BlackMagic_NA

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Busy? Busy busy? Busy Busy Busy?

why? what you guys doin? hmm? care to tell us whats goin on? sure would like to here some spoilers for what you're working on :P hehe

keep up the good work guys!


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Me too. I'm watching dev post like a hawk to get any information.

Edit: Which is why I'm in the defender forum and I don't play any defenders heh

The video can be very misleading though because heroes of Statesman's nature can get powers that we can't. What I'm really really hoping for though. A street fighting set, with a mixture of kicks and punches, a pistol set would be really neat to see. Something that I'm really hoping that the video was introducing though, is power customization.

Spark Blade looks like he could be a Katana/SR scrapper with his pistol being his special ability and electricity being is power customization.

Same with Foreshadow. MA/SR Scrapper chi blasts are his special ability and maybe energy as his power customization.

I don't know for sure but that's definetly what I'm hoping for.

Just read the news this change sounds awesome, I'll bring my SR scrapper back out now. I'm just wondering though if this change works for all defensive powers or just Ice and SR. For instance will Invincibility have this same effect? Cloak of Darkness? Stone armors? That's the question I would love to have answered right now.

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Assassin Strike. The Stalkers greeting card of sorts. This attack does massive damage when the stalker is hiding. This is broken up into two words. Assassin: N One who murders by surprise attack, especially one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person. And Strike: V To hit sharply, as with the hand, the fist, or a weapon.

Well An assassin strike means roughly a sharp hit by someone meant to murder another person. An Assassin. I wonder why they would call it assassin strike if you couldn't in theory kill a foe in a single blow...... Wow ya know?


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Very true, stalkers should be able to one shot some mobs, but you also have to remember that you're dealing with heroes with super powers. I can't say I read a lot of comics but would you ever expect wolverine to be taken out of comission in two hits? or Storm or Jean Grey in one?

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I don't think this is a balance issue, at it's core-at least, I don't think that Stalkers as-is are grossly unbalanced, and I'm not willing to say they're unbalanced at all 'til I've seen how things play out a bit more. I think this is an issue of style, and access.

The quick, brutal, one-shot style game naturally appeals to the kind of people who enjoy PvP the most. It's completely unforgiving-basically a series of manuevers to "get the drop" on your opponents and keep them from getting the drop on you. Stalkers are by far the best AT in this game for that playstyle, so naturally the people who enjoy that are playing Stalkers. They don't understand why people complain about being one-shotted. They don't object to it when it happens to them, so obviously anyone who does object is just whining.

People who have a more "casual" attitude towards PvP (at least in my experience) prefer fights with a little bit longer duration. They'd like to have a chance to use a wider variety of their powers, and would prefer to see more acts and counters in the actual fight, rather than in the buildup. They don't understand how anyone can get enjoyment from a 3 second fight-so obviously anyone who fights like that is an evil ganker who's only pleasure is to ruin everyone's day.

In truth, it's going to be awfully hard to satisfy both sides completely, but the PvP game as it plays right now is way to twitchy for me, whether I win or lose. I think that's true for the majority of players. Of course, we could just leave it to the people who enjoy it as it is. But in the long run if you want PvP to bve more than an awkward and little used appendage you're going to have to find some way to come to terms with the casual players who-face it-are the majority of this playerbase.

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That's IMHO, the best way this whole argument has ever been framed. ...Even as it's at odds with my own desires that AlphaStriking remain a viable tactic for a minority of encounters... But it highlights the fact that casual gamers are what really drives successful and entertaining PvP and Head-to-Head gaming... As proven by Counterstrike, Starcraft, and Battlefield.

The greatest PvP games have as many checks and balances set up as possible to ensure that most players can't just zip in and bypass the defenses and/or offenses of any other player. It's not the "1-shotting" that's the biggest problem, it's the ease at which it's being carried out that is continuing to drive casual gamers away from PvP.

...And YES! They ARE being driven away. I'm not talking about the Forum whiners here. I've spent too many hours to count in various PvP zones and have seen too many players already voice their discontent with being "unable to fight back" against so many of the cheap tactics being exploited in PvP. They do it in team chat, broadcast, and some even complain about it in PvE zones to discourage others from even trying PvP. It's the main reason that many AT's, both of the Villain and Hero factions stay out of PvP even though Castle and the devs have balanced team PvP to rely on those AT's also showing up to these zones. ...Masterminds and Dominators are the most noteable ones though in complaining about their defenses being bypassed instantly. So it's not just people facing Stalkers who are geting fed up with 5-second fights. ...You can't learn anything from a conflict when it ends before you've even realized it began.

