People Complaining About Stalkers...


Aett_Thorn

 

Posted

That's why I don't roll single-target Stalkers (or single-target anything for that matter). I never have to work to convince myself that I'm making a meaningful contribution.


 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
But that's kinda the problem. My Elec Stalker can choose between focusing on the boss if that's what the team needs, or wiping out the spawn's minions and lieuts. I can do either role, and while I might be better at the AoE than the ST, with AS and my ST attacks, I'm alright at taking out the boss, too. MA doesn't get that versatility. They should take down the boss every time. They have a single role: take down the toughest guy there. When he's dead, find the next toughest guy, etc. I can do the job of the MA guy well enough, but he can't do the AoE thing at all.
Before patron aoe comes into the picture, it is pretty annoying when the spawn size is large and you can only kill one at a time. As strange as it sounds, I do like my MA/Will but I am weird in a way that I would find something weak and keep playing it until I find a reason to like it. Hell, the whole Stalker AT gives me that feeling. :P


The only good thing about MA is you can skip Assassin Strike at high level. Eagle Claw hits hard enough that I rarely use BU + AS unless I feel the setup time is worth it. This is the only positive thing about MA because Eagle Claw hits hard and if I am lucky, I can do double critical after placate. And if I am fighting a boss that I know Assassin Strike won't take more than 50% (ie: all the Clockwork bosses in apex/tin mage), I'll just do Eagle, Cobra to try to stack stuns first so I don't get hit as much.

You are right, there is no reason to create a melee set that only has ST attacks. Design flaw?


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.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
But that's kinda the problem. My Elec Stalker can choose between focusing on the boss if that's what the team needs, or wiping out the spawn's minions and lieuts. I can do either role, and while I might be better at the AoE than the ST, with AS and my ST attacks, I'm alright at taking out the boss, too. MA doesn't get that versatility. They should take down the boss every time. They have a single role: take down the toughest guy there. When he's dead, find the next toughest guy, etc. I can do the job of the MA guy well enough, but he can't do the AoE thing at all.
That's the danger in ANY kind of specialization. If being versatile is a requirement then you don't play MA. That said, I can't say I've ever been on a team that had too much single-target damage. I have most definitely been on plenty of teams that had way too much AoE. It's just that much more popular.


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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
I still don't buy that Shield set doesn't work well. They only need to change one power and that's it. They did it for Willpower. All the shield-buffs are excellent for Stalker because Stalkers can buff each other before the fight even starts and that Shield Charge will be so good.
I don't think they ever said it couldn't work. If I recall right they only denied it on the basis of "concept", which would be fine if they were at all consistent in applying that restriction. They initially denied villains access to Empathy, saying it did not fit the villain concept. Then later they made it so anyone can switch sides and now we can have Empathy villains anyway. Go figure.

People also make jokes about Shield Stalkers hiding behind their shields while not bothering to ask just HOW a regeneration Stalker hides. The answer of course is that though Hide was placed in the secondary, it really has little to DO with the secondary and should have been an inherent all along.


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Originally Posted by Zem View Post
I don't think they ever said it couldn't work. If I recall right they only denied it on the basis of "concept", which would be fine if they were at all consistent in applying that restriction. They initially denied villains access to Empathy, saying it did not fit the villain concept. Then later they made it so anyone can switch sides and now we can have Empathy villains anyway. Go figure.

People also make jokes about Shield Stalkers hiding behind their shields while not bothering to ask just HOW a regeneration Stalker hides. The answer of course is that though Hide was placed in the secondary, it really has little to DO with the secondary and should have been an inherent all along.
How do you hide with Electricity then? Sure, there is a "Shield" but electricity is bright and can hurt people.

I just don't know why when it comes to Shield and Stalker, they care so much about "theme" all of sudden.

I say they don't want Shield in Stalker because they are afraid that 90% of the people will pick Shield because Shield has Shield Charge and the lack of defense isn't that a big deal on Stalker who naturally doesn't attract that much aggro. Shield set looks very good on paper for Stalker gameplay and they don't want to give Stalker that.

And yet they have no problem allowing Elec/Shield or SS/Shield that maul through mobs like butter. That's where I have problem with dev's decision on how to balance Stalker. It's like they would spend that extra energy to make sure Stalker isn't "overpowering" while letting other melee ATs have ridiculous set combinations that ruin the balance. I just can't believe how high damage /Fiery Armor is now when you have fury and rage.

