BrandX

Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino

Things I Would Do To Ninjitsu If It Was Ported To Scrappers:

Hide becomes a cloak of darkness clone, minus the immob protection and +per as /nin already has those. The power moves to level 10,

Caltrops has to go, of course, since it's already in weapon mastery. I'd personally replace it with a gadgetey-type power rather than a passive or whatnot, just to keep the theme going. My choice would be a sleep dart - moderate duration/recharge ST ranged soft mez with -defense and -damage debuffs attached. Useful, but nothing too overpowering or essential (imo the set is strong enough already, so gotta be careful not to give it anything *too* good).

Finally I would reorder the first 4 powers as: Ninja reflexes -> danger sense -> sleep dart -> stealth.

Smoke flash doesn't need to go, at least not for scrappers (tankers, on the other hand, might have issues). Placate is already available as an IO proc and in some temp powers, so it's not like it needs to be a stalker exclusive effect - remember, there's a difference between 'placate' the status effect and 'placate', the stalker power that inflicts this effect and also sets you up for a critical. You can inflict the 'placate' status effect totally independently from any bonus critical mechanic. It'd also be a possibly useful but definitely skippable power, which I think is a good thing to have in any set. Finally, it's thematic as heck - why would only evil ninjas be able to disappear in a puff of smoke?

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison

No. Not even close to a good idea, and would take way too much effort on the devs part. Just give them a Cloak of Darkness clone. Stealthy, little defense, but not a hide.

The real problem with porting the set is Caltrops, since the power is duplicated in weapon mastery.

Originally Posted by Ryougi

First, I should probably start off by appologizing, some of these questions are going to seem a bit insulting -- My predispositions towards stalkers aren't exactly 'good', but -- i'm asking these questions to clear the air so!

I've just about burned myself out on CoH, I've literally played every build I can think of that I want to -- well save for an SD scrapper, but I have two BS 50's and can't stand shields with elemental sets, so.. -- That leaves me with unexplored territory -- the two AT's i've not played, corrs and stalkers -- I made a similar thread on the corr forums for similar reasons, got one to 33 and realized I hate playing ranged characters, so.. stalkers turn!

So, some questions to aleviate my fears and get me in the proper mindset

1.) PvE, in my heads stalkers have always been a sort of. .PVP-only AT, just kind of seemed that everything a stalker did in PvE, a scrapper could do better -- outside of ASing, and well, headsplitter crit kills a boss just as well; Reading up it seems there was a big buff in I12, and that is no longer the case, they're now like scrappers with slightly less base damage, but a higher chance to crit (10% of everything PLUS bonuses from group members? delicious) -- Seeing as I don't PvP.. any good PvE stories?

2.) Groups! I don't solo much, if at all, like.. if i'm soloing, it's farming (Which I understand is possible, yay), or just grinding a mish or two while the LFG channel is dead -- As noted earlier, just has always seemed to me like scrappers just.. :do: better in groups -- so, uh, would someone explain to me the joys a stalker brings to a group?

3.)Finally, build advice! or rather powerset advice! Primary is up in the air -- from what I understand KM is actually best on stalkers (.. brutes suffer from PS being a minor version of fury, scrappers have animation time issues.. stalkers seem to jsut all around benefit) -- so was thinking of trying that, new and all -- but I am open to suggestions -- I like spreading AoE around, not really a stalkers role but.. figure'd I'd ask anyhow.

Secondary! /Nin or /EA -- /Nin is my first reflex, just looking at it.. it's a well put together set -- /EA, the forums seem to love, which surprises me, according to mids, it's ~3% more def per shield the brute version (which almost all brutes despise), and they make that up with the 4% on energy cloak -- am I just missing something, or are stalkers just more laid back than brutes towards it?


aand those three would be it, again, sorry if it seems a bit insulting, s'why i'm asking, stalkers aren't in a very good place in my head, kind of want to shake that mentality. Figured it woudl be best start in the stalker hive, heh.

Originally Posted by BloodFairy

Bad pack again, even if it is free... but bad again like the other emote one and the origins one too. I have listed a bunch of very good ideas before.. actually posted them on another mmo comic book site too (newer one not the old one) and they put a lot of the stuff in back in beta, that made it to the actual release of the game. Yet in here - no.

At least this back should have included a choice of which existing costume pieces we could get. The vanguard stuff is ugly and easy to get. Would have been better if it was the Roman stuff, since some of us 3 am people who have no one to group with will never get our hands on it. Or like I said a choice per account , example: Roman, Vanguard, whatever else junk, i forget now. Would have been better.

Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill

The devs don't care about this forum. Know why blasters got defiance reworked? In-game data mining about blaster performance. Not forum threads.

