Oh heck. Assassins. (Mesmer thread.)

[SnipiousMax]

Originally Posted by Hella Good

I think it's fair to say that the two won't be facing each other much. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Assas aren't incorporated as primaries in 8v8 builds at all but rather are used as secondaries. Could be wrong of course.

Actually one of my biggest worries is that PvP will continue uninterrupted, and ignore the new classes. The rut that the 8v8 metagame has gotten itself into is gonna be hard to shake out of.

[Siren]

But the reality of the situation remains: once people realize how effective primary Assassins are, we'll see more and more of them in PvP. They're like Mesmers; at first, most people ignored Mesmers. Then a few people started "unlocking" their potential. Now no team goes without one or two primary Mes.

It'll be the same thing with Assassins. I saw the same kind of "Meh" attitude toward Mesmers as I'm seeing with Assassins currently. That will change once people realize that Assassins can give Mesmers a run for their money when it comes to CasterHate. Not to mention mobility. And DPS. And condition infliction (they damn near surpass every profession for condition infliction). And monk pressure.

What people are really going to hate about Assassins is how they may very well make Martyr obsolete. You see the Purge Conditions/Martyr builds? The Monk is dead if they decide to Martyr the multitudes of Assassin conditions all at once. I'm looking forward to that target call...Death's Charge over, use a lead attack, then Entangling, then whatever I feel like...leaning in the direction of letting them get up, then Temple Strike them, then exhaust the bastard. Martyr will only be possible if another Monk is running Restore Condition. And having two Monks using their Elite slot for cond removal is silly.

I wonder what happens if we see teams starting to use three Monks? Two for team health concerns, and the third strictly for hex/cond removal? We don't really see any need for it right now, do we? Most teams get by on two. If a third Monk is required for dedicated hex/cond removal...what's that say about Assassins?

For a class that's supposedly so ineffective, they may very well be the driving force behind a dedicated hex/cond removal Monk carrying Restore Condition.

That doesn't make Assassins sound so "Whirling Teddybear"-ish to me. ~_^

Originally Posted by Max

I keep hearing that (and even said) that Assassins will be weak without energy. But honestly in a team battle, why would you pick an assassin over a monk or another mesmer to start your usual E.Denial? If someone started casting burn/surge/weariness on a warrior, when there were other targets around, I would say it was an inexperienced Mesmer.

Good question. If the Mes focuses the e-denial on an Assassin, it's most likely...

1) The Mes doesn't know what they're doing...and they don't understand why e-denial on Assassins won't be as effective as on Monks.

and 2) The Assassin is understood to pose a great enough threat to warrant a more or less useless e-denial attack.

If that makes sense.

[Ninetail Trickster]

Why is the monk dead? Conditions don't stack... just Martyr and Purge Conditions. Problem solved, eh?
Rest of your argument holds up alright. Unfortunately, Assassins are not like Mesmers. A cloak-and-dagger killer has a different appeal than a jig-dancing thespian. Consequently, different people will play- most of which will not be interested in unlocking anything. Of course there will be exceptions, such as yourself, but on the whole I expect a lot of combo-chainers with names like 'Death Dragon Darker' and such.

[Hella Good]

Shackwrack is about as much of e-denial that you need to devote to anything with less than 45 nrg that attacks. Works perfectly fine and is fairly spammable. Shackwrack will probably be the dominant choice vs Assas.

[Siren]

Originally Posted by Ninetail Trickster

Why is the monk dead? Conditions don't stack... just Martyr and Purge Conditions. Problem solved, eh?

The Monk is dead because the conditions he or she will be Martyr-ing will very likely be all of the following in the following order, provided the Assassins would be specced appropriately:

Bleed, Deep Wound, Poison, Cripple, Blind, Dazed.

Then provided the Assassin(s) notice the Martyr, you can add Exhaustion to that list. ^_^

Rest of your argument holds up alright. Unfortunately, Assassins are not like Mesmers. A cloak-and-dagger killer has a different appeal than a jig-dancing thespian. Consequently, different people will play- most of which will not be interested in unlocking anything. Of course there will be exceptions, such as yourself, but on the whole I expect a lot of combo-chainers with names like 'Death Dragon Darker' and such.

Hey, I fear the Riverdance just as much as the next guy. ~_^

And yeah, there are going to be morons playing Assassin throughout the game. But there are morons right now, playing absolute horrible Rangers and Mesmers (so much fun having them trying to interrupt you...heh), but people generally don't label those classes as awful today. I mean, look at how the game's evolved.

