Knightingale

Hmmmmm yup defiance is a fab last ditch power. Double edged sword though.

There have been times in missions when it has encouraged me to stand and fight it out, in the hope I can just dish out enough power fast enough to survive and defeat the enemy, when in all prudence I should probably bail out and recover. While on the odd occasion it has undoubtedly saved me, I'd wager it's probably accrued me more debt.

It's a state of mind thing. If I didn't have defiance I'd run, but that enticing little bar makes you hesitate and just go for it. Makes me smile anyhow and I don't care about the debt.

Actually as a side topic has anyone else noticed that they don't care about debt once their first toon reaches level 50 ? I thought it would be just with Gale, but it's spread to all my other toons. I actually find it funny now.

But I digress. The problem I was having the other day was that the initial AS would very often leave me stunned. Probably 6 or 7 times out of 10. not sure who was hitting me on those occasions or what power they were using but it was nasty. I'd be clicking retaliatory powers and when they weren't responding I'd notice and have to pop a BF. By that time the stalker was gone.

Hence my Sirens Call addiction to BF's and Insights. I was popping them like sweets eventually hoping that the BF's would stop any stuns and the Insights would help me see. I went through loads. There was a SuperTanker unloading in IP just to supply me with Insps!!!

Eventually I was popping the above and also Lucks and Sturdy's in the hopes they might help somehow.

As an energy blaster I don't have any protection against those stun effects unless I team with an empath. dunno if there is something int he Epics that helps, but that's a moot point anyhow being as Sirens Exemps you.

Also Rogue is more of a Blapper and his ranged abilities since ED are not as they used to be. Snipe is the most powerful tool I have but the activation time is llllloooooonnnnnngggggggg and leaves me vulnerable to other Stalkers. Power blast isn't enough to kill you and doesn't have any sort of stun side effect so you can still get away after the initial shot. Power Burst is too short range. And I don't have Nova exemped down as I am. All the other powers are melee pretty much and the stalkers skip away too fast to use them. In fact I think this is what mostly happened, I'd get a lucky shot off that would hurt the stalker, but they'd just go lick their wounds and try again.

I dunno where Black Medic is today, but I'd be interested to see what his take on the battle was from the Fire and Ice tank point of view. He seemed to be in hospital more than me.

*sigh* What are you blathering about now Snowy! LOL

You know you'll base will pale in comparison with the JLL's, so you might as well give up now.

Seriously though, any hints and tips in this would be most welcome as I'm also in the same boat (just a little behind Snowy on the river!). I've got my Power active and my Control is just about to go in. What's the next best step to take ?

And Snowy, when is Knight Arrow getting his parlour in the base for entertaining his lady friends ?? Oh and a recording studio for that snappy theme tune ?? And maybe an archery practice range ??

Dammit he's earnt valuable prestige for you and he wants recompense!!!

I really think these should be Blaze of the Immortal priorities!!!!

Awww I could never be mad at someone with Pigtails.

I don't think I suffered from any of those ailments though so I think you are safe from my revenge anyhow.

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Although I am also guilty of not having him ignored because I like to see what stupid comments he's going to come out with next. Train-wreck syndrome, I guess.

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Phew! Glad I'm not the only one. Anymore of you want to come out of the closet on this ??

Yup it was them. Grrrrrrr!!!

LOL I think I was 'Gimped' at one point too! hehe

I'll get you yet you pesky stalkers!

Thanks Stalk-Obot, nice to hear the voice of the nemesis. LOL

I'm enjoying my Stalker alot. I've actually rolled him about 4 times now as I keep tinkering. I eventually settled for Claws (cause I've never had em) and Regen (cause I kept hearing everyone tell me how squishee they were and I thought Regen might compensate a little).

My impressions thus far are good. At first I thought of him as a Scrapper equivalent and started to compare my results with Lady Rogue. But quickly found that to be wrong.

With Lady Rogue I usually perform a semi-tanker like role of taking the agro from the big bads of the group while my blaster friends pick off the minions and then pitch in to help me take down the big bads.

