Leo_G

Great, then you don't *need* a buff aura to get anything accomplished in a battle since we have no survival issues.

My point was not that being mobile = hit and run. It's simply that, I should have the freedom, as a Stalker, to move to any point on the battle field and not have to worry about proximity affecting my abilities be it needing to move away from certain attacks, moving to a certain target that *ISN'T* huddled around the taunter, targeting an objective, positioning yourself for greater effect of a power or if the situation is dire enough, run away.

If you can't *SEE* melee strategy beyond 'soak up mob aggro and scrap' or 'run like a b****', then there's your failing.

Well good luck leveraging those buff auras when nothing stays in them.

And I can leverage CoF perfectly fine with a bit of -ToHit slotting, some defense powers and Intimidate, thank you very much. It's not my fault you're stuck in min/max land, where Stalkers must one-shot the world and Scrappers and Brutes must bow before them and their undeniably higher damage.

I personally like sets that don't require you to have foes around to function. When foes move/run, when you must move/run, when foes get knocked back or if the enemy is simply out of range, these are situations where requiring foes around you is a detriment. I suppose if all you do is farm, yeah, Stalker WP is crap...

But it's got more survival than Ninjutsu. So I guess Ninjutsu is garbage too.

And even with suppressing toggles, I wouldn't want Invincibility, RttC or AAO on a Stalker but a situationally independent equivalent. CoF and OG are completely different as they are control effects, not self buffs. Those buff auras *are* opposed to Stalker playstyle...because Stalkers must keep mobile, work with as little aggro as possible and most importantly, not need to worry about toggles removing their ability to use Placate effectively.

I'm with you, rian. It's rare for me not to justify practically every part of a character down to their backstory, powers, affiliations and personality. I kind of held back on my beast tamer carnie MM because there just wasn't a good enough costume that screamed 'carnie'. I need a loincloth to give her a beastmaster feel tho...but the steampunk belt/sash thingy kinda works. And everything, right down to the Ghostslaying Axe she uses, is part of her character.

Granted, I do have some characters that are less tied to their weapon (like the DB/Fire brute) but it's more likely that I just imagine the character with wider capabilities than the system will allow a character. If I could make 1 character with a Stone Melee/Shield Defense on build one, Fire Melee/SD/Levi on build two and Titan Weapons/'Bone Armor'/Soul on build three, that would basically be the capability of 1 character...but I can suffice with just making 3 versions...Wish you could keep the name, though...

...hmm, could that be a suggestion? Link multiple characters/badges/builds to one character name? You'd still have to start over at lvl 1 with the different build, but you'd basically be under the same name on the same server...that'd be nice.

That's stupid, dumb and idiotic logic. Who ever said you needed to 'stand in a mob' in the first place!?

That's like saying a blaster needs to stand in a mob just to use melee attacks. Not only do they not have to *stand* around a *mob* of foes, they don't even need to be the center of aggro to do it. Heck, stalker has a power that *REMOVES* aggro so you can be attacking a target that's hitting someone else.

And this is just plain wrong (specifically the last bit). I think you're under the misconception that Stalkers have aggro auras.

Because variable attack speed isn't a damnable mechanic that is deemed unplayable for stalkers. I should know, I have a lvl 50 Spines stalker and a lvl 40 EM stalker. They are slow and they don't speed up.

The reason shields was pulled is because of the multiple PBAoE effects (enemy aura for +dmg, ally +def and ally self +def). For an AT not meant to sit around next to allies, it's understandable but I think it can be made to work or changed so it doesn't so heavily rely on being planted next to stuff.

So explain to me exactly why you think momentum is anti-stalker. I'm not the only poster not understanding your rationale.

Personally, I see the cottage rule as an oath of trust. That whatever the mistake, good or bad, you can trust the devs not to pull the rug out from under you. I'm not familiar with Star Wars Galaxy, but I'm sure this rule is a legacy of that whole debacle that upset a whole player base and probably ruined the game because of lack of trust.

Yes, the cottage rule may keep some stinkers around, like Black Hole/Dimension Shift, but the cottage rule is probably what's standing in the way of balancing Super Strength and Rage/Footstomp or the, IMO, overpowered Seeds of Confusion.

