JanusFrs

Originally Posted by Von Krieger

Next week we will have Arbiter Hawk talking about the upcoming Stalker changes as well as yet unannounced changes for other power sets.

Zwill: "I think people will be floored when they hear about them."

Hopefully in a good way.

Originally Posted by ricohdah

Yes, you are! We'll do 16 stalker Lambda runs. I think that would be pretty fun.

Originally Posted by Premonitions

I'm a bit disappointed that they seem to just be making Stalkers more Scrappery but that's probably just because I thought long and hard about my idea and would really like it brought to light.



Okay, try this on for size:

1: Every Secondary gets it's own Stealth power (but not a "hide", perse) in hide's place, or as the tier2 for some sets.(Nin, dark and energy obviously get a tier 1 stealth right out the gate, the others.. maybe?) with an added control or debuff when stealth/invis suppressed in combat. The idea being that when "discovered" you spring a trap/do something to distract.
2: Inherent Click Hide has a long duration(again, a bit longer than hasten) and a quick re-hide aspect. Meaning, You pop your inherent clickable hide power, then take out a mob, maybe three or four seconds after you stop getting hit/hitting dudes you become hidden again and can go after the next mob. if you move quickly you should be able to take out three mobs in your average mission before you have to pop hide again, though at base levels it probably hasn't recharged by then. And again, it's slottable and can be affected by global recharge bonuses to where it can be perma'd on levels similar to Hasten's ability to be made perma.

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

I personally would like to see them figure out a stalker sniper rifle power similar to the PPD Ghost or the Longbow with stealth (sorry can't remember the name)

Would be fun to pull off an Assassin's Snipe

Just a thought

Originally Posted by MadHobbit

I have 2 stalkers one created during the roll out of COV and one much later EM/EA and DB/WP.I have not done much with them for the incarnate as both have to go into "scrapper Mode" during the Itrials. Stalkers are by nature very similar to snipers, as the go in take out the target and leave, Like the one shot one kill. to go into scrapper mode is like going from a high powered scoped rifle to a grenade lobber.

one change i would like to see rolled back is as I access a glowie,to not surpress my hide.
and DB stalkers do have a small cone attack,not t a true aoe but it is something.

Originally Posted by Errant

Also, I'll admit, I'll sooner kill 100 Overseer's on a Stalker than run an SSTF... Just do SSA2 Redside 100 times.

Originally Posted by Leo_G

If you didn't notice, 'shifters' are a character type I enjoy dearly

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

No. If you're trying to create a shapeshifer, it is what you say it is.

Originally Posted by Zeh_Masteh

For everyone else (especially those Stalking over in Europe): feel free to announce when you plan on playing, even if it's not on Wednesday/Sunday: I check this forum before logging on, and I'd love to join. We now have more than 8 people on the channel, so there's no reason to limit this to only one Stalker superteam...

Originally Posted by Synapse

Major typo on my part. I edited my original post to hopefully avoid future confusion! Sorry about this guys. TL;DR version:

-If hidden, Assassin Strike is interruptible and does scale 7 damage and can inflict demoralize.
-If not hidden Assassin Strike is NOT-interruptible and deals superior damage. Its critical chance is equal 33.3% per stack of Assassin's Focus.

Again, sorry for the confusion. Hopefully that clears things up!

Synapse

Originally Posted by Zem

We'll have to wait and see how the alternate animation works. Are they really going to cut out the interrupt time and leave you with a 1s cast 2.5 scale damage attack? That's crazy good. Still good for NB and BS which would be 1.67s, but not quite as good. Maybe they will normalize it just for the outside of Hide version and we'll all have 1.5s cast or something like that.

Either way, it looks like getting a Tier 9 ST attack at level 6. I may have to start a new stalker just to see how much less it sucks to be a newbie stalker after this goes in. Big question for Street Justice by the way: Is this STILL going to grant 2 combo points outside of Hide because if it does... oh man! I bet they change that to 1 combo point outside of Hide. 2 point inside Hide.

Originally Posted by Leo_G

I swear I didn't make a 2nd account, make 40 posts then posted this here.

I've been saying the exact above statements *every* time people mention Stalker AoE and I still stand by that.

You want solid AoE dmg? Then don't pick Dark Melee or Energy Melee, Mr. Brute!

Oh, you're a Stalker? Then don't pick Dark Melee or Energy Melee, Mr. Stalker!

Originally Posted by EvilRyu

I just hope it works out as good as it sounds otherwise we will be back to square one again. Increasing crit chance is a good idea but I just need to see how it works in practice. If they start a beta for this soon I want to put together an all stalker tf/sf of some sort just to see the maximum effect on this. Like an all stalker ITF or LRSF. Not to sure if an all stalker Itrial will be possible since its hard enough as it is to get on regular teams I do not think many of the stalkers would have the incarnate powers unlocked or slotted.

