Where do you get that from. The patch notes don't say anything about it.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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Where do you get that from. The patch notes don't say anything about it.
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Didn't see it either. But I'm not sure why it's even necessary -- I'm already seen by 80% of the people in Siren's Call to begin with, so obviously they're doing fine.
Heck, last night, *I* got stalked by a scrapper, when I was supposedly Hidden and wasn't even interested in engaging. At least it gave me practice in using Placate on the fly.
The problem with PvP is that there is no "average" hero in there -- they're all "maxed out" heroes. Whereas in the regular population, only a small portion would be able to see me, evenyone in PvP tailors their build so my Hidden is virtually worthless and I'm forced to dip into power pools myself to even have a shot at using one of my few large AT advantages. (And even then, I *really* have to dip in.)
I think he's referring to this:
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* Police Bots and Arbiter Drones will now grant ally players a perception buff to help see stealthed targets.
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But that is really kind of vague, so I have no idea what it actually entails.
That is near hospitals I think.
Damn, I liked hanging out at the enemy base chatting to people as soon as they arrive out of the chopper.
This move is entirely pointless if you ask me, because its not as if anyone is ganking people at the enemy base- if you tried that you'd be dead before you could blink, with debt up to your eyeballs.
Personally I think this was uncalled for, it's true, most do have tactics and other +perception powers.. They can pop insights, and even carry IR goggles to other PvP zones.. This chage was ridiculous.. I can understand that getting his with AS is devastating, but I think having the edge in PvP was all stalkers had.. They're not exactly a good PvE AT.. I think if they're going to do this, they need to buff our defense..
Why? The server lag already makes it hard enough to land an assassin strike, seeing as you have to stand next to your target for at least a second before activating it, or it thinks you're still moving and eats up your endurance.. Hell I have had many problems with this, usually I will end up eating all my endurance with attempted AS's until my endurance is depleted, and by the time I do land one, all of my toggles deactivate from 0 endurance and I'm left to die.. Now they're adding extra perception buffs?.. Please.. Cryptic, get it straight.. It was balanced before because of our disadvantages, now you're helping everyone else make it even harder?..
Fix, please.. They don't need any perception buffs, I am already seen 80-90% of the time WITHOUT the new buffs.
So yes, it's true, most everyone will see Stalkers now, to answer your question.
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Damn, I liked hanging out at the enemy base chatting to people as soon as they arrive out of the chopper.
This move is entirely pointless if you ask me, because its not as if anyone is ganking people at the enemy base- if you tried that you'd be dead before you could blink, with debt up to your eyeballs.
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Its not that pointless. On many occasions as a hero and a villain i have come across the opposite type in the base area. Just the other day as a stalker i went into Siren's Call and immediatly ran into a controller and tank who where using stealth and i believe grant invis on each other. Forutnantly i had stealth myself and ASed the controller then the tank ran away, but w/o a +perception power i had running just about all the time, i wouldn't have noticed them, and in Siren's right where you get off there are not that many NPCs besides the store and misson ppl
I could be wrong, but I interperet that as simply having the buff while they are in range of the bot/drone. I don't think they are becoming buff bots who cast this on you to go out into the zone and fight.
So no, it's not true. While away from the bots/drones, no more players will see you than see you now. (Again, I could be wrong, but as long as I am responding to someone making definitive statements with no foundation in fact, merely speculation, why can't I do the same? =)
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next patch is adding enhancements that help see us. Its already bad enough that EVERYONE who pvp's takes tactics if their not a stalker and stealth if they are.
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Slowly but surely, it seems stalkers will be a AT not used at all as many builds will all have perception thus making the hide+stealth or simply hide pretty much worthless. you will not be a stalker but yet a weak scrapper that can crit when you see the green HIDDEN on your screen, even though your enemy can see you.
Once Stealth and Hide are eliminated from the stalker he or she is worthless and shouldn't even be played in pvp as he will become useless.
Its a shame if you ask me, I thought the At had potential 
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Nothing in one of Cryptics games has potential if everyone cries about it.
They're already known to be nerf herders.. Especially when the other sheep whine.
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I could be wrong, but I interperet that as simply having the buff while they are in range of the bot/drone. I don't think they are becoming buff bots who cast this on you to go out into the zone and fight.
