New_Dark_Age
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Thanks for the welcome and info. Cant use those taunts though if I am picking Fire as a Secondary. Maybe a small taunt can be added to Fire Aura ?Originally Posted by Kenji_Naginata
Hi there, welcome back.
Not to be nitpicky, but a few scrapper secondaries actually do have a taunt effect, such as Shield Defense, Invulnerability and Willpower (though WP has a very weak one.) If I'm not mistaken, they should function the same as brute or tanker auras for holding mobs in a burn patch (with the scrapper AT threat multiplier used instead.)
I share your frustration, though. I have a spines/fire scrapper and a dark melee/fire aura brute and it really displaces mobs for follow-up AOEs on the scrapper. -
Maybe you can convince me to take Energy Cloak. I am building an SS/EA on mids and without the small defense from Energy Drain and with replacing Energy Cloak with Manuevers I have :
48.9 % Defense Smashing/Lethal
55% Defense Energy
45.5% Defense Negative
47.7% Defense Fire/Cold
23.7 % Melee and Ranged
22.0 % AOE
19.9% Psionic
While Energy Cloak would give me more defense to Psionic than Maneuvers I am reluctant to take a stealth power on a Brute for Fury building reasons. I dont see the logical sense of using a concealment power when I want as much enemies to attack me as possible in order to build Fury
Is there any good reasons I should take it. Does it hinder Fury ? -
I just returned from a long break but I was excited to hear the news of Burn being fixed. However Scrappers do not have a Taunt so when using Burn it still causes mobs to flee which is an annoyance , especially on a team, and a lost of damage since one cannot practically use any subsequent AOE attacks after using the power.
Have there been any mention by the Devs to address this issue by changing Scrapper Burn or replacing the power with another attack or do they feel Burn is fine the way it is on Scrappers?
Thanks -
I am just looking for information on APPs and Patrons in going Rogue. What Villain Archetypes get what Ancillary powers and vice versa. If anyone can point me in the right direction or tell me I would appreciate it. As always I am trying to make a God and such info is needed before creation. Searched the forum a bit and didnt find anything except Corruptors getting Defender Ancillary Pools.
Thanks -
Damn, wrong forum. Lack of sleep, my bad.
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I am just looking for information on APPs and Patrons in going Rogue. What Villain Archetypes get what Ancillary powers and vice versa. If anyone can point me in the right direction or tell me I would appreciate it. As always I am trying to make a God and such info is needed before creation. Searched the forum a bit and didnt find anything except Corruptors getting Defender Ancillary Pools.
Thanks -
Quote:Interesting story about perception but if you want it to relate a little more on topic you should also mention that the second man would take 3 times longer to fill a person's order and that the first man tended to accurately guess the correct measurement at times.Originally Posted by Psyte
I remember watching a customer service video at an old job maybe 10 years ago. The guy gave this story/example:
There was a candyshop with two men working at it. You placed your order and one of them would get you your candy.
One man would put your bag on the scale, pour a bunch in, then take away until he got your order filled.
The other man would put your bag on the scale, put in some, then add until he got your order filled.
The second man was the one that customers liked to fill their order, even though both men were equally accurate and reliable in getting your order filled.
I can certainly understand wanting things to go faster, but repeated buffing over a long period of time is something that is better tolerated (and gives a better sense of stability) than radical changes back and forth, especially when its a massive buff that keeps having to get nerfed and nerfed and nerfed.
edit: I understand completely if you disagree with this. Just sayin' where I'm coming from and what I believe. -
Quote:I see your point but I believe that by taking greater risk the lesser evil is chosen. It is better a set be buffed too much then quickly nerfed than letting a set rot for several years. The end result would be the same only faster. Discontent exists no matter what you do.Originally Posted by Psyte
Unfortunately the players react very negatively to nerfs. Even if they ultimately get to the same numbers, gradual buffing won't cause near the ruckus that overpowering then nerfing will.
On top of that you never know how that buff might interact with other things. I have always trusted the players to come up with things that the devs haven't thought when it comes to exploits or making something overpowered/broken, and always will.
Taking risk does not always bring failure anyway. By being timid with the changes, the Devs almost guarantee failure. I quit the game for nearly two years and still return to find sets like EA and FA suffering. If they buffed both sets boldly the first time and then nerfed them again slightly then they would not have been in such a poor state for so long. We would be sitting here talking about how EA and FA are solid sets. -
Quote:This is not about my dislike of Dominators and my refusal to play them. It is about the low quality of 3 sets and an ATs inherent and the devs slow response time to fix these sets.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
It's at this point it's safe to say everything you post can be ignored from here on out.
