Captain_Yar_Har

[ QUOTE ]
Time. What a funny thing. In retrospect it seems like it was only just yesterday to recall my first posts on the forums. Yet, when I fill in everything that ensued over the last two years, a collage of details swims up at me: Issue 8, Veteran Rewards, lewtz!, Aliens, comics, Fanzines, flashbacks, player events, Trade shows, City Scoops, articles, all the awesome people at NCsoft I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and so much more. Yet through it all – it’s been you, the game’s community, which stands out to me the most. When I’m in game playing and see a new player getting advice in /help or a global channel, when I read threads on the forums or when I open e-mail or private messages, I’ve always been impressed at the quality and caliber of people that make up this game’s community.

However, this world we live in is not a static place. If anything, one certainty we have is the knowledge that things change. It is with this in mind that I write you today to say that I’m making a change. I have decided to pursue other opportunities outside of NCsoft.

Even having said this, I’m still excited to for the future of the City of Heroes franchise. Having been privy to some of the many plans that are in work, know that I will be right there beside you playing and enjoying the fruits of the Development Team and NCsoft’s hard work. I leave knowing that you are in good hands.

I want to wish you all the very best for everything the future holds in store.


- Lighthouse

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, it's been fun, Lighthouse. I wish you luck. Here's a song, just for you.

SR is unhittable, Ninjutsu is still kind of weak, and squishies are way too hard to hit. But it can be fixed.

Psst, guys, defense isn't fixed.

..Defense still isn't working right. But eh.

Some patches just can't download fast enough. I've been waiting for defense to work for years now.. Aaaahgha.

And congratulations.

Hey d00ds. Once I13 goes live and I make a new complete Stalker guide and the like, I can compile every old and new guide and send it to Ex to post in a stickied thread so we can get a new official list going and delete this one. This would be a good waste of time for the other ATs as well.

Maybe we shouldn't bother putting the old guides there either, since they are no longer valid. It would also make it easier to find the right guide.

Nice read.

Nice guide, except it really wasn't undoccumented compared to other changes really, and I covered 90% of that in my guide which once I update it in I13 will be the bible of Stalkers.

The real reason is that CuppaJo left and there are no updated official guide to guide threads (That I know of) concerning the Archetypes. Best thing to do is use the search function. I think they will make updates guides to guides once they get the new forum up and running.

That's almost exactly what I thought Pain Domination should look like. Awesome job, BaB!

I wonder if Axe is getting buffed too.

My Axe/WP is so sad rite nao.

The best part was the link to my guide, but the rest wasn't bad. Nice job.

Brutes have axes and maces. I don't think there is any proliferation in I13.

Please revamp PPPs entirely. No amount of tweaks can make the current powers good.

And, uh.. Does this mean Defense and Placate are getting fixed?

I remember when I10 was announced. It was maybe 2 months after I9 was released (Don't quote me on that) and it was completely unexpected. We were all still having fun with IOs and the crappy new Hamidon encounter. Yet, we had screenshots, tons of info, and everything was good.

PLEASE tell us about the new powersets. It will end a lot of the negativity.

Yes, there had better be info on I13 tomorrow, or tonight, we will dine in HELLLLLLINTHESHADE

Okay, what do you damn kids want this time!?

Wait, what? Talk like a pirate day? Oh. Well, stop calling my name anyways.

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the update and letting us know i13 is coming. The mission creator sounds like PITA for you. Maybe it should have been its own release altogether since a lot of my friends that play and myself most likely won't even use it. Maybe more smaller issues instead of 1 big issue would be the solution. I know its been recommended tons of times, maybe that's just because its a great idea.

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Issue 13 basically is just Architect.

And Positron, thanks for at least letting us know your office didn't collapse. You guys are obviously expecting to blow us away with mission architecht, so I am willing to wait another month or so for closed beta.

But can we please get some info on the other features? I want to know if Pain Domination is different from Empathy at all.

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This is a great guide. It definitely made me rethink some of my assumptions about my nin/nin. I'd like to share some of my lingering doubts so that you can destroy them.

