Lycantropus

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In my opinion, SKILLS are about personal character development whereas the CRAFTING in this game is about improving the Group. Too different things. We don't need skills to create uber loot and uber loot is not needed. Skills should be a way to differentiate your character. If you have a character concept where he is a genius computer hacker, you can't realize that in the game right now. With Skills you could. There are many other examples.

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I concur.

Skills should help a character be more of what it is without the powers you have, or gadgets you can make with any kind of "crafting". The hacker's a good point on that, and I agree there are many other examples (detective skills, bomb disarming) Though I would want all the regular missions to be possible by anyone without special skills, but giving them a strong benefit in some circumstances if they are possessed.

This also opens up the possiblity of xp awards that don't involve combat in a lot of missions too.

How about CPR for example? Say there's a mission that you have to "rescue so and so" and when you get to them, they're laying on the ground. Now, if you have CPR, you can use it and "revive" the hostage so they can follow you out normally. If you or someone in your group doesn't have CPR, someone will have to carry them out, and that will reduce their movement speed and recharge on stuff because they would be weighed down by the person they have to protect.

IMHO, skills shouldn't increase powers or even tie into them, but compliment and enhance your ability as a "hero" (the character behind the powers) to complete missions. Someone suggested a "bomb" skill where if it's failed, then it blows up causing some damage. I'm not too keen on it, because if nobody on your team has it, then someone's going to have to eat the floor to continue the mission. Now, on the other hand, I would suggest that it has a bar like it does now, but if you have the skill, all you have to do is click it with no bar to disarm it, making the process faster (maybe even prevent an ambush). Same thing with a "security" style skill. You can still open the safe if you don't have it, but you will set off an alarm and draw an ambush down on you.

Conversely however, I'd like to see some "skill" based missions too. Ones that you can't get through without that skill. Bombs that will blow up if you don't have it (and have a chance even if you do) safes you can't crack unless you have "security" or whatever (and may still set off an alarm depending on how good you are).

These missions would be given by your "teachers" and work kind of like newspaper missions in that they're effectively unlimited (another bonus for having that skill). The dialog would go something like this:

"Hey, "hero" the local athorities just asked me if I could help them with a case needing my special skills. I don't have the time, but I told them I know just the person for the job..."

In fact, those missions could be the way you actually "advance" in that skill. Normal missions wouldn't nescesarily put those skills to the test ("This" is the bomb you need me to diffuse.. how amateur!!) but these would. They'd be assigned by your teachers, which would guarantee that someone capable of fulfilling the mission would be on the team.

If desired, I can list off a few mission perameters that are right off the top of my head for such instances and the skills they'd need.

Thoughts?

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Actually, I was talking about Skills, not crafting.
What's the difference? In the end, crafting yields a usable commodity. In Skills, you might have unlocked a door or opened a safe or whatever....if I could guarantee that clicking on a computer could yield as cool a reward as an Enhancement, well, that'd be something. But the problem is that there are only a few computers in the world (and missions), whereas crafting is rather unlimited. One needs to undergo risk to gather resources (let's use Salvage as an example), but there isn't much risk in clicking on a computer.

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What if you could use salvage to create things other than stuff for bases for a "crafting" style element?

It wouldn't be implemented like a specific "skill" and anyone could do it. It would work something like combining enhancements. Depending on the thing you want to make (say an enhancement; what it affects- Damage, Acc, etc. and whether you want a TO, DO or SO) and the components you're using (some pieces would work better for some enhancements than others). Now this wouldn't have to just apply a x+y=z formula like enhancements, more spaces for "components" could be added and the more you add, the better the % of making what you want.

This could apply to crafting unique costume pieces, possibly some temp powers (if not creating, how about "recharging" them so they last longer or refill their "# of uses" guage?) etc... though such "products" shouldn't be "tradeable" just like they aren't now. That would prevent people from setting up shop as a "hero merchant", and keep the "loot" factor at a minimal level.

