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I have an idea, heroes shouldn't be allowed to put lvl 41+ heroes on the map,
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It'd be more broken if everyone eligible couldn't get in, in my opinion.
World of Jackcraft.
Stalkers dont have an unfair advantage at all and its daft to say they have. The whole AT is designed to be used to attack from stealth and disappear, that is our purpose like Rogues in WoW (who incidentally are more not less powerful in comparison). We are assassins we attack from stealth and kill quickly, which means we are quite severely gimped by the level of how much Hide is compromised by perception abilities. We should not be totally invisible but perception should be based on a chance to see us not a guarantee we can be seen half a zone away.
We are not an easy AT to play the only easy times we have is if someone is standing around still in the middle of a PvP zone and quite frankly any AT would have an easy time of it then. Truth is it does require a lot of skill to play a stalker especially when outnumbered, as you will be seen, you will be debuffed and lose Hide and you will be hunted down without mercy. As for stalkers ganging up, thats no different from the groups of Heroes grouped up ganking individuals by themselves at 10-1 disadvantages that I see in Sirens Call on a nightly basis. The thing is people dont like the fact that we are pretty much the only AT with the ability to one hit kill out of nowhere. What people fail to realise is to do it is not as easy as it seems and the failure rates (which often prove lethal) are incredibly high. As for cowards, Stalkers are not a cowardly class we are a survival and stealth class. If you want to see cowardly watch the groups of fully slotted level 50 heroes grouped up in large numbers ganking individual villains in Sirens Call on a nightly basis. Stalkers a lot of the time attack solo which is a lot to be said about a lot of the other AT's.
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Been reading through some of this stalker bashing, okay fine, stalker are unbeatable, right, can I ask if you have even been to Sirens Call?
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Can I ask if you have even read my replies properly?
This isnt stalker bashing, go back and check again.
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I have an idea, heroes shouldn't be allowed to put lvl 41+ heroes on the map, full stop, not just with adjusted levels, just not on there, because we (villains) cannot put lvl 41+'s on the map, talk about cheap cowards and watch for the lvl 50 running out in large mobs.
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So you have no problem with the level 50 villains stomping all over the lower heroes then (when you can hit level 50)? People are under the blind impression that their side is massively outnumbered, but people on both sides are saying that, and i've seen outnumbered villains and outnumbered heroes. The level offset is temporary, and yes that does make it pretty unfair, but in even numbers i've seen hero teams with level 50's get stomped on. (SC)
BTW "Just another stalker bashing thread" is pretty inaccurate, seeing as we were actually orbiting the conversation about making PVP more skillbased. Its my fault I went on a tangent about evening up the hide/detect rules around stalkers, but to me, that has a lot to do with skill when you consider how they COULD tweak things.
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Stalkers dont have an unfair advantage at all and its daft to say they have. The whole AT is designed to be used to attack from stealth and disappear, that is our purpose like Rogues in WoW (who incidentally are more not less powerful in comparison). We are assassins we attack from stealth and kill quickly, which means we are quite severely gimped by the level of how much Hide is compromised by perception abilities. We should not be totally invisible but perception should be based on a chance to see us not a guarantee we can be seen half a zone away.
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Isnt that what i've been saying this whole time? The thing is, NCSoft could bring out an archetype called "Powerganker", with infinite hitpoints, and one unresistable 100% accuracy ranged instakill power called "gank". Just because its there, doesnt mean it couldnt use a little tweak to make things a little better, y'know? :P
Yes, hide IS gimped by perception powers, but as I was saying, those powers should only effect a cone of vision, forcing stalkers to use some skill and attack from outside the characters visual range... and even use cunning to stay out of view as they move in for the attack... but at the same time of course it should be impossible for a stalker to remain hidden at melee range with four people staring at them. The more I talk about it, the more I do in fact realise that it is near impossible to make room for 'skill'.
