Assassin general and armour questions.

I just got Factions 3 days ago and have some Qs. I have an A/Mo char. When I played the Zen Daijin mission I was lvl 15 and was wearing armour with an AL of 25, + mods. I would get in maybe 2 skilled attacks and then lose all health almost instantly... Fortunately we had a primary monk on the team who was able to res me everytime. Was it my crap armour that was the problem or the profession?

My current armour has an AL of 40 per piece, and it doesnt seem to be any better... I have been using:
Deadly Canthan Mask (deadly arts +1)
Infiltrator's Canthan Guise (nrg +5, armour +15 vs piercing)
Vanguard's Seitung Gloves (armour +15 vs blunt)
Nightstalker's Seitung Leggings (nrg regen +1, armour +15 while attacking)
Nightstalker's Seitung Shoes (nrg regen +1, armour +15 while attacking).

Is this combo a decent one? I am used to playing with a warrior in Prophecies and have never had a prob with dying all the time... Can anyone give me some idea on what would be a good all rounder combo of armour? and even some skills to keep me alive longer?

If it is the armour, I am going to buy some 1.5K (AL 70) armour at Kaineng Centre (which I have just arrived at) ASAP.

That´s the thing with the assasin, you have to go in there, deal your damage, and then get the hell out of there, regroup, and go back in... over and over again. If you play the assasin like that your armor is sufficient, if you play the assasin as you play your warrior you will surely die...

Hard lesson learned, assassins are only good in GvG where they can spike and run away.
In PvE you can't be close to lvl28 mobs or any of the afflicted. You CAN kill very fast 1 single target but then you need some time before you start killing the next one and if there are like 20 mobs against you, well, you simply don't have time. Good players avoid been killed by running away, but in PvE you are not supposed to run away. You need to stay and deal some damage. Assassins deal very good SPIKE damage, which is not necessary in PvE.
You can go though all the missions using Critical Barrager build. At least you do constant damage and stay away from the fray.

I've had no problem playing my Assassin as an Assassin in PvE. I've had success with this method...

- Anchor on a Caster with Recall.
- Shadow step to Monk, Rit or other enemy squishy.
- Unload everything on it.
- If you arent getting beaten up, keep hacking away and unload your combo when charged.
- If you are taking too much of a beating, hit some defense skills or....
- Release Recall
- Attack at Range until you're charged and healthy. I like putting a few points in Wilderness and using apply poision with my no-req candy cane bow. But, whatever ranged attack should work. As was mentioned, Barrage works well with sins.

Your armor isn't a good setup though, you are mixing types too much. Those +AL vs. type of attack bonuses are locational - not global.

That means you are only getting peircing AL on your chest, only getting blunt AL on your gloves, and only getting the +AL while attacking on yours legs and boots.

Its better just to stick with soemthing like Nightstalker over your whole body.

Nightstalker armor parts to chest and legs, shrouded armor parts to hands and feet which give a bit more energy.