CONFIRMED 1st New Class Information from Ch. 2: The Assassin

There is such a mystery around Orr. An assassin who somehow escapes with a few stragglers, and fights their way out from under the calamity, and the relentless undead to emerge countryless in a foreign land. Perhaps they hire their services out to the highest bidder, or perhaps they become adventurers, or help the plight of the innocent...

Perhaps their version of pre searing would be the time before the good visier brought down death on their kingdom. One quest, or series of them could be the escape from the impending destruction after learning, and perhaps failing to thwart the attempt to wipe out the people and lands so the char would not win...

FFS now I can't get some sleep till this all thing is out, ---t , f--k, and when its out that means no more sleep, OMG what are they trying to do to me.

btw this is the best game ever

I can't believe you guys didn't look at the words below the Picture the story gives out a few hints.

"She Picked up the two blades one in each hand"

YYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSS DUEL WEILDING IS CONFIRMED

Also she is told to kill some leader in LA.

However the White Mantle are dead who could she be attacking?

Wait a Minuite if we killed the White Mantle then WHOS DEFENDING KRYTA

uh oh I think we have a few problems

edge of my seat (that and the other job mystery job)

I trust anet go come out with a good new job(s) and if it's underpowered / overpowered history has shown they will change it.

What I'm more curious about is how Chapter 2 / Chapter 1 and how things are set up if you have a) chapter 1 owner & b) chapter 1&2 owner

Getting psyched about the storyline too Guardian of the Light very good pointing that out.

I don't believe this until i get confirmation from A-Net and i should as hell won't trust a magazine's article!

If I remember correctly, Lion's Arch has its own garrison of defenders not linked to the White Mantle.

Also, we left a lot of Ascalon settlers there; they'll defend Kryta with their... bare hands, farm tools and teeth!

Indeed, most easily thought of class has been done. But Assassins (be it thief, assassins, ninja...) have been done in about EVERY MMORPGs! Mesmers were a novel idea, and it is commandable that they have done so.

Classes that are less often used and less cliché than Assassin: Beastman, Gunner, Merchant, Summoner, Bard (still cliché, but less so than assassin/thief/ninja), Scout (even if seems quite similar to the Ranger), Shaman (it's not because it was done in WoW that it can't be implemented another way in GW). If they don't feel like inventing something new for the expension, I hope they will at least try to use the less cliché ones.

Everquest had a truckload of classes. UO didn't really distinguish between classes. But the other MMOs: WoW has the Shaman, the Druid and the Warlock as good ideas. I don't know enough about DAoC to tell. Ragnarok Online has the Sage, the Alchemist, the Blacksmith, the Merchant, the Rogue (which is NOT an Assassin, as there is an Assassin class already in the game), the Monk (which is not a healer, not primarily)... GW already has the Mesmer... If these classes were thought of, there are CERTAINLY more not yet thought of. I heard in history class that around the year 1900 something, there were pleas for the US office of patents (or whatever you call that thing) to be closed, as "there was nothing left to invent". Now we know how terribly wrong that was.Now who had thought of the Mesmer BEFORE it was done for GW (and it's easy to claim to have foretold it when it's already done, so don't bother trying to convince you did)? The best ideas are classes that do things we didn't think possible because the devs haven't implemented it yet. So I hope they have another class with more originality than the assassin, cause I'm dissapointed.

sadly, i dont really think this confirms it but makes it likely

that whatshername warrior was dual wielding in one of the early cinematic videos of guild wars

also it is DUAL for future reference not duel, dual stands for two

Rich ppl hire assassins? 0_o because in some parts of the world it costs 200 dollars US to have someone walk up and shoot someone else in the face.

Assassins are employed by anyone with the need.

I'll side with some people in that...yeah...why is an assassin helping? 0_o

BUT!!! If we KNEW the story of chapter two, maybe that would tell us. HECK, maybe its like the shining blade, Nika was sent to kill you, but she learnt you were good and you saved her and she swore to fight with you.

As for assassins and people playing this class....so.... In pre-searing you're told the king is looking for the finest warriors, the bravest fighters in all of ascalon to fight. Maybe the assassins have some patriotism and thought

FOR ASCALON!!!!

And joined the ranks of your party.


And another comment, someone mentioned assassins work alone and dont like partying up with people and so it makes it feel weird....One word for you....Ranger.

Ranger's are far more solitary than Assassins, why not bring up that fact? Because you're all working towards a common goal, answering the call of the king and defending Ascalon (which takes yo ass on a long journey)

What I'm interested in now is specifics, but I guess those will be hush hush til the expansion is released....