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Destroy them? Hah. Rather, make them die.

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I have some questions about the attacks, driven in part because my nin/nin is only 22 and doesn't have the tier 8 and 9 attacks.

I took Sting of the Wasp over Gambler's Cut for two reasons. First, I generally prefer slower, more damaging attacks over faster ones because they benefit much more from recharge enhancements and global recharge bonuses.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a reasonable assumption that I can shoot down by saying that Gambler's Cut is higher DPA, and because of it's microscopic activation time it doesn't hinder your attack chain in the least, no matter how much recharge you have.

[ QUOTE ]
I also noticed that Gambler's Cut is nearly identical to Divine Avalance except without the defense bonus, so I felt that Divine Avalanche filled the role of a fast attack chain filler better. What are your thoughts on that?

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DA would make better use of extra slots for Defense. Right now I have it slotted with 4 Red Fortunes and 2 level 50 ACC IOs, making it hit almost all the time and giving maybe 25% Defense (I don't feel like checking) every time it's used. Now, you may wonder what's the point if the extra 15% unslotted is enough to cap your Melee defense. However, not all enemies are that inaccurate and you have to consider the fact that the Lethal defense it gives can be higher than your Ranged and AOE defense with just 2 applications, which fits very well into your attack chain (Until you get the insane amounts of Recharge I'm looking at) and makes you nearly unhittable. Sounds great, right? Right. The extra 50ish damage you will get from slotting damage IOs in there isn't worth ditching capped defense to everything.

[ QUOTE ]
Once you have Golden Dragonfly and Soaring Dragon and everything has a recharge enhancement in it, couldn't you use Sting of the Wasp in place of Gambler's Cut with no downtime in the attack chain? Or is the .5 second greater activation cost of using Sting the deciding factor?

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It's always a factor. I don't know what Sting's activation time is, but since you say .5 seconds greater I will assume it's 1.17. Take Sting's level 50 damage and multiply it by 0.83, and that's your DPA. Then take Gambler's level 50 damage, multiply it by 1.67, and there's the DPA for that, too. Not only does this nifty DPA thing make the power more efficient, but the fact that is is faster allows you to hit more attacks in the same amount of time. I wouldn't be able to switch back to Sting on my Stalker because it just feels so slow. When you've got as much IOage as my Stalker does (I plan on giving him Purples now), even Placate's seemingly short 1.5 second animation doesn't seem worth the crit.

[ QUOTE ]
I also have been using Flashing Steel as an attack chain filler, but I'm not as disappointed by it as you are, so it didn't occur to me to respec out of it later. For a cone, it is cheap and it recharges fast, so I had thought about keeping it. Part of that is just my knee-jerk build principle that "if you have access to an AoE, take it." I can see how that principle doesn't jive well with stalkers, and I'm planning to drop it later.

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Flashing Steel just doesn't cut it. I am a firm believer that Stalkers underperform because of their lack of AOE damage (I mentioned this in the guide.) As great as a cone that can hit maybe 3 enemies is, it doesn't do enough damage or hit enough people to replace the sheer single target awesomeness that Stalkers have. I'd like to point out, also, that I'm built for PvP, so taking a Cone is silly no matter how you look at it.

[ QUOTE ]
Finally, I've noticed that the build, at least for the first 24 levels, seems tight. I've found it especially hard (well, impossible, really) to get the signature powers (Assassin Strike, Placate, Build Up), a workable attack chain (some combination of Gambler's Cut, Sting of the Wasp, Flashing Steel and Divine Avalanche), decent defenses (Ninja Reflexes, Danger Sense, Rin, Sha), and Stamina and a travel power all by 20. Will you comment a bit on different early build choices and the trade-offs that you see?

Thanks again for a great guide.

Scrap

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This is something I was going to address in my next update to the guide, which I will do as soon as they make a significant enough change to something for me to justify it. But here's a quick run-down of the build you will want as you level up.