Any PvP that doesn't give both players the opportunity to change the outcome of the fight, while the fight is happening will be loathed by the majority of players because the majority of players are not Quasons, they're not CircuitBoys, they're not Pilcrows(There's too many sucky illusion controllers out there as it is!), and they're certainly not _Castles_. They lack the creativity or raw math skills to narrow these issues down and figure out what "they're doing wrong". And yes Cryptic is Special, special in that they're never happy with the level of challenge they ask their players to face. But Cryptic is going to have to side with the carebears a little bit if all AT's are going to be welcome in PvP in order to support their design goal of having PvP built around Team vs Team matchups. You have to crawl before you can walk, just like most people solo for a while before they really get heavy into teaming.

And constant Insta-Gank is NOT solo-friendly ... thus it's discouraging the Teaming that PvP was built around.

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I think both of these posts are exactly how most people are feeling about PvP. I've never really PvPed before so this is my first time really. I've changed my build and everything to try and combat stalkers and in the end it mostly seems like a two hit battle, with me having little or no time to react to what happened.

I love this idea....

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Instead of letting people place you exactly where they want you, TP Foe places people at a random place around the summoner


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The summoner won't know exactly where the foe ends up, but still has a clear advantage, since he should still have the foe targetted. For melee classes it would be a TP Foe and the follow, for all other classes it's a TP Foe and then ranged attack or command.

The summoner could also still make traps or what not but them actually working would be an extreme case of luck.

I also liked the idea of all of us popping as AVs to each other, it kind of makes sense, we should maybe atleast show up as Elite Bosses to each other.

I want battles. Something where if I use the right powers and tactics I can stack my chances of coming out alive, but at the same time not being guaranteed the win. It doesn't matter if I'm fighting a dominator or a stalker, I want to atleast have the chance for a good fight. Right now I feel that stalkers are the only class that have the odds stacked so much in their favor that I can't counter it reliably.

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so let's start compiling a list because currently my brute has no chance of beating an controllers, /EN and /Dev blasters or any blasters in general that is stays out of range because my fire brute uses accrobatics for KB protection in PVE. I don't want to be forced to take certain powers or gimp myself in PVE in order to take blasters out. Count yourself lucky with + perception powers stalkers don't have a chance against you. There's no powerpool against, fear, confusion, slows or the fact that I lose all my toggles and get held by controllers without them breaking a sweat.

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Yeah but blasters and controllers aren't downing you in two shots though either. My scrapper that I normally PvP with has tactics by 30. If +perception meant you would be able to see hide+stealth stalkers in atleast melee range then you'd see a lot less complaints.

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I've yet to see an explanation for why Heroes should have to team in BB and Siren's, but Villians shouldn't? And it's not just team mind you, but only team with players that can provide overlapping +perception.

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Exactly this makes it is you need a very specific team, either someone has to have tactics and a teammate can have an inherent perception power, or you have to find someone with clear mind. Getting Tactics before 25 is uncommon for all classes, unless they have PvP in mind already. It's also a 3rd tier power out of a set that gives very little buff for most classes, stealth is a 1st tier power.

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Ultimately, the system doesn't work. It needs to be rebuilt to address the concerns. Something needs to be done. Copy DAOC or WOW, if you need to. Reduce the impact of +perception across the board so that stealth powers of all kinds can play a larger role. Allow targets without +perception to see through all forms of stealth at point-blank ranges, but prevent hotkey/tab targeting of them, to give the stalker time to get off an AS if they're quick.

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I've said this before too, if they don't have a perception power then they are invisible, but if they do have one give them the ability to see the stalker in melee range. It gives both classes a chance to do something. The victim might can get a hit, and the stalker can still get close enough to pull off the attack.

