Stalker: A Case Study

I feel kinda The Discovery Channel for this post, but it's not meant to be a documentary. Please, by all means, post your own insights and let's have a discussion about the state of the Stalker and where it should head going forward.
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Stalker as an Archetype

The Stalker is a melee-oriented Archetype, originally introduced as a class option for City of Villains characters. They are most prominently characterized by their ability to Hide, which is superior stealth and most often results in double damage to enemies while hidden. Additionally, they have access to an Assassin Strike attack that is a hard-hitter on its own, but does a disproportionately large amount of damage while hidden. Along with Placate, the selection of key powers integrated into the Stalker design might make it the most specialized Archetype in the game. The counter-balance is that Stalkers have relatively low Hit Points, making them more vulnerable to attack than any other melee class, and they have a specific (if not aggravating) focus on single-target damage.

Stalker's origins most likely come from the Rogue class in Dungeons & Dragons, which is characterized by very similar traits, including the critical damage while hidden and lower Hit Points. In DnD, the Rogue's combat tactics are either hit-and-run during a frontal assault, or sneaking in from the back lines to deal with problem enemies like magic casters that are fairly easily dispatched with high damage. Given the interruptible nature of Hide and Assassin Strike, it can be reasoned that Stalker was designed to fill similar roles to the Rogue by specifically not being the foremost combatant in a battle.


Complementary Attributes

With the merging of all player Archetypes with the releases of Going Rogue and Freedom in the list of available classes for new characters, an original design consideration has been lost to time. While the five Hero Archetypes are pretty obviously designed to fill certain roles on teams, the five Villain Archetypes seem to be more balanced and can play on their own as well as team. What's lost to time is that despite the soloability of the Villain Archetypes, they were still designed to fill parallel roles in teams to the Hero Archetypes. Let's take a moment to consider the so-called functions of the Archetypes in order to get a better understanding of where Stalker is coming from. The pairings I'm about to present are not necessarily the most accurate analogies to one another, and in fact aren't the way I'd pair them up. These pairings are what the devs were working from when the Villain Archetypes were being designed.

Defender & Corruptor
These Archetypes have ranged damage and buff/debuff powers. The Defender was designed to be a ranged-support specialist to the point that the attacks are considered a secondary function to the buffs and debuffs. While the Defender's buffs are stronger than any other Archetype, their damage is among the lowest and the class has historically been comparatively difficult to solo. The Corruptor mirrors the role of the ranged support, but it puts a stronger emphasis on ranged damage; presumably because it's the only Villain Archetype dedicated to it.

Controller & Dominator
It should go without saying that both of these Archetypes were intended for use as crowd control. However, they play very differently because where the Controller's secondary powers are buff/debuff, the Dominator's are melee and ranged damage. With the adjustments to Dominators in Issue 17 and the unusually strong controls that Domination provides, the Dominator class functions more in an offensive capacity than a crowd-control one. Controllers are still kings of enemy management, though they're the template Dominators were originally intended to follow.

Scrappers & Brutes
The idea behind Scrapper was that when it comes down to punching each other in the face, you can't beat a Scrapper. Thus, when Brute was introduced, it was meant to be the same thing. The key difference is that while the Scrapper has intrinsically high damage output, the Brute's base damage actually ranks last among melee archetypes until Fury is established. With defensive capabilities more like those of the Tanker, the Brute was a versatile Archetype in City of Villains. When the classes were merged, that distinction was obscured and now the presence of both Scrapper and Brute is borderline redundant.

Tankers & Mastermind
This is an unlikely pairing because the two Archetypes have virtually nothing in common. One's an unkillable strongman; the other's a fragile pipsqueak who makes his minions do the work for him. One charges in fist-first, where the other stands in the back with support powers. However, the functional role--at least in theory--for both Archetypes is the same: aggro management. They were both designed to protect the team from enemies. The Tanker does this with an abundance of taunts and survivability, and the Mastermind does this by bringing upwards of six disposable targets for enemies to pick instead of teammates.

