Side quests are my jam. Even if they don't mean much in the long run, I feel as though I'm honing my skills for the meat of the game. Anyway, I'm curious if there is a certain point I should stop doing the story to take on side quests. I ask, because it seems as though the game is still walking me through some tutorial stuff, even while I'm at the start of Sequence 7.

Example: My favorite thing to do is perch below a ledge and wait for a roof guard to come near and assassinate him by pulling him off the ledge. I played up to Sequence 7, but I couldn't for the life of me get this ability to work. I wrote it off as something the developers took out of the game, much to my chagrin, and pressed on. I did an early naval mission which required me to scale a cliff side up to a tower. There was a guard waiting at the top. It prompted me to do a ledge assassination. ????? So I couldn't do so before unless I did this optional side mission???

Color me confused.

This got me thinking that maybe I need to press on further in the game before I go gallivanting around completing side quests. Having all my abilities available will make it a much easier task. So far, I've completed all side quests in Boston but a few things would definitely have been easier if I could ledge assassinate before then.

So, are there more abilities I need to unlock? When would be the best time to start side quests be?

I don't think any of the sidequests open up new abilities. You could've done ledge assassinations from the beginning, you just didn't notice until that point.

My one recommendation would just be to do all of the Homestead Missions as they show up. You can do all of the other stuff whenever you feel like it.

@Chaser324 said:

You could've done ledge assassinations from the beginning, you just didn't notice until that point.

I said in the second paragraph, I'd been trying to get it to work for 7 sequences. I couldn't get it to work until I did that naval mission that had an optional objective of doing 3 ledge assassinations. Now I can do it easily. It's like it didn't exist before that mission.

@mordecaix7 said:

@Chaser324 said:

You could've done ledge assassinations from the beginning, you just didn't notice until that point.

I said in the second paragraph, I'd been trying to get it to work for 7 sequences. I couldn't get it to work until I did that naval mission that had an optional objective of doing 3 ledge assassinations. Now I can do it easily. It's like it didn't exist before that mission.

When did you try it? I know there are some things that Connor can do that you couldn't do as Haytham, but I wasn't aware of any abilities that are earned as Connor by completing quests.

@Chaser324: I really started trying to do it once I got to Boston as Connor, roughly sequence 6. I didn't really try to do it during the first part of the game. As soon as Boston was open, I started trying to do side quests. I just couldn't seem to pull it off.

Another ability I couldn't seem to do until sequence 7 was corner assassination. I don't remember when I started being able to do it, but I know the first few times I tried it I would just hit the person and not assassinate them. Now in sequence 7, I stab'em and pull them around the corner.

Are you also having problems with air assasinations? It used to be you would highlight your target and push X to jump off the roof and assassinate them. In AC3, I have to jump off the roof first, hit X in the air and hope I hit the guy I was aiming for.

@mordecaix7: Air assassinations seem to work the same way to me. Highlight the guy and press X to initiate the leap and stab. Maybe you're too far away from the guy to highlight him?

@Chaser324: I might be too far away... here's a good example:

I tried locking on, which I think helps with the running and jumping part, but just pressing X to assassinate from a roof when in range doesn't seem to be working for me.

I waited until I got the iconic hooded robe. Since then I have done nothing but the side missions