*sniff* Mmmmm applespice and vanilla my fav.
/em hide
I have a quicky.
First though, I think it's awesome you're so responsive to the Stalker communitty. Truly.
On to business. I don't know if you saw it or not, but in beta I made a request/post on changing the Martial Arts Assassin Strike A.K.A. Rectal Assassin.
I posted a screen shot of how this move usually ends up looking like I'm performing a colon examination. Well whether you saw it or not, I'm wondering if it is in fact feasible to change an AS graphic or not? It doesn't _have_ to be something new, but how about something less.... intimate?
I said I probably wasn't going to take MA/* in live but I just love kicking stuff in the junk. So my new mission is to get that AS graphic changed.
Nekron: Beam Rifle / Poison Corruptor and Slayer of Evil!! (Exalted)
Intergalaktic: Fire / Time Corruptor (Exalted)
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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What I have seen is it is a timing issue.
Mob begins action during the placate animation.
Placte fires.
Mob attack lands and breaks the hidden state.
Note the placte is holding, as the mob is not aggroed, I have just been unhidden so dont get the critical.
Its kinda hard to bug on the fly, but I have seen it a few times.
The timing has to be 'just so'
I will try to bug it, or catch on a demorecord if I can.
Good to know swipe is being looked at, would any adjiustments carry over into scrappers ?
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
linky!?! this I gotta see!!
Craft your inventions in AE!!
Play "Crafter's Cafe" - Arc #487283. A 1 mission, NON-COMBAT AE arc with workable invention tables!
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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What I have seen is it is a timing issue.
Mob begins action during the placate animation.
Placte fires.
Mob attack lands and breaks the hidden state.
Note the placte is holding, as the mob is not aggroed, I have just been unhidden so dont get the critical.
Its kinda hard to bug on the fly, but I have seen it a few times.
The timing has to be 'just so'
I will try to bug it, or catch on a demorecord if I can.
Good to know swipe is being looked at, would any adjiustments carry over into scrappers ?
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Devs IMO the easiest fix for this is to allow placate to interrupt any attack in progress but what do I know 
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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I get it as a general case. The order of events seems to be:
1) Mob activates power
2) I activate placate
3) Placate actually happens
4) I go hidden
5) Mob's power actually happens
6) I'm no longer hidden, but the mob no longer is agro'd.
1 and 2 may be switched... it's not really possible to tell. The bad part of this for me is that I'm now unable to use AS because I'm not hidden, but the mob isn't agro'd either. If I wait to go hidden again, then the mob re-agro's me about the same time that I go hidden, making AS not viable even after the wait.
Also, I realize I'm making an assumption in the list up there that I'm not sure about. Do mob powers actually work this way? With animation times delaying when the power goes off after the mob actually activates the power, just like hero and villain powers?
Thank you VERY much for the post Castle, and I agree that Claws is not underpowered. Apparently you play quite a bit like me since you prefer Air Superiority (already built into my Stalker) and Claws (again, my main in CoH and CoV will be Claws).
As for the Placate issue, pick a fight with any baddie (most common ones I fight are Arachnos in Aeon City). Let him hit you once, then, about one-half second before his next attack, use Placate. You will perform the move graphically, his face will be covered by purple, but if that attack that he was JUST starting hits, you will lose your hide ability. I've since found a hole in THAT also, since, if you actually stand completely still and do nothing, after about 5 seconds, you will be hidden again (he will not attack, as he is placated). Problem is, the placate wears off right around this time and you now have to hope he misses with his next attack for you to land a crit.
This can be exploited in PvP by heroes who have any quick attacks. I know that, on my scrapper, as soon as I see a stalker placating, I shoot off a quick Air Superiority. I get placated, but he doesn't get hidden for a crit.
Walking through the steps above will recreate this every time as long as the baddie hits with the attacks he's using during your placate.
- Ping (@iltat, @Pinghole)
Don't take it personally if you think I was mean to you. I'm an ******* to everyone.
It's a penguin thing. Pingu FTW.
