EvilGeko

Neither are the problem. But adding more damage is absolutely not what Stalkers need.

It's not really apparent now, but when the game launched the tanker attack sets were much more control focused while the Scrapper sets were much more debuff focused. At the time, -defense actually was worth something, especially in the lower levels and so Katana and Broadsword had a nice debuff. Dark Melee and Spines were and are good debuffers. Claws had a decent -def, but it was the worst at it. Martial Arts sucked, but then what else was new.

The question I have with this is: Do you believe that the utility value of Hide and Placate are worth nothing in balance comparisons? Personally, as I said above, if the HP are the issue, then fix it. Stalkers' cap should be increased at a minimum because there are several sets that can't even get the full benefit of accolades, IOs and their own buffs. The base difference is 129 HP. I say give that to Stalkers as well and let's take that off the table.

Then we can have a productive discussion about the roles of Stalkers and Scrappers vis a vis Brutes and Tankers. Brutes and Tankers have aggro generation (i.e. Tanking) as a stated role. Scrappers and Stalkers are supposed to be melee DPS and they have no other role that every combo in the AT can play.

If I had my way, I would significantly increase the debuffing potential of both Stalkers and Scrappers. Instead of increasing base damage of Stalkers, which in my opinion would be silly and ultimately counter-productive, I would give Stalkers strong ST debuffs that rival Defender class debuffs. For Scrappers I would have weaker ST debuffs, but attach a strong AoE debuff to their AoE attacks.

Let's use Broadsword for an example. Both sets debuff now, but -Defense isn't the greatest PvE debuff. But OK, let's go with it. I would increase it for every power in both ATs. But for Stalkers I would make Headsplitter a much more powerful -defense and I would add a strong -regen to it. For Scrappers I would attack something else like -damage to the AoE. Then Stalkers/Scrappers would have a better secondary role and really with sets like Time, Rad, Dark and Kinetics, the buff/debuff ATs could stand to have some competition.

What I take issue with is everyone wants to increase damage. I just think that's silly. Not because I like Scrappers more, but because the arms race in this game has already gotten out of hand. Another thing that gets lost in these discussions is that Stalker have significantly more defense than Blasters. Thus if they EVER start doing more damage than Blasters, the Blasters would have a fair beef. Then what do we do? Buff Blaster damage? The devs did that already (twice), but do it again? OK, but then Stalkers and Scrappers, who only have damage as a role, get devalued in teams next to our new supercharged Blasters whose defense can be buffed in teams.

If people perceive a defensive disparity, then fix that.

Note I said Assassination, which is the Stalker inherent. Not Assassin's Strike which is a power in the Stalker sets. I don't even take Assassin's Strike on my Stalkers. I use their big hitter after placate in a normal chain. Being able to create a controlled crit like that is fantastic. On teams, I stay close to at least some teammates to take advantage of the scaling buff.

Single target is in line with Scrappers as well if not better. No one bothers to try and quantify the effect of Assassination on overall DPS, but in my experience it's significant.

Scrappers with crits are usually considered to do an average of 1.2 melee damage. 1.125 + 0.075 for crits.

Stalkers have a set 10% chance to crit at all times. Bringing their average to 1.1 before Assassination. 1 + .1 for crits. Hide and Placate allow a number of attacks to automatically hit for critical damage. You also have AS which does well in excess of a normal critical coming out of Hide. Also, being on a team give Stalkers a scaling buff to their criticals. If you can't leverage all those tools to cover a .1 gap in damage, then it's not the AT that's the problem.

Or just set Stalker HP values to that of Scrappers. Funny how everyone always ignores that option. Probably because they know that, Stalkers would then have more survivability than Scrappers. If you read my post, I don't think Stalkers are less survivable than Scrappers. Brutes draw aggro and you speak of that like it's a detriment. A taunt aura and taunts on your attacks counteracts morale loss and scatter keeping mobs in damage auras and in PBAoE range. And no one wanted to nerf Brutes. Brutes had MORE damage than Scrappers and MORE survivability. Stalkers do not have less damage than Scrappers except in AoE. But then Stalkers get a number of tools (high value stealth, placate, AS fear) that Scrappers don't.

The only problem with Stalkers is the lack of AoE. While I would like changes to AS, there is no other significant weakness that Stalkers have compared to Scrappers.

What brings you to that conclusion? Serious question.

I agree with you, but to be fair, I don't know many encounters that can take down a Regen using MoG, Scrapper or Stalker.

If you'll recall, they did already. Just for that reason. Scourge used to only activate when a target was a 10%. Now you get a chance that gets greater from 50% to 10%.

The writing doesn't match, but then, if you're trying to keep your identity secret, especially from a person who regularly runs around in your headquarters, you wouldn't try to make it sound like you. As for the thinking, I think this is exactly how Lady Grey thinks. She and the Dark Watcher are always on the lookout for threats from Human kind. She's almost certainly a 'slow' path Incarnate herself and clearly has a history with Nemesis.

The letter writer suggests in some of the letters that you could already be by his or her side. Given the 'natural' order where a character at level 25 goes to Ouroborus and then later at level 35 joins Vanguard, that seems plausible.

I have also been thinking why would the letter writer give the crystal to the Midnighters. I see a couple of reasons. Perhaps there's some kinship and commonality of purpose between the letter writer and the Midnighters. Who is the Vanguard's first major foe, the Rikti. What is the primary point of the hero Midnighter arc? Opposing the Rikti. That's one reason. Second, it seems necessary that the crystal be somewhere that it can't be found easily. As stated, everyone and their brother walks around in the Vanguard base. While many of our heroes and villains are Midnighters, you have to be invited. So it's a safe place to stage the 'correction' of Requiem's nonsense in Cimerora.

I'm still on Lady Grey and/or Dark Watcher. I see enough evidence that it could be either of these blatantly obvious Incarnates.

Yes, the developers have finally admitted something I've long suspected to be true. KB, especially in AoEs, is used to rein in damage. Hawk stated point blank that they won't change Solar Flare at this time because they believe that it would provide too much AoE damage in the PB toolkit. Which really is quite obvious. Why are Electric/Shields and Fire/Shield characters so unbelievably potent? Because they can take out whole spawns with two AoEs back to back. No scatter, no loss in mitigation, no loss in damage.

KB is a very fun power effect. But it is not and never will be as tactically useful as KD. Situationally, one could construct situations where KB is better. But on the whole, in most situations KD is better.

After Hawk posted that changing Solar Flare to KD would be too much of a BUFF for the devs to do right now, I pretty much gave up. I'm going to try and grind out my PB to 50 this weekend and then retire her.

Correct, my BS/Regen has 59% Regen debuff resistance with T4 Spiritual.

Not really sure if you're serious or not. Changing Solar Flare to KD would by itself greatly increase the AoE damage potential of Peacebringers. The ability to use Solar Flare then immediately follow up with Detonation would help a lot.

Not to mention the ability to leverage solar flare in teams.