My only high level Brute is Dark/Energy aura and I enjoy that build but it's far from "overpowering".


PS: If they want separate Empathy VS Pain due to "theme" reason, then maybe Stalker can get another new set that is similar to Shield? Oh wait, that means it would lose money in the future because only one AT can have it. It's not worth the time or effort to just satisfy one AT, whose population is already at the bottom of the barrel.


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.

 

Posted

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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
How do you hide with Electricity then? Sure, there is a "Shield" but electricity is bright and can hurt people.

I just don't know why when it comes to Shield and Stalker, they care so much about "theme" all of sudden.

I say they don't want Shield in Stalker because they are afraid that 90% of the people will pick Shield because Shield has Shield Charge and the lack of defense isn't that a big deal on Stalker who naturally doesn't attract that much aggro. Shield set looks very good on paper for Stalker gameplay and they don't want to give Stalker that.

And yet they have no problem allowing Elec/Shield or SS/Shield that maul through mobs like butter. That's where I have problem with dev's decision on how to balance Stalker. It's like they would spend that extra energy to make sure Stalker isn't "overpowering" while letting other melee ATs have ridiculous set combinations that ruin the balance. I just can't believe how high damage /Fiery Armor is now when you have fury and rage.

My only high level Brute is Dark/Energy aura and I enjoy that build but it's far from "overpowering".


PS: If they want separate Empathy VS Pain due to "theme" reason, then maybe Stalker can get another new set that is similar to Shield? Oh wait, that means it would lose money in the future because only one AT can have it. It's not worth the time or effort to just satisfy one AT, whose population is already at the bottom of the barrel.

One manipulates the electro magnetic spectrum and becomes invisible! Or some such!

Also, why have Shield on Stalkers? It's real benefit is Shield Charge, and that's likely the power to be gotten rid of for Hide.


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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Also, why have Shield on Stalkers? It's real benefit is Shield Charge, and that's likely the power to be gotten rid of for Hide.
And AAO would lose its be converted from a scaling damage buff to a 'small', always on damage buff.

(That's how they described Entropic Aura for Stalkers, afterall.)


 

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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
One manipulates the electro magnetic spectrum and becomes invisible! Or some such!

Also, why have Shield on Stalkers? It's real benefit is Shield Charge, and that's likely the power to be gotten rid of for Hide.
They just can't give anything good to stalker, can they?

My main point is that they have no problem giving set combinations to other melee dps that are way over the balance point (+4x8 is not a measurement of a successful build IMO. It's a measurement of "broken" builds) but when it comes to Stalker, they would nit pick this and that and take out the good power(s) like Shield Charge if Shield gets ported. Can you imagine the cry if Shield Charge is taken out? I know I will be super pissed.

You have SS/Fire Brute who is doing way too much damage for the survival it sacrifices. It kills so fast that Damage VS Survival ratio with set bonuses seems to be way out of line. And then you have Martial Arts Stalker who sacrifices all AoE damage for ST damage and yet MA Stalker still can't out-damage most Scrapper builds and my MA Stalker still cannot take down pylon without incarnate abilities.


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
The only way Stalker is superior in burst damage is when Assassin Strike has no interruption and comes out under 3s. Now that's a superior burst damage that can be used in every situation and other ATs can't match for it.
Don't be silly. That would just make AS aanother cheap DPS tool. All you'd have to do then is get down it's endurance costs then max out on recharge to pump it out as often as possible (i.e. button mash)

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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
Honestly, my Elec/Nin Stalker is my current favorite. However, upon creating a DB/Willpower Stalker and getting it up to SO levels (think I stopped around level 27ish), I wasn't a fan. I can't imagine trying to feel productive on a full team with a MA/ Stalker.

I think that's my problem with Stalkers: there's such a huge disparity between sets in both offensive and defensive potential. Offensively, being a ST-only character in a game where the smallest spawn size you can fight is two, and where in a team setting you're usually facing significantly more than that, you're going to be putting out less damage than a character that has lower base damage, but can do it in AoE formats. I mean, my Elec/ Stalker has Lightning Rod, Thunderstrike, Fireball, and now the Void Judgement (and Chain Induction, if it doesn't kill someone). If I'm playing solo, I tend to use all of those and my single target attacks quite frequently. On a team, I'm just cycling between those five powers, and still slaughtering whole spawns.

