Dysmal

Really, it depends on how much you play, how much you concentrate on one villain, and so on. My SG has about 10 level 40s now, with one person having two.

I play a lot, and would probably be 40 already, but I've spent time PvPing on heroes, playing my scrapper, and playing some villanious alts.

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Issue 7 - Tentative plan for releasing the "Feature Update" to the website is mid February - so you might as well settle in for about a month of waiting unless a dev decides to drop some hints.

Of course you already know I7 includes 40-50 content for CoV, and as with every update more art updates, missions, and quality of life features. The other items in I7 will be revealed when we get the Feature Update.

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Ugg. Thats a long wait to even find out what might be coming in I7 (other than the requisite nerfs which we're seeing a preview of with these absurd stealth changes).

Hmm. Maybe I should take break after the end of the month.

In the spirit of the coming stealth change.

"You can no longer touch glowies while Integration is running"

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heres a hint, if there is a white powder on the package, DONT OPEN IT! call the bomb squad or you'll get an ambush of terrorists.

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What if the package is from Krispy-Kreme?

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Long long ago, in a post far away, one of the devs mentioned the way -Resistance worked. Now, What I've heard that post mentioned was that -Res wasnt actual -Res but a damage multiplier. Is this correct, or is this one of the fallacies just randomly flying around?

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Yes, thats correct.

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Every mission and every spawn in every mission is exactly the same. From level 2-40.

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This is a gross exaggeration. They don't start getting the flamethrowers till later levels including the eagles. Then the spec ops come in at an even higher level. This is about equivalent to most of the other mobs in the game.

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Whaa? Flamethrowers start pretty early on. I've seen them below 20 for sure, and possibly before 10. Spec Ops I think are 20+.

In general though, I do find Longbow boring as hell to fight. Their design, powers, etc, just dont excite me at all. Which is too bad since they're the most common hero group we get to fight. I wish they used the Legacy Chain more.

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So, it's done by making broad attempts to legitimize the exploiting of obviously broken game mechanics in order to gloss over a lack of coherent PvP ability. Gotcha.

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Its a "mommy didnt tell me it was wrong, so it must be OK" philosophy.

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Given that Stalkers have equivalent defensives to Scrappers (or in the case of some sets like Ninjutsu, trade defensive capability for utility and control) I really dont buy the line of thinking that a visible Stalker is somehow extremely vulnerable. A visible Stalker is not necessarily at the mecy of the person who can see them.

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most of the stalkers secondary are def roughly the equivalent of one luck and that's pushing it now take a guess how many builds have (build up, aim, targeting drone, rage or just plain accuracy inpiration) and how long it would take them to drop a stalker. Ninjitsu gets some cool toys but those toys are get me the hell out of here or set a trap tricks not stay and fight for long toys. I don't have a regen stalker so I am not sure how sturdy one is, scrappers on the other hand have two resistance sets one of which has major utility (dark armor). Also consider that stalkers have less HP than scrappers and an higher BI then even blasters, that also lowers their chance of survival you may not be buying it but it's the reality of it.

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So what if they have less HP than Scrappers? Thats the trade off for Hide, Placate and controlled crits. For reference Stalker HP is equal to Controller/Defender HP from what I've heard. Regen is generally going to be less effective for a Stalker admitedly, since Regen functions off your total health. The less your HP total, the less health you're going to regen. This is probably why Regen stalkers seem to be quite rare.

Defense can be overcome with Accuracy inspirations, this is true, but you can also up your defense with Lucks. And remember that in PvP zones base to hit is only 50%. If a Stalker has around 25% defense in PvE, then that defense is effectively being doubled in a PvP zone.

I dont understand what you're saying about BI. Are you saying Stalkers have higher BI than Blasters?

If you really think you're squishy, I'd suggest that you try playing something with equivalent HP (say an Empath or Trick Arrow defender) but no defense, mez protection or stealth and see the difference.

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I had this happen to me for an hour straight by two Stalker's in Siren's on Infinity today. The 3 Towers close to the Hero Safe Zone/Hospital - Villains TP Foe Heroes in there, and there is no way out, outside of a Teleport or death. I had it happen on my /Storm controller, when it had been made clear they could not kill me unless I shut off my Hurricane, yet they still did it.