Because only an idiot would jump into changes they weren't fully prepared for the ramifications of. You ease into them, research, and reassure the changes are what you want first, and then commit so you don't have to be wrong.

Curious, have you ever been married? How many divorces have you had?

And if you consider the fact that Assassin's Strike is usually within a certain window of animation speeds (Kinetic Melee has the shortest I believe while certain weapon sets have the longest but it's only by like a fraction of a second difference), it's actually a *boon* to have a high damage attack that will always be a certain speed to start out vs needing to build up speed with weaker quicker attacks to use the high powered ones effectively.

If you really have to wonder, look at Kinetic Melee and Power Siphon vs Build Up. Yes, PS will get you better DPS and higher damage potential, but being able to just click BU then your strongest hit (which will probably recharge BU again) can and *IS* an advantage when the former has to use small weak attacks first to ramp up to that higher potential.

Thanks for contradicting yourself and therefore invalidating your own argument without my help. I hope, in the future, you'll finally understand the error of your ways...

Ah, who am I kidding. You're je_saist, it's like your job to harp on while being totally wrong

This....makes no sense. Opposed to desired Stalker playstyle? Do you two even play stalkers? Because it really sounds like you have no clue what you're talking about.

I don't ever really put quotes in my sig but...

He's afraid we're hurt him physically.

I promise you won't see it coming. It will be marginally painless...*Marginally*

You're setting yourself up for disappointment with this set, Sam

Things are never as good as what we hype them as, so just better not to hype at all.

Depends. Does the weapon being used have a mechanic and thematic feel that differentiates it from other weapons? This really hinges on what we'll get from Titan Weapons. If the set gives a feel of being *really* heavy by its slowness, less than stellar DPS but great burst damage and animations that literally seem like the character is using a lot of force to get the weapon to move, then it'd be hard to remake a BS character with Titan Weapons if the character wasn't intended to be slow but instead a competent fighter with normal weapon use.

Of the ones I have:

Leogunner (AR/Traps corruptor): Guess what he looks like

Demon Revolver (DP/Fire/Ice blaster): 2 demons on one character slot.

Phoenix-Arrow (TA/Arch defender): haven't played her in a while but I'd imagine she's waiting for defenders to get Rise of the Phoenix in the epic pools.

Datou-ich (Axe/WP brute): I was looking for a unique japanese name for a 'one-hit kill' character but I think that means more like 'one defeat' or something. I made this guy back when Axe was proliferated to Brutes and will reroll him as Titan Weapon and change the name to something meaning 'one swing' or something to emphasize that his subsequent attacks aren't individual hits, but one continuous swing that kills the target.

Gemini-Blade (DB/Nin stalker): Her schtick is she learned a technique to multiply the strength of a weapon x2 if she's holding an identical version in her off-hand. Basically, she gives the middle-finger to the age old dual wield penalty and fights with 2 double-powered single-hand weapons. Pacted with her brother (the one above), if one had to fight both together it wouldn't be pretty.

Nickle-Mage (DB/Fire brute): I recently made this one for the effects. Bright vanguard blades on a black background of burning fire patch looks cool. Conversely, covering his body in dark flames but standing within a bright white burn patch looks awesome too. I could foresee remaking him as Titan Weapon depending on how the vanguard version of TW looks like but even then, I wouldn't re-roll, it'd just be the character but using a different type weapon. I'd probably switch between the two, but honestly, I like him just the way he is.

Kerberos Wulf (Claws/EA/soul brute): yeah...not rerolling him. A were-wolf guy fits claws too good.

Dread Dragoon (Fire/SD/levi brute): bah, the only character I've ever rerolled. I could kinda see rerolling him as a TW character but his concept hinges on being the 'Shield of Body' to my trifecta of shield users. On the offense side, the swords fit well into a 'theme' of his powers and the fire breath fills out his dragon look to a tee. That said, I could imagine stripping the character of his 'Ossifynturian Dragoon Soldier' build, limit him to his Draconian Necromancy build in Fire/SD mode then roll him again side-ways as the Dragoon build but probably only if they add a sufficient 'bone' option to TW's weapon options. After all, one of his many concepts is wielding weapons forged of pure dragon bone and such weapons are massive.