If I was MA, I'd have Fireball and Void, and that's it in terms of AoE potential. Fireball recharges fast enough, but it's still a wait until level 47 to get it. Up until that point, I'd have to focus on killing hard, single targets versus slaughtering spawns. And that's the trade-off. I highly doubt that the MA would be able to take down hard, single targets at a rate sufficient to meet the Elec/'s XP potential, by a significant degree.
I've got an Elec/Regen and a Spines/Dark. The only stalkers I occasionally turn off bosses. I challenge you to take down even a tough boss with those sets.

Yeah, Elec and Spines are great for AoE and can manage some decent ST,. but one thing you forget about those sets: They are SLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWW. Any decent ST they manage is at a fraction of the speed of even Martial Arts.

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The other sets seem like they lose something key in order to gain Hide. I know that there wasn't the tech to turn off damage auras and such before recently, but Willpower I think would have gained from RttC, and Elec Armor could have been decent with Lightning Field, but without them they're only okay.
While I could see the issue of Electric armor, I find it a downgrade to try and shoehorn RttC in WP. You have to realize Placate doesn't bring hide back up so it will cause problems with using it like other auras...except it has no effect to mitigate the enemy's attack

Also, needing to stand in the middle of a spawn to heal? Nah, Reconstruction is far superior. Same with Invulnerability, if/when that's proliferated, get rid of Invincibility and replace it with Shadow Meld clone.

Lastly, only those dmg auras were lost for Hide. RttC was replaced with Reconstruction. WP lost Quick Recovery for hide.


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Overall, I think that's why there's such a love/hate relationship with Stalkers. Some sets are great, and especially so when paired. Others are absolutely horrible together. No other AT that we have has as much of a performance gap between sets, I feel, at least in terms of how the AT is supposed to function.
What set combos are these that are horrible?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
But that's kinda the problem. My Elec Stalker can choose between focusing on the boss if that's what the team needs, or wiping out the spawn's minions and lieuts. I can do either role, and while I might be better at the AoE than the ST, with AS and my ST attacks, I'm alright at taking out the boss, too. MA doesn't get that versatility. They should take down the boss every time. They have a single role: take down the toughest guy there. When he's dead, find the next toughest guy, etc. I can do the job of the MA guy well enough, but he can't do the AoE thing at all.
Epics and the new final tier leaping pool power. But I find adjusting the spawn size down to work just as good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Also, why have Shield on Stalkers? It's real benefit is Shield Charge, and that's likely the power to be gotten rid of for Hide.
Grant Cover? Phalanx Fighting?

The idea isn't to remove the thing to try and piss off as many as possible, it's replacing the easiest analog so they can be lazy. :P


 

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Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
Don't be silly. That would just make AS aanother cheap DPS tool. All you'd have to do then is get down it's endurance costs then max out on recharge to pump it out as often as possible (i.e. button mash)



I've got an Elec/Regen and a Spines/Dark. The only stalkers I occasionally turn off bosses. I challenge you to take down even a tough boss with those sets.

Yeah, Elec and Spines are great for AoE and can manage some decent ST,. but one thing you forget about those sets: They are SLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWW. Any decent ST they manage is at a fraction of the speed of even Martial Arts.



While I could see the issue of Electric armor, I find it a downgrade to try and shoehorn RttC in WP. You have to realize Placate doesn't bring hide back up so it will cause problems with using it like other auras...except it has no effect to mitigate the enemy's attack

Also, needing to stand in the middle of a spawn to heal? Nah, Reconstruction is far superior. Same with Invulnerability, if/when that's proliferated, get rid of Invincibility and replace it with Shadow Meld clone.

Lastly, only those dmg auras were lost for Hide. RttC was replaced with Reconstruction. WP lost Quick Recovery for hide.




What set combos are these that are horrible?



Epics and the new final tier leaping pool power. But I find adjusting the spawn size down to work just as good.



Grant Cover? Phalanx Fighting?

The idea isn't to remove the thing to try and piss off as many as possible, it's replacing the easiest analog so they can be lazy. :P
Phalanx Fighting would be a lose of defense, and Grant Cover would be a loss of defense debuff.

I'm sure the removal of any power would be piss people off

Maybe Hide should of just be an inherent power to begin with? Take away the chance to crit outside of hide, up their damage scale to Scrapper levels, and they can have Hide and Controlled Crits with Hide status as their Inherent.

