Still wont play it due to it being typed defense which is alot harder to build for the soft cap than positional. Besides its not like they are going to re-order the powerset to make the heal come sooner in the set.
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The change to Energize will alone make the set much stronger. The stalker version may also prove to be better than the others, as Disrupt will be massively more useful than Repel, especially for a set with buffs based on the number of enemies surrounding the character. I'd also rather have a consistent recharge bonus than a scaling one, really.
The one thing I don't like is that Energy Drain will offer a defense bonus. EA already has solid defense numbers, and since you cannot rely on always having several enemies around to get larger amounts of defense from Energy Drain, it's not something you could really rely on. It would therefore be better if it added some to resistance, a secondary means of mitigation which does not have to be as consistent.
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I actually have an easier time Softcapping Typed.|
Originally Posted by EvilRyu
Still wont play it due to it being typed defense which is alot harder to build for the soft cap than positional. Besides its not like they are going to re-order the powerset to make the heal come sooner in the set.
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My KM/EA has softcap to all but Psi and perma hasten right now.
When something good happens to me, I can never enjoy it....
I am always too busy looking for the inevitable punchline...
BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE!
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Ya, the base defense numbers are actually higher than /nin's (except for a slightly lower negative energy, and obviously the lack of psi). The complete lack of psi protection is one thing that will still worry me about the set. Oh, and the low hp cap |
Originally Posted by Test_Rat
I actually have an easier time Softcapping Typed.
My KM/EA has softcap to all but Psi and perma hasten right now. |
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I skip overload since I am softcapped, and my HP is capped via Accolades.|
Originally Posted by Microcosm
Ya, the base defense numbers are actually higher than /nin's (except for a slightly lower negative energy, and obviously the lack of psi). The complete lack of psi protection is one thing that will still worry me about the set. Oh, and the low hp cap
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As for the Psi hole, I have 25% ranged defense. If I face Psi enemies and I can't kill them fast enough, I just pop a single luck, to bolster that ranged def up to near softcap levels.
When something good happens to me, I can never enjoy it....
I am always too busy looking for the inevitable punchline...
BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE!
Any idea if the new defense boosting Energy Drain will break stealth when used? I like the idea of jumping into the middle of a big group, hitting Energy Drain to boost my def, hitting BU then Burst for some critting AoE goodness and non-squishy to boot!
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I would say jump into the middle of the group, hit Burst, then hit Energy Drain.
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Originally Posted by JawDropper_EU
Any idea if the new defense boosting Energy Drain will break stealth when used? I like the idea of jumping into the middle of a big group, hitting Energy Drain to boost my def, hitting BU then Burst for some critting AoE goodness and non-squishy to boot!
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I think it probably will break hide as electric's power sink already does, iirc.
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Originally Posted by JawDropper_EU
Any idea if the new defense boosting Energy Drain will break stealth when used? I like the idea of jumping into the middle of a big group, hitting Energy Drain to boost my def, hitting BU then Burst for some critting AoE goodness and non-squishy to boot!
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My thoughts: it's about to get really slot-hungry since Energize needs slotting and Conserve Power not only doesn't need extra slots but was often skipped as irrelevant. It'd be nice if the Stalker version of Energy Protection had all of Dampening Field rolled into it also, what with them increasing the resistance and adding extra stuff to the auto powers. A bit more defense debuff resistance would be nice, but I didn't see that anywhere.
So... meh. Overall it's probably better but the only thing that would cause me to make another Energy Aura character is that it was ported to Scrappers - and the changes are more likely to prevent me from making one than cause me to, since I can't simply convert my current DM/EA Brute.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
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
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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Doing a quick, dream build...grabbing Fire Epic for more AOE...|
Originally Posted by Siolfir
My thoughts: it's about to get really slot-hungry since Energize needs slotting and Conserve Power not only doesn't need extra slots but was often skipped as irrelevant. It'd be nice if the Stalker version of Energy Protection had all of Dampening Field rolled into it also, what with them increasing the resistance and adding extra stuff to the auto powers. A bit more defense debuff resistance would be nice, but I didn't see that anywhere.
