Gothika

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super strength. great. i'll go right out and create a SS/SR scrapper. oh, wait. That's a tanker powerset and we're talking about scrappers. My bad. It'd be silly of me to compare outside that AT like that. It's a good thing I stopped before I stuck my foot in my mouth.

But at least I can take out my BS/Dark scrapper and alternate between build up and aim to really kill stuff! Oh, darnit. There I go again making comparisons to other ATs that have no bearing on whether or not Claws does well for a scrapper or stalker. Phew, close call!

PvP. Like i said before, PvP is all about burst damage which is not what Claws is built for, much to the resentment of many a pvper out there. But in PvE, Follow Up will provide a greater damage and tohit buff over time than Build Up. That's another fact. Claws effectively runs around with 4 Dmg SOs slotted while the other scrappers have 3. That most definitely adds up in the long run.

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I think the difference in opinion between the two of you can be summed up with the fact that you're speaking from an entirely Scrapper persepctive. Which is fine if all we're talking about is Scrappers but that's not the case; we're talking about the Claws set, which two ATs have. I can't speak for the effectiveness of the new Claws on Scrappers so I believe you when you say it's now an excellent set for them, especially with Follow Up providing a near constant damage buff. Stalkers of course don't have access to such a buff and coupled with a much lower AT base damage, I feel the overall damage of the set is still somewhat subpar, even over time.

I think the problem is a function of trying to keep the sets as identical as possible without taking specific AT needs into consideration. There's certainly precident in this game for the Devs to assign different damage values to otherwise identical attacks that show up in sets in different ATs. For example, unless I'm off on my AT modifiers, Thunder Strike has been assigned a lower damage value for Brutes than for Blasters even taking the AT modifiers into account. This is fine. Similarly, and just as an example, why couldn't Eviscerate be assigned a bit higher damage value for Stalkers given that they lack Follow Up and Spin and have a lower base damage anyway? I see no reason why the two sets couldn't be adjusted a bit to address individual AT needs.

I believe all your posts that Claws is fine... for Scrappers. That doesn't necessarily mean it's fine for Stalkers and I'm somewhat bewildered that they need to be identical save for the two powers that were taken out of the Stalker set when one of those powers has such a large impact on what makes the set a damage over time machine.

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to get back to the actual topic of the Thread, I'm still doing the happy dance over the new animations. The set plays a lot faster and it's much more fun. Thanks Devs and thanks Castle for twisting Geko's arm to get this stuff done. I'm really looking forward to when this issue is live. I haven't said that in quite a while.

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I'd also like to say here that I like the changes that were put in, even though I think it still leaves the Stalker version a bit lacking. I'll gladly take any improvement to none. I still reserve the right to make suggestions that address Claws Stalker specific issues, though.

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I bet when they buff Mental Blast to actually-worth-taking levels it'll become even better.

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Unfortunately, it was Statesman who said he'd be looking into buffing Mental Blast so it'll happen right around the time skills and power customization get put into the game.

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My stalker doesn't need toggle drops, I doubt any stalker needs toggle drops. Personally, I would remove the toggle drop from stalkers entirely.


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EM Stalkers might not, but my Claws Stalker does.

That's odd, I've had no problem hitting two or three enemies at a time with JL. I've found it so much easier to hit multiples with the JL cone than with Evicerate's 'cone' that I'm thinking of just dropping Evicerate completely now that other Claw attacks are good.

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Tried a elec/elec brute...and from what I saw before any slotting I was not impressed...might get better at higher levels but at this level I couldnt even take out one LT and a minion....very sad...not sure if elec brute is gonna be for me.

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did you remember to attack? I took on three 1+ minions and one 1+ LT was close but i got them all.

Anyone else thing Jacobs ladders cone is very very small? I can only catch 2 of them in there.

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The cone seems ok to me. It's bigger than Eviscerate for sure, and seems a bit bigger than Shadow Maul too.

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I thought it was trading up on left vs right. I'll double check when test comes back up.

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If that's the case then it'll be extremely cool! I thought Brawl was the only attack that switches back and forth?

Unfortunately we didn't get a free respec on test so I can't test out the new animations on my Stalker. :/ Strike looks pretty good, but I'm wondering what Strike/Slash will look like one after the other since they both seem to be right hand attacks. I was hoping they could reverse one so it would look like a nice left/right chain. Ah well, just asthetics.

Bodyguard is going to be incredibly powerful on /Dark MMs since it can effectively multiply the effect of Twilight Grasp.

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I don't have too much experience with dominators, so I'm just guessing here, but maybe dominators would've gotten too powerful if they had acess to buff/debuff and/or mez protection? (those two options seem to be what isn't represented either by primary/secondary or these new power pools for doms)

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Dominators are widely regarded as one of the ATs most in need of a buff, actually. Now there have been hints around that Doms are getting some kind of buff in I7 so we'll see where that goes. I still find it hard to believe that some kind of temporary mez protection (Doms are the only AT with primary set melee attacks to not have any), or a self heal (Reconstruction in Mako, Siphon Life or Dark Regeneration in Ghost Widor for example) or even a self only buff like Focused Accuracy would overpower Doms.

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2: Patron powers are not supposed to be the pinnacle of you character's achievement, they are supposed to round out your abilities and make your character more diverse. Cryptic did this for heroes, and the villain powers look like they fit this concept too.


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If they're supposed to make my character more diverse, then why are 3 of the 4 Patron powers available to my Dominators duplicates of powers my Dominators already have?