*rubs his head*
Bah, tell you what, forget what I was saying. Give us heroes a stalker-style AT, and we'll see how that goes :3
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As for stalkers ganging up, thats no different from the groups of Heroes grouped up ganking individuals by themselves at 10-1 disadvantages that I see in Sirens Call on a nightly basis.
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Oh, the numbers thing again. Funny, every time -I- go into SC (defiant), villains outnumber the heroes. Not cripplingly outnumbered normally, but sometimes so. And yes, I think it is different. With heroes, you actually have the chance to run away or do something before you perish. Against ten stalkers, how exactly would someone without the necessary level-1 powerset choices be able to do -anything- against them? The fact is, stalkers are kind of like controllers, when they're good they're great, when they're bad they're terrible. With one vital difference. No matter how strong the controller, you can escape them and you can hurt them. Stalkers? Unless you are deliberately geared up to detect them, you -dont- have a chance.
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The thing is people dont like the fact that we are pretty much the only AT with the ability to one hit kill out of nowhere.
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No duh. Heh 
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As for cowards, Stalkers are not a cowardly class we are a survival and stealth class.
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Agreed, but its your archetypes nature to be cowardly. People just get annoyed when you can click a button and win, when they can struggle to get you into red, only to see you vanish thanks to a travel power, only to die themselves moments later. Its easy to feel robbed, but its the nature of the archetype that gained the 'coward' reputation. In the end, hit and run is the only real tactic you can use to increase your chances of survival. Also worth noting, stalkers arent the only cowards, i've seen tankers and brutes run like hell after a controller/corrupter struggled them down into low health (with most holds and effects resisted outright). This of course is a valid PVP tactic, simply staying alive. It just bugs people, and no matter how levelheaded they might be, eventually they'll want to gripe, unfortuantely.
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If you want to see cowardly watch the groups of fully slotted level 50 heroes grouped up in large numbers ganking individual villains in Sirens Call on a nightly basis. Stalkers a lot of the time attack solo which is a lot to be said about a lot of the other AT's.
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Thats because stalkers very often dont NEED anyone else to help them make a kill, they practically have a kill bound to a button. The group-ganking is a two way deal, it happens on both sides, just as much as TP'ing idle characters out of the safezones does.
But the one ongoing constant behind all discussions on stalkers, is this defensiveness. By all means, be defensive, but at least keep in mind what I was ACTUALLY talking about. Its annoying when people take what you say as simply outright knocking all stalker-players, im suggesting alterations to stalking/detecting as it currently stands. Its VERY easy to simply say the 'other side' is unfair and needs to be nerfed, but if you look at the situation with an honest eye, both sides have a hard time of it.
I dont have any more suggestions to add to the subject of stalkers/detectors, at least in any relevant manner for the thread, and the others are just doing the blind defense thing, so perhaps we should shuffle off the subject and focus on something else... but unfortunately all this needless defending of a simple premise is making my head spin, so no more for now :P
There was a thread recently in the general discussion area, that pointed out that Star Wars Galaxies went down the cludgie because they tried to make it too action-oriented, oversimplified things and generally demolished what was a winning formula. With that in mind, we/I shouldnt wish for too many changes, because i'd hate to see it turn out like that..
im sick and its nearly 3am so excuse me if i become incoherant 
I like the idea of a cone of vision, I nearly always strike from the back anyway as its harder for them to get a lock and hit back Am i cowardly the way I play? No, I dont mind if I die but I will do all I can to avoid getting squished (and I am squishy) and having to walk all that way back Im so weak I dont see it as much of a win for them if I just hang around, as it stands people are quite pleased when they kill me and I think this is a good thing, theres nothing like bringing down a player who are good players and you dont catch very often. Also I do generally work my way through a team and not just pick on the controllers/defenders, Im fully slotted on max pvp points, Im just in it for the fun
As for giving heroes a Stalker AT dont they get the Stalker in the future? At least I ahve been led to beleive there will be a "defecting" Task Force mission to swap sides, I look forward to stabbing the (generally) weaker defence villains and other stalkers
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
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Don't overestimate the Hide ability its not as great in PvP as people make out. With the amount of Heroes with perception based abilities its a rare day when you can move across a zone without being seen at distance. I find most of my AS strikes come from using Placate as I'm rumbled fairly early on, the remainder comes from a painstaking hunt trying to approach out of my prey's line of site. In most cases the only purpose of hide in PvP is to generate our crit for AS.