I quickly discovered this is not a tactic that the Stalker cannot use as they are too squishee to "tank" like that. I've now fallen into a hit and run type pattern. It's a different way to play the game. Slower and more thoughtful, relying on patience and planning. I find soloing easier than with any of my other toons (in CoV) bar my Mastermind, but maybe that's just me. (and I haven't tried a Brute yet so I can't comment on them!) A little slower maybe as I can't blitz missions like I can with my Scrapper, but easier due to the hit and run nature and the fact I very very rarely seem to get into trouble. And when I do I run and hide till they get bored and go away. There has been very little death or debt thus far.

I'm not sure I'd have the patience to roll a PvP player. My own gaming passions lie in the team and co-operative play. I was never a big fan of the Arena's either. However I did enjoy teaming up with the lads and lasses the other night and fighting the hotspot battles in Sirens.

Maybe we'll have to hook up in Sirens one day and you can teach me how to kill Stalkers with my Blaster. hehe Or maybe that's just giving away trade secrets.

My problem with Stalkers all along has not really been with their power, hence I never asked for nerfs. But more in my frustration with not being able to retaliate to them after that often devastating AS. And my concern is that you need all kinds of outside help and insps and specific powers to enable you to combat them effectively, and Rogue as a pretty standard blaster doesn't appear to have any of the tools required, and I'd wager most players don't.

In the same hour I was in there I had a couple of tussles with a Corruptor that were stunningly evenly matched. I fought Mechanical Mistress (I think her name was) a few times and I think the honours were fairly even. these battles thrilled me and excited me. They were brilliant and although I ended up in hospital a few times I didn't mind as I felt I gave as good as I got.

But everytime I got hospitalised by you or the other stalker (I think her name was D'Monique or something like that) I got frustrated because I felt helpless to give you a good fight back. And even when you try and stay away from the Stalkers and just do something else like fight other villains or just play the hotspots, the Stalkers always pop up to kill you again. There just didn't seem to be an even footing for us to fight on, hence my frustration. And while I think some of my team soldiered on, I just decided to leave and do something else.

Maybe I should have persevered but it just started to feel like a bad game of hide and seek, where I was doomed to lose all the time.

Even when we could see you, and I'm sure you were aware of us following you around the map at one point, we could do nothing about it. I could see you from the air but was too far away to do anything but shout warnings to my teammates that they were about to be AS'd. And then you were gone again in a flash with us chasing you again. Cat and Mouse.

So that was my frustration.

But it's nice to see you on the boards. Shout me in the game sometime when we have Global Chat and say hi. I might come to Sirens Call and let you butcher me again. LOL

Ahhhh Stalk-obot.... he who was my Arch Nemesis in PvP the other night. LOL#

You must have tagged me about 5 or 6 times the other day, all of them while I was in flight and stealthed (yeah I know it's not great but it's all I've got! ). Love to know how you did that. You should have heard me on TS cursing your name to Hades. LOL

I know I tagged you with Snipes and blasts a few times but could never quite nail you. Slippery little so and so.

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Each and every AT is what you make it and I know Controllers and Defenders who are nigh on impossible to pin down in Sirens Call, also plenty of ATs have PBAOEs and things like ice and fire rain which takes out the hide/AS which is fundamental to the buildand turns a hidden assassin into an exposed squishy.

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Well to be fair we did try those tactics on you. We had in turns both a Fire Tank (Firey Rose) and an Ice Tank ( Ice Rose) in the team with us and you managed to still get AS on both of them despite all the flamey and icey bits and bobs being thrown around. We even had our illusion controller throw pets at you.

Granted I've not really played CoV from a villain PoV so I'll reserve judgment on how hard Defenders or Controllers are until then. But my Empath has the same problems with Stalkers in PvP and we had the mighty Synasta (Illusion Controller level 50) in the team too and he was just as vulnerable.

As I say though, I'll get some serious levels on my own Stalker and try it out myself before I pass judgement.