Which brings us to...


Blaster & Stalker

Similar to Tanker and Mastermind, these two Archetypes don't really resemble each other, at least not at face value. But describe them in a sentence. Blaster's the king of ranged damage with powerful attacks and has an assortment of support powers like melee attacks, buffs/debuffs and controls. The Stalker's the king of melee damage with powerful attacks and has an assortment of support powers like self protection, buffs/debuffs and controls. The concept here is that Blasters and Stalkers alike are high spike damage with a grab bag of support powers. Stalkers were designed to be melee Blasters.

Which leaves us with two distinct design goals for the Archetype: 1) sneaky back-line guy, and 2) super-high spike damage guy. It's an attempt to blend Rogue with Blaster, and frankly, they did a pretty good job considering. Having said that, over time, a number of issues became apparent that show Stalker could have been done better, and some irrevocable decisions were made that complicate correcting problems that already exist.

Wow, it took me three sections to state a thesis. All you writing majors must be furious!


As a Rogue

Being the sneaky guy is very straightforward for a Stalker. You absolutely must take Hide, and very few enemies in the game will notice you standing next to them while it's on. It costs no Endurance and it offers a large amount of AoE Defense while invisible, so really, every accommodation was made to allow Stalkers to sneak up on enemies and using their Assassin Strike on them both in solo and team settings.

After the initial hit, though, things get fuzzy. The way aggro works in the game, once an enemy sees you, he won't un-see you unless he chases you for so long that he gets bored. While some enemies like Spectral Daemons and Ancestor Spirits can actually vanish and become untargetable to players, the same can't be said for NPCs. This is mitigated somewhat by Placate, but that only works on a single target and doesn't help to prevent things like ambushes. The fact of the matter is, the way the game works simply does not well favor a Rogue-like play style while solo. You can hit-and-run in many cases, but sometimes you simply can't. So if that's what Stalker's supposed to do, he's boned.

On teams, Stalker functions exactly as Rogue does, so the argument could be made that Stalkers are just one 'o them team-centric Archetypes. When I'm teaming on my Stalker, I'm constantly picking off bosses and mezzers while the team takes on the rest of the group, and we usually get done around the same time and head to the next group. I cannot stress this enough: Stalker functions absolutely beautifully on teams in a way no other Archetype can. The only thing they don't do well is tank; not because of their survivability, but because it only takes one ill-timed Placate to kill off all your friends.


As a Blaster

When it comes to damage, Stalker's functionality blurs a bit and isn't strictly apparent. The bottom line is that they're not enough stronger than Scrapper to make much of a difference.

On the one hand, Stalkers do slightly more average damage per target than Scrappers--that's a curious fact. Scrapper base damage is actually 12.5% higher than Stalker, which is not an insignificant amount. But a change was eventually implemented that gave Stalkers the ability to deal critical hits while not hidden; based on a random chance exactly the way Scrapper does. The difference is that Stalker's crit chance is lower than Scrappers while solo, but goes up for each of the first three teammates to the point that Stalkers actually have a higher average crit chance than Scrappers. Combine this with the already-existing criticals from Hide and Assassin Strike that can be triggered on demand with Placate and... well, you get the picture. Against the targets that Stalker attacks, he'll somewhat out-damage Scrapper.

In practice, Scrappers still deal out more total damage because they get AoE attacks where Stalkers don't. When a Scrapper can run in with Blazing Aura, pop Fiery Embrace and Build Up, then drop Burn, do a Spin and some Eviscerate and finish by jumping up to launch a Shockwave, everything that doesn't con orange or higher is going down. Stick a Stalker in the same situation, and he can defeat one, maybe two enemies in that amount of time. Maybe he'll get lucky with Slice or something. The opportunities that Scrappers get for affecting targets are incredibly skewed in their favor compared to Stalkers, who only get to fight one thing at a time.

