Leo_G
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Posts
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Personally, I think the set is fine. On a controller, you can keep a team upright with your controls and buffs/debuffs, on a Defender, if you leverage debuffs from your secondary, you can keep a team chugging along, dunno about corruptors.
The only gripe I have with the set is the slotting is limited. Since -res can't be enhanced, you're pretty limited on IO sets. Clarify, Disruption Field, Sonic Siphon, Sonic Cage, none of them accepts IO sets and 3 other powers only accept 1 type (resists). So throughout the whole set, you can only slot 6 types of IOs and 4 of those types are jumbled into 1 power.
I'd like to see some additions be made so more varied slotting can be used, like maybe KB in Sonic Siphon, Disorient (or better yet, Confuse) in Disruption Field, maybe some recovery in Clarify...stuff that gives you options to frankenslot...I like my procs, gentlemen. -
Quote:My bad. All you low post count, non-avatar posters blend together to me >_>Originally Posted by Osmiridium
You should reread my post again before flying off the handle. I already said the debuffs attached to AS supplement the rest of the team outside of the soloing boost and surviving the first strike. Also, no where did I say stalkers could NOT solo, I said it helps. Unless of course you feel the demoralize doesn't "help", but I figure you are reading what you want to.
Yes, I didn't include the fact that you have to attack a feared target for them to retaliate. But, it WILL retaliate immediately the FIRST time it is attacked after the fear is applied. So unless you just stand there looking at the mobs until it wears off, expect a counter attack.
Giving up damage is expected when the debuffs are vastly superior. /Dark was the easy example since it has one power that is more than twice as effective as demoralize in the -tohit dept(even more when slotted for it, no option to slot for the demoralize effect), longer lasting fear, is much better than a 25% chance to land (I know based on the accuracy, I figure I better say that this time so you don't came back and nitpick that either), and affects a much larger area. That power also takes just over 2 seconds to cast, from range no less. Yes, if I am looking for debuffs, I'll give up some damage for that.
Stalkers bring damage. The minor utility is a "useful" by-product. If I was leading a team and a stalker advertised themselves as a debuffer, they aren't coming along.
Just because no one pointed this out yet: You do realize 'Electrical Melee' is particularly weak in the ST damage department, right? So your Elec/Nin Stalker taking down 1 boss really slow sounds about right.Quote:Let me relate a personal story to you.
Running in a team doing +3 x 8 with my Electric/Ninja stalker.
I would isolate one of the bosses hit him and kill him turn around and the team had killed everything else and had the other boss in the spawn nearly dead.
My contribution? 1 boss out of what 16-17 foes in the group. I watched after that and let the team know I was going to test something.
The next spawn I just watched - never attacked. It took maybe 5-10 seconds longer for them to defeat the spawn. It was demoralizing. I was contributing almost nothing - to add to it I then switched to my Fire/Dark corr and the team now was a steamroller and it cut the time in half from what we had been doing with my stalker. I then deleted my level 39 stalker.
Conversly, take an Elec melee/ or /Elec melee anything else and try to do the same thing on a team. Guess what. They're going to be vastly slower than an Elec stalker unless they're Shield Defense...and then, they're probably almost as fast.
Not that you can't or shouldn't, but an Elec Stalker should be looking to take out Lts and wiping out minions, not focusing on bosses. -
Quote:Eh, I kind of like both JL and CI...but not together >_>Originally Posted by Negate
It's a fun power but it honestly comes down to each their own. I for one avoid Jacob's Ladder like the plague.
They seem at odds with eachother to me. So I made an Elec/Regen Stalker and his little brother, an Elec/Elec Brute. The Stalker's 'Signature Attack' is CI while the Brute's is JL and focus their strategies around their respective specialty.
But I have to say, the Stalker is betta'
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Quote:But can that corruptor apply those debuffs with a powerful Lt-one-shotter power? Or do they have to set aside time (and damage) to do so?Originally Posted by Osmiridium
In the grand scheme of debuffs, -7.5% tohit is not that great. You mention it being irresistible, but that isn't as big of a benefit as you think. If you are in a situation where, say, a /dark corr is having their -tohit severly affected by resists, then other debuffs such as -regen are going to be more important (and a /dark corr can get upwards of -30% tohit without resist factors, let alone everything else they bring). And that's just ONE secondary.
