Stalkers coming up short


AnElfCalledMack

 

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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
Minor nitpick: Total Focus does the exact same base damage, of the same types, as Concentrated Strike - the 30% quoted critical is close enough (it's scale 1 of 3.56 for roughly 28.09%) that I'm only commenting on it so someone doesn't point out that I didn't correct it while I was being nitpicky enough to mention that the two powers do the same damage instead of TF doing more.
Sorry, I was just going by Mids that has unslotted TF doing about 5-7 more points of damage than an unslotted CS. If that's wrong, my bad.

I also didn't mean to say it was a big difference as in 20 points. I just meant to say it did a bit less (again by mids...so if that's wrong...whooops).


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Posted

As for the Kin Melee insta recharge of BU.

I find on any other toons, I really don't pay attention to build up.

On Kinetic Melee stalker however, I find I keep an eye on it, because it is such a feature, that it's wasted if I dont.

On the others I dont feel like I'm wasting much if I dont.

I however don't keep it on auto, and never stack it.


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Posted

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
I don't know about you but how many Build Up do you normally use in a spawn? I normally only use once and then save it for next spawn. To me, this feature doesn't matter to me at all. It may matter when I am facing a Hero but the chance is still only 20% and Kin's build up has the longest activation at 1.9s?
Well, before KM, we only used Build Up once in a spawn because it doesn't recharge fast enough to use it more often. There are also plenty of times where after killing spawn A, it is not recharged yet for spawn B.

They are fixing the KM Build Up so that it has the same cast time as all the others.


Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Sorry, I was just going by Mids that has unslotted TF doing about 5-7 more points of damage than an unslotted CS. If that's wrong, my bad.

I also didn't mean to say it was a big difference as in 20 points. I just meant to say it did a bit less (again by mids...so if that's wrong...whooops).
Mid's is probably adding in the chance for critical for your average damage; it's not really wrong to say that it does more damage due to that, but you certainly can't say "it does more damage and gets a critical" (admittedly, this is only inferred from the post since the critical is brought up separately) since the critical is the only reason that it does more damage over time.

It also may not do more damage over time if you factor in the extra damage from using BU more often, but that's hard to quantify since it's highly variable based on timing and playstyle; that's the sort of thing you'd need a program like HeroStats to keep track of rather than a simple calculation.

For what it's worth, I'd like to see the flat 20% BU/PS insta-recharge added to all flavors of Concentrated Strike, and the reduced critical that Total Focus has provided to Stalkers and Scrappers at their normal critical rates - it's a nice in-set gimmick but doesn't really represent a "critical hit" well.


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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
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Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
Mid's is probably adding in the chance for critical for your average damage
Yeah, this is the default in Mid's. It shows average damage by multiplying all chance-of-damage effects attached to the power by their chance of happening and adding this in. This includes both stalker crits and any damage procs you have slotted, for example. I suppose it is useful in DPS calcs but even then for Stalkers it is going to be wrong by the amount your controlled crits add solo and by the amount that sliding team crits add on teams (it assumes 10% for Stalker crits).

For those who don't know: this can be turned off on the Options->Config->Effects&Maths tab. Check "Ignore Extra Damage (Show Minimum)". You can also hover over the damage graph below the power detail and a pop up will display the actual list of damage effects.

I've actually always assumed that the reason TF didn't have a full crit was legacy PvP-related but looking at it again produced one of those /facepalm moments. Yeah... it'd crit for more damage than Assassin Strike. In all seriousness though this has always made me think very little of TF's crit anyway. It may hit like a truck on a normal hit but it only crits for the same total amount as Eagle's Claw but it's on a longer recharge and costs more end. Yay? And it doesn't average more damage over time than other T9's either so what's the point? I'd rather TF and CS were EC clones (stat-wise), then we could talk seriously about its critical hit capability being "lost".

But as it stands now, I really don't care that they replaced it's tiny-crit with some other mechanism. It at least has a chance of not sucking as bad.


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Originally Posted by Zem View Post
It may hit like a truck on a normal hit but it only crits for the same total amount as Eagle's Claw but it's on a longer recharge and costs more end.
Actually, it crits for the same amount as Energy Transfer (scale 4.56), for more end with a longer animation.

