Leo_G

Well despite past objection, that doesn't dismiss the fact that respec'ing is pretty crappy. For me, it's the needing to go through *everything* in the build to change *One* *Little* *Slot/Order*. You have to pull up your build in a 3rd party program, go through every power and slot, even if most of them are exactly the same (and you have to remember everything about what lvl and so on you picked them up) which of the same enhancement goes in what powers, *EVERYTHING* just to add in one power or swap a couple slots to another power.

Honestly, the whole system feels very flawed and I wouldn't even bother arguing 'well the devs said x, w, and k because of whatever' until they make respecs themselves not totally *BLOW*.

Partial respec, blackhole enhancement, enhancement purgatory, complementary PB&J sandwich delivered to your house when performing a respec. I don't care. Make this process less crap.

The End.

In the Art team's defense, such details wouldn't be easy or one-size-fits-all. The wolf/cat head isn't the size or shape of the bird head which doesn't have the same holes on the head for eyes as the bull head which has a different cranium shape as the cat head which has a larger variety of hair 'thicknesses' than the wolf.

You can't just slap goggles on the bull head and expect them to fit on the bird head. You can't toss a hood on a bird head and expect it to look right with the wolf head. You can't put a collar around the neck of the wolf head and expect it to be visible around the cat head. So on and so forth.

I'd personally love extra options for the animal heads, but I'd expect whatever we ever get will still be quite limited in the vain of the bull head's nose and horn options.

But some face mask patterns (and the ability to apply a texture to it: paint, leather and metallic....OMG how we need the ability to do that!!!) for the animal heads would go a long way to adding variety to these costume parts, but again, most likely will have limited mask options...

I still find this amusing.

What I hear is how great Scrappers and Brutes (and VEATs) are for DPS and how they outshine them on teams.

Well, what do you do on normal teams? Fight 1 hard target where your advantage of DPS is more obvious? Because, from various TF/SF teams I've been on with my brutes, you're dealing with spawns that melt quickly or melt you quickly. DPS is useless because I don't have a target in front of me to click buttons on even 75% of the time.

On regular teams with my Fire/Storm corruptor, even AoE is rather pointless as I'll have scourged all the minions to death before the 2nd member gets off their AoE. So the other 4 guys with their Shield Charge and Lightning Rod? Well, there are some Lts left for that.

Then you bring up the incarnate trials. How long do *those* spawns last when you've got 2 teams packing Judgement nukes? Yeah, when the AVs and stuff are up so you can DPS things, your advantage is more obvious...until you have to run away because Marauder is using his nuke-fist move.

IMO, range is showing a far more use in this new content considering you don't have to shuffle around as much. Burst damage? Also shows it's use here. From the past DPS tests between Scraps and Stalks, the Scrap usually pulls ahead after around the Stalker's 2nd or 3rd AS because he's constantly doing higher damage, hit-for-hit, than the Stalker does outside of his bursts. But what happens when that scrapper has to pause? What happens to Hide when the Stalker has to pause and do the same?

PS: It's good to hear that Stalkers aren't getting hosed on participation. I don't see how they would, considering any ST Brute or Scrap would be in the exact same boat.

"Hardly," the man's voice gruffed as he put away the lighter and hefted the long covered object higher on his shoulder. "But it does make me wonder where the kids these days will end up...ah well, talking about it just makes me sound even older..."

He nodded. "Good to meet you then. And I believe I do, but I'd say it'd feel odd going to a party with some stranger you just met on the street, wouldn't you say?" The man started heading to the guarded door, casually stepping into the crowd as they funneled into the entrance.

The snake, who was passing his sight over the gathering soon pointed out the man and girl who he was with, motioning for them to step aside so he could question them. And he did, and waited for the snake to slither over while the troll kept watch over any stranger that passed through. Perhaps it would have been easier to take out a Council member and take their clothes seeing as these guys were basing their watch purely on looks alone. But that wasn't Ryju's style.

"Who are you?" the snake glared at the man, his eyes shining a bit brighter as hypnotic waves flowed from its slits.