Really, your argument is off base. That the debuff is comparable to Corruptors is irrelevant (if you really want to argue against the utility of Demoralize, bring up its short 8sec duration...). It won't matter because the point of the effect at all is to *ADD* to the team! You *ADD* -ToHit to all the debuffs the Corruptors or MMs throw out. You *ADD* to the alpha-stunter controls that other Stalkers or Dominators toss out. That people can't realize this and still don't consider the contributions a Stalker can provide (the above + burst damage and DPS when team is assembled) vs a Scrapper or Brute (which basically are just DPS and some tanking) is amazing and sad.
No, the fear, when it lands (only a 25% chance I believe...why not focus your argument there? <_<) *will* cause the mob to cower in fear and *not* attack. Only if you attack it, will it have a chance to attack back. Your proof is obvious. Go AS something from hide. If you see a mob instantly cower, it has attacks recharged to use...but it can't use them.Quote:As for the fear, it is one of the better SOFT controls. Mobs can still retaliate every so often, move around, run off, etc. The "multiple applications outside of dom" to hold a boss is...2. And that is HARD control.
You don't know what you're talking about. Stalkers had no issue soloing before Demoralize and surviving the opening AS is only an issue if you're taking alpha-strikes on larger teams. But even there, if buffs are around, a Stalker didn't have a problem keeping himself standing (and if there is no buffs, then there should be control, a meatier melee or other stalkers around to thin the herd).Quote:Stalkers got the debuffs for a couple of reasons A) To help in soloing and B) To survive the opening AS before the rest of the team engages. They, at best, supplement others on the team otherwise. Stalkers are designed to bring the pain more than anything. Thus, what they bring to a team (or the team brings to them) is a much higher %crit chance.
Stalkers got a boost in HP to make them more survivable solo. Stalkers got demoralize to give greater utility for teams. Stalkers got more damage and scaling crits for balance. -
And now we can craft a slew of temporary powers. What's the base accuracy on Envenomed dagger? With how many charges it has and how long the -regen debuff last, you don't want that power to miss in a critical fight.
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Quote:To put it simply: sets like SR, DA and Ninjutsu get 100% of their survivability when Stalker's HP was changed but sets who hinge their mitigation on bolstering Max HP (EA, Regen and to a lesser extend WP) got their performance hacked off after a point.Originally Posted by UberGuy
Running around stuck at the cap means that Dull Pain provides less proportional survival benefit than it did previously. Before your base survival was S, and with Dull Pain it was C x S. Now it's C' x S', where C' is larger than C and S' is smaller than S. Other powersets that do not include large +HP in their survival tools just got C' x S, for whatever S was in their powerset.
On a SR build, if you pick powers and slot so you're softcapped to all positions, do you still take Elude or do you skip it for another power? Now keep that choice in mind and apply a hypothetical 30% defense to all in Hide for every armor set so nearly every Stalker can softcap defense with power choice and slotting. -
IMO, anything with Vengeance can get epic moments on teams. I've had many an epic moment on my DM/WP stalker who actually *tries* to die. On good teams, he sometimes has to resort to self-destructing himself but if no one ever died, no one ever gets to use Vengeance!
Some of the more epic moments, he pops Resurgence (+recovery, +ToHit, +dmg and +rech right there), Strength of Will (nice resists) and Vengeance (now capped defense to every type and *more* +dmg). Needless to say, with his focus on +dmg set bonuses, he hits pretty hard and is pretty tough to kill. -
Quote:Actually, it does increase AS damage. If placate is used (I don't consider placate 'in stealth'), it basically adds the Assassination bonus damage ontop of AS while still counting the team +crit% bonus resulting in a chance to Double Assassin's Strike (which is actually the Assassination damage + 2x AS's damage). Probably a bug that will get fixed later, it's still pretty awesome. I've dropped bosses from full to around 10% HP like that at times. One follow-up attack finishes the job in those circumstances.Originally Posted by Vel_Overload
The +3% critical for each ally is very cool and all but it's still crit chance. Which makes it unreliable and it doesn't improve Assassin Strike damage, just out-of-stealth attacks.
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Quote:Yeah, and while that blaster's nuke is in its 3+min recharge window and sucking down blue pills, the stalker can still be removing bosses quickly.Originally Posted by rsclark
So, 3 seconds longer than the blaster nuke or the bu+shield charge from 60 feet away before you even manage to run over there?
