Jade_Dragon
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Quote:Yep, I said that. These numbers are primarily for solo comparison. And of course the Brute has to build up the Fury in order to take advantage of the higher damage than the Scrapper.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Remember, though, add any amount of damage buff and the scrapper pulls ahead by a clear margin.
No, honestly I think Brutes are just fine. A lower damage modifier would just make them even weaker on a team. Reducing the effect of Fury would make them less, well, Brutish. The fact that they CAN, solo, or in a non-offensively balanced team, beat the damage of a Scrapper simply means that they can take on the role of a Scrapper when needed, and not struggle solo. No one passes over a Scrapper because "sometimes a Brute does more damage".Quote:EDIT: Wow I type slow. Seems I was confirmed before I finished posting. Huh, seems to me there's still some balance issues. Brutes should probably have a lower damage modifier, methinks.
OTOH, the argument, "sometimes a Scrapper does more damage" shouldn't be so much an argument against Stalkers, either. If it were more commonly the case that the Stalker does more damage, I certainly think that would be better. On the other hand, I still see folks insisting a Stalker NEVER does more damage than a Scrapper, just like Brutes supposedly NEVER to more damage than a Scrapper.
IMHO it's not necessary for the Stalker to always do more damage, just to do more damage where the Stalkers specializes. It doesn't bother me that the Stalker doesn't do more sustained damage, because I don't believe the Stalker is supposed to specialize with sustained damage. OTOH, if sustained damage is all that is important to a team, then the Stalker needs to either find a way to contribute, or contribute something else. -
Quote:Well, I agree, but I'm pointing out the way I think the devs are thinking. First of all, Stalkers are NOT that much easier to kill. They have 10% fewer hit points. That's it. They can't get buffed to higher protection like a Brute can, and they can't buff their hit points very far, but otherwise they can be defensively buffed as well as a Scrapper can. Yes, they're fragile, as fragile as a Scrapper is compared to a Brute, but that doesn't make a Scrapper fragile.Originally Posted by Dispari
Which to me is totally fine, because the Stalker has less AoE potential and is easier to kill.
Second, any time you can leverage a force multiplier to combine it with another force multiplier, that's when the devs get cautious. Often, overly cautious. Another example is the Sniper attacks Stalkers get, their animation time and damage base seem ridiculous, until you fact in that you can Crit them from Hide.
A straight, across the board raise in base damage, coupled with a decrease in Crit rate from 10% to 5% would produce pretty much the same numbers, but I think it would worry the devs more. For one thing, it is more consistent and less random. For another thing, well, it would just make the Crit characteristics of the Stalker equal to that of the Scrapper.
I'm not saying that Stalkers don't need something to compensate them for their lack of AoE damage. Which is as much a limitation of the design as a conscious choice on the part of the devs. But I'm not sure that simply making them the masters of single target damage is the solution, or that the devs are even willing to go that route. A base damage or +dam modifier boost wouldn't emphasise their single target damage anyway, it would raise their AoE damage as well, but only for those Stalkers that have it. So it would make things worse for the Stalkers that lack AoE at this time.
Perhaps instead, Build Up could raise the chance of Critical, or raise the damage that the Critical does in some way. Honestly, it would be neat to have a Critical do the 2.8x damage of an Assassin Strike if you lead in with a Build Up. Perhaps this could be a "proc", similar to the way Fiery Embrace is currently working. -
Quote:This was, I believe, Castle's figures, based on the Crit rate of a Scrapper being the average between 5% and 10%, or 7.5%:Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Ok. How? I haven't seen any math to say otherwise.
Scrappers have a 1.125 melee damage modifier, brutes are 0.75.
Brutes with 75% fury get 150% bonus damage, bringing their modifier up to 1.125, which is only equal to scrappers.
But the scrapper modifier hasn't taken into account criticals at all. Also, because of the higher modifier, enhancements and damage buffs do more for a scrapper. They always do more than the comparable brute.
Scrapper = 1.125*(1+0.95)*(1.075) = 2.358
Brute = 0.75*(1+0.95+1.5) = 2.587
As you can see, the Brute does more damage than the Scrapper at 75% Fury. Even if we take the Scrapper at a 10% Critical rate against Lts and Bosses:
Scrapper = 1.125*(1.0.95)*(1.1) = 2.413
And the Brute still has the higher damage.
