Official Thread for Stalkers: Dark Armor
By
5th_Player,
Posted on: 2006-05-01 24:08 in Developers' Corner
*Please test out this content first. Edited by Cricket*
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
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Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
i honestly think DA will be the worst like it is for scrappers. All it was put there for was to make ninjitsu stalkers realize that they dont have it so bad afterall 
Well, one thing I have to mention is that my on my Dark Armor brute the SOUND EFFECTS DO NOT FADE AWAY anymore. I assume it's the same for the other dark armor sets.
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Dark Armor - ANNOYING SOUND EFFECTS - VOLUME SET TO HIGH - CAN NOT HEAR OTHER SOUNDS WITH IT LINKED TO REST OF SOUND EFFECT. Sorry but, do you understand.
Like I stated earlier. Create a Personal SFX sound toggle under sound effects in Options. 3 powers and 2 travel powers sets can be annoying with toggles to mute them maybe everyone cwould play them and enjoy it rather than choosing another MMORPG. Remember they are out there.
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Dark Armor - ANNOYING SOUND EFFECTS - VOLUME SET TO HIGH - CAN NOT HEAR OTHER SOUNDS WITH IT LINKED TO REST OF SOUND EFFECT. Sorry but, do you understand.
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I leave, come back after five months, and see this. Makes me feel right at home *sniff*
You know, one of the things that I would have to say is that for stalkers, wouldn't it make more sense for Soul Transfer to actually replace the Disoriented effect with a Placate and Hide effect? Rather then clouding their mind clouding their sight type thing. Considering you have to die to use it, an AoE Placate and hide effect wouldn't be overpowered and would be much more stalker specific.
So has anyone gotten any numbers yet on how the resistances in this set compare to those in the Brute's and Scrapper's version of the set?
They're probably the same, at least (AFAIK) all the other sets are the same numbers-wise as their scrapper/brute counterparts.
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Dark Armor - ANNOYING SOUND EFFECTS - VOLUME SET TO HIGH - CAN NOT HEAR OTHER SOUNDS WITH IT LINKED TO REST OF SOUND EFFECT. Sorry but, do you understand.
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I leave, come back after five months, and see this. Makes me feel right at home *sniff*
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Good to be home, eh? 
The Dark Armor sounds do not fade and are hard on the ears.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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The Dark Armor sounds do not fade and are hard on the ears.
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Feh be glad you didn't duo with a FF defender for 30 levels back when all sounds were annoying. Atleast after all that I have learned how to ignore cousins who like to do all that annoying kid stuff.
Actually this is why my Broad Sword/Dark Armor scrapper is only 17 after 1 year. I cant stand the grating DA sounds from the toggles there either.
Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
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i honestly think DA will be the worst like it is for scrappers. All it was put there for was to make ninjitsu stalkers realize that they dont have it so bad afterall
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I was going to call you mean names, but then I saw that you already had a mean name above your avatar.
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Well, one thing I have to mention is that my on my Dark Armor brute the SOUND EFFECTS DO NOT FADE AWAY anymore. I assume it's the same for the other dark armor sets.
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Yes, first thing I noticed as well. Grrr, please please fix this. Was all set to play elec/dark armor brute but if the toggle sound effects go back to not fading away I will not be playing the set.
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You know, one of the things that I would have to say is that for stalkers, wouldn't it make more sense for Soul Transfer to actually replace the Disoriented effect with a Placate and Hide effect? Rather then clouding their mind clouding their sight type thing. Considering you have to die to use it, an AoE Placate and hide effect wouldn't be overpowered and would be much more stalker specific.
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No no no! You're a stalker. You have to be like the Shadow and use your power to cloud men's minds. Mind clouding only. No sight clouding for you!
Also, that would require actually changing the power for stalkers rather than just turning Cloak of Darkness into hide and switching Death Shroud for Shadow Dweller and then transplanting the rest of the set. It'd have to be an entirely different power really.
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Very well then I contradict myself,
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Consistency is the defense of a small mind. - Beldin
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Also, that would require actually changing the power for stalkers rather than just turning Cloak of Darkness into hide and switching Death Shroud for Shadow Dweller and then transplanting the rest of the set. It'd have to be an entirely different power really.
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Isn't changing CoD into Hide and adding Shadow Dweller creating entirely new powers?
Anyways, after playing a Ninja Blade/Dark Armor Stalker yesterday up to lvl 8 and trying to plan out the future for that character, I can already see some balance issues:
1.) Resistance based set for a stalker is certainly not ideal. The Defensive sets have an advantage since the longer you can go without being hit, the better chance you have to re-hide and AS again. Now I understand Regen doesn't have defense either, but Regen is just Regen, and it's hard to compare it to Defensive/Resistance sets equally.
2.) Too many powers to take! Looking at the powers to choose from in DA, I would say the first 6 are necessary for any decent build, those being:
- Hide (Duh...)
- Dark Embrace (Res(S/L, Toxic, Neg En.))