It's worth noting that this seems to have been an issue with the original powers designers for City of Villains. Recently, Stalkers have been getting fairer treatment when it comes to offensive sets. Stalkers do get Burst. Stalkers do get Spinning Strike. But for all the older sets (tier-9s like Throw Spines and Lightning Rod notwithstanding), Stalkers seem to have universally lost their PBAoE attacks to make room for Placate (and Eviscerate is single-target, but that's another story). That said, you're still not going to see any damage auras in Stalker secondaries, quite simply because those draw aggro. Stalkers--by design--will forever deal less AoE damage than Scrappers, and their damage output per target currently isn't enough higher than Scrapper to compare in benchmark tests.

Against individual tough targets like Giant Monsters and Arch-villains, Stalkers notably out-perform Scrappers as long as Placate is in play. But again, it's not so much more that people think, "Man, we could really use a Stalker."


As a Blaster cont'd.

The other way Stalkers were to be like Blasters is in their secondary Power Sets. Since Stalkers are about avoiding aggro and getting out of sticky situations (just like Blaster), their secondary sets are supposed to be support-based. Instead, at launch, they were almost entirely defensive. Somewhere along the line, some bonehead said Stalkers are "Melee/Defensive" and it went downhill from there. Please, anyone reading this, realize that the Stalker's class mechanics are not designed for strictly defensive secondary powers.

Fortunately, like the AoE attacks in the melee sets, it looks like the current powers designers are aware of what Stalker secondary sets are supposed to be like. Also like the melee sets, we're stuck with some problem specimens due to the cottage rule. However, new sets and revised sets seem to be addressing what Stalkers are supposed to be about.

There are currently 8 secondary Power Sets for Stalkers. The following 4 I consider Genuine Stalker:

* Dark Armor
* Energy Aura
* Ice Armor
* Ninjitsu

Which leaves the following 4 the problem specimens that are merely defensive sets smacked across Stalkers' collective faces:

* Electric Armor
* Regeneration
* Super Reflexes
* Willpower

So what's the transgression I'm griping about, exactly? Consider the latter list: they're entirely self-serving. Shields, mez protection, heals, a self rez here and there... Those sets function well enough as they are, but they're not support sets. They're protection sets. They do absolutely nothing to help you reclaim your hidden status or get out from between a rock and a hard place. They're just lazy ports of existing sets that spit in the face of the Stalker's very design specifications.

I think Dark Armor would have been that way too, except the powers ported work very well as a genuine Stalker secondary. Hey, a segue!

The thing that sets the first list apart from the second one is that it contains enemy debuffs and control powers. We're talking genuine keep-them-from-attacking toystuffs like Cloak of Fear, Disrupt, Energy Absorption and Blinding Powder. And in case that sounds like a one-of gimmick, I also remind you of Oppressive Gloom, Energy Drain, Chilling Embrace and Smoke Flash... And Soul Transfer and Caltrops. (-:

Power Sink is a step in the right direction, I admit, but that power alone wasn't enough for me to consider Electric Armor sufficiently Stalkery.

It's worth noting that Electric Armor, Regeneration and Willpower are especially poor-suited for the Hide mechanic. They won't prevent enemies from attacking, and more importantly, they won't keep you from getting interrupted. Those sets by their nature make the Stalker's chief characteristic useless at any point after the fight begins.


Adjustments

With the problems associated with Stalkers identified, I'd like to suggest some ideas that may be useful in tweaking Stalkers to correct the problems that they've encountered over the years. Before I do, I want to emphasize that recent Stalker sets like Kinetic Melee or Ice Armor are already done correctly, so this is mainly focused around fixing problems that were introduced at City of Villains's launch.