Anyone who does this... its more grieving than a valid tactic, especially when its known that the Hero can't die in there.

Firstly, Drones need to be given a TP Foe Aura protection. Secondly, those Towers need to not be Reticle targettable.

Fix it - Petition those who do it. They do not want players taken out of their Safe Zones... it is grieving.

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I think the word you're looking for is "griefing".

Grieving is what you do once you've been griefed

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Or after you read the "Powers" section of an Issue's patch notes.

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For Stalkers, the prescription is +perception. But offering that as a defense is like offering control as a defense. It not only protects you, it makes them vulnerable.

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Its not really the same. Using control prevents the opponent from acting, or limits their actions (in the case of an immobolize). +Perception doesnt limit the Stalker's ability to act and react, and use the other tools they have beside's Hide to fight and/or flee.

Given that Stalkers have equivalent defensives to Scrappers (or in the case of some sets like Ninjutsu, trade defensive capability for utility and control) I really dont buy the line of thinking that a visible Stalker is somehow extremely vulnerable. A visible Stalker is not necessarily at the mecy of the person who can see them.

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Here's some additional numbers for concideration regarding AT survivability:

A SR Scrapper has 1165 HP in Warburg. He has 28% defense, so it takes 1165 + 28%, or 1491 damage to kill him.

A blaster has 1050 HP in Warburg. He has 0% defense, so it takes 1050 damage to kill him.

My Stalker has 885 HP in Warbug. He has 23.5% defense (vs S/L), so it takes 885 + 23.5%, or 1092 damage to kill him.

My Stalker is 104% as survivable as the Blaster and 73% as survivable as the Scrapper.

That's ignoring a LOT of important factors like ACC enhancements, To-Hit buffs, etc but it's an interesting comparison I think.



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Based on a strick HP/Defense aspect, I guess you're correct. Factoring in other things is going to be a nightmare, and probably not easily done in as simple a fashion. I dont have any idea how you would factor in Hide, Placate and so on compared to a Scrapper who obviously lacks those tools (though I think we can all agree that Confront probably doesnt add to survivability ). Primary sets come in there too, as things like Cobra Strike, Stun, and so on.

I can imagine that trying to make a comparison of % survivability between ATs when you factor in these things will be very difficult, but then I haven't taken math since I graduated high school a decade ago. I wasnt very good at it then either.

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No stalkers def. numbers are not the same, they are less, I can't compare Regen, because I haven't made either regen stalkers or scrappers.


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I'd welcome any links to testing that provides numbers to back this up.

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Having just searched through the Stalker forum a number of times and paged through all the pages of that forum, I can find no such testing. Indeed, the reading I did, suggests that in the case of SR, the defense values for shared powers between Stalkers and Scrappers are the same.

Maybe you're better than using search than I am I guess, but I'm not seeing posts in the Stalker forum backing up your claim that the defense values for Stalkers are less than they are for Scrappers.

In this thread Quason says that

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Hide, which is common to all Stalkers, has 7.5% def vs Melee and Ranged and a whopping 37.5% def vs AoE when unsuppressed.

Suppressed, Hide offer 3.5% def vs all.

SR Stalkers can get up to 28% def vs Melee and Ranged and up to 36% def vs AoE.


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Those numbers for SR Stalkers are the same as the known numbers for SR Scrappers. Now maybe Quason was mistaken, but I'm not seeing any evidence of testing showing a different value here.

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No stalkers def. numbers are not the same, they are less, I can't compare Regen, because I haven't made either regen stalkers or scrappers.


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I'd welcome any links to testing that provides numbers to back this up.

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Are we talking about PvP here or did you just try and solo Requiem at level 10?

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Yea, is this a PvP rant? If so, then what exactly would a melee AT with low defenses and stealth (Stalkers) hope to accomplish in PvP beyond just getting crushed? Also, I've been on the receiving end of an AS before as a squishy and many times I live.

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The same thing a MM has to do?

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To say nothing of the fact that "low defenses" is apparantly not true at all. Everything I'm hearing and reading says Stalker Defenses=Scrapper defenses. Thats not low by any reasonable definition of the word.

