OK, I know complaints about this-or-that class overpowered are cliche. Nonetheless, I've gotten ridiculously annoyed with assassins. At least half-a-dozen times just tonight, I saw an invisible assassin (with dagger, not sword) run up and stab someone in the front for an instakill. This is done in front of at least two turrets not otherwise occupied which did not shoot at the assassin. Then the assassin ran off, never having been fired at. Sometimes they do this 2-3 times in a row, get juice, then destroy all your turrets. Sometimes they just flail around with their dagger/sword until they manage to kill you. Now really, what's the skill in a super-fast, invisible enemy that can kill you in one hit from any angle at no risk? Yeah, I know all the classes have their own high-powered ability. But none of them can kill you from any angle, instantly, with no chance to save yourself and zero risk to themselves. It's frickin' ridiculous. At the VERY least, assassins should only instakill from behind. At least it takes some skill to get behind an enemy. I think they arguably should not be able to stab while invisible. What's the point of base defenses when they can just run in and back out without even getting shot at?
Zero risk? Are you kidding me? You mean zero risk besides the fact that she will melt in two seconds to every weapon in the game? The skill in the Assassin is not being stupid. You need to be smart about who you grapple. Grabbing the wrong target gets you instagibbed. The Assassins you were seeing were probably smart and took out people who were separated from the crowd, and you guys were probably not coordinated and didn't stick together. Assassins also don't instant kill from the front. The Assassin likely attacked a weakened enemy. And Assassins can cloak while grappling, so turrets don't see them during the grapple.
Not to mention still being able to be seen, your cloak making noise, the fact that weapons fire reveals you, the way AOE and traps basically make you crumple like tinfoil.... Yeah, I'm only facestabbing you if someone else has hurt you or if I'm cornered and out of tricks. The former works well, the latter is more or less an attempt to make sure I don't die without a fight. Considering how easy it is to slip the grapple, too....
I'm afraid you're just wrong. I have respawned, walked out of base and been stabbed in the face for an instakill at 100% health. Probably because I play support. I tried taking Armor as my highest endorsement - doesn't matter. Instakill to any random assassin, from the front. If you guys aren't doing that... well, I guess there are better assassins. I've seen them. They've stabbed me in the face, repeatedly, at 100% health. Try it. Yeah, they melt in two seconds - but they can cover a huge distance in two seconds. I can't even count the number of times I've had gunner gattlings held on an assassin and watched them literally run straight away. I can deal with an invisible enemy if it takes some finesse. When it's just a retarded in your face, in your base, unstoppable hit and run? Screw that.
Support with gold armor will certainly not die from a front-grab. Not even a front grab preceded by a lunge attack.
I've recently been playing assassin extensively and only weakened enemies, snipers, assassins and PERHAPS support will die in a single front grapple (excluding endorsements and passive skills). U may have been lunged at first, causing sufficient damage for a front grapple to finish u off. Assassin takes skill and knowing when to strike. Without any endorsements any weapon will cut through assassins with ease (support shotgun for instance).
As a primary support user I can tell you you're wrong. If you're using Steel Peel(+Armor) There is no chance a front grapple from an assassin will kill you if you're at full health. Any time this happens to me I know it is immediately a free kill. Even if you don't have your shotgun out, if you hit weapon change while you're being grappled when the assassin lets go of you you can just press fire. The shotgun will blast the assassin standing in in front of you and you move on with life. I'm really frustrated with the amount of people clamoring for balance changes when they have yet to even learn the balance of the game as it is. People see something happening and complain about nerfs or buffs when they have not even checked out possible counters already in the game. Play more. Whine less.
Once again, I wonder why I don't have these cool powers. When I front stab a full health support, they usually survive. Part of the problem is the whole "backstab turned to facestab" thing, so it's not like I try to go face on, but still. Fully upgraded to sword, they survive often, and the difference is one I attribute to use of armour endorsements. Hell, I can lose to a wounded support sometimes. I really wish Assassins were as Godly as suggested here. Then I would have a leet kdr of like 6.XX.
