Test_Rat

Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba

Fair enough.

I can't even begin to understand the mindset of the person or persons you're describing. With the vast extremes that exist between those slotted with SOs that enjoy +1/x1 diff and those that have min/maxed and run at +4/x8, you'd think that everyone could find their happy place.

Power creep and the usual backlash from it are my only concern. Had this change occurred before IOs were introduced and if it weren't being put into play in the same issue as the first few incarnate powers, I wouldn't be having this discussion. I'd be saying nothing but "woot" and happily waiting for it to go live.

Originally Posted by Leo_G

-Recharge, -Movement, Immobilize (actually has small mags in every attack that is stackable to immobilize minions while powers like Ripper and Throw Spines just has a 50% chance for that small mag immobilize) and Toxic DoT.

That's particularly more secondary effects (that are spread across every power in the entire set) than other sets get. Some sets don't even get 1 secondary effect. Of course, this is on top of the extras like the range of its powers and the KD in Ripper.

Spines can't be our Fire melee because it doesn't do fire damage and it doesn't do good ST and AoE damage at the expense of mitigation. It can be said that Spines is more useful to kite with (I can still do it pretty effectively with slows and immobilize and range coupled together) to give myself breathing room until placate or Dark Regen recharges so that's the set's mitigation.




Are you asking me? I already get what I'm looking for from a 'Poisoned Knife' set in Spines.

But what I can't get from Dual Blades to simulate a literal knife user is the ability to throw knives.

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe

Because archetypes that can leverage controls and sleeps are some of the more popular archetypes in the game (with the notable exception of dominators). I doubt any team you run these days would be short on control. Even mez resistant enemies can be held by a single controller with an overlapping mez effect.

And control archetypes aren't the only ones with holds and sleeps. Tankers, blasters, Kheldians, SoA's, Corruptors and Masterminds off the top of my head are some examples of archetypes that have holds and sleeps mixed in as secondary effects. And epics aren't the only place where stalkers can get holds and sleeps. Ninjitsu scrappers can also use Blinding Powder for short duration sleeps and holds. It would be nice if the other secondaries can say the same, but what are you going to do? One thing I forgot to mention is that I would have also liked to have seen that crit ability extend to stuns. That alone would make a huge difference in the utility of the feature.

Now having said that, the I12 changes were made in a very different gaming environment than we have today. There wasn't a tremendous amount of cooperative play, Going Rogue was still just a pipe dream so far as the playing populace was concerned, and Dominators were as unpopular as stalkers, so the chances for holds and sleeps were drastically lower than in today's game. So I understand why they went the route they did.

Hindsight is 20/20. No going back now, really, so there's not much point in discussing it any further except for my pointless rambling, at which I'm unfortunately somewhat gifted.



Because Stalkers aren't Scrappers? Seriously, you call them strings, and I call them opportunities. If I wanted what scrappers have with stealth on top, I'd just soft cap a scrapper, drop in a stealth IO in superspeed and run with it. But if I can have a situation where a controller or dominator can mass hold a spawn so I can wade in doing massive amounts of burst damage without having to worry about going into hide, well... I'd buy that for a dollar.

Originally Posted by Negate

Nah, he at one time loved the class and then got burnt...and burnt hard. Most people eventually bounce back from that but he didn't. I know myself I am still hesistant to play Khelds and stormies b/c I've been harassed and kicked off teams due to my KB....

Still though, I'm not stirring up trouble.

Originally Posted by FunstuffofDoom

So, this touches upon a rather minor point I would like to raise. Consistently, the hypothetical mob of mobs being assaulted assumes everyone starts from go.

In my experience, there is only one such mob on any given map where everyone has a strong probability of attacking with coordination: The first. After that, it's more like a rotation thing. People are attacking mobs, as things die, some move forwards, some stay behind to finish off the stragglers, and then join up with the people attacking the next group, rinse, repeat. So, if a Stalker's got an inherent that makes him a bloody ninja when he wants terribly to be, what's to stop him from leaving just a little bit earlier? Does that last Bronze Strongman really need three people wailing on it? That Crey Rent-A-Cop? Yeah, were it me, I'd feel a bit patronized that other members of my team thought I couldn't handle it on my own. Just sayin'.

Anyway, so, my point is, it's not necessarily a three-second slog from the moment someone yells 'Go!'. There are ways to set an AS up so it lands in a timely manner.

Might that require a bit of technique, knowledge, and experience? Why, yes, it would. And some skill and finesse, too.

See what I did there?

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe

Wait, what? You hate stalkers because they're not up to min/max standards of performance, but play stalkers nonetheless for concept reasons?

o.O

.....aaaalrighty, then!

Originally Posted by Arcanaville

Hmm, rare and not known for synergy? Traps/Energy defender comes to mind.

Originally Posted by Zamuel

You mean like Dominators right?

*pats Test Rat on the head*

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe

Dude, just go play a scrapper and quit trolling. Scrappers are six shades of awesome. And they don't need Ninjitsu ported over for you to participate in that awesome. Go. Hunt. Kil skulz.

I'm not gonna sit here and tell you Scrappers ain't all that, because they are. They're all that and a bag of razor blades. So go on with your bad self and roll one up. I personally enjoy both playstyles, and have 50's in each.

You don't get Stalkers, and that's cool. Scrapper forums are two forums up, and as someone told you in that forum - don't be a Johnny Butane. Play what you enjoy and stop trying to shoehorn another archetype into your playstyle if it doesn't fit.