Stalker Eagle Claw had its damage scale increased with the other MA buffs in i18, and hits much harder (5.84) than a Total Focus critical. Midnight Grasp (5.52) and Headsplitter (5.2) also go over that mark. One Thousand Cuts' critical damage is reduced (it should do scale 4.7) to not exceed what appeared to be an old, dev-defined limit of 4.56, but with the other powers now breaking that it should probably be adjusted to provide the full damage.

None of the other Stalker attacks do more than scale 2.28 damage base, so would just match in any case.


And yeah, I knew that showing the average damage including crits was the default in Mid's - that's why I said it.


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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
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Posted

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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
Actually, it crits for the same amount as Energy Transfer (scale 4.56), for more end with a longer animation.
I need to stop looking at CoD.

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Stalker Eagle Claw had its damage scale increased with the other MA buffs in i18, and hits much harder (5.84) than a Total Focus critical. Midnight Grasp (5.52) and Headsplitter (5.2) also go over that mark. One Thousand Cuts' critical damage is reduced (it should do scale 4.7) to not exceed what appeared to be an old, dev-defined limit of 4.56, but with the other powers now breaking that it should probably be adjusted to provide the full damage.
It would still lag behind because it won't be allowed a full crit.

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And yeah, I knew that showing the average damage including crits was the default in Mid's - that's why I said it.
I probably mentioned it because you said "probably".


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Originally Posted by Zem View Post
I need to stop looking at CoD.
It just needs to get the i18 updates - I think that everything that's changed since the Dominator changes is out of date, but that's really not a lot so it's still a good source for most things. Without the change to Eagle Claw, your statement was correct - previously it was scale 2.28 damage (and still is, for Scrappers).

But really, I think it was just that prior to the changes to DM (MG used to have a reduced critical as well) there was an arbitrary limit of scale 4.56 for any attack except for AS (which is scale 7 on a critical); that no longer seems to be the case and so I'm not sure why even that amount is considered "too much" for Concentrated Strike.

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Originally Posted by Zem View Post
It would still lag behind because it won't be allowed a full crit.
I'm guessing you mean it'd only be a 50% chance, like most AoEs? What I was suggesting was to give it a "full crit" - currently it isn't, and there really isn't a good reason that I can think of as to why not. If it's because it's only a chance for a critical, then Headsplitter also "lags behind": it's a 50% critical as well.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Zem View Post
I probably mentioned it because you said "probably".
Well, you can edit the database and cause all sorts of fun things to show up in Mid's. One of my most common edits is getting rid of the defense in Hide that suppresses, followed by the critical line in the patron attacks that causes them to show as doing twice what they should be.

I used probably because it was the most likely case, but not a certainty.


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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
I'm guessing you mean it'd only be a 50% chance, like most AoEs?
Nope. I just mean it won't have a full damage crit. It's balanced against the faster ST attacks by the usual formula *outside* of Hide but when used from Hide its performance is *less* than that of the faster attacks. Even if it did the same damage on a crit as EC, for example (as it used to) it would still not perform as well from Hide because it still is saddled with longer recharge and higher endurance cost.

In other words, unless it crits for full damage every time from Hide, it won't perform as well as the faster ST attacks like EC. But it won't be allowed to crit for full damage because then it would do as much or more damage from Hide as Assassin Strike and I am assuming that limit will still be respected even if others are not.

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If it's because it's only a chance for a critical, then Headsplitter also "lags behind": it's a 50% critical as well.
It's an AoE. One could argue that as such a small/narrow AoE it should maybe get somewhat better than 50% but that's a different argument. I am talking about TF (and hypothetically CS if it had the same crit values) lagging behind faster ST attacks like Eagle's Claw when used from Hide. As such, I am not all broken up they ditched the small crit when they made CS and replaced it with something that is at the very least more interesting.


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Ah, you were talking about TF and CS; I was talking about the critical on One Thousand Cuts being buffed, and that's the part you quoted to reply to so I thought that's what you were talking about as well.

As for the BU recharge on CS, I just think should be a side effect of the power in general - and so it would work for all 4 ATs that have KM - and then add in the small crit that TF gets for Scrappers and Stalkers. I like the mechanic, but having it replace the inherent just seems off.


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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
Ah, you were talking about TF and CS; I was talking about the critical on One Thousand Cuts being buffed, and that's the part you quoted to reply to so I thought that's what you were talking about as well.

