Angry_Citizen

It's really not. Steamroller groups consist of just about any slapped-together pick up group in existence these days. And frankly, any group can be made into a steamroller group with the presence of an effective AoE damage dealer and something to keep the AoE damage dealer alive. When in any group situation, the presence of an AoE damage dealer is always better than a single target damage dealer. I'm not saying single target damage is worthless. I'm just saying that any person which focuses entirely on single target damage, or even primarily on single target damage, is going to be less worthy to be on a team than an AoE damage dealer - by a wide margin.

So, fellow advocates of stalker buffing, do you run around in teams whining about how weak you are to the point where your functionality begins to suffer? No? Didn't think so. Guess that makes the person I'm quoting.. well, it certainly makes him something.

So what's my MA or DM stalker supposed to do, curl up and weep?

I disagree. Bosses are unreasonably underpowered as they are now. I miss the I3 bosses.

A good point, so perhaps a BU + AS + 95% enhancement is circa 20% AV hit point, etc?

It does continue to amuse me how people can so drolly spout off this mantra. AC complains = he hatez teh game!!!!11!!1!!! If my eyes could roll any more violently, they'd fall out.

I think you missed the part where I suggested AS no longer be interruptible? Also: I didn't suggest to nerf the HP cap. I suggested nerfing the normal HP level.

*eyebrows raised*

Why Redlynne... just what are you contributing to this discussion? Anyone who invokes axiomatic logic in any venue that doesn't involve some seriously abstract mathematics has pretty much lost the debate. Good day to you.

Now, does anyone have a legitimate complaint about my suggestion?

Are you referring to your triangle idea again? I've already given you several reasons why it would not fix stalkers. Let's go through them again:

1) AV encounters make up a fraction of one percent of the entire game. Stalkers have no role throughout the entire game.

2) Even if AV encounters were orders of magnitude more common than they are now, being able to drop their mez protection after a successful AS is not enough to keep stalkers from mediocrity (I will not say uselessness).

3) AV's, even as uncommon as they are now, are jokes to fight against. Giving us a special tool to allow them to be mezzed isn't contributing much at all. At best, it allows AV's like Statesman to be mezzed before they can hit Unstoppable, but lapses in Assassin's Strike due to misses or other unforeseen circumstances negate even that benefit.

Have you had enough yet? Sure, I'll grant you, it'd be funny and interesting to keep stabbing an AV to let a Dom keep them mezzed. But it's just - not - even - close - to - enough. Comprende?

I know exactly what I want. I want encounters to be hard again. I want single target damage to be useful, and then I want to see stalkers' single target damage increased to compensate while maintaining the status quo for everyone else. At present, more single target damage is only going to further homogenize scrappers and stalkers. I'm against that. Just because you disagree does not mean you should willfully fail to comprehend my arguments. It's rude and it's bloody annoying.

Fine. Here's my suggestion. Buff boss hit point level by 50%. Buff boss damage output by 33%. Buff boss mez resistance to 8, except sleep, which should be 3. Add greater access to powers for certain weak bosses. Then add a scaling AS. AS should kill a yellow minion, should kill an orange lieutenant, should wound a red boss to approximately 10% of its original hit points, should wound a +1 EB to approximately 50% of its original hit points, and should wound a +0 AV to approximately 80% of its original hit points, all assuming +95% damage, and no resistances. Keep demoralize, but remove our buffed hit points and damage modifier. I would be open to the PToD suggestion at that point, but frankly, it's probably too much. When in Hidden state, stalkers should be defense capped to all incoming damage. Placate should have a 45% unresistable -tohit for three seconds. AS should not be interruptible. AoE attacks should always crit from Hide and Placate.

The scaling would work like this. The AS damage component stays exactly the same as it is now, fully enhanceable. Then add another damage component that does the if-check against enemy rank that does not accept +dmg/enhancement. This keeps peak performance from becoming too broken (such as stalkers being able to three-shot AV's) while preserving theme and functionality in the majority of circumstances.

With some work, this idea is very feasible.

Well... it sorta is. The devs would only implement some suggestions. If yours is implemented, then better ideas that add functionality for the entire game can be dismissed on grounds that stalkers already have functionality.

You really think most team play involves an AV encounter? Sorry, buddy. I've been gone a while, but I'm not stupid.

Realism. Stalkers will always be broken. No amount of nifty new features will make them any better until the game itself is made to accommodate single target damage. That means bosses not being curbstomped so easily. I haven't the slightest doubt in my mind that my suggestion will not even be considered by those whose opinions matter, and probably not even by those reading. You are likely already typing a diatribe explaining why I'm a crackpot for even suggesting the things I've suggested. But that's what it's gonna take for stalkers to have a use in teams while still being relatively balanced. Yes, they will be gods solo against single targets. But they won't have much of a prayer against big mobs without very good tactics - which is exactly as it should be. The assassin fears the crowd. He does not fear the isolated individual.

Intriguing. Is it necessary Incarnate-exclusive, or could insane scrappers and stalkers have a go at it too?

It has nothing to do with whether we're the most played or not. It has everything to do with preserving our thematic and tactical appeal while attempting to carve out a niche strategic role. The former are in abundance at the moment. The latter is absent. That is our complaint.

Come on. Like anyone plays PvP any more, and like anyone cares about debt in PvE.

Which, again, make up perhaps .1% of all conflicts in the game. And that's being generous.

Sorry Redlynne, it's a nifty idea, but it's pointless - just like the dev-proposed buff.

Like magically bringing down PToD's in .1% of the game content?

Uh. I sense frustration in my future. Much, much frustration. Like.. old-style-Frostfire-missions-with-noobs levels of frustration.

???

No, both the pre-one-shot days and the post-one-shot days were fun. There was a sufficient counterbalance to being one-shotted that I felt it was balanced. For instance, if I missed, I was exposed and could be fairly easily killed. I could be caught in caltrops or quicksand. The other person could hop around like a bunny rabbit and force me to pull out some of my niftier and significantly less fair tricks. It was FUN.

But after the one shot nerf, I still felt PvP was fun on my stalker. It required more finesse, and usually the harder targets were much harder afterwards (especially the bunny rabbits with stacks of respites), but it was still insanely fun and addicting.

Stalker on stalker combat was always incredibly entertaining too. I'd always devise these elaborate traps to ensnare the other stalker. S/he would always do the same, and I'd do my damndest to spring the trap and still get my kill.

Man, this takes me back

Dude, chill. Facetious or not, that language isn't called for here.

And people called me crazy for saying it would turn out to be a failure.

Well, for life, I still have two and a half years left on my degree. Then I'll probably go somewhere else for a masters. I'm looking at Paris, Caltech, MIT, USC, UCLA, places like that for aerospace engineering. After that, someplace like JPL or SpaceX would be great.

For the game, I'm just staying for this month, then it's back to the school grind Already leveling a new MA/Energy stalker (of course). I really can't afford to grab new power sets though. There's a rant there forthcoming, by the way.