As for Shield Charge, it's an anomaly that will be fixed soon. As much as I love mini-nuking stuff all the time, even I didn't lean on it like a crutch with my MA/SD scrap, Stone/SD brute or SD/DM tanker. In this circumstances, it'll just *help* the stalker drop the boss faster. When SC isn't in play because its recharging? Stalker still dropping bosses... -
Quote:That also confused me. If a toggle suppresses, it no longer provides its buffs unless that buff is mez protection/mez resistance. Only in PvP does a toggle still retain its buffs under toggle suppression.Originally Posted by Aggelakis
You do realize that SUPPRESSED toggles still retain any defense/resistance they give, right? -
Quote:Interesting fact: The stalker sweep combo ends using a ST attack (ablating strike, I believe). Because of this, so long as the single attack lands on its target, the resulting sweep combo will Auto-hit everything in range as opposed to a ToHit check for Typhoon's Edge for the other ATs.Originally Posted by Gemini_2099
I just started dual blades and the sweep combo is already epic fun (assuming you avoid the retaliatory alpha). :P
Also: The way Ablating Strike is coded as a pseudo-PBAoE, it always checks when the power is used even if the sweep combo isn't triggered. This means, if you slot any procs in this power (such as an Achilles' heel -res proc), it not only has a chance to proc on the target but any target in possible range for the sweep combo every time you use Ablating. -
Well there you go. Post me some (good) arcs with her in them
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She available in Mission Architect?
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Quote:You wouldn't need a glaring disparity so long as the proposed unique advantage isn't powerful and -def really isn't. If anything, it's only for the chance to slot different IOs and procs in the high levels and maybe better accuracy for temp powers in the low levels.Originally Posted by Acemace
So there isn't a glaring disparity here of Mace over Axe that would require BA to be given a unique advantage.
But all things considered; Is Mace above performance of Axe? Yes or no. Does -def push anything in Axe out of whack? Yes or no. Is -def thematic of bladed weaponry? Yes or no.
Even if only slightly, yes, I've heard Mace performs a tad better than Axe. Even considering the higher chance of knock- that Axe gets (oh, hope nothing gets immobilized or is already suffering knock-), Mace gets *enough* knock...and stuns.
No, -def is only a minor advantage (especially if it's only in 1 or 2 attacks). It's actually why I don't think adding it is all that needed, but it certainly could be advantageous when making slotting decisions.
Although it could be either way, I believe yes, -def is thematic for bladed weapons. But really, I think the goal of an axe isn't to break armor but rather lopping off parts. Higher crit damage (that is, when Axe gets proliferated to Scrappers/Stalkers and they score a crit, the extra resulting damage would be *higher* than double) could be thematic but really, that's an effect I'm praying for when a Scythe set finally (possibly) gets made... -
Quote:And if the team is set up at that difficulty, is having trouble and the Scrapper is still intent on running off and leaving their fledgling team to blow in the wind, then you can safely say that particular member is *BAD* for the team.Originally Posted by Silverado
There are several Scrappers who can solo at +4/x8 missions (maximum difficulty) save for a few problematic enemy groups such as Arachnos or Rularuu. Cimerorans and Rikti are doable, though.
My comment still stands. Set up the mission so it's better for the team to stick together while the alternative would result in death and slower completion. Again, you don't have to fill up every team spot... -
I say, if people are able to go off soloing spawns for your team, the difficulty isn't high enough. If that doesn't work, then obviously, you don't need a full team to tackle the mission and 4 players or a trio is enough.
Basically, set it up so you *have* to stick together or result in defeat to most and/or slower completion. -
Quote:Consider the smashing damage analog of Axe, War Mace, which is widely considered better than Battle Axe because of its mix of effects and slightly better AoE. War Mace mixes Knock up, Knockback and stuns into its 8 attacks yet Battle Axe only has Knock up and Knockback.Originally Posted by LISAR
There is a fuzzy line between balanced sets and generic sets. Axe is balanced nicely. To add more to it you would need to rebalance it. Reworking it so that it is more like a sword very easily crosses the line into generic blade set.
Axe is not a sword and I really do enjoy the fact it doesn't play like swords.
This suggestion degrades the set it would not enhance it.
If anything, adding an effect that simulates 'bladedness' differentiates it from its sister set, Mace. -
Quote:Why must people be so insistant on making bad analogies? Seriously, it's getting ridiculous...Originally Posted by Umbral
You are saying that vanilla should be left alone because it tastes good to a select number of people that enjoy eating ice cream out a cup, even though it doesn't taste particularly good anywhere, specifically because of how wonky the cups are and how they make everything else taste bad. It would, honestly, be better for the store as a whole to simply change the formula for the vanilla so that it tastes better in a cone and then change the coating on the cups so that everything tastes good in both a cup and in a cone (this is what I've been saying).
This is not a question of having 10 flavors and changing the one you like. It's a question of having 29 flavors that taste good for a vast majority of people and 1 other flavor that only tastes good to a scant number of people (and, even then, doesn't really taste good compared to other stuff you could get if you didn't insist on eating ice cream).