As for the BU recharge on CS, I just think should be a side effect of the power in general - and so it would work for all 4 ATs that have KM - and then add in the small crit that TF gets for Scrappers and Stalkers. I like the mechanic, but having it replace the inherent just seems off.
I'd rather see a full crit on CS, not a 30% of damage crit.


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Posted

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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post
Ah, you were talking about TF and CS; I was talking about the critical on One Thousand Cuts being buffed, and that's the part you quoted to reply to so I thought that's what you were talking about as well.
Yeah I didn't read that carefully enough. I saw you were talking about this other limit the devs seem to have had that other powers are breaking but wasn't intending to change the subject. My bad. Even raising TF/CS above that level on a crit will still leave them lacking on the critical. A full crit is the only thing that balances it against other powers that also have a full crit and are otherwise balanced against the heavier hitter by recharge time and endurance.

And I just don't see them allowing CS/TF in their present form to deal double damage on a Hide crit.

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As for the BU recharge on CS, I just think should be a side effect of the power in general - and so it would work for all 4 ATs that have KM - and then add in the small crit that TF gets for Scrappers and Stalkers. I like the mechanic, but having it replace the inherent just seems off.
I'd rather see them scale CS and TF back to EC levels. They hit too hard for their own good. The point of having a heavy hitting slow attack on a Stalker is to use it from Hide or after a Placate. If it only hits as hard as EC from Hide... what's the point? THEN, sure... give it its critical at full strength. Not sure there's a place for the BU refresh at that point though. Unless the set as a whole needs a buff on all ATs.


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Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
Well, before KM, we only used Build Up once in a spawn because it doesn't recharge fast enough to use it more often. There are also plenty of times where after killing spawn A, it is not recharged yet for spawn B.

They are fixing the KM Build Up so that it has the same cast time as all the others.
I normally only use Build Up once per spawn because let's say that CS recharges after the first 10-15s of the battle. If I use it again, that means I may need to wait for Build Up to get recharged again for the next spawn.

It's nice that they are shortening Build Up's animation. That also means they are going to fix Burst. Oh well...


I was doing the SF in Sharks and I did manage to get instant recharge on Barracuda. It was cool. I just have the habit of saving Build Up for next spawn. The AV fight went pretty fast.


By the way, Villain's Frenzy buff is awesome too! 60% damage buff and 15% recharge buff on Stalker. hehe


What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.

 

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
I just have the habit of saving Build Up for next spawn.
I think you are missing my point. You have the habit of saving Build Up for the next spawn, because you never had a choice before. With good slotting Build Up takes 40 seconds to recharge. Most spawns do not last that long.


Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
I normally only use Build Up once per spawn because let's say that CS recharges after the first 10-15s of the battle. If I use it again, that means I may need to wait for Build Up to get recharged again for the next spawn.

It's nice that they are shortening Build Up's animation. That also means they are going to fix Burst. Oh well...


I was doing the SF in Sharks and I did manage to get instant recharge on Barracuda. It was cool. I just have the habit of saving Build Up for next spawn. The AV fight went pretty fast.


By the way, Villain's Frenzy buff is awesome too! 60% damage buff and 15% recharge buff on Stalker. hehe
That's what I think becomes the difference between KIN and the other Primaries.

With the other primaries, I'd save BU for when I thought I really needed it, because of it's recharge.

With KIN, you don't need to. Use BU! Use it often! At least after level 32.

With KIN you have the opportunity to have BU numbers for 30 seconds (2 Crits of CS two time in a row). I wouldn't double stack em, but once it's duration is over the first time, I hit it again.

Now theoritically you can have BU numbers even longer, I just haven't gotten more than 3 Crits off of CS in a row.

Of course with my KIN, I also tend to Placate -> Burst, so I Crit everything


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Posted

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Originally Posted by StratoNexus View Post
I think you are missing my point. You have the habit of saving Build Up for the next spawn, because you never had a choice before. With good slotting Build Up takes 40 seconds to recharge. Most spawns do not last that long.
I still have the habit of saving it. Some spawns can take longer than one minute if I play +1 x6 with my Brute friend. If CS recharges Build Up right before the fight is over, I won't use it to finish off a boss just because I don't want to wait for Build Up for the next spawn. I want my BU + Burst ready for bigger group!