Any flinch or telepathic manipulation would hint this guy off so the man answered. "Ryju. Just a guy looking to check in this bad boy." He took the large cloth-covered object from his shoulder and stood it up in front of him then began to unwrap it. "Found this off some hero-wanna-be brat the other day. Figured it's worth something if they're selling the rest of the collection."

"Hmm?" The snake eyes the body-length sword critically then turned and pulled a radio from his pocket. "Come to the front gate. Something weird just showed up." The naga glared at the man while they waited.

After nearly a minute, Ryju started tapping his foot impatiently then smirked to the snake. "Bet you wish you could do this too, huh?" he chuckled and motioned toward his tapping toe. This only got an annoyed look from the snake just as a hulking ghostly armored figure appeared out of thin air.

"What is the trouble?"

"Thissss human sssays he hassss one of the ssswordsss from the collection," the dark scaled creature motioned to the sword in the man's grip.

The spirit examined closer, reaching a hand out to feel it only to jolt back in surprise. "It seems this truly is Tadayoshi Hizen...or a remarkable forgery..."

"Well?" the snake asked.

"The swordsman they belonged to claimed to use five different swords but we only have three, so it's possible..."

Ryju took a deep drag on his cigarette before blowing a big smoke cloud toward the ghost. "Well? Can I get in?"

The snake guard and ancestor spirit looked to each and nodded. "Yes, you may."

"Finally." Ryju started heading through the door, hopefully with Megan along.

When the two were through and inside, the Snake turned to the troll who was still keeping watch. "Capture them and take that sssword...kill them if you have to. I'll call backup." This got a nod from the troll who then turned and started walking a distance behind them.

Well, currently, there are no animations that use 2-hands...at least not properly. What you see in Katana and Stone Melee is a sort of 'trick' which requests the character hand to be placed on a point and that point so happens to be where the weapon is drawn but the 2nd hand is never attached because there is no 'node' to attach to.

If we were ever to get 2-handed weapon animations, I suppose they could use that trick if we're specifically talking about just Axe, Mace and Broadsword but the animations would be limited.

Heck, Stone melee only has 2 mallet double handed animations and you're talking about a whole set here.

But I think it's still 'do-able' since Mace, Axe and BS have nearly identical animations. However, those sets already have so many customization options. They have lots more weapon cust than Claws or Katana *AND* they can combine that with a shield.

I'd honestly rather look into customizations for SD to better allow its use with Claws, Spines and Katana (and Dual Blades) *first* before looking at more options for the 3 mentioned sets.


So be it! I'd rather they make whole new sets anyway! Brutal Blade for Brutes, Staff for Scrappers, Warhammer for Tankers and Scythe for Stalkers ^_^

Did I actually walk right into that one?

...I think it poked me in the eye too.

As for the OP's idea, I think it'd be an interesting mechanic for a new set. The way I see it, for an AT like Stalker who works best with active mitigation (that is, using combat actions to neutralize attacks), this is kind of a cross between active and passive mitigation.

Approaching this as a power in a Stalker set:
-I'd actually be measuring up the spawn and picking my target, all the while clicking this buff. Solo, I'd wait for the amount of stacks that would keep me alive until the enemy was well taken care of.

-On teams, if you get in over your head and things start to look bad, Stalker's options to run is a viable tactic. Taking cover while stacking the buff would be an alternate tactic and can actually work with Stalker offense. Normally, waiting 8 seconds for Hide to return is dangerous defensively and hampers offense at the same time. But if I'm moving to my next target after taking cover, clicking this buff, popping a green and hitting BU, this may all occur in around 5 seconds which is all you need before activating AS. If nothing hits you, Hide will unsuppress just as AS lands.

EDIT: In fact, if/when Shield Defense is proliferated to Stalkers, I could imagine such a mechanic in place but maybe with some sort of offensive twist.

Weird...Metapod kinda looks like a...









What's the duration on this, exactly?

Really? Sounds fun.

Did they fix the 100% crit on Burst from Hide?

The problem is, people with AoEs or Auras or dependant on melee range feel they are *RIGHT* and everything opposed is *WRONG*. That there is only one *right* way to approach an enemy and it is AoEing it to death with them all huddled without any stragglers.