The damage buff from domination was removed. To balance this, the base damage a dominator puts out was increased considerably. The Jekyll and Hyde feel of the set is GONE. That fact that you're attempting to use it as a case for a "lack of developer attention" without having even played with the change proves that you're more interested in ******** and moaning rather than seeking any kind of necessary alteration to the game. I use domination more for the endurance return than the double mag/duration.
Your followup paragraph does nothing but put emphasis on your erroneous beliefs. The extra base damage helps Every encounter.
Give up now. There are already a multitude of threads regaring EM, FA and tanks. Join one of them. You don't have the necessary knowledge to spearhead change in this game.
What you think of me is irrelevant. I can know almost nothing about the game outside the power sets I listed and still it would not change the fact what EM , FA and EA are all underperforming. I have stated the general ideas of why they suck, especially EM and FA. I have not explained the general problem with EA's mitigation in this thread but I have before and others have done before me. Now if you expect me to do extensive research as I have seen you do then you will be disappointed.
You lost sight of what is important. And from what I have seen , you arent to fond of playing Tankers so I find it likely you would agree that Tankers should have a better inherent or something at least.
PS: No crap higher base damage helps every encounter. Purple Triangles always appear on the more difficult targets and unless this damage buff is so high a Dominator would be easy pickings because of their frailty during the duration of the Triangles. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Frosticus
No it doesn't. What school of debate do you come from? Let me guess, the school of talking out your ***?
Is it hard for you to grasp that the more Archtypes that have an inherent that increases personal effectiveness would only help my case, however small. ? Wise up. -
Quote:You are wrong about Fire Aura. Without an Immobile or team mate, it is impossible for Burn to do decent damage. Your claim Burn is good for mitigation is also silly and seemingly and attempt to take something good from a piece of crap.Originally Posted by Jake_Summers
You can't give tankers any kind of bonus to resistance/defense without making them unkillable. As it is, a tanker player right is already almost nigh unkillable. Any bonus to their inherent would have to be to improve soloing damage and the AT would play just fine.
You are frankly just wrong about Dominators. Now you may not like Dominators, that is a valid opinion. But that doesn't mean they are a weak AT under any circumstances. I don't like playing Controllers, but I admit they are a vey good AT. Remember, just because you don't like something, doesn't mean that something is bad.
I still think Fire Aura is a good set, when you take Shield Defense out of the picture and even then the two almost stack up, atleast on paper. Against All Odds gives a comparable +dam bonus to Fiery Embrace (One is always on, costs end to maintain and isn't as good against fewer enemies, while the other has a short recharge time, lasts 30 seconds and gives the same bonus in all situations). Burn is both decent damage AND damage mitigation. Y'know those guys running from the burn patch, they ain't attacking you or your teammates at this time. And keep in mind Shield Charge has a miscalculated damage modifier. It'll get it's nerf soon enough. (Their performance on IO's is a completely different matter, though I stand by my awesome Fire/Fire brute)
Can't comment on Energy Melee or Energy Aura. Never played either. But honestly, the "Waah do this immediately or I'll quit" attitude doesn't help. Or the "I don't play because of these issues" attitude...hey if you don't play anymore why do you care?
I think I speak what people are reluctant to say.. The devs response time is too long and evidence they are severely undermanned. It is simply bad business to let sets like EA, EM and especially FA to remain in inferiority as long as they have while they continue to introduce new power sets. -
Quote:It does not matter. Claiming Domination the greatest inherent will just simply strengthen my case that Tankers need a better one.Originally Posted by Frosticus
I strongly suggest you increase your knowledge base before making such assertions.
To answer your questions though:
People chase perma dom because it is amazing. They are strong without it, but god like with it. Sort of like if you could perma crit on a scrapper with enough investment. People would seek it.
It seems you don't know how many of the hero inherents work.
Yes you can reach perma dom without IO's. It's called teaming, which AV's are designed for, which doms contribute just fine toward when on a team. There are a few dom builds that can solo some AV's, but who cares? I can easily disqualify almost every AV solo'er because they have to pick and choose the Av's they face. There are very few true AV solo'ing builds in this game. So dom's don't fit that description, neither do 99.9% of builds. -
Quote:Since I want EM to go the AOE route, I want Whilring Hands to not only have a higher radius but higher chance to stun. That way it can reduce incoming damage to an extent as Foot Stomp does.Originally Posted by SpittingTrashcan
Total Focus already has a 100% chance to stun. It has always had a 100% chance to stun. EM may have issues, but reliable mez is not one.