So... meh. Overall it's probably better but the only thing that would cause me to make another Energy Aura character is that it was ported to Scrappers - and the changes are more likely to prevent me from making one than cause me to, since I can't simply convert my current DM/EA Brute. |
Softcapped to all except Neg (42%)/Psi(18%) and that's without Energy Drain's +Defense factored in. MA/EA, able to run SK - CS - SK - CAK gapless.
And I still have slots left over, my thought was on going for the additional psi resist and bumping it to 9% Psi Resist.
All that without Hasten, and I still fit in a travel power.
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I will do you guys a favor and post my Current KM/EA build when i get home.
Its a rather expensive buid, but its softcapped to All but Psi, has Permahasten (Planning on dropping this come 21) and has 5 Unused slots.
When something good happens to me, I can never enjoy it....
I am always too busy looking for the inevitable punchline...
BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE!
Is the new /EA at all competitive with /nin? I was thinking of making a new stalker with electric melee as primary and was originally looking at /nin, but some of these new changes to /ea look really yummy....
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Well, as pointed out in another thread, when paired with /NIN, an ELM/ can do the following...|
Originally Posted by talzyon
Is the new /EA at all competitive with /nin? I was thinking of making a new stalker with electric melee as primary and was originally looking at /nin, but some of these new changes to /ea look really yummy....
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BU - Caltrops - Lightning Rod - Assassin Strike
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Originally Posted by BrandX
Doing a quick, dream build...grabbing Fire Epic for more AOE...
Softcapped to all except Neg (42%)/Psi(18%) and that's without Energy Drain's +Defense factored in. MA/EA, able to run SK - CS - SK - CAK gapless. And I still have slots left over, my thought was on going for the additional psi resist and bumping it to 9% Psi Resist. All that without Hasten, and I still fit in a travel power. |
Add in the T4 Spritual Radial for the bonus +rech, +heal, +jump, and +stun.
MA/EA has...a LOT of powerful synergies. That is going to be a simply ridiculous amount of stun.
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And that was just a build going for what I would think most would go after on a MA/EA.|
Originally Posted by mauk2
Add in the T4 Spritual Radial for the bonus +rech, +heal, +jump, and +stun.
MA/EA has...a LOT of powerful synergies. That is going to be a simply ridiculous amount of stun. |
Personally, I wouldn't go with Fire Epic, and likely not have skipped Crane Kick (I love all of MA's animations).
But seeing what could be done...Ooooo.
Doesn't do anything for Stalkers need for some +DMG imo >_> But, I think by what we've heard so far, it's going to be an impressive powerset.
People will be suggesting NIN, WP, an EA imo after this.
*Note: Not that people don't suggest the others >_> But NIN and WP tend to be the go to sets for suggesting.
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Electric melee will be better with nin for the reason brandx said. As far as everything else, nin will still have more mitigation. /EA will have loads and loads of endurance though, so it will be sort of the defense version of electric armor. An /electric stalker that can softcap s/l will eventually have more mitigation than /ea, but the /ea will be better than a non-softcapped /electric.
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Originally Posted by talzyon
Is the new /EA at all competitive with /nin? I was thinking of making a new stalker with electric melee as primary and was originally looking at /nin, but some of these new changes to /ea look really yummy....
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Wonder if /EA will have the 20% +RCH that /ELA has. I'd say very likely.|
Originally Posted by Microcosm
Electric melee will be better with nin for the reason brandx said. As far as everything else, nin will still have more mitigation. /EA will have loads and loads of endurance though, so it will be sort of the defense version of electric armor. An /electric stalker that can softcap s/l will eventually have more mitigation than /ea, but the /ea will be better than a non-softcapped /electric.
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/EA may beable to pull off more damage in the long run though. /EA will beable to concentrate on more +RCH, while the /ELA is focusing on getting S/L Defense.
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I've never felt confined to the only the 'popular' sets, so I don't think this will change much for me in that regard... I already found Energy Aura a quite playable set as a Stalker.
As for the changes themselves? They are awesome! 
