User blog comment:JAlbor/Wikia at E3 2012/@comment-94.0.109.198-20120602104114/@comment-15014822-20120602135557

I sort of agree with you but to be fair to Ubi, it's hard to think of compelling reasons why someone would become an Assassin apart from the reasons we have already with Altaïr and Ezio.

The way I see it; for Altaïr his motivation was initially duty instilled in him as a child, then he became over-confident and used the Creed to show off his skill, when he lost everything he was motivated by a desire to climb back up to his former position. His motivation was then realligned with the Creed ad it became about duty again. I think after Sef and Maria's deaths, revenge crept into his thoughts but his return to Masyaf was with the intention of rebuilding the Assassin Order, not to avenge them. Then it became about duty agian.

With Ezio, his motivation was initially revenge for the death of his family, when he decided to spare Rodrigo I felt like he'd overcome his desire for revenge and was fighting more out of duty to the Order. His return to Rome was a mixture of revenge for Mario's death and the sack of Monteriggioni and an attempt to regain te Apple as well as rescue Caterina. When he arrived in Rome and saw the state of the Order there, I think it also became about rebuilding it out of duty. His travels were Masyaf and Constantinople, were clearly a desire for knowledge and undestanding of the history of the Order.

I think that Ubisoft realised that people empathized more with Ezio than Altaïr because he had a personal reason for becoming an Assassin. I think they wanted to have something similar with Connor so that fans would connect with him. And bearing in mind the fact that Connnor is a killing Assassin, not an intelligence Assassin like Shaun or Hannah, he'd need quite a compelling reason to justify the many people that he'll kill. I'm finding it hard to think af alternative reasons that would justify assassinations aswell as endear the character to the fans.

I agree that Connor and Ezio's motives are both basically revenge, but I see Ezio's as more of a personal revenge whereas Connor's desire for revenge is more of a broader social one, which is also intwined with a sense of 'this isn't right and shouldn't be happening'/justice.