First and foremost, if every Stalker has to have Hide, it ought to be the Inherent Power for the Archetype. The one Stalker already gets, called Assassination, is nothing more than an icon that you can click on to get some advice for how to play your character. That's a humorously blunt explanation, but it really is all the "power" is good for. Consider all the other Archetypes:

Blaster -- Damage buff from all primary and secondary powers, and tier-1s can be used while mezzed
Controller -- Double damage to controlled targets, and a chance for +1 magnitude on control powers
Defender -- Scaling damage buff and Endurance discount depending on team dynamics
Scrapper -- All attacks have a chance for double damage
Tanker -- Any power that affects enemies will taunt the snot out of them
Brute -- SMASH
Corruptor -- Enemies with low HP are subjected to double damage from your attacks
Dominator -- A clickie that refills Endurance, grants mez protection and boosts control powers
Mastermind -- ToHit and Damage buff for all nearby Henchmen, and an opportunity for received damage distribution
Kheldians -- Miscellaneous buffs from teammates' archetypes
Arachnos -- Built-in higher Regeneration and Recovery rates

And then there's Stalker -- A note that tells you a certain power from your secondary makes powers in your primary do more damage.

So really, we could do to put Hide as the Inherent Power along with a note of its associated benefits. This has a side-effect that it frees up one power in all the secondary sets that can be used to restore dropped functionality as well as introduce new Genuine Stalker powers for the sets that lack them.

Just as a suggestion:

Inherent - Hide - Toggle - Self +Stealth +Special
Dark Armor - Traumatize - Click PBAoE - Foe Placate
Electric Armor - Static Field - Click PBAoE - Summon sleep patch at current location
Energy Aura - Interference - Click PBAoE - Foe -Speed -Recharge
Ice Armor - Ice Patch - Click PBAoE - Summon knock down patch at current location
Ninjitsu - Ninja Leaping - Auto - Self +Res(Endurance Drain, Slow) +Perception
Regeneration - Invincibility - Toggle PBAoE - Self +ToHit +Def
Super Reflexes - Astonish - Click PBAoE - Foe -ToHit -Perception Confuse
Willpower - Bull Rush - Ranged AoE - Self Teleport, Foe Knock Up

Additionally, the melee sets that need them could acquire PBAoE attacks in place of single-target or cone attacks of similar damage, sort of like an upgrade:

Broad Sword - Replace Slice with Whirling Sword; swap places with Parry
Claws - Make Eviscerate a cone; may not need Spin due to Shockwave
Martial Arts - Replace Crippling Axe Kick with Dragon's Tail; swap with Crane Kick
Ninja Blade - Replace Flashing Steel with The Lotus Drops; swap with Divine Avalanche

Hmm.. an interesting read, but (regardless of what devs designed it for) I always saw the pairup as follows:

Blaster:Corruptor
Defender: Dominator
Controller:Mastermind
Tanker:Brute
Scapper:Stalker

That's how I always saw the counterpart system honestly.

Quoting OP
So what's the transgression I'm griping about, exactly? Consider the latter list: they're entirely self-serving. Shields, mez protection, heals, a self rez here and there... Those sets function well enough as they are, but they're not support sets. They're protection sets. They do absolutely nothing to help you reclaim your hidden status or get out from between a rock and a hard place. They're just lazy ports of existing sets that spit in the face of the Stalker's very design specifications.


I don’t see the point you are making here at all. Why would a melee damage AT HAVE a support (ish) secondary? And don’t make the comparison to blasters, because blasters are primarily ranged damage...so they have less need of mez prot and heals. Sure, a lot of blasters can play in melee, but ranged is their forte. In the same way you can make a ranged stalker, but it is still gonna be better using its melees.

And you are claiming those sets do nothing to help regain hidden status? What about SR having the best defence of all those sets? Sounds like an ideal way to get back into Hide..not be hit! Granted regen and elec fall down heavily in that regard. But dark armour only has ONE power dedicated to defence, and it isn’t a huge value.

Talking hidden status again, what about all those powers you list in the next paragraph, Oppressive Gloom, Energy Drain, Chilling Embrace, Smoke Flash, Soul Transfer and Caltrops....I know the auras suppresses when Hidden..but after you attack, they are active. Meaning the stalker GETS more aggro. Oh and what is the point of the stalker..to be stealth, unseen...NOT to get aggro.

Totally agree with you about Regen, elec and wp.
Also agree that Hide should be inherent, with a better description on AS.

