Stalkers ??? Where??? R U Hiding?

Just a couple of ideas to throw out there:
Placate is the Anti-Taunt
Why isn't Placate an autohit AoE? Set the target cap at say, 5 (like Taunt), and it'll just mean you stand slightly better chance of successfully going into Hide when you need to. Still won't be able to cheerfully go into Hide when surrounded by a huge spawn, but it'll enable Stalkers to throw off an annoying Hide-ignoring ambush while solo, at least on lower difficulties.

Shorter AS anim time, for more dynamic, less whiffy play
My problem with Stalkers is the whiff factor, when try as you might, your powers just don't work as they should. To that end, I'd prefer Assassin's Strike to be shorter animation (and any corresponding drop in damage), just so that it can be worked into attack chains better. Missed AS's not breaking Hide is great, but they still waste a lot of time, especially because they usually figure in selecting a target worthy of the attack, and Placate and Build-up. This way, AS will be a heavy opening attack that doesn't waste half your Build-up time if the RNG decides it hates you.

"Marked"
Adding a resistance debuff to AS as per Bruising sounds team friendly to me. Lets the team assist in bringing down whatever priority target the Stalker has marked.

I agree Stalker should have un-suppressed stealth as well as the highest stealth cap.

I have a Dark/EA Brute who I named "Stalkerish Brute". Sometimes you can literally kill the first few enemies at front and the ones on the back don't even notice you until later, and patrols can't see you until they are close. Isn't this VERY Assassin-like? You stealth into a group, take out a few enemies before the enemies even realize you are there!

The biggest problem with Stalkers is just that they are a single-target slow-paced set in a game that is increasingly focused on high-end large-numbers games. Stalkers can't farm at all, and aren't as useful on a team, so there's no gain to having one for much of the playerbase there. The rest is skeptical because they are harder to Incarnate...ise, and I daresay that will put them at the end of the long list of other 50s most have. The rest of the playerbase mostly solos, so they're there, but you'll never see them because they're in missions.

So it's a combination of fewer reasons to play them, and fewer instances where you will see them.

And, as an addendum, the addition of Arachnos Soldiers hurts Stalkers hard. They can be built to outdo a Stalker in most of its fields save the huge AS, and they actually benefit a team substantively. My Bane only marginally falls behind my Stalker in single-target damage and personal defence, exceeds him substantially against hard targets thanks to the magic of -res and Toxic out the wazoo, benefits the team with a few buffs, and if I have to do more I can swap build to al all-ranged all-buff pseudo-blaster.

I see a lot of Hero Stalkers on Virtue. Maybe you just need to switch sides?

• Reduce AS animation time to .83 or less; up recharge to 60 seconds; no interrupt; must be used in hide
  
• Give Stalkers same HP cap as Scrapper. (But not base modifier)
  
• Return all removed AoEs to their native sets as a tenth elective choice available at level 18. Like how Scrappers were the first AT to get a defined inherent, this would be the start of the long abandoned 'tenth power per set.'

See, I don't think stalkers need changes as crazy as that. They work fine at what they do, it's just it sucks when we can't do what we can do (because of crazy ambushes, for example).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neuronia I rolled a Kinetic Melee/Regen Stalker, started her in Praetoria and have given up on it after facing "Ambush-o-Rama" in nearly every mission.

Would an autohit AoE placate have helped?

The problem with an AoE autohit Placate is that it can directly harm other members of your team. Having an AoE taunt is fine as the repercussions lie squarely on the caster, if he can't handle the aggro, that's his fault. An AoE placate though suddenly puts a group of enemies looking for someone else to hit, which is not ideal for other squishy classes.

Effectively, it increases your survivability at the cost of your team mates, which is fine when solo but dangerous in small teams without a stable brute/tanker.

EDIT:

Targetted ambushes hurt lowbie Stalkers, no doubt, there must be a way that a stalker can actively hide from such an attack. By actively, i mean requiring more skill/awareness than just standing there in hide while the ham-bush runs past you. I'm not sure what that solution is though.

I've been seeing a crap load of low level Stalkers in Praetoria lately... It's been common to have 2-3 on a team at a time. Too bad there isn't a Stalker cap.

It annoys me to see people saying that certain things like single-target damage sets are useless in today's game.

Can you kill the enemies with it? Yes.
Can you kill lots of enemies with it, even at high difficulties? Yup.
Can you complete your missions? Of course.

That doesn't sound useless to me. I think a lot of powergamers just have no patience. Since I prefer the 1-49 game over the endgame, I'll continue enjoying my non-uber characters and having fun with 'obsolete' ATs.

Not saying that I'd object to improvements to Stalkers. They deserve some love, but they're not as unplayable as some make them out to be.

They still have a ways to go to equal the awesomeness of their fellow Melee AT's.

Here's another idea (forgive me if this has ever been suggested):

When Hidden, increase the damage of a successful Assassin Strike by 200% or 300% *if it hits*. If it "misses", then apply the normal damage it would do from Hide and unhide me. So if I take the time to hide and then employ Assassin Strike I am going to either land an OMGKILL hit or a heavy hit - but not totally whiff.

I just find it hard to believe that my hidden Stalker, even at a low level, could not only completely miss its target but then stay hidden to try again later. In my mind, an Assassin Strike will always unhide me. If it misses it only means I missed my insta-kill chance but still deals out damage. If it hits, well, shouldn't it be as near to a kill shot as possible?

Just a thought. I have a couple of Stalkers (Nin/Nin and Kin/En) and enjoy playing them but I don't pull them out all that often.

It's not that easy. Stalkers have a tough time on a team. I'm not saying you're not useful that you can't contribute but you can't use your true power/skill when you're on a steam rolling team.