Smeester

It was late notice (I want to get it done whilst I still get XP to do it), but a shame, no interest yet.

I will be lingering around Nerva at 7 anyway, and see who's online.

Cheers

Haha, doh! How dare they revamp MoG.

In that situation then I'd probably look at my attacks and see how I'm doing. At the moment, the only combo I can't perform is 'weaken', which requires sweeping strike. Sweeping strike sounds as nice as 1k cuts, so I'll give it a good test, and see whether the new fight sequence it causes leaves any move out I could drop in favour of MoG.

Cheers for your thoughts.

Hey all,

After one good group, that was unsuccessful due to too wide a range of levels, and then lots of time spent not finding a group, I'm turning to the forums to hopefully come up with the goods.

So, tomorrow, Tuesday 5th Feb 2008, at 7pm UK time, I want to do the first CoV Respec. That Thorn tree needs a damn good hiding.

My toon will be 33 Stalker, Targh, which I believe is level cap for the respec. It'll need a group of 32+ preferably to join me, but I'm happy to take 1 lackey if we're struggling for numbers.

Ideally I want the group to be 5 people, and cover most of the AT's.

This can be a long SF, and whilst I'd like it done in a couple of hours, I'm expecting it to be more like 3 hours. Whatever happens, I have work on Wednesday, so I'll be stopping it at 11pm UK time (unless we're very close ). Please ensure you can commit to several hours.

Cheers...

[ QUOTE ]
That's . . . quite an odd build if you don't mind me saying so (Placate at 28?).

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course I don't mind you saying. If I only wanted my opinion on it, I would have continued just talking to myself rather than posting on a public forum

First response I'd make is, I have no experience of these powers, so I don't 'miss' having what I don't know. If I were to roll a second stalker (knowing intimately now what placate actually does) then yes, placate would likely appear much earlier. However, not knowing what it really did meant I didn't miss it.

Second, what I did know about placate was that it tended to cause the death of squishies when duo'ing if used irresponsibly. I spent the vast majority of my time 1-20 as a duo and thought I wouldn't miss it.

Third. Placate is available at L12 I think. I got build-up then as this opened up the first duelblades combo to me. Then I got CJ towards a travel power, swift towards stamina, health towards stamina, stamina itself, superjump as a travel power.

Which means, the earliest I could have got placate unless I delayed stamina, or further delayed a travel power, was L24. Not much earlier really.

One possibility is Build-up could have replaced fasthealing at 10, and then I could have got Placate at 12. I think I would try this if I were doing it again (or respecing) but it wasn't a great issue to me by any means.

~

I'm assuming, from your post, that Dull Pain is another power that once I know exactly how it works, I'm going to like a lot. It does sound good. However, I'm really not struggling for mitigation right now. I tend to either be one shotted, or survive by running, and hitting my self-heal. Mainly the latter. Duel pain increases my health, so I'll take the point now, it would likely prevent some of the one-shotting.

I've just taken 1k cuts at 32 over the weekend (a fun little move) and still don't regret Aid Other at 30. I used it so many times over the weekend's teams, I'm halfway to the first heal badge. It is a life-saver and a team saver and better still, it doesn't reset the re-hide counter, so by the time I've moved to someone and healed them, I'll be hidden and ready to crit or even do another AS. I think healing whilst waiting for hide is considerably better team play than standing around or just scrapping. I don't understand why you see it as 'lonely'.

L26 was new attack and new combo. L28 was new utility for attack and survivability and new combo. So L30 being a support power just makes sense to me.

Taking some of your advice, and continuing the cycle, my new plan...

32 1k Cuts (New attack)
35 Dull pain (New survivability)
38 Recall friend (New support (I really want this power. I still do a lot of duo'ing with a MM, and it'd be handy to ghost and recall him a lot of the time.))
41 Sweeping strike (New attack)
44 Instant healing (New survivability)
47 Resilience (New survivability, likely need more slotting than revive)
49 Revive (Just useful).

[ QUOTE ]
So that makes it 5 Brutes, 1 Stalker, 1 Dom and 1 Corr.
This is going to be either easy or very hard.... LOL.