I like some of your suggestions of powers to replace Hide..but....giving wp and regen Quick recovery, after you state (correctly) how unsuited those sets are to the AT? Surely giving them a NEW power to help with that would be better? Same with elec.

Onto Aoes..soul drain on a dark stalker would be a HUGE nerf, if it functioned in the same way. Having to break hide and aggro 10 targets just to get your damage buff? No thank you. Give it an Aoe instead.

Very nice write-up and agreed on the important parts. My personal gripe of a Stalker's potential underperformance is that, by the way Hide and the Hidden state works, defense is and can always be superior to resistance, because if the attacks miss you then you can re-enter Hide without worry while staying near-invulnerable.

I think a distraction-type power should be added to Willpower and Regeneration rather than Quick Recovery along with your ideas, or some kind of tool for re-entering Hidden like Placate. I would propose a click +endurance so you still do not lose the endurance recovery tool, but have it re-enter you into Hidden. No Placate effect, but if used fast enough in conjuncture with an attack it can effectively be another placate. Since neither set gets much inherantly in the way of Defense (Regeneration moreso; Willpower's being very low however) I feel it'd be a nice tool to make up for the fact defense-based sets can return to Hide in combat by waiting (unless they are unlucky) yet the two sets in question have no real CC potential thematically, that I can think of anyhow.

This kinda bugged me...you call four of the defense sets for being lazy ports that don't help a Stalker regain Hide or anything like that, then suggest that Hide be replaced by the same powers that were originally removed to make room for them?

I have a complaint here (and this is with me thinking that Stalkers do need something done).

Yes, Assassination is Stalker Inherent. However, they also have Crits now. I can't recall if they original only critted from Hide, or if they did from Hide and also off mezzed enemies, or if that later was added further down the line.

Basically I'm saying, Stalkers have Crits, which is the exact same thing Scrappers get for their ineherent.

So I'm not so sure Hide should be made inherent now. If it is done, and a new power is put into place, this may however take the place of (what I at least think they need instead) higher damage.

Something to think about.

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Interesting read. Need to chew over it a bit.

Two points that popped into mind as I was browsing through:
1. As mentioned elsewhere, replacing Build Up with Soul Drain would be bad for the Stalker. You have a high-HP target, you want as much of a damage boost as you can before you hit. Soul Drain would count as an attack, dragging you out of hide (and being an AOE, Placate wouldn't help much... even if you didn't want to use it on a followup attack after an AS) and

2. As far as team buff/debuff - and I may have missed mention of this in the skim I did - they *do* have one already, though it's a "chance to" terrorize instead of a guaranteed one - and they fixed that so it fires off even if the main target dies.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Regarding responses to Build-Up being replaced by Soul Drain:

(Using Broad Sword as an example, and assuming powers are enhanced for +99% damage)
Build Up is 10 seconds of 80% damage buff, but about 1 second is lost to its animation time.
Do 1125 damage with Assassin's Slash, 4.7 seconds after Build Up's boost began
Do 444 damage with Head Splitter, 7 seconds after Build Up's boost began
Do 335 with Disembowel, 8.8 seconds after Build Up's boost began
And do 171 with Slash, maybe, 9.8 seconds after Build Up's boost began

OR, with Soul Drain instead of Build Up,

Do 803 damage with Assassin's Slash
~60 with Soul Drain, which gives you 30 seconds worth of 40% to 88% damage buff, depending on the number of targets hit, with maybe about 1.5 seconds lost to cast time
(Let's assume 6 targets hit from here out: the same damage buff as Build Up, except it lasts 3 times as long)
Costs you 322 damage from Assassin's Slash
Adds 128 to each Head Splitter, which can be cast about 3 times in 30 seconds
Adds 96 to each Disembowel, which can be cast about 4 times in 30 seconds

The extra two Head Splitters and just one extra Disembowel is enough to outweigh the amount lost on Assassin's Slash as compared to Build Up's bonus. But you can also fit probably 5 Slashes in there plus some other attacks (maybe even Placate and another Assassin's Slash!) before Soul Drain wears off.

