Please do not suppress the stealth component of stealth-type powers when attacking. (I don't care about defense.) This change makes mission layouts, which players can do nothing to alter, far too important to the success of a specific individual or team against various threats.
I've tried this on test, and I simply have to be too careful when attacking with my blaster -- and she's a nice, controlly, single-target, tactics- and trap-oriented ice/ice, not some AoE madwoman. But she now has to constantly check out every nook and cranny and check the range carefully before throwing her first blast so as not to prompt instant retaliation from some fairly distant but still aggroable foes. The pace of the game is slowed horribly, even if the higher XP may not make advancement any slower. I actually find I'm more effective not running Stealth at all so I don't operate under the illusion that it will reduce aggro. Which means it's kinda a valueless power. The only thing I'd use it for now would be helping to walk around tight low-visibility caves without getting surprise slaughtered, or for flying low to the ground so I could look at scenery without worrying about getting shot. And Super Speed is now simply better at doing both. It lets me escape quickly if I accidentally aggro a mob, and it doesn't slow me down when I fly with it on.
SITUATION: Running Stealth, I enter a Council cave. Critters to the immediate right of the door, critters on a nearby balcony to the left, critters behind them intermittently spread out. Before I first enter the room, I don't spot the critters to my immediate right, since I don't walk right up to the edge of the door and mouse-wheel-click peek around the corner. (If I had to do this every single time I entered a room, Id get pretty freaking frustrated.)
ON LIVE: I walk in and aggro some critters from the group by the door. One probably hits me. I either run like hell or back away and take down the single group as best I can. The other groups don't notice me.
ON TEST: I aggro a critter who probably hits me once. Everyone by the door and on the balcony now sees me and opens fire. Knockdown puts me on my butt and I stand a good chance of dropping from this one mistake. This may not be a huge XP penalty any more, but it is Not Fun. And assuming it would possibly make the difference, I can't just drop the nearby group with Defiance since I don't have instant AoEs. Let's not even talk about what happens if one of the critters is a vampire.
Assume I escape on test somehow, but can't drop the whole group by the door while doing so. Now what? I am now left with the one defense that blasters REALLY have: not range, but cover. And I can't control cover. I'd better hope the cave allows me an angle on one group or the other so I can pull just one of them, or I'm taking on the door and balcony groups together. And all I have is hope to make that happen.
I think everyone here knows of maps that make breaking up groups without stealth a nightmare. Think of the infamous large multilevel cave room that CoT or Devouring Earth like to use -- the last room in Numina's task force. There is no room I know of that people would rather skip than this. And now, one mistake while stealthing one's way through it could easily spell not just an unwanted tough fight, but instant mass aggro from multiple directions and a trip to the hospital. This stealth change makes mission layouts all-important for individuals or teams that can't handle multiple groups at once.
Isn't there some other way to solve the alpha strike issue? Maybe, since all the toggle defenses are being reduced anyway, make those big powers you're most concerned with drop all or some toggles the moment animation begins? Or is there some other reason for this change? Please, let me know the logic and I'll be happy to accept or debate it. But if the answer is, "we want to make soloing more challenging," I would answer that this change does indeed increase the number of stupid mistakes players can make. It does not make combat more tactically challenging -- it just makes it slower-paced, with less potential variety (like sneaking into position to make your first attack), and more frustrating, since I cannot control much about what I'm going to aggro any more. What I aggro I can prevent depends on how I use my cover. And I don't get to place cover.
I really, really don't want to just have to have multiple tanks and/or defenders on every team, take on everything at once, rely purely on the weight of a teams buffs and debuffs, and forget about fighting smart. And I really don't want people who've enjoyed the kind of smart play that I have to get fed up and leave because we're totally at the mercy of spawn setups and hard-to-see mobs. As stated by others in this thread, Sniper, Drone and Watcher placement makes these problems even worse.
I'm staying regardless. I love this game because I love the people with whom I play it, and the stories we've told in a great and interesting gameworld. But this specific change would really disrupt the playstyle I enjoy the most, force me to limp my way through solo missions, and annoy my friends, many of whom are stealth-granting defenders whose play style complements mine. I dont want them to leave or stop playing the characters weve worked so long to build together. Please allow Stealth, Defender stealth powers, and the combat Invisibilities to continue to provide their aggro reduction even while attacking.