[/ QUOTE ]

5 Brutes = Easy it seems

Lots of fun... no wipes, done first time. Can't ask for much more.

Woo - thanks for the replies. Good to read on a boring friday at work, with ... sigh, 5 hours to go before I get to play all weekend.

To keep things going, I'm going to throw out my build to be picked over. Obviously upto 30 is done already, so I can't change that without respec, but 32 onwards is still open to change. I've not put the slots into the build, as I am hopeless at remembering what I've slotted already. Obviously AS and highend attacks will be highly slotted etc. Any advice on pool powers that are worth slotting more than is obvious (because of IO sets) would be great. I heard a rumour of good sets being possible in health?

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php

Targh: Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Teleportation

Villain Profile:
------------
Level 1: Nimble Slash
Level 1: Hide
Level 2: Power Slice
Level 4: Reconstruction
Level 6: Assassin's Blades
Level 8: Ablating Strike
Level 10: Fast Healing
Level 12: Build Up
Level 14: Combat Jumping
Level 16: Swift
Level 18: Health
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Super Jump
Level 24: Integration
Level 26: Vengful Slice
Level 28: Placate
Level 30: Aid Other
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts
Level 35: Recall Friend
Level 38: Sweeping Strike
Level 41: Resilience
Level 44: Instant Healing
Level 47: Dull Pain
Level 49: Revive
------------
Level 1: Brawl
Level 1: Sprint
Level 2: Rest
Level 1: Assassination
------------

| Copy & Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Leveling might have seemed painful... L8-26 with no new attacks is a long time, and indeed I was desperate for something new to press by the time I hit 26, but I'm a big lover of Stamina, however much I resent the time it takes to get it. The early mayhem temp travel powers easily lasted long enough to go that long without a travel power. Particularly if you keep the Goldbrickers Jetpack from a mission until it runs out of fuel.

Aidother at 30 was a tough choice, but I've already used it a lot. As a stalker, I'm used to trying to get an interuptable move off in the heat of battle, so getting a heal off isn't difficult. As an added bonus, using it doesn't break hide, which is very nice.

Notably, I'm missing out MoG, but I've read litterally nothing good about it. It is not liked at all. Maybe this'll change in the future, but for now, I'm happy taking Revive as the final power. 5 minute recharge will be fine without slotting, and a +heal enh will bring me back with 70-80% health. Besides, everytime I AS, it's a moment of glory .

~

To add to some of the comments you made. Regen doesn't have the defence of some of the other sets, you're right. But get me some forcefields and with integration then there's nothing a mob can do to stop me. It's hard to hit me, and they can't knock me down or mez me. Ruin mages are so much simpler when you can just stand next to them ignoring the knockdowns, ripping them a new one.

Without the forcefields, I've found a well slotted hide, and combat jumping, so far, is providing adequate defense, and after a fight, by the time I'm back in hide, I'll be full health and end again which is lovely. Rest has been moved off my bar as I just don't need it. I've also coped fine so far with just the one heal. I haven't yet got dull pain, or instant healing, or resilience; all of which will hopefully combine into fairly hefty mitigation.

Solo, several EB's have gone down, but they have all required 3 purple insp and 2-3 red and several greens to get through it. A couple, like the shiven one, required me to retreat and then come back to finish them off with a AS before their health could regen.

~

The comment made about us getting 2 +dmg abilities is a little incorrect, as to activate empower, you need to Build up, AS, placate... which means by the time you've activated it, BU is over. You might get time for one ablat Strike with both powers, which with the hide from placte will be a crit. So that is indeed nice. Usually though I prefer to use sweep, and save the placate for a crit/AS midfight.

[ QUOTE ]
All I can say is that if on soloing you can AS kill one of three in a spawn, juggle another so it can't attack you and work on the third in safety, then theres nothing wrong p

[/ QUOTE ]

A spawn of three would be, BU, AS the first, Ablating strike the second, which causes the sweep combo, knocking down both remaining and usually killing the second. Then scrap the third, using the attack vitals to knock it down. Or even placate it if you really want to use some cooldowns.

~

I think I'll be carrying on to 50. Hey, least it most certainly isn't a FOTM build

Just read a guide on it... common opinion seems to expect this to take 3-5 hours, as the final AV is supposed to be a particularly tough *******.