Up until a few months ago, particular Necro builds were largely unheard of. I was using OoB long before most people. ^_^

Last year was the first time trappers got major attention in anything.

People have recently discovered Migraine--or at least its use has become slightly more widespread.

Before players took notice of stuff like that, those professions and builds weren't used at all, and those aspects of those professions (and sometimes the professions themselves) weren't as respected as they should have been.

I anticipate the same thing for Assassins. They're like other "underdog" professions because people aren't realizing or seeing their potential. But further, they're like Mesmer because on top of that potential, they're an extremely powerful and potent Debilitation profession.

Originally Posted by Hella

Shackwrack is about as much of e-denial that you need to devote to anything with less than 45 nrg that attacks. Works perfectly fine and is fairly spammable. Shackwrack will probably be the dominant choice vs Assas.

Not when we can hit through it just fine and still connect with our attacks. And it's very, very possible to do that with certain Assassin skills, Hella.

[Hella Good]

Originally Posted by Siren

Not when we can hit through it just fine and still connect with our attacks. And it's very, very possible to do that with certain Assassin skills, Hella.

You lost me.

[Siren]

Originally Posted by Hella Good

You lost me.

Exactly my point. Read-up on Assassins and you'll understand what I'm saying, and why I'm saying it. Unless you're just being sarcastic, and in that case, you'll find a dagger through the side of your head. ~_^

[Hella Good]

Originally Posted by Siren

Exactly my point. Read-up on Assassins and you'll understand what I'm saying, and why I'm saying it. Unless you're just being sarcastic, and in that case, you'll find a dagger through the side of your head. ~_^

I don't even understand the sentance you wrote... and it's not poor English skills... See, the main problem with your arguments thus far is ambiguity. We are supposed to take it for granted that Assassins are gonna put "daggers through the side of (our) head(s)" and yet you give nothing to back your convictions up. This isn't a guess game... if you are going to make a point, go ahead and make it, but back it up. If you just want to ramble about Assa powers, surely you can go ahead and do that as well. Just don't expect anyone to take what you're saying as factual.

[Siren]

Originally Posted by Hella Good

I don't even understand the sentance you wrote... and it's not poor English skills... See, the main problem with your arguments thus far is ambiguity. We are supposed to take it for granted that Assassins are gonna put "daggers through the side of (our) head(s)" and yet you give nothing to back your convictions up. This isn't a guess game... if you are going to make a point, go ahead and make it, but back it up. If you just want to ramble about Assa powers, surely you can go ahead and do that as well. Just don't expect anyone to take what you're saying as factual.

Have you even read through the skill listings? Stopped to think about the skill synergy, or Assassin energy management?

The Assassin's primary attribute, Critical Strikes, has an energy return with each critical hit. At Critical Strikes level 10, that energy return is +2. At level 13, it's +3.

With each level in Critical Strikes, we're granted an additional chance (fractions of a percent, I believe) to get a critical hit with our attacks...no matter if those attacks are skills or just the auto-attack.

Within that attribute, we have skills that boost both our critical hit rate, and also the energy return we get from getting critical hits.

On top of that, it's possible that there's a chance to double strike with higher Dagger Mastery. I hear it scales in a similar way to the Critical Strikes thing. And you won't find too many Assassins running without a high Critical Strikes and Dagger Mastery.

And it gets better. Assassins have numerous stance-killer/anti-evasion techniques. Some of those are stances of their own. Some are just regular attacks within Dagger Mastery.

Further, some attacks are dual hits (both hands) and guarantee a critical hit...for both hands I believe.

I lost count there as to how much energy a properly built Assassin can regain throughout a few seconds. +3 from 13 Critical Strikes. +1 from those skills in Critical Strikes. +2 from the dual attack/guaranteed critical.

Right there is +6 energy from one hand, pretty much. You can effectively boost that up to +9 or even +12 occasionally if my math isn't completely off here.

And that's not even including zealous dagger mods, which pretty much double the gain from a single hand.

Not to mention we can get up to roughly 30-something energy from a base 25.