<Can't wait>

Dual wielding huh ? Guess that explains what Devona's profession in the opening movie was....

I don't actually know another MMORPG with an assassin class, ignoring for a moment that Guild Wars isn't an MMORPG. I guess NWN has one, but that's all I can think of offhand. D2 is another obvious one.

Many RPGs have stealth classes of some sort, but thus far we don't even know if stealth is in. All we have to go on is the name, which really doesn't tell us much at all.

Assassin could mean anything from melee Mesmer to thrown-weapon fighter to the typical "sneak up from behind and gank you" of WoW Rogues, but we simply don't know as yet.

As far as talk of the world becoming infested, I don't remember particularly more assassins in D2 than Barbarians or Sorceresses. It was a fun class, but not the thing that 'everyone played' by any means. And it didn't have stealth or backstabs either.

With the desert regions available, wouldn't an Arabian scimitar style swordsman have been interesting? Large, swirling sword attacks and defenses, no shields...

Ah, but I dream and digress...

Obviously never played the mario rpgs then.

Appart from that I tend to mostly agree, but still its always nice to be supprised by new intuitive thinking.

Well, I haven't played the game or been here in a while, but it seems they took my ravings to heart. (Not that they actually listened to me personally, but you know.)

Here's a thank-you to the devs-- in fact, this class may be the only reason I buy the expansion. And here's a bahaha, you suck to the people who thought a thief-type class was a bad idea. Granted, we'll see if it destroys the gameplay, but I would think not.

If anyone hasn't noticed, what seems to dominate the Hall of Heros are Rangers. First it was spirit spamming back in the day, and now it's ranger spike or ranger interrupt (or a combination of both). I've won halls 10 or 11 times, (A couple were one-time wins, but the rest were on a streak.) and every time it involved some sort of ranger build. And it seems that the builds that *hold* halls these days are ranger builds. If we had observer mode, someone could actually document what builds win halls.

Why don't casting-class based builds win? It's not because they are underpowered, in my opinion. It's just that rangers seem to outmatch them in almost every way. They have the best and fastest-acting spike damage of the game (a spike damage that can only be mitigated by a handful of spells and skills that are very, very slow to recycle .. i.e., Aegis, Shielding Hands, "Shields Up!", etc). They have the best interrupts in the game (can interrupt anything - not just spells - and for a very low energy cost and recharge time). They also have a high capability for area-of-effect damage (traps) as well as degen (poison, bleeding)... however they're generally second to ele's in regards to AoE and Necros/Mesmers in degen - But that doesn't matter because area of effect damage is not as important in PvP as in PvE. Furthermore, Rangers have few counters. Elems, on the other hand, have a whole class devoted to interrupting them. Warriors have thier own limitations. There are only a handful of skills that can really hurt Rangers (especially those that cause shots to miss, or attack rate to be decreased). In fact, Ranger in PvP is so good that a high-level guild has made PvE rangers equipped with the best items in PvE *just* so they can have a ranger spike that's "just a little bit better."

Alright, so we've established that Rangers are a little better in Tombs than other classes - so what do we do with that? Well, we've seen nerfs (Spirit spam nerf plus the bow attack break nerf) - that have caused rangers to only change thier tactics - but still be on top. Perhaps it's merely designed into the game?

I therefore believe that the Assassin (or another class) will be designed with this in mind - and will be able to counter weapon-wielding classes. Especially Rangers. Perhaps they will be able to severely cripple one's ability to hit targets. Perhaps they will have some "throw smoke" skill to shield someone from ranged attacks. I'm not really sure.

If I were Areanet, this is what I would do.

Not to burst your little bubble but a thief does not equal and assassin, A thief is more of an assassin who can't kill so has resorted to mugging. I do not understand people's lust to be a common mugger, it makes no sense to me. But lets compare:
Assassin:
- Code of Honor
- Mercenary
- Swift and Sly
- Ritualistic
- etc...

Mugger/Thief:
- No honor
- Stealth and Swift
- Usually not to well off
- Extremly common

I personally do not see much of a similarity (or even reason to be a thief) than the swift... but I'd take the honor-bound assassin to the common mugger .

Also what would a thief steal? Energy? So we will have two mesmers? Pash!