Seriously! you "saw"... so it didn't happen to you, it happened to someone else!? Well the weaker classes without picking an armor bonus will fall from the front. But If they pick Steel Peel then no worries. But try being a Tank if you hate assassins. I tend to not mess with them. First off as an assassin you are only actually invisible up to about 20m from the enemy and you make a horribly loud buzzing noise. As support I drop assassins very easily and get pissed off at myself if i get faced stabbed because I was too stupid to listen to my surroundings. Second you cannot kill players from any angle... you have to be directly in front of them or behind. You will screw up the grapple if you try and do it from the side. And it is not even a guaranteed kill from behind on certain enemies using an armor bonus (Tank). What about bots and every other class?!!! Don't complain about being stabbed if you play a slow squishy class!
Surprisingly, I am able to see in front of myself. Yes, but moving very fast. And they're invisible to defenses basically all the time. I'm told they make that buzzing sound too - maybe I'm deaf, or maybe it's the constant background noise, but I've never once heard it. I understand the difference between frustration and balance issues. For example snipers are frustrating, just like in most games, but not overpowered. You can see a sniper, take cover from them, and they have a slow rate of fire. Tanks can burn you very fast, which is frustrating, but if you watch for them you stand a chance, and at least you can run away. Maybe you can draw them into your base defenses for a revenge kill. Supports can instakill with the air strike. But you can see them coming, it's difficult to actually stick someone with the marker, and getting under cover is a 100% defense. But you frequently can't see an assassin coming in time to do anything about it, it's impossible to run away from them, there is no way to take cover from a knife, and drawing them into your base defenses doesn't help. So, in my opinion, which I know many will disagree with, it's a poorly balanced class.
Yeah... and it is loud! Just play the assassin for a second, cloak and you will hear it. It is just as loud for others. When I play support I immediately switch to my shotgun and look for the source. You can't stand still or travel in one direction for extended periods of time without looking around! Also regardless of how fast the assassin travels... bullets travel faster and maybe you can't duck around a corner to avoid them but you can repeatedly jump. Just be aware of your surroundings and turn your sound up. Again... play a Tank if you don't like Assassins. It is like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors and complaining about scissors when you always play paper!
First of all.. learn to get an armor endorsement, and yes assassins destroy turrets quickly, but very few assassins do this, as most are stupid, if your complaining about assassins killing turrets quickly.. WHERE THE F*** is your complaint about support's airstrikes killing turrets quickly?! Oh thats right.. its because im guessing.. ur a support class.. really i laughed when i read this thread.
I strongly suggest you try playing the assassin yourself. I think you'll quickly find your assumptions don't live up to your own experience as one :3 My rule of thumb on balance is that if someone kicks my rear with a class but I can't kick people's asses wtih the same class then it's probably not overpowered but rather a skilled player. If I get killed by someone with a class a lot then I kill that same person with their own class plus most of their team several times over (see TF2 soldier for example) then I'll usually consider it dubiously balanced. I'm surprised you don't see assassins in time to do anything to them though. Even though I'm an assassin myself I usually spot enemy assassins quite frequently, often long before they're in grab range and I've noticed several players spotting me from ungodly distances while cloaked
Even good assassins can have a hard time scoring well. After the second time someone lunges me before they grapple I go on the f*cking hunt for assassins. Anyway, an assault with no armor endorsements can survive a front-grapple from the knife (can't recall if he survives the sword), so there is no way an assassin with the knife is front-grappling a support. Maybe you didn't notice the lunge first; maybe you don't know what a back-stab looks like; maybe you can't tell the difference between the sword and the knife; maybe you're playing sniper and not support; or maybe you're just exaggerating? And a question for all of our assassins: how quickly can you grapple after you hit them with the lunge?
Almost instanteneously. If you're not expecting it, you won't be able to react within the space of whatever gap is there. If you ARE expecting it, I'm not sure, but the assassin messed up if that's the case anyhoo The only time my lunge-grab hasn't followed through is when lag made my lunge go through my target, the lunge slid off them or if they grab me first mid-lunge before it connects XD