And we have 4 pips of energy regen.

e-denial? Given all of this? You have to do better than that to stop us, man. lol

I wanted you to figure this out on your own. That's why I haven't been spelling things out for you. Other Assassins and I have known about this kind of stuff for a while now, because we've actually taken the time to learn the profession--as much as we can pre-retail, obviously. But the fact remains that Assassins do not suck, especially in the face of e-denial. Assassin energy management is probably the best energy management in the game, and if you look around, you'll see a few people saying that Critical Strikes alone is worth going primary Assassin.

[LightningHell]

Well, E-Denial works against casters, don't they? AND Energy Storage nor Inspiration makes it up well enough.

[Avarre]

I think I'll respond to Siren like Siren responds to everyone else.

Mesmers are gonna crush Assassins. If you don't understand, thats my point, go read the mesmer skill list.

/sirenvoice

Or you could, yaknow, contribute to the thread beyond vague allegations that you will destroy distortion.

I wanted you to figure this out on your own. That's why I haven't been spelling things out for you

I'm taking this as a direct refusal to contribute beyond your own arguments. I call you out for trolling the mesmer boards, assassin.

[Francis Demeules]

Originally Posted by Siren

Have you even read through the skill listings? Stopped to think about the skill synergy, or Assassin energy management?

The Assassin's primary attribute, Critical Strikes, has an energy return with each critical hit. At Critical Strikes level 10, that energy return is +2. At level 13, it's +3.

With each level in Critical Strikes, we're granted an additional chance (fractions of a percent, I believe) to get a critical hit with our attacks...no matter if those attacks are skills or just the auto-attack.

Why +2/+3?

Critical Strikes: For Each rank of Critical Strikes you have, you gaine an additional 1% chance to critical hit. You gain 1 Energy whenever you score a critical hit this way.

+2/+3.... with boost ok but not with normal attacks. I consider your statement here is false. And yes, I tested Assassins, no +2 at lvl 10. You may did a dual attack.

Originally Posted by Avarre

I think I'll respond to Siren like Siren responds to everyone else.
Mesmers are gonna crush Assassins. If you don't understand, thats my point, go read the mesmer skill list.
/sirenvoice
Or you could, yaknow, contribute to the thread beyond vague allegations that you will destroy distortion.
I'm taking this as a direct refusal to contribute beyond your own arguments. I call you out for trolling the mesmer boards, assassin.

Using the Mesmer board to give informations and give it to you and talk about this on Assassins forums, Siren? When you came on this forum at the first time, I knew it you're gonna talked like that but I keep my mouth mostly shut, thinking my builds and stuff for both PvE and PvP when Factions will come out.

As a Mesmer, Ranger and Necromancer, I can say, that Lyssa's secondary profession (A.K.A Assassins) will have a bad time when they will come face to face with mesmers. And this time, I don't keep my mouth shut. Why? Because you try to get informations to make you better and being an anti-mesmer. If you come face to face with me, don't approach me, you dont know how powerful a mesmer can be when he does something else.

As Myself, Francis Demeules,

That's my words.

Your mission has failed, Assassin. Your poison is removed.

[LightningHell]

Originally Posted by Francis Demeules

As a Mesmer, Ranger and Necromancer, I can say, that Lyssa's secondary profession (A.K.A Assassins) will have a bad time when they will come face to face with mesmers. And this time, I don't keep my mouth shut. Why? Because you try to get informations to make you better and being an anti-mesmer. If you come face to face with me, don't approach me, you dont know how powerful a mesmer can be when he does something else.

Lyssa's secondary profession has the word secondary in it. No need to say anything more.

I sign the above post, as a Mesmer and as an Elementalist.

[Siren]

In-game, during the preview event, last weekend, Critical Strikes was closer to what I was describing. The Critical Strikes breakpoints are at 10 and 13. Whatever you're reading on the 'net either reflects a change, or doesn't reflect actual in-game description.

Originally Posted by Avarre

I'm taking this as a direct refusal to contribute beyond your own arguments. I call you out for trolling the mesmer boards, assassin.

I don't troll. Never have, never will. What do I have to gain from it? It's a pointless act.

My participation in this thread is my suggestion the Mesmers who think Assassins will be complete fluff should go ahead and see what Assassins are going to be packing. This isn't an unprecedented suggestion, either. How many people really took Mesmers seriously back a few years ago? And look how things have changed there. Same principle here.

Originally Posted by Lightning

Well, E-Denial works against casters, don't they? AND Energy Storage nor Inspiration makes it up well enough.

