer/Sword/Axe, so didn't really work, might work better as a W/A- haven't tried that yet.

A/Mes- Might work with Energy stealing to keep the dps up, but really don't want to hang around to pound on one mob to long because they start to pound on you...

I've actually made a rather successful Assassin character with a Warrior secondary....using the tactics and strength skills to beef up my defense while landing my attack then shadow stepping back to the healer makes me an a better asset than charging in and attemting to 'Tank' it.

UndeadRoadkill · May 09, 2006, 03:02 AM // 03:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fawn Dul

A/W- Can't really mix daggers with Hammer/Sword/Axe, so didn't really work

There's a whole lot more to warriors than weapon skills, you know.

felinette · May 09, 2006, 03:17 AM // 03:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lepton CFd

I consider myself quite a good monk, I've never had any complaints against me, except those times when a wammo goes and pulls the entire map and dies and says LIEK WTF OMFG Y DIDNT U HEAL ME U N00B OMFG.

That recently happened to me. I'd been henching with my Canthan monk to avoid crap like that, but decided to group for Quimang's Last Stand. When we got to Quimang's base, the warrior rushed in and simultaneously aggroed EVERYTHING. I did my best to try to keep him healed, but couldn't do it. He died, and as the rest of us were running, yells out, "Hey monk. You have to heal." Like duh, as if I don't know that. I yelled at him and another person in the group yelled at him too. He shut up after that, and we went on to complete the quest. Always love those rambo players who armchair monk when they haven't got a clue.

As far as assassins go, I recently created one, and after reading all the posts here, expected to die a lot, but so far I'm more than halfway to the survivor title and have exclusively henched. I doubt I'll get the title because I know there are some tough areas and quests coming up, but she's made it further without dying than my other characters have.

Quote:

However, there does seem to be too many Assassins that don't know to play their class properly. They just click an enemy, start attacking it, use some +dmg skills, and that's all they do.

Yeah, I've seen that so often. The assassins usually die a lot and are running 60% DP by the time we finish a mission. It starts to get hilarious near the end--one hit and they drop. Another player said they're squishy--I agree that the bad ones are.

ManadartheHealer · May 09, 2006, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

Assmos does not work real well. Besides I see just as many bad Assme or Assnec's as I do Assmo's. How about Assex?

First off, an Assassin/Monk sounds best abbrieviated as "Ammo". If everyone says it enough, people will catch on

The only problem with assassins is that many good players shy away from the class (thinking it requires too many defensive skillslots), so there are no people to create builds for the morons to use. Maybe if the noobier players had a model to go by, they would do better (even though Assassins are not nearly as idiot-proof with ANY skillbuild as a generic warrior build is).

I have literally seen assassins running at the front of the group, and then teleporting across the aggro circle to the enemy, putting themselves into a situation where even a Wammo probably wouldn't make it.

Matsumi · May 09, 2006, 03:36 AM // 03:36

I've played with some assassins as a monk, but I just heal them differently. Some things that come to mind are vigorous spirit, healing seed, healing hands, etc. Since it's a new profession, you sort of have to adapt to their playing style a little bit more. VS works great on warriors too, unless they use a hammer. If you heal any type of player too much, they start to think they can get away with more. But when the healing stops due to energy consumption, that's when they get mad, because you spoiled them before. If you don't spoil them to begin with, they start looking more at what they're doing, hopefully.

UndeadRoadkill · May 09, 2006, 03:39 AM // 03:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManadartheHealer

The only problem with assassins is that many good players shy away from the class (thinking it requires too many defensive skillslots), so there are no people to create builds for the morons to use. Maybe if the noobier players had a model to go by, they would do better (even though Assassins are not nearly as idiot-proof with ANY skillbuild as a generic warrior build is).

Yeah, but the thing is, it's more a way of thinking than just a build. If they had the greatest build, n00bs still wouldn't understand how to use it, they'd just feel more justified in yelling at the monk. "WTF I HAVE UBER-1337 DEFENSE BUILD, Y CANT U HEAL ME!?"