Why are Assassins so underpowered?

I just got this game this past weekend and have been having an absolute blast playing as the assassin. There are so many creative ways to attack other players and you feel like such a freaking hero when you sneak around back the Steel Peel base and nab that sniper who's been cherry picking your turrets.

So, I'm having fun on my Assassin and I decide "let's have a look at the forums and see if there's any interesting strategies up regarding my favorite effing class..."

And the first god damned thing I see is that the one thing that keeps me from getting killed every two frigging seconds is being taken away? I thought that was the POINT of being able to recloak during a grapple.

Nevermind Supports and their turret-humping, or Snipers camping in their base in Steel Peel. What about grappling in the lane? Even the stupid bots will tear you apart. (And that's with Gold Armor, btw...)

So, then I said: "Nawwww, this won't be as bad as you think. Why don't you try a round without recloaking during grapple. See how bad you do. Play it a little safer."

First, I played a round MY way on GrenadeIII. 15-4 and almost made MVP.
Then I played a round the PATCHED way on Ammo Mule...

... what a disaster.

Anytime I tried to grapple ANYONE or ANYTHING something was shooting at me! Hell, you can't even take out a Jackbot because gapshots and longshot turrets hit you! All of the Assassin's grapple animations take forever to complete, as well, so you're vulnerable for a disgustingly long time. I tried to just build juice and raid turrets, but, c'mon...

I don't care what anyone says. Assassins aren't just for lane clearing and turret killing. Where's the fun there? You're supposed to be the guy who goes and nabs that hard target. That trap camping Sniper or that Support/Gunner team that keeps killing your rocket turrets.

But whenever you do manage to get that sweet grapple, you're not going to be able to enjoy it now... because halfway through you're gonna get killed by some automated b.s. and grumble as you watch the idiot you just mauled slowly get back up.

I can't imagine what convinced the developer crew to change something that didn't appear to be broken.

Hopefully they'll amend their decision before the release but I have a strong feeling they won't.

I'm not being overly dramatic here when I say I may stop playing a game I just bought! :|

I REALLY enjoy my assassin. I was playing damn MW2 for so long and I was fed up with military sims. I really hate them but a lot of my friends play them so I figured "what the hell." Then MNC came out and I managed to convince the lot of them to switch over and we've been having a great time. I think I had been most of all because playing as an assassin is just awesome. Now, for one reason or another, they decided that not only were they going to not improve any of the small issues the class has with balance but they were going to reduce our survivability by a disgusting amount. Have fun lunge/grappling that Jackbot, now That animation is long enough for a Slim to kill you with Armor3.

Oh well...

I feel the exact same way. I heard they were gonna introduce the details of the patch soon sometime so I was excited about getting all the glitches removed.

Until I got to the assassin section.

No, but you said the Gunner is UPGRADING the turret. Which means it's encased in metal, and can't see you....

Ok, a gunner is ATTEMPTING to upgrade the turret. So its still free to shoot you while you're not allowed to cloak.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't been too up in arms about the cloak change, but you make a great point here that deserves more attention. If cloaking mid-grapple is a glitch, then switching weapons during a grapple is, too. (And so is that hack + heal at the same time trick.)

Underpowered ... you're kidding right?

No, we are not kidding at all. If you bother to actually read through this thread, you could see all of the reasons why they are underpowered.

You sure do know an awful lot of glitches. I hope they all get fixed.

Wow, I always switched to shotgun when I was getting grappled. If cloaking is a glitch, then that better be fixed as well.

....

have I ever said how much I love you guys?

Or being right?

Because, if not, I just did.

If you need proof, you need only look around. If that does not satisfy you, I'd be more than happy to address any specific complaints you may have.

Seeing as how you main the Sniper, and the Support, it comes as no surprise to me that you'd be a bit biased. Hell, as a Sniper, you should be laughing the hardest, considering that you (should you play correctly) can make yourself completely untouchable by a lone Assassin.

They're patching the Hack and Heal trick. I'm indifferent to that one, as I never used it, and I can't see just how much a difference it could make.

The Assassin patch however....

Well, I think I've made my position quite clear at this point.

Speaking of glitches, has anyone ever boughten gremlins and spent 200 instead of 100?

edit: its happened to me twice this match.

Forgive me for not reading all 4 pages of this post, I read the first one and it seemed like a lot of repetition and I just assumed the rest was too. I play all the classes, I mostly go tank in a team game but I switch it up too. When I play assassin I never feel like it's underpowered. The speed + cloak makes lane pushing awesome, you can effectively push both lanes on most maps (Grenade III is difficult but possible). I view assassin as a support-type class. If you have a good team setup with a few shooters (Assaults and Gunners) a support or 2 and a tank, then assassin is good for splitting up those pesky supports that latch onto shooters and for people holing themself up in parts of the map. If an assassin grapples someone and someone else is shooting them while they're being grappled it is a fantastic way to kill people, it is a team game remember, work with your team.

Edited for spelling

Thank you for actually having a point of view and not saying "learn to play better"

That said, I think the problem with that is most people who play view this game as a deathmatch, instead of team strategy. Unfortunately, if the Assassin was to become a support unit, it would have to be for supporting player killers. They would be unable to play by themselves, and that's something i really like about them.

Assassin is not good for support after this update...

*cough*firebase*cough*

Maybe having such a long cooldown period for one of the assassin's more crucial skills is a big pain, but the assassin certainly takes mechanics from the spy and scout from TF2.

While the scout is an offensive class, most people would think the assassin borrows much more from the spy class. And the spy is a support oriented class, being able to neutralize high value targets and fade away into safety before trying again, generally sowing confusion and chaos.

True, not being able to hurt camping supports is a big pain, but let me see it in a different light. This support is doing nothing but camping a lane. True, he's locking it down, but unless we run into the problem of two firebase campers locking down both lanes, we can just push the opposite lane harder.

I've never played the assassin as some hardcore player killer. I normally play her for harassment and hit and run. If I run into trouble, I backpedal and shoot some shurikens. I also pester campers at range with them, while being opportunistic with backstabs.

Now, since people can camp their bases and turrets for relative safety, yes, that'll be a pain. Still, I feel like this just blocks off two scenarios the assassin would've normally taken on. Other people can take care of this situation and the assassin can still comfortably fit into another role in during these circumstances.

It's a bit of a nerf, but it doesn't outright neuter her I think.

It doesn't destroy her, but if I'm not bot killing I liked being able to sneak past all the turrets, take out some pesky gunner, and cloak while I'm grappling so I don't get hit by those hacked rockit turrets (assassin can't take many shots, even with gold armor)

You seem to have misunderstood what the fix really means. You are still going to be able to cloak after the grapple. You are not going to be able to cloak while grappling. With any other attack the Assassin comes out or can't cloak so why is it this one way fine? Cause it made sure you didn't get shot by turrets?