If EM were mine to play with, there would be any number of things I could do with it. Unfortunately, most of them would involve animation changes, which make BAB unhappy because he ends up putting in a lot of work to make things that half the recipients will hate because they're different.
I wonder how people would like ET if it had Shatter's cone - and hit you with self damage for each target? Heh. This is why I'm not allowed to develop games...
If WH stays the same I feel TF should be more like Thunderstrike with stun instead of knockdown or ET be made into a PBAOE. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
If you haven't played Dominators since the change to Domination, then you really have no idea what you're talking about.
Previously, Domination doubled the magnitude of your mezzes, increased their duration, filled your endurance bar, and increased your damage. Now, the damage no longer comes from Domination, and instead all of the Dominators' attacks (except Psychic Shockwave) have been equivalently buffed. (And while PSW wasn't buffed, the rest of Psi Assault got buffs to disperse how drastically weighted the set was toward PSW.)
So, Dominators do more damage than they did*. Like Containment, Dominators can increase the magnitude of their holds (except Dominators can double their magnitude, instead of just adding 1). Unlike Containment, Dominators can increase the duration of their effect. Unlike Containment, Dominators can instantly refill their endurance bar. Unlike Controllers, Dominators now always have the extra damage available.
No offense but you display a lack of intelligence when you claim a player who has played Dominators before would need to play them again after this buff to understand them. If you lack the ability to take your past experience and just place a change in it then that is unfortunate. For me it isnt hard to just remember my time as a Dominator and in that memory just picture myself doing more damage. That is the underlying change that has occured as you have stated correct? Just more damage outside of domination. The archetype still is too fragile and genetically inferior in my opinion.
This isnt about Dominators anyway. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Miyabi
I think EM should remain a single target centric set. Whirling is meant to be a minion buster. If anything, speeding up Total Focus and Energy Transfer's animations (Half?) would make it once more ST King. You're giving up team value (AoE) for the ability to make a huge difference when fighting AVs and bosses.
Insert Typed versus Positional argument and two-hundred posts here.
I've tweaked with the set. I've ran builds, and psuedo-builds in Mids, and pondered and thoughted and thinked and...I just don't know. The set seems decent on paper, but when you actually use it...
I consider it the positional defense equivalent of Electric Armor, one absorbing/reducing damage and the other attempting to avoid it, plus minor absorb/reduce. What did Electric Armor need to bring it up to par? A decent heal +regen built into its endurance reduction power. Is Ele top dog? No, but it's much better now than ever before. As many have pointed out before, EA's sap+heal is all but worthless against a single target.
Maybe give Gauntlet the Vigilance treatment? Since Defenders and Tankers are over-specialized, the two sort of go hand in hand. +Damage that scales down with increasing team size.
...is a mess. This coming from someone who's only Tank is a Fire/Fire. It's good with IOs, but the game isn't balanced around IOs. The things you give up for Fiery Embrace (Long recharge BU), Burn (Ghetto Immobilize Resist, enormous fear effects), Blazing Aura (0.89 more damage than Ele and Dark's damage auras), and a self-rez (Look at all my survival holes, woo!), are staggering.
Thank you for your constructive post. Other than EM we seem to be in agreement.
I have tried both Fire/Fire on a Scrapper and Tank so I know how truely weak and fragile it is without IOs. I have no idea how strong Fire is with IOs cause as I said, I dont build a house on corrupt foundations. -
Quote:I didnt make a case with Dominators. I just gave my opinion of the AT. Confirmation of this recent damage buff does not attract me to the fragile AT.Originally Posted by Lightfoot
What Jekyll and Hyde? The Dominator changes of a year ago completely eliminated the Jekyll / Hyde duality of Dominators. Domination is Mag increase / Mez protection / Endurance refill only now. The damage buff was completely removed and baked into their powers so that they were always doing Domination level damage (unless you were a double dom permadom).
If you are going to use something as evidence of the lack of Dev attention, the Dominator changes weaken your case, not strengthen it.
And you are absolutely correct, the Devs are extremely wary of "overbuffing." They have said so in plain english. The reason they buff in small increments is because it is much easier and much less painful to gently ramp up the power than it is to realize they went too far and rein it back in. This is wisdom, you might do well to learn from it.