What greatly annoys me about Hide is this:
I've noticed several times, that when pulling enemies away from their group (like a minion or two to cull their numbers), that when we think the group is small enough to be attacked, the remaining enemies see right through my hide, even though they weren't agro'd when we pulled. I run up to the group to AS one, and they see me, and shoot me right out of hide, after which I'm forced to run or Scrap it out.
This has happened several times now, and it's annyoing. It makes pulling not really cool for a Stalker, even though it's sometimes required. It doesn't happen *all* the time, but every now & then, they just see me, even though I haven't attacked/agro'd anything yet.
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I posted a screen shot of how this move usually ends up looking like I'm performing a colon examination. Well whether you saw it or not, I'm wondering if it is in fact feasible to change an AS graphic or not? It doesn't _have_ to be something new, but how about something less.... intimate?
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Just shout "Kanchou!" when you do that attack. 
Castle, please tell me your aware of the fact that Golden Dragonfly auto-misses when the target/enemy is moving and is not standing still? and if so..when is the fix coming? Its very very annoying
(Same with Scrapper Golden Dragonfly/Headsplitter. I've noticed the old problem back again)
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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What I have seen is it is a timing issue.
Mob begins action during the placate animation.
Placte fires.
Mob attack lands and breaks the hidden state.
Note the placte is holding, as the mob is not aggroed, I have just been unhidden so dont get the critical.
Its kinda hard to bug on the fly, but I have seen it a few times.
The timing has to be 'just so'
I will try to bug it, or catch on a demorecord if I can.
Good to know swipe is being looked at, would any adjiustments carry over into scrappers ?
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Just wanted to add one more voice to the "I've seen this/it's annoying" chorus. The sequence seems to be as described. If you are unlucky enough to fire off placate just before the mob attacks then they will still get their attack off and if it hits, no hidey for you. Very, very annoying since in a hectic battle it is near impossible to actively avoid.
Oh and on Thunder Kick - I noticed this one as well, but since this was my first MA character I just figured that's the way it was. I have both Air Supp and Thunder Kick and AirS is definately doing more damage (plus its secondary effect happens more often and is much more "effective"). I still use TK as a filler, but it would be nice if it was more effective (and I kinda wish I had taken CAK instead at this point).
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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I have noticed that it is not NPC specific (it is general). Anytime placate is activated and a target is starting their attack placate will follow through but their attack breaks the 'Hide'. So I'll still be standing there with the Foe placated while waiting for the normal timer of Hide to kick in (if I wait or there are no other NPCs attacking me).
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Stun is very weak when compared to Total Focus and Bone Smasher. Can the magnitude of the disorientate, or the damage be increased on this power?
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Possibly. I'll talk to geko and examine the numbers. I don't think there is any problem with the power offhand, though.
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Personally, I would be happy if the chance to Stun could be modified by the Stun duration enhancements. But as i have yet to get to a level where I can take Stun as a power, I will keep my mouth shut.
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Word of "Ninjitsu" is wrong. Word of "Ninjitsu" does not exist in Japanese. "Ninjutsu" is right.
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A quick web search shows the spelling as virtually interchangeable, even by schools which specialize in the form. Not likely to be changed.
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Some people are too picky. You should borrow Weaver's Massive Orbital Laser Cannons of Death.
CatMan - some form on every server
Always here, there, and there again.
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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Catwhoorg posted what I've seen as well. if they get their attack off right when Placate is in the animation or if they have a long animation, it will hit me and kill my hide. It happens a lot, maybe 25% of the time.
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Re:claws. There are a few improvements planned based on my experiences, however, giving them a "5+" damage power PROBABLY won't happen.
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I told you in beta that if there were fixes coming for Claws, I'd send you cookies. I wasn't fooling around. If some combo of swipe, slash, evis and spin get better animations, you'll get 1 batch of cookies-your choice(bonus batch for all 4). If swipe's goofy [censored] damage and recharge is fixed and/or eviscerates recharge/damage balance is shifted more to dmg, you get another batch of cookies(bonus batch for both). That's 4dozen cookies, your choice, if all that stuff gets fixed.