But we'll see... if they nerf Burst, then I may use build up more whenever it's up.


What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.

 

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Every time I feel my stalker is coming up short, I like to come here to vent. lol


Last night I invited a friend lvl 26 Stalker BS/Will to do a mission and that mission happens to be "Save Johnny's Soul" or something like that. It's basically an AV with sonic/sonic.

My Stalker is lvl 39 Kin/Dark. I am deeply disappointed that he and I (after a long while) couldn't even take him down to 30% of his health. I ran out of end (I have no set bonus) in the end and it just seems like we weren't doing enough damage.

Then he brought his lvl 50 Corruptor out to help (Sonic/Kin). The fight went a lot smoother but because he is Corr and I don't want to lose the aggro on me, I didn't even use Placate once. I am sure my friend can live for like 10s without me taking aggro but I just didn't want to lose aggro on me as we are lvl 39 (maybe he has patron shield at lvl 39? Don't remember). I know Corr brings more to an AV fight than another melee AT. I know that.


I know this could happen to a Scrapper or Brute but as a ST-oriented AT, isn't my job is to kill a single target the fastest? I feel "odd" that I need 3-teammates within 30 radius around me to surpass Scrapper's dps in a long fight? With Stalker having less HP and less AoE available, shouldn't Stalker be the best at taking one hard target down? And I don't think Kinetic is a bad ST set. It is at least average or a bit above average because I scored one Build Up instant recharge during the fight that I can remember.


My friend hates his Stalker. He constantly mocks me because we belong to a group of very old and experienced veterans and none of them like Stalker. Stalker is like a laughing matter among them because they are min/maxer and Stalker is too ONE-DIMENSIONAL, which I happen to agree (sometimes).


I just feel my Stalker is coming up short. BU + Burst is nice when the group is tight but so is Fulcum Shift plus whatever or Brute's Foot Stomp. And Burst is BUGGED right now. Imagine I lose the other 50% critical. T_T


I want to like Stalker and I've made so many of them but some days I just feel this AT is really lacking. And some days I feel I have to prove to others that Stalker isn't that bad and I am just kind tired of it explaining what I actually do on a team. I am not a typical hit-n-run Stalker. I scrap out just like Scrapper and I only use Assassin Strike when situation is safe. I don't use placate if I know my friend is dying and I can't afford to pass aggro onto somebody else.


What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.

 

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Originally Posted by Gilia View Post
Truth be told the part I find the worst about these debates on the forums is that it often comes down to two sides "I like it the way it is. Please don't change it." and "I don't like the way it is. It needs to be changed."
Even after saying this, you join the camp that clearly believe that everything is fine and anyone that has a problem with it needs to lrn2play.

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With some rare and overwhelming exceptions, I don't think the latter is ever right. If a lot of people like it and you don't, play another AT. Don't pretend like Stalkers are unbalanced because YOU can't survive as one.
Ah, the self-refuting argument, the inverse of which is just as true: Don't pretend that everything is just fine because YOU don't have the same difficulties. See?

I don't think the AT is broken, I was merely supporting what I conceived to be novel suggestions regarding the current state of stalkers. I backed off on that position after considering the issue further.
We have lived in the shadow of the other melee DPS classes. One is more survivable, the other does more damage. Should our lower survivability* not be compensated by higher damage? Yes, this question is rhetorical, but it's also relevant.
My hope is that the recent dev attention to the differences between brutes and scrappers heralds new attention to stalkers. I think there are quite a few possible solutions to stalker issues, but after some consideration, I'd like to keep the AT as straightforward as possible.
We already have to potential for finesse with Placate, Hide and AS, but finesse is largely situational, and is not as amenable to analysis as straight up damage. Again, before anyone brings the specter of player skill up--I'm very cautious about recommending AT balance based upon player skill. It would be silly to recommend that Scrappers be balanced around the fact that they can solo AV's if build right. I think the notion that player skill, beyond what may be considered "average", may be used to balance an AT is silly.

*The exact terms of which are the same as the previous disparity: hit points.


 

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
My Stalker is lvl 39 Kin/Dark. I am deeply disappointed that he and I (after a long while) couldn't even take him down to 30% of his health. I ran out of end (I have no set bonus) in the end and it just seems like we weren't doing enough damage.