It may seem selfish to you for me to say "screw the 10 people that like vanilla as it is now; there are 100 people that want to like vanilla but can't because it tastes like crap unless you eat in it a cup", but I'm considering the interests of 100 people rather than thinking of the interests of 10. It only seems "selfish" to you because you're in that small group that doesn't want anything changed. It only seems "selfish" to you because you think I'm ignoring you completely. It only seems "selfish" to you because I'm not putting your interests ahead of other people's and am instead looking to maximize benefit for the most people.
If the wax cup is making the icecream taste bad, the obvious, cost effective solution is to *get new cups*! That doesn't mean the analogy is apt at describing what should be done in our situation.
But it may bring to light possible results so maybe the analogy isn't completely useless: You want to change vanilla for the 100 ppl that *want* to like the flavor? That is no indication of how many *will* like vanilla after it's changed. You might end up with a worse flavor than you started with that *no one* wants. Changes to MA should keep the flavor of the set (or possibly adding to it). There's no reason, unless there was truly a balance concern, to take anything away from the set if it already has a cult following that enjoy what it can do. -
Quote:Apparently, you're expecting these extra effects to play the damn game for youOriginally Posted by EvilRyu
For my playstyle I would rather the effects get removed and the damage not be balanced around them because for the most part I dont use them in combat because its either neglible (defense debuffs), pointless(CaK immobilize with slow), or doesnt really work (end drain). This is why overall we need a total powers revamp on all melee sets so devs can look at the fluff and see its not needed or if they have to keep it not penalize the damage because of it or boost it to levels where the fluff actually makes a difference like DM.
Personally, I like where the extra effects are in some of the powersets. They're there so you can go "Ah! I can do this because I have x effect in play!" not "Whew! If it weren't for x effect, this set would be garbage!" The -ToHit in DM isn't even that high (baring Touch of Fear). In a normal attack string, you're only going to debuff a single target to a moderate level where, only with some extra defense, will result in a nice amount of misses. Outside of that (i.e. no extra defense, multiple targets or heaven help your ToHit or rech is debuffed), the effect is negligible.
Hard, toggle dropping, mez secondary effects don't always need meaty long-durations to play a role in a battle. You're just looking at the game through your narrow minded tactics. -
Quote:Because stuns combined with KB = a foe can't retaliate. You can spout the 'death is the ultimate mez' BS but *while* you're applying that mez, you can render a foe incapable of striking you back, not relying on one sole mechanic to do so, but on stacking layers of effects...just like stacking def and resists or +HP and regen.Originally Posted by EvilRyu
Its useless fluff. Whats the point of stuns that have really short durations when you could have just killed the target had your damage not be pre-nerfed to compensate for the fluff stuns.
That's kind of where the discussion has visited in this thread. Did you not read anything?Quote:Whats the point of an immobilize attack that slows? Any target thats going to be doing any kind of running is going to be bosses anyways because everything else is killed in 2 hits and the immobilize isnt strong enough for bosses anyways.
But one particular tactic I can see used is, CAK a guy then Crane Kick him away and switch targets. That CAK guy is either unable to return due to being immobilized for a time or is slowed so he'll slo-mo walk back. May not be something you'd use but there you go...it would definitely save you some hits for a time.
Ever fight Ghosts? Their -ToHit is annoying and my swords/claws get resisted. Ever decide to pick the Ghostslaying axe as your temp power? A lot of people pick Sands of Mu, but for my sword wielders, they have plenty of AoE so don't really need SoM but when it comes to things that resist your damage, picking up the axe can cover part of at least 1 problem.Quote:Whats the point of defense debuffs on sword attacks when you already got 2 SOs worth of accuracy. You cant say its to help the early levels because we have the beginners luck thing in place till level 20.
Because you *CAN* stack the endurance drain with -recovery. Either from powerset choices or team debuffs. Even without the -recovery, a constant stream of -recovery from my Elec/Regen stalker has rendered Elite Bosses neutered and brings about a fight that I can continue to scrap in as opposed to needed to kite for awhile while my heals recharge.Quote:End drain on elec trick attacks are kind of pointless unless you have -recovery to keep the target at zero, we dont get any abilities like shortcuit that does this for any significant amount of time to make use of the end drain.
