FourSpeed

Excellent work, Archie.

Once again, it demonstrates the result of some knowledge and some effort.

In your specific case, you put in a lot of effort to achieve extraordinary results,
but it's also pretty clear that with ~1/10 of the effort, someone could still hit
the inf cap in a couple months or so if they could grasp the simple equation:


K + E = I
Knowledge + Effort = All the inf you realistically ever need.


Nicely Done!


Regards,
4

I just looked at it briefly, but a few things caught my eye. You may or may not
want to look at improving them...

1> HP = ~2200 --> 2500+ is better (accolades are an easy fixer, so nbd)

2> Regen is decent, but not great (~63 HP/sec vs ~80 HP/sec)

3> Accuracy: You might have trouble hitting stuff. Excluding Footstomp,
most of your attacks only have ~45% acc, and boxing is an abysmal
22%... On the Power Graphs chart the build comes in around 120 or so...
Your only Global accuracy help is the Kismet.

Personally, I have a burr up my backside about missing, so I slot attacks
for 60% Acc and 90+% Dmg. That will softcap acc against pretty much
everything PvE and a lot of folks in PvP - Power Graph number is ~180

4> DPS/DPE - these seem slightly low also. In spite of having 106% Global
Recharge, all of your attacks are < 45 and your DPE is all under 40
(checked with Fury @50%)

5> Apart from the taunt in RttC, I don't see that you have any powers
that will help you deal with flyers (ie. Hurl). Depending on what you like
to fight against, this may or may not matter to you.

Anyway, overall, it looks like a decent build. The accuracy would be a real
issue for me personally, but you may be just fine with it.

All advice aside, Enjoy your Brute -- SS/WP is a lot of fun to play imho.


Regards,
4

Some of the windows are just plain buggy.

I get different behaviours for the e:mail one on different toons - for some,
the size is remembered and for others, I always have to drag the bottom
of it to be able to Claim.

Others (like enhancement drops tray, mission info window, etc.) will periodically,
reset themselves to the upper left corner of the screen for unknown reasons.

Some of this flakiness has exsisted since Day 1 <shrug> it ends up being
just another minor irritation that has to be suffered occasionally, it seems.


Regards,
4

Mine is in the mid 30's, and it is the second strongest AT (already) of
any I've ever played.

Footstomp is my next power, and I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, its ST attacks hit hard, and he's already darn near unkillable
(During respec testing, I stood him in a pack of 3 Red-con Arachnos Slicers,
and not only could they not kill him, they couldn't even hurt him - at all).

Mid's predicts 2600 HP, 80 regen/sec (RttC - 1 mob), and 50% S/L resist,
23% or so Def to the other types, by the time he hits L50 (slotted to the 9's).

The rage crash is nothing more than a minor pita - Quick Recovery + Stamina,
+ 2 Perf Shifter procs = no End issues - period.

During the few seconds of crash, I just cycle my quick attacks a couple
times, and then it's back to SMASH time.

The one "trick" with this guy is picking your foes... He's a demigod against
S/L types, and that's who he really enjoys beating up.. Other types,
can be more problematic, but nothing he hasn't been able to handle easily
up to this point.

So far, he's been a delight to play...

Have fun with yours.


Regards,
4

I catch myself at least once a day typing in the bid box instead of the listing
box on items I intend to sell.

Fortunately my own "rules" have saved me before actually completing the
bid (My "rule" is "Type Fast, then Click Slow" - it's saved me countless times).


Regards,
4

Hmmmm....

As always, mac you raise a good point with RttC detoggling. That IS a pita.

As for stealth - at 571 cap, that's worthless imho. Most heroes have some
perception, and plenty have enough to see non-capped stalkers - more than
enough to see that Brute at range.

Phase Shift - I take it on all my squishies, but on a Brute?
It seems more expensive than it's worth there (unless you're making an
arena/ladder Brute for a team - that might change my mind).

But, a Brute isn't really a killer other than fiteklubbing, but rather more of
an aggro focal point/lure. It takes awhile to kill him, and hopefully his teammates
bag the other guy(s) first. That's the gamble he'd be taking.

In that case, I'd probably rely on Etheral Shifts if that gamble starts going
south rather than the 3 powers from Concealment.

In other cases, I wouldn't count on a solo Brute as a particularly good PvP
toon to begin with. He'd always be farmable to a decent team willing to spend
the time doing the job (Zylo - is a case in point there). More often than
not, it's usually not worth the time (in zone) - there are usually easier
kills to be had.

Fair enough though - this thread is more interesting than I initially thought.


Regards,
4

NB/Nin was my first Stalker and arguably still my favorite (I have a few of
them scattered across a few servers and levels)

My experiences are much more in line with Zem's than Dae's.

The Lethal resistances can be noticeable with certain mobs, but hardly
debilitating. I don't find it anywhere near a "big deal".

I too would consider my stalkers well slotted (60/90 Acc/Dmg minimum) on
all attacks, along with a few procs (AS is particularily nasty) like Zem's.

In terms of taking a few extra attacks (and it IS few), it's not a problem.
Double stacked Divine Avalanche (which is easy to get) makes the few
additional hits required for pesky Mechmen (etc.) a non-problem - especially
when they're more interested in escaping trops than hitting me.