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I dont see why people moan on and on on the same things, I dont whinge about storm controllers, I made a specific build to take them down and from the same logic I could certainly build a stalker hunter. Think it through and you can find a way through anything."

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Which is fine if you want to be solely a PvP player. Then create a PvP toon. But most of us play CoH or CoV most of the time and just dip into the PvP zones for a bit of fun. Are we seriously expected to spec our alts specifically for PvP just to be successful in there ? I don't ever see me really and truly respeccing any of my toons simply with PvP in mind and I'd wager most players don't either. Could be wrong of course....

And I'd still maintain that any archetype that needs to have another archetype specifically tailored from scratch to take them down is a sign that the game is inherently unbalanced towards that archetype. Again just my opinion.

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All the regular people I pvp with in Sirens call are an awesome bunch and we have a lot of fun but no of us stand around whinging about each others advantages.

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I'd agree. I do often quite enjoy PvP. And I never ever whinge or moan. You'll notice that that day you took me down repeatedly I said nothing at all on the chat channels. (OK your name was mud on TS as I swore like a trooper!!) But in the game itself I was fair game, you played your Stalker exceedingly well and I died repeatedly. That's the game and I accept that. I'm a nice chap and I would never moan or whinge over the chat channels.

But at the same time I do find being repeatedly taken down by stalkers who I don't seem to do anything about. In the end rather than moan about it I just left to blow of some steam playing DoW instead.

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I actually think the balance in PVP is very good, if people have problems its generally experience, lack of practice and build.

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I'll admit to a lack of experience to a degree in PvP. I haven't logged many hours. But I was in a team full of high levelled characters many of whom have been playing since very early in the year (Feb for me). We know our toons and we know how to handle them. I think it's a bigger issue than just a lack of experience and I think that's underselling the issue.

What happens if you aren't Stalker hunting and are engaged in battle at a hotspot or with another Villain ??

People say just keep moving for instance. But you can't do that. A patient stalker can just follow Rogue around unseen till I initiate my Snipe function in a completely seperate battle. For this I HAVE to be stationary and the animation time is long. Wham!! One AS and follow up later I'm dead.

My defender often has to stand or hover near my team while I'm healing them during the hotspot battles. Wham!! One AS and a follow up later and I'm dead.

These aren't stupid rookie errors. These are necessary moments in the game when I HAVE to be stationary to do my job or perform a particular power. The patient stalker just bides his/her time and waits for those moments. The attacks come without warning and without any possible defence.

Popping all the insps in the world to increase perception doesn't help much if you are tied up tangling with someone else. It also requires visiting your local insp seller every few minutes to stock up again. In that hour the other night I must have burnt through hundreds of Insights. Sometimes they helped see stalkers, sometimes not. And even when they did they were little help. I'd snipe and they'd run and lick their wounds.

Now I'm not saying that that is cowardly, I'd do exactly the same thing in that position. It's an ability and you are quite right, you use the powers you've got to the best of your ability to keep yourself alive. Simple as that.

But for pretty much the whole Hour or so I was in Sirens call it was you and another Stalker who were ALWAYS top of the Most Wanted list. I think that in itself tells you something important about the power of Stalkers in PvP.

Either that or you personally are just too darned good.

Sorry about the length of these posts, I'm VERY bored at work doing a job I currently hate. I have to vent that boredom and frustration somewhere. hehe

And that's cool with me TG.

I'm sure neither of us are alone in our thinking. I'm sure there's plenty of people who feel and think the same as us both. But I figure that that's what these forums are here for. To voice our opinions and feelings on certain subjects.

As I said I'm happily playing my own Stalker characters in CoV now in order to find out more about them. And I'd encourage other people who feel as I do about Stalkers to do the same.

