Intangibility Powerset (Tanker primary, Scrapper/Stalker/Brute secondary)

Patently False. Yes. I think it's overpowered. Why? Because even with hard-capping of your defensive powers (the absolute limit of defensive awesomeness) all enemies still register a 5% chance to hit you. Hamidon IGNORES all defenses and smacks you without question, regardless of how many "Phenomenal Lucks" you pop in a row. Phase Shift, At Will, as a Toggle of limitless duration, ignores the 5% chance of being hit and causes the Hamidon to miss you. Fight 50 minions in a row and, through simple math, you'll get hit an average of 10 times while your defenses are capped. Aggro them with the toggle on and you don't get hurt at all, no matter how many of them roll between 95 and 100%.

It's an un-beatable defense that the player has full control over in every respect. This is broken. Toggle the power on and there is no longer risk, at all. Lock in aggro, run into a group, pop the toggle, and stand perfectly still while your team beats up the enemy. It'd be like having both "Unstoppable" and "Evade" at the same time. Sure. You can't attack. But you still take the entire Alpha Strike without getting so much as a rip in your cape.

Is there a part of this that you don't understand, Leo? Tell me how that is -NOT- broken? "I'm invulnerable to everything, even the HAMIDON" is a broken defensive power. The pool one at least has a set -duration-. "I'm invincible for 30 seconds, then I go squish"

YES! I have considered the other side of the burden. MORE reason to take the Intangible toggle out, since -some- players would skip it on principle. Hurray for the idea of improving regen! However if it's a -TOGGLE- I'm still going to tell you "It's Broken". Hibernate improves Recovery, regen, grants Intangibility, and has a duration of 30 seconds. You can drop out if you -like- but what's the point?

What you're suggesting is giving the powerset both the ability to turn themselves intangible (ignoring all non-intangible attacks) and the ability to make a single other target intangible (and thus able to be attacked) So you're suggesting that the set should Ignore all attacks outside of the one target, grant regen to the player, and single out the one target completely? I can't agree with that, Leo. It's BROKEN so long as you keep it a toggle power. Make it into a click with a 10 second duration, build up, +regen, +recovery, +Resistance (all), and +def (all) for all I care. But if it's a toggle it's simply -too- powerful as a damage mitigation tool.

I think you're wrong here, too. The primary reasons people dislike the mechanic are that it renders the whole team useless until it wears off (in the case of black hole, or other enemy phase powers) And that few enemies in the game use it at all (Notably the Carnie Illusionists, Crey Protectors, and Fake Nemeses... what other enemies use it?). Add in the fact that those enemies are pretty much universally hated for their phasing ability!

If the mechanic were spread more through the game you'd either make this powerset "Needed" for teaming (to handle the phasing NPCs) or frustrate the playerbase with even more enemies that you have to "Wait" on before you can beat them and get that sweet, sweet XP.

A Phase Toggle would be the single most powerful Defensive tool in the game. As it is I imagine a thugs MM could pop Gang War, then Phase Shift, and handle multiple spawns of aggro for 30 seconds at a pop without losing a single pet. Meanwhile her team could wipe out the various spawns with ease, since the alpha is harmlessly absorbed.

-Rachel-

Actually, and I could be wrong about this because I've never actually taken Phase Shift to a Hami raid, but Hamidon ignores Phase shift. He can attack you through it as well as Hibernate.

Think about it this way: This is a combat oriented game. Your objective, more often than not, is to defeat the enemy. If you can't defeat the enemy, you fail (or do not succeed). Phasing is not an unbeatable defense, no more than having the end boss being on the other end of Independence port without any attack long range enough to hit you with.
And popping evade or unstoppable to take that alpha strike will give you just as much (if not enough to simply not be defeated) protection while being able to actually win.

To state something is broken, you'd have to have proof. You can be of the opinion that it's overpowered. Sure. But to say it's broken without proof is rather pointless.

Outside of all the other stuff you said, I feel it's pointless to drone on about it further but I'll point back to your comment about suggesting unique ideas as 'fine and dandy but...'

No one seems to have an issue with Willpower and how it can wade into a mass of weak to moderate enemies and stand around all day without worry of defeat (please, someone crunch the numbers on that. How much danger is a WP brute in a group of +0 minions and Lts? How many of them does it take to defeat him and how long?). Or the Shield Scrapper that gets absurd levels of damage with a huge AoE attack to swing around with it.