Heck, this might even be where the tech toon could make themselves a jetpack as a cape option if they don't want to add it to the regular menu at Icon

Making enhancements would be basically something to help them save a little money, but it wouldn't really be an unfair advantage overall, as the salvage they would make them from comes from a drop like enhancements do, and it takes so many components to make the one they want. The only advantage there is that they get to pick what it buffs, unlike a random drop. It could also have a caveat that it would always be even to your level (that would help some toons in those akward levels where getting a drop that gets their enhancements out of the yellow isn't as easy as it looks). This wouldn't be really a "commodity" item either if everyone can do it or buy enhancements at the store anyway...

The reason for this whole suggestion is threefold. First, you're actually putting risk into earning the components, so that fulfills that aspect of it. Second, it would be something for people without access to bases (lacking CoV or just plain lacking the prestige to build a base with everything it needs to have a functioning workshop) to do with the salvage they find, making salvage more "solo" friendly as well. Third, if it were set up like the enhancement system (at least in the final screen) you'd have a percentage chance to make what you want and it either works or it doesn't. Also, like enhancements, you run the risk of it failing and "destroying" some (or all) of the items in the attempt- though I wouldn't nescesarily apply that to the crafted costume pieces (but that's because of how I see it possibly being implimented).

Our SG doesn't have a workshop yet (just got power and control installed in it.. that's the next step) and some of our SG members are full on salvage. I also have friends that don't have CoV; this would be another outlet for all that salvage they keep getting and can't do anything with.

What I suggest would be quick to use, possibly easy to implement, and has a "risk" factor to compensate for it's quick and easy application to make things. If done the way I picture it, creating the unique costume pieces would be fun as well (though that might be time consuming in that you would have to decide what you want to make it look like LOL) My ideas on that process though would be a full post in and of itself, so I'll see how the main idea itself pans out before I even get into that...

Thoughts?

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I hate to break it to you, but I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. So you morons keep asking for nerfs without fully understanding the patience it takes, and downsides of showing yourself as a stalker in PvP.

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I can understand your frustration and your threat, but please don't put me in that category where you believe I was asking for nerfs. I'm not. My whole argument was that I didn't want to incur debt due to PvP whether by accident or design. This doesn't apply to just a Stalker sneak ganking, but in any battle situation where some PvE elements are involved as well- like PvPing in hot spots. Debt can occur to anyone involved in that case, and all it takes is one lucky PvE critter to happen to get the "killing blow". I have posted a few times on the topic in other threads, and only saw this as another good time to point out that inequity in their PvP system when PvE elements are also involved, and agree that the 1% threshold is a bad idea for just that reason.

Actually, If they decide to make any changes, I think that Stalkers should be given some buffs or select power changes in order to be more versatile in combat options and tactics. Giving Placate earlier and AS a little later down the list would be one way. As far as my experience leads, Placate is in many ways a more valuable tool than AS to survivability in teams and especially solo. In addition to that, some possible boosts to a combination of their Hit Points, or to the Defense/Resistance of their armors, would be nice, and might encourage other tactics than "hit and run" (while fine for a ranged blaster, a "glass cannon" that only operates in melee range pretty much needs the one hit kill to not be constantly smeared on the pavement).

If the Dev's are fine with it the way it stands though, that's fine too. I just personally think they lack a bit of versatility, and they're being played exactly the way they were designed to be... they'd get creamed any other way.

As one who plays a Stalker, I'm not saying that to be insulting, but in honesty. No matter how much we may look like it superficially, we're not scrappers that have autostealth built in and a strategic way to guarantee our crits. Those are the survival tools needed to counter the built in weakness (pretty much everything else that isn't the one hit kill/placate tactic).

Any nerfs to that without some counter-compensation would be a horrible injustice to the AT. They're fine as they are IMHO.

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Or does your -valueless- post indicate acceptance with everything aforementioned, excepting of course that most trivial sentence?

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Not really, i just didnt think it was worth commenting on because Castle has already stated that they are changing the coding in game so that any PvP attack that would kill a player in one hit will instead leave them with 1hp. With that in mind almost the entirety of your post was better off ignored.

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Correction here. The 1hp threshhold is only one of the ideas being considered. We've still not determined exactly how we are going to deal with 'One Shot Kills' (and the final decision will almost certainly apply to both PVE and PVP -- so no more AV insta-kills.)

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Okay.. question.

I'm not going to argue the merits or drawbacks of playing a stalker, all in all, I feel they're quite balanced for what they're designed to do. If anything, their weakness lay in their lack of versatility strategically, but are massively good at the "thing they do".