YMMV, I guess...


Regards,
4

Purely Anecdotal, but I was on Monday night (Guardian) and the server
was flakier than hades. Activation latencies between button press and
power effect were (at times) on the order of 1/2 a second or more.

Aditionally, the servers were only down for a fairly short time, so I'd guess
they didn't do much more than reboot them.

I was back on ~1/2 hr later and things were much improved <shrug>.



Regards,
4

As I commented in the original thread, I too think BillZ's informal poll is probably
skewed (statisically speaking) if for no other reason than the likelihood that
us forumites are (in general) far less casual players than the game's population.

It's still a useful datapoint though - it shows that quite a few folks are aware
of the feature and even were it as low as 10%, that would still mean many
folks are hidden in-game at any given time.


Regards,
4

Start Here --> http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Enhancements

The short answer is there are several types of enhancements.

Depending on type,

* they have differing strengths (TO -> DO -> SO/IO/HO -> Sets, loosely speaking)

* some can be combined, some can't

* some work only within +-3 levels, some work forever.

* some affect only 1 aspect of a power, some affect as many as 3.


A read through that link will give you the details.


Regards,
4


Edit: Scooped by the speed-demons

Well Done!

Another testament to the simple truth - It's only hard if you refuse to learn
and refuse to put any effort (at all) into it.


Regards,
4

Wow -- just wow...

* Don't need RttC - really? 50-100+ HP/sec during a fight is worthless to you?

* Stealth on a Brute - really? You feel that squishy???

To paraphrase John McEnroe: Clearly you can't be serious!

I think this thread needs /PureSarcasm for a tag.


Regards,
4


PS> Yeah, I know it's in the PvP section, and RttC isn't as
good as it is in PvE, but still - there's really no downside
to regen - it's *always* helpful.

I finally got around to checking my notes, and I've gleemailed the inf for
both sides to Fulmens.

V-Side: 106,868
H-Side: 591,160

As mentioned previously, it's not all that much, but perhaps it can be put
to some use for the S/VG.


Cheers,
4

Unless I'm mistaken (always possible) it's 1.88% when it suppresses.

4

It's a game.
If the character you're playing is fun for you, then - you're doing it right.

Additionally, "suboptimal" is a slippery slope word, because ALL toons qualify,
in some area (PvP, Control, ST damage, AoE damage, AV/GM hunting, etc.)
and different players will disagree on it - hence all the "build advice" threads
that abound on the boards.

No character does it ALL. Few players agree on what Optimal even is.

Compounding that, is player interest, playstyle and skill... In that case, even
an "optimized" toon can under-perform in the hands of a player who's not
interested in the tasks the toon was built-for... An obvious example might
be: Give an optimized PvP toon to a non-pvp'er and I'm pretty sure they
will still do poorly in that area.

To re-iterate: Play what you enjoy.


Regards,
4

While I knew about the game maintenance, the Forums being unavailable
was a complete surprise...

Alas, I was at work so there was nothing for it but to spend the rest of the
afternoon doing the stuff I get paid for....

D*mn meddling devs forcing me to work for a living - utterly hateful...


Regards,
4


PS> To quote Monty Python: "I got better..."

I'm a fan of both /nin and /wp.

As someone mentioned, /nin is a pretty active secondary (with plenty of
things you can be doing with it), whereas /wp is a nice, safe and comfy
fire-n-forget kind of secondary.

The added HP and S&L resistance gives the /wp stalker much more staying
power while out of hide -- If you're scrapping a lot, it's a good choice as
you're a pretty difficult target to kill relatively speaking.

The bag of tricks from /nin offer much more of a hands-on approach, and
using them well, means there's no PvE fight you can't get away from
should you feel you need to. Caltrops is a superb PvE mitigator.

From a primary view, I've always liked Ninja Blade (despite what detractors say)
and its fast attacks hit harder (in my subjective opinion) than Spines or Electric.

Divine Avalanche is a great power for the scrapping Stalker. It makes
capped melee defense a piece of cake to achieve when you most need it.

I've dabbled some with Spines, and I like the range it provides.

Recently, I started an Elec/Wp and it's pretty cool (he's only in the L30's)
so there's more to learn, I'm sure, but Thunderstrike is making me a Big Fan.
I'll be picking up Lightning Rod next, and I've heard good things about it - We'll see.

In the end, of course, it'll come down to playstyle, but there are a lot of
very viable choices available.

Good Luck, Have Fun!

Regards,
4

I'd look.
I wouldn't care what was written, and I wouldn't change anything based on it.

As for playernotes, I use it all the time on a lot of my toons.

Most commonly, I reference it for PvP, detailing all kinds of things about
players (some tactical, some attitudinal, some build-related).

If I've run across complete f-wits, they're noted appropriately, as are the
people I've genuinely enjoyed and respected during my wanderings.

I also use the system to help track inf, items and ToDo plans for various
characters in my own "custom" entries.

Overall, it's a rather handy feature for me, personally.

But, for people who would read it, I'd throw out the Fleetwood Mac caveat
from "Oh Well" -- "Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the
answer that you want me to... Oh Well"


Cheers,
4