The break even point is at about 60% Fury:
Brute = 0.75*(1+0.95+1.2) = 2.363
So as long as you are maintaining at least 65% Fury, a Brute is outdamaging a Scrapper solo.
Now, on a team the Scrapper pulls ahead because his damage buffs add to his 1.95 Damage slotting, and multiply by his 1.125 base and his Criticals, while the Brutes damage buffs are stacked with his Fury and only multiply by a 0.75 base. So once the Brute starts getting damage buffs from his team he quickly falls behind. But with no buffs from the team and only minor self buffs (not scaled to the number of opponents) a Brute with 75% Fury will very likely be doing more damage than the Scrapper.
If the Stalker teammate buff were stronger, or scaled to allies that were further away, this could be very much the way the Stalker worked, too. Solo, the Scrapper would do more damage, but the Stalker would pull away on a larger team. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) since both Stalkers and Scrappers Critical, the contribution from teammates effects them equally. Their damage will remain in proportion to each other no matter how much teammates buff them. -
Quote:Again, it's not the Crit rate that is the issue. It's that a Stalker can, at will, follow a Build Up with a Critical on demand. A Scrapper cannot do that. Ever.Originally Posted by Dispari
Scrappers already get 100% with 1.125 and 5-15% crit rate (10-15% on targets that actually matter) and it's not a problem. This would be Stalkers getting 100% with 1.125% and 10-31% crit rate. It wouldn't be massive insanity or anything.
And before you say, "Using Placate will add even more to your animation time, reducing your DPS" remember that you are getting a 160% bonus to damage on top of double the base damage. Three slotted, with no other damage bonuses on you that's 275% damage (almost three times) for an additional 2.67 seconds animation time. Unless your attack is less than 1.5 s cast time you're coming out ahead.
With a 100% damage bonus, that would be 300%. Not that much more, sure, but you're already getting 127.5% more than the Scrapper with the same Build Up. -
Quote:But not ALWAYS. With only one target, the Brute will do more damage.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
I disagree. Currently, a brute cannot do more damage than the comparable scrapper.
Example: a fire/shield brute is going to do more AoE damage than a BS/WP scrapper. That's not a fair comparison. Apples to apples, a fire/shield to a fire/shield, the scrapper wins.
(Of course, the Brute will have to have 75% Fury with only one target, but really, it only needs to be higher than 60% for him to outdamage the Scrapper)
You can find a condition under which the Scrapper will do more damage, yes, and it may even be the most common condition. But as long as Fury "caps" at a higher damage than the Scrapper, you can't say the Scrapper will ALWAYS do more damage. Apples to apples. -
Quote:The thing to remember about the self buff is that with a Critical, a self buff of 80% becomes a self buff of 160%. Criticals multiply damage buffs, instead of just stacking with them as other damage buffs would. A Scrapper can Crit on a Build Up, but only has a 5% chance of it happening, while a Stalker is in complete control of that. (And I would guess that the average Stalker uses BU+Critical at least 90% of the time)Originally Posted by Dispari
and their self-buffs enough that Build Up does +100% instead of +80%. And then see where that puts them.
Raising damage to 1.125 I wouldn't have a problem with, but I consider it less likely than the devs increasing the frequency of non-controlled Criticals. -
Quote:The problem is that it is not ALWAYS Brutes < Scrappers. Dispari said it, "Stalkers should do more damage than Scrappers, ALL THE TIME, because they are easier to kill." Well then, by extension that means that Scrappers should do more damage than Brutes ALL THE TIME, because they are easier to kill. But they don't. Brutes ARE ABLE to do more damage than Scrappers. They can't do it all the time, and Scrappers can't do more damage than Brutes all the time, but that's the truth, no matter how much Brutes complaining about the nerf want to claim otherwise.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Castle says "They're about as strong as we want to make them" but it doesn't make any sense. Right now you can create a linear chart. The further to the left on this chart is higher survivability, while the further right on the chart is higher offensive capability.