1: Gambler's and Hide. Faster attacks will do more for you despite their low damage in the early levels.

2: Sting or Ninja Reflexes. If you really need that extra attack, then a defense toggle that won't come in handy until the teen levels isn't mandatory.

4: Sting or NR; take the one you didn't already pick.

6: AS. No other options are reasonable at this level.

8: BU.

10: Swift, or Hurdle. Some people need Stamina as soon as they ding 20, but I'm not quite like that, so I personally would have gone with CJ (I have no effing idea what I did all the way back then. I've had the toon for too long)

12: Placate.

14: Danger Sense. Live off of the Mayhem travel powers.

16: Swift or Hurdle. I don't like Health, so you shouldn't bother with it. If you already took Swift, get Hurdle, if you took Hurdle, get swift.

18: Divine Avalanche. If you can't live without your cone, Flashing Steel.

20: Stamina or Sha, whichever one you need more.

22: Sha if you didn't take it, Stamina if you didn't take it.

24: Combat Jumping

26: Recpec. At this point you want something like this:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 25 Natural Stalker
Primary Power Set: Ninja Blade
Secondary Power Set: Ninjitsu
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (3) Empty[*] (3) Empty[*] (5) Empty[/list]Level 1: Hide <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Ninja Reflexes <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (5) Empty[*] (7) Empty[/list]Level 4: Danger Sense <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (7) Empty[*] (9) Empty[/list]Level 6: Assassin's Blade <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (9) Empty[*] (11) Empty[*] (11) Empty[*] (13) Empty[/list]Level 8: Build Up <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (13) Empty[*] (15) Empty[/list]Level 10: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 12: Placate <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (15) Empty[*] (17) Empty[/list]Level 14: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 16: Kuji-In Rin <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (17) Empty[*] (19) Empty[/list]Level 18: Divine Avalanche <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (19) Empty[*] (21) Empty[/list]Level 20: Kuji-In Sha <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (21) Empty[*] (23) Empty[*] (23) Empty[*] (25) Empty[/list]Level 22: Hurdle <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 24: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[*] (25) Empty[/list]Level 26: Soaring Dragon <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Assassination



<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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|?)/,;J+&gt;Y?4;=STP\NJK&amp;SP2Z9'RJ/BW!8VO9[+&amp;"^J,&lt;+I]WO&gt;_4&amp;HP/N=]5FBPN?A|
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|^9?]&gt;'$YV3VLL`.8A]Q@#A$'"&amp;.$2&gt;(4X2+B#Z__RXLX8.6$2N(5&lt;0#AFR &lt;;0[A(/*(|
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And then grab SJ at level 28 and from then on it's easy.

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Enjoyed your guide.

A few supplemental thoughts I'd like to add...

Personally, I like Fly as a (stealthed) PvP travel power for these reasons:<ul type="square">[*] It's hands-off and trouble free -- minimal steering required...

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When you're at the stealth cap, everything is trouble free. As for the steering, I find Fly boring compared to SJ which is much more active and fun.

[ QUOTE ][*] It's easy to "patrol" - you can spot targets from quite a distance (esp since Ninja's have
+perception), and you can easily pick your ideal combat spots.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, but I can do this with SJ.

[ QUOTE ][*] Few (if any) folks will get within 10ft of you up there, so even +perception players won't
see you through capped Stealth. At least 2/3rds of players are ground-bound (or jumpers -
ie. mostly ground-bound). Most NPC's are also ground-bound as well...

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, this is not a problem with SJ. I am able to stay more than 10 feet away, and even if I jump by someone they won't be able to react nearly fast enough to hit me, and even if somehow they do I can Placate them as I didn't attack them. 10 feet is not a long distance.

[ QUOTE ][*] A couple Flight Speed IO/SO's makes it fast enough to track most "targets"

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd have to outright disagree with this. Even with SJ I cannot catch most things, since other players usually have Speed and Jump to outrun me. Fly is even slower than that, not to mention that awful inertia that goes with it.