However, if something is done to Focus that I don't like, that's -2 batches of cookies.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
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Castle, please tell me your aware of the fact that Golden Dragonfly auto-misses when the target/enemy is moving and is not standing still? and if so..when is the fix coming? Its very very annoying
(Same with Scrapper Golden Dragonfly/Headsplitter. I've noticed the old problem back again)
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I've also noticed the same thing happening with Assasin's Blade and moving targets. In the instances when it misses it doesn't drop me out of hide OR spam a hit or miss message in the combat tab. Again, this is usually with targets that are moving away from my stalker when the AS is activated.
Kinetic Fusion - lvl 50 EM/EA Brute
Galvanized - lvl 50 Bots/Dark Mastermind
Umetrus - lvl 50 Fire/Kin Corruptor
Psychotropic Pstud - lvl 50 Mind/Psi Dom
brickster, i noticed that too, but then after someone pointed it out, i realized it only happened when my target broke line of sight with me. breaking line of sight acts like an interrupt on AS.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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This seems to happen to me a ton. It's extremely aggrivating. I'm still getting the bug too where after placate wears off, sometimes they come running after me even though I'm 200 yrds away and rehidden.
If you are actually somehow having a hard time duplicating the placate issue, solo some shivans for a while. Nearly every time I fought those it happened. I have learned a way to mostly avoid a lot of it though. If you quickly back away, out of melee reach and then placate, rather then placating in melee the chances of having your hide messed up are reduced a lot, although a ranged attack could still cause it, its not as likely.
_Castle_, I don't even have a Stalker and I think you rock. If the other devs would discourse with the players on issues like this (with the feeling of transparancy that you provide) they would suffer a lot less flaming by at least the more level-headed folks on the forums.
Keep up the good work.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
[/ QUOTE ]
Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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Catwhoorg posted what I've seen as well. if they get their attack off right when Placate is in the animation or if they have a long animation, it will hit me and kill my hide. It happens a lot, maybe 25% of the time.
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In Bloody Bay, I had this happen so many times I was starting to actually use it as a tactic. I was playing an AR/Dev blaster, with Targeting Drone, Beanbag, Slug, Web Grenade, and Burst.
A stalker would sneak up and start AS, I'd shoot him, interrupt the AS, and break Hide. I'd follow up with Beanbag and he'd hit me with Placate. I'd be Placated, the grenade would hit, and he'd be stunned. I don't think this ever broke Placate, but it did keep me from getting defeated on multiple occasions.
Often, I'd use Beanbag first, he'd break free, and then I'd use Slug. Otherwise, the same thing.
Elsegame: Champions Online: @BellaStrega ||| Battle.net: Ashleigh#1834 ||| Bioware Social Network: BellaStrega ||| EA Origin: Bella_Strega ||| Steam: BellaStrega ||| The first Guild Wars: Kali Magdalene ||| The Secret World: BelleStarr (Arcadia)
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Ninjitsu has the most 'toys' but pays for it by having the weakest overall defenses Stalkers have available. It's a heck of a fun set to play, though.
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Egad, once again I naturally home in on the "weakest" set 
always picking the weakest of the AT in each powerset, only to change later on and breath a sigh of relief...However...not this time!
Smoke bombs? Gotta have that! Blinding powder is still in the hmmmm stage. Trying to fit in caltrops... etc etc etc
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We should not draw aggro/suppress when we miss our strike from hide
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This isn't likely to change. It would require fundamental changes in our combat engine that could/would have far reaching effects. It's a nice idea, but chalk it up to a big Wishlist item.
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Isn't this same thing being applied to TP Foe? I can understand if this can't be done because it would un-balance things, but it really doesn't make sense that a bad guy would notice a "Whiff" and all of a sudden be able to see us. We are assassins after all (quiet and all that). Also, we're kind of like one-hit wonders. If we miss taking out the big guy in the group it's a real scramble to get out alive.
As to the placate issue, it's a timing thing like the others have said. By now, I can pretty much get a feeling of when the bad guy's going to attack, but I can't stop myself from applying the single placate foe I desparately need. It happens so often, I'm surprised when I don't get knocked out of hide.