Yes, and I guarantee you that Assassins do energy management even better than Ether Prodigy+high spell costs+Exhuastion-inducing skills, or E-Drain/Tap, or Ether Lord, or Ether Renewal, or Glyphs of Energy, or Power Drain, etc.

If you really want to e-deny an Assassin, you're going to need to dedicate your entire skillbar to do it. You'll need to strip out 4 pips of energy regen, knock out 30 or so energy, negate the zealous mods, knock out all skills, prevent them from attacking the entire time, disable their anti-evasion skills (and they have a lot of them)...etc. You're basically going to be required to babysit that Assassin the entire time if you want to e-deny.

Do you think that's testament to a weak profession? That in order to effectively e-deny them, you'll have to sit on their face the entire time and devote your entire character to that one goal? Think about that one, lol.

I'd like to re-iterate how odd it is that I'm seen as trolling here. Because I'm not trolling. When I suggest that a few people here take the time to check out what Assassin has to offer, that's not trolling in the slightest. That's an Assassin player speaking from experience. There's some nasty stuff in Assassin...far nastier than you guys are giving them credit for. They're a strong debuffer class, too, much moreso than you guys are giving them credit for.

But if you all still want to believe that Mesmers won't have a problem with Assassins, go right ahead. It's the same kind of pre-retail thought process that found so many Warriors and Monks on the receiving end of a Mesmer assault. People under-estimated Mesmers and look what happened. That under-estimation was based on the same criteria you're using for Assassin-bashing: novice players not fully comfortable with a radically different profession during a weekend preview event.

Be my guest and keep believing that Assassins won't pose much of a threat and keep going back to e-denial and Inept. Dedicated Assassin players know otherwise. And that's just how it works. Go ahead and accuse me of trolling all you want, guys. I came in here to correct a misconception. That's all. But apparently that's completely unheard of? So I get accused of trolling? Where's the logic in that, people? lol

[SnipiousMax]

Way of the Empty Palm
For 5..17 seconds, off-hand and dual attacks cost no Energy.

Expose Defenses
For 3..9 seconds, target foe cannot "block" or "evade" your attacks

Beguiling Haze
If target touched foe is casting a spell or suffers from exhaustion, that foe is interrupted and becomes Dazed for 5..10 seconds.

Unseen Fury
For 10..30 seconds, you cannot be blocked, or evaded by Blinded foes.

Way of the Fox
For 10..30 seconds, your next attack cannot miss.

Nine Tail Strike
Must follow an off-hand attack. Nine Tail Strike cannot be "blocked" or "evaded" and strikes for +5..13 damage if it hits.

These are skills that worry me, and they're only a few of the ones that I feel would work well against mesmers. And I didn't take much time going through the list. Yes some are hexes and enchantments, so before you point out all you'll have to do is remove them, the usual cover hex/enchant apply. Notice the number of skills where they cannot miss. What I did not post, but deserves mention, is the number of energy increasing skills. There are a number of them for many given situations, and they have a very nice return (+17 energy on a few). I also didn't post any shadow steping skills, but there are a number that also apply conditions/damage, that don't require a hit to apply.

You are all right in saying that there are many many counters for an assassin. But going so far as to say they are worthless, and a nonthreat is taking it a bit far. You will, at this point, take the list I posted and start listing counters...but we're not going to be able to cover everything. We can't devote our entire skill bar to stopping assassins, but we can't ignore them either.

If I was reading my own post, I'd point out that Warrior's have options to attack without missing as well (ie.. Warrior's cunning, Rigor Mortis) and they don't use them. But I think it will come down to a fundamental difference between Warriors and Assassins that will make these skills essential. A good assassin will not fill his bar with attack skills, and the additional skills he/she brings will be the difference. His role in PvP will not require sustained DPS or pressure, he is going to be a spiker, so he will need to hit everytime. I do not think these skills will be uncommon in PvP.

[Hella Good]

Despite what you think, Siren, I have read the Assassin skills and I have had a chance to see them used in practice. I am aware of Critical Strikes and their effect but I find your argument lacking.

No 1) You will not be landing CS as often as you think. What the CS attribute does is give a similar effect to an item with + up to 16% chance of landing a CS, which- as we all know- isn't a horrifying number. In fact, weapon masteries give similar effect on Warriors (up to 23%)... I haven't seen Mesmers wriggle in pain after getting a critical by a warrior. Mind you, Dagger Mastery does not have that CS chance into it, instead it gives a double strike chance.

