Maelwys

Personally I run TFs/Trials and Ouroboros arcs with my 50s, duo GMs (if it's a Single Target damage toon, Tank or DeBuffer) or farm mobs (if it's a AoE damage toon or Buffer). And join random PUGs if I get bored.

If I'm *really* bored and don't feel like high-level PUGing I'll exemp down to duo with a toon on my second account, or join a group of lowbies.

If I remember correctly, the problem with Kin/Arch isn't the damage numbers (which are great, if a little skewed in favour of Rain of Arrows actually hitting everything with all three ticks - the average is two as it's a % chance not based on accuracy) but the redraw.

Simply put: Kin is a VERY active set. Archery is a fast recharge but lowish damage set (Blazing arrow and Rain of Arrows aside). You'll redraw every time you switch from a Kinetic power to an Archery power... so all those Siphon Speeds/Powers and Fulcrums? Good buffs on paper, but kinda annoying to have to keep up in practice.

As Carni said, with Enhancements, Aim & PBU you're only 75% short of the cap. Assault gives +18.8%, and you can easily get in the region of +20-25% from set bonuses. If you're content to wait until the buffs are all up, you'd be so close to the cap that one Siphon Power would nearly cap you, let alone Fulcrum Shift. If you were Rad/ instead of Kin/, Accelerate Metabolism would very nearly cap you, AND you'd have EF's 30% -resistance.

I'm not saying Kin/Arch is a bad combo, but the constant redraw can be very annoying. And with both Aim + PBU, Fulcrum Shift is probably more worthwhile for your teammates than for Rain of Arrows.

Personally I'd rather pair /Arch with a less active set like Sonic or FF... or the obligatory TA. I've a level 4 FF/Arch on Defiant that I'm planning to level up at some point. Eventually. Probably...

I've had a 50 Bots/Traps (or "Bats/Tarps" if you follow the US forums!) for a year or so, and it was originally rolled as a PvP toon. It was a good counterpoint to my Stalker, since the Stalker excelled at "squishy" killing and the MM at "melee" killing. It was able to waste most melee toons in general, and at its peak usually required 4-5 heros to take it down.

The main problem you're currently going to encounter is that what has worked in the past very probably won't be true for the new generation of PvP from issue 13 onwards.

Up until now, traps has had four things going for it in PvP:

1./ Poison Gas Trap

Traditionally Number #1 on the Melee toons hatelist, mainly for the forced rooted "puke" animation. At one point it did a short unresistable hold that could detoggle Granite Armor. In PvE it can be loaded with damage procs to create a considerably powerful AoE psuedo-attack.

According to US testers it's now a shadow of it's former self. 2 foot activation range (virtually unusable) and no multiple clouds, meaning much less puking and damage proc-ing.


2./ Telemining

Teleport --> BOOM. Best used from stealth.

The problem with a Mastermind is that anyone with any form of perception will always be able to see you. And Heaven forbid you summon FFG or the Triage Beacon --> Big "I am here!" signal flares. Toebombing is therefore more common, or teleporting foes into a patch of Caltrops/FFG/Tripmine after you send your henchmen after them.

On Test, the Trip mine suffers from the same reduced activation range as the Poison Gas Trap, about 2 feet. Hopefully this is a bug.


3./ Lockdown (Web grenade and Caltrops)

Good in the past, Good in the future. Unfortunately with the new movement caps, Caltrops's slow is not going to do much any more. But with the new suppression mechanics and lack of mez protection, Web Grenade will be more effective than ever at halting chasers/escapees.


4./ Force Field Generator

Good in the past (provided you don't move too quickly) since it gives you some defence and mez protection.

Poor on test, since due to diminishing returns the Defence granted is reduced, and you'll still get mezzed since like other such powers it now grants resistance not protection.


Bots doesn't really offer that much to PvP other than a fairly unresisted damage type (Energy) and some extra Defence from the Protector Bots. In PvE when combined with a Patron AoE Immobilise (Mu rather than Mace for preference since Mu's one stops knockback) it's a AoE steamroller with a Force Feedback +Rech proc in Assault Bot for the Burn Patches.

Bot/Traps is however one of the best soloing combinations for PvE, and it's particularly well suited to killing Heros/AVs. -Regen from Bots and Poison Gas Trap, plus Acid Mortar -Resistance, FFG and Protector Bot +Defense bubbles make you very survivable.For general AoE, the combination of Status Protection, survivability and heavy AoE damage is golden.