[ QUOTE ][*] Freebird Stealth is relatively easy to get, and inexpensive, compared to other Stealth IO's
(mine cost 2M iirc), and if you put it in an active toggle (ie. Fly), you're *always* stealth capped -
until you choose to make something die (and barring suppression, it'll still be capped for 2 minutes)

[/ QUOTE ]

It's true that Freebird is cheaper, but it isn't enough to justify taking such a slow, easily countered travel with no unsurpressed movement like Combat Jumping.

Also, you have to turn Fly off and retoggle it every minute or so to keep the stealth. As inconvenient as it sounds for Fly, it isn't a problem with SJ + CJ, since I can do it whenever without having to worry about falling.

[ QUOTE ][*] As suprising as it seems, many (most?) PvP'ers think 2 dimensionally (ie. they'll look around, but
they rarely look UP (or DOWN).[/list]
[/ QUOTE ]

That's only because they don't expect fliers because Flight isn't nearly as good as Leaping or Speed.

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I agree with you about Acrobatics (I didn't take it). Instead, I put a Karma in... That solves
90% of the KB issues for PvE, and again, if your attacks are set up properly, it's usually not
a PvP problem either.

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Yes. I plan on slotting two in. One in Hide and one in Stealth.

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I agree with your view of Caltrops... Very useful in both PvE and PvP... The PvE AI is dumb
enough to think those 1 hp damage ticks will kill them, so they'll turn to run rather than fight,
which means you get to make them die easier...

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Hm? I never use Trops for damage. The fact is, most NPCs will regenerate HP faster than they will take it. It's used for migitation and keeping players in one place despite BFs.

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Players are much smarter,

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I'd debate that

[ QUOTE ]
but what they
might not realize is that those tiny damage ticks make a 1-shot AS kill possible (since they're
no longer at full health).

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. I have done that, too. It isn't so effective at level 50 when everyone will be able to resist enough of AS's damage to make it not one-shot anyways, but it's a good Siren's tactic.

Anyways, thanks for the comments. I already have some new material for an update to this guide, but I want to wait for a good excuse to post it, like a PPP overhaul or a buff to Golden Dragonfly's cone. Either way, my next Nin/Nin guide will be epic.

First of all, who plays Electric Armor? I've yet to see one since they came along.

Second, all Stalker Secondaries have Hide, which gives very good defense to AOEs. Even without that, you can AS a controller with Hot Feet by Flying over them or hitting a purple or something.

[ QUOTE ]
Finally some1 that posted a recent guide... every1 is always rfuring me to those old [censored] guides that are around i6 which are way outdated.

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Good thing, too, since I'll be updating this guide every time they make a notable change to these sets, and it's likely that I13 will have PPP fixes, so I'll include that too.

[ QUOTE ]
A tremendous guide. I have two questions. I have been humbled many a time in RV by a stalker while running hotfeet. I thought it provided protection from AS.

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Stalkers have a lot of defense to AOE attacks while hidden, and Hot Feet falls into that category. There is a chance that they will be hit by Hot Feet, but if they are they can simply Placate you. Your best bet is to keep moving, but stop momentarilly if Stalkers are around to give them a chance to get close to you. This will also make it possible for them to be unhidden, and then Fire Imps will have their way with him. It will also mean that if you are AS'd, you will probably be moving away as it happens, giving you time to heal yourself before the Stalkers runs in to finish you.

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I have a Nin/Nin at lvl 10 how rough is the late game?

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Fight Cimeroans and Carnies and you will have no problems. Fight Rikti and KoA and you will cry. Not that I can't own both of those factions, but I'm just that good.

Once you get DA and learn how to use it, you will be nearly unkillable. I hate waiting for the tough guys with lots of HP and Defenses who don't know how to play and are too slow, so I just jump into the mob, and that usually gets the team moving. The best part is, I usually walk out with full health.

In PvP Scrappers do have more damage though..

Holy crap, they did nerf confuse.

This is un-acceptable. There's nothing unbalanced about traps having a weakness... Why!? Why did they nerf confuse!?