Maybe it should be Soul Drain with Brute buff numbers instead of Scrapper buff numbers. 50%-110% is nicer than 40%-88%.

An AoE Placate. Give it an animation like dropping a smoke bomb. It would solve the entire issue of surviving the initial strike, while setting the stage for a team follow-through.

Interesting suggestion.

My take on Stalkers would be to give them -Regen in a couple of attacks. They specialize in single target damage. They should be able to deal the debuff that is primarily needed for single target fights.

I also think Stalkers should have a way to detoggle or prematurely cancel or hinder Purple Triangles. Not completely wipe it out, but make them less of a factor.

Interesting read. I agree with much of what was said. The changes to attacks, not so much. I might get back to those later.

My main point of agreement is on hide. Firstly, and most importantly, no matter if this is made inherent or not, WHY is non-stalker dark armor/illusion control/non-stalker energy aura better at stealth in combat than stalkers? For Pete's sake, please make hide suppress to stealth range, NOT to full visibility.

Replacing hide SEEMS like a break of the cottage rule, but looking at the repel>disrupt alteration, it appears the devs are open to more drastic measures for stalkers.

Hide ideas:

Electric armor: The sleep patch seems a good idea. I'll add: this patch could have a smaller radius than control versions, 10 foot radius rather than 20 foot) with a bonus: the patch gives defense to allies in it (It energizes their reflexes to dodge) This allows the defensive slotting to remain.

Dark Armor: Cloud of darkness Darkness- placates foes in range, gives a 5 second burst of medium defense. This allows the defensive slotting to remain, and gives a non- foe based emergency power.

Ice Armor_ Ice patch is a great fit. Too bad about loosing a defense slot, but it has such possibilities elsewhere.

Regeneration: Auto power that fires an automatic ability: "Undying" This power WILL fire when the /regen drops below 1 hp, and will not allow them to be defeated. Instead, the stalker receives an unresistable +15% hp, resistance to all, and defense to all. This ability has its own unenhanceable recharge, so if the character dips below 1 hp again, they will die. The heal is unchangeable, but the defense/resistance can be slotted. This also allows the defensive slotting to remain.

Super Reflexes: Fast escape. Grants a small burst of defense, a large burst of speed, and placates nearby foes. This allows the defensive slotting to remain.

Willpower: Bust of agility. PBAoE knockdown, chance of placate, + self defense, invisibility. (NOT hide.) Stalker concentrates all their agility, does a maneuver that knock around surrounding foes, faster than the eye can follow, hoping to loose their attention.

Ninjitsu: smoke grenade. (see blaster: devices) targeted -perception/-tohit against foes, does not alert foes. This would play VERY well with an only partially suppressing hide.

Energy Aura: Energy surge: knocks nearby foes down as the stalker receives a short but sizable defense bonus.
How'z about that? Most of the above give the chance to retain present slotting, with only a few exceptions, and I think most work well in the 'burst of mitigation' category.

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Additional suggestion that has nothing to do with the above: please raise the stalker HP cap, it doesn't play well with the powers in ice, willpower, and regeneration.

Oh yeah, forgot about the attacks suggestion.

Honestly, outside of the players complaining about the use of AS, I don't consider the sets to need any changes. Changes could be made so that AS is either more handy for regular use or more devastating from hidden status but the sets really don't need those AoE attacks added back in.

If you're simply trying to add AoE damage, just improve the AoE of what the sets get:

MA: tough one. Eagle's Claw seems to do different things for different ATs, so maybe, for a short time after using this attack, it could add AoE splash damage in a 10ft radius around the target you attack. Might have to limit the AoE to a few attacks in the set, basically Crippling Axe Kick, Crane Kick and Cobra Strike will do AoE dmg after Eagle's Claw (and only time to fit in one of those).

EM: Whirling Hand's isn't much of an AoE attack anyway. Personally, I just like the control of EM, so making Stun a ST mag 3 stun + an AoE mag 2 stun + chance of AoE mag 1 stun would make it a sweet control ability and a possible mag 4 stun on your primary target.

