Allright, I don't want ot be a jerk, but that is probably the stupidest thing i've heard in a while.
Warriors dont have 10 more armor. Their physical defense is almost always 100, and if you calculate how much armor they would need to have that 4-5 damage reduction they get with knights and a superior absorption rune, they have f^%&ing crazy defense. Also, if the assassin wouldnt kill fast, what would it do?
My point was that they have the same amount of energy as Monks, Ritualists, Necromancers, and Mesmers, with 10 more armor.
A/N, A/Me...you could use all the skills of your secondary class almost as well as if it was your primary, plus you get more base damage mitigation and access to very powerful physical attacks. It's very powerful, possibly overpowered.
I hoped that the female Assassin and Ritualist would look better... MOVE better, but they don't. Depending on the current combo you choose, the Assassin can end up looking like another child of the 80s, in Spandex biker shorts or suited up to her eyeballs (literally!). Same with the Ritualist.
I agree with you on the Assassin bit. I was certain I was going to play an Assassin based on the CGW cover, but it won't happen now. Wish more non-short and/or spiky hairstyles were offered. Also wish some of the faces offered didn't come with so much makeup and have toothy grins. The skirts she wears are a bit ugly too. Though I do like how they're more lithe and athletic-looking than other models in the game.
The ritualist on the other hand, I love. As far as I'm concerned, she's almost up there with the Mesmer in terms of looks. I love the detail on the +energy gloves, boots, and skirt she wears. Finally a +energy outfit that isn't all tatoos or lingerie! The tribal look is refreshing too. I make sure she always has her helmet hidden though.
Can't comment on the mechanics since I didn't pay much attention. Spent most of my time on character generation...
By the way, anybody happen to know what ethnic group/culture the Ritualist is based on? The names of her spells seem to be of Romanian, Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hindu origin depending on what you pick.
I've played the assassin a few hours in the arena today and... I don't really like the assassin much. I mean, the combo chains can do a hell of a lot of damage, but after you set off your first 2 chains, you're out of energy and your damage output without skills is negligible. And their self healing and some of their defenses are downright horrible without some form of monk/ritualist support. All they can do is run in like crazy, drop their combo chain off once or twice and then they get squashed by some annoyed warrior/monk.
Just another squishy class, playing with knives.
The self healing isn't bad for assassins. But you need to put points in Shadow Arts and add "Shadow Refuge" skill.
Distortion, blind, and ward against melee work Assassins since they break the attack chain. I've been farming faction reccently by running my warder and just targeting all the assasin prebuilds.
Mesmers aren't great against ritualists because spirits being cast arent' technically spells.
Mesmers can power block the restorative spells. And since rituals cost quite a bit of mana, edenial works well against them. Also, the long casting time for rituals mean opportunity for an interrupt via leech sig and cry of frustration.
First thought on Ritualist: They look awesome and I like their crazy casting movements xD The female Ritualist is very gorgeous.
First thought on Assassin: Holy cow, they are very skinny! @_@ Although, I like their attack/fast running movement. I hope they beef up the Assassins a little bit before the release of Factions, especially the females. @_@
The problem isnt that they're real skinny, it's that they're all wearing body-suits.
My point was that they have the same amount of energy as Monks, Ritualists, Necromancers, and Mesmers, with 10 more armor.
A/N, A/Me...you could use all the skills of your secondary class almost as well as if it was your primary, plus you get more base damage mitigation and access to very powerful physical attacks. It's very powerful, possibly overpowered.
That's not completely true, Assassins have roughly 10-20 less energy than a caster class, they just have the same regen. And if you had a caster primary you would have something that helps your energy, like the ele, necro, or even ranger. The energy recovery you get from the assassin primary doesnt trigger nearly often enouph to be as good for pure energy as something like Soul Reaping or Expertise.
And it would be very hard to put a good amount of points into both your physicle attack skill AND spells, while still being worth anything.
I want to see PvE Assassins myself. Still, assassins and ritualists are like rogues and druids...assassins' high attack, low def attributes, and the ritualists' spirit summoning and healing. There's still alot to learn regarding the classes and good builds, but right now, they look promising as good additions to a party.
Ritualists are extremely annoying and considerably powerful. I cant see a way to effectively shut them down either. Every single attribute is excellent and has great skills associated with it. I'm going to miss this class a lot after the event even though I've been playing with the Assassin more.