Nightmare Strike (Spines/DA/mace stalker): I've resolved to roll this character again if they have a giant scythe option. If not, no need to roll with that concept as it hinges on him finding a scythe and becoming half-possessed by its power. I'd have both characters because he's only controlled when he resorts to using it but has the mental strength to break the hold when he doesn't need it.

Tiger Squall (Kat/SR/body scrapper): Technically my main. I renamed him when they released the beast pack since his concept is he's got an ailuranthrop curse which shifts him into a were-tiger. Concept-wise, he's resolved to never use a live sword (a brown impervium katana looks decent enough as a bokken), but when transformed, the only thing he ever wants to use is a good cutting blade. Since he's got 3.5 phases (human, tiger, half-tiger, uh...bigger tiger-man), I figure now that I got a decent costume for the last .5 phase, it'd be fitting for him to run with a massive sword. It wouldn't be the first time I've rolled another version of him (I've got various elemental Magitech armor versions of him) so really considering this. Might really depend how TW looks with Ninja run.

(if I have any other weapon characters, I haven't played them in forever and probably gave up on them...but that'd only include a few other Axe and Mace users)

Nope. I've had ideas for characters wielding large weapons before this was announced and hasn't really given existing characters a new spin because their concept is pretty integrated with their design. I can't reroll Demon Revolver as anything but a pair of demons that transform into pistols with one of them wielding the other. Anything else is more of a 'eh, I *can*' type deal. I could roll Tiger Squall with TW but it's no big deal as anything with a sword can work for him...but he is and always will wield a katana as a 1st choice.


I'm more interested in Time Manipulation when it comes to new characters. I remember seeing Bass post a slick black Dual Pistols woman costume and thought a teen version would work great for my idea. I had been contemplating either support or blast for her but didn't really feel like making another DP blaster. A defender or Corruptor might be the ticket but she needed some kind of 'reality warping' ability of some kind. I deleted Spring Loaded (robot DP/Kin corruptor) because he sucked and died too easy but thought about remaking the build as this new concept.

When TM was announced (has anyone commented on the two short-hands for these sets? TM = Time Manipulation = T upside-down-W = TW = Titan Weapon ) I instantly thought (Dual Pistols and Psionic Mastery combined!). I imagine it'll be like that corny bullet turning Angelina Jolie movie

The reason Stalkers got BS was because it was easy. As long as TW doesn't do something dumb and awkward that completely alienates Stalker playstyle, I'll be particularly peeved if Stalkers miss out on this. If it fits with Scrappers, it fits with Stalkers.

Just so this can't keep being used as justification: Dual Pistols can turn off its knockback at the cost of a +ToHit/+Dmg buff click.

Those people that roll energy blast because of the cool anime characters...curious, do those anime/DBZ/street fighters have knockback?

It's my theory that, the energy blasts look cool by relation of these characters because of the knockback.

Doubt it. Just because it's your choice doesn't mean people won't demand you turn it off and constantly b**** at you until you do.

Not to mention balance. Gale is a huge cone that recharges in 8 seconds, 5 of which the enemy is on their rear. If you don't know how strong Gale would be with KD or KU instead of KB, imagine having a portable corner for your Gale everywhere you go. Or Tornado vs AVs.

Go stand next to a Scrapper (Phalanx Fighting)?

That said, if we're getting rid of ATs, I'd vote Dominators. Because I love dominators and always try to team with them when I (rarely) find one, but I don't have nearly enough doms in my roster to express my enjoyment of the AT. So they should be removed because I won't know what I had until I lose it and so the devs can see me cry T_T

It's a stylized thing. I enjoy a pretty broad range of things, subtle and sleek, over-emphasized, techno, normal/casual, not a huge fan of generic superhero though (patterned tights with maybe a belt, mask and cape). That said, certain things just look better for certain characters. Not sure why you don't like the greater fire sword, it looks regular sized on the Huge Model, especially if you make the character look as big and tall as possible whereas the regular fire sword model looks Gladius sized (which isn't inherently bad, but may not be what works for the character's theme). But even then, I actually use both models on my Fire/SD brute on different costumes.

I'd prefer an AT with melee focused attack set (*maybe* with some light ranged mixed in) with a defensive set that has a mix of team buffs and some armor built in. Something like a Paladin or some such but it should come with Martial Arts! Call it Enforcer.