I know what ya mean nfinity. I chose BS/SR on pre-day 1 for concept'ish purposes and realized later on it was the weakest but didn't care and the rest is history on his rise to uberness then normal'ness
Now I did the same thing with Ninjitsu 
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but it really doesn't make sense that a bad guy would notice a "Whiff" and all of a sudden be able to see us.
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"see" may be a bit strong a term, however bear in mind we're talking
about a game, so its "reality quotient" is nowhere near perfect...
That said, consider: someone sneaks up behind you with a baseball
bat, and just as they try to play Home-run Derby with your head, you
happen to bend over to pick up a quarter you just spotted lying on the
ground...
The attack misses, but I'd bet, that you'd hear the whoosh of the bat
going over your head, and feel a slight breeze from it as it goes over,
and you may even hear some clothing rustle as he moves... I'll further
bet you have a pretty good idea, by that stage, where the attack came
from, even if you can't "see" him perfectly...
Extend it just a tad further... Now, you're a trained soldier guarding an
installation in an active combat area -- Odds are you'd be even more
alert, and far likelier to respond quickly and violently, and if you do hit
the attacker you'll have a *real good idea* where he is...
... I'm fine with an AS miss making you 'visible', but, AS should have a
very significant accuracy bonus, given that you've assessed, plotted,
and patiently maneuvered into position to deliver the fatal strike -- it
should be a near-lock to hit under those conditions (imho).
As for placate, it's definitely a bit goofy, but I solve the problem by
taking a shot on the chin first -- In other words, don't cast it until the
attacker has fired his shot -- odds are pretty good that the one shot
won't kill you, and that way, you know there'll be enough time delay to
get the placate, in exchange for some risk of damage... In PvP, of
course, that is much more problematic, and I'm glad Castle et al are
willing to look at it.
What irritates me is ambushes that can find you while Hidden, or the
guy chasing you after placate wears off -- even tho you're Hidden *and*
out of aggro range (Placate should be a viable *withdrawl* tactic as well
as a viable kill tactic), or the guys that can still find you even though
you've broken LoS, got out of aggro range and are Hidden, or getting
attacked by a mob group as part of a team member's aggro even
though you didn't attack yet, and you are Hidden... Those, are just plain
silly... I sincerely hope those get addressed...
Regards,
4
I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is definitely better.
Light is faster than sound - that's why some people look smart until they speak.
For every seller who leaves the market dirty stinkin' rich,
there's a buyer who leaves the market dirty stinkin' IOed. - Obitus.
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Word of "Ninjitsu" is wrong. Word of "Ninjitsu" does not exist in Japanese. "Ninjutsu" is right.
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A quick web search shows the spelling as virtually interchangeable, even by schools which specialize in the form. Not likely to be changed.
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Ninjitsu and Ninjutsu generally aren't the same martial art. From what I understand Ninjitsu is basically an American spin off of Ninjutsu, which often isn't even related in any way to the original art. Sometimes it may be a translation error, but it is probably used mostly as a way to catch unsuspecting people who don't notice the difference in the one letter or enough about Ninjutsu to know that isn't what they are learning.
If you consolt a translation site (try the Japanese translator Here if you don't know of any, board censors the direct link to the Japanese page so you'll have to go to it yourself) or book, you'll see Ninjitsu isn't even a japanese word, but Ninjutsu is.
Even if you look just at the parts that are different, jitsu and jutsu, there is quite a difference in their meaning. Jutsu means art or means, while jitsu means truth, reality, sincerity, fidelity, or kindness. Even if you look at it as a combination of 2 seperate Japanese words, which sounds more appropriate for a Stalker, Ninja Art or Ninja Truth/Ninja Kindness?
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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My experience with this one going back into beta is that *any* hit form a non-Placated target "unHides" you from your Placated target as-well.
I did not fond any special circumstances needed, and it happened so ubiquitously that I assumed it was 'as inteneded' and did not bug it.
So, two mobs, say a boss and a Lt.