Requires a fair bit of skill to be a Stalker in mass PvP especially considering the Hero to Villains ratio. The only times we have it easy is in a one versus one scenario where we have the luxury of total surprise....doesnt happen often though
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Good call!
As I come up against better skilled heroes in PVP my stalker finds it more difficult to make an AS successful.
On 4/1 in Union Sirens it became pretty clear that the majority of heroes in the battle were either able to see me through hide & stealth or had a personal based power that interrupted my AS.
Didn't stop me having fun though 
You know why I made a stalker?
Cos I was sick and tired of my corruptor being two shotted by blasters. Because I was sick of him being chain held by controllers. And I was sick of him not doin' any damage at all to tanks, little damage to scrappers, and completely miss defenders.
I'm sure some will jump up now and say they have a corruptor who does well in PvP. Well, guess what. I guess it depends on having a team, and specific sets. Hmm... looks just like the anti-stalker formula: get a team, get target drones (specific set).
Also, if it's balance we're talking about:
I saw a blaster happily as ever charge into a small team of villains and two shot others: stun and finish off. Only when I entered with my stalker would that blaster start to complain...
So I find it balanced... at least I was ONE reason for that blaster to actually be worried, rather than charge into another group of villains and kill one or two before running away.
PS. It's winter, and someone has turned off the heating in my room... So I'm cold and angry. Forgive the attitude. <runs off to check the heating system>
I've got a level 34 Corruptor and I have to admit I was very disappointed at the AT's survivability in PvP. I found it an excellent and fun AT in PvE where it has an easier time than a blaster due to the healing/buff based secondarys so was a but disappointed with the damage in PvP.
Back to the matter at hand though. I should point out at this stage the level cap difference betweev CoV and CoH 40 and 50 respectively. I know a lot of us suspect that being knocked down to 30 level 30 doesnt affect slotting or enhancements which gives a significant advantage to anyone fully slotted at level 50 with SO's. With that in mind are we really seeing the true picture of PvP at the moment and can the imbalances and the skill issue be a lot down to that fact. I suspect we will have to wait until the villain gap is raised to 50 to see how PvP will truely function.
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On 4/1 in Union Sirens it became pretty clear that the majority of heroes in the battle were either able to see me through hide & stealth or had a personal based power that interrupted my AS.
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Ah, Union. Thats my blind-side. Im a defiantist :3
This is just my opinion, but defiant seems to be the more popular server, and if this is true, it might explain why there would be less villains around in union, and naturally only so many of them would want to PVP regularly..
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I'm sure some will jump up now and say they have a corruptor who does well in PvP. Well, guess what. I guess it depends on having a team, and specific sets. Hmm... looks just like the anti-stalker formula: get a team, get target drones (specific set).
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This is why I have talked about skill over stats before this thread, if you have to rely on certain powers to make sure you have a -chance- of fighting back, something is a little dodgey. My mind is a little caught between "This is hero/villain world, some powers naturally bypass others" and "This is a game, and a game where teams arent always available". It seems that one side or the other is always in a state of defenselessness, thanks to certain powers completely turning certain ATs/powersets near-useless.
I appreciate the fact that battle is never supposed to be an equal-rights affair, but sometimes things DO get a little too one-sided, and it really does suck the fun out of PVP. The more we get into this, the more we seem to see that to balance out PVP a little more fully, all AT's might have to undergo more nerfs.. and nobody likes that.
(though to be honest, my main character is a grav/ff controller, and I didnt mind the i5 changes at all)
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Also, if it's balance we're talking about:
I saw a blaster happily as ever charge into a small team of villains and two shot others: stun and finish off. Only when I entered with my stalker would that blaster start to complain...