I created a Claws/Regen Stalker (I have a Martial Arts/Regen Scrapper in CoH) as I thought it would be a good comparison. Thus far in my opinion while my damage output isn't quite as high as my Scrapper, I haven't found my Stalker to be particularly inaccurate or particularly squishee. I'd agree that they aren't on a par with their Scrapper counterparts, my Stalker for instance can in no way go toe to toe with large mobs like my Scrapper can, but in my experience they aren't as far away as some suggest. And I'm not even sure what I'm doing with my Stalker. I'm positive he'd not slotted and enhanced to his optimum build as I'm kinda winging it.

Of course I haven't tested my Stalker in PvP properly yet so that will be the acid test I guess. Till then I will somewhat reserve judgement.

I'm very much trying to see things from both sides of the fence. Admittedly my experience so far is very much from the Hero side and the frustration Stalkers cause me and my teammates (although some of them seem to take a masochistic delight in dying at the hands of Stalkers alot.... I'm looking at you Snowy!!! lol).

But just like any of the other nerfs, patches, ED's etc that have been thrown at us I'll happily work within the system and try and find ways around these things. I WILL find a way to beat a Stalker with my squishee blaster.

All I'm saying is that I can't think of another Archetype that needs as much prep from a full team and a serious addiction to insps. All are valid tactics and in some cases I'm sure it works just fine. But that still strikes me as unbalanced in my opinion.

But please don't anyone accuse me of being biaised. I've tried both, and this is currently the way I see it. That may change in time as I develop my Stalker further and maybe try him out properly in PvP. I'll keep you all posted. hehe

Hey, it's just my opinion guys. And an opinion based on my view from both sides of the fence.

I have played in PvP as a level 50 Empath, a level 38 Blaster and a Level 28 Regen Scrapper. The ONLY Archetype I've ever had trouble with is the Stalker.

And I still think if you need to go to all that prep, including rolling a specialist Stalker Hunter and getting into a team that is well practised and has all the right specific team players in place..... just to take down a stalker...

Well there's a balance issue.

I don't have any trouble with any other archetype. Sometimes I get killed and then I just re-think my tactics and try again. And as I stated to those that read the post properly, this wasn't an in-experienced team.

I also play a Stalker in CoV (I actually have 2 of them), and albiet while it's not a massivley high level yet, I do have a handle on what they can and can't do.

I'll agree that they are weak, but not as weak as some make out. The AS isn't anywhere near as inaccurate as some people make out either (at least not in my experience). My Stalker can AS, hit with the secondary strike and fade away again within about 10 secs. That's a very very very small window for an ambushed opponent to fight back in.

I know all the Stalker players really fear the NerfBat and there's alot of justification for them staying as they are and people complaining that we're moaning about them. If you'd read the original post (and it's addendum) properly you'd also see I'm not asking for nerfs. Personally I like my Stalker the way he is too and I'd be annoyed at Nerfs too. But I'm willing to stand up and admit that I can (literally) get away with murder most of the time with him.

I'm not asking for Nerfs and I'm not moaning, just commenting that I think that PvP is unbalanced in my opinion and my experience.

You don't have to agree with me, it's just my 2 inf worth.

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That doesnt necesserily work. I'm an empath with all tactics powers all 6 slotted and some stalkers can hide from me even when im using insps, im assuming that they're stacking invis with hide...

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Which is another thing. It's all very good to give all this advice on how to see stalkers by popping insps, getting a team with tactics etc etc etc.....

And maybe that's fine and dandy for dealing with a soloing Stalker.

But what happens when the Stalker teams up with other villains especially other stalkers?? Or maybe a high level Mastermind with all those lovely pets to keep you occupied while Mr (or Miss) Stalker creeps in ?? What happens when he starts stacking invis and stealth and hide et al so your insps don't do a darn thing ?? What happens when he starts popping insps etc (although I don't know if there are any that would help him. Lucks and Sturdy's maybe in huge quantities)

Which brings me back to balance. There is none when a hero has to pop pills and rely on a team of companions specced just so in order to take down a single stalker. *shrug*

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.. if ppl have ago on the Arena Chat.. tell them to get a life and you use the best thing ever.. /ignore <player name>.. as most ppl have done to them already

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I'd suggest a petition for harrassment. The volume of constant jibes & remarks from some individuals, made over a server wide channel is ridiculous. Keep your opinions & comments out of other peoples gametime & act accordingly please.

