The Competence of the Antivan Crows; Overhyped Bandits, or Incorrect Portrayal?

In short...no.

As you pointed out the fact they usually go up against the player character so they are bound to lose when we are playing them. Plus add onto that all we basically have on the crows is their perspective of their enemies or people who hate their guts. We really haven't gotten a pro Crow internal perspective until recently so that is bound to paint them in a bad light...and means that whatever else happens with them they are still kind of blank. The devs are still free to expand on and add to their lore and continue to add characters who actually like the Crows as they try and maybe get back to brass tacks.

Plus with their reverses and recent problems, especially in regards to Eight Little Talons, they seem to have lost a lot of power and are in a much more precaurious position. What this means though is they are in a similar position which was teased in the 2020 trailer. That they are effectively without power and are on the outside looking in.

A recurring plot point in BioWare games is that any faction the PC is not a member of is almost comically inept which is then the reason for "how could all this shit happen anyway?".

Just look at DAI's mages, templars, wardens... and the Inquisition during the two years between the end of DAI and the start of Trespasser. Absence of player character = stupidity and incompetence.

I would also point out that if we agree to work with that Crow Master in Denerim, his particular cell's success rate increased dramatically, whereas if we refuse, it can be cited as proof the Crows aren't that effective. So, whilst those who choose to confront our PCs in game seem less deserving of their reputation, all that has really happened is that we have eliminated them on behalf of the organisation. With the Crows it is very much survival of the fittest and for every "failure" we have witnessed, there are probably countless other operatives out there who have been successful but that we personally never get to hear about but overall add to the reputation of the Crows as a whole.

Failure among the Crows is not an option. You either succeed or your die trying. Remember also that individuals can "bid" to take the contract from their Master, which is how Zevran got the contract on the Hero of Ferelden. I presume this is something along the lines of what percentage the operative gets from the mission as opposed to the Master who originally accepted it from the client. As the individual advances in the Crows, they will be given increasingly tougher but more lucrative contracts and, in view of their continued success, can expect a bigger cut from the Master in charge of it. For really dangerous contracts the Master will demand a higher fee from the client and will then only use their most experienced assassins, who in turn will expect to receive appropriate reward for their efforts.

Whilst Lucanis in the Wigmaker Job was made to seem absurdly capable, with PC levels of immunity to adverse effects from his injuries and success against impossible odds, the generally premise behind that contract still holds good. A wealthy person within Tevinter wishes to target leading Venatori but without their own identity being revealed. So, they approach the Crows, an outside assassin group who have the reputation of getting the job done whilst maintaining the anonymity of their client. As they want the best, they opt for the First Talon, who in turn uses their best assassin to fulfill the contract. The operation is a success, with the target and their allies being fully aware that the Crows were responsible, thus increasing their reputation and the likelihood of getting further lucrative contracts. If Lucanis had failed, likely his cousin or another member of House Dellamorte would have continued until the target was eliminated. Not to have done so, or to return to Antiva following such failure, would have severely impacted on the reputation of the First House, so their life would be forfeit.

This was in fact what happened with House Arainai and the Hero of Ferelden. Whilst ultimately the Crows may have decided as a group not to continue the contract because it turned out there was a Blight and so it is best not to kill those capable of stopping it, nevertheless House Arainai suffered a loss of status within the organisation because Zevran's failure to complete it impacted adversely on the reputation of the Crows. It wasn't just Zevran who failed but also Taliesen, who had been sent to clear up the mess. What made it worse was not just that Zevran failed but, if you let him survive, he went over to the side of the target and revealed the name of the client. Then subsequent to the Blight, it would seem House Arainai tried and failed again to eliminate their errant former operative. However, within the organisation that reflected badly only on that House. No doubt other Houses would impress on potential clients the fact that they were not involved in the mission. In fact, as Ignatio said, as far as he was concerned it had nothing to do with him and he was not obliged to clear up the mess of another Master.

This is why Zevran says it is very rare for the Crows to take on a contract as a whole, rather than as individual Houses, no doubt so the organisation can distance itself from the failure of individual Houses and this is what has allowed the reputation of the Crows to be maintained.