Bot/Traps/Mu (for the resistance shield and best Immob) or Bot/Traps/Mace (for the defence shield and an OK Immob) are the usual culprits, with /Mu doing better in general but being more costly (in terms of Set IOs for +Defence bonuses to soft-cap you at 45% ish ranged/melee/AoE) to make it work well for AV tanking.

For Pools; usually Teleport and Medicine, plus two from Leadership/Speed/Presence/Stealth.

Yet another update:

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Yes, that level was meant to be 44, not 43. Thanks LunarKnight!

In most cases where Conserve power was added as a second power, it got the removed. (Yes, Electric blasters score here.)

Dominators kept soul drain, dark consumption had to come back. (Soul Drain is better for Dom's without Build up)

Brutes get both Bile Spray and Arctic Breath.

Ice Tanks only get Shiver, Ice storm had to replace Freezing rain.

[/ QUOTE ]

(Emphasis mine - yay, level 44 GodMode! )

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What about on sets where there were two extra powers instead of one? Will they get both extra powers added, or just one?

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Seems just one power "becomes available" at level 43 (so you'd get to pick it at 44)

From here

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Real quick: The level 43 power has the normal requirements, IE, must take one of the first two powers.

Secondly, any set that had more then one power switched, only gets one power. All powers are being restored.

[/ QUOTE ]

I *really* hope they keep the better powers even if they're "higher level" such as 'Surge of Power' in Electric Mastery instead of 'Conserve Power'... overpoweredness for a level 44 pick be damned.

from here:

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Hey all,

I'd like you all to know that I've been reading everyones feedback since closed beta, and have heard all the good, the bad and the ugly.

Just a heads up, but we'll be adding the extra powers in as an extra level 43 power, and keeping the existing powers exactly where they are.

We are doing this because of the constructive feedback we got during closed (and now open) beta.

We're in serious crunch mode to get this done though, so I'll skip writing more info until we're done tonight.

Jonathan

[/ QUOTE ]



(Focussed Accuracy issue still stands though... but I can see why it was changed. I use it on a Tank and two Scrappers, but it IS overpowered in comparison to other first-tier Epic pool picks. And not just in PvP)

Epic Powerset Changes that I've seen so far on the Open Beta Test Server:
(Apologies in advance for the poor formatting, it's late and I'm tired!! )

*** Scrapper ***

Body Mastery
[u]Focussed Accuracy[u] - (+5% Tohit, +34.60% Accuracy)

Weapon Mastery
[u]Targetting Drone[u] (in place of [u]Web Grenade[u], same stats as FA)



*** Tanker ***

Energy Mastery
[u]Focussed Accuracy[u] - (+5% Tohit, +43.25% Accuracy)

Pyre Mastery
[u]Melt Armor[u] (in place of [u]Ring of Fire[u])
-7% Defense, -9.75% Resist for 40 secs, 70 Foot Range, 10 Foot AoE. 3m 20 secs recharge

Ice Mastery
[u]Shiver[u] (in place of [u]Chillblain[u]) -52% Recharge/Speed for 10 secs, 24 sec recharge.
[u]Freezing Rain[u] (in place of [u]Ice Storm[u]) -30% Speed for 25 secs, -20% Speed for 25 secs after 10 sec delay, -10% resist/defence for 25 secs, 76 ticks of 0.33 damage

Earth Mastery
[u]Quick Sand[u] (in place of [u]Stone Prison[u]) -50% Speed -10 Fly and -10% Defence for 45 secs, 30 Sec Recharge
[u]Conserve Power[u] (in place of [u]Salt Crystals[u])



*** Defender ***

Psychic Mastery
[u]World of Confusion[u] (in place of [u]Telekinesis[u])
8 Feet Radius Aura - 10 targets maximum - Mag 2 Confuse, 4.34 Psi Damage

Electric Mastery
[u]Shocking Bolt[u] (in place of [u]Electric Fence[u])
Mag 3 Hold for 17.88 Secs, 16 Sec recharge Time, 2 Sec Activation. 5x 3.61 Energy Damage over 4.20 Secs.



*** Blaster ***

Cold Mastery
[u]Hoarfrost[u] (in place of [u]Flash Freeze[u])
9 min recharge, 2 Min +180.71 Max HP (+180.71 Max HP unresistable), +10.5 Toxic Resist, +361.43 HP Heal.

Electric Mastery
[u]Conserve Power[u] (in Place of [u]Shocking Bolt[u])
[u]Surge of Power[u] (in Place of [u]EM Pulse[u])
2 Minute GodMode. +35% S/L/F/C/T, +42% Energy, +28% Negative Resist. Full -100% End Crash and -10,000% Recovery for 15 secs after 2 mins.