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Its easy to feel robbed, and forget how the opposing side feels. I've taken to apologising to my targets in PVP whilst I chain-hold them and shoot salvo's of barstools at them...
PVP, guilty pleasure. :/
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PS. It's winter, and someone has turned off the heating in my room... So I'm cold and angry. Forgive the attitude.
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What attitude? Amongst many strong-minded villains you're one of the few who are polite (if direct).
Anyway, about other powers and such.
Someone brought it up a while ago, that healers have a hard job maintaining the health of their team. Not their actual physical health, but their 'status' health. When you get a fairly high level team running around in a mission (or PVP), the status icons next to a teammates name extend right into the center of the screen. If you dont know what im talking about, the next time you join a team press the little arrow next to the teammates names. I always have those on, so I can tell when people need forcefield top-ups, or whether I need to move myself to keep the main aggro-takers under my dispersion bubble. Healers have this even worse. The icons for enemy stun/hold/disorient/etc are nearly always different. Different symbols, different colors. How is a devoted empath supposed to know when to direct their attention onto the vulnerable teammates when they dont even know they're in trouble? They cannot see the entire battlefield at all times with absolute clarity, so we need a little help on this side of things.
It would be really nice if there was a band of color at the end of the name-bar, that turned from white to blue when someone was effected by a 'hostile state'.
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I suspect we will have to wait until the villain gap is raised to 50 to see how PvP will truely function.
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True that, a lot of what we have found in PVP might go out of the window once level 50 villains start romping around.
-dread-
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It would be really nice if there was a band of color at the end of the name-bar, that turned from white to blue when someone was effected by a 'hostile state'.
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I may be wrong here, but if an enemy hits you (doesn't need to be a status effect, just damage), then you also get ANOTHER icon.
Anyway, while I don't play as a primary healer, I do like to keep an eye on my teams status... and it DOES get VERY long in large teams. This isn't the "perfect solution" (that would be something like you suggested, but that would require a LOT more work than it seems I believe), but I think one should bind a "/l I'm held! HELP!" to a button, and spam it a few times in moments of trouble.
But we're going way off topic here. Returning to the issue at hand, that is skill... While it WOULD be nice to make PvP more skill based, I find it hard to do using the current mechanics.
Sure, you can implement some form of cone vision, so that stalker would have to sneak up from behind. Or you could make darker places where stealth works better than in bright places. (Note: all that affects mostly stalkers)
But what would it change? Stalkers would just hang back a bit more, before moving in for the kill. Or in extreme cases, wouldn't be able to do anything (at this point you may as well remove the class from the game).
The problem is that the characters in PvP have little options. You don't even need to "face" the enemy, your AT will turn to face them by itself. You just press 2 buttons, and wham... you have an attack chain, which will be executed as long as you're not out of range. Sure, you may make tactical calls on when to retreat, or when to stun someone, but considering the ammount of powers, it's still not much IMHO. Basicly, any AT will get a few attacks or attack chains that he's going to be using in PvP the whole time, and then a few more aditional spells such as stuns, heals or the like, which are situational but still very defined on when to use them.
At least, that's the impression I get when I see the way villains have been made. Blasters get access to 2 attack sets, so that gives them a bit more attack powers. I do not have CoH, so I cannot say for sure, but even with the increased number of attack powers, it's still going to be a main attack chain, and a few extra trick powers.
When compared to other MMORPGs with PvP, CoX also misses items and gear. Everyone can have those SOs. Sure, high lvl ATs will have more slots (which is a reason villains can safely say that heores are overpowered ATM, and it's VERY unfair for ALL those low lvl ATs who want to PvP in low lvl zones). But in the end, everyone has them.
So to make PvP more skill based you'd need to change a lot... a whole bloody LOT! Basicly, you'd have to change the whole game.
In the end, PvP will be fun as long as there's at least SOME balance. Not in numbers of ATs on either side (it's obvious that if there's more players on team A, then team B will most likely loose), but in the general concept. With the example I've given in my previous post (the one about the blaster), I think stalkers have a good place in PvP. At least it makes heroes a little bit nervous when they're alone.