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I'm also aware that TP Foe is a big issue in PvP. In our internal testing, my Stone/Stone Brute used it to great affect on opposing targets.

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If your Brute "used it to great effect", then your Brute greatly under-utilized it. Teleport Foe owns the field in PvP. It owns the field, owns the bleachers, owns the hot dog stands, owns the parking lot, blockades the streets, has an option to buy on all the surrounding blocks, and is able to block any other transactions for a mile radius around the stadium.

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Indeed, I think it should be #1 on the "needs to be fixed to make PVP fair" list.

I've seen three ideas for fixing it that seem to make sense:
<ul type="square">[*]Instead of letting people place you exactly where they want you, TP Foe places people at a random place around the summoner[*]Instead of placing you on the ground, TP Foe puts you in the good 'ol "TP Hover" mode[*]When you TP Foe, you also Dimension Shift them for 5 seconds[/list]
All three of these still gives the summoner a strong advantage without allowing him to force the summoned directly into a trap.

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TP Foe can miss. I think that makes it balanced enough. Second, the person who has been teleported can react before the person who is teleporting. So, in 1v1 situations this power is actually pretty balanced and is only a tool to get your opponent close to you but is not a tool that can be used to keep someone there unless you are one of a few ATs and then we get into a debate about how much players want power combinations and tactics to be limited.

When you bump TP-Foe up to the team game the dynamic changes. Now you have players who can attack the target that has been teleported into the midst at the same time the target can retaliate BUT lets not forget that the person doing the teleporting can be interupted and that his teleport can miss. So, you have a team player who is sitting there for four seconds not contributing to the team while other players huddle around waiting for the target to arrive. What is the opposing team doing in this situation? Right, beating the tar out of them. Now, a coordinated team useing tactics can use it to their advantage but then that was kind of the point of team PvP.

So, what it really boils down to is that for a few situtations that are usually Team v 1 and rare 1v1 situations you want to get tactics nerfed.

I can't believe I am hearing this but that is exactly what Castle and Pilcrow seem to want to do.

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I've sucessfully avoided being killed with TP foe many times by using TP myself, while in Dwarf form on my kheld. However, In that form I have mez protection, high HP and damage resistance to allow me to survive most attacks that are waiting on the other end.

Nothing gives the middle finger to someone trying to TP foe kill you than having TP cued to go off the second you appear.

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Dysmal:

Blech. The image is animated... I'll have to do it frame-by-frame.

Also, I see plenty of others that when I click properties are 60x60 in their properties... clearly, there's a way to keep it from auto-expanding or these others wouldn't.

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There are programs that will do the whole animation for you I believe. I think I used a free Trial of Ulead Gif Animator to do my resizing, but my trial is expired, so I cant check now.

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Okay. I have a question...

The avatar image I have is 60x60, and I see others have images that are less than 80x80. However, when I link mine, it's forcing it to 80x80, even though the original is smaller.

How do I prevent that? How can I keep it 60x60?

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You make the canvas size for the image 80 by 80, center the 60 by 60 image within it, and then make the surrounding canvas space transparent. Procedure will vary by program used to do the editing.

As an example, I used The Soviet (er, Russian) ambasdor as my AV on the CoV beta boards, and used transparent space to preserve the aspect ratio of the animation.

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For one thing most of the time AS doesn't 1 shot kill usually has to be followed by something to finish the guy off and there is no 1 shot killing a Tanker or a Brute.


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AS can consistantly one shot kill Defenders and Controllers, among others. Its fairly easy to observe in an evening in Siren's Call.

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And a Stalker has to "Stalk" his prey and wait for the oppertune moment to strike, you don't relize how hard it is to keep people still in order to even execute the attack so we have to put more work into it then you may see.


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So, you have to pursue someone to set up your attack? So what? Every other AT has to do the same thing. Those ATs dont get to do it in near total safety from anyone without a build spefically built to counter their AT either. Try playing other ATs in PvP. You'll have to "stalk" and pursue foes just as much, if not more than a Stalker does. Try it without stealth too, and you may realize that pursuing a foe is hardly unique to Stalkers. Its a basic part of PvP that every AT and build has to engage in. All ATs have to pursue someone and set up an attack. Some have to close to melee range to do it, some dont. Even some melee builds dont have to close to melee range to begin combat.