Tankers <> Brutes <> Scrappers
Stalkers don't fit on this chart. They have less survivability than scrappers by a long shot, and they don't have more offensive capability to compensate. That's the problem.
So by that logic, Stalkers should do more damage than Scrappers some times, and less damage than Scrappers some times, which they do. Stalkers do more sustained damage than Scrappers when they have 7 allies in melee with them, and when they are facing a single target. You may argue that it's easier for a Scrapper to do more damage than a Brute than it is for a Stalker to do more damage than a Scrapper, but that's just a matter of degree. The circumstances under which a Stalker does more damage just needs to be tweaked so it happens more often.
And I like that "debuff resistance to Critical" idea.
To me, the comparison:
Tanker < Brute < Scrapper < Stalker
is in terms of BURST damage. Tankers can have a lot of burst damage, but they also have very low sustained damage. And their burst damage isn't as high as a Scrapper with the same Power Sets. Brutes are pretty much the antithesis of burst damage, they have to sustain damage just to build it up to a high level. Scrappers are pretty excellent at burst damage, both controlled and random, and Stalkers are the masters of it.
All comparisons about how much damage the meleers do always compare sustained damage exclusively. I don't think I've ever seen anyone try to make a comparison of burst damage. -
Quote:Sonic does the same thing, and does it while providing shields that give Resistance instead of Defense, and increasing team damage. By your argument you should never choose FF when Sonic is better.Originally Posted by magicj
Dispersion bubble prevents the team from getting stunned or held. And it does it without the FFer having to constantly spend time passing out powers like CM.
If all you're getting from an AT is that you don't get held or stunned, that's not much of an advantage. Three and a half powers out of nine does not make for a full Power Set. -
As a player of an FF Defender, I find the idea of not taking the bubbles WHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE THEM SOLO to be pretty foolish.
I would also say that as the player of a Ninja/FF Mastermind, that anyone who has argued they don't need the "little bubbles" has never played a Ninja/FF Mastermind. -
Quote:Actually, Superior Invisibility has a -Threat. Most other stealth powers that allow you to attack through them DO NOT. The reason for this is pretty obvious, the greatest number of self-stealth powers (outside of Hide) are available to Brutes, either in their Secondary or in the Pool, and reducing their Threat rating would be a bad idea.Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
Note : most self-stealth does apply a -threat which does help lower agro somewhat. Check the info to see if your stealth has it.
I think that in the past there was a -Threat on most stealth powers, including Stealth, but it has since been removed. And all the -Threat really does is reduce the amount of aggro you draw, it doesn't keep you from getting aggro altogether. In order to pull aggro off of you, a tank has to draw TWICE the aggro you have, so it is really important to not get that aggro in the first place. Let the Tanker grab the aggro first, so it's you having to generate twice his aggro to pull it off of him. -
One thing to remember is that being invisible DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP YOU. All stealth does is prevent you from being aggroed on in the first place. Once foes aggro on you, they see right through stealth.
If you are relying on your invisibility to keep foes off of you or to lessen the aggro produced by your AoEs, your best bet is to drop it. IMHO you're using it as a crutch. If you'll just drop that line of thinking and see yourself as drawing as much aggro as you actually are, you'll probably play a lot better.
As others have already said, you want to wait until the tank has actually begin attacking and drawing aggro before you move in and starting using AoE holds and immobilizes. It is likely that your immobilizes are your problem, not your debuffs, but it is probably best to hold off on them as well. It may seem crazy not to help the tank survive the alpha strike, but it takes time for even a Tanker to build up a good hold on aggro and keep you from being able to pull it off. Just because he's run into the group or even hit Taunt doesn't mean he's got all the aggro.
Even with enough time, the Tanker still can't hold more than the aggro of 17 foes. If the spawn is larger than that, or he's herding (probably not a good idea if teammates are dying) some will still peel off and come at you. You may need to be ready for that, to use your holds to take care of the problem, instead of running around and waiting for the tank to pick the aggro back up. -
If you can remember the username and password of your old account, you may be able to reactivate it, and continue with either the characters you had before, or new ones you can start in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles.
