Leo_G

I think the part about that description was this:

"...Additionally, a Stalker has a 10 percent base chance to critically hit, which is increased by an additional 3 percent per member in your party, against non-player enemies. Stalkers have a chance to land a critical hit against players if they are Held or Slept..."

That is, a Stalker can land a critical hit with any of their attacks 10% of the time without needing hide or allies around. It's not quite saying that in the description but it is certainly true as I've got a few Stalkers myself...they can critical hit with any of their attacks, not just Assassin's Strike.

Assassination

Scourge

Containtment

Me thinks there is some new tech at work with the newest sets. In particular, Darkness Control's Haunt power is a foe targeted summon that creates friendly pets that seem to be summoned behind the foe it seems. It's not like Ice Patch or Lightning Storm which summons a pseudo-pet at a default location near your character that does not change. This thing can somehow do this without granting the foe a temp power that summons the Haunts and not summon them inside the foe.

If a foe had TP foe, it'd *HAVE* to be an immobile mob like a sniper or turret type foe. It would be too painful if the foe, for whatever reason, ran off further into the map. Since I don't think they're limited by 'targeting limitations' like us, not only can an NPC know exactly where you are from anywhere on the map (homing ambushes) but their non-need of line of sight for powers such as teleportation, they will surely use it the moment they have aggro and your character is within range. This can be from a fleeing foe somehow aggroing your character (toggle debuffs?) or the mentioned homing ambush. The subsequent TP into hall of awaiting foes would be more than unsettling.

Interesting premise. I'd actually like a similar power for a gadget set, a kind of immobile pet device that teleports a foe into it and simply holds it or somehow contains the foe via -range, taunt and immobilization. Then you have to destroy the 'cage' first and everyone else can still take shots at the 'caged' foe.

Having a foe do something like that would be interesting but I can already hear myself complaining on my Blasters...and I rarely complain about anything being hard.

All of that? Rubbish.

Under what main pretense was Stalker changed exactly? Was it because the AT *could not* contribute? Was it because some idiot slub *refused* to invite you to their team? Was it because any sets with HP buffs were completely and utterly *useless*? Was it because some dastardly no good griefer kept sending you 'lolstalker' tells every time you logged on? Was it because everyone else had everything and Stalkers just weren't special?

Oh, and did the fixes actually *fix* the underlying problems of the AT, like the placate bug, viable difference between res sets vs def sets, the usability of AS from hide?

That is to say, I don't think any of the quoted opinions have a leg to stand on. The changes that drive the changes to Stalker are about as in line as the OP's reasons to help Scrappers. It's all based on perception. To dismiss it is to dismiss any reason to *change* Stalkers rather than fix them. Could Stalkers have used help before? Yes, but frankly I don't think they needed to be changed into a case that trivializes another AT. And yes, changes to one AT does trivialize another, just like having a less than desirable AT (like pre-change Stalkers) gave more incentive to invite practically any other melee. And if we give every melee set a crashless nuke on a medium recharge, that *does* trivialize other ATs like Blasters or Khelds.

So yeah, to say you'd let power creep for one case and not another is probably worse than just buffing everyone into oblivion. It shows that horrible two-facedness that seems to become more and more apparent these days.

Said nothing about 'taking away'. The whole thread is about 'adding to'. I'm simply making a suggestion that coincides with the theme of the alignment and since Rogue is the one concerned about making a profit, adding to their list of possible rewards more merits would fit that theme. Vigilante is more of an idealist rather than someone seeking to fill their bank accounts so adding to their list of possible rewards of more power with a twist or slant to using it might fit that theme instead.

As far as useless powers, that depends. I certainly didn't find the temp passives granted by DiB or DFB to be useless and I don't suggest the same rewards but rather something usable at your convenience with many different effects.

But that was just one of the suggestions made. While you may enjoy all your characters being Vigilante for the access, I feel the choice of if you want to be Vig or Rogue should be one of concept not accessibility. If your character is in it for the money or self gain, the jobs in the Rogue isles is where you need to go since I doubt any of the Paragonians are actually paying you for your help. But that wouldn't mean you'd be forced to play redside....that's what the idea of adding content is for, so a Vig or Rogue can be doing missions on either side but fulfilling their purposed alignment in form rather than just in concept.

...but that's just my view. I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to CoX alignment since I know it was added onto the game rather than created with it in mind. AFAIK, being a rogue is 'evil' and being a vigilante is 'good' primarily because rogues are stuck on the RIs and can't really do anything alone in Paragon and reversed for vig. Doesn't matter that those rogues are actually doing some good or those vigs are doing bad with little recompense. So the characters I have that will do good but also are a bit bad must be vig despite the alignment's objective not because it fits, but because of what side of the game is open to them.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the stacks don't 'refresh'. So stack 1 will disappear in exactly 10 seconds, downgrading your stack counter. Even if you have 3 stacks and hit again with an attack guaranteed to give you another stack, you can only get 3 stacks at any time and the 1st stack will vanish exactly 10 sec after you obtain it...downgrading your stack counter.