The devs said animating one attack was near equivalent to animating kinetic melee...or something like that. It'd be alot more work, maybe even alot more than Titan Weapons.

Won't happen.

1. Although I think the reluctance of giving Marvel fuel for another lawsuit was merely a joke, I believe the mechanics themselves wouldn't allow it. If you could throw your weapon, then you wouldn't be able to customize it otherwise you'd need seperate animations for the round shields, the tribal shields, the round shield with a star on it, the round shield with a snake on it, each individual roman shield, etc. etc. etc.

2. It'd be dumb. Picking up a shield and *not* protecting yourself with it? Why not make an axe defense set where you hold the axe and it makes you more resistant but you don't hit anything with it, while we're at it...How goofy would a Shield Attack/Axe Defense Scrapper look, honestly?

I'm sick of webs. I'm sick of glue. I'm sick of nets and tar and goo.
But that's just my opinion, a web set might be kinda cool.

Yeah on the staff/spear, neh on the gauntlets.

The premise I'm not quite wrapping my head around here is, you're okay with backing something so totally 'meh' as 'Power Gauntlets' which I can only assume is using some glove options to shoot bullets/beams/grenades from...but then when it comes to Titan Weapons, you dismiss it as 'Ultramegasilly' when, quite easily, the set could also use Spears as an option...which is also something you back.

I'd actually be surprised if they didn't have a type of axe-type implement attached to a pole as a weapon option for Titan Weapons. It's just too easy to imagine and design.

Technically, that's 'Time Travel'. Literally moving back and forth in time to change events or results is 'traveling', I guess seeing future or past events is I guess Astral projection, precognition or clairvoyance. Manipulating time is changing the passage of time. A device (like a remote that stops, fast forwards or rewinds) or predetermined ability (like Prince of Persia's second-chance type effect that gives you a do-over from a specified point in time) is closer to time manipulation. But then it could be said the word 'manipulate' is rather a broad term and could encapsulate anything involving time. But in the context of the game (yeah, just because Blaster Secondaries are called 'manipulation' sets, doesn't mean they can do anything...) I wouldn't use such a broad definition of the term.

The set can have gimmicks that Kinetics doesn't have. It's already been mentioned that, using certain powers on friends/foes alters the effects of your other powers when used on the same target. We don't know the depths of what this could entail. It'd be interesting if, before a fight, you cast this little time book-mark on an ally then cast 'rewind' on them during battle. If simply casting 'rewind' gave a moderate regen buff, casting it after casting the book-mark might instantly refresh them back to that 'save point', bringing their HP and END back to previous levels.

IMO, Kinetics can work for time manipulators, but it works better for fate manipulators. Since Kin is more about the damage and endurance, it's more offensive. Time manipulation might be vastly more defensive.

Firstly, yeah, to say something is graceful would imply it is light and/or fluid which BS definitely isn't. If you know me, you know I do not care for BS's animations...the sounds are nice but the animations are whack. As of currently, for a graceful sword wielder, Katana or Dual Blades would fit the bill way better. As Sam said, that extra arm does practically nothing and the actual strikes are less than convincing not to mention the body movements...It just doesn't work in my head.

As for Titan Weapons not fitting either...well, we don't know that. I'm more inclined to believe the animations will flow at least 50% better than BS so even though it may start out 'slow', at least it fits part of the theme of graceful which = fluid. BS does what? Not fluid...not fast...not light...it just doesn't.

Secondly, I'm hard pressed to label the theme of a set right out. Similarly for Stalkers, I actually play my MA/WP as having enormous Strength (actually a form of Kinetic manipulation combined with absorbing force and being dead so absorbing extreme amounts of trauma wouldn't really *kill* her). All in all, she uses enormous bursts of power, not precision. Translate this to Titan weapons...the momentum may not be the weapon being heavy or needing to build up speed. It could be something else entirely. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, TW just may be more graceful a single weapon than BS. The only thing I'd say would help fulfill the theme would be to add 'regular-ish' sized swords...These swords would still be big, just maybe not ridiculously fat like the Buster Sword. Just a nice sized greatsword would fit the bill.

Perhaps for a 'less skilled' sword wielder? This is going on the asumption that TW may have a 'spinning strike' or two to give a sense of momentum and power, with the right model, it may look 'better' for a seasoned swordfighter where as BS is more straight forward "smack 'em in the face with metal" set.