Otherwise, as others have said, level one of your characters to 20, and you will be able to leave Praetoria and return to the familiarity of Paragon City. You will have outlevelled Atlas Park by then, but you can start a new character to go through the early levels there. Basically the new expansion requires you to start in the new area (making sure they get their money's worth out of the development) but once you get to 20 you "unlock" the previous start areas.
If you've been away from the game so long you never heard of City of Villains, you may not know that the Rogue Isles is a start area too. There are five new archetypes you may not have seen before, and they are only available "as villains", while the old archetypes are only "for heroes". In Preatoria you get to choose from all 10 ATs, so you might want to try them out. They depend a lot more on their Inherent powers and have more of a specialized feel than the old hero ATs.
So, when you get to 20, when you go back to the character creation screen, you'll see three options for "Create a Hero", "Create a Villain" or "Create a Praetorian". You can go from there.
This may be another reason why players are so spread out. Back in the "good old days" everyone was starting in Atlas Park, and there were still plenty of newbies working on getting to the higher levels. Now there are players in Praetoria, players in Paragon City, players in the Rogue Isles, 50s working on the Incarnate content, players in the Mission Architect playing crafted missions, players in Pocket D role playing, in Oroborous doing Flashbacks of old missions, or in Wentworths and the Black Market trading, and at the University crafting.
There are way more zones in the game than there used to be, and a lot more to do. You just need to find a good SG, or get onto some good global channels to help you get in touch with people doing the same thing you're doing. -
Most of my characters were named well before they came to CoH. My main two, Jade Dragon and Blue Diamond, I actually wrote stories about back when I was in High School. I've even created them in tabletop RPGs I've played over the years, and a superhero game that I wrote myself for my Commodore 64.
However, how their names came about might be a good example for coming up with names in general. My original concepts were based on Green Lantern and Superman, specifically, the Golden Age Green Lantern with the cape and collar. I wanted the characters to be my own, though, and so I toyed with changing around their powers until I came up with something I liked. My Green Lantern clone I came up with a concept similar to Mayhem from the comic Cloak and Dagger, I surrounded him in a mist or vapor that he could control. For my Superman/The Thing character I made him a "human battery", able to store potential energy in his body that he could then turn into kinetic energy, light, sound, or any other form of energy he wanted.
I then came up with the names following the concept. In D&D a Green Dragon breathes a green gas, and I wanted to stay with the green color, so Jade Dragon. A diamond is the hardest substance known to man, and I stuck on the color blue to be consistent with Jade Dragon, so Blue Diamond. I then came up with the idea of having their names come from the source of their powers, so they each have an artifact, a jade statue of a dragon, and a blue diamond, that give them their powers like the Green Lantern power battery.
As I said, most of my characters were already prenamed, but some of the ones I came up with on the spur of the moment were Arachnophelia, my female Crab Spider, Umbral Unredeemed, my Warshade/Nictus, Psycommando, a Mercs/Poison MM, and Experiment OEBR1, my Dark/Dark Corruptor.
Arachnophelia I actually came up with her name after a post on the board here, which game me the idea for her concept. But, she's basically a girl with a fetish for spiders who decided to join Arachnos for that reason. I was trying to think of a concept for an SoA, so it could have as easily popped into my head as I was creating her. I think again the point is that I got her concept and backstory, and the name followed naturally from that. Once I realized she would do literally anything to turn herself into a spider, Arachnophilia can naturally, and I just changed the "philia" end (since it was already taken) to match the name "Ophelia", turning it into a pun.
Umbral Unredeemed, again, came naturally from his concept, he was intended from the first to be a Nictus that had tried to reform himself but was corrupted by the villainy of his host and "fell from grace". "Umbral" is pretty obvious for a Warshade, several of them seem to have that in their name, although I tried to think of alternatives for a while. But the alliteration was just too perfect.
Psycommando was the result of a random costume. I was clicking through random ideas and this costume came up that was military, soldier style, but in wild pastel colors, with this big peace sign on his chest. The look was so distinctive I created him on the spot. I decided that he had to be an insane soldier, who thought he was spreading peace (thus the peace symbol) but was actually just gunning people down in cold blood. The name was just obvious.