Then you can try and make PvP more fun by adding more PvP content... missions, events and so on... I won't write about that here. Other have done so in other threads.
Oh, and I almost forgot... could we PLEASE make it possible to set an arena fight so that all participants have the same lvl? I'd like to fight some of my SG friends, and I'm unable to do so because of the lvl difference. A difference of 2 lvls is a LARGE one in the arena.
PS. I bet I'm going to get flamed for the statement I'm about to write, but what the hell... 
I believe stalkers need the MOST skill to PvP. It seems VERY easy to walk up to someone and kill them in one go. But against a moving enemy, and the increasing ammount of people with perception buffs and PBAoE powers, it's really NOT that easy as it sounds. Unlike others, who just need to be in range. Even other meele classes just need to get close enough... and that's just running towards your target with the attack prepared.
Stalkers DO have it relatively easy to run away though.
The stalker invis issue is a complex one I think depending upon your take of the game.
On one hand you would expect heroes to have come up with some method of detecting them other than "hmmmmm is that my blood...gack!", after all Stalkers are a deadly threat to the good and innocent (and powerful leaders of the world).
Sure there are powers which apparently allow you to see them , but these seem to require a dedicated PvP build as the ones most my chars have access to suck mightily unless you are "cowering in a group" which is a standard tactic now.. We pretty much need all the stacked tactics and stuf to have a chance of detecting them (by we I mean me ).
I love the bug that allows you to see them at long range, its horrific! Those frantic seconds of "Gack A stalker this way comes And now I cant see it!!!!!111!!!", as I start dancing around with tp and making sure Assault is active.
And on another hand you expect stalkers to be good at what they do, and for it to be hard to detect them...
I've seen blasters,scrappers ,controler and the others mash villains left right and centre (though I would love a high lvl sonic blaster to post some pointers on what they do in PvP, I feel a bit cowardly using my vulture tactics).
Being known as an easy target can be kinda sucky, I dont mind getting defeated but recently its seems that a lot of "anger" has seeped into Sirens, with people now using any tactic/oppurtunity to get a kill regardless of if it causes debt or not.
Note: When in PvP I never attack Villains who are in combat with bots, I try to make sure there are no bots too close though , if I attack a villain and bots get in on the action I switch targets to take out the bots first.
If I see angry bots going for a villain/hero I will move in and clear the bots..
All things I consider nice and polite.
But nice and polite it seems is out of fasion.
And that is the problem with PvP.
Not stalkers, Not any AT or buff/debuff.
DavidG, I wonder what would you have done during a specific night in Sirenes, when the villains wanted to win the hotspot battles (heroes tried to stop us), so there were plenty of NPCs to go round. I'd like to see you clear them out before taking on the villains.
OK, OK... bad joke.
On a more serious note: IMHO the mobs in Sirenes (or any other PvP zone for that matter) should NOT give debt of any kind IMHO.
Come to think of it... they shouldn't give exp too. And... why ARE all those mobs there ANYWAY? I mean, besides Longbow and Arachnos troops fighting it out.
There is a lot of anger at the moment, particularly on the Villain side as we do appear to have a disadvantage in both level and in numbers. The overbalance issue is a real problem with Controllers probably being the most overbalanced AT of all with the ridiculous hold and debuff stacking they can do. Also the villain side on defiant is short on Dominators so we run into problems a lot when we need range classses and corruptors just fail in PvP.
I would go with what I think Stalk said earlier in the thread which is close PvP zones to anyone over level 40 until the cap is raised for villains. That at least would remove the enhancement and slots imbalance we have at the mo. Next thing would be to look at the various holds and stacking of debuffs and see if its reasonable for PvP. Also the ability to turn off defence toggles in PvP should be removed as it basically removes in one go the ability of some classes and gives some people the excuse just to fly around removing them from a safe distance letting their team opick up the rep for them. On Defiant the Heroes have a tendency to remove defence buffs, stack every kind of hold and stun on people and then gank them at at least a 4-1 ratio usually much higher than that. It's not PvP its just ganking and there isnt anything you can do about it due to the mess with holds etc. In addition no firing from or into safe zones should be allowed nor the disgraceful use of tp foe to cowardly tp people into the drones from the safety of your safe zone.