Which is why I amended 'with appropriate weapon models' to that sentence

I don't think the devs ever said anything about 'momentum' improving damage, just speeding you up.

That said, I predict it'll be a more lax combo mechanic in that, there's no bar or anything, just your weapon attacks 'stack' like DBs attacks do to make combos except they won't rely on specific attack sequences.

Basically, hit tier 1, the attack is put in your buff bar and your attacks are a bit faster. Hit tier 3, put the icon in your buff bar and you're a bit faster. Maybe the momentum only goes up to a certain speed (like 3 stacks) but you can stack the momentum up higher so that, when you have to stop to move or click something else, your momentum won't completely bottom out.

Continued speculation, I think it'd be unique if the tier 9 was *REALLY* powerful. The balancing factor being the tier 9 will *drain* some of your momentum and the attack itself is *REALLY* slow to animate. So you could just start out with the tier 9 but take 4-8sec animating it, or you can ramp up to it and drag that animation down to 2.5 but eat into your continued momentum.

Hmm

Titan Weapon tier 7: Blade Smacked (PBAoE self toggle), anything that gets near you will most likely run into your weapon. Only active while running with weapon drawn or attacking.

Meh. While a Shape shifting *AT* (doubt you'd see a power set for this) would be interesting, it's never going to be what people want unless it's extensively customizable. That is, color the actual shifted character model with accessories and auras, color the powers, choose *what* powers, so on and so forth. As is, the current shape shifting classes should simply be expanded on and the lore enhanced to explain new shapes along with extending customization to them. Without that, what's the difference between this and being stuck with ugly old granite armor?

As for the prospect of new/unique sets, I'm more keen on using the mechanics we have or could have to utilize new and interesting powers and sets. I could care less if it's a new weapon, a new pool or whatever, but we could probably use Warshade 'corpse' tech in some interestingly thematic set, or the Swap Ammo tech for a control or armor set, or Fiery Embrace's new added base effect for some new pet set or Combos for *something more*. It doesn't have to be a complete rippoff either, just adding extra flavor to other things. Boy would I like a *ranged* power that used the jumping mechanic (like Chain Induction) that didn't require Incarnate. Jolting Chain, yes, but perhaps a debuff instead. A contagion of sorts...or even a jumping heal.

Meh, I was never a fan of the whole 'separate powerset' thing. I'd have rather they just made fewer sets with more customization such as in the effects and the weapon choice. Similarly, I'd have loved it had they simply added 2-handed animations to Axe/Mace/BS with appropriate weapon models. Then there'd be room for one handed katana animations (either reverse grip or maybe iaidou type animations), one-handed claws, double-sided dual blades and so forth. Currently, that's more work than just adding a new set, but in the beginning, it might have been less work-intensive.

But even so, since we can't just add to the current sets but instead make new sets, we're kind of stuck needing a new set for the plethora of different weapon types. So will we have to wait for staves? Spears? Will we ever get them? They aren't wielded in the same fashion so need new animations...but if they become new sets, then we'll have to create effects for their powers and balance them.

All in all, I think they could simply work around this and *make* Titan Weapons into the staff set too, the mechanic of momentum kind of works for it too...

Good, then don't. The Ninja Run + Shield combo for my monkey Martial Arts Scrapper is perfect for him and him alone

Occasionally he drops to all fours but only with his vanguard shield.

You and me both. I'm thinking, if they had concept art for one-sided blades and direction oriented doo-dads for the other, the animations would be swinging the weapon in a specific motion so the business end is always facing the attack. This can work for a scythe (well enough if you ask me) and I feel the 'slow' feeling would kind of work in Stalker's favor since their attacks usually come first from hide and without the foe being aware. Then the fact it'll do high burst at the start then keep ramping up should mean it'll have decent DPS.

That said, I hope they take the Kinetic Melee route and give the set a bleh/meh attack/utility power that will then be replaced for AS...and I wonder what the AS will be named...Assassin's Clobber? Assassin's Crush? Assassin's OMG it's coming this way!!?

Not to mention it doesn't suppress when attacked. But I guess if that was kept, it'd basically be a duplicate of Energy Cloak/Cloak of Darkness for unsuppressed combat invisibility. Not sure if the power was balanced to do such a thing.