BabyKaboom:
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OH and for the record: I've been one-shotted by blasters and scrappers. Stalkers don't have the monopoly. Guess what I did? I went to the hospital, and came back for more. Why? Because it's fun!!! You don't lose anything. I fail to see why people are so bent out of shap about this. Once again, find a tactic to overcome it. There's one out there, find it. Less whining and more thinking is what this thread needs.

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You don't face up against Stalkers yet with your MM, but wait until you do. Also I'm willing to bet that those one shots with blasters and scrappers come a lot less often then the one shots with stalkers. Try to face up against a good one in the arena sometime and tell me how much fun it is for you.

Quason:
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So what you're saying then is that PvP right now is not fun for anyone that's not a Stalker or that is not specifically hunting Stalkers?

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PvP is fun, when it's not infested with Stalkers. 3 or 4? Sure why not. 10 or more? Screw it! There aren't enough teams with counters to stalkers.

DarkPhoenix:
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When my brute finally got SO's most heroes were like wow I never knew brutes hit so hard and that took me 25 levels of saving to do that I bought nothing not even a costume. My stalkers are still using DO's because I spend on them, let's face it most heroes are used to villains being easy prey. The odds are already in their favor (more of them, more slots, fully slotted SO's, more inspirations, temp powers more readily available), so they don't take too kindly to losing. I am not saying that's the entire issue but I have seen enough hero whinning on broadcast to know it's a major part of it. OMG I lost to X type villain you either A) must be cheating or B) your set is overpowered and people wonder why so many people hate PVP.

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The thing is though, if you have SOs slotted compared to DOs or TOs then you should have an advantage. If you have more slots in all your powers than someone else, you should have an advantage. Stalkers seem to have the ability to totally nullify that advantage. I don't have a level 50 hero but if I went down to PvP I'd expect to lose, but should I expect to lose everytime to a specific class? I'd rather see stalker's alpha brought down some but them given some extra HPs maybe to blaster level, so that they could stick around a little longer.

I'm sorry but this situation and AS aren't the same.

I understand the result can be the same but it is only for very specific builds. A blaster must have the /dev secondary and also must be able to set this attack up. Even after doing that they need a way to get the person into the area. So you have to make a /dev blaster with tp foe.

Every stalker gets AS and the set up for isn't as time consuming. A stalker could be flying around see a victim fly down and AS for the kill and leave. Could a /dev do that? No, they would have to fly around see victim then begin set up, then tp foe into and get the kill. Same result, but one is easier than the other and involves the same amount of risk.

Yeah, well another problem is that they kind of messed up by making it dimish so much after 3 slots.

Were those the numbers before I5?

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Do you guys really listen to our suggestions for powersets, costume options, map, etc....? If so can we have a example?

Oddly, ED came as a suggestion for diminishing returns on the forums. Archery and Sonics were both mentioned.


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I would like to know the name of the person who suggested this...

He also confirmns that a shield powerset is on it's way and that it will be for tanks and scrappers

Overall he dodge alot of the more interesting ED-questions and nowhere does he adress the problem with tankers being obsolete...


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Actually I think a system of diminishing returns is good. It makes everyone very close to equal in effectiveness. The only thing I wouldn't have done is scroll back defenses like they did in I5.

Diminishing returns though makes it so someone that 6 slots their passives, gets that boost in defense, but they also won't be head over heels better than someone who only decided to 3 slot. The MMO that I played before this had a very similar system to this, and it makes balancing a lot easier. Now they can balance for people with 3 slots, letting those with 6 be powerful and know that it won't be as glaring of a difference as it was in I4, where anyone that 3 slotted was considered unwise.

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Really? Ok Stormy TP foe's a /SR, /DA, /Regen, Fire/ into a corner of a broken building with a lip on it...it prevents you from flying up or SJ up...you're now stuck and can't get away or attack...where is the tactic to get away or even fight back? The only option is concelment PP for PS..nothing else can help you. I would rather be one shotted then be trapped in a corner for the next 3mins unable to act.


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Yeah you're right this is probably just as common as dealing with stalkers. I mean stormies do this all the time right.. heh. Honestly you're stretching it now how many times has this been done to you? Has this even happened to you or are you just speculating?

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Oh, I understand that it's not easy to set up an AS on someone to kill them.