I see your point but the truth is the developers take so long to buff something that apparently they need to take bigger risk when they do because the case is they arent ever really going to get back to the Power Set anytime soon. Maybe they are too busy. Who knows ?
Energy Aura was given the inadequate buff how long ago ? 2008 ? 2007 ? Not sure but all I know it has been a long time and the developers havent got around to it so it may be wiser to take a bigger risk since they are only able get around to the power every 3 years or so.
Fire Aura has been weak for 5 years so you think the devs should be modest in its augmentation and buff it slightly every couple of years until it is balanced ? That is illogical.
Take risk. Overpowering something seems to bring a much quicker fix than inadquately buffing it over time anyway. So whatever happens...it will be ok. -
Quote:Sure I do. I played one back in 2006-07 to 41 but gave up on it. Despite the damage increase I believe occured in my absense I doubt nothing has changed and I rather an AT that does not rely on its inherent so much the player wants to devote time and energy to reach the great perma inherent. With Hero ATs their inherent is always on from the start so I will stick with them.Originally Posted by Frosticus
You know absolutely nothing about dominators. They are pretty solid without domination and are one of the top dogs in the game with it up. If you want to make something easy invite a perma dom.
In terms of inherent powers domination is so far above any other inherent it isn't even funny.
If domination scored 100, the next closest inherent would score 10.
By the way , can a player reach Perma Dom without IOs? I am not interested in building a house on Corrupt foundations. The genetics of the archetype has always been and will always be ...defective. And lets not forget the Purple triangles. Do they still exist ? Lol probably. If so how do you do with them on your target ? Does that new damage help you any ? I doubt it cause the AT is so fragile and helpless without controls. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
My thoughts:
I would personally like to see the set regain it's edge in single target damage, rather than make it another AoE-centric set.
I don't have any Energy Aura characters, but I'll concede the set still has a bad reputation. At the same time, I've seen some amazing things done with the set. I'll ask you this: rather than increasing the set's survivability, how about increasing its utility and flavour?
This was a dead horse long before I took up the cause. I agree with some of your reasoning for them needing an Inherent improvement, but I disagree on your suggestion. At the 6th Anniversary event, Castle admitted he "was concerned" about Tankers vs Brutes with the upcomming side swapping in GR. I plan to sit back and watch if that goes anywhere.
I've personally never had issues with Firey Aura. I wouldn't turn down Knock resistance, however.
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Like you, many people want to see Energy Melee brought back to its former glory in single target damage. I , however, disagree and think on the overall bigger picture it is more benefical for EM to have better AOE capabilties on a game with team play. Simply reversing the nerf by giving ET the old animation will do nothing to solve EMs teaming deficiency.
Lets now look at both Blue side Melee ATs. Since Scrappers have an inherent to increase their damage , I feel it is reasonable to think Tankers should have an inherent to increase their durability. Even when not factoring the added imbalance of IOs, Scrappers have High Base damage with Medium Hit points with an inherent that increases damage while Tankers have just Medium Base Damage and High Hit points with no inherent to increase durability. The score is Scrappers 3 , Tankers 2 . The logic is undeniable. Tankers should have a better inherent that coincides with their design purpose, to absorb damage. -
Quote:You dont see the bigger picture I think or are not thinking outside the box. Domination is not a inherent that makes Dominators rise above all other ATs, it is an inherent that brings them even with all other ATs. No amount of buff or IOs slotting can hide the design defect of Doctor Jekyll/Mr Hyde despite all the changes. The AT is certainly more of an avid drug user than me but its drug is Domination.Originally Posted by Silas
Tell me, do you smoke it or take in the arm?
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Quote:Depends whether the powers in question are effective.Originally Posted by Weatherby Goode
<QR>
Skipping powers in a set and then complaining it sucks is rather silly. -
Quote:Point 1: You are only allowed 24 powers. One must prioritize unless it is for concept. An autopassive with meager resistance is on the bottom of the list of most logical powers in the case of an Energy Aura character. This was the case before the minor buff. Taking the minor buffed Passive power would only force a player to give up something to get the Toxic Resistance thus most likely weakening his build overall. The buff was illogical. Toxic Resistance should have been in a heal.Originally Posted by Everfree_Fire
Only two comments here, from me.
1: How is taking something that increases survivability lowering your effectiveness? My highest Energy Aura is a 20 brute, so I don't have much practice (She's an energy/energy, and I have yet to feel weak on her). but to me this seems like a rather silly thing to say.