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Makes a lot more sense, with that limitation... obviously an attempt to stop folks from camping the hospitals and such.
I think Stalkers are going to be a troubled AT, simply because they live or die by their ability to hide. Hide is one of those all or nothing kind of powers, like SR is for scrappers. If they can never be seen till they attack, they really are too powerful for PvP purposes, as they can 1 shot kill pretty much everything but tanks. The whole balance thing goes out the window there. On the flip side, if anybody can see them with just a +perception power, then they are dead where they stand. Again, the balance doesn't exist.
Perhaps a good solution would be for the +perception powers like Tactics to give a percentage chance of seeing a stealthed character, rather than a straight visual. It could be a pulse like power that rechecks every 2 seconds or so, so that even if you see them now, 2 seconds later you lose them again and have to hope you dont get assassinated if you choose to stick around.
I don't see an easy fix for this otherwise.
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Damn, I liked hanging out at the enemy base chatting to people as soon as they arrive out of the chopper.
This move is entirely pointless if you ask me, because its not as if anyone is ganking people at the enemy base- if you tried that you'd be dead before you could blink, with debt up to your eyeballs.
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The Drones are changed in the patch so that they no longer give debt. Thus, something will have to be done to convince people to not just camp the hero/villain hospital, get deleted, fly back to the other hospital, rinse, repeat.
- 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.
Well, I guess we can stick to places outside of Siren's Call. Other than that, you can still pick off loners and people who do silly things like stand out in the open and not run off immediately after you AS them. Stalkers will probably remain a troubled AT, though. People, imho, grossly, and I mean grossly, exxagerate the inherent ability of the AT in PvP. Yes, we can kill very quickly, but that's if a ton of contingencies are out of the way. It seems the focus is placed on those situations where this occurs, rather than the larger scope of all possible scenarios where this becomes a far smaller concern. If we're now allowed to nerf herd anyone who could ever pose a serious threat and, in some situations, go infrequently killed, we should be talking about nerfing Ice/* Blasters in PvP.
Things may get better when we get more used to the AT and build our experience and builds up to the levels the heroes are at. I don't know how much that'll help, but I imagine it'll help some.
That said, it wasn't difficult to see a Stalker even before that. I've _never_ been killed by a Stalker in PvP; ever. Granted, I do *play* one so it could have something to do with being aware of tactics. Additionally, I take +perception buffs but those are attached to powers I wouldn't have gone without, anyhow. Still, I was amazed at just how easy it is to see Stalkers; I didn't even really have to take anything on top of what I'd already taken for PvE and pre-I6 PvP activity. That doesn't mean I'm defeating Stalkers left and right; I'm not. I just see them early on enough to avoid them. Scrappers and Ice Blasters pose a much greater threat I've found, overall.
After playing a Stalker and playing against Stalkers in PvP, I've found that it may be more fair if something like Tactics + IR Goggles would be able to see Hide+Stealth Stalker within 10-20 feet or so rather than what currently seems to be hundreds of feet. I do kind of agree that the devs are making it too easy to see us.
Also note.. that the patch notes said:
"IR Goggles brought more in line with other Sirens Call Temp powers."
I assume that they were nerfed.. unless the heroes get OTHER insanely powerful temp powers that render AT's useless.
I assume the +perception from the drones is to help circumvent the drones giving debt. Now they dont give debt, but albeit its a bit harder to sneak past the drones.
Everyone relax. The bots/drones are just going to get an AoE tactics style perception buff. Meaning, if you are standing near a drone, you will be able to see better than if you are out in the battle field.
All this is going to do is make base camping harder for those who like to hide out in the base. Personally, hiding out in the base isn't such a good idea anyway. You don't want to be popping out of hide/stealth in the middle of a base with all the drones and NPCs to give you debt.
Here's a good technique i've been using even without added drone perception:
Camp in the base away from anything that could get you debt if you are seen, but still within visual range of a spawn point. When a player spawns, take a look at his powers (which is kinda dumb that we can do that, but thats a different thread) and analyze if you want to take him on. DON'T attack him in the base. STALK them into the battlefield. Most people are expecting to get attacked either right at the base, or at a battle point. Give them a minute to get away from the debt givers and let them feel safe. Then attack.