PvP is basically a big mess at the moment and Cryptic need to sort it out quickly or they will lose people to games like wow that at least has a cionsistent and balanced pvp system.
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close PvP zones to anyone over level 40 until the cap is raised for villains.
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Hah. As if.
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In addition no firing from or into safe zones should be allowed nor the disgraceful use of tp foe to cowardly tp people into the drones from the safety of your safe zone.
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I have to agree with the disallowing of firing into/out of safe zones, this would solve a lot of problems regarding having somewhere to afk in (and people ALWAYS need to take breaks when real-life interferes momantarily). To perhaps prevent a person from idling when they are someones bounty, those in safe-zones could be deemed 'out of zone' and the bounty target changes again?
Given that TP'ing into drones doesnt actually give debt, I still have to say its a viable tactic, especially given that it is most oftenly used when the opposing team is setting up camp right outside your doors. There is a point where it is excessive, and it can be used to simply annoy other people, but in the competetive environment, disadvantaging your opponent is something you would want to do. TP'ing people OUT of the base is definately worse IMO. Providing there isnt chain-teleporting into drones, if you got teleported into a drone isnt it a sign you're sticking too close to their base? Especially in Sirens Call, the hero side only gets a little nubbin of a so-called base. I used to need to wormhole players into the drones just to ensure they didnt TP us first before we could even stay outside of the hospital for long. Now, that isnt really the case, but in your case, I TP'ed you because I wuv you. :3
Sorry about being harsh with you, by the way, but you were being harsh to me too. Its all in the flow of PVP, but hopefully next time we wont need to namecall or make it personal, because I quite enjoyed kicking your behind in revered silence (when you werent reducing me to a corpse in a gurgling rush of blood).
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PvP is basically a big mess at the moment and Cryptic need to sort it out quickly or they will lose people to games like wow that at least has a cionsistent and balanced pvp system.
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I havent touched WoW, and I dont really plan to, but I have to agree. PVP does have its highlights, and sometimes its just one huge, heaving, ongoing (good) riot in the PVP zones, but when there arent relatively equal teams working in somewhat unison, all that happens is the different teams of heroes and villains prey off the weaker targets... and in the end, everyone feels robbed, and then combat slows down as the broadcast channel gets filled with people whinging about people whinging about whinging about stalkers/blasters/brutes/scrappers being overpowered. There are some real lopsided equasions in PVP, but then again, for how harsh the zones are when there are only a few people in them, it really does thrive when the teams are remotely even and the players are at least partly well-mannered.
I guess it comes down to the vision of the devs, do they want to accomodate the passive, mediocre, random PVP combatant, or do they want to flush them out in favor of keeping the already somewhat stable mass PVP mix? The PVP zones were designed for mass combat, but there arent always the players required, and given how the sides vary so greatly in numbers, it just doesnt feel 'complete' yet.
heh, I tend to avoid the battles going near them us just asking for debt..And those giant spider/crab villain things chew through me faster than a cow on laxatives!
And its a situation where Both sides are setting out to combat bots,so I leave them to it
Things which might introduce a bit of "skill" to pvp (and the game in general)
1: More LOS or Cone based perception powers.
(had other ideas but they were kinda rubbish)
2: Larger zones with more secure hero and villain entery points.
3:larger selection of temp powers for sale ( I know it shifts focus back to powers again, but it might help plug a few gaps in some builds)
4: Make everyone play TA/A defenders or sonic blasters
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I would go with what I think Stalk said earlier in the thread which is close PvP zones to anyone over level 40 until the cap is raised for villains.
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Well thats most of the regulars gone. The zone is officially yours.