That whole mentality is *WRONG*. And I find it kind of humorous in such a laid-back game as CoX. It's akin to blindly adhering to the Holy Trinity of Healer, Tank, DPS and the whole fight is busted if anything breaks this. AoEs, Auras and Melee, apparently is the only acceptable approach.

Knocking foes away isn't a bad thing yet people will harp on about 'Oh, well my AoEs aren't going to hit everything!' to which I say 'So what?' Either the foes will be obliterated while constantly on their backs or they will huddle up again for your AoE onslaught.

The only counter to this argument is the specific situations where KB is used badly like knocking an anchor into another spawn or some such. And yet, KB used right can completely neutralize a group with a steady application angled to the right direction.

Personally, I'd *love* more control of my KB but if it were ever implemented, I feel it wouldn't be me controlling it but someone else dictating it which I won't tolerate.

Either you guys are intentionally low-balling your descriptions to compensate for anyone getting their hopes up, or your definition for 'low damage' is extremely faulty.

Stalker's base damage is only a fraction below that of Scrappers and yet Stalkers get the ability to control their critical hits and downright more critical hits total. I won't say it's a fair trade but it's far from being 'low damage' unless you're considering Scrappers 'medium damage' or intentionally skewing your opinions by AoE damage output on ST sets. Even for AoE, Stalkers aren't bad if you pick the right sets. Actually, they're pretty decent to great with the proper build.

And for 'looking good', It's hard to even say that as it's subjective. IMO, Stalkers look *way cooler* than an equivalent Scrapper or Brute simply from Placate alone. Basically telling a foe to bugger off at will is *cool* and then one-shotting/finishing something with a 'you're gonna get it now' crit is even cooler.

Anyway, back to the suggestions.

I like Electric Melee myself, and think it's pretty amazing set for AoE, but I'm going to deviate and suggest Spines. On a Scrapper, Spines is an AoE monster (although it's eclipsed in Burst AoE by Electric due to Lightning Rod and its radius). The problem is, it's relatively slow for DPS and really doesn't gain much burst capabilities in return. Then there's the whole 'need to stay alive' bit which can be overcome by IOs pretty easily but you still have to stick around to deal your damage.

It's different for a Stalker. With 50% crit on your AoEs from hide/placate, cone Ripper is devastating, Throw Spines is fast and delicious, Spine Burst while slow can still greatly supplement your AoE chain. Add in a Patron AoE to finish things off and your AS for the high HP single targets, and it's a decently well rounded set.

Play it on difficulty +0/x5 (if you don't have defense, might want to take off bosses) and it's a fun ride and stylish too. My personal Spines Stalker is /Dark and with the fear Aura and Intimidate, it brings some much appreciated control for bosses. With some defense, you'll feel godly since you also have resistance and can keep refilling your HP and you'll contribute well on teams.

Vs Electric Melee, it feels nearly as slow, the frequency of it's AoEs is more sporadic and it doesn't feel as bursty unless Lightning Rod is recharged. They're both really good but if you haven't done Spines (Stalker and Scrapper exclusive) then definitely give it a shot.

I'd probably add Secondary Mutation: Pain Tolerance and Mystic Fortune: The Lovers if only because they're free to use (with the booster packs) along with Empowerment Station: Increased recovery for those with a SG/VG base.

I really love me some Pain Tolerance on my Fire/Storm corruptor. Goes from having to balance endurance use (by staggering attacks and heavily relying on timed snipe use which isn't hard when you're knocking everything around or debuffing their ToHit) to just toggling whatever the heck I want. I like to run Beast Run along with my toggles and tossing out Rains all over when I get myself that buff ^_^

But all in all, I've always run characters that have no +end/recovery powers and have learned to balance them. It's the characters that *have* such tools that I play/slot differently. I usually save END redux slotting for last/never when I have something like Energy Drain to work with. And I seek out extra toggles to run for them too, just so they have *something* to burn the extra endurance with.

I'm pretty sure the devs will add more regular future content like tips, regular TFs, new contacts and so on (they did this round, didn't they?).

If the future content you're talking about is The Coming Storm...well, isn't that suppose to be epic, ultra powerful, extra-dimensional heavy stuff? That content, in and of itself, requires *lots* of heroes to overcome. It's already been complained that the BAF and Lambda stories are relatively 'un-epic' because of what you're out trying to do. The Coming Storm would probably feel equally 'un-epic' if it was something that could be stopped by 6 powered players.