No 2) You are very highly unlikely to have CS pumped up to 13. Primaries are rarely pumped up that high. Warriors can afford it, because they can soak up loads of damage and don't need many points in Tactics or whatever to help them survive. Boon Prots use 15 Divine Favors, because their build is primary-based. Trapper Rangers use 13-15 in Expertise, because they can- again- afford to skip an attribute and pump up just Exp./Wilderness.

Assassins, however, are highly unlikely to do it, because of their extremely low survivability without sufficient amount of points spent on non-dagger and non-CS attributes. I doubt you will see Assas putting more than 9-11 points in CS, they will need the rest to spend elsewhere. So... in the most highly likely and realistic scenario that's 2 nrg per CS with about 9-11% chance to score a CS... I hope I do not need to laugh to get the point across that this is nothing. In comparison Ranger Expertise, severely reduces the cost of ALL skills (36-44% at 9-11), still Rangers get anihilated by Shackwrack.

Originally Posted by Siren

I wanted you to figure this out on your own. That's why I haven't been spelling things out for you.

I don't tend to talk from an uneducated point of view. When I said I didn't care much about Assa skills and the whole profession, I meant it. I have seen the skills, both on paper and in action, and I have determined that it's just more of the same with a few interesting moves but definitely nothing to sweat about. Of course, you will come up with some annoying moves but does that mean Mesmers need to assume a whole new attitude? No. Inbetween the new and the old Mesmer skills there is plenty for you to worry about.

Originally Posted by Siren

Assassin energy management is probably the best energy management in the game, and if you look around, you'll see a few people saying that Critical Strikes alone is worth going primary Assassin.

Clearly a ridiculous statement.

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Way of the Empty Palm
For 5..17 seconds, off-hand and dual attacks cost no Energy.

Elite skills. Clearly doubt they will ditch their precious elite for this.

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Expose Defenses
For 3..9 seconds, target foe cannot "block" or "evade" your attacks

Hex... they cannot even adequately cover up hexes... please... Even if we assume they can, our buddy here is bragging about putting 13 points in CS. Inbetween his daggers, CS, shadow arts, AND deadly arts, his points are going to be spread very very thin.

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Beguiling Haze
If target touched foe is casting a spell or suffers from exhaustion, that foe is interrupted and becomes Dazed for 5..10 seconds.

Ok... I'm no Ele... nevermind the cause-Exhaustion attack.

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Unseen Fury
For 10..30 seconds, you cannot be blocked, or evaded by Blinded foes.

And... you think I will be sitting there blinded for 30sec? If we assume this to be an useful skill we might as well start shaking about the Shadow Sig. I'm sure the Monk is taking a cigarette break.

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Way of the Fox
For 10..30 seconds, your next attack cannot miss.

*sigh*ok, and? You can strike every one in awhile through blindness and certain hexes, that concerns us how?

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Nine Tail Strike
Must follow an off-hand attack. Nine Tail Strike cannot be "blocked" or "evaded" and strikes for +5..13 damage if it hits.

This is actually a decent attack but one of the few. Plus it has 12 sec recharge, so it won't be landing on you non-stop.

[Francis Demeules]

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Way of the Fox
For 10..30 seconds, your next attack cannot miss.

Just a thing, after this attack, bye Way of the Fox.

[Hella Good]

Originally Posted by Francis Demeules

Just a thing, after this attack, bye Way of the Fox.

Not quite... but it's still not relevant, in fact, I'd rather they use this to further drain their nrg.

Way of the Fox:

Attribute: Shadow Arts
Type: Enchantment
Energy Cost: 5
Activation Time: 1
Recharge Time: 3

[Siren]

Originally Posted by Hella Good

Despite what you think, Siren, I have read the Assassin skills and I have had a chance to see them used in practice. I am aware of Critical Strikes and their effect but I find your argument lacking.

See them? Interesting choice of words there. By "see" do you mean you actually played as them? Or by "see" do you mean you only saw random Assassins playing?

1) You will not be landing CS as often as you think.

I expect to see +1 and +2 popping up with every attack because I've had it happen pretty much the entire weekend event. And unless they completely nerf the attribute and skills within the attribute before retail, my energy management will do just fine.

I haven't seen Mesmers wriggle in pain after getting a critical by a warrior.

Hella, I'm not talking Critical Strikes to do damage. I never was. Assassins use Criticals for something other than higher damage. Re-read my post. If you think Critical hits are used by Assassins for damage boosts...you do not know the first thing about Assassins. lol

2) You are very highly unlikely to have CS pumped up to 13.

