Some (calm) Thoughts on Assassin Juicing

I wrote a long post on this subject in Word and then it crashed with no document recovery right before I copy-pasted. That's what I get for trying to proof-read my posts before posting. I will re-type a condensed version:

Not everyone agrees, but many people seem to feel that assassins are too effective while juiced. I agree, but I do not think that this is an issue of the rate of juice gain for the class. As pointed out by reasonable folks, the assassin class has many (range and armor) weaknesses to compensate for. Faster juice gain is a fine counterbalance. However, something that does seem to be a issue is the ease with which the class can destroy enemy turrets while juiced. Speed combined with the damage they can do to turrets while juiced places them well above other classes in this respect. Easy juicing exacerbates the problem.

My proposed solution is simple and would hopefully solve the issue without leaving assassin players feeling that their class has become underpowered. Simply implement a moderate reduction in the damage that swords/daggers do to turrets. While juiced, assassins would still be able to take down a turret or two (like all classes), but this should slow their rampage enough that they would not be capable of cleaning out an entire base worth in a single juice. All other balance would stay the same (ie. juice gain rate, effectiveness vs. pros etc).

I believe this is a simple and elegant solution that mitigates the problem without "nerfing" the class to uselessness. I would welcome any thoughts, so long as your caps lock key is functioning correctly and you are aware of proper punctuation use.

With the big update, I really see the juicing assassins as more of a psychological difficulty then an actual in game problem.

When MNC first game out, everyone hated being assassinated. It felt like such easy mode BS for them to kill you. Then you actually try it and realize it's bloody hard to sneaky kill people like that and not die more then half the time. This of course didn't stop people from failing at assassin anyway.

Now juicing the base is all the rage. It's fairly easy to do in uncoordinated public games and it makes you feel totally kick-*** for doing it!

Once again, the people dealing with the assassin are calling easy-mode BS. But it's all in their head. They see a player juice and panic, not realizing they have plenty of options to slow them down or even stop them out right. For assassins, this is even more of a shock to the base defenders because they're like a tornado to a trailer park. You haven't seen an assassin for the first 2 minutes of the game, and suddenly there's one shredding your base.

Compared to just about every other class, you usually see it coming. It's a cat mouse game of being sieged until that support/tank/gunner/assault/sniper finally juices and does a hard push.


The question right now is... will the assassin juicing tactic last? Just like dealing with cloaking assassins in the first month of release, most players will learn how to deal with it. It will become such common place that it will slowly disappear again because it stops working.

On the other hand, if it gets worse, then there is most certainly a problem and I'm sure uber will address it accordingly. Either by reducing the damage they do to turrets or reducing how quickly they gain juice like they did for snipers.

If the assassin ever does get a damage nerf to turrets, I will personally troll this board (not really) until the gunner's mortar gun gets a huge nerf to turrets with and without juice.

For all the hate on the sin's base killing ability, the gunner's mortar kills turrets faster while juiced and from a distance.
On top of that, non juiced it still decimates them.
Gunners still gain juice pretty damn quick mortaring bots, but who's going to mortar a bot as a gunner?
No one. They're going to bitch on the forums instead. (not saying anyone in here is doing that)

Short range/melee/low armor means she still has to get right next to a turret while the entire base is shooting her, pros and turrets alike. Oh look Ice trap.

I really don't get all this assassin hate lately.
Try playing an assassin for an extended period of time next time you're in a room with competent people.
It's not all daises and sunshine.

Dealing with Juiced Assassins

I think it's ridiculous that everyone is suddenly up in arms about the assassin, when nothing juice related was changed in the update. Assassin's juicing bases isn't something new. I remember seen a video on YouTube of the final game of the first MNC tournament, and there was assassin juice rushing within the first minute. This isn't a new part of the game.

The assassin is the easiest juice to counter, pretty much any experienced player would agree with this. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, and if you don't know what you're doing then your base is going to get dominated by any moderately skilled assassin, but that doesn't mean the game is broken, it just means you need to change up your tactics.

I think the new nerf calls are due to the rockit turret cost decrease. It's causing people to spend more on turrets, with the associated increased frustration when they're taken out. Personally I think it's fair for the lack of health she has even when juiced. A firebase and a pro near the moneyball and at best you'll take out the initial turrets before keeling over dead (whereas something like a tank would annihilate everything and walk out alive)