Now, on more than one occasion in PvP, I have been in the middle of a PvE combat in a PvP zone and get ganked by a Stalker. I get that it's all in fair play and fun- after all, that's what they do best. If I'm distracted by a mob of PvE opponents, that's a great time to sneak in and whack me, strategically speaking.

The downside is that if they don't kill me right off, then there's a big chance (and it's happened more than once now) that the damage is so extreme that the next hit from any one of the PvE opponenets I'm in combat with smacks me, takes me out, and I get debt.

I don't care that the Stalker "ganks" me when I'm at a disadvantage like that (I would gladly do the same thing if I were playing my Stalker-that's how they work best) but I really don't like the idea of getting debt because, in essence, the Stalker didn't finish me off first.

If that 1hp threshold comes to pass, then this will be an even more frequent complaint, and while some Stalkers will cause debt unwittingly, I can imagine some would do it just for "griefing" purposes (I have already ran across one that was doing it purposely for just that reason- and a few others that "may" have been, but am willing to count them as "accidents")

My question is this.

What plans, if any, are in the pipes to prevent accidental, or purposeful debt being accured by PvE deaths contributed to or caused by PvP elements like I mentioned above?

A suggestion I would make is that you have a "debt-free" death period for a small ammount of time (like 10 seconds) after the last attack from a PvP "hit" occurs. This will give the wounded toon time to heal, or failing that be killed by a PvE element without incurring debt.

Additionally, to be fair, I would give credit to the "kill" based on the ammount of HP in damage done. If the Stalker in the above scenario ganked me while I was in the middle of a PvE fight, and did the lion's share of the damage that got me killed, he (or she) should get the credit for being sneaky/ strategic enough to have taken advantage of my distraction. After all, I wouldn't have fallen if they didn't attack me.

I have no problem with PvP if there's no debt, but the way the zones are designed, it happens sometimes by accident or design. Are there plans to fix that?

The direction I went in with that got me thinking...

If the Dev's are bound and determined to keep our base values low, perhaps there's a middle ground that we can be happy with too...

See what you think of this HERE<This is a link...
And if you like it, let's see what we can do to get the Dev's to implement this.

I've resigned myself to the fact that they've made up their minds, and even if they raise the base values, it'll be by small degrees most likely. Here's an alternative in addition to any help on those base values that may work for everyone, Dev's and players alike.

Just a thought...

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if invuln tankers got kicked in the balls. what about the invuln scrappers?

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Tell me about it! That's my main.

Honestly though, playing side by side with an Invul Tank, there isn't much of a difference. We're both squishy and more prone to faceplant, unless we slot up our Dull Pains and use it often. At least, that's the tactic we've found that works...

The problem with the smaller numbers in the defenses and resistances is that there is a smaller gap between the two AT's in effectiveness. I don't feel it is effective enough for a scrapper, much less a Tank who actively seeks out aggro.

Additionally, I'd be ecstatic if they removed the "taunt" factor on the Scrapper version of Invincibility now. It's almost too dangerous even unslotted. I could (and have) fought alongside three other scrappers... and inevitably, the bad guy turns to me.

I actually used to like that. I have buddies with SR, and I'd rather take the hit, and reduce their chances of getting smacked down if the baddies actually got past their defense. Not so much anymore.. I can't handle the degree of "attention" that I was used to in that. Heck, they sometimes turn their attention to me, even if a Tank is there holding aggro!

I don't know if the new Resistance inspirations will make that much of a difference (haven't played with them enough to form an opinion). Though it almost seems kind of like a backhanded apology for taking away our ability to do it without them. I see inspirations as a "helping hand" when you really need it... not a reqirement as part of a build (one of the reasons I feel strongly about everyone having some kind of mez resistance- no matter how limited). That seems like the direction they're going though.

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Destruction of concept is unfortunate. However, the whole 'stand and take damage' seems pretty lazy, really. Now tanks have to be more active. You know, like everyone else. The tank that just stood around soaking up damage and taunt-botting always struck me as something of a useful xp sponge, but not much more than that though.
From a design perspective keeping an overpowered poewrset as it is in order to preserve the concept characters is absurd. Unfortunately for those concept builds, though.