Munitions Mastery
[u]Survellance[u] (in place of [u]Sleep Grenade[u])
Shows foes stats and -14% Resist for 20 secs. 80 feet range, 45 Sec Recharge.



*** Stalker ***

Soul Mastery
[u]Shadow Meld[u] (in place of [u]Summon Widow[u])
+30% Defence self-buff click for 20 secs, 5.2 end, 3 sec activation, 90 secs recharge.

Mace Mastery
[u]Disruptor Blast[u] (in Place of [u]Summon Spiderlings[u])
80 feet range, 15 feet radius AoE. 28.81 Smashing Damage, 27.81 Energy Damage. 10% chance for Mag 2.08 KB. 32 Sec Rech, 2 sec activation, 19 end.

Leviathian Mastery
[u]Hibernate[u] (in place of [u]Summon Guardian[u])
4 min recharge, +1000% Regen, +400% Recovery.

Mu Mastery
[u]Conserve Power[u] (in place of [u]Summon Adept[u])
10 min recharge, 90 sec duration.



*** Mastermind ***

Soul Mastery
[u]Oppressive Gloom[u] (Mag 2, in place of [u]Night Fall[u])

Mace Mastery
[u]Power Boost[u] (98.34% strength, in place of [u]Mace Beam Volley[u])

Leviathian Mastery
[u]KO Blow[u] (in place of [u]Bile Spray[u])
108.88 Smashing Damage, Mag 3 Hold

Mu Mastery
[u]ThunderStrike[u] (in place of [u]Static Discharge[u])
50% chance for Mag 3 Stun, 30.59 Smashing/29.36 Energy Damage

I'm sure this's changed already since they've several iterations into closed beta now... but it's possible they're scaled a-la repel. Or if they're TARGETTED rather than LOCATION AoE, they may only affect the tier of pet selected (eg, three casts needed to fully upgrade rather than six- one for minions, LTs and boss...)

Failing that, they could grant two powers with one power pick. One that's AoE, one Single Target.

If it's just changed to a bog-standard AoE upgrade power, my /Dark hates it but my /Traps likes it...

Human's pretty much an "in between" state for a Triformer Warshade, mainly because Human form attacks tend to be low damage but high recharge (at least compared to the Peacebringer equivilants) and because Nova form, quite frankly, outdamages Human form on every front for a 'shade, especially with the two mires.

You *can* go heavy into Human form, but because of limited enhancement slots, you'll end up doing this at the expense of either Nova's damage or Dwarf's survivability. It's possible (albeit quite pricey) to outfit a Warshade so that Human form is very good at control/team support, Nova at Damage and Dwarf at Tanking.

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It doesn't work (Norton AV has a 60%-70% success rate compared to Avast or AVG's 90%+, ......

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and who was talking about Norton AV? Maybe read what the post was about? Just a thought lol

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Irrelevant, if it's made by Norton, then it's evil.
Youtube doesn't lie. Norton is evil.

And if you use Norton products, you'll be evil by association.
...you don't want to be evil, do you....?


Nerd Analogy: It's like being given a puppy by Emperor Palpatine. It might look cute and cuddly... but who knows how many hideous diseases it has, how much you'll be forking out in vet bills in six months time, or what kind of ravenous, man-eating, rancor-like sithbeast it'll eventually grow into?

(whilst the above is tongue-in-cheek, just thinking about installing a Norton product on my own PC actually does give me the heebie-jeebies. Especially one claiming to be "free". I'd want to rigorously test this utility on a spare client first before letting it anywhere near my personal hardware, and even then I'd be effectively quarantining it using Firewall and Resource Manager software. My past experience with Norton products has genuinely been so bad that I simply won't take any chances with them again, ever).

Sounds like an issue with your credit card company. I'd phone them up and make sure they haven't frozen your card for some reason. In the past the CoH website has occasionally told me it won't accept payments from a Credit Card, but it's always given me the reason why (more than 5 PlayNC items purchased via this card).

A "Fraud suspicion" message sounds much more like your credit card company's doing to me.

[ QUOTE ]
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But..... It's NORTON!

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so what. some like, some dont. It works, its free, does the job it says. cant please everyone....clearly....

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It doesn't work (Norton AV has a 60%-70% success rate compared to Avast or AVG's 90%+, their Internet Security package delights in throwing up false positives and breaking online games).