Everyone available to stay around that long, as it'd be good to finish with the full team?

If by pirate, you mean murderous, schizo psychopath... then you'd be close.

Just hit 30 last night with my stalker, and enjoyed a very, very pleasant hour or 2 with a Plant/Thorn's dominator doing missions on ruthless as a duo.

Our abilities seemed to work together very nicely, especially as we both had aid other for those trickier moments.

Such was the fun, I'm half wanting to roll a plant/thorns myself. Stick it out, whatever happens, it seems by 30 you'll be getting pretty good.

Wow... over a week and only 2 replies (thanks for those). Slow down guys, only so many posts I can read!

Is there really so little you have to say on DB with stalkers?

Given I got no tidbits of info here, I've continued searching around for guides, builds etc on my own and came across the US forums. A few threads in there moaning about the hashup of the combo's they've done for stalkers with DB. 2 of the staple combo's requiring BU, so basically reduced to only once per mob pack. Weaken is a cone, rather than pbaoe like the Brutes.

None of you thought to mention any of this? Any one have some thoughts on it now?

Read some more about Regen too, popular US opinion seems to be that it ain't great on a squishy stalker, as they simply don't have the health pool to really get the benefit from regen like Scrappers do.

No thoughts on this either?

Come on guys... I asked for some waffle, and I got... **tumble-weed**... Are the EU stalkers all too busy assassinating bunnies or something? I don't want to go to the US forums for this stuff, I can't reply or ask questions on the US forums. I'm L30 now, and whilst still enjoying it, what I'm reading isn't filling me with confidence. Am I wasting my time with this set?

Let's get a bit of chatter going, maybe?

Cheers.

Hey there...

I'm a newbie (to the game and RP) and am currently beginning to get involved with RP, by joining an RP SG on Villain side. I found them via the RP SG thread at the top of this forum, and checking around the Union wiki.

In fact... if you haven't been yet, the Wiki is probably a good place to get started. Amongst other things, on there you'll find :

- A list of the roleplayers

- A list of many of their characters

- And if you're feeling adventerous enough to start your own little story to get started, then the list of Plot Monkey's is a good place to find characters that are likely willing to help you get it going.

Get your characters set up on the wiki, so others can check up on you, and enjoy your character's history. Maybe sign yourself up as a plot monkey, and you may get contacted yourself. (Simply put [[category:Plotmonkey]] at the bottom of your character's page to be added to the list automatically).

Finally... don't be scared of the dark side, Villains are great and there's nearly always a small group of players at the Cap Au Diable Blackmarket, although not necessarily RP'ers. Using the team search list can sometimes find RP'ers, and some people put it in their comment.

Happy RP'ing.

I shall be on my character, Targh.

Looking forward to it, see you all then.

Yep - I would be interested in this.

Targh, stalker is my character.

Hatesman is my new hero... ahem. Well you know what I mean.

Adding my 'lol' to the pile.

Bah, of course... haha, would have realised that sooner or later, and it appears it's sooner. Cheer Ammon.

First person whose leaving, since I started playing the game, that I know the name of.

I didn't get opportunity to get involved with Fourth wall, as I'm a RP newbie who's testing the waters at the moment. But I have read much about it, as well as most of Jean-luc's stories.

I'm in the process of joining the Hyenas, and had hoped once I'd settled in there, to see if there was a coalition spot left so I could go to the Wall too. Perhaps a possibility I can persue with whoever takes it over.

Hope RL sorts itself out well for you, and quickly, even if it doesn't bring you back.

Happy RL'ing.

Well - I play a Grav/Kin and love it... so I'm no use whatsoever unless you wanted another possibility

Grav has ... from what I've seen... one of the most well behaved pets, being phased so as to not block doorways, and totally ranged so rarely floating off to aggro another pack. Plus he's great. He has his own repel field, so if you know it's best to miss it from kin, but still like it, just stand inside him. Plus he's a complete controlling machine. Which frees me up a little bit to focus more on the Kin stuff when things get hectic. Making sure the heals, FS's and transferences get used at the right times.

Just a brief interjection - good luck with your choice.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to seek thoughts and opinions on Duel Blade/Regen as a spec.