EDIT:bbcode

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Untill you PvP as a stalker you have no clue, I have to follow people for 2 to 5 minutes for the right oppertunity to present it self if i haven't already lost them.

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2-5 Minutes. I've done that on all sorts of other ATs trying to persue elusive opponents. I still believe this arguement is nonsense.

Have you PvP'ed as anything other than a Stalker? Does your experience with other ATs show that Stalkers have to persue opponents for greater lenght of time before attacking?

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Illu Troller: OMG!!! NO FAIR! He can use the IR goggles+Tactics and see through my Superior Invis! That's not fair!

I guarantee this will happen.

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I can guarantee it wont.

Villains took Siren's a few times on Virtue.

No IR goggles in the villain store.

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For one thing most of the time AS doesn't 1 shot kill usually has to be followed by something to finish the guy off and there is no 1 shot killing a Tanker or a Brute.


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AS can consistantly one shot kill Defenders and Controllers, among others. Its fairly easy to observe in an evening in Siren's Call.

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And a Stalker has to "Stalk" his prey and wait for the oppertune moment to strike, you don't relize how hard it is to keep people still in order to even execute the attack so we have to put more work into it then you may see.


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So, you have to pursue someone to set up your attack? So what? Every other AT has to do the same thing. Those ATs dont get to do it in near total safety from anyone without a build spefically built to counter their AT either. Try playing other ATs in PvP. You'll have to "stalk" and pursue foes just as much, if not more than a Stalker does. Try it without stealth too, and you may realize that pursuing a foe is hardly unique to Stalkers. Its a basic part of PvP that every AT and build has to engage in. All ATs have to pursue someone and set up an attack. Some have to close to melee range to do it, some dont. Even some melee builds dont have to close to melee range to begin combat.

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Ok, fine, we're fairly pleasant (to each other, at least) yet rather flippant people.

If anyone's hands are dripping darkness, mine are.

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Are we gonna have to get a hand washing sensor installed in the can?

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I grabbed a copy of the "Defender Issues" post a couple weeks ago and am working through it in my spare time. Considering the length of it, I will probably have gotten through it sometime in Janurary.

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Cool.

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You're wasting your time. Reason, fairness, and other silly things like that are foreign concepts to developers. Remember, such foes are the equivalents their characters, and they're not going to gimp their characters vs. the Enemy (players).

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Thank god. I was going to avoid Chalmer's arc on all my alts because of him.
I trust you'll be happy to learn that I changed Ballista based on feedback in this thread.

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I remain quite puzzled as to why this already great power got a buff, esp given the devs penchant for nerfing the hell out of things. If this is only to alleviate the woes of some tankers (on the CoH side), then there will surely be calls from other tankers to get their own buffs, possibly just resulting in the recall of this upgrade.

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You are overlooking the fact that the /cold set doesn't come with a actual heal. This is the best feature buff the set offers and it did and does need the tweak.

It will be nice to have but remeber someone with the /cold can't heal those wounds like a actual healer/defender. So even the great buff mixed in with some of the shields still won't allow a /cold corruptor to replace or compete with the powers of the tanks in CoH.

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Oh man, you didnt just say actual defenders have heals did you? Never looked at the FF or Sonic sets have you?

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hmm, 1 shield protects from Teleport and Repel.

E/E Stalkers FOTM PvP now

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Many other sets got those, too. Just don't ask me which...I don't remember, and I won't have time to do the research. It should be in the Patch notes, however.

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Well, if they are getting them, its not listed in the notes for the current patch on the Training Room. The only other TP protection changes listed are these:


* Force Field/Personal Force Field now protects the caster from enemy Teleportation.

* Kinetics/Increase Density now protects the target from enemy Teleportation.

Of course, it could just be left out of the patch notes. As an aside, maybe you could talk to your coworkers about producing complete patch notes on a regular basis? We're regularly getting imcomplete or inaccurate patch notes, and thats no way to treat your customers.