Originally Posted by tyxavier

We're probably going to have two runs like we did last week. I'll never be on for the 11am PST one.

Originally Posted by ricohdah

Moonfire TF sounds good but I guess wait and see what level we're all at tomorrow. Let's meet up at 11:00am pst/2:00pm est. After the TF is over, I'm going to fetch all the plaques and exploration markers for 3 accolades (Atlas Medal, Freedom Phalanx and Portal Jockey). Is it sad I have done them so many that I have their locations memorized?

Originally Posted by MisterD

If AS does superior damage out of hide, and with an increased crit change..does AS itself need a damage buff? Will there even be a point in using it (after a placate) mid fight?

Originally Posted by Ideon

Assassin strike using alt animation borrowed tech from Titan weapons - holy crap suddenly attack chain is better

Assassin's Focus name needs to be changed, as Claws possesses an attack called Focus (and no, don't change Focus's name!)

Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk

Hey all,

Stopping in here to answer some questions:

We're testing three improvements to stalkers in i22:
-Assassin's Strike: using Assassin's Strike outside of hide will be an uninterruptible attack with no windup time, dealing Superior damage. This will allow Stalkers to do very competitive dps.
-All Stalker attacks that are not Assassin's Strike will build stacks of a buff called Assassin's Focus. Assassin's Focus increases your chance to critically strike with the out-of-hide Assassin's Strike.
-Stalker Buffed Max HP will be increased by about 400. This should allow them to fully benefit from powers like dull pain, hoarfrost, etc.
-These changes to Stalkers should make them very competitive top-end damage dealers, and help them with their early attack chain since they can use Assassin's Strike mid-combat.

Originally Posted by Premonitions

Basically I'd

• Change the inherent nature of the "Hide, Buildup, Assassin's Strike, Placate" system
• Add Debuffs and controls to the primaries and secondaries.
• radically change the intended playstyle of stalkers

1. Remove Hide from every secondary pool
2. Make it an inherent power
3. Change it from a Toggle to a slottable click with a recharge rate slightly more than the average of buildup, and duration closer to hasten. keep current stats
4. Give every Assassin's strike unique effects secondary effects.
5. Replace the hide with a tier1 with some minor protection and heavy control aspect, click, toggle, or auto, depending on the set
6. Increase the secondary effects of every primary to exceed Scrapper, tanker, and brute levels

I wanted to improve stalkers in a way that created a fun, unique playstyle, made them more valuable to teams, Allowed for more variety between stalkers, (including stalkers that don't or rarely use the "Hide, Buildup, AS, Placate" attack chain if they didn't want to), Allowed for primaries with AoE to be ported over, Meshed with the ideas "Staker" brings to mind and increased survivability without just turning them into scrappers, and didn't horribly eliminate the current intended stalker playstyle.

1-3:I think Stalkers could identify themselves amongst their melee damage contemporaries by becoming the "Fight smart, not hard" AT currently there's a bit f that, AS means they only attack when the situation is ideal for them, /Nin already has aspects of this idea built into it

The inherent Hide would be there to make hide more valuable, and increase the sense of sneakiness desired for the stalker AT. Instead of the always on, perfect stealth of current hide, you'd have the option to throw up perfect invisibility for a limited time to apply it intelligently, or use it to rush through creative slotting and IO sets to be on perma, players who preferred constant Hide could manage it, but it wouldn't be the only definig aspect of stalkers, and most importantly, People wo don't want it wouldn't be forced into it.

4: It makes sense that my Dark Stalker spawns fear on his enemies when he successfully AS's someone, dark powersets are always about fear. But why does my Elec stalker do it? And Not a stun or weak hold? Wouldn't it make more sense if the electricity jumped from the body of the downed enemy and shocked his companions? if Kinetic melee created a pulsing knockdown effect? If Em released a stunning pr blinding explosion of energy and light? I just think there should be more overall variety in the sets when it comes to this. If it accomplishes the same thing, preventing enemies from attacking immediately after AS, why not make it so me and the next stalker are actually different in a meaningful way?

5: as part of my general idea to add survivability by encouraging "active" defense, Make the new Secondary tier 1 something that's more control than protection. A Toggle that has a high percentage proc to stun for elec, an auto that procs fear, a click that emits pulsing sleep. Something

6a: This is where it gets serious. Making the Primaries do more of their natural secondary effects creates a signifigant variety amongst stalkers, more -def for weaspon sets more -end for Elec, this is important for two reasons

• The increased secondary effects can either directly via -end or -dam or indirectly via DoT- or -def contribute to the survivabilty of the stalker while solo,without increasing HP or Defense
• This makes a stalker more valuable to a team, when he's laying on the debuffs.:

6b: Adding control effects to the secondary defense abilities lets them survive better, making them more fun to play, without just increasing the protection or HP to be more in line with scrappers, and adds new tricks to stalkers to make them stand out. It also makes them more valuable, as now they would be the unofficial third control AT in the game.