I'm not sure if the same is true for Street Justice combos...those seem to keep refreshed or until you spend them.

[EDIT] And there is an icon for AF, like a silver nuke icon. I tend to not bother looking for that and simply know what my powers do. On my DM Stalker, Midnight Grasp and Siphon Life give focus nearly all the time, if not 100%, Shadow Maul gives focus very reliably (Redtomax says 90%) and Smite grants it decently reliably (Redtomax says 80%). Hitting with MG then SL will get me 2 stacks, so 66.6% chance to crit with AE. Tossing out a Smite or SM may get me 100% or not...it doesn't really matter if it doesn't crit...AE crits often enough to make a difference. Not everything is 100% to begin with...not even hitting with AE after you get 3 stacks.

Especially for sets like Spines and Electric Melee...they're your fastest, strongest ST attack so should be used...whenever it's recharged, really...

For sets like those, AF should be considered a bonus. Sets with already strong ST dmg should probably game AF as it will make a strong ST set stronger.

This is the first I'm hearing of this...but then I'm usually late to actually use in-game features (I didn't buy or run Titan Weapons or Street Justice until several months after it released, I hadn't touched incarnates much at all the same, and I'm only now recently making a few characters who are ultimately Grey ATs by concept).

Does this mean, as a Rogue, I have to have someone to join up on their missions to play on either side? And I can only do paper/tip missions and can't start SF/TFs?

Or does that mean I can only pick up missions from red contacts and not blue contacts?

If it's the former, that's crap and I'll probably have to switch out of that soon. If it's the latter...I can live with that I suppose...

Personally, I'd like the alignments to all have different perks.

Heroes already have the perk of being on the side with the most players. Villains, while limited at least get an alignment power that's better. But in that regards, it would be cool if, for reaffirming your alignment as any will improve the alignment power, granting a better team buff (but not to self) for heroes, recharging faster for villains and recharging faster + longer effects for Vig/Ro. Vig/Ro won't have very good effects compared, just longer duration.

As for the other stuff you post Jet_Boy...cool but maybe a little more elaboration.

The 'grey side' is a good idea if they ever finish Praetoria, giving it a 30-50 range area(s). But they'd really need to make more villainous stuff for First Ward...maybe they have and I don't know about it though...The two times I ran much of 1st ward was as heroes...but good, bad and grey need to be produced to make it worthwhile as 'the tarnished gold side'.

For Grey Arcs, I'd really like this to help differentiate the alignments. Since the concept of the Rogue is someone in it for profit, being rewarded differently would be awesome...maybe not 'more' but non-time gated and not mixed. Make it so, as a Rogue, you're a reward merit collecting machine and any rewards you get reflect this. Vigilante is more on the side of going too far for the ideals of justice...beyond outright killing NPCs (which can't be done all the time), maybe lean their rewards less on merits and more on personal entitlement of power...so some of their reward choices don't grant merits at all but temp powers like the new trials we got, but instead of gating them by level, gate them by in-game time and tokened to use whenever you want (but lost if you change alignments). Stuff like inherent mez protection, inherent range, inherent HP and regen, temp ranged or melee attacks all reobtainable as rewards over merits and stuff.

Another point I'd like to add...can you join Super/Villain groups as a grey? If not, wouldn't it be grand to have a whole in-game mercenary organization that you can work for/with that focuses on giving you work (since that's exactly what you're looking for as a Rogue)? Just add a sort of 'underground' spot like Fort Trident/The Crucible that has a guy that unlocks contacts for merits...you pay him some inf, he informs the contact that you're trustworthy member of their group, the contact hires you and you do their missions to earn 10-20 merits. You can have a whole side story of you working up the ranks in importance and individuals from either red or blue having it out to off you...the angle of your missions is manipulating people (namely Heroes and Villains) to get done what should be done or to complete the task proper for your paycheck. Of course, while some of the missions may have you crossing sides to talk to NPCs, all the actual doors should be on 1 side so to get them done, you need either the alignment of that particular side (blue or red) or someone with grey alignment.

Thinking about it, it makes quite a bit of sense...you working for a wealthy guy living comfortably in Founders Falls by doing his dirty work in St Martial, all the while pissing off Johnny and Hardcase who'll be out for your blood.

Meh, maybe some people don't like the idea of working for other people, being their errand boy or whatever...I like the idea for some characters. Heck, some of my characters wouldn't mind doing good heroic stuff *just* to piss off some villains they don't like...and get paid while doing it, of course.