Katana/BS/Dark Melee: The sets have cones, just made them wider/longer. Dual Blades already does this with a bigger 1kcuts than the other melees.

Claws: Was crap that it lost its AoE to make room for better ST. So to fix what they messed up, make Shockwave a 100% crit from hidden. Fixed.

Admittedly, having Hide as an inherent would be nice, but if I ended up losing the slot I have in it I'd be a little less than pleased (it holds my KB protection. /Nin )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venture I'd never use a nuke in a superhero universe. You nuke a city, you kill 1.5 million people minus one. The last guy not only gets superpowers from the explosion, but ones that let him survive a nuke...and wow, is he torqued off

I see a big problem here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuyPerfect The Stalker's the king of melee damage with powerful attacks and has an assortment of support powers like self protection, buffs/debuffs and controls. ... Since Stalkers are about avoiding aggro and getting out of sticky situations (just like Blaster), their secondary sets are supposed to be support-based. Instead, at launch, they were almost entirely defensive.

You infer what Stalkers are supposed to be based on what Rogues in D&D are, and when the actual game implementation of Stalkers does not correspond to that assertion, you call this a mistake. I call this working as intended. While Stalkers may have been intended to be "like Blasters" (which is to say, suck), that hasn't been the case since Castle improved the AT, and Stalkers these days are not intended to play as you describe them. They have no imperative to have Support of any kind, nor do they need to hit-and-run, nor, quite honestly, do they even need to target high-value targets if the Stalker doesn't feel like it.

The truth of the matter is that regardless of what principle role you could argue Stalkers as fulfilling, what they excel at the most is the same thing Scrappers do - killing stuff. A Stalker brings with him a relatively high burst damage capability, but once that's expended, a Stalker is a Scrapper in all but name. He has just about Scrapper hit points, he has Scrapper defence and resistance numbers and while he lacks the Scrapper damage mod, the Stalker has a 10% critical chance on every attack, which grows higher with more team-mates present in melee.

As a point of fact, everything that's wrong with Stalkers can be traced back to the idea that they should be either like Blasters or like Rogues, when the game is kind to neither design. Everything that is bugged and broken about the AT is bugged and broken because it's trying to hammer a square peg in a round hole. Assassin's Strike is a borderline waste of time not because it's a bad power, but because it's a twice-limited melee snipe in a game when interruptible sinpes in general have never been a good idea. Placate is bugged because it tries very hard to work in hiding against an AI which cannot be hidden from lest we break game balance over our knee, and their lack of AoE is a direct result of the need to add gimmicks to the AT, thus replacing genuinely useful powers in quite a few sets.

Trying to put Rogues in City of Heroes was a mistake from the word go, because the game system does not support stealthy gameplay with AI being as omniscient as it is. Building an AT to require hiding in order to function, therefore, is tantamount to building an AT that is inherently inferior. Castle understood this when he gave Stalkers better ability to scrap it out like actual fighters, but even he didn't go far enough to fix the actual bugs that plague the AT. It took a completely unrelated patch to fix corpse blasting and lend a hand by proxy.

*edit*
As for the alterations: While I agree with making Hide inherent, its replacements stem from your belief that Stalkers should be more like Blasters, and hence gain more support powers. I vehemently disagree with this. I did not pick a Melee/Support AT and I do not want to play one. I picked a Melee/Defence AT, so if Hide will be replaced with anything, then it should be replaced with more Defence powers.

Additionally, and this is something Leo suggested elsewhere, I'd like to see the Momentum mechanic of swapping powers on the fly used for Assassin's Strike. When used out of hide, make this power behave like whatever the set needs it to be, be that AoE, control or single-target. When used from Hide, let it work as it does now. This way, Stalkers gain an additional power for Scrapping which many sets sorely need, and they gain a power custom-tailored to their set, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all ill-fit of Assassin's Stike AND they get to keep Assassin's Strike, as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.