But even then, I doubt the content will *require* Ultra Rare slots and stuff to accomplish. They'd probably be doable with just Uncommons which shouldn't be that hard to get, especially if the devs add more options to upgrade your junk.


Meh.

It's basically a complaint that 'the content added isn't *how* I want it to be'. It'll be there to participate in but you predispose yourself to not wanting to play it. If you want to enjoy the story, you can read about it. Pretty much like any other SF/TF, really. I can't remember the last time I joined one where I actually knew what the eff was going on story-wise. And the majority are rushing/stealthing to the end. I guess I could complain that we need even more cutscenes to clue everyone in but I'll suffice to just reading it online.

Yeah yeah point at me for having low standards for a game that's nearing a decade old with a limited budget. Wah, so what?

Funny thing, I was stripping the enhancements off of my old corruptor to remake her so e-mailed the stuff off to random characters of mine. I ended up taking them on an old Stalker I made and when the time came to actually use those enhancements, I smacked myself in the head when I realized the stalker was only lvl 6.

So here I am, on villain-side, smacking snakes and skulls around until I got lvl 8 when...I got an invite to a lvl 46 team. I was a bit worried since I had *no* enhancements in anything and I only just picked up Reconstruction (MA/WP, by the way) but since I hadn't played one of my Stalkers in a long while (and I wanted to hurry up and get to lvl 10 or 12 or whatever the lvl limit is for e-mailing stuff) I joined.

It was actually pretty fun. These were orange and red enemies too and my enhance-less AS was actually putting a big dent in those red Lts. I died a few times (not bad for only having Hide, passive +HP and reconstruction) but I felt I contributed a LOT for only being lvl 8...then 10...then 16 by the time I left. Especially when you consider I had no enhancements.

I don't know how Beginner's Luck is affected by being Sk'ed up but I even felt like I had damage enhancements in my powers too. But maybe this was because we had 2 SoA with their leadership buffs but I doubt it'd make me feel like I had a fully SO slotted character at lvl 10.

You should also seek to invite players lower lvl than yourself too. Just make sure to send the level before inviting so they know what they're getting into. Currently lvling my 38 corruptor and have no issues when I invite a lvl 15-ish character to help me.

PS: This was on Protector, by the way.

The man shook his head disappointedly. Perhaps not at her witty reply but at the cigarette she had resting between her lips. "A little young to be smoking, my dear?" he asked and flicked open the lighter and brought the flame to life. He didn't have to keep the flame shielded from the wind, the flame burned steady and strong but not too brightly and the wind kept its distance. "Such a bad habit..."

