Guardians are already valuable to teams. The thing is, you suggest a guardian should cover the striker while he kills the recon. Thats true, but that would be an uneven setup, ofcourse the striker+guardian will win vs the recon. I think the speedbuff while cloaked could work, but maybe give it a slight delay to avoid alchemer switchers to not get the boost while they cloak uncloak rapidly. I do agree that recons using swords feel underpowered, but recons do get a sword penalty, so maybe it was not intended to be used with swords. (much like how a striker gets ctr penalty for bombs)

I agree absolutely. Recon footprints feel... -frustrating- unnecessary. Removing it would say "no that striker didn't use my footprints to track me; he predicted me" and tie recon failure to themselves.

So, as I've stated in the Guardian PvP balance, I think that the meta should be Striker < Guardian < Recon < Striker

Strikers should be good against recons. Their natural speed advantage over recons makes it so.

But Recons should be good against (solo) Guardians and other solo enemies, as you have described.
Adding MSI: increase in it's shielded form would be nice as well, for chasing foes. Particularly slow ones. Helping recon attack unprotected, solo guardians. (as stated in the Guardian PvP Balance, Guardians should also get a MSI when allies are in the shield, but only when allies are in it)
I think that Recon's shield thing should also take away enemies's (active?) shields, including the Guardians.
(Optional; the stolen shield energy is added to their own)
This would help them be able to sneak up on solo Guardians and forcibly drain their shields (and death marking them); the Guardian must decide whether to unshield and risk their hp to search for the recon (lest their shield drain away).

I can imagine a recon taking away a shield, a guardian dropping the shield to prevent their shield from being drained, and then immediately being hit by a recon. Also, this adds interesting dynamics to the recon vs striker (and even recon vs recon) battles, where a recon can ALSO wait out/drain their opponent's shield (as strikers normally wait out recon shields)

Also add uncapping power, so that a recon can uncap a point faster? (and distract enemy strikers by uncapping unprotected points) That would be nice.

And Please remove Sword ASD. Many Recons use swords often.

(Sorry for spelling/diction mistakes). I hope these suggestions become a reality.

I wouldn't say a recon should get a MSI of high by default. Potentially they could have a MSI: low by default and get a MSI boost to MSI: High after a second of shielding (as to prevent a recon from getting the full movement speed boost while switchshooting).

I do like the idea of messing up other players with footsteps. Since recon is already about mind-games as is, perhaps when they cloak they can switch between dampened footsteps and loudened footsteps by hitting the attack button while shielding. What do I mean by this? Dampened footsteps is by default what you use when going into cloak, which sends footsteps in the way you were walking and disappears after a couple seconds. Loudened footsteps will create a phantom player who leaves footsteps within your deathmark range. Only you can see your phantom, and as long as you keep it within deathmark range it will be active... When you walk away from your phantom it will create another one starting from your player and begin wandering. When you switch from loudened footsteps to dampened footsteps, the footsteps will walk from the phantom player, not the actual player.

Bottom line is if you're going to have footsteps, you either need to have them be exploitable or invisible. I think 3 modes would work for a recon, the two I mentioned and the default it currently is right now. If you get that one striker on the other team used to you using the default footsteps, then switch over to loudened footsteps, they will be constantly missing you. If you want to sneak up on your foe, you switch to dampened. If the "attack while cloaked" button idea doesn't work, have the sprite skill buttons switch between footstep modes. By implementing these, the recon footsteps would be made more obvious so that casual players can pick up on it.

Remember: as a recon with damped footsteps you can essentially make your footsteps disappear.

TL;DR - MSI should only be while cloaked, and footsteps need to either be in the game and exploitable or removed for recons.

Basic idea is that a recon shouldn't be super fast while being seen, but when you're invisible you should be anywhere and everywhere. In order to get that bonus, you need to stay invisible. Just being fast by default makes enemy strikers just have to predict farther ahead after you cloak, whereas with a faster MSI once cloaked, it'll be harder to adjust to the fast-slow difference that happens.

But yeah, bottom line is footsteps are a problem with recon. Making them less reliable is basically removing them, but I think it would be wonderful if we could make footsteps an integral part of playing recon.

the deathmark is already strong, no need to make it stronger. You're making it sound like recon is a sitting duck against anything, which isnt true. Recon does feel a bit weaker than the other classes, but its far from harmless. And thats just in a 1v1 situation. If it was for example a 2v2, the recon could deathmark the 2 enemy strikers, while his teammate striker can hit them for huge damage, after they are deathmarked nothing is stopping the recon from attacking the 2 enemies either, punishing them when they try to hit his teammate. I think this might even become way too easy if the recon got a speed boost while cloaked. He could easily get near any enemy who is trying to attack his teammates because of his increased speed, then proceed to smack them with a divine avenger when they stop to attack, dealing huge damage because of the deathmark.

@Waterbeat-forums
I agree with Fezhor
I think that Deathmark should actually be buffed. (extend by a few seconds, and/or see Fangel's post above).
And remember that defense is only set a set amount (100). If suggestions that Strikers get a lower base defense, like suggested in the Striker PvP balance thread, then this renders it even more ineffective.
I find it extremely rare/hard to actually hit a deathmarked target because you can't even get close to them without triggering the mark (without MSI) and they're so busy trying to search for you/get away from you, that you don't actually get to attack. (Keep in mind I don't use BKC or merc demo) Bonus points if it is striker with a gun.

And that's good if the recon can do that because it serves his roles as a solo assassin and a team supporter/enemy team harrasser.

-> defense is not a set amount of 100, you can have more than that. the 100 is there to make sure you dont get 2HKO'd by anything you dont resist. This game is already fast paced, people die in 4 hits and fights are over pretty quickly usually. Recons deathmark is not that big of a deal usually, but that doesnt mean it cant be powerful. When I end up in a 2v1, me being a striker against a striker+recon, I need to be very careful and stay way from the striker while deathmarked, cause one hit while deathmarked means losing. Most recons that I see simply go recon or guardian because they need the hp boost striker lacks, but there are some good recons out there that can be devastating with deathmark + DA/GF swings. Also, what if the recon has a gun? I am not a gunner and I dont play recon, but recently I have tried the combination and it was pretty successful. I realised I wouldnt be as good at capping as a striker, so I decided to camp on one of the points closest to their base, I was able to put the deathmark to good use, especially when more than 1 player came to attack. You just hide for a few seconds until they get deathmarked, then when you land 2 hits on them with a gun, theyre already in trouble and they havent even hit you yet.

What you said about strikers getting less defence... it is true that that would make deathmark less effective, but I also replied on that thread and as Ive mentioned then, giving strikers less defence will accomplish the opposite, everyone will run glass cannon armors because there would be no point in going for anything with more defense (like class or plate defense). Sure strikers would die faster, but everyone would run chaos or BKC. If it were to make every striker die in the equivalent of 4 flourish or 3 DA hits regardless of defense, you just made BK sets more dominant. If it were to make most sets die in 3 flourish hits and piercing max skolver sets in 4, then guardians will be too strong compared to strikers.

the roles you described for recon are merely your opinion. I dont think it needs to be a solo assassin, that would imply he goes out alone to kill people fast and clean without being hit and barely seen. Sounds a bit much for 1 class's abilities. It is definitely an enemy team harasser at this point, with the deathmark, invisibility and a good amount of HP. Recons could also be turrets, rapidly firing their guns while kiting to stay alive, with the ability of hiding invisible for a while to wait for the deathmark and a better opportunity to attack.