It isn't free (Have you SEEN those annual subscription rates? The only time you'll see a free version of Norton is when it's packaged with something else you've bought so they can rope you into subscription)

It doesn't do the job is claims to (You're generally quite lucky if your copy of Norton AV detects anything but false positives and their Internet Security service has a number of documented backdoors)

It's also obscenely bloated, takes up a sizable chunk of memory when it's running and slows your PC's file access times down to a crawl compared to other brands. Look at this link for a quick comparison.

Finally, Norton is one of those programs that burrows very deep into your Windows installation, replacing DLLs and commandeering background services to wriggle itself in. When it comes to trying to get rid of it, it's virtually impossible to completely cleanse your Hard Drive of it other than via reinstalling windows.

It's a Piece of Steaming Pig Manure, and as a long-time ICT tech I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Except possibly for that woman from our Art Dept who has astoundingly selective memory and a Divinity complex.

[ QUOTE ]
But..... It's NORTON!

[/ QUOTE ]

Norton... even after nuking it from orbit you still can't be REALLY sure.


...but then of course, the same applies to Vista. There's only one way to settle this... THUNDERDOME!

"Two men enter, one man leaves!!"
"Two men enter, one man leaves!!"

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Not interested in powersets just in how tankers currently play. There must be more than running around taunting everything that moves right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty much nope.

In teams it all comes down to very fast taunt spam to make sure that people stay on YOU. But realistically most tanks are useless on PvP teams as currently taunting is more of a distraction than a debuff.

That's assuming you're still in the traditional "Tank mindset" and not going for a damage-orientated build like Fire/EM or Fire/SS, or a combination survivability/disruption/annoyance build like Ice/Stone or Ice/EM.

Tanks can output decent damage whilst being survivable, but this DOES come down to powersets and in general buffed up blasters do a much better job unless you're just soloing in zones or one-on-one duelling (the old Ice/EM tank Hibernate builds). In general, it's EM's stuns and fairly unresisted damage, SuperStrength's Perma Rage and slightly-longer-than-melee-range KO blow, or Stone Melee's fast-activating attacks.

But this is going to change very, very soon. So as everyone else in the thread has advised you already, don't be building a new toon based on what will soon be out-of-date PvP mechanics and FOTM cliched builds.

LOOKS to be Superstrength and Stone Melee at the moment for i13 due to obscene ranged damage from Hurl/Throw Boulder. Stone for more attacks and mez, SS for Perma Rage. Combined with the Pyre Epic pool (assuming it'll still have decent attacks once they're done fiddling with them) for a full ranged chain and hold.

However all could (and probably will) still change in Beta.

Update:

From here
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Castle:

Posting this here:

Keep both systems, do whatever you want with the new one.

For the arena, make the pre-i13 system an option. No new supression, no diminishing returns, no dmg resistance buffs.

- Max end recovery
- No observers
- Pre i13 system

Is feasible, no?

[/ QUOTE ]
Potentially. We're looking into exactly that.

[/ QUOTE ]

From here
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Yes, I'd love to add some meaningful "games" to the arena's -- King of the Hill, Capture the Flag, Zone Control (aka Domination.)

I think having those would allow different AT's to shine in difference circumstances.

[/ QUOTE ]

Arctic Air inflicts an autohit Slow (which knocks everything except Hide and Invisibility off) and Debuffs Stealth by 389 feet (which starts eating into Hide/Invisibility's numbers).

The only way a Stalker could remain hidden in it is to run Both Hide and Invisibility: This would grant -1111 Feet of "Stealth" that won't get suppressed by the slow. 1111 Feet - 389 Feet (from AA's -stealth effect) - 500 Feet (normal base perception) leaves 222 Feet still to cover before the stalker becomes visible. Assuming you're a controller, Tactics grants 222 Feet of +perception from well before Bloody Bay.

And remember that when a Stalker is running Invisibility, they're unable to attack. When they switch from Invis to Stealth in order to attack, Arctic Air will suppress Stealth and cut right through Hide on its own.

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Don't forget, come i13, redside are getting healers.

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They already had "healers", just not enough of them...

IIRC one of the biggest empathy-related whinges for villains was the lack of ally-grantable perception in Sirens Call, which the new set covers. Another was the lack of redside Healing and Recovery Auras, which the set doesn't cover, but it does get an AB clone...

I've had a Thermal Corr on the drawing board for a while now, lately it's changed to a Thugs/Pain MM....