Experiment OEBR1 took a little more effort to name. Like Psycommando, it was a random costume, and it was also an answer to a thread I had seen on the boards about origin. It was this obvious robot, and yet covered in mystical symbols and a long black cloak with a hood. I liked the idea that you could have a Technological character, a robot, and yet powered by magical energy. So a Dark/Dark wizard, but a robot. And this was years before Tin Mage, BTW. Since I came up with the idea that it would be a Crey experiment gone wrong, a robot they had build to harness occult energy, the Experiment followed, but at first I just threw in random numbers for its "ID", figuring it would be one of a series. I guess in a way I may have been inspired by Lilo and Stitch, although I didn't notice that connection until later.
Later, when I recreated the character as a Corruptor (it was originally a Defender, and never spoke, although this ended up making teaming difficult) I came up with the last part of its name being an acronym for "Occult Energies Battle Robot". I then decided that it would be the first and only prototype, as the experiment failed with the robot going out of control and the researchers were all killed. -
Yep, all Presence powers need slotting to get them comparable to the Primary/Secondary version of the powers. You will want Acc in all powers, a good amount of Taunt in the taunts, and Fear in the fears.
They're quite nice powers IMHO, but the slot requirements are what turn off a lot of players, I think.
They do stack nicely with each other and with the Vigilante fear power, though. -
Quote:Not only to you have to keep playing, you have to keep creating new characters. You HAVE to.Originally Posted by Organica
Am I the only one who keeps reading the title of this thread as "Do I have to keep playing?" It's impossible to resist. We call it "altitis".
Original question has already been answered, but as has been mentioned, you can get someone to send you a buddy code or wait for a trial weekend if you want to see what the game's like before you buy.
And talking about people's hobbies costing them more money than this, the sheer amount of money I have spent on Rock Band makes this game pale in comparison.
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Quote:One thing to remember is that you don't HAVE to have only two binds to have two teams. You can name your pets according to three different conventions, and direct two of them at different enemies (or the same one) while you leave the third in Bodyguard.Originally Posted by Zeh_Masteh
How did you go about doing this? [having half on Bodyguard and half attacking]
I sometimes try this as well, but the only way I could think of doing it was by naming three pets a certain way (eg, all begin w/ the letters "Ca"...), but I sometimes don't like restricting my pet names...
An alternative is to simply use the Tiering system. Use petcom_pow <Tier 3> to direct your Tier 3 and petcom_pow <Tier 2> to direct your Tier 2s. You really only need to use names if you intend to split up a Tier. (Like splitting the Punks from the Arsonist)
The other thing is that the letter you choose doesn't have to be at the beginning of the name, and can even be a single letter. You can choose a command around the fact that all the henchmen you wish to command have a "y" in their name. You can also chain petcom_name commands in a keybind or macro, in case you can't find a common letter combo between them.
For my Thugs/Dark, I basically have an Aggressive command that sets only my Bruiser and the Punks to Aggressive (chaining two petcom_name commands) and then two separate Goto commands, once that sends the Bruiser, the other that sends the Punks. Since Goto requires a mouse click, it doesn't allow chained petcom_names, so I just have a common letter for my Punks, and the Bruiser I just spell out his whole name. I could have used petcom_pow if I wanted.
For my Bots/Traps I actually switch the Assault Bot and two of the Drones to Aggressive, but my Goto actually sends all THREE of the Drones to a spot. I usually use it to set them out of range of AoEs so they will fire from a distance.
For all of the above you can substitute Attack for Aggressive if you prefer that. It's just my preference to set Aggressive and use Goto to make a henchman attack. I have keys to switch them back to Defensive or make them heel if they get out of control, and since it's only three of the six henchmen I don't have trouble keeping track of them. 90% of the time, Goto will make them do what I want.
In both cases my Tier 2s are left in Bodyguard Mode at all times, and remain in place behind me. (Or they did before the AI got screwed with, but at least they still remain in Bodyguard) I do give them a key to Attack, or Goto, but almost never use them, and I don't even have an Aggressive key defined for them. The Enforcers actually provide the majority of the damage, once the Bruiser has drawn aggro, but the Proto Bots, of course, stay back so they can do their support thing.
