The assassin...

ProTip: Using the Assassin's lunge attack (RB with Dagger/Sword), allowing it to hit and quickly grappling from behind will kill any class no matter what endorsement they have.

After playing Assassin for the afternoon, I would conclude is it extremely balanced. I went from games where I would go 10:15(k:d), to games where I would run 21:3. A lot of it depended upon the makeup of the other team and how well they hung together. If people spread out, they were easy pickings, if they stayed tight, I was toast.

The arena also had a lot to do with it. Steel Peel (The round one with the giant hole in the middle) is not my fav for assassin vs other player, but is great to get around and take out turrets.

Needless to say, I'm having a blast.

If you haven't already been told: RB is a dash/slash combo, and you can Y (stealth during the animation of your grapple)

Yeah, well im not usually the assassin anyway so its not such a big deal to me. But I have seen that it is for others and it made me wonder if i would have more fun as the assassin if it was tweaked just right.

The main thing that springs to mind is MW2, where people would run around with a tactical knife and pistol, with perks to make them faster and it would be a quick on stab kill. This made the match play out differently as sometimes they could pull of a great Kill to death ratio, and sometimes they could do very poorly.
This was my favourite thing about that game, and I hate MW2.

But I guess if alot of you disagree then maybe I am wrong, and the assassins that I am cheaply killing, (or being cheaply killed) should be better at their job.

This. All day long, this. When I watch a fellow Assassin charge a tank, or drop stealth around a few turrets or chase after someone strafing them (all of which are mistakes I've made), I'm certain someone else is enjoying their fresh kill.

Im going to kick myself later for this but...

Protip: HELP YOUR TEAM!
Protip: See a sniper on his own above a choke point? Dont backstab him. He most likely has traps set up and will make you easy pickings, use your shuriken launcher at mid range.
Protip: See a support camping a choke point with his fire base? Wait for your team to push forward THEN stab him.
Protip: Try not to die. A juiced up sprinting assassin is nigh untouchable and can kill the entire enemy team in about 5 seconds.
Protip: KILL BOTS. Assassins are THE most effective bot-killer and it is really easy to get juice from them (Imo)
Protip: If you see a jackbot, grapple it then sprint the hell out of there.
Protip: 2 clips of a shuriken launcher can kill a level 3 lazer turret. Takes about 10-15 to kill a rock-it turret.
Protip: You can cloak mid-grapple so a jackbot wont immediatly stomp the ground after a grapple. (Also helps against turrets and other bots.)
Protip: If you have 3 assassins already, dont be the fourth. (Unless the other 3 are completly retarded, which means you'll probably lose anyway so go nuts)

All of those are acctually great, Ive been a sniper and set up traps around me, only to find silly assaults trying to charge me. I can only thank them for enabling me to hear that splendid sound of a headshot.

I agree with all of them except

Protip: If you see a jackbot, grapple it, while grappled, cloak, then when finished lunge, and one slice of your blade, should destroy the jackbot

thats what i do and it works almost all of the time, and a good money boost.

Now heres my argument

So your saying assassin is worthless? They can instantly kill black jacks from behind to help push bots. If anyone trys to get in the way, they can easily sneak behind them and back stab them.

They can take out enemies that are giving your team trouble, juice destorys everything, she deals the most damage to the jack bot with her grapple, stun turrets/bots with smoke bomb.....

Black Jacks are pretty easy to take out on most classes, and anytime I accidently waste my assassin's grapple on one of them I feel like screaming.

Nine times out of ten the jackbot will have an escort who might kill you / other people might be attacking it causing it to ground pound. Its safer this way and you still get the assist, your more important alive and harrasing the enemy then waiting to re-spawn.

Assassins are great for killing bunkered down enemies as well as saving your teammates while they're in a firefight. They can also kill slims and blackjacks pretty well with a dash and some slices and the grapple on the blackjack can really helps your team lay some fire down on it while it's occupied by you.

Typical 12 year old newbert "ROUGE ASSASSIN"/Modern Warfare Too grunt thought process:

"Hmm, what class to pick OMFG TITTIES ON NINJA THAT NAO PLZ"

"OMFG iz gun pwn bi l0z3r taem i haz skillzzzzzzzz"

"OMFG gunnar iz ovarpow3d"

"OMFG tank iz ovarpow3d"

"OMFG support iz ovarpow3d"

"OMFG assault iz ovarpow3d"

"OMFG sniper iz ovarpow3d"

"whar iz forums, i haz complan"

*RAGEQUIT*

Very true, unfortunately.

Whats unfortunate is that I can barely understand your writing.. This discussion has more threads than any other on the forum.. as a Gunner I will say that assassins are not an issue anymore.. slam and bye...

Assasains are to MNC as Recons are to bad company 2. MW2 players new to the game, infautuated with OMG super stealthy killer theme, play the most difficult class to play well, fail horribly, and clog the teams.

This.

There are people who argue "oh, they are easy to kill". Unfortunately, these people also fall prey to the same 'KD is most important' mentality that rouge assassins do.

Clog the teams is exactly right. I can't tell you how many times it's been Me(gunner) and a support at our own MB, trying to defend wave after wave on our own while three Asses run around dying, trying to pad their KD before the round ends, when there was plenty of time for them to switch to a Defense class and save the match.

As a gamer, that kind of attitude is... disgusting.

I think the issue with the Assasin is how some classes will get more health later in the game, or upgrade close-range abilities and just stay together more where earlier in the game players are easily picked off by the Assasin... as also how the Assasin can buy Cloak and/or Dash early and just run into your base and stab a number of classes in the face (The Assasin herself, included!) while they're trying to find a safe place to heal or upgrade, since there'll be few, if any, turrets then. Even if there is, it probably won't be enough to kill them.

I think the way to fix it would be to boost the Assasin's basic attacks with the right trigger a fair bit (and maybe allow them to act a bit faster after performing a grapple - I think it's even right now which ensures many classes to use abilities to get away or retaliate when they survive) to help ensure a kill even if they survive getting stabbed from behind. On the other hand, reduce the damage of their grapples from the front to stop classes from getting instantly killed from full health even if they saw the Assasin coming right in front of them. Pretty much only the Tank and Support can kill her from the start-up, and only if they're really good shots. When the Assasin pulls it off, it feels very cheap.

You do realize switching classes more than say 2-3 minutes into the game is a horrible idea... you lose all your upgrades and waste valuable time...

A gunner should push with bots as all classes should.. the Devs have stated that many times here on the forums..

I think the core problem is players who do not understand Tower defense and the strategy built around this type of game... Correct KD ratio means nothing if your moneyball* is in the ground! However Kills are rewarded with money, money can be used to out level your opponent, hence there is a reason to kill and not die..

Either way the best solution is to find a team of friends or players who are skilled and play with them... eliminateing the new player issues.. and it is great to sign on and see 10+ people playing the game you are!