PS: Mesmers and Rangers are the true renegades... honestly if you (like me) control people's minds I'd prefer to work alone

PPS: The assassin, would in my eyes, be a more middle ground melee unit. Currently the warrior is, in my opinion, more focused on the extremes of the spectrum, either dominating in defense or offense, usually not both because they seem to nullify each other (such as the slow of certain defense spells vs. the must attack or use attack skills of attack stance...). The assassin would be a, perhaps, weaker but more balanced version, in this we could see stealth to allow an assassin to overcome that mediocre spectrum it occupies and sneak by enemies.

Well guys don't forget thatt Duel Weilding was in 75% of all the characters and almost all of them came up with ways to even out duel-weilding. They probably will introduce this. I can't exacty say it WILL be in but still I'm sure Anet has plety of ideas suggested to deal with all the duel weild problem.

Also I decided to make a thread that deals with Suggesting ideas alone for this new profession.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=80738

[QUOTE=Guizzy]If I remember correctly, Lion's Arch has its own garrison of defenders not linked to the White Mantle.

Also, we left a lot of Ascalon settlers there; they'll defend Kryta with their... bare hands, farm tools and teeth![QUOTE]

yes but don't forgot if look in the manual Kryta was almost doomed before the whitemantle.

O I think those tiny Lion Guards can fight off the large number of Charr

maybe. but the neck like the face has numerous Capillaries(SP?) and as we all know (men from shaving and woman from.. i dunno... tweezing ? (not an insult) that the superficial wound will bleed out due to excess damage of capillaries. therefore bleeding an enemy out with a quick cut to the throat, neck or facial region would be an effective way of killing without the use of veins or arteries. thats why i said they use smaller lighter weapons to make numerous cuts... numerous cuts = more pain +salt of ones sweat making it more painful and face cuts = blood in eyes for blinding.. making numerous cuts just as deadly if not more so than a great cleave that could be hard to recover from. Plus you can knick the coratid withoput slicing the whole throught... its a pin point cut using mostly blade tip.

Basic anatamy, middle school health and common sense FTW!


but anyway.. i could care less about age or education... i was proving a point., not another avenue of discussion

this will be numbered

1. I said samurai swords, not katanas. also nodachi, Norimitsu, and Mumei: Kashiwa Tachi all boast a length greater than the 5 feet you stated.. You do some research or stop commenting about things you dont know.

2. you do not have to cut the windd pipe, as stated by others, to cut some ones throat.

3. Your right.. though i never meantioned movies and your arguing for realism in a video game......

4. define slitting cause as i see it they are teh same..

point in case.. you should hush now.. or get back on topic

A while back, someone mentioned that the casters are each tied to a blood stone. As much as that's true, I believe the Bloodstones are connected only to Tyria. On top of that, so are the gods.

With a new land (I'm betting Cantha still), I believe we will have new gods, new magics, and a lot of new things. On top of that, the training area for the new classes might be a lot different.

Notice the whole master, student thing? There's the possibility that the training for Assassins will be designed with all the quests and skills gained from that one master.

I think it sounds/looks a lot like the DII Assassin, like others have said.

Uhm..

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin

I dunno, I wouldn't call someone who is hired to kill someone for $200 an assassin.

my summary: from the concept art and the story we have:

a new profession called asassin:
primary attribute: shadow mastery
secondary attributes: hand to hand combat, off hand wield, thrown weapons

shadow mastery: not gonna call it stealth because of the kneejerk reactions that gets so since the text article says that it affects the light, lets call it 'distortion' or 'obscuration' or even shadow mastery. as a primary, lets speculate that it will have decrease to 'chance to hit' on all attacks directed at the target but probably no dmg reduction if an attack hits.

off-hand wield: she is handed 2 swords a large and small one, this probably going to be off-hand wield instead of full dual wield, think more like 'left-axe' in midgard daoc than dual wield in alb and hib daoc, and probably going to be limited to swords only.

hand to hand: the knifes in her hands looks like she will punch with them. so i am still betting on hand to hand combat possibly just 'knife fighting'.

thrown weapons: the sheath at her wrist is definately throwing knives. perhaps will include darts.

the land she is in is a trade hub, perhaps home of the xunlai storage agents? hopefully will introduce a consignment system as opposed to an auction system.

does this mean that we can hire asassins to take out guild leaders? will her hometown be an open pvp zone where an asassin could approach a guild leader just off the boat, attack and have a chance at success?

plumber - been done... just look at my avatar

As it stands now (I.E. not knowing hardly anything except the basic concept and how ANet has designed the other classes), I think the Assassin could be a very interesting class to play as. Personally, I could care less about dual wielding of weapons but have my own ideas as to how the Assassin should be played. I'll give you a quick run-down of them here:

Attributes:

Evasion (primary only): Increases run speed by 1% per level and makes skills that involve dodging and escape more effective

Melee (daggers, knives, short swords, etc.): Increases damage dealt with melee weapons and effectiveness of counterattacks

Missile (throwing knives, darts, shuriken, blowguns, etc.): Increases damage done with missile weapons and the effectiveness of skills involving their use

Provision: Increases effectiveness of healing skills and other techniques that supplement combat

Armor:

AL: 65-70 with a small boost (10?) vs. Physical attacks

Energy:

4 pips but no foci or energy increasing items created for the Assassin class

Play Style:

The Assassin will rely on a series of condition causing attacks and counterattacks that impede the enemy but don’t last long requiring them to renew them relatively frequently.

Melee attacks won’t have much as far as bonus damage but should cause conditions that impede their target’s effectiveness (Ex. Face Rake – If this attack hits, target foe takes X damage and is blinded for X seconds or Knee Strike – If this attack hits target foe is crippled for X seconds or Deadly Feint – If this attack hits, target foe begins bleeding for X seconds. This attack cannot be “Blocked” or “Evaded” or Headbutt – If this attack hits, all your target’s skills are disabled for 1-3 seconds) Another aspect of melee combat would be counterattacks which would rely on your opponent attacking in order for you to use the skill (Ex. Throw – For 5 seconds, block the melee attack you are hit with. If an attack is blocked, the attacking foe takes X damage and is knocked down or Cross-counter: For 5 seconds evade the next melee attack that would hit you. Attacking foe takes +X damage or Sweep – For 5 seconds you evade the next melee attack that would hit you. If you evade an attack in this way, the attacker becomes crippled for X seconds). These stances would of course have a reasonable reset time so that they cannot be spammed.

Missile attacks will have a short range (roughly that of Ice Spear or Point Blank Shot) and won’t do as much damage as melee attacks but will but will focus more on interrupts and other condition causing attacks (Ex. Headshot – Interrupt target foes action. If that action was a spell the target becomes dazed for 3-5 seconds or Thigh Strike – if this attack hits, target becomes crippled for X seconds or Dust Bomb – if this attack hits, target becomes blinded for X seconds.) These attacks would have slightly faster reset times allowing the Assassin to keep applying them as necessary until their energy runs out.

The Provision skills will truly allow the Assassin to cause problems. Skills under this category should include some sort of healing skills along with preparations or attacks that cause health degeneration or some other combat related debuff. These skills will apply to both melee and missile attacks (Ex. Poison Blade – If your next attack hits, struck foe becomes poisoned for X seconds or Soothing Blade - If your next attack hits, struck foe suffers from weakness for X seconds or Serrated Blade - If your next attack hits, struck foe suffers from bleeding for X seconds or Acid Blade - If your next attack hits, struck foe’s attack speed is reduced by X% for X seconds.) Examples of healing skills may include Tourniquet – If touched target ally is suffering from bleeding, they stop bleeding and Tourniquet replaces bleeding for the reminder of the condition. While under the influence of a Tourniquet, combat and movement speed are reduced 20% or Healing Tonic – Regain X health. Other miscallenious skills that might be included under this attribute might be something like Chokehold - For X seconds touched target foe cannot move or use skills but neither can you.

Evasion will allow for the Assassin to get in close enough to their targets to do their damage with minimal risk. There should be skills that allow for both projectile and melee evasion (though not at the same time) along with maybe 1 or 2 speed increasing (running) skills. An elite skill that might fit into this category could be a stealth/camouflage skill that made the user partially transparent for X seconds, removed their blip from the radar and shorten the agro range of nearby monsters to that character. The skill should end prematurely if the user moves from the point of casting.

Sorry if this bored anyone, but I think that this is basically how the Assassin should play out in my opinion. I would also be nice if the beginning of the PvE game was different but maybe tied into the original story line along the way if there isn’t enough content to max out the character in the new areas (around Lion’s Arch maybe?).

Besides this, I think the other ideas of a Telekinetic/Clairvoyant, Shape Shifter or Alchemist would be interesting additions to the game as well.

PvE for Assassin would suck. PvP for assassin would suck. Assassin in general would suck. It's been done way too many times. Finding out that this character is confirmed really upset and annoyed me.

I really hope that this is all a scam =P

All the better for empathy and spiteful spirit. I like dual weilding already.


Just shut up.