AS the Boss -> Placate the Boss -> Lt. Hits you for damage -> Boss snaps out of Placate -> No Crit damage on attack to Boss
In my experiences anyway.
Hope that helps.
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Other mobs can break my placate on another target. Or that a mob can attack while placate is animating, still be placated and I lose my chance for a crit.
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Any more detail on this so I can get QA to try and replicate it for me? Are there certain critters that do this, or is it a general case? Do any special circumstances need to be met?
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All of the secondary sets should include powers similar to Ninjutsu's "crowd control" abilities, to give the Stalker something to do that lets him stay close, while waiting for hide to reactivate. In short, increase the tactical options for stalkers to more than just "Stand 'n' Scrap" and "Run 'n' Hide."
[/ QUOTE ] Not likely to happen. Ninjitsu has the most 'toys' but pays for it by having the weakest overall defenses Stalkers have available. It's a heck of a fun set to play, though.
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We should not draw aggro/suppress when we miss our strike from hide
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This isn't likely to change. It would require fundamental changes in our combat engine that could/would have far reaching effects. It's a nice idea, but chalk it up to a big Wishlist item.
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Claws does not have any 5+ BI damage attacks to use after placate. This is very important because of how much Stalkers rely on their Hide/AS/Placate/Attack combo.
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Claws is a very good set for stalkers. On paper, it is is never the best, nor the worst DPS set Stalkers have (No, I will not release the list, for the simple reason that it would be too long to post and explain all the variables I used.) It is also the set I played most in Beta testing, since there were so many player complaints about it being unviable. There are a few improvements planned based on my experiences, however, giving them a "5+" damage power PROBABLY won't happen.
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This sets major secondary attack is classed cone/aoe and hence will not always critical, This is important because Stalkers depend on the bonus damage from crits.
===
Golden DragonFly should be changed to almost always critical because its cone is almost always single target.
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Both of these powers are working as designed. It is certainly possible the design idea is not as strong as we intended, so we'll continue to watch this to see how it plays out.
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Stun is very weak when compared to Total Focus and Bone Smasher. Can the magnitude of the disorientate, or the damage be increased on this power?
[/ QUOTE ] Possibly. I'll talk to geko and examine the numbers. I don't think there is any problem with the power offhand, though.
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Thunder Kick appears to have been "adjusted" from the CoH MA version. It now does less damage than air superiority, takes longer to recharge than air superiority, and its secondary effect triggers much less often than air superiority. Supposedly, this sort of inversion (a power pool attack being in all ways superior to a primary attack) shouldn't actually happen.
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When I was working with geko to get CAK to a better balance point, we noticed that Thunder Kick was doing damage based on it having a one second longer recharge time than it actually had. We corrected it at that time, despite it being a "nerf." We were pretty sure the other improvements in the set more than made up for us correcting what was essentially a bug.
Now, comparing it to Air Superiority is interesting. AS is a favorite power of mine, precisely because it is so effective. If it is true that it is 'better' than Thunder Kick, I'll talk to geko about getting TK's animation time shortened (if possible) or returning TK's damage, but increase its recharge time. In other words, I'll look into it.
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On some spine attacks there's the long barb that comes out and extends forward from the palm. For even the attacks that don't have that long barb the barb is appearing, but ONLY while the attack animation is going. So all of a sudden you have these huge arm length spines coming out of your hand that weren't there before and aren't there after the attack. They don't appear to be completely synced with the attack animations either.
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I think a code fix for this happened in the last week or two before Beta ended, but I'm sketchy on details. Let me know if this is still happening and I'll pass it over to the graphics team to look at.
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Barb Swipe, thanks to its DOT it is not as subpar as Claws:Swipe, but it still needs looking at.
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This will be addressed at the same time Claws/Swipe assuming we can get the balance numbers to line up.
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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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When I spoke to geko about this, he said it was working as designed.
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Word of "Ninjitsu" is wrong. Word of "Ninjitsu" does not exist in Japanese. "Ninjutsu" is right.
[/ QUOTE ]
A quick web search shows the spelling as virtually interchangeable, even by schools which specialize in the form. Not likely to be changed.