New stalker secondary: Theivery

Hey guys,
So I was thinking the other day about something that I think this game is missing that used to be a staple for MMOs: a theif class. Sure, we have stalkers which play a lot like rogues with the stealth and the assassin's strike but I was thinking about one class that kinda centered around money. But then I got to thinking about it and I thought it might be better done as a stalker secondary. The concept I was going for here was a character that wouldn't have quite as good defenses as the other sets but they would have more utility powers to help make up for it. So without further ado here's my (kinda unfinished) idea for a new Stalker secondary.

Thievery

HIDE: standard stalker hide

MELEE REFLEXES: (obviously not a cool enough name) a lot like the melee defense power from ninjitsu but slightly worse.

STEAL: The trademark power from the set. I had a lot of trouble thinking of what to steal. Basic Inf seems the most obvious but it kinda doesn't make sense RPwise. But I guess I'd go with that. Also I was thinking Lts would have about a 10% chance (maybe less) to steal an enhancement much like they would drop upon death. And bosses would have the same percent chance to steal a common IO recipe.
To help balance things I think this power should have about a 10% chance to break your hide (the baddie noticed you rummaging around in his pockets) and if you used it out of hide it would cost more endurance (harder to steal something when they're paying attention.
The recharge should be enough that after SOs it would be used maybe once every spawn. So maybe a base recharge of 1-1.5 min?

RANGED REFLEXES: same as the ninjitsu defense for ranged powers but slightly less effective

THIEVE DEXTERITY or BRIBE: Ok I wasn't too sure how bribe would be taken by the community so I'm offering a more common power too. THIEVE DEXTERITY would basically be the recharge reduction power offered in electric defense and Super Reflexes.
BRIBE would be a mag 3 confuse power that uses some of your inf to bribe an enemy into assisting you. I'm not sure what prices would be fair but I was thinking something like 300 inf to bribe a minion and 800 inf to bribe a LT. Not sure if that's good enough to make it actually a penalty though. Has a recharge of about 1 minute base. This gives you enough to confuse a minion of LT but not enough to confuse a boss.
*Just to be clear* this isn't two powers for the player to choose from while leveling up. This is moreso if the developers didn't like the idea of bribe then they could make the set with the recharge reduction power instead*

Payoff: PBAOE -damage power. You quickly doll out money to all enemies in your immediate vicinity in an attempt to convince them to pull their punches. Amount of inf used per enemy would follow the same guidelines as bribe

*I couldn't think of a tier 7 or tier 8 power*

Tier 9
MASTER THEIF: The same duration and recharge and crash as other stalker tier 9s. This will be a much smaller defense boost, probably just 10% to all. However it also doubles the amount of inf earned during the duration of the power. That includes from steals and kills.





So what do you guys think? I know that I personally always like the powersets that are very different from the rest and have utility powers so I was trying to create something like that. I may have gone a bit overboard though and I'm sure my balancing isn't perfect.

Also, if you have any ideas for the other two powers I'd love to hear about it

-Ice_storm

this is a joke, right?

edit: while that may seem a little harsh, anything you do on a stalker to the baddies brings you out of hide. this set would not work as you wish it to.

Sorry, but I'm with Quint on this one (gods help me... )
It wouldn't work, mechanic wise. And it wouldn't work concept wise.

You can already make a thief character using the Stalker powers as is. It's just added flavour. Having a whole set based around it would...not work, really.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Meowth used Payday!

Payday failed!

Meowth fainted!

Interesting idea. I modified your power set as follows.

Thievery

Hide: standard stalker hide

Concealed presence: a lot like the melee defense power from ninjitsu

Steal: You have stolen the secret of your enemies. You have a higher chance to land a critical hit for a short period of time.

Illusive shadow: same as the ninjitsu ranged and AoE defense

Thief dexterity: similar to recharge reduction power offered in electric armor and super reflexes. It also offers various status protection.

Bribe: A mag 3 confuse power that uses some of your inf to bribe an enemy into assisting you. It has a recharge of about 1 minute base. This gives you enough to confuse a minion of LT but not enough to confuse a boss. The inf is deducted after the enemy is defeated. (I think there is an issue if the player doesn't have enough inf if it is deducted at the beginning)

Payoff: PBAOE -damage power. You quickly doll out money to all enemies in your immediate vicinity in an attempt to convince them to pull their punches. Amount of inf used per enemy would follow the same guidelines as bribe.

Invisible hands: A toggle that offers a chance to fire a smashing attack after each attack of yours. (Not sure if it's possible)

Master thief: The same duration, recharge and crash as other stalkers' tier 9s. You have stolen the powers from the enemies around you. Their defense, resistance, recovery, and regeneration are reduced and added to you. It also doubles the amount of inf earned during the duration of the power. (Not sure if it is possible to increase inf earning from a power, but it sounds interesting. I added more to this power such that it can be more than just money)

First we add Thieves, next it'll be Bards, Paladins and freakin' "Healers".