2: Considering the game is, was, and to the best of my knowledge will always be balanced around SOs, how does complaining about an IO'd out scrapper being as survivable as a tanker help your argument in any way. I rolled a tanker because I wanted someone who could be a tanker; She can get aggro, (sort of, she's WP/) hold onto it, and she doesn't die unless I royally screw up with her. Sure, she solos slow, but that's why I only team with her, and I feel that there's no problem with that.
Now maybe I don't have the same point of view you do. I don't know...But these two just seem strange to me.
Point 2: I was efficient with Defenders prior to their inherent change. It doesnt mean they didnt need one. The Tanker currently has no inherent that increases personal suviviability when solo, unlike everyone else. -
One of the major negative factors of this game to me is the absurdly long time it takes the developers to Buff things and even when they do manage do buff things often it is not enough. I have focused on 4 major areas that have annoyed me for the longest time. These are issues the developers should have solved in some cases years ago. Other issues exist I am sure so state them if you like.
ENERGY MELEE
Energy Melee currently suffers from dismal AOE performance while no longer having an edge in single target damage since the weakening of Energy Transfer. Other attacks sets can match Energy Melee in single target damage but all have better AOE capabilities. This makes the set without reason to exist as other choices are more logical for overall effectiveness. Despite outcry from the games population, the developers have done nothing to remedy EMs poor condition. The set needs more AOE capabilities , both damage and mitigation. Whirling Hands should be buffed or ET or TF turned into some form of AOE.
ENERGY AURA
The buff to Energy Aura was an insult to my intelligence. Energy Aura needed a Reconstruction like clone or some other unique power to significantly improve its mitigation. What it got was Toxic resistance in one of its passives, a power which was logical to skip, and a weak heal in Energy Drain that requires multiple opponents to become effective , which makes it pathetic against difficult 1 v 1 fights. Again, what good would placing toxic resistance in the auto passive? So now in order to get the toxic resistance players have to invest in a power they previously skipped, thus weakening their build overall. The buff to Energy Aura is undeniable evidence that the Devs are afraid to overpower things through buff so they take inadequate steps to strengthen underperforming sets.
NO REAL TANKER INHERENT
Disregarding Kheldians and Dominators who’s Domination I view as an overall disadvantage, every single AT on this game, now including Defenders , has a inherent that improves personal survivability. But not tanks. Apparently most people think Tanks don’t need one but with the implementation of IOs , I feel they are wrong. Other than concept, why play a Tanker when you can have a soft capped Scrapper ? There is no logical reason. IOs have now made it possible for Scrappers to achieve high levels of survivability to match Tankers but they have not made it possible for Tankers to achieve Damage that can match Scrappers. What Tankers should have is an inherent , other than the Taunt from Gauntlet needed for teams, that improves their durability. One suggestion I have made is for every attack a tanker makes , he has a chance of landing a Accuracy Debuff and a Damage Debuff in a small AOE around his target. It should be both so it can help both defense and resistance characters equally.
FIRE AURA
Fire Aura has been left to rot in inferiority for the last 4 or 5 years. Its condition is so obvious to people with general knowledge of all defensive sets that the situation is unacceptable and shows that the developers are either too afraid of overpowering things through buff, the same as with Energy Aura, or mistakenly think Fire Aura is balanced. Burn has proven to be worthless without an immobile since it scatters mobs and does little damage. Its immobile protection is impractical as well and will just divide a player on when to use it. Imagine having immobile protection in Foot Stoop or Shield Charge. That is how stupid it is.
Consume is a poor endurance recovery power since it tries to do too many things at once. Its recharge is 3 times that of power sink and requires accuracy slotting because it does damage which means it requires a tohitcheck. So the truth is that by doing damage Consume causes players to do less damage overall since they lack an effective endurance recovery power.
Fire Aura still to this day continues to have no knockback protections and impractical immobile protection.
Fire Aura is a set which lies to the player. Conceptually it sacrifices defense for damage, but the only damage buff in FA is Fiery Embrace. Blazing Aura isn’t anything special as other defensive secondarys have damage toggles and Rise of the Phoenix requires a player to die every time to use it. So what we have is a fragile set with little offensive ability to make up for it. Now with the existence of Shields, Fire Aura is obsolete.
The ways to improve Fire Aura are numerous. I immediately support Burn to me made into an effective attack again while Immobile Protection be placed in Plasma Shield. Consumes recharge should be reduced, it should do no damage and be auto-hit. Fiery Embrace also may need looking into, most notably its recharge. Since the game isnt balanced on IOs either, Fire Aura should have Knock Back Protection since Acrobatics now is too weak.