I'm still working on Ninjas and Mercs, as I haven't gotten to 26 yet with either I do not yet have a full set of six henchmen I can split into teams of three. But I've done pretty good with picking a Tier 2 to draw aggro with, like my Bruiser, or sending both Tier 2s in at once. Previously I was sending the Tier 3s in as a group, especially when they were also paired, but they started to get too fragile for that around 20.
I'll add that it's probably more efficient to use the Tier 1 as Bodyguard, since you get exactly the same amount of Bodyguard from any three henchmen, but your Tier 2 and Tier 3 do more damage. Thus they are more useful in an offensive capacity. On the other hand, as the Tier 1 can't take as much damage your Bodyguard can fail faster. So it may be a matter of personal preference whether you choose all three Tier 1s, a Tier 1 and the Tier 2s, or 2 Tier 1s and a Tier 2 as your Bodyguard. You could even single out a Tier 2 and your Tier 3 to be your two offensive henchmen, and have four as Bodyguard, but IMHO two henchmen on Bodyguard is too few, and four is too many. If you really NEED that much Bodyguard, you should probably just switch them all over. -
Pets on Defensive will attack any foes that attack the MM OR ONE OF HIS PETS. That said, it's my guess that the OP is spreading out his henchmen too much. He is directing too many of them to take on targets on their own, and they are failing to work together.
My strategy is to direct one or two henchmen to attack specific targets, and then attack myself. That draws fire to myself and the henchmen while splitting it up so no one of us is overwhelmed. My henchmen still remaining in Bodyguard Mode then contribute to taking out the foes that the active henchmen have singled out.
Another large issue is the AoEs being generated around the Brute, and whether or not you are directing your henchmen to stand in them. You can usually send a tough henchman, like your Tier 3 in there if you watch his back. But if you are splitting up your henchmen to send your Tier 1s after three different targets with the AoE radius of the Brute, it's no wonder they're being killed.
The thing to remember is that your Tier 3s are relatively useless unless they are working together. They're two levels down from you, and splitting their share of the damage three ways. They're pretty much the equivalent of Minions, but one on one a Minion will have a bit of the advantage. This is why they get slaughtered so easily. -
Quote:I agree. I think it's a "toe the line" thing, though, you can go too far one way or the other. Don't just be a Scrapper and completely ignore your unique capabilties, but don't concentrate on that to the detriment of everything else, either.Originally Posted by Nyx
Im saying, Let the tank or tankier types do their thing. You will still dish damage or control, just not as much as some others, but knowing your role in a group is important. I learned that with my dark/dark Stalker and more my Widow. Im not a tank, can't take the alpha, should be taking it unless Im teamed with those who are less tankier than I am.
And a Stalker taking the Alpha Strike is just crazy.
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Quote:Yep, and I think that's pretty cool. On a Brute you want to conserve Endurance while you are building up steam, so you don't end up stopped before you even get started. On a Corruptor, you are most End efficient when your foes are closest to dying, which is when you are most likely to need the End. (Since you've been using it on debuffs the whole time)Originally Posted by Sardan
It's interesting how some of the inherent powers change gameplay. On a brute, Fury is a damage bonus that builds over time, so you want to lead with several low damage fast recharge attacks, then unload your big attacks once you have Fury built up.
On a corruptor you do exactly the opposite. You want to get your foe into Scourge range (< 50% health) quickly, then use rain powers or fast lower damage attacks.
Any mechanic that gets use out of those attacks (or even Brawl) is a good one.
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Quote:Ditto.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
I don't see it as a problem, personally.
Thermal/Fire as a combination won't be very offensively powerful, but Rad/Fire would be.
I'm guessing it's coming up in the next Proliferation, whenever that is. The only other choice available is Poison, anyway. -
Quote:Honestly, there may be no reason to remove the -recharge, but I'd still like to see Brutes get something slightly unique just because I'd like to see something slightly unique. Like stealth or a cloud of fog that saps damage or something.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Take a look a few posts back, there's no reason for them to remove the -rech.
EDIT: Here, found it for you.
It would be nice to see a devs' take on this now that Fury has been changed. It's been a while since we've had a Proliferation, and it might be best to bring Ice over to both Brutes and Stalkers this time. -
I have found that Frankenslotting IOs is a HUGE help. In short, look for Acc/Dam and End/Dam IOs. (Or just Acc/End) That will help get a reasonable amount of accuracy and endurance discount without having to spend two slots. Then you can slot Damages to either three or four slots.