And also maybe fix it so hide isn't broken so easily...like say once you placate you have 2 seconds of staying hidden even if you get a stray hit in, so you can actually use your big hitter and not have it wasted (which is my experience with using Placate in the middle of a fight to try to use Assassin Strike on a target).


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
Don't be silly. That would just make AS aanother cheap DPS tool. All you'd have to do then is get down it's endurance costs then max out on recharge to pump it out as often as possible (i.e. button mash)
I don't think it should ever have zero interruption time but I favor a very short interruption time. Enough to force you to set yourself before using it, which prevents using it as a jousting attack. Cut it down to at least 1s interrupt time, preferably 0.5s. It's value currently is greatly diminished by being very difficult to use mid-combat on a team, even with Placate. It can be used, but usually only by defense-based Stalkers and even then not with 100% success. Its damage is not SO much more than, say, an Eagle's Claw crit, that it deserves to be THAT unreliable.

In the past, I've suggested also an increase in waylay damage to make it more usable outside of Hide, but... I'm reconsidering. I'd settle for just the interrupt time reduction and not any increase in waylay damage. Most sets don't need another good ST attack for scrapping and the sets that do don't deserve one due to how good their AoE is.

And I'd at least like a few of the longer AS animations reduced to 3s, if not 2.67s to match Kinetic Melee. I don't think any of that would really turn AS into a scrapping tool. The AoE heavy sets might want to use it outside of Hide but it still wouldn't be very good DPA at scale 2.5.


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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Phalanx Fighting would be a lose of defense, and Grant Cover would be a loss of defense debuff.

I'm sure the removal of any power would be piss people off
Okay, so the devs remove shield charge and leave in GC and PF....now Stalkers have higher base defense because they also have Hide? How does that make sense again?


 

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Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
Okay, so the devs remove shield charge and leave in GC and PF....now Stalkers have higher base defense because they also have Hide? How does that make sense again?
How does giving Stalkers the ability to...

Shield Charge -> Lightning Rod -> Assassin Strike all from Hide, make any sense?


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo_G View Post
Don't be silly. That would just make AS aanother cheap DPS tool. All you'd have to do then is get down it's endurance costs then max out on recharge to pump it out as often as possible (i.e. button mash)
You don't think SS/Fire and Elec/Shield are silly enough? I do.

Yeah, Fiery Aura isn't the best "tanking" secondary but it sure seems a well built SS/Fiery is more sturdy than a Stalker.

So a Brute can live better with Fiery Aura and set bonuses but also does way more damage than any Stalker combination. That's what you call it "balance" right?

It is true not all Brute cominbations are broken. My highest level Brute is Dark/EA.


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.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
How does giving Stalkers the ability to...

Shield Charge -> Lightning Rod -> Assassin Strike all from Hide, make any sense?
It's about time Stalker gets one "broken" set combination! I'll vote for this. :P

If the dev have no problem with Fire/Kin and SS/Fiery, then I can't see why Elec/Shield Stalker is going to be that broken.

1. Shield Charge and Lightning Rod can't critical.

2. Stalker's build up isn't as strong as Scrappers'.

3. Lightning Rod > Assassin Strike only works well if you are soloing and all surrounding mobs are knocked down. If not, it's better to just follow up with Thunder Strike or a patron aoe.


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.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Phalanx Fighting would be a lose of defense, and Grant Cover would be a loss of defense debuff.
Either of those powers could be completely or partially rolled up into the others, which has been done for other Stalker secondaries. For example, the higher defense values in the toggles in Energy Aura to make up for the loss of Energy Cloak, and Evasion's higher AoE defense in Super Reflexes to make up for not having Lucky.


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Originally Posted by Jibikao View Post
It's about time Stalker gets one "broken" set combination! I'll vote for this. :P

If the dev have no problem with Fire/Kin and SS/Fiery, then I can't see why Elec/Shield Stalker is going to be that broken.

1. Shield Charge and Lightning Rod can't critical.

2. Stalker's build up isn't as strong as Scrappers'.

3. Lightning Rod > Assassin Strike only works well if you are soloing and all surrounding mobs are knocked down. If not, it's better to just follow up with Thunder Strike or a patron aoe.
I have no problem with it. I'm just wondering if the devs would intentionally let it happen, and why I think they'd be more likely to remove Shield Charge for Hide.