A Grey AT I'm not sure is worthwhile...the last time we got a new AT was before we could switch sides. Now you can get practically any AT to any side so it's moot.

I'm....starting to think the same way...or at least a solution isn't on the priority list because of that reason.

Considering most toggles are simply particle FX and not animations (since the animations can often be overwritten by movement) I'm not sure if I buy the needing to animate every power over...when you can simply set an animation to do nothing...can you not do that with /emotes while flying? Or some /emotes when you're holding a shield?

Another reason I'm thinking they're limited to scale the convenience of these powers: why do they nullify other powers when toggled? Why does Coyote Run not work with Swift inherent power which doesn't even have an animation? Can someone cast Grant Invis on me and it still work when I use Magic Carpet? Some of those I'm not sure of since I've only done limited testing with these powers on Beta...but I haven't bought any yet...maybe when they release the Panther form....can use that for my Stalker...although a plain white housecat would have been a more instant buy for me...

What in tha-how's he-I don't even-

What are the other 2 arrows being propelled by? Does he have more invisible bowstrings? What's he pulling the bowstrings back with? His knuckles? How is that string *NOT* gonna hit his arm and screw up that shot? And he still managed to aim them all just right to get their varying effects.

...Damn, Hawkeye is badass >_>

Yes, I do think it's a bit much...It makes soloing at +3x2 so ridiculously easy, it's insane. I'd go +4 but my build doesn't have quite enough +ToHit to hit reliably yet. If it's a boss spawn = focus all crits on boss, he melts in about 1 1/2 rounds leaving a few minions to shadow maul...If it's a Lt spawn, 2-shot a Lt, subsequent shots will most likely 1-shot minions until you've got focus enough to 2-shot the other Lt. If I get a spawn with 2 bosses, basically just blast through one while you occasionally swap targets to Touch of Fear the other for the extra -ToHit or to control them outright. And if it's 3 bosses (I actually went and found some Rikti boss spawns or Death Mage spawns in Grandvile to try it), do the same as you would with 2 bosses, just placate 1. Kill 1 of the bosses within 20sec (easy) then switch to 2boss strat.

But my advice to you is:
-Use Midnight Grasp 1st for its crit
-Don't bother using placate during a fight unless you either need that crit or you're controlling a single target...Note: you don't need that crit
-Shadow punch....use Smite instead. It has a very high focus rate and hits much harder
-Shadow Maul is your friend! I didn't realize how ridiculous this thing was again until I started abusing it to munch minions. For comparison, it hits a few points shy of Midnight Grasp not counting its DoT.

My old DM/WP is pretty scary (and he was always scary). His build isn't optimal, he only has 33% def to smashing/lethal, and 35% to the other stuff, no real amounts of +rech and he can drain endurance quickly but his build has always focused on +dmg. Angry_Citizen's DM/Nin build, if I recall directly, called for 31% constant dmg bonus to make up for the melee mod difference between stalker and scrapper. Mine has 29% but he hasn't gotten to pick up and slot epic pools yet (lvl 43). I can tell you, he can munch EBs pretty handily, I'd say more effective than an equivalent Scrapper who'd have to rely on a 50% dmg bonus from Soul Drain in ST scenarios. The crazy thing is, all I have to do is die, and he jumps to 58% dmg...then he hits BU and jumps to 135% dmg...if he's on a team and he uses Vengeance, practically BU for 90sec...then he uses BU...Needless to say, I think a build focused on dmg bonuses for DM really makes a showing for how powerful and less resisted Dark Melee is. It wouldn't be rare to practically 3-shot bosses with a quick BU+stream of crits...

Moobs?

I suppose I mean 'cosmetic'...which can also be related to 'pretty' but I'm speaking of the set's presentation and flavor. Lots of people like it because it looks cool, sounds painful and feels powerful. It's like broadsword. I can't tell you how many people sing its praises (or did, at least) and yet it really wasn't that powerful. I'd always get stuff like "the red piller of pain" and "love that crunch" despite the attacks looking like ***.

No body praises BS for looking pretty either but people love(d) it for other aesthetic reasons.

I don't think anyone was blaming Castle (could be and I just missed it). Even though I like spines now, I'd probably like it a lot more it it just looked better. Performance can be adjusted for but aesthetics (looks, sounds and animation) are probably what really sells the set.


Stalkers don't get Quills.

I'd never suggest doing to Ripper what they did to Eviscerate on Stalkers. If you want to tone it down, shortening its radius a bit would be fine.

And I like the baseball pitch of Impale...I just wish it was a *faster* pitch. That power is the hinging element of my Spines Stalker, using the concept of 'spines' as 'thrown poison blades'. Impale and Throw Spines is what really make my character and wouldn't want that changed.

