Shred_Monkey

I think it's nearly unanimous that where stalkers are lacking is contributing to large teams. They have burst damage (but not great sustained damage) and they have low AoE. They can't tank (reletively speaking) and they don't have controls, buff, or debuffs.

That said, what conceptually they should is massive single target damage. So how do we make that into something that has them contribute to teams without destabilising everything else. They tried adding more criticals on a team, but I think that fall short. My proposal is simple. Go all the way with that concept. 100% critical out of hide... AND attacking doesn't break hide. Being the target of an attack breaks hide, but if you don't pick up any agro, you continue to string criticals non-stop. Placate is a power you use to shed agro and begin to crit again. Solo play would be essentually the same as now, but team play would be more about staying in a hidden state so you can maximize your damage output. At most you'd double your damage output from the current state... which in comparison with having AoEs vs Single Target I don't think the increase in damage would be too great. If it is, then keep this same mechanic and tweak down the critical damage amount of the powers (80% crit damage instead of 100 for example).

There's one catch to your plan. If you're soloing large spawns, you'll have a lot of runners... on teams, not so much, but solo you'll be chasing 2-4 runners every spawn. I have a very well built spines/elec so I know this from expierience. He's great on teams... he'll make any team kill faster. But I rarely play him solo due to the annoyance factor.

The new nightstar may be harder then the old one. The old one is possible. But the build I did it with (DB/SR... very simliar to claws) had +34 global damage and didn't have aid self.

Just to clear things up a bit. Everything you're describing happened before they merged the markets.

The lower level recipes dried up considerably when they went to merits for TF's. It was a good change, but there was a big drop in the supply of lower level TF drops. The increase in salvage prices isn't what it appears to be. If you bid what you used to and wait 10-15 minutes, you'll still get your salvage. The buy it NOW prices for salvage went up in the last few months (there's 100s of contributing factors... pick one)... but the buy it patiently prices have not.

people still use travel powers?

1 more vote for traps. In addition to everything already mentioned, you get status protection in FFG and an immoblize. The immoblize is going to be valuable when you're slowly beating down a boss and he decides to starts running... and they most certainly will run.

Secondaries are not all that different... I'd pick the one you find entertaining.

My latest project that I stayed with all the way to 50 was a traps/DP, so I might as well share what I learned. Build below.



Here's the highlights...

soft cap'd to all positions and psi. (this should mean soft capped to every attack.)

61.6% resistance to smashing/lethal

Status protection to everything except sleep.

Hail of bullets and soul drain both have fully enhanced recharge... I try to use them together as an opening attack whenever possible. (that's really the whole reason I made this toon... big no-penalty nuke with good survivability)

Also, I have enough recharge to run: Pistols>Dual wield>Pistol's>executioner's shot>repeat... and the endurance to run forever.

With maneuvers and FFG I give about 25.5% defense to the team. Acid Mortor and Assault also benifit the team.

I also have full stealth, which is nice for running tip missions, or speed TFs.




A few notes about what I didn't take:

I like caltrops a lot, but chose web granade instead because I found that when soloing I needed a way to stop bosses from running all over the map.

I would have prefered bullet rain over empty clips, but it didn't work out in the build. I had to take 4 of the first 6 early powers and had to sacrifice something. Soul Drain+Hail of bullets is my primary sources of damage contribution to a team anyway. Compared to that, everything else I have is just tickling things until a real damage toon gets around to killing them.

Suppressive Fire... I wanted this power. I had it for a while. And then I discovered that while using Incindiary Rounds it doesn't do it's resist debuff. When looking at the math, I can do more damage using the attack chain I mentioned earlier (for solo fights) and on teams, it's pretty rare that we're in a fight that I could pick out a target to do an extra -resistanse to and make a noticable difference to the fight.

Also, the build I posted below is relatively cheap. No PvP IOs and just 1 purple IO. I have a higher end build made, but the only real difference between this and that build is +recharge and this is about 5 billion inf cheaper.