But you don't understand, that it doesn't matter. The Stalker spends 5 min, and kills the target. Sometimes. Meanwhile, the target is dead, and the Stalker goes on to another target. During those 5 mins, the Stalker was practically safe. 5 minutes of safety for a kill, seems wortwhile for the Stalker. And no, this isn't my opinion speaking, this is the counts of the Stalkers who are actually out there, spending 5 minutes to stalk and kill someone. Obviously it's worth it for enough Stalker players.

Now, take the other player. He's in a zone, doing something for a while, then BAM... he's dead. Doesn't matter to him if the Stalker spent 1 minute or 10 setting it up. What matters to him is that he's dead, and never had the ability to do anything about it. So he gives up on PvP. Another player who could have been involved in PvP, who either makes a Stalker for it, or gives it up.

The time involved does not matter when we're looking from the point of the victim. The end result is the same whether the Stalker takes 10 minutes to kill me, or 1. I'm just as frustrated and angry, and just as likely to give up on PvP. That's the problem, and the time spent by Stalkers doesn't really matter to that problem.

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BlackSly totally has the permission to speak for me on this subject from now on.

I've pretty much just given up, the stalkers think it's hard for them cause they have to chase someone around for awhile. I'm almost willing to bet that the time it takes for you to find your target, it takes me about the same amount of time for a target to get me.

Very few people come up and engage me the only ones that do are stalkers and there is no counter for them, unless they attack me in the middle of a group of 7 heroes. Those of you that think stalkers are a one trick pony don't use your sets fully. Even Ninjitsu has a good amount of defense, atleast enough to keep me from hitting them with any proficiency. All my attacks have 2 accuracy SOs and I have tactics running.

I was told last night that most of my problem was just that I'm a invuln, so maybe I just need to go beg for buffs there. Either that or reroll a regen scrapper.

Supergroup Name: Birds Of Prey

Ranks: Air Raptor, Taloned Avenger, Sky Predator, Wing Commander, Bird Scout

Colors: Black and Red

Leader: Onyx Raptor, Obsidian Hawk, Phoenix Fall

Requirements: A reference to a bird in your name, i.e. raptor, predator, falcon, vulture, phoenix. Also accepting character with a good bird type RP background, no name requirements with a background. No level requirements.

If you're interested in joining please send an email to Onyx Raptor (in game) or a global tell to Jupitus. You can also send a PM to me here.

Looking for characters that are RP friendly, you don't have to RP though. Anyone that wishes to join please feel free to sign up.

P.S. I did not realize there was a Birds Of Prey DC group, when I started this and it is nothing like that group. There also seems to be no problem with the group name. I have made it aware to the devs that I have this group and they have not sent me a reply about needing to change the name.

Yeah I kind of got confused by that too. I've been hearing a lot about DM/FA though for the reasons that were said before.

I chose a Fire/DA though strictly for concept reasons. I really wanted the sword for my character , so I'm not giving it up. Demonic Knight, if anyone wants to join up sometime.

Supergroup Name: Birds Of Prey

Ranks: Lead Raptor, Predator, Bird Scout

Colors: Red and Black

Leader: Onyx Raptor

Requirements: A reference to a bird in your name, i.e. raptor, predator, falcon, vulture. No level requirements.

If you're interested in join please send an email to Onyx Raptor (in game) or a global tell to Jupitus. You can also send a PM to me here.

Looking for characters that are RP friendly, you don't have to RP though. Anyone that wishes to join please feel free to sign up.

The Forgiven

There is a story of his situation in game. Basically he was a hero before but became so hateful that he killed for the slightest violation of the law. When I say slightest I mean he was out of control, kids that jaywalked were quickly beaten to death, cars that sped were flipped over. So he was quickly considered a threat to the community and was then taken down and killed by other heroes, where he then was cast to depths of you know where to burn for eternity. Luckily for him though this situation with the Rikti happened, and he was given another chance to do what was right.

I also put a spiked collar and the ring strap on him as a symbol to show that he is very heavily watched, and can be pulled back to his previous fate in a heartbeat. I gave him the big banded boots and gloves to kind of signify the weights of his past wrongs that he must carry with him everywhere.

He can't really remember all of his past mainly just fragments of his former life, the one thing he remembers well though is the burning which has now become a part of him and is what he uses to stop evil.

I'm really looking for a group of other roleplayers, so if you see him don't be afraid to talk to him.