Slyfe

The Meet & Greet looked awesome! Really wish I could have made it, but I had something more important to attend to.

Anyways, is there any news whatsoever on the date of the next possible Meet & Greet? I know that it's a bit early for them to post any news about it, but did any of the devs happen to mumble something about the date and time of the next?

We really do have the friendliest MMO community around.

In your face World of Warcraft!

IN-YOUR-FACE!

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Well, from my Ice Controller (Ice Slick), I can tell you Ice Patch is useless. I respecced out of it with my Blaster. I figure I won't be PVE anymore, been there, done that. I read Chilling Embrace is awesome, but it does no damage,

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While it takes damage to knock a stalker out of hide, a lot of things that don't damage will interrupt AS. For example, I tested kinetic's repel in the arena (just a melee-range PbAOE knockback aura) against an SR stalker running elude and popping purples to the defense cap and he was completely unable to get an AS off if I was standing still. The one time he got it off was when he hit it just as I was backing away from him.

I'm not sure about ice patch (haven't tested it), but I know I can't AS on quicksand, earthquake, caltrops and bunch of other location AoEs. It's worth testing. If repel interrupts, I would think that ice patch would as well.

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If what you say is correct, then it seems like I should be able to have CE and Whirlwind going and read the newspaper, free from AS (but not stuns). But, I doubt that. I can test the theory.

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Whirlwind will keep you from getting AS'ed - I've tried many times to get whirlwinding blasters (including ones that have been immoblized) and failed. I haven't tested against it in the arena in a controlled setting, so it may be possible with very precise timing and a lot of luck to AS a moving target with whirlwind, but I've never done it or seen it done.

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It seems that good Stalkers get around any power, including Hurricane. I was standing between two Hurricanes one time and one of the Hurricanes suddenly stopped. I looked over at the Defender who was staggering around stunned. The Stalker didn't use AS, he used another power that stuns and is not interruptable. Needless to say, that Defender died before the other Defender or myself could do anything. Now that is a talented Stalker

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It definitely takes luck and skill to do what that undoubtably EM/* stalker did. My stormy isn't high enough to get into Siren's yet, but I've been hit that way once by an EM stalker in BB. Popped a BF and ran for a few seconds until I get get hurricane back. He tried many, many times before that one successful attempt got through.

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I can AS a person standing still with Whirlwind on, about 90% of the time.

I can AS (if it lands ) a Stone Tank/Brute with Mudpots on, about 80% of the time.

I can't AS through Repel, Chilling Embrace, Hurricane, Force Bubble, certain Dark Miasma powers or any of the Radiation toggle debuffs.

I am not Energy Melee.

Some powers such as Repel and Chilling Embrace can be AS'd, but not while the target is standing still. I must queue up the attack while in melee range, and then they have to move away and my AS will not get interrupted. It actually happens a lot, I will see somebody with Repel on, speed ahead to cut them off, queue up the AS when they get close, and then as they move by, BOOM.

This guide is purely PvP based, mainly group PvP based. It is basically what my philosophy on Stalkers is, and it will answer a very common question that a lot of Stalkers are faced with...

What is a Stalker's role in a PvP group?

I feel that the role of a Stalker in a group comes down to 3 main things. I dub the nickname of my little theory the "Subtle Dagger Theory", or "SDT". Here is what the SDT tries to emphasize:

1) You are the opener. You are always on the move, stalking the enemies, looking for the greatest threat to your team, finding their weakness, pointing it out to your team, and then using your Assassin Strike to open up on the greatest threat. This is a very intersting task because you are responsible for finding the greatest threat to your team and taking them out. Slip in, eliminate the healer/buffer/mastermind/controller/whatever, slip back out.

2) You are the hole puncher. So there's a big tank running around beating up your squishies, all toggled up and ready for anything. This is where effective communication comes into play. Make sure you and your team know that you will be ASing that target, and they should immediately give that target their full fire power, be it holds, raw damage, whatever. Your AS is much more than a weapon of mass destruction, you can use it as an unexpected tool to soften your enemies to be set up for elimination. Your AS drops two toggles from an enemy, and it can give your team that instant you need to defeat the enemy by whatever means necessary. Once that enemy is down, rehide and find another target.

3) You are the closer. You seal the deal, and you seal it tight. If an enemy is heavily debuffed or held, you get your rear in gear and give him the 'ol AS, sealing their fate. Then go back to your subtle state and look for another victom.

These are the 3 key ideas I have about being a successful group PvPer. I PvP with my supergroup quite often, and this is what they know and love me for. We use effective communication via Team Speak. We know how to take down a variety of enemies, and we realize that working as a whole makes us all the more deadly. There are sometimes when I get a little ego-headed and try to scrap it out and feel powerful. I tend to do it pretty well, but I know that I can be much more effective with SDT. A Stalker's damage out of hide is laughable to some, the real key to our success is our suprise crits, and our massive damage AS crits. We run on a low/high damage life. Just like a subtle (low;dull) dagger (high;sharp). I will update this guide and expand it in much greater detail (including effective stalking tips for PvP raids) in the near future. This is just a precursor as to what will come. Thanks for reading, and keep on stalking.