I didn't take triage beacon. I may pick it up with I19. I just don't find it useful in the types of teams I play on. We'd always be leaving it behind.




Here's how I like to play this toon. He's great for opening up a fight against almost any spawn...

1. Make sure FFG is up (you really don't want to forget that).
2. Drop Seeker Drones in the middle of the spawn.
3. Jump in the middle and drop acid Mortor.. (possibly drop acid mortor on the outside then jump in, if you happend to be fighting somethign with a lot of AoE that'll kill your traps)
4. Soul drain + Hail of bullets (watch 4 seconds of large orange numbers over everything in the spawn)
5. Play clean-up, (begin setting poison trap if there's an AV in the spawn).


In general it's been a very fun toon to play. The damage output is a little low for what I prefer... and at level 50, if you're on a steamrolling team with a solid tank, this toon doesn't feel like he's doing much. But on a pick-up group that doesn't have a solid tank, or a small team, this toon can fill the voids in team make-up in very interesting and unique ways. Conceptually traps and DP fit nicely, and play style has nice synergy in that Traps are basically set at the beginning of the fight, and you can just blast away until it's time to set up for the next spawn.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Traps
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(3), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(25), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(50)
Level 1: Pistols -- Apoc-Dam%(A), Achilles-ResDeb%(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(9), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Dev'n-Hold%(50)
Level 4: Empty Clips -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(15), Posi-Dmg/Rng(15), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 6: Acid Mortar -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 8: Force Field Generator -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(13), DefBuff-I(23)
Level 10: Swap Ammo
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(17), Mrcl-Rcvry+(25)
Level 16: Maneuvers -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(27), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(27), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), RedFtn-Def(29), RedFtn-EndRdx(31)
Level 18: Stealth -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(31), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), RedFtn-Def(33), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-End%(34), P'Shift-EndMod(34)
Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(34), EndRdx-I(36), ResDam-I(36)
Level 26: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(37), RedFtn-Def(37), RedFtn-EndRdx(37), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 28: Executioner's Shot -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(39), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 30: Seeker Drones -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(43), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(46), RzDz-Stun/Rng(46), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(46), RzDz-Immob%(48)
Level 32: Poison Trap -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 35: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Hail of Bullets -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 41: Oppressive Gloom -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Dark Embrace -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam(45), RctvArm-EndRdx(45)
Level 47: Soul Drain -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 4: Ninja Run

1. Ignore the people advertising for farms/PLs. It's part of the game, but you don't have to participate. It's certainly not a representative sample of what "normal play" is.
2. At level 20-30 you can find pick-up groups in Talos Island. At level 40+ you can find pick-up groups in Perigine Island. 30-40 is not so easy to find groups... but if you bounce back and forth between Founder's Falls and Brickstown, you may be able to find a team. I usually have more luck in Founder's. I also find I solo through those levels quite frequently.
3. There is a big differense between playing on a highly populated server and playing on a less populated server. If you're on a less populated server, and it gets to the point you're thinking of leaving the game, try switching servers first. It really is a lot easier to find pick-up groups on Freedom then other places.

Not that people who complain about purple drop rate would listen to me (or anyone else), but for those of you who are reading this thread and don't know this yet.... selling purple drops are not a good way to make money in this game.

1. Do you favour the idea of being able to solo EBs/AVs/GMs, if so/not, why?

It doesn't matter what the dev's do. The players will figure out how to beat it. This has been true of every game I've ever played. Personally, I like the level of difficulty they have now.


2. Have you ever soloed an EB/AV/GM, and if so how did you feel afterward?

AVs yes, almost all of them. GMs... with temp powers.


3. Do you think the dynamic will change after the implementation of the Incarnate system?

For me no. I really never solo AVs anymore... I know I can, but don't find it as fun as teaming.


