Brain Fart Stalker Tweak/Buff/Fix

[Hide] - 8 Seconds of not hitting or not being hit... How about just changing it to 8 seconds of not attacking? This way the non-Defense sets aren't as hampered and forced to scrap?

Also...

Ditch hide as a Power selection. Make it part of the Inherent given at level 1, just a slottable toggle. This eliminates the need to power-crunch away one power from every armor.

Hell, do the same for AS! Unlock it at 6, there's just 10 powers in the primary, vice 9.

Or... these ideas are retarded... I dunno. Thoughts?

Stalkers are a hit and run AT based on burst damage.

Hit and Run and burst damage is highly rewarded in the game and groups.

I understand your anger Test Rat but spreading misinformation doesn't help. In fact it probably makes things worse cause then people play that way, the devs see them playing that way and then balance based off of people playing that way.


To the OP as a Stalker you have no reason to be standing around doing nothing for 8 seconds. A while back the Stalker AT got some changes made so they have an automatic 10% chance to crit when not hidden, that can go as high as 33% when 7 teammates are within 30ft. Now thin about how many attacks you can land within 8 seconds. Now think about those attacks criting 10% pf the time. Finally think about those attacks criting 33% of the time.

Now do you really want to stand around waiting for 8 secs? didn't think so.

As for Hide,AS,Placate becoming inherant powers it's been discussed before, devs decided against it.

Sorry, was late-night, and I may have been enjoying some Hard Cider, so I didn't flesh out it fully.

Regarding [Hide] and waiting vice Scrapping. I understand that Scrapping after initial strike is more useful to yourself and to the team in most instances. I have a DM/SR and Claws/Will at 50, an EM/Regen parked at 33 (damn dual PvP/EM Nerfs), and several other Stalkers strewn throughout the leveling curve that are works in progress (/Ice, /Nin, and /Elec). So, I'm not wailing over how Stalkers suck in recent experience, been rolling with them since Issue 6.

I rejoiced over the change to Stalker Crits (Also, the scaling Crit chance is 3%, for a max of 31% (10+3*7)), however, I feel it didn't go far enough. I've noticed the thought that Assassination should work like Vigilance, and have it be offa team size, regardless of distance (seems reasonable to limit to those on the same map though), instead of with a 30' tether. This would be beneficial for both playstyle/Stalker DPS, as well as slightly improve game speed, since it'd be one less cycle that'd have to be processed (miniscule, but it would add up). Or, to more accurately reflect the benefit/difficulties of getting all 7 of your mates within 30' of you, buff the scalar... 10% per makes for a 70% crit chance. Someone fluent in DPS math might have to work that out, but from my subjective viewpoint, it seems it could easily bring Stalkers to the fore-front for Melee DPS (NOT a bad thing, since they'd remain the squishiest out of all the melee AT's.).

Also, while I didn't state it, was also thinking of the issues the non-Defense sets have with Placate within combat. It's rather difficult to obtain controlled Crits when 50% or more of attacks are going to hit you. Alternately, lower the timer on [Hide] again. Make it so it IS viable to pause, gather your wits/strength/focus and then strike swiftly again. 4 seconds, 6 seconds? What would be a good baseline to make it attractive to get that 100% Crit chance?

And being forced to Scrap... if that's the goal, then why have Stalkers? While I enjoy beating face with all of my toons (even most of my ranged get played as melee), if the design of Stalkers forces you to "Scrap" to be effective... why have the Stalker AT? Tweak the AT and the mechanics within to make it so there's a choice, instead of straitjacketing into a less than optimal role.

Also, Hey, maybe we could just buff the AT mod so they aren't lagging behind Scrappers in both Damage and survivability. Hell, Blasters do more damage in Melee than Stalkers do, currently.

Essentially, all of my fragmented arguments and statements are more a plea to the Devs. I just want Stalkers to do SOMETHING, and excel at SOMETHING within the game, instead of coming close and being a mediocre version of other AT's.

(Hell, even their other Signature mechanic, [Hide], can be duplicated by ANY AT with a combo of 2 outta 3 on Stealth power/Superspeed/Stealth IO. And any PvE mob with +Per/player targetted Ambush negates either [Hide] or stealth regardless of how sneaky you are)

So, I dunno... I'm trying not to be another Test_Rat, who I sympathize with, since I have a feeling he/she's been fighting the Stalker fight for too long with too little results... But I'm starting to think that snark/sarcasm/bitter recriminations may be more useful to effect meaningful alterations to Stalkers instead of any reasonable and thought-out approaches.

(Much of this was catalyzed by a burst of alt-itis, and the new powersets, /Ice with the yay? of Hoarfrost, Street Justice losing a fantastic DPS tool, Titan Weapons "missing" Stalkers for release, and the strong odds that Staff-Fighting won't make it either.)

It's interesting to think and discuss about the design but it is pretty unlikely that they are going to change Scrapper.

I just thought it's funny that if I were a dev, I would have reversed the two and you are right, when Scrapper was made, there was no Brute and Stalker.


Another thing I want to say is that I feel Stalker's current performance is "adequate". It's not too high or too low. It's good enough. The problem with Stalker is when you start comparing to other ATs. Hey, it's natural. :P Other ATs have powerset combinations that just seem too overpowering.

If they do a global damage reduction on Scrapper/Brute, then Stalker will be the true Glass Cannon. Nerfing is one thing that the game companies are very very very unwillingly to do because they know people will cry/moan BUT sometimes nerfing one thing is better than buffing everything else. Nerfing Scrapper/Brute is not going to happen. People will rage quit.

To fit in with the assassin like image, instead of increasing their base damage, maybe just increase the damage of their crits significantly. Scrappers are supposed to be specialist in straight forward melee attacks, Tanks are for taking it the best and blocking for others, Brutes are for general beatemup. Stalkers should be the best at finding and using weak points. When forced to scrap, they should be able to do more damage when they find that 'sweet spot'. The AS is an example of what they can do with time to aim and optimize.