Amen on the speak/pikeman. I'd like to see something like this also, or another caster.. but then again, there are a lot of those already.




My thoughts on this are simple. Add these skills to the necro class and come up with something better for the next class. If necros don't need corpses for some of their skills, I'm sure no one's going to have a heart attack over it.




I love your ideas, I can only hope anet reads your post.



All I have to say is, sucks for you. If you're too lazy, then why do you want a new character anyway? They should just put the level 20 button back in.



Adrenaline is implemented as soon as you equip an adrenal skill. Put rush on your elementalist, and you'll see. They can't just get rid of adrenaline for a new class.. or .. maybe they could. Who knows what Anet has in mind.

For the record, I really was hoping Anet would just forget about stealth classes, but oh well. Can't change it now. I won't be a b!itch and complain, I'll just abuse the new class as best I can.


To those who challenged someone to come up with a unique class, I believe Mistress Develion already posted a response, but I'll post mine here that I've been thinking of recently.


I don't know what I'd call it, but the proffesion would use wires as weapons, and metalic claws for close range,maybe somewhat like a deadly trapeze artist. That's right. Think of a very high dextesity character, that has major snare moves and mob control. Maybe something with high aoe damage from shards of metal. You'd be able to entangle/strangle enemies, and avoid conditions such as knock downs with your own skills, aka, being in the air. While you're in the air you'd have some sort of penalty, say maybe 33% more from air magic or something. Of course there'd be something to increase your movement speed by swinging around. The armor would be metalic, but not too heavy looking. Lots of spikes though.

bye bye .defekt

.defekt, I'd love to take over your account for you. I don't care if you sell everything on ebay, I just need more character slots. PM me please.

My thoughts now ive thought about it a little more.

Well i was hoping for something different, but as i and others have said. There is very little left to do that the other classes cant do, considering the way we can mix primary and secondarys.

So think of it as a bonus class, and remember you dont HAVE to play that charachter.

That kind of misses the point. It's not that we don't want to play an assassin, it's that we don't want to see anyone else playing them either. Now, I know that sounds really vindictive and pointlessly unkind, but... well, let me try a hypothetical.

Suppose that Anet decided to add a Clown profession. They wear brightly-colored, polka-dotted armor with oversized shoes, and their helmets are different varieties of orange wigs and facepaint. They wield rubber chickens and attack from range by hurling pies. I'm sure some people would love to play as a clown in Tyria, but I also think a fair number of people would like Guild Wars rather less if they kept seeing clowns in the cities and outposts and had to play against clown teams in PVP.

This is a ridiculous and extreme hypothetical, of course. But the point is, to some of us who are a bit tired of Real Ultimate Power, putting ninjas - or wannabe ninjas who wear bikini tops instead of black pajamas and have a different name - into Guild Wars is akin to putting in clowns, if not quite as bad.

That's not to say that assassins couldn't be implemented in some cool, innovative, not-the-played-out-ninja-thing way. But some of us are pessimists about these things.

Without reading all 300+ posts, I think this is the stupidest idea for a new class ever. Every ANet nerf seems to be trying to force people from playing solo. Yet they plan to introduce a class that has been historically a lone figure? Are the Devs really that retarded? Sounds like they just caved to the vocal, clueless masses posting here,and on other forums.

At least it's not a friggin pirate.

hahahaha clown teams, i play with regular clown all the time, its called pve.

What a load of tosh, seriosly comparing clowns to assasins.

They will make them balanced, you dont have to play them and others do want to.

Give me a GOOD reason that assasins shouldnt be introuduced other than you dont want to see them.

clowns

why are ppl writing of the assassin when we dont even know what the heck its role is supposed to be or its skills..

more importantly, why isn't anyone as excited as i am that for an asassin class to work, nika's hometown has to be an open pvp town a la booty bay.

Quoted for truth.

i saw alex weekes readin this thread just moments ago..O.O

You haven't even seen how this class works. How do you know it will suck?

lol.. you people are funny :P

a assasin dont have to be a lone figure, where did you come up with that ?

and you can in no way tell if its gonne be overpowered either since you dont know anything!! about their skills.

and offcourse the assasin idea has been used before. lets see... diablo neverwinter nights - baldurs gate - everquest - WOW - lineage 2 - diablo 2 and i can go on for a a while really.

but its been said already... all of these games cover most other classes aswell. the ONLY new class in a way is a mesmer, and not even completely new to me.

its about time you guys start focusing on whats fun in this gfame, and not on what is already used in another