Then he brought his lvl 50 Corruptor out to help (Sonic/Kin). The fight went a lot smoother but because he is Corr and I don't want to lose the aggro on me, I didn't even use Placate once. I am sure my friend can live for like 10s without me taking aggro but I just didn't want to lose aggro on me as we are lvl 39 (maybe he has patron shield at lvl 39? Don't remember). I know Corr brings more to an AV fight than another melee AT. I know that.
Honestly, why do people feel inclined to blame *everything* else in the game and not their own inability/ignorance when something wrong happens?

Why come here complaining? As if it's the AT's fault you failed?

My advice to you is to think ahead next time.

-If it's an AV on a small team, you should have considered lowering your difficulty.

-Not every character type is made to fight AVs, melee oriented characters being one prime example.

-Johnny's Soul is a tad resistant to all damage types (how much, I can't recall) so going in fists a blazin' wasn't smart.

-You were Dark Armor. Energy damage (sonic attacks) are your Achilles heel.

-Your teammate, BS and Willpower, wouldn't have much to counter his sonic attacks (only energy defense, practically no energy resistance and Parry would only counter lethal or melee attacks...which apply to none of Johnny's attacks).

-Johnny can debuff you and buff himself.

-Johnny has a nuke.

As an EB, you could have used your burst damage to eliminate him somewhat quickly. As an AV, if you don't have debuffs, IOs or a large enough team, you'd have failed with any characters without those things. AVs weren't meant to solo. Don't go complaining it's Stalkers coming up short.


 

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
Every time I feel my stalker is coming up short, I like to come here to vent. lol


Last night I invited a friend lvl 26 Stalker BS/Will to do a mission and that mission happens to be "Save Johnny's Soul" or something like that. It's basically an AV with sonic/sonic.
I'm vocal about the real difficulties faced by Stalkers in common situations, but if this was an AV, it's not in the type of content that is meant to be soloable. In the case of an AV, it is still a pretty high bar to set to take it out with two people. Of course people can do it, but usually one of them is a debuffer. Heck, people can solo AV's, but that's not what I would consider a standard test of an AT.

Of course, you do say that you're venting, so I hope you feel better.
(seriously)


 

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
My friend hates his Stalker. He constantly mocks me because we belong to a group of very old and experienced veterans and none of them like Stalker. Stalker is like a laughing matter among them because they are min/maxer and Stalker is too ONE-DIMENSIONAL, which I happen to agree (sometimes).
Jib, I have to disagree with your friends here. Stalkers one-dimensional? REALLY?

I do not think one-dimensional means what your friends think it means. If they mean AS/runlikealittlegirl and rehide then let me submit that (a) they are very old and experienced veterans who dismissed stalkers back before they were buffed and haven't bothered to take another look and (b) I suspect that as a result they're not giving credit where credit is due where your stalker's contribution is concerned.

It happens all the time. Everyone who goes into a fight looks mainly at the task in front of them and gets tunnel vision on doing it well. Most players don't tend to notice anything that other players are doing that doesn't have a semi-distracting graphical effect or doesn't directly affect their character in obvious ways like the health/end bars or movement speed.

The point is that after the last body hits the floor most people tend to feel like they contributed at least equally (and possibly a little more than equally, if we're honest with ourselves) to the success of the battle.

...unless they're told otherwise. That's why Empathy players only get credit for healing aura and clear mind when it's probably the Fortification they cast on the melee player that turned the tide. That's why Kins are seen only in terms of Fulcrum Shift and Speed Boost when it's really Transfusion's Regeneration debuff that helped bring that AV down.

And that's why the team that saw the brute or scrapper wade through a sea of minions sneers at the stalker who took out the boss and his lieutenants before anyone could identify the obvious threat. They saw the other melee types take on the visual majority of the spawn and assumed the boss was in there as well.

As far as being one dimensional, stalkers are arguably the most multi-dimensional melee archetype in the game, outside of epic archetypes. We have the option of leveraging massive bursts of damage to quickly take out hard targets, or we can choose to scrap our way through a spawn. Stalkers with rogueish secondaries like Ninjitsu and Dark can also leverage the non-armor mitigation tools that come with them to keep an entire spawn occupied while the stalker does his or her job. And nearly every stalker primary gets at least one mitigation/utility power (usually at level 18) that can work with the secondary to even greater mitigating effect.