No, it's very likely. See why below.

Primaries are rarely pumped up that high. Warriors can afford it, because they can soak up loads of damage and don't need many points in Tactics or whatever to help them survive. Boon Prots use 15 Divine Favors, because their build is primary-based. Trapper Rangers use 13-15 in Expertise, because they can- again- afford to skip an attribute and pump up just Exp./Wilderness.

Your comparison is flawed. See below.

Assassins, however, are highly unlikely to do it, because of their extremely low survivability without sufficient amount of points spent on non-dagger and non-CS attributes.

Hella, you're wrong, because the beauty of Shadow and Deadly Arts is that you can place a 7 or 8 in one of them and have them perform more than adequately. Or you could even go with the 10-11-10 attributes, with the 11 going in Dagger Mastery, and using a Superior rune to bring Critical Strikes up to 13. And then what does that mean? You have 10+1 in either Shadow or Deadly Arts.

You haven't played Assassin and it shows.

I don't tend to talk from an uneducated point of view.

I disagree. You are not demonstrating any understanding of what Assassins are going to be able to do, lol. Your view on Critical Strikes, for example? Poppyc-ck and rubbish.

When I said I didn't care much about Assa skills and the whole profession, I meant it. I have seen the skills, both on paper and in action, and I have determined that it's just more of the same with a few interesting moves but definitely nothing to sweat about.

"More of the same"? What is that? Enlighten me. Point to another profession currently that can interrupt, Daze, Blind, and inflict Exhaustion in under two attacks. Assassins can do this. Can Mesmers? Rangers? I think a dual Exhaustion is certainly something to sweat about, Hella. Not only will it gimp your spell-casting, but it can't be removed through Mend Ailment.

Or continuous interrupts from melee range? Assassins can do that. We have a lead attack interrupt that's guaranteed to hit. Then once we connect with our lead, there's very little the target can do after that.

You know dual Exhaustion will hurt. And you also are fully aware of how easily Assassins can inflict it. And you know how absurd it is to continue to deny Assassin potential even when all of these abilities and techniques are mentioned time and time again. And yet you still deny Assassins have more potential than you're giving them credit for? Interesting.

Of course, you will come up with some annoying moves but does that mean Mesmers need to assume a whole new attitude?

You mean when you've just been exhausted twice in the span of 5 seconds? It's very possible, and you can expect Assassins to do it. Will the traditional Mesmer counters help mitigate Exhaustion? Will the old Mesmer attitude help prevent having your energy reserves cut in half? Is dual Exhaustion nothing more than "annoying"?

Clearly a ridiculous statement.

Play primary Assassin for a few hours at a time and you'll see it's not ridiculous at all. Assassin energy management is unbelievable when you construct the build properly. It's the truth. Call it ridiculous all you want, but Assassins' energy management damn near trumps everything in the game provided the Assassin contructs their builds correctly.

EDIT: Oh, Way of the Fox may work slightly differently than is listed. I wish I could get in-game to check, but it may go something like For X seconds, your next 1-5 attacks cannot miss.

Originally Posted by Hella

Hex... they cannot even adequately cover up hexes... please... Even if we assume they can, our buddy here is bragging about putting 13 points in CS. Inbetween his daggers, CS, shadow arts, AND deadly arts, his points are going to be spread very very thin.

Firstly, we've got cover hexes of our own, Hella.

And secondly, who says anything about needing to use all four attributes to be effective? You're just inventing arguments now. I guarantee you that Assassins will have brutally effective builds using 10-11-10. We don't need Deadly Arts all the time, just like we don't need Shadow Arts all the time.

If you want to say (or imply) we can't do jackshit without "spreading ourselves very very thin," you need to get with the program here. You have absolutely zero idea what effective Assassin build design looks like. You have absolutely zero idea how the skills function at certain attribute levels. You have absolutely zero credibility to knock Assassins based on those criteria. You do not know what you're talking about if you think Assassins need all four attri lines to be effective, or if you think we can't be effective using all four.

[unholy guardian]

i should make a movie once factions comes out, like crouching tiger hidden shank


be like teleport boom, shank mesmer, and run away


but seriously from what i have seen, mesmers are the anti everything, its just what they are, but they also do not have powerful armor, which means if caught off guard they could get slashed up, espcially if 2 assiasins go in with a teleport