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Pretty much my sentiment too.

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I'm ashamed to admit this, but one of the reasons he's not on my ignore list is because sometimes some of the stuff he inadvertantly says is the stuff of comic gold.

On the Hammi raid he annoyed me considerably, but often you just can't believe some of what comes out of his mouth. I was tempted to put him on ignore a number of times, but damn if I wasn't curious as to what rubbish he'd spout next.

And then I got torn between feeling sorry for the poor kid because of the response he was getting from the hero population at large and irritated with him because of his impatience, stupidity and lack of team spirit.

I've teamed with Lui only once and witnessed him in the Hammi Raids.

The first time we were on the Croatoa TF where you have to rescue the witch (I forget the name of at the mo...the one where you have to defeat Mary McComber to get the hat). He wasn't too bad for much of the TF, just a bit chatty, a little irreverant and showing his age. But generally OK. Until the last mission. While the rest of the team were trying to clearout the redcaps between us and the captive which (is it Amy ?!) in order to make escorting her to the exit easier, Lui just left the group and hovered over her prison proclaiming that he'd found her and could easily free her.

After a few mins or us pleading with him not to, and to come back and help us clear the path first, he proceeded to free Amy. Which meant now we had to try and escort her out through all the other mobs plus the ambushes. Suffice to say we failed.

Thanx for ruining the TF.

Then in the Hammi raid although I had no input from him or to him, it was obvious again that he is unfortunately just not suited to a game where you need to use teamwork to win through.

While he's not on my ignore list, I won't go out of my way to either team with him and infact prefer not to. If you can teach the guy some patience, some humility and some teamwork then it would be of benefit not just to him but to all of us.

If you need an Empath I'd love to do this with Knightingale. Count me in.

Blimey I'm posting alot today, I must be really bored! hehe!

Hmmm, all good suggestions, but ultimately I tried them all.

a) I burnt through insps (both Insight and CM's) unbelievably fast. Everytime I came out of hospital I restocked. I believe my team were doing the same. (and believe me we were in hospital ALOT!) they don't help that much. You can see them for a limited period of time. But that of course doesn't help you when you are blindsided during battle.

b) As mentioned I was in motion pretty much all the time and flying as high as my snipe would allow. And while up there I got AS'd so I'd pretty much confirm that Stalkers can do it while either hovering or flying. It also doesn't help against a foe with Teleport Foe who just snags you and guts you like a fish.

c) The problem with Sniping them as a blaster. Rogue is an Energy Blaster and I have Snipe 6 slotted. 4 dmg, 1 acc and 1 end red. In order to one shot anyone I have to hit Aim, then Build up, and then Snipe. Have you seen the animation time for that sequence ?!? Yup I managed on a couple of occassions to snipe a stalker, but by the time the bolt shot off that stalker was i) already TPing or SJing away and ii) was already hidden again. TP especially seems a fabulous stalker power cause on the the few occasions I DID nail them they were already on the other side of the map in their base by the time my snipe caught up to them. I never got any sort of "You have defeated" message or any bounty so I either missed or didn't one shot them.

c) And I have a sneaky suspicion that after a while a couple or three stalkers started working as a team. Which just compounded the problem and made stuff worse.

Which is when I bailed out of Sirens call to play DoW!

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They are not cowards, cheats, dishonerable blah blah blah whatever else you wish to call then they are doing what their AT is for - for goodness sake. Canny really expect a specialised AT's not to do waht ttheir for, in that case defenders shoud be front line attackers instead of healing and buffing in the background

Nerfing a whole AT just to make PvP seem fairer is totally silly. There was a villain fall out recetly regards stormies - villains have learned to deal with it - thats what you do - you find their weakness and go for it, you dont stand around arguin with them for doing their job. Thats not what PvP is about. Stalkers are a good AT addition to this game - how they play PvP is that player not his AT if you think logically about it


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ARGH!!! I Wish people would read properly before retaliating. I tried to be fair. Go back and read my post again and you'll find I said nothing of the sort.