Could stalkers use some attention? Sure, and I may be in the minority when I say I'd prefer that attention make burst damage a more attractive option to simply scrapping it out. (Note that making burst damage more attractive does not have to be tied to just AS, even if I do think AS should be more flexible).

But regardless, Stalkers have options out the wazoo when it comes to combat. I'd sooner call scrappers one dimensional than stalkers, and no one is complaining them falling short.


The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
My friend hates his Stalker. He constantly mocks me because we belong to a group of very old and experienced veterans and none of them like Stalker. Stalker is like a laughing matter among them because they are min/maxer and Stalker is too ONE-DIMENSIONAL, which I happen to agree (sometimes).
Someone really needs to show him the Utility powers in Ninjitsu. I had a Stalker in one of my ITF's who kept using Blinding Powder. It wasn't a bad thing; this guy was a pro at lining that thing up to hit the most targets. It really came in handy when he was tossing it at Rommy while the /Rad was debuffing his accuracy. With Blinding Powder, all of my Dark Melee attacks, Rad Infection, and the /Dark Mastermind we had the fight was a cakewalk. Plus, he made it neon purple, so every so often I'd be tanking and I'd see a giant plume of purple gas fire out of the left side of my screen.


My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
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Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe View Post
The point is that after the last body hits the floor most people tend to feel like they contributed at least equally (and possibly a little more than equally, if we're honest with ourselves) to the success of the battle.

...unless they're told otherwise. That's why Empathy players only get credit for healing aura and clear mind when it's probably the Fortification they cast on the melee player that turned the tide. That's why Kins are seen only in terms of Fulcrum Shift and Speed Boost when it's really Transfusion's Regeneration debuff that helped bring that AV down.

And that's why the team that saw the brute or scrapper wade through a sea of minions sneers at the stalker who took out the boss and his lieutenants before anyone could identify the obvious threat. They saw the other melee types take on the visual majority of the spawn and assumed the boss was in there as well.
Ah, well spoken, sir!


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe View Post
Jib, I have to disagree with your friends here. Stalkers one-dimensional? REALLY?
Really. And I say that as a fan of Stalkers. Ninjitsu and Dark Armor are exceptions but in general Stalkers really are pretty one-dimensional. They do damage. You can stretch the definition a little by talking about the "surgical strike" that takes down an annoyance mob like a Sapper or Surgeon, but I don't really see that as terribly multi-dimensional.

To me the "dimensions" are the big team roles like damage, control (which includes tanking), buffing/debuffing, recovery (healing, end recovery, ressurection).

In that sense Stalkers really are fairly one-dimensional. Caltrops and Blinding powder allow a Ninjitsu Stalker to do a fair amount of control. This is one of the reasons I have trouble playing anything BUT Ninjitsu. I may try out Dark with the new changes at some point but anything else feels to me like I'm really only good for one thing and when that one thing is something we aren't even the best at... well, some criticism is definitely warranted about the AT. Being brutally honest here.

I have even considered getting Provoke on my Nin/Nin and probably will once i19 hits. Off-tanking control is still something Scrappers will always be better at thanks to higher hit-points but a well-IOed Ninjitsu Stalker can do a remarkably good job of it too.


Villains: Annie Alias, Dr. Amperical, Shade Golem, Knight Marksman
Heroes: The Clockwork Mime, Soccerpunch, The Fissioneer, Samurai Houston, Oversteer

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Posted

I think my bar was set a bit too high in that AV fight. I thought I could prove my teammate wrong by challenging that AV with two stalkers (also I was curious about my Kin's damage debuff with my Dark resistance). Well, he wasn't contributing as much because he was only lvl 26 and it was a real AV, not an Elite.


It's just that I want to prove to the group of people that I play with regularly that Stalker isn't that bad and it's hard to prove when they are mostly Brutes and Corruptors/MMs that just kill things so fast that I don't think my Assassin Strike matters (not that I always use it on a large team). And you are right, unless they pay close attention on my damage, they probably don't see as many critical as I see them on my end.


Oh well, today is another day. My venting is over for now. I just felt that if Stalker is built for taking down "hard" target, Stalker should be taking down AV/Hero faster than any other melee AT even during soloing and I didn't feel that way. And I felt "coming up a bit short", not "useless"! I still like my Stalkers.


What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.