Siolfir: They could, do doubt about it, but doesn't mean it'll happen. Did they add +REC to a power for Regeneration losing QR? What about WP?


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Posted

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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
How does giving Stalkers the ability to...

Shield Charge -> Lightning Rod -> Assassin Strike all from Hide, make any sense?
It makes perfect sense. We already can do LR > AS. Not every melee AT is Elec/SD.

What doesn't make sense is Stalkers having better defense on what should be even before considering mods.

Not sure what your stance is, BrandX. That charging with a shield shouldn't keep you hidden or that much AoE dmg shouldn't be in the hands of stalker...because both those are patently wrong.


 

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Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
Did they add +REC to a power for Regeneration losing QR? What about WP?
The way I remember it, I believe it was Castle who said the removal of the +recovery powers was intentional based on theme. I guess it didn't seem appropriate to him and/or other devs for a sneaky assassin to be well conditioned. Probably something having to do with the idea of an assassin striking suddenly from the shadows, then blending back into them, therefore not needing to maintain continuous effort...or something. I don't know. Any way I look at it, it's completely at odds with the way Stalkers actually play to think that they have less need than other melee toons, with the possible exception that for some secondaries they have less toggles to run.

In any case, there was a clear reason why they felt it was not appropriate for Stalkers to get those powers. I doubt the same would be true for the effects that would be lost from the removal of a power to make room for Hide in Shield Defense. I think it's quite reasonable to expect to maintain all or at least some of the effects of the removed power.


 

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It's pretty easy to prove Stalkers underperform damage wise compared to the other Melee ATs. It's not by a great margin, but considering they are on the low end for defense (Not that their defense is that bad, but they do splat more easily) they should get some love in the damage department.

My personal favorite recommendations:

200% Damage Crits

Critting Outside of Hide puts you in Hide

AS needs its over-all mechanic rehauled a bit to be more useful in general

Placate has its Recharge time reduced

Extending the range on the Stalker team Crit Buff


 

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Originally Posted by Diesel Punk View Post
It's pretty easy to prove Stalkers underperform damage wise compared to the other Melee ATs. It's not by a great margin, but considering they are on the low end for defense (Not that their defense is that bad, but they do splat more easily) they should get some love in the damage department.

My personal favorite recommendations:

200% Damage Crits

Critting Outside of Hide puts you in Hide

AS needs its over-all mechanic rehauled a bit to be more useful in general

Placate has its Recharge time reduced

Extending the range on the Stalker team Crit Buff
A 200% damage "standard" critical would necessitate a revamp to Assassin's Strike: its critical damage (scale 4.5) is under 200% of the base damage (2.5), plus it has other criteria deliberately added to make it more difficult to use (interrupt). Then again, a 200% critical on everything else would mean that AS could simply be done away with and the removed AoE attack could be added back in, as any and every hard-hitting single target attack would essentially become an "Assassin's Strike" from hidden. So I'm really not seeing the extra critical damage on everything being something the devs will be willing to sign off on.

The following attacks would do more than Assassin's Strike's current scale 7.0 damage with the proposed 200% critical:
  • Broadsword: Head Splitter
  • Dark Melee: Midnight Grasp
  • Dual Blades: One Thousand Cuts (in an AoE!)
  • Energy Melee: Energy Transfer* (if allowed to critical)
  • Energy Melee: Total Focus* (if allowed to critical)
  • Kinetic Melee: Concentrated Strike* (if allowed to critical)
  • Martial Arts: Eagle Claw
Of the ones that currently are allowed to critical, Eagle Claw would be the biggest winner on a single target at scale 8.76, or a base level 50 damage of 487.14, compared to AS's current 389.27, and Dual Blades would get an AoE dealing scale 7.083 in One Thousand Cuts.

Dropping back into hidden status after an out-of-hidden critical just ensures a back-to-back critical situation, and if you have it replace the critical and drop you into hidden instead it means you have a good chance of completely losing out due to incoming attacks on non-defense sets. A play on the insta-recharge mechanic allowing Placate to instantly recharge at a fixed percentage from single-target attacks could mimic the effect: yes, it will force you to go through the animation time, but will also allow you to cycle Placate more often, theoretically aiding survival (if you assume that the bugs in Placate will be fixed and you don't use a set that has DoT).