*Mumbles to self, then gets AS'd*
@SinghMC
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*Mumbles to self, then gets AS'd*
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Well, it's your own fault for standing still...
I still think a lot of issues will be resolved once the level cap is increased but there will remain quite a few issues. As I said before tping into drones is not a vioable use from a safe zone and shouldnt be allowed as you can affect you can unduly affect a battle outside by tping combatants into drones with no option of escape. This goes on both sides, I know an awful lot of Villains on Defiant are against this practice and are very keen to stamp it out we would like to see the heroes do that too.
I think what the Dev's need to accomplish is to ensure that any AT has a chance to be defeated by any AT regardless pof powers. A controller using Hurricane for example shpuld not be able to be immune from Stalkers as they pretty much are at the moment, and all AT's shpuld have a chance to see a stalker coming in hide without the need of perception based abilities. Rather than nerfing powers the introduction of a better resist/saving throw system would surely open things up, make the game a bit more skill based and give it a bit more of an edge.
I had this idea on the detection of stalkers...
Currently, any AT in a PvP zone get's a nice, big and red marker above his head (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's the name you see on enemies). Now, this won't affect a stalker directly. That is to say, he won't see it. But any hero will not see the red name above the stalker, and depending on how strong the stalkers stealth is and how many perceptoon buffs the heroe has, the easier (or harder) it is to spot that stalker. That is, he's visible all the time, but he's a feint, small blurr to someone with no perception buffs... On the background of building and dark ruins, he should be impossible to see (again, without any perception buffs). Add a few perception buffs, and bingo, you can now spot him... although still with difficulty.
However, one thing: there's a range the stalker must be in in order to be targeted (greater with perception, smaller with hide). This is to ensure a stalker can run, and won't be taken out by blasters from sniper range (Don't expect me to belive you can shoot that blurry thing from THAT distance now ).
Nah, leave stormies alone. I only got mine to avoid stalkers :P
Biggest problem is sirens is quite often unbalanced in terms of numbers. Some ppl say its always full of heroes, and others say its always full of villains. Truth is, that changes a lot, and sticking around for 15 mintues can sometimes make a difference.
BTW, i agree with the idea of no debt from the hotspot mobs, I'm going to have to keep out of sirens for few days after racking up a barrel load of debt.
My MA IDs:
Fiend Space: 211464
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Nah, leave stormies alone. I only got mine to avoid stalkers :P
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Thats funny, stormies are the only reason I made my stalker
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
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2: Larger zones with more secure hero and villain entery points.
3:larger selection of temp powers for sale ( I know it shifts focus back to powers again, but it might help plug a few gaps in some builds)
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These ideas, I really like. Particularly the idea of more temp powers for sale. There are too many holes in the builds, and whilst a temp power shouldnt be able to plug it completely, it should at least give people a chance to fight, if at a disadvantage. But, with the varying strengths and weaknesses, how can we balance this out? IR goggles work well enough for some, whereas for others they arent nearly strong enough. So many things to think of..
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As I said before tping into drones is not a vioable use from a safe zone and shouldnt be allowed as you can affect you can unduly affect a battle outside by tping combatants into drones with no option of escape. This goes on both sides, I know an awful lot of Villains on Defiant are against this practice and are very keen to stamp it out we would like to see the heroes do that too.
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Im too used to people TP'ing us heroes out of the safezone though, I learned the habit as a knee-jerk defense against people looking into the safe zone. I dont have the time to spend right-clicking, going to the info, and checking if they have teleport capability, then wondering if they'll actually use it. Threat assessment often occurs in seconds, and based on appearance. Again, this falls down to personal moral code, whenever I have personally been TP'ed into a drone, I was annoyed, but I didnt feel robbed, its part of the fight. Then again, I dont think i'd ever really resort to doing it outside of SC, because the hero base in SC is very small, and any vulture-like basehumpers only have to focus their view on one small section. There are no combat NPC's in our base to deter kamikaze attempts on us (and stalkers often try hard to bypass the drones at some points, though i've yet to see a successful AS in the base). In the end this will come down to a dev decision.
