The main problem is that Deception is designed to be a hit and run mechanic, strike for the shadows and disappear after a furious opening burst type thing. I can't see the developers wanting to play around with this too much as it would either result in a totally OP class who is capable of immense burst AND good sustained or the widespread nerfing of any burst damage. It's not nice to be a fair way off other classes in terms of dps but I don't think making changes to Deception is all that easy without unbalancing the state of play and of course Madness is there for both Assassins AND Sorcerer so it's tricky to change that without allowing abuse from sorcerers as well. Hopefully they will find a happy medium, i'm not worried if i'm not theoretically the best dps out there, (unlike some who will still complain until they are the OP FOTM class), but it isn't good to be this far behind and it would be nice to see a narrowing of the gap at least if not an absolute fix.

Translated to: I should be able to beat every other class easily as a solo player and therefore any class I can't, no matter if they are playing as intended, deserves a nerf. It's always the same old B.S. in a forum. I wonder how many of these posts are from spoiled crybabies used to getting everything their own way off their mummies and daddies who, after getting beaten off "class A" come straight on the forums to ask for a nerf?? People like this spoil MMO's for the rest of us because they have zero idea of what they are asking for. PvP will always be imbalanced in these types of games. The only way to fix it is to essentially have all players have all the same abilities and gear and then they would complain about it being boring.....who would be a developer these days when you just can't please some people

I wouldn't worry too much. By the time you get to raid on a new character the class in demand will probably have changed or something happened to make your class not all it once was. Rolling for most in demand is a dangerous path, pick something you enjoy and if you end up being FOTM for a while then great, otherwise at least you enjoy playing your class and can be content with just having fun. Guardian tanks and dps may not be the most sought after, but I guarantee you people will want you around as a skilled guardian who knows tactics rather than a clueless player who just rolled a class because they thought it was easy-mode

All I can see here is the same as a million other class posts on every MMO out there......"if my class isn't the BEST then it is broken and therefore needs a buff, despite being more than capable of getting the job done." There may be problems but you summed it up in your point 5. Skill wins out over class buffs....you basically want a class buffed because it takes more skill to play?? Personally I like the fact i'm deemed the "worst" tank spec and can still get compliments...means i'm never short of offers for groups whenever I play. Nerfing skill to make everyone faceroll content isn't the answer - that's what ruined WoW.

Mainly, remember it is a game, no-one is going to award you a million dollars for being a top ranked PvPer in an MMO, if you enjoy playing a certain class a certain way and feel you do well enough to enjoy that play style then just stick with it. I gave up worrying about FOTM specs in games a long long time ago....you just end up spending you entire life levelling alts, regearing and relearning your play-style for what usually ends up as a short term advantage which is squashed by changes soon enough that you need to repeat the process over and over again. Much of the time the QQ on forums are mostly players complaining they aren't the top dog class spec at the moment and much of the complaints are over-exagerated and the differences are either much smaller than specified or they only apply to be OP in very specific circumstances. 90% of the time skill will out perform the FOTM spec anyway, and team-work usually fills in the other 10%. Go check out every class forum list....they all have QQ about how they need a buff in PvP or some other class needs a nerf. It is the nature of MMO forums and PvP i'm afraid so should be taken with a pinch of salt!

My Assassin is a great class to play and can opt for very good survivability or fairly decent control and dps. I must admit to feeling somewhat in need of a pocket healer though to be most efficient, but they are great fun to play onc eyou realise they aren't just a run and nuke class. PvP certainly seems to favour ranged classes and those who can heal right now though so yeah, Sage/Sorc is the ideal choice given their huge array of CC as well. Pity that I don't like playign ranged all that much or i'd roll one

11-49 PvP is just a lot of fun. It doesn't involve a huge grind, it is just there to allow you to experience PvP without needing to stress about gear. And while 11 may be slightly too low, it can still be a pleasant change and you even though you lack abilities you still feel more of a match to opponents than you do as a fresh 50 with no gear. The thing is though you NEED rewards for playing the game, but in PvP terms these rewards should not be gear. PvP should be about class knowledge, skill and opponent wekness exploitation NOT just about who has more time to grind gear. There needs to be ways of separating out players and rewarding them for their efforts but having it purely based on gear isn't what you want as it just removes all fun from the game for those without the gear and only keep the saddo's at maximum gear happy if they enjoy beatign down on people who can't fight back since i'm fairly sure most skilled players would prefer to have some competition than just farm noobies. At least, if nothign else, create bands of competition to stop the very best PvP geared players getting pitted against those who dinged 50 an hour ago and are essentiall Bantha Fodder to them.

