Sunchild

The resistance buffs are decent, but like a boxer already leaning on the ropes, it is often too late. SR needs some personality, as it is Ninjitsu and and Energy Aura provide comparable protection with much more utility and flair.

Personally, I'd fix SR by removing the passives (Dodge and Agile) and upping the toggle defenses to make up the difference. This would free up two powers to add some utility or a "reactive" defense.

My suggestions:
1) Make Agile on a 2 minute timer and when the power is activated the next 5-10 attacks (randomly generated) will miss you.
2) Make Dodge on a 2 minute time and when the power is activated it will heal the damage from last attack that hit you, as if it never occured. Example, boss hits you for 70% of HP; if you are quick enough you can hit Dodge and act as if the dmg never hit you (since it will heal back the exact amount of dmg taken, from the last attack). If you're too slow, you might only get back a minion's dmg.

Cheers,

SUN

I'm all for an animation change on spines.

The white dog-doo animations for Spines are one-step up from some of the Stone Tanker animations.

I'm all for the Spines going the way of Thorny Assault or Metal. Then again, I'm all for Thorny Assault just becoming a Stalker set... it does better damage than Spines, better utility, and lower activation times. This set clearly benefitted from 2+ years of experience and testing.

Cheers,

SUN

Castle, I realize art-time is difficult to come by, but I thought I might suggest some quick and dirty changes.

1) Energy Melee - I'm not programmer, but it shouldn't be that difficult to simply change the color from Pink to a more Menacing Red or Dark Blue.

2) Spines - The art on spines was never great, but for a powerset conceived in 2002 and inplemented in 2003, it is forgiven. However, THORNY ASSAULT has a power, SKEWER that has fantastic artwork and should be used for spines (perhaps just change the color, or keep the same).

While we are talking about Skewer, why does a 2nd level Dominator-Secondary-powerset have a BI of 5.948!!! Oh yeah, and it has a 1.5 second activation time!!!

Um, a Spines Stalker can't reach that damage until level 26 Ripper, BI 6.389 - with a 3 second activation time) and it is the only power that is higher than this dmg. In addition, Claws doesn't have ONE POWER that exceeds a Dominator level 2 melee-power. Finally, Martial Arts has nothting close, only Eagle's Claw (BI 5.556 - with a 5 second activation time).

Is this explaination on the the lengthy spreadsheet that is too long to discuss? I just don't know how the Dominator Team Lead can get a 1.5 second / 5+ BI attack approved in a SECONDARY powerset. Meanwhile, CLAWS, SPINES, and MARTIAL ARTS can't be given ONE 5+ BI attack that activates in under 2-3 seconds.

Cheers,

SUN

Q// Unlike the other Def sets Energy Aura has no AoE defence to Stack with high AOE bonus of unsurpressed hide. Has this been taken into account?

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A//When I spoke to geko about this, he said it was working as designed.





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Confused// Short of using a level 38 Power, it appears statistically impossible (unsurpressed Hide Def to AOE 37.5%) to approach any hero using an AOE Aura/Attack, especially if not SR or Ninjitsu (sets have bonus to AOE def).

Again, I realize that each set works differently, but HIDE/AS are the class defining skills of the Stalker and these powers should provide an equal advantage to all powersets.

Consider this: SR and Regen are presently balanced on Scrappers, but the same balance doesn't translate to the Stalker when it comes to using Hide/AS. If this is working as intended I'd love to hear the logic behind this idea.

Cheers,

SUN

Many people believe the activation times are worth more than base damage, especially for a Stalker, and even more in PvP.

Claws and Spines are often perceived as the "old-maids" of the Stalker Primary Powersets. They were designed back in golden-days of CoH and have had very few evolutionary changes. Claws and Spines are fun sets for CoH Scrappers, but don't provide the symmetry the other powersets provide for a Stalker.