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Put it this way: How often would you rather choose a Scrapper OR Stalker over a Blaster for PvP? Assuming that we're talking generally and not specific cases such as a TO'ed AR/Dev/Munitions versus a Purpled EM/Regen/Soul.

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This is very interesting, because redside has no Blasters or Scrappers. A Stalker's main selling point is burst damage, and the Stalker is redside's only AT along with Forts that can bring out unresistable damage (Psi is only resisted heroside by those who have Mind over Body or loldarks or PFF)

[/ QUOTE ]

We seem to be getting needlessly sidetracked on the Stalker issue, so for clarity instead try substituting the word "Brute" or "Scranker". The point I'm getting at is that the game's current PvP mechanics work against the effectiveness of the vast majority of builds - and the melee versus ranged disparity is one of the most glaring examples of this imbalance.

Besides the AT-versus-AT imbalance, there is also side-versus-side imbalance to deal with... Redside is traditionally weaker than Blueside in PvP scenarios since they only have one "Buffer" AT and no real ranged spike damage. They tend to make use of Stalkers only because they have no access to Blasters, and because decent-damage Fortunas and Corruptors are few and far between.

When you have such disparity in a game, it needs addressed before said game will attract more than a very dedicated clique of people who are prepared to continually put up with and exploit that disparity.

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If you're being suppressed and bunny hopping, kiting, whatever, that is not the same thing as standing still. Getting an AS off requires a bit of skill here, as following and trying to AS can be tricky thanks to server lag. Still, it's possible.

Since you were implying that Stalkers are useless with the nerf to ET, I assumed that you were thinking teams. So can't a Stalker have his own, then? Power Push ftw. (Fortunata TK blast works great as well.)

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I stated that Stalkers had become ignorable since the nerf to ET - ET was one of the few short-activating heavy damage mezzing attacks that can be activated from out of Hide. Leading off with Bonesmasher from Hide and immediately following up with ET was dangerous, as it could be used with impunity whilst autofollowing someone who was bunnyhopping.

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CM has like a 3 second animation time... the Emp will touch the ground for long enough that Stalkers can get off an AS.
ASing while the other person is bunnyhopping can be done as well.

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Assassin's strike, on the other hand, requires you to stay immobile for a second or two due to the interruptable component of the attack animation. Therefore you either have to know in advance where an enemy is going to be, or have to be very lucky/skilled when autofollowing someone in order that as soon as they become immobile, you can hit Build Up, Toggle off Autofollow and queue AS. And even then they won't die, since unless Procs in AS activate or they're already damaged, you'll need to land a follow up hit to bypass the one shot code.

So yes, currently if you're bunnyhopping properly and activating buffs like CM (which is 3.1 secs long, unlike its clone "Clarity" which is only 1.5 secs and far more spammable) at the crest of a a jump then you're very unlikely to be AS'ed, and even more unlikely to be actually killed by a Stalker.

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People can know that there's a Stalker, but still they're limited by their powers' animation times and game mechanics.

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And their skills, and the PvP system's unbalanced nature in general.

All of which brings us nicely back to my original point, which was that PvP is currently unfairly biased against melee combat, and against the overwhelmingly vast majority of possible powerset combinations.

Put it this way: How often would you rather choose a Scrapper OR Stalker over a Blaster for PvP? Assuming that we're talking generally and not specific cases such as a TO'ed AR/Dev/Munitions versus a Purpled EM/Regen/Soul.

That's the kind of disparity these changes are intended to address... and if they don't get it quite right during the first batch of testing, it'll be refined and refined until they do.

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I guess as someone who's primarily a PvE-er I'm just a little excited at the prospect of some PvP balance finally being introduced to the game,

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And here is the problem as pve-er how can you have any idea of whats not balanced in pvp as it stands now? the changes being made are not balanced they just tip the scales from one side to the other.

You say your happy there is balance being added im sorry but if you dont pvp now how can you know, and by doing pvp now i mean not just going into a zone and coming out moaning that xyz is over powered i mean takeing part every day with a pure pvp toon.

Try looking at it from a pvp-ers point of view you may just see what we are not happy about.

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Frankly, I've been there, tried that and given up because it was too unbalanced and sodding boring. Unbalanced due to a lack of variety amongst viable builds, and boring because it was the same maps, same tactics over and over and over with zero expansion from the developers ever since the Pocket D arena was introduced.