Also:



APPs/PPPs are meant to fill holes in capabilities for characters. Melee characters, for instance, get some control and range. Controllers get attacks and resist/defense. Blasters get a mix of control and shields.

PBs and WSs already have the full range of capabilities in their primaries and secondaries. Melee, ranged, control, shields, travel, buffing (self or team.) So, what would be in an APP/PPP for them that would *realistically* be added - that isnt' already in a regular power pool?

Originally Posted by Energizing_Ion

Well I'm not trying to be too negative but...I'm a little disappointed about the "free booster pack" that we'll be getting. All the Vanguard pack is, is the Vanguard items that we can get with Vanguard Merits already...just kind of 'meh' to me. Oh, yes, I forgot the non-combat pet.... >_>


I appreciate the idea but...maybe have the option for us to choose an actual booster pack that we could get for free?

Originally Posted by Avatea

What is the Vanguard Pack?

The Vanguard Pack is a City of Heroes Booster Pack that is available for a limited time during the Seven Years of Super celebration. All City of Heroes customers who maintain an active City of Heroes account from February 1st, 2011 to April 18th, 2011 will unlock the Vanguard Pack for free on their account by April 28th, 2011.

The Vanguard Pack includes all Vanguard costume pieces including:

• Vanguard Hat, Chest, Belt, Gloves, Shoulders, Pants, Boots.
• It also includes the following weapons customizations:
  • Assault Rifle, Axe, Bow, Claws, Dual Blades, Katana, Swords.
• Finally, the Vanguard Costume change emote is also included.

These are all normally purchasable in-game with Vanguard Merits on a per-character basis. However, the Vanguard Pack unlocks these features account-wide on all of your characters.

The Vanguard Pack also comes with a unique in-game, non-combat pet, the Vanguard MVAS (Miniature Vanguard Assault Suit), a miniature, non-combat replica of the Vanguard HVAS (Heavy Vanguard Assault Suit).

Originally Posted by ketch

Finger tips claws are pretty common. So are fingers... but we don't get them.

Really, I'm a Virtue player myself and I don't see that many vampires. Of those I have spotted even fewer allude to that particular franchise that must not be named. Of course, I tend to spend my time smashing bad guys in the face rather than roleplaying.

Originally Posted by ketch

How many iconic characters with 3 metal claws sticking out of their hands are there? Yet I see tons of them in game.

The problem here is that in the world of comics super-powered beings are unique little snowflakes, ones that happen to save the world. In CoX you can't throw a stone without hitting someone with super powers. There aren't a lot of comics that deal with superpowers being as common as allergies, but I'd imagine they might be interesting.

As for vampires... well, I don't know DC well, but in Marvel we've got Morbius, Blade, Dracula himself, and both Storm and Jubilee have been struck with a case of vampirism at one point.

Originally Posted by Lycanus

see, I consider that "modern day demon slaying manga hero" to be a superhero

superheroes are the continuation of the demigod myths

Heracles, King Arthur, Beowulf, Reiko, Guan Yu, Lui Bei, so on

they are modern fantasy, it might pretend to be science fiction, but really just trade out "a wizard did it" with "a mutant did it" trade evil overlords with corporate masterminds and you have changed Tolkien to Stan Lee


every story is the same story, just in different places and from different frames of reference

Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake

No, but i do want to pull out my oriental adventures hengyaokai unarmed kensai. given that they exist in compatable worlds and rulesets, your decision to exclude my character is an act of exclusion based on a narrow view of the game world, much like narrowing your view of superheroes to the 4-color golden age superheroes makes the game diminished by its specificity. Now am i saying that dm who dont allow eastern characters are bad? nah, but if i have the option of gaming with a dm that allows characters from compatible settings or one that doesnt, them its not a question which one gets my patronage. same with mmos, there is a superhero mmo on the market now that is oppressively 4 color, it is the only one i dont play.

Originally Posted by baron_inferno

Touche. I'm a child of the 90's so uh, yeah... I've had my fill of spandex already tyvm :P

Anyways, I just get irked when people get indignant (not you but others) about the lack of roleplaying in any MMO as if it is a requirement somehow. Roleplaying is just a hobby, one single facet of any game, online or otherwise. Personally, I chose to play CoX for the wide variety of costumes and alts, as well as the flexibility of being able to partake in end game content without being locked into a 12 hour raid. Roleplaying isn't even in contention as far as reason go. Those days are over for me some 15 years ago, when I dabbled in PnP D&D back in high school.

As for comics specifically, I've read them once in a blue moon at friends places when I was younger but never collected any myself. I've maintained more of a interest in anime and manga since I like their themes, artistic style and plot twists a bit more. To each their own I guess.