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In case anyone is wondering (aside from questions as to "why <x>!!", this was the most pressing question on my mind regarding the powers), the ever helpful _Castle_ confirmed to me that the PP pets function like controller pets - at least with regards to duration.

Again, to clarify, the pets last until you zone or die. That makes me very happy. I doubt they will be as buff as their NPC versions, but hey - free pets!

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And all the Dark Miasma users again wonder why Dark Servent still expires after 4 minutes...

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Shadow Punch
Smite
Shadow Maul
Assassin Strike
Build Up
Placate
Touch of Fear
Dark Consumption
Midnight Grasp

Just a guess.

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That's what I'd like to see, but I bet they'll leave in Siphon Life and take out Dark Consumption since DC does medium damage in an AoE. The AoE damage powers were the ones to go in the other sets (Spin, Dragon Tail, Whirling Hands, Lotus Drops and Spine Burst(?)).

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It also has a 180 second recharge and has a function similar to Energy Drain. This really hinders its use as a damage AoE (despite what people may think about the power).

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That's why I said I'd like to see your list. But it boils down to Dark Consumption vs. Siphon Life imo. Personally, I'd take DC over SL any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I still think SL will end up in the Stalker set instead of DC becuase of the AoE damage though, long recharge and great secondary effect or not.

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It will be interesting to see how touch of fear works out on test, I'm thinking it will be an excellent setup for AS. Unless the person is /DA (is there anything else that resists fear?) or has a lot of BF's they are going to be in some serious trouble.

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You can go test it right now. Just get Intimidate from the Presence Pool and only use it in melee range. ToF should have a longer duration, though.

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Actually intimidate has a much lower base accuracy, takes about 3 times longer to recharge, takes up a power pool choice, forces you to take a power that is worthless to stalkers, and has no -accuracy debuff. Everyone knows how tight a stalker build can get so it's no wonder nobody really uses this but with DM it will be a different story.

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All of which is completely irrelevant as the person I was responding to wanted to test out how well fear would work as a setup for AS.

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It will be interesting to see how touch of fear works out on test, I'm thinking it will be an excellent setup for AS. Unless the person is /DA (is there anything else that resists fear?) or has a lot of BF's they are going to be in some serious trouble.

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You can go test it right now. Just get Intimidate from the Presence Pool and only use it in melee range. ToF should have a longer duration, though.

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DA has immobilization protection - unless that is was CoD gives. Knockback is the big hole for DA.

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CoD has the Immobilize protection, yeah. DA Stalkers lose that.

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Shadow Punch
Smite
Shadow Maul
Assassin Strike
Build Up
Placate
Touch of Fear
Dark Consumption
Midnight Grasp

Just a guess.

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That's what I'd like to see, but I bet they'll leave in Siphon Life and take out Dark Consumption since DC does medium damage in an AoE. The AoE damage powers were the ones to go in the other sets (Spin, Dragon Tail, Whirling Hands, Lotus Drops and Spine Burst(?)).

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I'm very curious what Shadow Dweller is and if it'll have Immobilize protection, which DA lacks.

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DA Scrappers get their immobilize protection from their Stealth toggle. They only status effect DA is weak to are KB and confuse.

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I know. The Stalker DA lost it.

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OMG I cant believe I forgot to ask this.

8. What power is on the chopping block in place of assasins strike?
9. Will we keep shadow maul?

I am glad it will be a resist set, finally a stalker that can take a hit without dying so fast after an assasin strike . I know defense will be getting buffed but even then I dont see it making too much of a difference given there is always that 5% of getting completely owned.

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8. I'm still sticking with my prediction of Dark Consumption, especially since ToF is confirmed to be staying in.
9. Don't see why not, the other sets kept their cone melee attacks.

It sounds like DA will be the 'scrappiest' defense set for Stalkers, with CoF and OG available to toggle on to help mitigate incoming damage, though the self damage aspect of OG will be brutal on a Stalker, with such a low base Health. So someone could make a Claws/DA Stalker and almost feel like a Scrapper, with the damage over time nature and lower End usage of Claws.

I'm very curious what Shadow Dweller is and if it'll have Immobilize protection, which DA lacks.

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Just a llittle "Did you know"

Kings Row is the only non-Hazard CoH city zone with no stores.

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>.>

How is getting hit by an AS that started at melee range but did its damage at 200 yards away any different from getting hit by a Total Focus that started at melee range but did its damage from 200 yards away, as far as 'realism' is concerned?

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How much of this problem would be solved, how many frustrations put to rest, if the level restrictions were removed on these secret contacts? How many times have people discovered them 'naturally' only to find that they were SOL anyway?

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Exactly. Or in the case of Jaeger, outleveled him because because of a bug with unlocking him.

I like that there's unlockable content, it's fun to get. I DON'T like how easy it is to outlevel the contacts, though. Why have level restrictions on unlockable contacts at all, anyway?

By the way, I really wish they would finally fix Veluta. She hasn't been awarding her souvenirs for finishing her arcs since the winter event.

I just started up an EM/DA Brute as a counterpoint to my DM/Regen Scrapper. So far it's great. Always wanted to try out Dark Armor character because the various utility auras look like they'd be a lot of fun.

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I got a question. Im now level 35 and I have barrage but not Whirling Hands. Next attack I get is Total Focus and I really want it but I also like Whirling hands. Should I swap Barrage with Whirling hands with respec? If so reasons would be appreciated.

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Barrage has to be taken, you can't respec out of it.

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My Brute didn't take it till lvl 26.

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Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were on the Tanker forum.