Barb Swipe could probably use an animation/name change to Toxic Barb, a very short, quick animation of slashing the foe once then leaving the target bleeding and poisoned. I'd imagine the attack would be quick enough to actually stack the DoT of one Toxic Barb with another.

But any changes should not hinge on Quills. Quills is not a buff power to make your other attacks stronger, it's just an attack. To change an attack to a buff power that Stalkers don't get just make balancing it more complicated.

I say just remove the recharge and -movement debuffs and the minor immobilize from all powers, change Barb Swipe to a faster animation, speed up Impale and Spine Burst then add back some of the effects with adjusted values and not across the whole set (KD/toxic DoT for Ripper, Immobilize/toxic DoT for Impale, slow/DoT for Spine Burst, Throw Spines, Quills and the rest just toxic DoT). Adjust damage/costs numbers as needed...

[EDIT]Oh and costume option to remove the body spines, please? Can leave the arm spines but I'd like the option of the spines coming from the characters' back/torso/feet to be made invisible...kind of like how crystal spines are just slightly translucent slate spines with different color options...

I'd say all the sets have their ups and downs that need to be considered when building them with the only real general rule being 'Assassin's Strike from hide is, at best, highly optional'.

Kinetic Melee- From what I've heard, constant recharges of BU is the focus. I wouldn't lean too heavily on 100% crit on Burst because that may not always be there in the future. It's great except soon, it's AS will be normalized to animate at the same speed as the other AS moves (so it'll be slower). So put the ATO proc in AS, a Gaussian proc in BU and have fun with it.

Street Justice- No AS from hide, start use Crushing Uppercut when you get it. The ATO in AS is your best place and you'll never suffer from lack of AoE as you have more ST and as much AoE as every other Street Justice character.

Dark Melee- No Assassin's Focus from Touch of Fear but the other moves are great for building focus. I've found Shadow Maul to be particularly powerful once you get IOs to maximize it's numbers and at least 2 procs in it. It has the potential to 1-shot 5 2+ minions which is very worthwhile even with AoE stacking from epic pools. This set is probably the least affected by the change and yet one of the more potent. I've found the ATO in AS to work best then follow up with another Midnight Grasp or Siphon Life (Shadow Maul if you've got minions lined up). The appeal here is, much of its damage is negative crits which aren't resisted [EDIT] often so always results in big numbers.

Spines- I haven't gotten an ATO proc to test on this one but not sure if the proc being in AS is best. First and foremost, I'd say slotting it for best values to utilize as a fast ST attack is best...AF is just a bonus. The proc would have to somehow come before either Impale or maybe Spine Burst for the extra crit. I'd say Placate may still be useful as an extra means of AoE burst on top, making it 3 50% crit AoEs...probably used before Fling Spines...but the ATO proc seems like it'd matter less for the set.

Haven't tried or heard from any Elec stalkers so no idea...

I'm thinking though, Dual Blades is probably one of the more versatile sets after the change. I'd probably skip the combos that start you with AS from hide and just use them after an alpha attack instead. Sweeping is a ridiculous attack, basically amounting to a Soaring Dragon (kat) but in a cone and 1kcuts is better than a cone Disembowel. Putting those attacks as your out-of-hide attacks wouldn't be bad, just not 100% criting. I can't even say putting the ATO in Assassin's Blade is the best choice...it's possible that it's better in something else. But in an extended fight, I'm wondering if perma-Empowerment combo is at all possible or decent...it's a 20% dmg buff for 20sec so you'd have to get BU to 20sec. Use IOs to collect damage bonuses and you could potentially stand at 50-60% dmg buff all the time with occasional 10sec spikes of 130% dmg buff. Also taking advantage of Ablating having a 10ft radius AoE to check for procs and you can make DBs strong for AoE while still being decent for ST (if not great).

I think Katana/BS and MA is probably the worse off than DBs. At worse, DBs just has to redefine its direction but those other 3 sets don't have as many options available.

That....actually sounds bad-A.

What about the power to summon shopping carts? When I worked at a Target in highschool, I used to have to retrieve the carts and they showed training videos about safety and how people loose fingers or break hands/arms if they're not careful. And being able to summon and desummon shopping carts out of thin air? Well, you can summon a shopping cart full of shopping carts...or if you can only carry what you had in it before desummoning it, you can fill it with guns or ammo or SWORDS! Or if a bomb is about to explode, taking a whole city with it, just stick it in your shopping cart and desummon it.

Do not diss the shopping cart!! For it can also be MIGHTY!

I THROOOOW!!!! A desk lamp!

*WHUBOOOOFFF!!*

I THROW!! A computer tower.

*WHUBOOOOFFF!!*

I throw. A TV monitor...

*WHUBOO- yeah, I'm not using this anymore...