So what's wrong with an armor set specifically designed to handle single targets rather than masses of them? It's what a Stalker does best and why I proposed it as a set for that AT. Just like the masses of weaker targets pose no threat to the WP tank or the masses are simply fodder for the Shield Scrapper, a hard single target would be snipped by the Phasing Stalker. It's what it does well and would seem overpowering if only it's advantage were considered rather than everything the set provides. I bet if we never got WP or Shields and I told you the numbers and tactics of them now, you'd probably say they were overpowered too...and they just might be....but then fighting hoards of enemies with masses of AoE is 'the fad' of the game so should seem far above focusing on that hard boss.

Theres the rules. And then theres Hamidon. He's nasty like that.
Still, he explodes real nice...

Uhm...not quite sure what you're getting at there. And that analogy isn't sound, either. Phase IS an unbeatable defence. You CANNOT kill something while its phased. End of. Except in PvP, but thats an abomination anyway (Mechanics wise. Im not trying to be nasty)

Sorry, but chalk me +1 up for 'broken' too.

Thats a really bad comparison. WP and Shield are NOT immune to death. Yes, if built right it's easier to make them really tough. That is, in large part, thanks to IOs. And it depends on just who you're fighting. Both die just as fast when fighting Malta, Carnies or Nems. And even then, other groups have their ways. Needless to say, no set is immortal. Nor should it be. Heck, Shields attack is to make up for its slightly lower res/def numbers, when compared to, say, Invul. Shield characters do more damage, yes. But an Invul will outlive them, in my experience anyway.

Except Stalkers are already ST focused as it is. And besides, the armour as it seems to be proposed IS broken. The other stalker sets have to fight one vs one style while the REST of the mob is hitting (or trying to hit) them. This one set would, the way it got proposed, blow all the others out of the water. Why would you bother playing anything else, when you can toggle immortality on and off nearly at will, and pick off enemies one by one without ANY fear from the rest of the mob?

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.

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

Shield Tankers are far more squishy than any other type of tank. Bar none. They do more damage and get the nice AoE, but their defenses are lacking.

Willpower can stand up to a dozen or more minions without a problem, but a pair of high-damage bosses or a decent AV can wreck the Willpower tank in seconds.

Both of these concerns evaporate when you've got IOs, which aren't inherent to balance, but rather outside of it. (Balance is centered and calculated on SOs)

When Shield melee was launching I squealed over how awesome it would be. People railed and whined over how weak it would be compared to even Energy Aura. I crunched the numbers on the two sets and found them Comparable, with Energy Aura never running out of End, and Shields dishing out the big damage (Especially brutes and tankers) I -cheered- for Shield Defense because I could see the inherent balance and give/take held within the set.

Please. PLEASE take into account that I'm developing an MMO with it's own balance issues (working on them!) and am starting to get good at seeing where inherent broken-ness lies.

Either way? I'm done arguing. I've made my point to the OP, even if you don't get it.

-Rachel-

The analogy is, it's a two-way street. If it's an unbeatable defense, it's only because neither foe has joined on the battlefield to begin to fight. No army will defeat the other if they never engage. So Earth 007b's army has an unbeatable defense because they're in a parallel dimension to Earth 1801q, unable to cross path?


Then make an argument well enough to claim it as law.


And phasing a Dark Ring mistress then facing it alone will not guarantee you're not drained and beaten by the time you dispose of her and unable to fight the rest of the spawn.

My suggestion specifically doesn't make you immune to death either.


Why indeed. Double standards are rife when it comes to stalkers. Look at Regen, Electric Armor and Dark Armor. While servicable, they don't hold a candle to Ninjutsu, Super Reflexes and to a lesser extent Willpower.

Are you implying Stalkers should just be satisfied with the hand-me-downs of the other melees for their armor sets? That designing a set with their tactics in mind is not a venue that should be accommodated?

Not speaking for the OP of this thread but my idea specifically: it has weaknesses too. It isn't as good at fighting many foes as other armors. Also, AVs and GMs have immunity and/or high resistance to phasing so much of the benefits the set offers vs those single hard targets are only realized on bosses and elite bosses.

No offense but, working on an MMO doesn't make you an expert on balance or broken-ness. (See Jack Emmert)

You boast your knowledge and creativity. To a true creative thinker, no idea is broken.

Personal Force Field pretty much effectively caps your defence, but that still yields a 5% chance of getting hit. It's not "perfect defence".

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.

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