It's worse than that--I've seen corruptors advertising themselves as "healers" redside. Personally, I'm okay with it--people are welcome to play their characters any way they want. But if they're doing it because they think that's what people EXPECT or REQUIRE, then LOL.

I don't know about stalkers, never played one; but...

Thieving and stealing money (or influence) in CoX? Ooh, brings back bad memories from Ultima Online (UO).

Yes, in UO, lead designer Raph Koster gave players enormous freedom to behave both good and evil--including a Thieving skill to steal money and items from other players and NPCs--with the notion that the players themselves would police the community. Argh! No, no, no!

"Koster's Folly" resulted in murderous red-named Dread Lords and Dread Ladies amassing fortunes in gold and buying castles with no significant consequences for their evil deeds, thus making a mockery of a back-story based on seven virtues. (Ironic because, to a large degree, the UO experience was disgustingly bereft of virtue.) Player killers (PKs) and thieves found endlessly inventive ways to exploit game mechanics for the griefing of good-aligned characters--particularly newbies--to the ruination of an otherwise brilliantly realized pioneering achievement in online entertainment and virtual social interaction. Here are some of my experiences with thieving in UO:

- As a newbie in Britannia, I wandered the streets and came upon a small pile of gold. Unbeknownst to me, the pile gold coins had been dragged by another player from his backpack to the street, but he had not released hold of them with his mouse; so, when I clicked on the gold to pick it up, my character was flagged by the game mechanics as a thief who had tried to steal gold from the other player. An NPC guard instantly teleported beside me and cut me down with one swing of a halberd. My belongings were left open for the griefing player to loot freely.

- While inside a tailoring shop in Skara Brae, a thief tried to steal items from my backpack, but he failed his skill roll and so I was alerted, which was supposed to flag the thief; but, when I shouted, "Guard!", instead, somehow, I was flagged by the game mechanics (it was some sort of thieving exploit) and struck down by the teleporting, halberd-wielding, one-shotting NPC guard, allowing the thief to freely loot my entire belongings.

- Deep inside a dungeon, I battled a dragon. Another player approached, which was always cause for alarm in the sick, twisted, hostile play environment that was UO; however, he did not attack me. Bewilderingly, he also did not help me fight the dragon--instead, he just stood there. Eventually, he ran off, and finally I slew the monster. But, when I clicked on the dragon to collect my loot, it was empty. The other player had used thieving skill to steal the loot from the dragon while it was preoccupied with fighting me.

- To keep my belongings safe from thieves, I took extreme measures, which other players had devised and posted as recommendations on the UO message boards:
1) I bought a wooden chest with a lock.
2) I placed the lockable chest inside my backpack.
3) I placed all of my belongings inside the lockable chest.
4) I cast a Magic Lock spell on the chest, locking it.
5) I covered the chest with some bear hides (largish icons that completely covered the chest icon).

After all this, I was ready to go out. Once, in a dungeon, a thief approached while I was battling monsters and exclaimed, "Locked!" Evidently, he had used his thieving skill to open my backpack, dragged the near-worthless bear hides to reveal the chest, and tried to click on the chest to open it; but, he could only perform so many actions at once on an open backpack, and so he couldn't unlock the chest. Hooray, I had successfully protected myself from backback thieves -- but, what a pain!

Thankfully, game designers have adopted more player-friendly systems.

In response to the suggestion of Thieving in CoX, I say, "No!"

I think you may be subject to people negative reactions from other MMOs concerning thieving. I think Twilight Snow's tweak of your powerset may have merit. Also, I don't think you directly planned on stealing from other players (stalkers have a bad enough rep as it is) so some of the responses might not be warranted. Concerning the actual powers:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twilight_Snow Bribe: A mag 3 confuse power that uses some of your inf to bribe an enemy into assisting you. It has a recharge of about 1 minute base. This gives you enough to confuse a minion of LT but not enough to confuse a boss. The inf is deducted after the enemy is defeated. (I think there is an issue if the player doesn't have enough inf if it is deducted at the beginning) Payoff: PBAOE -damage power. You quickly doll out money to all enemies in your immediate vicinity in an attempt to convince them to pull their punches. Amount of inf used per enemy would follow the same guidelines as bribe.

I think these are possible since there are dayjobs that grant increased inf or increased drops.

Quote:

Master thief: The same duration, recharge and crash as other stalkers' tier 9s. You have stolen the powers from the enemies around you. Their defense, resistance, recovery, and regeneration are reduced and added to you. It also doubles the amount of inf earned during the duration of the power. (Not sure if it is possible to increase inf earning from a power, but it sounds interesting. I added more to this power such that it can be more than just money)

For this I'd actually lessen the crash but require an initial PBAOE tohit check so that it's like you are actually stealing their essence. Add onto it a mild enemy debuff.