When I thought.. "Assassin" I thought rogues from the middle ages. When people were saying ninjas I thought "Dude it's the middle ages tehy can't look like...omg" And I saw it NINJAS...
Now I think they look cool but it doesn't fit well into the whole middle ages thing.. I mean all the character's face are asain and all the rits look like they came from some africa place (Remind you... the rits seem like they're on the same land as the assassins.)
I'm not racist or made.. It's funny to see an assassin sneaking around or rolling on the ground to sprint like in Naruto in a middle age era. =) But hey whatever works they're still cool.
Issues with Assassins...
Chain combos - Yeah it sucks major when you have three attacks that are a chain, but you can manage easily. The daggers attack faster than swords and axes.. Add frenzy to it and you'll do fine really or don't bother fighting one of those "Can't hit me" people.
Energy - Folks seriously use zealous daggers it helps A LOT while you're attacking and getting that extra energy per hit plus crit attacks you're always going to have 50% energy.
Assassins and they're evading. My assassin in pvp uses gladiator's defense and let me tell you how many times I killed other assassins that not only attack fast they miss a lot and die from my defense (And I make sure they don't mirror stance me)
There's tweaking needed for the assassin I think but then again I got 16 flawless wins in a row with a r/a a RT and I think another RT even though we did fight all kinds of groups. Even the same kind of groups as us. So no the assassins are not over powered nor are the RTs. Hit us with SS degen or knock down, etc we lose FAST. =P
Edit - Also one way to not lose a chain attack are to use more lead attacks (Like having two one as a back up to finish your combo)
Last edited by Detis Zan; Jan 21, 2006 at 02:05 AM // 02:05..
Assasin skill set seems to be good as a secondary to aid in flag/relic runs. The primary skill set is not that effective for disruption and it doesnt really spike that hard either. It seems ok for pressure over time, but it dies really really easy compared to a warrior or a ranger. A air ele or warrior looks at it funny and the character just folds.
Ritualists seem to have alot of nice tricks, many of which i havent played with yet. Playing against it is rather annoying in general, especially the healer types as its a combination healing from many different sources instead of localized within one character only. This invaraibly casues a little bit of whack a mole on the spirits before players can be killed effectivly at times.
A/R is the new paladin. 5 conditions with one combo; a caster dead, a warrior useless, every 15 seconds. And damn hard to kill.
You'll be seeing a lot of A/Rs, it's *seriously* uber right now, basically a one-man spike-team.
The ritualist is OK, it's like a specialist monk. I've at present no problems with ritualists, except that their more effective healing/protection means matches drag on for ever.
Last edited by Numa Pompilius; Jan 21, 2006 at 04:39 AM // 04:39..
NOTE: I only used the preset templates, and didn't buy any new skills.
Assasin - I played A/W and R/A
Well, they seem to be able to take down unprepared enemies really well. I don't really like that combos pretty much mean that all skills are blocked out at one time (and if they're not, there's not much point, as you need to use one to use the other). The transportation skills seem interesting - only tried Shadow Step. Didn't find it that useful, but then again, I didn't really think about it that much. However, I kept dieing from lack of decent healing skills. While I was able to evade many melee attacks, hexes were devestating. Still, it's good for things like Kill Count, since I can take down about 3 people before dieing, if I'm lucky.
Ritualist - I played Rt/Mo
I really like this class. I used it only for healing, and I have to say, I think it does the job much better than a Monk. Of course, I used a Monk seccondary anyway. It kept my allies alive really well, until the opposing team suddenly noticed their opponents' HP jumping up about 150 HP at a time. Then they run after me. Ritualist dies. Seems to be best for healing others, and not yourself. I'm thinking a W/Rt healer would be great - Ritualist with armor. Then again, maybe that's just me.
Overall: I enjoyed playing these new classes, although I found them lacking in the defense area. With a few decent healers, this wouldn't be a problem. Except that means taking away a few good attacks for a few decent healers.
Teams that do split will proably stay away from ritualist.
If flagstand standoffs become the common stratigic point of winning combat, teams will have lots of ritualist to make a mobile base with offensive/defensive properities.
Im sure there is a lot of stuff I dont see now. But after fiddling around with them, this looks like there obvious strenghs, weakness and roles in thier teams.
Last edited by Goonter; Jan 21, 2006 at 04:54 AM // 04:54..