This lets you "camp" in that you're doing your research on an opponent. But you're engaging in a more honorable position.
Back to the point of the thread though, nothing is changing out on the battlefield. The patch just makes base camping a bit more dangerous. Use camping as a scouting technique and you should all still be fine.
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Yes, we can kill very quickly, but that's if a ton of contingencies are out of the way. It seems the focus is placed on those situations where this occurs, rather than the larger scope of all possible scenarios where this becomes a far smaller concern.
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I think this is because most people haven't played Stalkers and don't realize what kind of work went into their death.
To them, it seems like we just popped in, killed them and left. When in reality, there was a lot of stalking involved. There was a lot of dropping down, but retreating for some reason or another... A lot of watching and waiting.
I've actually spent a few neighborhood battles doing nothing by watching and waiting... Hoping that they do something stupid... And moving around as often as possible.(Since I always seem to be the only villain around)
And theres nothing like having everything fall into place, the target aggros more than they can handle, they stop moving around so much and stop minding their surroundings... Everything seems to be going your way and you miss. You drop down, hit build up and AS misses. If I were on teamspeak, my SG would have their ears violated with so much profanity everytime that happened...
"Through Avarice evil smiles; through insanity it sings"
Forum Troll Rule #1: Anyone who disagrees with my point of view is either a fanboy or an idiot.
I'm a proud carebear.
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Damn, I liked hanging out at the enemy base chatting to people as soon as they arrive out of the chopper. This move is entirely pointless if you ask me, because its not as if anyone is ganking people at the enemy base- if you tried that you'd be dead before you could blink, with debt up to your eyeballs.
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The Drones are changed in the patch so that they no longer give debt. Thus, something will have to be done to convince people to not just camp the hero/villain hospital, get deleted, fly back to the other hospital, rinse, repeat.
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Yeah, I was sorta bummed about the removal of debt -- since I guess I'm not very favorably disposed towards hospital campers. (Of which I actually have seen a great deal, in terms of "time spent in PvP zone" vs "time spent by heroes in enemy base").
But I guess the debt drones were being abused by folks with the TP Foe power, so...
As others have noted, my understanding is that drones will buff a
player's perception when he's near them, and drones don't give debt...
Also, they're placing the initial introduction contacts outside of these
zones.
I think all of these are *good* things, and I *play* a Stalker (mostly in
Bloody Bay)...
There's really two questions at work here, and to the best of my
knowledge, the Devs have clarified neither of them...
1> Should players be able to camp (and affect enemy players) in
a 'safe zone', like a hospital, or zone-in point?
2> Is the *entire* Hero/Villain zone considered a 'safe zone', or do the
Devs *want* to see Base sieges???
My take on these is this:
I feel there *should* be some 'safe space', whether it be the hospital,
the zone-in point, whatever, and I feel it should be well marked, and
absolutely impossible to violate, albeit, a fairly small area...
I also feel that the entire base area should NOT be considered a 'safe
zone'. Base Sieges are a pretty cool dynamic, and I've watched (and
participated) in many of them in Bloody Bay (both Hero and Villain). The
ebb and flow of these battles is desirable... Sadly, however, I've also
seen 'abuses' on both sides that lessen the fun value of those sieges
considerably...
I'd like to see the small, inviolate 'safe zones' clearly marked
with "WARNING!!! Maximum Security Area" signs, and protected by
Drones which a> Give NO Debt b> Have Max perception -- seeing
through ALL stealth c> Having Double Range (beyond tp foe) d>
Double their fire rate.
In short, if you go there, you are 100% guaranteed a free, 1-way pass
straight back to your own base (woot!!! a free travel power) 
Obviously, the 'safe zone' should be pretty small, assuming the Devs
want such a place at all...
For the Bases in general, I'm fine with turrets, npcs and all the
other 'defenses' except the drones... Let Players fight for control of
bases, without being able to gank players who just zoned in, or are in
the infirmary... A lot of those fights are pretty cool imho (though quite
deadly to us Stalkers out there)
The biggest issue to me is that there currently is no 'true' safe zone, and
the base defenses are feeble enough to prove it -- regularily. While my
own particular toons have never been impacted by this (so far), I've
seen several that have...