I said that I feel dishonorable and cowardly when I play like that and I won't do it. I'm not calling stalkers cowardly or dishonorable at all. I said I completely understood why stalkers play like that because it's the way they are, it's what they do, what they are designed to do and I'd do it too. They are hit and run specialists. That's what they do. I totally and utterly understand that.

I also said that I don't really want them nerfed. I'd rather have something done about balance. Simple things. If I'm in water for example and the ripples are giving them away, why can't I target them??

But my main thrust is that when one single archetype needs so much prep, so many tactics and a complete team to bring them down that there is a balancing issue.

Simple facts. Everytime I'm in PvP it's almost always a stalker on the top of the Villains most wanted list. Whenever I or any of my teammates or friends are in PvP we probably die more than we kill in return. And if you ask any of them I'd wager you they'd say most of their deaths were to Stalkers.

When one archetype dominates PvP to such a degree then there is a problem. You can debate tactics etc all you like and whether we need to learn to fight stalkers etc etc.

Personally I don't like fighting any archetype where I have to a) popping accuracy insps like smarties b) be in a team with someone running tactics at all times, c) hopefully manage to avoid being stunned off the initial AS and then equally hopefully be quick enough to get a shot off before said Stalker jumps or TP's out of range.

I'm all for developing tactics and new skills, I'll even respec my characters to a degree to cope with them. but so far nothing that has been mentioned on this list has even barely managed to develop a fair fight between my humble squishee blaster and a stalker. Most of the tactics are and openings for victory are based on either stunning or holding the Stalker before he legs it.

If anyone has any new tactics I can try then I'd love to hear them.

Just as an addendum to my last post.... and before people jump on me.

a) I may be a little misleading in my saying I was "one shotted" but it certainly felt like it. On one occasion I think I was. On a couple more occasions I think that the Stalker had already queued the second attack and it was that that took me down almost immediately. A couple of times it didn't but I did end up stunned and hence helpless to defend myself against the third attack. On all occasions I did not get a chance to defend myself.

b) On at least 6 of those 8 or so occasions I was airborne AND engaged in combat with another villain. All the skill, insps and tactics in the world can't help you when you are concentrating on fighting another opponent. Either way I was NEVER just standing around waiting to be killed.

c) I'm not suggesting for one minute that the Stalker be nerfed unduly. I'm now playing a Stalker on CoV and enjoy him. I just don't like him in PvP. There needs to be an easier way to see them in PvP for heroes or their ability to run away after that initial strike needs to be nerfed. I know that that will rub alot of people up the wrong way, but when I'm in PvP fighting for hotspots, or tangling with a Mastermind, or sampling Meteors etc etc etc I find it frustrating to be killed by a hit and run from a Stalker. And even when I'm ready for them I'm fed up of the hit and run tactics. AS and then SJ or TP out of range quickly. Wait to hide again and repeat.

d) So far all the "Pro" Stalker comments seem to have come from the Stalkers themselves. And all are being fast to justify their powers with tips on how to beat them and a justicfication of "Well we don't hit that often" or "We're really really really squishee". Both of which are utterly pointless retorts if you can't hit them back because they run off so darned fast. These two points only apply if a) we could possibly hold you and b) you stood and fought with us. But as a stalker is basically a hit and run specialist neither of these comes into play. I honestly can't believe that there are any stalkers out there who would admit to being killed more in PvP than they manage to kill themselves. And if they are they are lying to us and to themselves. While in PvP in Bloody Bay for that entire window of time it was Stalkers who were the Bounty Targets.

I think that's all.

I'll agree that Stalkers are just being played the way they are designed to be.

But dammit they are too powerful. And they way they are played (by necessity) is just unfair and frustrating!