"Call me Ryju. That's not too hard to remember, huh?" He took out one of his smokes and lit it but left the lit end hanging down from his lip as he turned toward the busy warehouse. Something was beginning to happen...Those standing around the entrance were starting to go inside.

~~~

"And our next prize is a genuine shard of red coral, empowered by the great Leviathan of Sharkhead Isle! Those who can control the monster's will are on the path to greatness and limitless power. Shall we start the bid at twelve thousand?"

"Twelve!"

"Fourteen."

"Fifteen!"

As the satyr and the warriors walked through the corridors along with the crowd of attendees, Jason and some of the warriors were a tad worried. They hadn't expected so many to show up. How would they ever bid high enough for the grand prize? They didn't stand a chance.

"Hey, Spirit," Jason whispered up to the ram and tugged on his sleeve.

"Wow, talk about false advertisement. That shard is gonna take over the poor sap that buys that thing," Spirit chuckled as he was pulled to one side of the crowd by Golden Jason. The other warriors gathered around while their leader spoke.

"Listen. There's too many guys around. We won't ever be able to afford the swords at this rate," Jason explained, keeping his voice contained.

But Spirit didn't bother keeping his voice down as several characters in gold plated armor suits and huge sonic blaster rifles walked past them. "Afford? I thought we were busting these guys and taking the swords."

"SSSHHHHHHH!!!!!" the warriors hushed in unison.

"Keep your voice down!" Jason rasped.

"Oh!...." Spirit said in his still loud voice. He blushed and put his hands over his snout, "Right..."

"All these guys have weapons. We'd have to fight an army if we try to bust them."

"So?"

Jason sighed. "Let's just sneak in, find the swords and steal them."

"Oh! That's a great plan!" Spirit exclaimed loudly with bright eyes but his expression quickly switched to confusion. "But what about taking in the guy who stole them?"

Jason reached up and clamped the ram's mouth closed. "Shh! We'll figure that out after we get the prize. Okay? Now come on." The warriors started to tip toe off through a separate corridor, Scooby doo style, and hid behind a stack of crates as a Tsoo guard walked by. They weren't sure which way to go until their eyes caught a man with a glowing presence, strong body covered in elaborate tattoos and a pure white coat draped over his shoulders. The other warriors quickly ducked lower while Spirit peeked his head out a little, his horns still a bit visible.

"Tub Ci Tang!" Spirit nearly squealed but managed to keep his voice contained. Jason annoyingly gripped the satyr's head and forced it down low before the Hmong warrior took notice. He didn't seem to and just kept on walking, several more Tsoo joining behind him after turning the corner.

"Whew! That was close," Jason finally exhaled after a long half minute of holding it. The group moved from behind the boxes when they thought the coast was clear and kept investigating, turning to the lone door at the end of the corridor.

"Hmm, don't you think this is odd? There's no guards?" Spirit questioned as his head looked around for any searching eyes and feeling out the area for malevolent intent. He could sense some importance in this room but he wasn't sure why.

"Well obviously the swords aren't in here," Jason corrected.

"We can still take a look and maybe find out where they really are," one of the smarter but quiet member of their group suggested.

Of course, when Spirit opened the door, the group was met with the startled presence of Chi Master Yeng. Yeng was stroking one of the swords when the doorknob jiggled and the entrance reopened. "Master Ta-" he started to say but when the strangers entered, he drew the sword he had rested his hand on.

"Intruders?" Yeng smiled, but not to the intruders. His eyes seemed captivated by the sword in his hand. A serrated white metal katana with a flattened ball tsuba and an elegant red-leather wrapped handle. The face of the blade had a faint flame emboss pattern that shown with such intensity when you shined a light on it, the flame looked like it danced.

"Hey, are those it?" Spirit asked pointing at the sword in Yeng's hand. The other warriors marched in from behind the satyr purposefully when they saw there was only one man in the room.

"Hurry, let's get em!" Jason ordered and drew his golden hilt broadsword. Yeng, who seemed hypnotized by the katana finally looked to the intruders with a sinister smile on his face.

Excuse me if I don't take your word for it.

And I have yet to see players get told this or been asked if they have KB so they aren't invited.

If someone has to say 'don't use your KB or you're kicked' you're probably not using it properly. If people dictate its use, there will be less situations or circumstances of it *ever* being used properly.

My beef is players that don't *care* to try . They don't want to use it properly so seek to negate it or just not use it. This isn't a fault of KB. It's really a shame because KB is a powerful mitigative tool and having *more* control of it would be great...but not at the expense of fewer players with the *capability* to harness this.

This mentality, I don't understand.

People that wanted to have a reason to play their lvl 50s are given content and achievements to do. The devs gave us these 'raids' for specifically that purpose.

And yet, having these raids as end-game doesn't seem to hamper or infringe on leveling alts and doing regular content (do they?).

So why get your panties in a twist? If you don't like raids, then don't do raids. Do regular missions, tips, mayhem/safeguards, TF/SF. This is the same BS people whined about when Going Rogue first game out, that they didn't get their end-game stuff and reprimanded the devs for leaving them out. Now we get it and still we whine? Vicious cycle much?

And the way this is phrased (now you can blast stuff without scattering it everywhere) just sounds like an excuse to not ever need to think or care what you're doing. Yeah, phrasing it as 'and now you have more control over where you're putting the target' sounds a lot more enticing, but since you already failed to state it that way I seriously doubt that is what it'd be used for the majority of the time. It'll just be a way for people to say 'Turn off your KB or you're kicked'.

And this is why I won't ever agree to such a suggestion. The suggesters that are supposedly 'trying to help' obviously have ulterior motives.