Originally Posted by Beelzy

I do not think that KM is low on ST damage. In fact I have heard many claim that it may be the best ST damage set for stalkers, and second best for other melee toons.

The problem it seems is that while Stalkers can take down everything up to EBs faster than any other AT, they lack the survivability and sustained damage output for AVs. There are some AVs out there that I can take, but it is so much easier with a scrapper, and that shouldn't be the case.

Since we sacrifice survivability and AoEs for Burst damage, shouldn't we at least be able to have equal sustained damage output to scrappers and brutes?

Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha

I've noticed for some time now that the vast majorty of stun powers in game are shockingly lackluster. I mean, what's so fantastic about, say;

Dark Pit

Targeted AoE
End: 13
Acc: 60%
Recharge: 60 secs
Duration: 8.94
Mag: 2


I mean...mag 2? Thats pathetic. That only works on Minions, doesn't it? Possibly Lts. Ok, so in a Dark/Dark you can stack it with Howling Twilight.
But the majority of AoE Stuns seem incredibly...meh.

Maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone have any better numbers or experiences with them?

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

That's kind of like where I started, only I actually started with things like the Swat Kats, the Centurions, the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest and, of course, the 90s X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons. I was born in 1984, so the 90s is when I was watching cartoons the most. From that I moved on to video games, and in the early 2000s into anime, more specifically movies, such as Ghost in the Shell, Fist of the North Star, Spriggan, Armitage III and the Battle Angel Alita OVA, the latter two of which inspired one of my favourite characters way back in 2004.

I know very little about actual comic books, but given the feel of other games which cite themselves as being "comic book style," I can't say I regret it. I don't know what age, era and style of comic books these games seek to ape, but they always come off as corny, campy and silly, which is not something I look for in a game. City of Heroes, despite the occasional appearance of frankly out-of-place full-tights characters like the Statesman, seems to be written more like a live-action movie in the spirit of the 2000's X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk and Iron Man movies, and that's nothing but a good thing.

Originally Posted by Blood Red Arachnid

I've only solo'd Numina on my KM stalker, and that was only with the help of Envenomed Dagger. My experience being the same as others: ST damage for this set is lacking, making most fights either impossible even with Musculature or a very slow crawl.

Originally Posted by Jibikao

Yeah, I am still planning the build. It really really sucks that Stalker doesn't get Dragon Tail. I made a Scrapper MA/Elec but I have this under-dog mentality that I want to make Stalker. I know Scrapper does more damage especially with Dragon Tail. It's not the greatest aoe in the game but it's fast enough and with Stalker's 50% critical from hidden, it can be really handy on a larger team. Why does Stalker need Storm Kick?!!! Who needs 6 ST melee attacks in one set?? Such a design flaw IMO.

Well, I can't think of anything fancy with MA. The only thing it has over other sets is having 4 attacks higher than 10s recharge. At lower level +0 and against mobs that don't have much smashing resistance, one critical Axe can kill a minion. I am trying to throw in some damage procs so hopefully I can make it the best "burst" damage ST build.

Or who knows, I may end up leveling Scrapper because MA on Scrapper looks quite good.

Originally Posted by Cheetatron

I know the thread is kind of old but is there a reason kick was chosen over boxing?

Originally Posted by Blood Red Arachnid

I suppose I am the only person who has made a Kinetic Melee Stalker here. I tried it after I made an Energy Melee Stalker, and I have to say that KM is epic on stalkers. A few highlights:

• Burst is a 100% critical from hide, letting you take out all of the minions with decent slotting/popping a red and using buildup. On defense sets/with a purple inspiration you can do a dreaded Build Up - Burst - Placate - Burst combo, flattening everything within an 8 foot radius of you.
• The damage debuff is useful, considering the low HP and dismal cap of 75% resist. Wail on an AV for awhile and your team will thank you.
• Concentrated Strike's build up recharge is arguably more useful than it simply going critical, because it increases the power of all your attacks by 80% for 10 more seconds. This allows for consecutive use of build-up, to which my current record is 4 uses in a row.
• Assassin strike has the quickest activation time on this set than any other.

I've only read about the particular specs of this power on other ATs. One of the griefs I had with this set is that, for stalkers, the set actually lacks a fluent attack chain for awhile if you don't take all 3 starting powers. Tried substituting the third attack with burst, but this will drain End quite a bit. I suspect this to only be true for stalkers, however.

Haven't checked this, but KM feels a bit lower damaging than EM was. Not sure if EM was just high damaging, of if it is normal to take 4 unboosted attacks to kill a minion.