CLAWS:
Swipe /3sec
Strike /2sec
Slash /3sec
Focus /2sec
Eviscerate /2sec
Shockwave /2sec

The biggest complaints are Swipe and Slash, especially when compared to a powers like Total Focus and Bone Smasher that do substantially more damage, with 1 second activation times. I have a lvl 50 Enrg/Invuln tank, and the loss of vitality is a small disadvantage, compared to unloading a 12.66 BI attack in 1 second, even with a reduced crit component. Also, there is the redraw-animation for claws that makes attacks chains feel a bit clunky.


SPINES:
Barb Swipe: 3
Lunge: 2
Spine Burst: 3
Impale: 3
Ripper: 2
Throw Spines: 2

The biggest offenders here are Barb Swipe and Spine Burst. I am sure the analysis can go all day on this, but compare this to mid-level attack, like Bone Smasher (4.556 BI, 1 sec activation), and you have an attack with a 3 second activation providing only 2.7779 BI. Heck even Lunge provides only a 3.6112 BI with a 2 second activation. Finally Spine Burst, the AOE melee defining skill of Spines does a 3.3334 BI with a 3 second activatin time. Presently, this skill does not Crit every target if hidden. I find this odd, since this set gives up a lot compared to Energy Melee on single-target DPS, but there is a restriction on AOE Melee attacks (with a 3.334 DPS / 3 second activation) doing crits? Spines has AOE attacks, but lower single-target DPS, higher activation times, and redraw animation issues.... so why restrict AOE crits? (Golden Dragonfly and Shockwave have similar complaints.)

In summary, the Stalker is not a Scrapper and many of the powersets, not just Claws and Spines, need to be further reviewed to adjust to the tactics of the Stalker. There might be a spreadsheet somewhere that explains the present balance of Spines and Claws, but there is also a spreadsheet that explains the benefits of a trillion-dollar deficit.

Cheers,

SUN

The class defining skills of Stalkers are: HIDE and AS. However, not all Stalkers benefit equally from these skills.

Presently, HIDE provides a base AOE Defense of 37.5% (data provided by Castle). SR and Ninjitsu (possibly Energy if defenses include AOE) powersets and can augment this defense an additional 20-35% defense! However, as we all know, Regen doesn't receive any baseline benefit. All the powersets have some Defensive Benefit on their final power (Kuji, Elude, MoG, etc.), but only Regen has no basic defense against AOE.

Why is this important? In PvP, the Stalker must deal with multiple forms of AOE defenses and HIDE must provide a decent AOE Defense for AS to work. However, without adequate defenses, HIDE will not work and AS will never be a reality.
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AOE attacks come in three flavors: Base Accuracy, Enhanceable, and Auto-Hit.

1) Base accuracy (75%) subtracted from base Hide defense (37.5%) = 37.5% (1 in 3) chance of hitting a Stalker (Not good) However, a powerset like SR reduces that to possibly under 5% chance of being exposed (Much Better), without the need for Elude.

2) Powers that do accept accuracy enhancements nullify the base defense bonus of Hide with One SO. (Not good) Futhermore, powers slotted with 2-3 Accuracies are almost gauranteed to hit.

3) Finally, Auto-Hit powers are not balanced well and provide no chance of AS approach (Not good).

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HIDE needs to be balanced so all Secondary Powersets benefit equally. HIDE is the pre-cursor to AS, and without the necessary base defense while hidden the Stalker is weak-scrapper.

I SUGGEST:
a) Since HIDE is the Stalker's class defining Skill, it should be equally beneficial to all Stalkers. It should carry a 40-75% Base defensive bonus to AOE attacks, but it CAN"T BE STACKED with other defenses. This also allows the Dev Team to balance this power without worrying about iterations of the Min/Max Stalker with 102% Base AOE Defense.

b) AOE Auto-hit powers need to be balanced fairly against Hide. There is a middle-ground of chance that should give both sides a challenge.

Cheers,

SUN