I am very excited, especially for my level 50 Energy/Energy who is one of my all-time favorite characters. I may be able to respec out of Aid Self! And I may actually be able to softcap despite the fact that I barely use IOs!
I found Repulse to be really amusing. I used it to herd, because enemies dislike being splattered against walls. I definitely won't complain about an actually useful power instead, though! 
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Just been playing my MA/EA and using repulse whilst at it. The changes look alright to me. I'm guessing with Repulse this was definitely one of them often skipped or hard to value powers.
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I never felt /Nin was all that mitigative. Unless you're abusing caltrops, it's not that strong. It's defenses are only mediocre, it's got a bit of resistance to psy and a fast recharging heal. But then I haven't really gotten a chance to play up my DB/Nin after she got blinding powder...that might make all the difference although that recharges kind of slow.|
Originally Posted by Microcosm
As far as everything else, nin will still have more mitigation. /EA will have loads and loads of endurance though, so it will be sort of the defense version of electric armor. An /electric stalker that can softcap s/l will eventually have more mitigation than /ea, but the /ea will be better than a non-softcapped /electric.
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/EA on the other hand, feels solid to me in regular play. From around lvl 8 on up until you start facing heavy amounts of psy, it's really good. Playing my Kin/EA again right now, just picking up weave he sits at 38% to smashing/lethal, around 40something% to energy (can't remember fire/cold but it's up there too) and low 30s for neg energy. It's not that hard to pop a purple, heck, every fight and be soft capped. It's child's play really. Compared to /SR? SR was a pain to level and still is even after you get to the lvl 30s. Quite frankly, I'll never make another one of those at all besides my main Kat/SR scrapper...besides, the set is boring...
I guess /Nin is fun but I was never a big user of caltrops. They just scatter foes out of the cones of my Dual Blades...so I rarely use it...this limits the use of /Nin to just the heals outside of the toggle defenses...which is almost as boring as SR.
For the resist sets, yes they will be more mitigative than the defense sets if they can stack defense bonuses on their resists...AND they aren't facing -def foes. I still think the best armor set you're going to get on Stalker is /DA. It doesn't waste your time with capped resists and just gives you good resists all around. Stack defense on that + the best heal and use your self rez in the forseen instance that you die? Oh, and you can mez minions too?
Yeah, DA gives you everything you *CAN'T* get everywhere else. So just stack all that common stuff ontop of it and you're gonna be formidable.
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Originally Posted by Patteroast
I've never felt confined to the only the 'popular' sets, so I don't think this will change much for me in that regard... I already found Energy Aura a quite playable set as a Stalker.
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It will most likely perform as well as it does currently for me, it'll just be simpler to leverage for the masses.
I will probably delete my /EA Stalker and re-roll to something else.
The Energy Drain heal > Energize from ELA.
Energy Aura Revamp
The most exciting part of any powers work for me personally is making improvements to existing power sets. So, porting over Energy Aura to Scrappers gave us a really good opportunity to make some changes to the set. The changes we chose to make were intended to make thematic sense and build upon strengths instead of filling intended weak spots. I wont list the lengthy patch notes here, but I will sum them up for you:
1. Resistance on the sets auto powers were slightly increased and now include endurance drain protection and slow resistance.
2. Entropy Shield is now Entropic Aura for Scrappers and Brutes. This power is a taunt aura that grants the user a scaling recharge buff based on the number of foes surrounding the user. The Stalker version of the set doesnt have a taunt aura, but it offers a small Recharge bonus.
3. Repulse for Stalkers has been replaced by Disrupt, a stun aura.
4. Energy Drain no longer has a healing component, instead it offers a small defense boost per target hit.
5. Conserve Energy was replaced by Energize, a self Heal that offers a moderate regeneration and endurance cost reduction boost for a short while. This power works identically to the Electric Armor version.
Just in case some of you don't follow the threads.
What's your thoughts? My only question is Disrupt. It doesn't say it have -health component which is good. I wasn't expecting a stun aura but hey, it's better than that repel aura for sure. Now you can stack stuns with other attacks.
Overall, it's a good buff.
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.