One of the main reasons I do not play this game much anymore is because of the time it takes the developers to fix such issues and at times when they do , the Buff is often too inadequate and insulting to the intelligence. So please focus on the more important issues and don’t be afraid to take risk. -
Energy Melee is currently an underperforming set and this is undenible. Its single target damage was reduced with the nerf while its pathetic AOE capabilties were neglected. Other than concept I can see no logical reason to pick EM. Super Strength , Fire Melee and Stone Melee seem to be very close with EM on single target damage yet these have much better AOE damage and in the case of Stone and SS they have better mitigation as well.
Solution 1:
Buff Whilring Hands by increasing its radius and chance to stun. Have the Stun duration last only a couple of seconds at most. This would make WH more like Foot Stomp to where it can reduce incoming damage except it would do it through Stun rather than KB. If the devs are feeling generous they can slightly improve its damage as well.
Solution 2:
Make Total Focus an AOE like Thunderstrike.
Solution 3:
Make Energy Transfer a PBAOE
A forth solution would be to simply lift the nerf and retore ET to its former strength but I feel it more benefical to the overall game based around team play for Energy Melee to get better AOE capabilities.
I do not play TA so I should not give a comment. -
Quote:A man has a right to dislike other races and view his race as more preferable. This was certaintly the case with most Western citizens in the 16th to mid-20th century, when our culture was at its height and the West dominated most of the world. To claim them ignorant, evil and criminals is well....ignorant.Originally Posted by billy_pilgrim
willful ignorance is, to me, a heinous crime. racism is just one of the ways it manifests itself.
Racism is just a politically correct insult to supress truth and encourage the limitation of free speech. I recommend you stop using it.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this conversation, I will eventually be locked because some people view it as "too sensitive". I will attempt restrain myself from speaking more about such topics.
The answer the OP , Evil is what weakens the community so with this regard it is both intent and action. -
I will offer my humble politically incorrect opinion after having read many responses here.
I agree with the words of Philip Atkinson in defining good and evil and his opinions that there is no universal morality amongst world cultures.
"Good is what strengthens the community"
"Evil is what weakens the community"
This means there is an absolute , total idea of good and evil. If a man steals from or kills his neighbor out of envy this can only be seen as an act of evil by sane individuals because if everyone stole and killed for envy then ordered society could not function. To claim otherwise is to accept anarchy, disorder and demonstrates insanity for it is placing private feelings ahead of the needs of the community, the traits of an animal.
It is also important to understand that no act is good or evil in and of itself, it must be judged on the circumstances. Killing a man because you dislike his eye color is evil while killing for ones country or executing a murderer to uphold justice is not evil but an act of good. Forcing a woman to sex almost always is an act of evil but in a hypothetical situation where you are the last man on earth and she is the last woman on earth then it can be justified if she refuses to procreate.
There are different communities in the world so morality differs and what is good for one may not necessarily be good for the other which is why war exists. Rome propsered from expansion and from commiting acts of slaughter against thousands of barbarians. To the Romans, this act was good for it strengthened their community, to the barbarians it was an act of evil because it weakened their community. America expanded at the expense of the Native Americans which brought enormous territory and wealth to our nation so it can only be seen as an act of good to rational Americans while to the Natives it was evil. And it is proven in history that when a civilization abandons its military spirit and morality and stops being ruthless it eventually dissolves from being attacked by other cultures. Emperor Valens admitted Gothic horders into the Empire in the 4th centurty and they eventually defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople and sacked Rome. In this case, this act of mercy by Emperor Valens was an act of evil as would be Americans granting amnesty to illegal invaders.
Intent also matters. As another poster said " It is what drives choices." Usually nothing good is born from selfish intent because it is placing a persons feelings ahead of others. And to claim that one sees no right and wrong , only consequences shows an inadequacy in character. Conscience should be the underlying reason people do not commit acts of evil , not fear of getting caught. Many times in my life I could have stolen without consequence but conscience prevented me from doing this.
A man either serves something greater than himself or he does not. If he does not then he is selfish and thus evil. Though I am devoid of religion , I see the Ten Commandments as logical moral guidelines for maintaining order in society. I was also raised to serve my country, aka community. So what strengthens the USA is defined as an act of good to me , even if it is waging war and mass slaughter.
Bottom line is, there has to be the concept of good and evil if there is to be order in society and those devoid of such concepts need to wise up.