Regarding their reputation, I find it interesting how they aren’t even universally beloved by their own countrymen. Josephine in every War Table mission with them wants us to have nothing to do with the Crows. Sure this is no doubt partly because of her being a pacifist, but she is extra emphatic in regards to not dealing with them or cutting ties as soon as possible, seeing their existence as unfortunate.

Oh it definitely makes sense for her, and definitely agree that between being a merchant princess and ambassador has led her to probably have experienced the fallout of their actions a few times. This could be why she holds an especially negative opinion of them, even compared to other similar groups. For example in that War Table line you choose between the Crows doing it or Leliana’s network and Josephine says “I trust Leliana’s people” while dismissing using the Crows which suggests she doesn’t trust them. Side note but while I know what you mean with that I don’t necessarily agree siding with Leliana over Josephine leads to the best option with her quest. Even if so, I’ll always do it Josie’s way.

The thing I find interesting is that usually when BioWare introduces a second character from a location it is to try to grey the things about that area out. Our first exposure to Tevinter with a companion was Fenris, then we got Dorian to show a different perspective of Tevinter including slavery. Yet both Zevran and Josephine have similar perspectives about Antiva and the Crows, in that the latter are a negative. So why have every ingame experience or mention of them be like that yet now also trying to make them more heroic in the recent expanded lore?

Exactly.

They remind me of the real Order of Assassins in the medieval period who were incredibly effective assassins but relied on forts and mountains since they had no armies.

I like to imagine the crows also have several forts and training facilities in Antiva but don’t have legions of assassins ready to fight on the battlefield.

The general attitude of assassins in this world is a bit funny. They keep using the old Shtick of "I am not really a bad person I am just the weapon that my employer uses to kill his rivals, not my fault!"

But not murdery. We’ve seen this with multiple characters, first and foremost Josephine. Same with some of the expanded universe characters.

Both. The correct answer is both.

Ugh, I hated Zevran after that conversation. His whole nonchalant way of being “Who is truly innocent?” Lots of people, Zevran.

Keep in mind to that assassins, at least in terms of fiction, are often portrayed as some kind of moralist institution fighting specific struggles against tyranny or some very evil people specifically taking out contracts on those people. Most notably the Hidden Ones/ Assassins in Assassins Creed. And that same tension is starting to become a plot point for Dragon Age and the Antivan Crows. In TVN in Eight Little Talons the group of crows were being murdered because one of their membership made that very argument. In the Wigmaker Job while I do question Lucanis's methods it is once more noteworthy that he was so inncenced by what the 'Wigmaker' was doing that he went bat shit insane, essentially. Then in the recent short stories we have the Crows being the ones who are fighting a guerilla war against the Qunari...and also forgot the story in TVN where that one old Crow takes on a contract against a Tevinter Magister who wiped out a Dalish camp.

Long story short an assassin can choose the contracts they take out.

I will admit my biases here given things that I have always been fascinated by special forces and...asymetrical warfare type units and operations pretty much from a young age. I've studied the crap and a lot of my favorite stories do have that sort of element, its come up in a lot of the stuff I consume, including to some extent Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Now its a little bit curious specifically when this fascination grew to include Assassins, I think it was with playing ACOD but then might've been earlier then that given that I was thinking about making my Inquisitor a Crow before Inquisition came out and learned that would not be possible. 

Long winded way of saying I think you're right. In Assassins Creed it is kind of a feature of the series the conversation you metnon that the Hidden Ones aren't exactly always above board either and sometimes you can argue that they are worse then the Templars. Its a fascinating conversation to have because it would come up with this kind of organization in the first place. Thing is with Dragon Age they are doing that...but in reverse. The Crows basically started off as being a very high end muahahaha organization opposed to all the player characters ever but then now they are adding nuance to them. I do wonder how much of this is in reaction to the popularity of Assassins Creed that they are doing this however, to borrow a term from another conversation I don't want to see the Crows suddenly 'whitewashed' either. Because this is an organization with a very colored past, very colored morality, very colored things they have done so they might be trying to turn over a new leaf and get back to their roots (like the rest of Thedas it seems) they also shouldn't forget the mistakes they made and we should have the opprotunity, as players, to have that conversation.

Lead writers have changed is probably the reason.