I noticed there's a thread further down that hasn't received any replies, so maybe this spec is rather on the rare side? I haven't managed to find any example builds and/or guides either.

My DB/Regen (Targh) dinged 20 last night and so far I'm enjoying him. I have forgone getting a travel power, making use of the early Mayhem temp powers so I could speedup the process of getting BU, without slowing down the time to get stamina. As such, last night I did get stamina, and now I can fight with sprint on without a problem and it's wonderful. Especially with my current health regen too.

22 I look forward to finally getting superjump, and after that, woo! Some new attacks and my shields. It's seeming to be a great combination that by 30 should be coming into it's own.

I'm a PvE'er, and not interested in PvP (Yes that's right). I rolled stalker because I wanted to actually do some damage, after my first character (a controller) but didn't fancy blasters, and liked the idea of the natural stealth. I'm coming to terms with some of the team attitudes towards stalkers, but also met enough people quite happy to team with me that it's not a huge problem. I am also quite content that I am 'pulling my weight' in the teams I've been in.

I've read about various attempts from all kinds of stalkers, trying to build the 'ultimate team friendly' stalker... aoe sets like spines, and Dark seem to be the way to go to really be a 'team player'. There's also mention of various pool powers favoured by the 'team' stalker.. such as recall friend, the fear powers of presence, tactics etc. Any thoughts on just how favoured by teams these are?

My plans for the build are tight, but I am sorely tempted to dip into the medicine pool and stretch down to get the rez, as I do find myself often surviving, and would love to rez someone rather than whistle idly whilst they run from the hospital with malice in their hearts towards 'that irritating stalker' . Heal-other would be nice too. Given that regen comes with enough self heals, I could also get the mez protection power instead of heal-self, I forget the name, steroids or something?

Just some waffle from me - I'd appreciate other's waffle

Happy Stalking.

Yeah, I missed it out too, as I was levelling my first char. Just last week went back in time to do it, via Ouroboros.

Quick mission on your own, only took 10 mins.

Awwww... my sympathies. Had that 10 days ago, and was in bed for 3 days. It's reduced to a persistant cough and runny nose now, but it ain't nice when in full force.

All the best, and get well soon.

Congrats

Indeed a fascinating, and intelligent debate. I find myself siding with Ammon's PoV, simply because that's how my feelings originally lay, but Catcus made some very convincing points too.

I'll continue to follow all such debate, and of course LoRDs RP with much interest.

As Mr Architect was stating so... amusingly, RP in these MMORPG's is hard. I wasn't involved with much actual RP, but I did read many, many similar threads in WoW RP forums... where the vocal, intelligent population there were equally trying to make interesting plots/stories unfold in a static world of naked dancing female nightelves and a million demon pocessed werewolf gnomes.

I must stop, before I get caught in a loop of infinate waffle...

Debate on, and ...

Happy RP'ing.

Speed boost actually is (as you incorrectly state) an awesome end recovery boost. In fact, my SB is only slotted for endmod making it approx as good a boost to end as stamina is, albeit only for a short duration.

I've had 3-4 people decline SB in a team... usually scrappers who have a combat sequence that gets mucked up sometimes with the speed. One simply didn't want it because he liked to claim he 'don't need no buff from ne 1", turning down recovery aura, clear mind and other buffs too. One controller declined it as they liked to run around with superspeed on instead (still don't understand that one). But basically, near everyone loves it.

Plus it's nice to be able to wander around Atlas park giving it out to random lowbies, and see them dash off. :-)

As for Inc Density... I haven't taken it yet (L43 right now), and still not sure if I will. I find myself busy enough as it is, spamming my holds/controls as well as healing with transference, helping end with transfusion, keeping fulcrum shift up, speed boost on as many people as possible, siphon power and speed etc etc without trying to spot people who are mezzed and removing it with Inc Den. Not enough people type ZZZ when they are, or they use a breakfree before you can buff them etc. It's a nice power, but it depends whether you think you will have the awareness to use it effectively.

My main set is Grav, so I can't help you with the mind powers.. but hopefully the above helps a little.

Happy Playing.

*waves*

A possible taker over here.