And the easiest and most server-calculation-friendly way of extending the team critical bonus radius is to eliminate the radius entirely and base it on team size alone. You have to have that count to determine what to check distances on, it's probably a simple variable lookup instead of actually counting (no guarantee here, though - it's not like I've seen the code), and it's not like it wasn't done for Dominators to accelerate Domination bar filling, so there's a precedent.


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Originally Posted by Siolfir View Post

And the easiest and most server-calculation-friendly way of extending the team critical bonus radius is to eliminate the radius entirely and base it on team size alone. You have to have that count to determine what to check distances on, it's probably a simple variable lookup instead of actually counting (no guarantee here, though - it's not like I've seen the code), and it's not like it wasn't done for Dominators to accelerate Domination bar filling, so there's a precedent.
This will be a great way to start. I never understand why only 30' radius. They try to "encourage" Stalkers to fight along side with teammates rather than "hit and run"? 30' radius is really not that big in most pve content.


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 Supernumiphone View Post
The way I remember it, I believe it was Castle who said the removal of the +recovery powers was intentional based on theme. I guess it didn't seem appropriate to him and/or other devs for a sneaky assassin to be well conditioned.
Oh please give me a break on "theme" reasons. How come when it comes to Stalkers, the dev care so much for "theme" all of sudden?!!!

I actually don't even remember that willpower in Brute/Scrapper have +recovery. lol That's how little I play them.


You know what's really not meeting the "Theme" Standard? Stalker SUCKS as an Assassin. Yup, that's the truth. I said it. Assassin Strike has interruption, it's slow and its damage isn't scaling high enough against AV/Giants.

I don't think my /Wp Stalker needs +recovery but I find the removal not justified either if the real reason behind it is "theme" reason.


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 Siolfir View Post
A 200% damage "standard" critical would necessitate a revamp to Assassin's Strike: its critical damage (scale 4.5) is under 200% of the base damage (2.5), plus it has other criteria deliberately added to make it more difficult to use (interrupt). Then again, a 200% critical on everything else would mean that AS could simply be done away with and the removed AoE attack could be added back in, as any and every hard-hitting single target attack would essentially become an "Assassin's Strike" from hidden. So I'm really not seeing the extra critical damage on everything being something the devs will be willing to sign off on.

The following attacks would do more than Assassin's Strike's current scale 7.0 damage with the proposed 200% critical:
  • Broadsword: Head Splitter
  • Dark Melee: Midnight Grasp
  • Dual Blades: One Thousand Cuts (in an AoE!)
  • Energy Melee: Energy Transfer* (if allowed to critical)
  • Energy Melee: Total Focus* (if allowed to critical)
  • Kinetic Melee: Concentrated Strike* (if allowed to critical)
  • Martial Arts: Eagle Claw
Of the ones that currently are allowed to critical, Eagle Claw would be the biggest winner on a single target at scale 8.76, or a base level 50 damage of 487.14, compared to AS's current 389.27, and Dual Blades would get an AoE dealing scale 7.083 in One Thousand Cuts.

Dropping back into hidden status after an out-of-hidden critical just ensures a back-to-back critical situation, and if you have it replace the critical and drop you into hidden instead it means you have a good chance of completely losing out due to incoming attacks on non-defense sets. A play on the insta-recharge mechanic allowing Placate to instantly recharge at a fixed percentage from single-target attacks could mimic the effect: yes, it will force you to go through the animation time, but will also allow you to cycle Placate more often, theoretically aiding survival (if you assume that the bugs in Placate will be fixed and you don't use a set that has DoT).

And the easiest and most server-calculation-friendly way of extending the team critical bonus radius is to eliminate the radius entirely and base it on team size alone. You have to have that count to determine what to check distances on, it's probably a simple variable lookup instead of actually counting (no guarantee here, though - it's not like I've seen the code), and it's not like it wasn't done for Dominators to accelerate Domination bar filling, so there's a precedent.
Fair enough, the 200% Crit was more of a flavor thing, I'm happy with them simply getting a 1.2 Scalar Mod, Out of Hide Crits recharging Placate sounds good, but if thats the case, increase their base Crit rate to 15% and do away with the teaming buff. The teaming buff might put them far over the top otherwise.

Personally, AS should have its Interrupt time decreased, or no interruption at all. Or it should have a bonus to it that risking using it during battle is worthwhile (Like a -Res component)


 

Posted

How about just make Placate a 200% critical chance? I mean we already have that but just very slim chance?


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.