Have you been paying attention *AT ALL*!?!?Quote:The only one thats not totally useless fluff is what DM gets in terms of debuffing on tohit because its stackable for significant amounts and the fear being a ghetto hold. So unless all of the secondary effects get brought up to the same level of usefulness as dark melee I see them as fluff that we pay for in damage, recharge or endurance cost. -
Quote:I remember, before the market was introduced, I had to occasionally stop leveling and fight weaker enemies so that I wouldn't level up too fast but still got drops to sell, and this was just to afford SOs the 2nd round at lvl 27. Now, not every character had to do this, but the scrapper characters I made usually outlvled their enhancements faster than they'd get inf to replace them.Originally Posted by Aggelakis
Even if I were a newbie player and slotted new SOs every five levels, I shouldn't have any problem since I'm not using my drops, which means the only thing I can do with them is sell them. And selling everything on the market typically nets you far more than is necessary to replenish SOs every five levels.
If a player isn't taking full advantage of the market but the vendors instead, I could imagine there being issues with inf. -
Quote:Not useless fluff. The secondary effects are essential to flavor the sets' concepts and can be used to good effect if a strategy is formulated with those effects in mind. Ice feels more 'icy' when it slows and freezes the enemy, fire feels more 'fiery' when it catches foes on fire, dark feels more 'darky' when the foe has shadows swirling around their heads and unable to hit you.Originally Posted by EvilRyu
Your completely missing the point here, no one here plays a scrapper strictly for control. We play the sets for damage otherwise we would play the control ATs thats why I think the controls could be removed or not counted when the powerset is balanced. Essentially what we have now is that we are paying a tax on useless fluff that isnt going to matter in the big scheme of things. I never took cobra strike on any scrapper or stalker, in general control effects on non-control AT tend to be useless. Why waste time on power like cobra strike to stun a minion when I could just out right kill said minion with one of the more powerful attacks. Death is the ultimate form of control in my opinion. Thats why the damage needs to be upped by alot.
While I don't take Cobra Strike on my MA scrapper either, that's more related to not having much to stack with it (really, only EC) and not because 'melee ATs are only concerned with damage'. Being able to hold or stun a foe can be an essential strategy in certain circumstances (those -ToHits and slow toggles can really slow you down) for *any* AT. -
Actually, although many don't like the 'alchemy window', I find it's just underused. If there was more 'stuff' to it, maybe people wouldn't toss it aside as a nuisance.
What if you could somehow 'craft' enhancements you actually want from stuff that drops? So if you're doing missions where Tech Origins drop but you're a mutant, and the mission bonus drop you got is a SO mutant slow enhancement but you don't have any slow powers...maybe you can 'sacrifice' the mutant slow SO to change one of the tech SOs to mutation through the 'alchemy window'.
Even adjust the chances so it's easier to change stuff into your origin than the others.
Results:
-something else to do with the underused 'alchemy window'
-alternate, yet not overwhelming, option to buying all your SOs for cheaper slotting
-doesn't insert more inf into the economy because it also removes loot pieces
-kind of makes origins have an alternate purpose -
Claws *does* have -def in the 3rd power, Slash. Even in the Brute version of Eviscerate, the melee cone, there's -def...so claws has -def as a bladed weapon set.
It is rather odd that it's the only weapon set that deals slashing type lethal damage and doesn't apply any type of -def. Looking at it from a mechanics standpoint, -def is suppose to be 'cutting through the enemy's armor', right? Do Axes not do that?
It can't be 'piercing through an enemy's armor' because then Archery would need the -def and Katana/Broadsword wouldn't because all those attacks are slashing. DB and claws mix slashing and stabbing so could go either way.
Would Axe *need* -def? No. Even to cover mechanics, I'd rather Axe get something else. What effect would simulate dismemberment? -Regen or -Res? Would be cool if they added that or -def to 1 of the powers... -
Quote:Lol, 2 or 3 enemies left after an AS?Originally Posted by Madam_Enigma
Well, on my few stalkers I actually try not to stand and scrap if there's more then 2 or 3 enemies left after the AS. The reason is my low health. Sure I get defenses, but that wont mean squat if I die in a couple hits. /Regen is commonly considered the strongest secondary, or was anyway. And yet for stalkers that is rather meh. Getting 30% of your health back quickly isn't as impressive when you have one of the lowest health totals.
Placate one, crit the other then take it out = 1 or 0 enemies attacking you for the next 10+ seconds. From there, you can either mez the last (if being attacked) or just scrap. If only the placated foe remains you can even stand there and let hide come back to AS again. Even if there's more than that, most likely some will be shaking in their boots after the first attack, giving you a window to thin them down in your BU window.
Seriously, people. Stalkers aren't rocket surgery. Just takes a bit of planning before you click that first attacks (you even have some time to think *while* the first attack is going off)