Which class to enjoy is all in the eye of the beholder. I think what you mean is "easier to play". Too many posts in these forums revolve around X-class is screwed, Y class is OP when a lot of the time it is a PEBCAK issue that clouds the judgement. "Oh I can't play this class therefore they must be broken." Not sayign there aren't some issues but many are just people going about playing the class wrong in the first place - go no further than people playing Sith Assassins expecting to be a melee toe-to-toe fighter and wonder why the get steamrolled.

To be honest i've just picked back up my JK Guardian after going off to see friends on the dark side and having played a Sith Assasin and even with full dps spec on there I can honestly say Guardians leave them for dead in terms of burst dps potential (and survivability without a pocket healer but thats another story). I did have a flirt with what I thought would be a dual weild killing machine on the Empire as well and certainly at low levels I don't see all that much difference in terms of damage output...but again rotation could play a part. Quite sure that any balace issues will be addressed in time but remember you offset pure dps output as a guardian to have more suvivability....increasing their pure dps output would lead to all sorts of issues in PvP.

Assassins seem to be caught in no-mans land right now for PvP. They lack the overall burst of other classes yet outside of a heavy survivability spec using Dark Charge they also lack survivability. Generally they work best with a pocket healer which for random groups does limit their usefulness. All in all though they can still be quite effective, I love mine, they just aren't as straight forward to play as a lot of other classes are in PvP and as such have a greater diversity of skill levels. Lack of easy AoE dmg does also limit their overal dmg totals and I feel like I could use some more defensive cooldowns at my disposal, but overall they may not be the best class out there and I fully agree they aren't feared due to a lot of players who don't play them properly, but in a good group with teamwork they can still be very effective.

The biggest problem I see is that certain openers have a huge chance of success, while the necessary counters all have a huge cooldown. So that while 1v1 may be fine and you CAN counter classes, certain mechanics in a warzone which involves multiple players does fail a little due to you beign susceptible after your first fight until things come off cooldown. There will always be teething issues with PvP in a brand new MMO....hells bells there are more than teething issues in everyone beloved WoW and how long has that had to try and balance things?? But small issues aside, much of what I see on these forums revolves around un-organised teamplay, lack of knowledge of the players won class and lack of knowledge abotu weak spots and counters of the opponent. I've lost track of the number of Sith Assassin posts which claim they are underpowered yet they charge in as if they were a Juggernaut or something and wonder why it all goes wrong.

I love how people complaining about balance on here confuse OP with easy. Just because you can smash buttons and do what you want with very little input from your brain it does nto mean other classes can't compete. They just need to L2P as it were...i'm tired of seeing players with Sith Assassins who think running in trying to just nuke things is the way to play that class and then complain because it doesn't work. Also, 1 month into a brand new MMO and players are complaining as if this is an established game that should have no bugs and no balance issues. Time for a reality check on just how complex all the behidn the scene work is in these types of games and stop thinking it's as simple as just flicking a switch to somehow make everything balanced (and of course by balanced most seem to mean "my class is OP and can kill your class by just looking at them").

Firstly, I suspect a lack of understanding of class abilities, playstyle and cooldown may be behind the "oh they're terribad" comment of the OP. If you want to stand toe-to-toe and just slog it out smashing keys randomly then yes, you will fail at playing an assassin. They are much more reliant on using the right tool in the right place. Secondly, i'd be very interested to know at what level you are commenting on? Once you begin getting higher, getting more talent points to customise yourself with then it makes a huge difference, and again this all relies on picking the right talents - no it's not a cookie cutter build like some MMO's that you simply must have to do the best dps, but it about realising which abilities actually improve and utilising them effectively. There are plenty of Assassins running about out there. Coming on here and ranting about a bad class isn't going to work i'm afraid either. If you had come on asking for advice/help to get the most out of your class then fine, people would have helped you. This community is much friendlier than other MMO's that must not be named, and bringing in the same "oh it must be the game not me" attitude really isnt helping. And P.S. Assassins are amazing in PvP. I can tank fine and can dps fine. Since there are no meters around you can't judge dps output specifically, but if you don't use your cooldowns correctly and know your class well then of course you will struggle to kill things and always die. And don't compare apples and oranges either. Just because another class can do somethign doesn't mean assassins should as well. That is what has killed other MMO's by trying to accomodate people like you wanting their class to do everything and eventually there is no separation and no reason to cherish your class.

Awwww....just got it. Almost disappointed there wasn't some huge ****-up so I could read more rage posts....it's been an amusing read Just to rub it in though, it's 4:30 UK time and i'm off to the pub soon so won't even be playing.

Love how all the narcky kids flaming the forums have absolutely no idea of what's involved in running a lone web-server let alone the logistics involved in launchign a game with the server requirements of this magnitude. Chill, wait patiently and you can start complaining about queues to get in quite soon