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I think he was refering to the concept of "Tanks" not just a specific concept build.

I get a little tired when people who don't play tanks regularly just think of them as "taunt bots" or proclaim them boring or "overpowered". Yes, they were much harder to take down, and more than a few Tank players agreed that they were too powerful, but the changes that were made were too much in a number of cases, and hurt a lot of the Tanks more than one who doesn't play them really understands...

In older issues, Tanks had powers that prevented them from moving in exchange for the protection they offered(Unyeilding and Rooted, off the top of my head) their attacks also did less damage. Those attacks, as far as I know, didn't cost less End to perform. Even now, the End cost to run a Tanks toggle armors and attack regularly is pretty expensive. My Stone Tank has Stamina well slotted, and he still gets winded pretty quickly when he attacks a lot. This is only exacerbated by the fact that Stone generally slows the Tank as well.

Based on this... they were originally "intended" to stand there and take damage, and occasionally attack. Moreover, their Primary Powerset is full of things that help them do just that. If they took attacks over armor... wouldn't that make them more of a Scrapper?

Overall, since it's original inception, they've made a lot of positive changes to Tanks, in order to fill the role they were designed for better. They can now have mez protection and move, so they can get to teamates that were out of range before; they made taunt affect groups and made it an automatic hit.

They also raised the damage they deal out (though that was more for a comic book feel, I am given to understand)... but the overall implication was that they stood there and took damage... so the other players didn't have to.

They aren't soaking xp.. they were doing their jobs! Every guy blasting away at the Tank, is one that isn't attacking you. With all the previous factors I've mentioned, the taunt, and Gauntlet... if not take aggro, stand there and get smacked on... what do you think they were "intended" to do?

Now, they can still do it (in varying degrees depending on their Primaries) but I'm not surprised that some feel like they can't do that as well as they used to, if at all. Many of the armors are now closer to those of a Scrapper's in what they offer, yet their attacks are still slower and cost quite a bit of end. The natural progression there is to make up the difference by reducing the end and possibly adjusting the recharge time and/or damage to those attacks. But if they do that, the difference between Scrappers and Tankers shrink still more...

Scrappers make up the difference in faster attacks, doing more damage overall, providing another form of "damage mitigation" for them... Tanks don't have that luxury, especially now that they (ideally) have to slot taunt in their attacks to make the most of their Guantlet inherent power due to the reduced taunt effect numbers.

Higher levels tend to bring this a bit more in line... but there's still an obvious disparity between the two AT's in this regard now, especially in the lower levels, and Tanks don't want to be Scrappers.

Other Tank players feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or elaborate on your own takes as you wish, but that's the real issue, IMHO.

EDIT- I know I haven't played a Tank into the 40+ range, but I've teamed with them, talked to them, and like to think I have a good idea of them based on my own 30something levels of Tanking experience Like I said though, the above post is my opinion, and correct me if you other Tank players have a different one. I don't presume to speak for anyone else, and I have no problem with that.

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just because I can, I'm going to point out that they are going to have another update within a month because of the release of City of Villans. Thus we may get some of the problems addressed then.

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I certainly hope so. A lot of people (myself included) have pointed out a lot of problems that should be addressed in some form or another.

Such as:
Ice Tanks and SR Scrappers just aren't "feeling the love"- they get hurt waaay too easy now. While not great shakes before as far as I can tell (don't have any, but friends that do) they seem even worse off. Give em some Resistances as well in their Powers. Ice should just by logic (don't know why being covered in ice makes them dodge blows better) and SR could have a "roll with the punch" power, thereby allowing them to "resist" some of the damage by "rolling with the blows"- It could be passive, and doesn't have to offer a ton of resistance, but it's something that will give em a hand when they are hit. It's also a basic real-world martial arts technique, so why can't they have it <shrug>?

Invulnerability- not invulnerable enough, especially with the passives. In fact...

The global changes to Defense and Resists- In some cases, just too much! Now, since it's been announced that there will be Resist inspirations, that may be why. Either that or it's an attempt to fill the void they made in that respect. Not sure which, and not sure if I would trust the answer they gave. Personally, I prefer having the consistency of solid powers over an inspiration I may or may not have in my inventory. They're a nice fallback if I have them, but don't want them by design to be a necessity. There's no guarantee you'll have enough of what you need to get through a mission.