4. Whatever else you wish to add.

As I started to mention on my answer to question 3. I don't solo AVs anymore. When I originally started to, it was a pretty rare thing for my chosen AT, so I documented my feats and posted video about it (google shred monkey and you can still find them... not the guitar playing monkey... scroll down). Someone once paid me 10M inf to join me on a mission and watch me do it because they didn't think it was possible.

But now soloing AVs is more common. Very rarely to you find someone who thinks it's impossible, so while I know all the toons I take to 50 can do it, I don't bother to. There's no bonus reward for doing it. So, instead, I find myself focusing my builds and play time on team play and/or gaining rewards as fast as possible.

In my opinion, with Ninja run, there's no reason to take a travel power in this game unless you just want to have it to enjoy it by itself. If the I19 reports are correct that they're merging the trains together (no yellow line vs blue line), o this becomes even more true. I seroiusly doubt I'll ever spend power picks on a travel power again. None of the toons I play regularly have a travel power. I'm very rarely the last one to the mission door and I'm never the last one into a fight.

Stealth IO's can go into sprint, so you can go psudo stealthed with just that, or full invis by picking up stealth. I find I like the ninja run + sprint + stealth movement for full invis. None of those powers cancel each other, so you can go straight into combat without having to toggle anything on.

ironically, when you get Against All Odds, it boosts your damage... so with that turned on you'll actually do MORE damage 1 handed then the same 2 handed move by a non-shield scrapper. But as already stated, it's just visual display thing and has nothing to do with the actual damage.

Does anyone have video of 1 handed animations? I haven't had the pleasure of seeing this in person yet.

Sonic/Electric blapper was one of my unconventional yet successful level-ups. Once you get siren's song you can keep spawns slept while you beat things down 1 at a time. With Air Superiority to perma-knockdown your target you can move along with relative safety even though you have no defenses to speak of. Sonic/energy could probably do that even better by adding more stuns to the mix.

At the end game that toon was too squishy for my tastes, but leveling up was fun.

I'd do a kinetics controller. Pick a controller set that gets aoe immobilze. You're going to want to hold down runner, because spines gets a lot of them. Kinetics will boost damage massivly as well as help with recharge and recovery.

This is a really minor thing, but I always slot end red in practiced brawler instead of recharge reduciton. You've got plenty of recharge from global sources that's it's more then permanent.

Personally I'd dump superjump and just use ninja run. I haven't taken a travel power in a long time now. With I19 connecting both train lines, I doubt I ever will again. You could fit assault in there instead, or tactics.

Not sure why you have a 6th Red Fortune in focused fighting. You get 2.5% more ranged defense with that, but you're already at soft cap without it to ranged. That'd free up 1 slot. Hasten is over permanent. Dropping 1 of the slots from that gives you about 1 second short of permanent, which you'll never notice (I speak from experience with that). That could free up another slot for you.... hrmm.. 6 slotted ragnorok. You could take out the Damage IO there to put in something that gives more +end, or take out the chance for knockdown to just free up a slot.

Following all that, you only need to free up 1 more slot and take boxing over kick and then you can 5 slot the stun purple set for 10% more recharge if that's of interest to you.

anyway... food for thought. Pretty solid build as it stands though. Nice hp and regen.

I've got a Spines/Elec built for AoE goodness. Basically the same benifits as spines/fire except better endurance management and better recharge. Slightly less damage from the Aura.

100 merits per night didn't sound like anything special until it occured ot me you're doing this on a level 30 toon. That's hardcore.

Playing a brute and a scrapper, you might level faster solo anyway. Obviously you level fastest by killing non-stop things that give xp. XP is pretty standard based on level, so the only real variable is downtime. To avoid downtime, you can run radio missions, which keeps you from having to go zone to zone to get to your mission. Mission Architect takes this a step further and gives you a door in 1 spot for every mission.

You can choose to skip enemy groups who slow you down. (fake nemisis, master illusionists, anything with caltrops, etc). But basically the way to level fast is to just keep fighting.