Picture the scene. We have a team or 8 heroes. We have a controller Level 50 a Level 38 Fire Tank, a level 38 Blaster amongst others. 4 of us are long time players and have level 50 toons. One of us has two of them. We know all the tricks, we know how to handle our toons.

We had insps, and toggles and AoE's etc etc etc etc.

And yet over the course of a good hour we had trouble with just two stalkers. Mid 20 level stalkers. Over the course of that hour we may have managed to nail them two, maybe three times.

Over that same time frame my blaster died at least 8 times, despite my a)keeping moving, b) being stealthed or invis c) flying as high as my Snipe would allow me to be.

We'd even bait the Stalkers in using our tank. We knew where they were, we chased them. They'd appear, knock a significant damage off of our Tanker (with is fiery aura thing running!!!) and then run and hide before I could get a snipe off or the controllers could control them. Even dropping pets didn't help.

n a couple of ocassions I managed to tag one with a snipe, but within seconds they were invis again. The one we were chasing had TP and was off to the other side of the map before we could nab em.

As I said we were a pretty well informed and well played team. We were diverse in archetype and all high level (even allowing for the auto exemp!). We battled with many villains in Sirens, sometimes we lost, sometimes we won, but at all times it FELT LIKE A FAIR FIGHT!!!!

But the stalkers just feel wrong. They can hit you with massive damage (They one shotted me on at least 4 occasions) and then fade away before you can retaliate. And even if you get a lucky hit they run and hide until they have recovered. Just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth that the one chance you had to beat them has been taken away from you because they are being cowardly.

And I know they aren't because in the same position that's what I'd do. It's just frustrating when you are on the recieving end. Kudos to the Stalker players, they are building and playing them superbly and I can understand the reluctance to see the Nerf bat. Hell I've even rolled a stalker myself and from a villainour PoV I'm enjoying life from the other side of the tracks.

And things got worse when another Stalker arrived that had TP Foe. Then he just TP'd me to him and killed me instead!!

I can't think of another archetype in the game that is this unbalanced. And I know people say pop insps like smarties, get goggles, find a team running leadership bits and bobs etc etc etc. But honestly when you need all that prep to take down one villain doesn't that all seem a bit unbalanced.

After an hour of getting one shotted and trying everything I could think of to find and kill the buggers I gave up. And I don't think I'll be back into PvP until it's fixed. It's too frustrating. Not even with my Stalker. I feel so strongly that it's unfair that I won't partake in going into Sirens Call and picking off squishy blasters at will just because I can.

It's dishonorable to me and no fun for the blaster (unless they are masochistic in nature!). I know I'm a villain and hence not supposed to be honorable, but to me it's just wrong. Feels wrong. I like to earn my kills. I like to feel like I've been in a fight.

But what to do about them. Dunno.

I'd agree that their purpose in life is to be a hidden and dangerous deliverer of a massive Alpha Strike. That's what they are good at. Nerfing either the AS or the Hide function kinda curtails what they are meant to be doing.

Personally I'd like there to be a toggle when you go into a PvP zone that you can use to make yourself fair game or not. I'd like to explore the PvP zones without the being ambushed by stalkers all the time simply because I'm a blaster and hence an easy target.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been killed in Bloody Bay collecting Meteor samples. Stalkers camping the meteor sites and the minute I walk up and have to stand still to trigger the sample collector BANG!!!!

I also find it annoying when I KNOW a stalker is there and I still can't target him. For instance when I was in Bloody Bay and being attacked I went into the water. I knew where he was because of the ripples in the water, but still couldn't target him.

Or couldn't there simply be a temp power that's like the extinguisher but sprays paint at a target which then makes the Stalker visible for a limited time.

I know a lot of people will just say that "you just need to work out your tactics, buy the right temp powers, pop the right insps, be in the right teams" etc etc. But I still feel that a team of 8 shouldn't need to go to all that prep time and effort just to deal with one archetype.

Without Stalkers I'd LOVE PvP. I had some great battles in there with other archetypes.

Just my 2 inf worth.