The same mindset applies to AT's without mez protection. I've known people who've carried nothing but "break frees" in their trays for some missions, and still not had enough. They should have something to do it that doesn't require them to chase all over the Power Pools for just the right ones... However, high resistance shouldn't equal the relative immunity provided; while at the same time, only key ones should kill toggles as a counter to that (in many cases the inability to attack is quite enough- A more detailed view on this is HERE)... but that's just me. It would also make "break frees" more for what they're "intended for", and desired by all the AT's. To break free if you do get mezzed.

Seemingly expected build perameters- Like the seemingly assumed End charges to some powers taking Stamina into account. A lot of builds aren't viable without it.

Hasten is a similar thing when it comes to recharge times, and is arguably one of the reasons I-5 changed a lot of recharge times, and now includes powers like timed toggles (to guarantee no overlap). That's great if you have them, and take up valuable pools, powers, and slots to get them and make them work, but what if you don't? As one who designs tabletop games, I understand that to ignore how some powers can be broken if those types of things aren't taken into account is foolish, but if that's the idea.. perhaps they should be automatically given at certain levels like Rest, to guarantee a level playing field. The problem is that a lot of new players who don't know any better, or toons with concept builds, might not take them, and be penalized for it. (the link above about mezzes addresses this as well)

Stealth, while I only have a few low levels that have it, I have high level friends who do. They rightfully feel somewhat cheated. The problem there is that it seems they want to make it more of a "skill" than a "super power" based on how it works now, worse, even before there were many enemy types that see through it in the high levels anyway. I say if that's the case, make it a "skill" and be done with it, and either remove Concealment as a Power Pool entirely, or make what's currently there a "skill" and make Stealth "super" again.
The detailed post I made for it (Including the basis for most of my problems behind a lot of the changes) is HERE-warning, it's long and detailed, but comprehensive

Which of course leads to:

Phase Shift- Useless now. Too long an opening animation to make it a "panic button" power (you generally die before it's finished) and doesn't last long enough as a 30 second toggle to do anything else. Either reduce the animation to 0, or increase the time you can stay phased. Make it useful for something! As it stands, there's little reason to take the Concealment Power Pool, counting this, and the above Stealth problems.

I'm not even going to get into the "sound loop", increased disconnects, and graphics issues (like the water and Malta turret pets) and "rapidly blinking in-and-out walls" that have been popping up since I-5...

Honestly, there's a lot more, and I could go into a lot of detail on them, but I've written a lot on it throughout the forums, and why, and what options may be better- Read my post history. I have always, with a few exceptions, attempted to be constructive, and offer soloutions as well. A lot of us have; and they seem for the most part unheeded. Though basically, Calaxprimal, I just hope they are paying more attention than a lot of people are giving them credit for, and I hope you're right...

Edit- I don't have a problem with the fact that they made global resistance/defence reductions, I understand why. My argument is that they were too much, and created other imbalances in the process with some of the powersets...

I understand that this is a long post, but to get the whole picture behind the point I'm trying to make, it should be read all the way through, so if you're interested in my opinion, please bear with me. I only have this one post Dev's... I'm making it count.

There are so many things that I find untenable about I-5, I don't know where to begin.

For the most part, I've learned to respec and work around most of the changes to reduce its impact on me. While I still enjoy playing my toons, the changes are not fun for the most part, and in many cases have had to sacrifice concept for the ability to function and survive. While I believe I see the direction you're going in with the changes you made, many of them were a little too much (the global defense and resist nerfs) and a few were outright unnescesary.

The changes to Stealth were one of them. Phase Shift in particular, but this is about Stealth in general, so I'll stay to that.