- Murky Cloud (Res(Fire, Cold, Energy, Neg En., End Drain))
- Shadow Dweller (Res(Immobile), +Perception, +Def(All), AND it's auto...compliments on this
- Obsidian Shield (Res(Psi dmg, Sleep, Hold, Stun, Fear))
- Dark Regeneration (Your bread-and-butter heal)
In addition to this, and in my opinion, you MUST take Stamina since you're running sooo many toggles, and Acrobatics to fill the knockback protection hole. And since you have low Def, you really need that Knockback protection because you're going to get hit all the time. I myself would also take Boxing/Tough to increase the S/L resists, and Stealth for PvP hiding. So that's 9 pool powers to compliment the set, and 6 from Armor itself. I realize not everyone would go the same route, but for me those are must have powers and they are REALLY hard to fit in, along with the compulsory attacks (AS, Build Up, Placate, and at least 2 more single target attacks).
3.) The lvl 28 and 35 powers are AoE effect toggles (Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom respectively). From what I gather, these powers will DROP YOUR HIDE when you get close to enemies because it hits them...I guess you could use them as purely situational powers to help a battle, but since you're a stalker with low HP, in almost every case you should run instead of standing in a group of guys running an AoE toggle that will draw aggro. The only positive side to this is that you can easily skip these powers (along with the lvl 38 Self-Rez for that matter...).
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The biggest issue for me is probably the number of powers you need to take to make a satisfactory build. And by satisfactory, I mean a build that will keep you with a minimal amount of envy when you team with that EM/Ninjitsu Stalker. I would either like to see some of the powers' abilities combined, or add some more effects to minimize the use of pool powers for filling gaps. Even reducing the number of powers "needed" by one (say adding knockback protection to Dark Embrace or something), and it might work.
The lack of Defense is a little harder to determine until it's played out further. Dark Regen + Resists might be able to keep you alive as well as it does for Scrappers and Brutes, But that leaves you with little chance to re-hide during a fight, especially if you are solo.
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Even reducing the number of powers "needed" by one (say adding knockback protection to Dark Embrace or something), and it might work.
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Just remember, if Stalkers get KB protection in DA, can you guess who should/will too?
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brutes dont get dark armor...
Heh, since no one else is paying attention..
Welcome back Pacur!!! Oddly, you're one of the few people who've gone away for a while and I noticed.
Just remember, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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brutes dont get dark armor...
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*checks*
Yup, they still do.
Dawncaller - The Circle of Dawn
Too many blasted alts to list, but all on Virtue.
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brutes dont get dark armor...
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Well, that will certainly affect my assessment of the veracity of your posts in the future. (Speaking as someone with a level 33 Dark Melee/Dark Armor brute.) 
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This is more of a suggestion for Dark Armor's heal, Dark Regeneration.
Dark Regeneration is vital for Dark Armor to function in PvP since it requires so many Armors to work and those Armors are weak, well under 50%, to everything but Negative Energy and Psionics. Dark Regeneration is very high endurance and must be slotted heavily for this as well as recharge and at least one heal for PvP since you usually have only one target for it to strike. However, Dark Regeneration is only base Accuracy and will not hit at all without at least 2 Accuracy SO's in PvP and 3 are better. So for PvP at least Dark Regeneration needs a boost to it's base Accuracy, maybe 10-15%. Right now Dark Regeneration misses too much for Dark Armor to function in PvP as it does in PvE. This should apply to Scrapper and Brute Dark Armors as well.
Quixotik
"I did not say this. I am not here." -Guild Navigator
oh lol forgot about my em/dark i made a couple months ago
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This is more of a suggestion for Dark Armor's heal, Dark Regeneration.
Dark Regeneration is vital for Dark Armor to function in PvP since it requires so many Armors to work and those Armors are weak, well under 50%, to everything but Negative Energy and Psionics. Dark Regeneration is very high endurance and must be slotted heavily for this as well as recharge and at least one heal for PvP since you usually have only one target for it to strike. However, Dark Regeneration is only base Accuracy and will not hit at all without at least 2 Accuracy SO's in PvP and 3 are better. So for PvP at least Dark Regeneration needs a boost to it's base Accuracy, maybe 10-15%. Right now Dark Regeneration misses too much for Dark Armor to function in PvP as it does in PvE. This should apply to Scrapper and Brute Dark Armors as well.
[/ QUOTE ]Very true, I posted a planned spine/DA Stalker to pair up with my spine/DA Scrapper, skipping fitness pool and left out dark regen for aid self since I do not see sense in why I should have a heal that requires an AOE agro as a STALKER to heal myself when I could run off and hide/invis and aid self back up.
On the other hand, I wonder how well dark armor will hold up with that new accolade giving 10% increase in health, pretty close to what Corr's health is now.
This thread is solely for discussions regarding Stalker Dark Armor (Secondary Set). From the Issue 7 Training Room patch notes:
New Power Sets
Stalker Secondary Dark Armor
All off topic posts will be removed. Please do not post bugs/feedback/balance issues before testing this content. All bugs/feedback/balance issues should be posted AFTER playing a Stalker Dark Armor character.