And I'm sick and tired of attitudes just like this one from people who classify themselves as some kind of elitist just because they happen to do the same thing in the arena every day for three years and think that somehow gives them the right to lord that experience over the rest of the playerbase, deeming said playerbase's opinions completely irrelevant unless they can claim identical levels of "real pvp experience". It makes it even more unbelievable whenever these same people then claim to be better with their powers and tactics in PvE than those of us who have been practicing said PvE all the time they were busy PvPing. PvP in this game is an elitist fightclub clique, at best unapproachable and at worst outright hostile towards new players, whilst simultaneously complaining about a decline in the number of PvP participants.

I know how the powers work, I've been in the arena, I've been in the zones, I've rolled "Pure PvP toons" to 50, I've duked (or kited, take your pick) it out versus FOTM builds. I simply prefer PvE. And that preference is based on an extreme lack of parity and balance amongst powersets in PvP. ANYTHING that the devs introduce which tries to upset that lack of balance is a good thing in my book.

I have seen no coherent arguments from these supposedly superior "Pure PvPers" that explain why they think changes geared towards vastly expanding the game's number of viable PvP builds are a bad idea, except that they just don't like the thought of sharing their little pond with the rest of us, or that they hate relearning gameplay tactics. The only thing approaching this has been "I don't like not being able to joust any more", which is a subjective statement but is at least understandable.

Worst case scenario: current PvPers leave, new PvE'ers try it out and decide it's still rubbish, the entire game goes on pretty much unchanged. Best case scenario: current PvPers stop whining and see how the changes actually pan out on live, new PvE'ers try it out and decide they like it. PvP playerbase increases.

[ QUOTE ]
Heres the rub, i didnt make a brute to have it scaled down. I made it so it would be like a brute.

I dont really like the idea of my chars being genericed to be honest.

I think you and i might as well agree to disagree on this one

[/ QUOTE ]

Fair enough.

Personally I don't see how a Brute will be THAT badly affected by the scaling, since the scaling is intended to de-value large levels of outside buffing. Just that by a combination of the Brute scaling and Blaster buffing the Blaster would be able to survive much longer in melee range of a Brute then it can currently.

In that case it'd be more of a Blaster buff than a Brute nerf; the Brute would also be able to actually get to punch the Blaster, which currently rarely happens with all the unsuppressed movement in PvP.

Can't see that being un-Brute-like, but it's far too early days to start arguing any numbers on this. I guess as someone who's primarily a PvE-er I'm just a little excited at the prospect of some PvP balance finally being introduced to the game, and it's making me a little more optimistic than usual...

[ QUOTE ]
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"Sprint speed" > "Sprint speed + Caltrops" or "Sprint Speed + Webnade". You really think a Blaster and a Brute are going to stand immobile next to each other and keep hitting attack buttons until one of them dies?


[/ QUOTE ]

Not at all, i think the brute will just bash the blaster.

[/ QUOTE ]

Under the current PvP rules? Sure.

But under the proposed changes in issue 13, when the Brute's resistance/defence/damage numbers will be scaled down as they increase, they can't keep "Aid Self"ing damage away, the Blaster doesn't need to worry about toggle drops, can't get mezzed for ages and has a decent amount of Defence/Resistance?

Frankly it could go either way. Both builds would be viable, and would have a decent chance of winning if their opponent played poorly. So it'd come down to player skill, which is what the devs are aiming for.

Assuming of course that Phase Shift gets nerfed somehow, because that would get old very quickly.

[ QUOTE ]
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Currently stalkers are only effective if their prey is stupid enough to stand still.


[/ QUOTE ]

Or if they're suppressed.
Or if they're being KBd (Power Pushhh!!!)
Or if they're in a long animation like CM.

[/ QUOTE ]

All --> Standing Still. Except for the Knockback one, and last I checked Stalkers can't get Power Push....

CMing whilst standing immobile on the ground? Stupid.
Suppressed and not Bunnyhopping? Stupid.

I swear, some people still act like they don't even expect there to be a stalker nearby...

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Who said "toe-to-toe"? Did I say "Toe to toe"? Really? I don't think I did...

[/ QUOTE ]

Whats your definition of "duking it out" then? Because neither of you are going very far suppressed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because you're capped at Sprint Speed doesn't mean you're immobile. You can still use terrain to your advantage, and use powers that hamper your foe's movement.

"Sprint speed" > "Sprint speed + Caltrops" or "Sprint Speed + Webnade". You really think a Blaster and a Brute are going to stand immobile next to each other and keep hitting attack buttons until one of them dies?

The idea is to stop ranged toons from automatically winning versus melee toons, not to produce a heavyweight boxing match. Had the devs wanted that, they could just apply an unresistable immobilise to attacked toons.