Just be careful you don't go overboard. I got so caught up in Frankenslotting I started slotting triple aspect IOs, and started wondering why I wasn't doing as well. Then I realized, "duh, I'm losing Damage slotting". Basically, resist the temptation to get Set Bonuses, you're just trying to squeeze efficiency out of slots.
Some Recharge can be good too, especially in Dwarf attacks, but if you are a Tri-Form and have Hasten that is less of a problem. And slot up Stamina now that it works in all forms.
Also, I have found that a good strategy for Tri-Forming is to specialize with a subset of attacks. For instance, in the early levels I only slot two of the four attacks for each form. That way if I'm stuck in a form I've got some "filler" attacks, but as I shift forms I can concentrate on the main ones. Likewise, I stick with a theme for my Human form so I'm not overwhelmed with attacks. For my PB, the theme is melee, so all of my Human form attacks are melee except for Glinting Eye, and I leave the ranged attacks to Nova. And I've left Glinting Eye unslotted so it's just filler, or to pull. My main attacks are the Nova Blasts and Detonation, the Dwarf Smite and Flare, and Incandescent Strike.
The main thing to remember is that attacks take slotting to be useful, but there are lots of powers you can choose instead that don't take any slots. Quantum Flight may seem useless, but it doesn't need any slots. Glowing Touch shouldn't be needed, you aren't a healer, but it doesn't need any slots. Rather than try to be an all purpose damage dealer in Human Form, specialize, and use the extra choices for situational powers. -
Quote:Yeah, Assassin Strike is like a Sniper attack from a ranged AT, it's an opener meant to put a lot of damage on a single target right at the start of the fight. Most of the time, with the intention of taking that target out. Once you get the melee going, the Stalker's strength is in his Criticals from standard attacks. (Or with EM, the ability to Energy Transfer without losing any health)Originally Posted by Pinny
Regardless of how you try and put it, a stalker on a team is in fact a scrapper that can put up a ton of damage at the start of a fight. With going rogue now, why would somebody keep a stalker on a team if all they do is go for the assassin strike and nothing else? In that case I'd get a scrapper...At least then there's a team member doing consistent damage
As I like to say, the Stalker's Inherent is not Assassin Strike. It is "Assassination", a power that lets EVERY attack you have Crit from hide. AS is just a special case.
OTOH, the ability to Demoralize with AS does have a role on a team, just not so great a role that you want to be using it constantly. Whether you AS for Demoralize or Damage, it is a capstone to the fight. The foundation is in scrapping and using Placate/Crit from Hide.
For instance, the advice to use AS on a Lt. instead of a Boss in order to take out a problem foe quickly may not be the most efficient use of AS after all. Assuming that you can do enough damage with a Crit from your most damaging attack to kill that foe, an AS would be overkill. You have to be in Hide anyway, so it's just a matter of deciding whether to use AS or that standard attack.
AS really should only be used against Bosses or better. The only exception is if you want to take out TWO tough foes with your first strike, at which time the AS-BU-Placate-Attack combo will usually do that.
I do agree that Stalkers should be patient. A Stalker doesn't have to strike without knowing the environment, and he shouldn't. And a Stalker shouldn't be the first to strike, although he should usually be the second. But there's usually no need for caution once the battle starts. -
I'm not going to turn anyone away just because they're playing a Stalker. Okay, the Scrapper will do more AoE damage. So will a Blaster, so under those circumstances my choice would be "neither". But I'd never turn a way a Scrapper or Stalker because I would only take a Blaster, either.
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Don't concentrate on getting out of battle and going back into Hide, instead concentrate on using Placate+AS to hit your Boss or AV with Demoralize. If you keep getting interrupted because you aren't Def-based, try waiting a while and then backing out to Hide so you can reapply the Demoralize. In other words, use Hide not for the AS, but for the -Def to AoE.
You shouldn't feel like an "underpowered Scrapper". Don't listen to people who say that. On that large a team you should have been doing plenty of damage.