It would be nice to see a Red Name response to those two questions at
some point giving a clear statement on this whole issue...
Still, I'm 100% fine with the Drone changes so far, and it further doesn't
surprise me at all that they're also starting to add some resistances to
TpFoe as well... Fairly predictable changes, I think...
Of course, that's just my opinion... YMMV 
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.
Police Bot or Arbiter Drone now give a medium radius +Perception buff to Players only who are standing near them. Once a player leaves that radius, the +Perception falls off very quickly. This was done to prevent a pretty nasty exploit.
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Yes, we can kill very quickly, but that's if a ton of contingencies are out of the way. It seems the focus is placed on those situations where this occurs, rather than the larger scope of all possible scenarios where this becomes a far smaller concern.
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I think this is because most people haven't played Stalkers and don't realize what kind of work went into their death.
To them, it seems like we just popped in, killed them and left. When in reality, there was a lot of stalking involved. There was a lot of dropping down, but retreating for some reason or another... A lot of watching and waiting.
I've actually spent a few neighborhood battles doing nothing by watching and waiting... Hoping that they do something stupid... And moving around as often as possible.(Since I always seem to be the only villain around)
And theres nothing like having everything fall into place, the target aggros more than they can handle, they stop moving around so much and stop minding their surroundings... Everything seems to be going your way and you miss. You drop down, hit build up and AS misses. If I were on teamspeak, my SG would have their ears violated with so much profanity everytime that happened...
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This seems to generally be the case. I have waited as long as 45 minutes to kill a target in Siren's Call; waiting for that perfect moment to strike. The targets rarely realise how much time, patience, and effort goes into most if not all of my kills in PvP with my Stalker. It is substantially more effort than any of my other characters require in PvP, generally, but that's part of the attraction. Still, having the major strength, and one my ability to kill heavily relies upon, so easily muted was not particularly fun. I like a challenge, but this seemed out of balance. Perhaps things will change when more people actually play Stalkers and realise that they aren't what they've been hyped up to be by people killed by them.
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Here's a good technique i've been using even without added drone perception:
Camp in the base away from anything that could get you debt if you are seen, but still within visual range of a spawn point. When a player spawns, take a look at his powers (which is kinda dumb that we can do that, but thats a different thread) and analyze if you want to take him on. DON'T attack him in the base. STALK them into the battlefield. Most people are expecting to get attacked either right at the base, or at a battle point. Give them a minute to get away from the debt givers and let them feel safe. Then attack.
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It's quite a trick to land an AS on a target Superjumping through the zone though. Trying to attack someone while they're traveling to their destination (and feel "safe") seems fairly difficult to me.
Of course if you find someone who likes to stop and enjoy the scenery regularly, I suppose you could be in luck, but their info window isn't going to tell you that.
It seems to me that most people in PvP zones never ever stop moving unless their reading stuff from their contact, rezzing from the hospital, or engaged in battle (and sometimes not even then).
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It's quite a trick to land an AS on a target Superjumping through the zone though. Trying to attack someone while they're traveling to their destination (and feel "safe") seems fairly difficult to me.
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I've often teleported ahead of someone who's flying happily along in a straight line, and managed to position myself roughly near their flight path.
Once I managed to get off a BU+AS doing this.
Predictably, I missed.
Damn heroes.
@Mindshadow
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Police Bot or Arbiter Drone now give a medium radius +Perception buff
to Players only who are standing near them. Once a player leaves that
radius, the +Perception falls off very quickly. This was done to prevent
a pretty nasty exploit.
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Thanks for the clarification Castle -- much appreciated.
Perhaps I'm inferring too much here, however, if the change was to
prevent a perceived exploit, the inferrence (to me) is that there are
(intentionally???) no true safe zones per se... ie. if a player can still
sneak into the area (when an enemy player *isn't* present) it still opens
up the possibility of a fight, albeit the 'victim' has a much better chance
to see the attack coming if he's near a drone when he does show up...
Hmmmm.... That raises some interesting implications, I think...
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.
next patch is adding enhancements that help see us. Its already bad enough that EVERYONE who pvp's takes tactics if their not a stalker and stealth if they are.