If recon didn't have the mark, the game would be unbalanced and recon would be overpowered.

Of course its useful! It renders armor and no-life UVs (triple maxes, and similar stuff on armor) useless for 5 seconds. But you can approach a stationary enemy and get 1 or 2 hits off before they notice you, depending on your speed and their reaction time.

I would use deathmark if you see someone with expensive accessories on, cause they most likely have the triple max uvs. But if its an ash tail with a blazebrand, just kill him in 2 shots with ur flourish.

But the question is...does the deathmark take away status defense?

The death mark is definitely useful for recons. I don't really play the recon class but a recon using the death mark really helps to kill off enemies. I've also fallen several times because of the death mark.

The fact that it gives away the location of a recon is probably good thing. I think there'd be a lot more 'what just happened?' deaths if there was no warning. This makes the death mark a powerful tool for recons but limits its use so as not to be too overpowered. Now that recons can take multiple shield hits, it's a lot more useful than before.

Deathmark (the actual effect from the 2nd ping) is definitely useful. Reducing your opponent's defense can make otherwise non-viable weapons viable for a moment, helps teammates, etc.

The problem that people tend to run into is the 1st ping warning, and IMO, the big problem is really the way they try to get to the 2nd ping. Most recons tend to do this:
[cloak]->[warning]->[deathmark]->[approach and attack with sword]

It's terribly predictable, and in between warning->deathmark, they don't do anything.

In reality, it's actually possible to do this:
[cloak] -> [warning]-> [attack]x1-3 -> [recloak] -> [deathmark] -> [attack]

The way I see it, if you're going to try to do a sneak attack on a target, instead of completely avoiding the deathmark, you can try to approach them in a way that the radar pings them AS you attack. This way, after your initial attack, if they survive, you can recloak and deathmark right away.

People tend to forget that Recon naturally favors guns with ASI , so you can use that to catch, bait, or straight up kill someone who's swinging wildly while deathmarked, so you can safely attack from a distance and take full advantage of deathmark's benefits.

Gotta love death marking em and then valiance them to death :D

I'd think that 2.5 pips surely would not be worth letting people know you're there.

A: No mark
You sneak up with no warning and get 1-2 free attacks

B: Warning-attack
You sneak up, ping with warning and AT THE SAME TIME, start attacking for 1-2 free attacks

--->

A: No mark
> You miss/they survive > your attacks are the same strength

B: After warning-attack
> You miss/they survive > you recloak once > deathmark > your attacks are stronger and they're more likely to retreat.

---

simultaneously pinging and attacking with at least a possibility of deathmark sounds like a much better deal, especially when you're having to deal with multiple enemies at once.