As it stands in I-5, it is not a viable power selection. A lot of Power Pools are slowly falling into that catgory with the nerfs, but none moreso than Stealth. In almost every instance I've seen it used, by the two blasters I have that possess it (one being a shadow creature by concept, and the other a spirit of the winds) as well as by friends of my main in the upper levels; I have yet to have found any tactical usage for it that couldn't be bettered or surpassed by other powers. At this point, the defense is so low, even unsupressed, that I feel hard pressed to slot it. The fact that the higher in the game you get, the more mobs seem immune to the stealth factor even before being attacked (with no way to slot/improve it's effectiveness in that way I might add) only adds to the growing uselessness of that power in this "vision". What's worse, some primary and secondary sets have them taking up valuable power selections that are now little better (if not as bad as) a Pool Power.

I'm not going to quote numbers at you, I'll leave that to better number crunchers than I to do. They don't matter to the general player anyway, as they don't know them. In your wisdom you have decided to leave most players out of the loop in that bit of understanding. I get the idea behind the "immersion" factor of not knowing the numbers, but if that's the goal, then you need to focus less on those numbers you toss at us, and more in the "feel" of it, which is what most players have to do.

Someone said that forum users only make up like 4% of the actual playerbase... but they're the only ones with ready access to the numbers...

With that said, only about 4% of the playerbase, give or take (let's be generous) an additional 10-20% passed on by word of mouth and SG friends/associates; even understand or know the hard numbers to make appropriate changes to their toons for survivability based on the new heavily reduced values. Based on the nerfs, if you don't know the numbers, there's a fine line between successful and debt-ridden with your build in I-5. SR Scrappers and Ice Tanks are among the more poignant examples there.

On the other hand, the play style you seem to have geared this game toward promotes concept over numbers, based on the limited access "casual" users have to those numbers. Until I started frequenting the forums (out of worry over all these changes I heard about from other players) I didn't know any "hard numbers"... still don't know a lot of them... and based my build off of what felt appropriate to my toon, and by asking more experienced/successful players what they did and how they slotted. I-4 was more "intuitive" in that you didn't have to slot "optimally" for a successful build. However, those who did crunch numbers could easily break the game.

So is it a game

1) based on "hard numbers" and optimal builds? Or..

2) based on feeling like a superhero as long as you apply a little common sense to your build, without having to know all the "hard numbers"?

Apparently, based on the changes you think bring "balance" to the game, you can't have it both ways. Either that, or something is getting lost in translation in the pursuit of that balance.

You have people saying that the defense supression makes sense, but the stealth nerf is right out. Likewise, you have people that are okay with the stealth nerf, but can't grasp the reson for the loss in defense. There's also some that can't understand the nerfing of either, and those that get the nerfing of both. Why?

Because of the way they percieve the power itself, and how it applies to their heroes.

With my shadow creature, stealth to him is a "natural" state, I never turn it off. He's a creature composed of shadow, so stealth for him means that he's hard to see no matter what, and his shadow state made him harder to hit. Neither defense or stealth nerfs make sense to that build.

My wind spirit on the other hand; the stealth nerf makes a degree of sense. As a wind creature, he's still visible to a degree, and when he attacks he's easier to sense (feel his cold presence, see the atmospheric disturbance from the buildup of his attacks) but he's still a wind spirit, and so should be less tangible (like the wind) thereby keeping his defense.

Even without story or concept driven reasons, the purpose behind taking the stealth pool serves two purposes.

1) Increased defense (duh!) especially for toons that have none of their own. Blasters especially so far as I've seen. Most don't want fighting, as they have to take at least one power (punch or kick) that they will almost never use for the benefit of Tough or Weave. Other than those, besides Hover or Combat Jump, supply the only defense available to them.

2) Stealth (another duh!) If they want to stealth missions to get through them faster or avoid combat, there's already an inherent nerf built into that part of it. They lose xp for the things they avoided fighting. That in and of itself is a fair trade in my book.

Now, looking at Stealth in I-5. Neither of these are really viable with the pool, so why take it?

The supposed "Pro's" and the changes to them:

1) You have a negligible amount of defense, which is decreased farther still if you attack, or worse, you're attacked unprovoked... so you don't even really have a choice of when you give up that marginal degree of defense (something that bothers me about travel suppression too- though I like still like that better than the -acc; but that's like saying I like solid crap vs diarrhea IMHO*).

2)You have stealth that, as you level, more and more enemies see through anyway, losing effectiveness in what you wanted it for as you progress. Worse now, like above, is mitigated to the point of uselessness if you attack, or when you're attacked by someone that can see through it anyway, making you visible to those that didn't see you to begin with (again even if you're attacked, removing a great deal of choice in when you decide to give up that advantage anyway).