Though, I completely understand you if the rumor I heard was true. Was that time you got debt of a drone alone a one-off, or does this happen to you every time you get droned? If you get debt from some bug, i'll make an exception and leave you alone, but otherwise, TP-to-drone is a good way to thin the enemy ranks so we can fight you off, and move the fight away from our doorstep.
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I think what the Dev's need to accomplish is to ensure that any AT has a chance to be defeated by any AT regardless pof powers.
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DEFINATELY agreed. Even if one archetype is weak to another, they should still at least have a half-decent -chance-.
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A controller using Hurricane for example shpuld not be able to be immune from Stalkers as they pretty much are at the moment, and all AT's shpuld have a chance to see a stalker coming in hide without the need of perception based abilities.
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Also agreed. Naturally, certain powers should be very strong against certain archetypes/builds/tactics, but there should always be some way through it. The problem is, we think in terms of 1vs1, but the PVP zones are designed for teamplay, and if you think about it all in terms of teamplay, it does balance out. The problem is, teams arent always available, and when they are, normally one side has a large advantage (which often drives the weaker side to retreat, leaving only one or two left fighting). The trouble is that changing PVP so that it is more suited to 1vs1, means that teamplay suffers in its dynamic riot-like style. To be honest, when teams are equal in a PVP zone, its excellent. When they arent, one side is likely to get very annoyed and likely start a broadcast arguement/debate about the other team being overpowered/cowards/gankers hiding in groups.
I say, hate the game, not the players. But it'll never stop there being tension
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Rather than nerfing powers the introduction of a better resist/saving throw system would surely open things up, make the game a bit more skill based and give it a bit more of an edge.
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Im not too sure about this. As mentioned earlier, to make any significant changes, the entire balance of PVP would need an overhaul. Every AT would need tweaking, and this may in turn effect PVE in a bad way. Still, it doesnt hurt to be hopeful.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble guys, but it's impossible to achieve perfect ballance; the moment where every AT can beat every other AT. ESPECIALLY when PvE is on the line as well.
Just look how long WoW is out, and they're still far, far away from balance.
To do that, you'd need to make every class the same.
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okay fine, stalker are unbeatable,
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No one said they were unbeatable. Only that they have an unfair advantage, if they chose to use it, in that they can stack hide and stealth/invis, and against any powerset combo's without holds they have a much too easy time running away. As a blaster I have no way of getting away from a stalker that AS -> plactate -> crit, because by then I'm dead. most likely I'm dead before: -> plactate. you see?
Now, I'm not a fan of running away. If a person I'm fighting (not including one-hit stalkers) is about to defeat me, it's likely it's because A) I've made a mistake, B) He's a better PvP'er than me or C) He managed to surprise me. In all of these cases he deserves the rep he'll get for defeating me. I don't care, I had a good fight, and it's not like I'm penalized for dying by the hands of a player. I like to think of myself as a good sport.. Untill, for example, I'm in a fair fight, my health drops under 75%, and a stalker coincidentally comes by and AS me. And this happens A LOT. A WHOLE LOT in fact. It happens so often that I'm seriously beginning to doubt it's a coincidence at all. What I think is that these guys are looking for players in battle, and take the hero out so they won't be in any danger of retaliation. there is at least 4 stalkers on defiant I KNOW are doing this, because I've never been killed by them unless I'm in combat with other villains. And (this is completely true) it happens more often than not!
And since they have hide+stealth/invis and I'm a lowly blaster with */en, there's no way in Heck(TM) that I'll find him again to have my revenge. This is my reality almost every time I move into sirens. Much of this is because the stalker AT promotes a cowardly playstyle, and most people are, in fact, cowards. So naturally we are going to see a lot of stalkers untill there has been implemented something that makes people commit a bit of soulsearching before chosing to play them.
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My blaster has tactics and TD(devices) and I can see any stalker
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The key word in that sentence is TD[targeting drone].