Why the so called "rogue" assassin can help the team.

Lately a lot of people have been complaining about the "Call of duty" of duty mentality on those who decide to play the class (Meaning they only care about getting a respectable K/D ratio.) saying that it only gets you killed and gets your team pissed at you. I for one usually don't play the class in that manner and tend to key targets, bots and now turrets. But today I tried playing a match not caring about anything else but killing opposing players. Came out with a 22/3, an MVP tag, and noticed something in the end that was a major benefit for the team in going after all those kills: Total paranoia. Most of the kills were made inside their base (Using backstab+cloak) in Steel Peel or in their perimeter and as I racked up more and more kills it started to get really hard to get backstabs since they were all turning all the time to "spy check", which in turn didn't allow them to maintain their full attention to the frontline. This made our push into the base quite easier.

I'm not advocating for this playstyle, I still find my usual one more fun but it seems to me that an effective K/D driven assassin can actually make a difference.

As long as the team only has ONE assassin, the "rogue" mindset actually does work really well for the reasons you stated.

The problem is when you have THREE rogue assassins on your team.

it's true.
it doesnt work for other classes, but the assassin is not a team player really.
they should try to take down jack bots, but most of the time, they run interference on the other team.

Can't argue there

Assassins are actually one of the best classes to take out bots really fast and the shurikens (sp) are very good at taking out turrets, so if the assassin is taking out bots and turrets then i think they should be considered a team player. That's how i play assassin, I focus on bots and turrets and only kill people that get in my way lol. So they can be VERY good team players, its just that a lot of people that play assassin ignore bots and just go and get themselves killed over and over.

Eh. I usually do worse when I play as assassin. Granted it's fun when you get a backstab, but my best game ever was 27-1 with support.

When I think "rogue" assassin, I'm picturing the ones that are literally ONLY trying to backstab people, and they're bad at it.

Honestly, if you're only going for kills, whether you're good at it or not, you're not playing the class to its full potential. And I do understand that's not how you ususally play, you play correctly.

The assassin has a nearly unparalleled ability to destroy bots and turrets, and you should take advantage of that whenever you get the chance. It probably would have been a lot nicer if you stopped to Smoke/Slash down a turret or two in between those numerous backstab kills.

Or, if you're girly, you could always just shuriken them...

The time when an assassin should focus on killing is when there's a specific player that is doing more damage than anything else to your team.

For example, yesterday playing on Grenade III there was a sniper DEMOLISHING our team simply because he was better than any of our other snipers. He was sitting on their little overlook that opens out over the middle. When I heard the complaining, I simply smoke jumped over one of the large structures flanking him, bypassed his traps, and backstabbed him. I had enough time to taunt for the extra $50. I don't think I had the most kills that game, I believe that award went to some campy support player, but I felt like I benefited the team.

I guess it really depends on how you have fun. Personally, I enjoyed that single kill more than any of the other 20 something that I got that game, because I knew it helped far more than backstabbing some random level 3 Assault player still on the trial.

That's exactly how I play normally, and it is indeed a lot more satisfying, to pinpoint a key target or help incapacitate a level 3 rockit with the smokebomb (for me at least). But I came to the conclusion that both playstyles, with enough skill, will yield the same result: A base defense malfunction.

But my natural playstyle, and yours, seem to be a much more consistent way of getting the job done because I personally don't think I can manage always getting a high kill count in a map.

If you are playing a 'rogue' assassin and only going for K/D ratio you are never playing the assassin at its best. There are times when you should get kills, but if you pass up a moment to wreck their base because it could hurt your K you just aren't playing to full potential.

As for money, yes, the assassin should be selfish with money. The occasional gremlin buy is good, but leave turrets to the rest of the team. Save that money for juice buys and turret killing rampages.