The "con's" that have been around and haven't changed:

1) You're slower in most cases when using most Stealth powers. So, if you're spotted, you better just turn it off so you can get away faster from the aggro... and prevent further

2) End drain, which depending on the power is prohibitively expensive when taking any actions beyond movement. Granted with a few end reductions and the "assumption" that you get Stamina, can be negligible later on in the game (that being another point of contention with me- Stamina is one of those "must haves" for most builds).

Now explain why I would want Stealth again beyond it fitting my toons concept?

Having stealth is not an unfair advantage. It's a POWER. That's like saying that Tanks have an unfair advantage against the Controller with less hit points and no reistances. If you want to remove the things that define the power and it's usefulness, remove the power. Period. Don't cheat the players with the idea of having a power that logic says should do one thing, but doesn't deliver. If it's because you don't feel it's heroic or appropriate to not have a "stand up" fight, fine; but be aware at this point, you're imposing that view on others that may have different ideas about what's heroic or appropriate to them and their build. If it's only because you feel certain AT's that have it are "abusing" it's function for the added defense, don't make it available to them. Watering it down so that it's usless even to those that use it "as intended" is a disservice to them.

It eats end, slows my toon down, doesn't make me very stealthy (with no chance of making it better) and provides only a maginal defense; Both of which are squashed to the point of uslessness whether I decide to break stealth or not (by being attacked by an enemy that, by luck or design, saw through it).

Remember everyone, Stealth in this case is a "super power". It's not Solid Snake sneaking around with a box or disguise (there's a temp power for that in a freak story arc). It should be considered as such if it's to fit into the concept of a "power pool".

Otherwise, delete it as a power choice, and make it a skill when they become available (Fighting and possibly Fitness- though due to the usefulness of Fitness, I see it as a super power that accentuates powers you have- might fit into a similar category in that case).

Keep "super powers" super.

Now again, explain why beyond a toon concept at this point would I want Stealth?

*I understand that was probably uncalled for. I try to leave my saracasm and angst at the door, but I can't think of a way to illustrate my feelings for some of the things done that take the "immersion" factor away from me for the sake of expedience.

Edit: I stated that Fitness could fit into a "skill" category, but as useful as Health and Stamina are, I would still consider that a "super power." However, I also feel that those two powers should be automatically recieved at a certain level, like Rest is at 2nd. I'm willing to bet that most end costs and such are assigned taking Stamina into account in varying degrees... IMHO, Stamina, for example, should be an automatically recieved power at 20...

A suggestion, if you will...

Defiance doesn't seem to be working well for blasters. As good as it sounds in theory, It's not enough.
I have some low level blasters, and a couple of regular teammates that use them as their main. Honestly, in most cases, they faceplant too fast for it to be any good. Blasters aren't known for taking damage (moreso on the high end) and with the proposed defensive nerfs, even moreso, I'd wager.

Now, a suggestion to create a more "balanced" game environment (which seems to be the catchword of the week, as it were) why not give all AT's something like that?

Defiance would be much more pragmatic as a scrapper power. They are inclined to hit those kinds of limits being in the thick of it anyway. As a scrapper's main goal is damage dealing, it seems appropriate

For Blasters, the more damage they take, their defense rating could go up. This makes up for the nerfs, and additionally, fits most blasters style of play (keeping distance, and avoiding aggro)

Tanks could get more resistance as their hp gets lower, Not on par with Moment of Glory, but you get the idea. They're in the thick of it moreover than scrappers in many cases. This also reflects their "tankish" nature.

Controllers can get improved accuracy as their hp lowers, guaranteeing better holds. If you were a troller about to die, wouldn't you be putting all you could into making sure you can get away by keeping them from hitting you in the first place.

Defenders would be the tricky ones, and I don't really have a on target answer for that one, as some heal, some buff, and some debuff. what exactly would benefit them most is up for grabs, but I've given some suggestions for the others, perhaps that's a good starting point for you Dev's to come up with something brilliant ;-)

In any event, something for everyone that suits their AT, and gives them a personal flair that no other AT has...

Just a thought...