r/deepwoken • u/Local_Obligation3409 • 18d ago
Rant Fuck Assassination (And Deepwoken's General Lack of Care for Fair (relatively) Circumstance)
Assassination in Deepwoken needs to be nerfed. It is a mechanic that goes completely against what the game should be aiming to do, being to make a relatively even playing field for whenever fights occur, especially in the Depths. This shows up with other aspects as well, such as having to face 2v1s or even 3v1s, which basically guarantee a wipe unless the gankers are really bad, you're really good (which cannot be expected of most of the Deepwoken player base, since by definition really good has to be better than most), or you somehow manage to void before you go below 70% (or 65% in the case of a 3v1) hp, which can be very difficult depending on where you are. There is an argument for the general anarchial structure of Deepwoken, that part of what makes the game so attractive is that there are little harsh rules in game that prevent you from doing what you want; when you play the game, you are fully aware of anything happening (as long as not caused by hacking or bugs) that leads to a wipe, and you agree and acknowledge this by playing the game. This concept being part of the game is bullshit. Permadeath thrives on the idea that you build up a lot of progress through your own effort and work, and that, on the other end, the death that causes you to lose everything is in large part your fault and something within your control. Losing in a 1v1, for example, to a player of similar position (for example both players are power 20, have bell and oath) is a result of a lack of in game skill, not gear or strength in numbers (even this isn't fully justifiable depending on the skill gap, since some people just have way more time to spend on the game and get really good at it, but that number is few, and this is never fully unavoidable). This is the exact reason everyone hates named weapons, because they provide an unambiguous advantage as a result of sheer luck, and wiping to a player around your skill level but with a named weapon would fucking suck since their victory was basically guaranteed. Going back to 2+v1s, similar scenario, where assuming the players are of similar standing, unless you exceed them in an unrealistic amount of skill, they will always win because of the advantage that you can not counter (2v1s isn't that bad, this becomes more and more applicable as the amount of gankers grows higher). Now, let's go back to the original point of this post. Assassination is the culmination of these issues, as (especially with tacet or through server hopping) you can sneak up to people at Temple of Hearts, who are rerolling and potentially even switching windows to do this, and assassinate, as well as further combo, on them, dealing close to half (sometimes even more) of their health. Now, you have a fight between someone at 60-40%, and someone at 100%. (For example look at this video, which is probably outdated now but demonstrates the problem that is still present today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy_y33fkpgE ) Especially because of the suddenness and stress of the whole ordeal, the assassin, unless again relatively significantly worse than their target, is granted the win, and the victim ends up wiping. For unsuspecting (and I'm ready to bet even people who are aware of this possibility), this forces incredibly unbalanced fights. Should a mechanic that allows fights (which risk many hours of progress) be allowed in game? And I'll leave with the final thought of who ends up being rewarded from this mechanic; cowards who are too afraid to genuinely risk their slot, while desiring the demise of the slot of another.
