Jibikao
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I have alt-tis too but I wanted a lvl 50 just so I can say "I have a lvl 50!".
Leveling is pretty easy now.
I would pick one that levels the fastest (in your opinion) and just plays the 5 tip mission everyday at least. That way you are leveling and getting merits in the long run.
Just envision that Level 50! You need to keep telling youself that because if you keep switching toons, then you don't really want a lvl 50. You just want to have fun on each toon and that is ALRIGHT too! Whatever you get the most enjoyment. -
Quote:I like pets but having a pet doesn't mesh too well with 4 villain AT. For one, I don't want my Stalker having a pet following me and aggroing! I think that alone feels like a design flaw. Corr having a pet is good because corr can help the pet. Brute having a pet is ok I guess. Dominator having a pet is fine.Originally Posted by RiverOcean
Didn't they always
/
They can keep the long recharge on patron pet but get rid of the duration! :P -
By the way, MA Scrapper is pretty awesome at lvl 14. Having Cobra and Crane so early is great for soloing and small team. I think I'll eventually skip Crane and take Axe instead because Crane's knockback can be annoying. It is a fun kick but I plan on taking Eagle and really don't need one more.
I just wish the secondary effects could synergize better. -
Quote:Originally Posted by BrandX
Well, for Stalkers...on reasons to take Martial Arts...
Storm Kick is great DPS.
Crane Kick and Cobra Strike hit hard.
Crippling Axe Kick hits harder.
Eagle's Claw may not be the best DPS, but it still packs a big punch.
Now, all that said...
Skip Thunder Kick and Crane Kick (or Cobra Strike...pick one). That's 2 power choices freed up on an AT that is starving for power slots (imo anyways).
With a high end, PvE build...Storm Kick, CK (or CS) and CAK are the attacks you need, figure you'll take Assassin's Blow as well, and Placate. So you eliminate Eagle's Claw from your build...and TA DA! 3 powers not needed to be taken!
I would gladly skip Thunder and either Storm/Crane if I can get Dragon Tail. :P Or maybe I need a power like Hand Clap to give me a reason to skip... ugh. -
Ninja/FF is quite effective but bubbling can be boring.
I like Elec/Earth Dom at the moment. The end drain alone from Elec is good enough and being melee range is better for Earth Assault. Foes may be put to sleep after getting up from knockdowns. I like it.
I used to run two Dark/Cold Corruptor builds. Love the -tohit and +defense and cone immb and aoe damage.
I see Dark/Ninjitsu Stalker being very very effective solo build. Having two heals and tohit stack with defense. -
Quote:How about you get more counter for killing a Boss? Based on rank? Not sure how deep the counter needs to be but minion/lieut gives 1 and bosses give 2? This way you may have the incentive to kill bosses first. heheOriginally Posted by Leo_G
Well, if landing a successful AS grants 1 counter even if the foe isn't defeated, there's still incentive to take out tough or annoying targets first especially if they're Lts. An AS that doesn't kill the target followed by some attacks that *do* kill it = 2 counters easy. Then you can go placate>BU or BU>placate the big boss ^^
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Quote:Mmmmmm... then a Stalker is rewarded more by killing "minions" first because I can get "counter" faster.Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe
Well, bear in mind that hitting build up before the AS will expend the KI counters, meaning that you have to choose whether to use them in build up or placate.
Basically, when AS'ing an enemy you can use build up , expend the three counters and get the bonus damage. You'll assassinate your target to get another counter, and (if you didn't kill your target with the assassination) get another counter when you kill him. Then you placate the next guy and get a critical on him and on the next guy. (possibly getting counters on both.)
Since the counters are timed to expire, I don't think three would be too out of whack given that a placate or a build up clears the count.
I do think we'd have to give something up to get this, though.
This system at least gives me choices. By killing minions more, I get more counters which I can spend on "hard" targets.
My idea of an "Assassin" is to scout the situation and deliver "massive" damage. I didn't want Stalker to get "rewarded" for constantly hitting because that will be similar to Brute/Blaster. Right now we do have Hidden and the ability to deliver initial hit but what happens after that is what hurts Stalker on a team because waiting for 8s of doing nothing hurts dps and continuously scrapping after "hidden" is just like a Scrapper with random crits.
My head is exploding! lol Maybe Castle can come here and share his thoughts.
Hell, I'll be happy if I have another Placate-type of power that doesn't "blind" the target/doesn't get "interrupted" and I can use it to score critical on my command, which is how I thought about Killer Instinct icon. When it's up, you can time it or you can just release it right away with any attack. If you just release it with any attack, then it's similar to the "random critical" mechanism because obvious you don't care who receive the critical hit. -
Quote:Yeah basically my idea is pretty simple. Just allow critical to happen in a set "timer" so Stalkers who are used to scrap (random critical) can still scrap and those that like to choose which target to receive critical can do so. It's probably too simple. lolOriginally Posted by Leo_G
All in all, I think it's pretty clunky myself. I think where the main difference between your idea, Jibi, and mine is the predictability. If there *was* a bar for your Killer Instinct idea, it'd be similar to having the Icons per kill but quicker and without the control of if you want to use it or not.
Your idea is good but it sounds a bit complicated to implement. I don't know.. the dev team is bigger and if they REALLY want to improve Stalker, they can.
I just want my Stalker to be able to land critical on targets I choose. Maybe they just need to improve Placate so we get more critical out of it. -
Dominator's APP is insanely good at the moment.
Energy Transfer only 20s recharge? Either Mids is wrong or new changes are coming.
Yeah, Sleet's is crazy good at 60s recharge and debuffs 30%.
Man, APPs make Patron powers look so lame... T_T -
You know what, Elec/Earth is a VERY GOOD combo IMO. Mine is at lvl 25 right now.
I even have people telling me that Elec/Earth makes a lot of sense. lol
To start, Condutive Aura works best when you melee which fits Earth's strength. Second, targets may be put to sleep after the knockdown from Tremor!
I won't take Mud Pots (never like pbaoe aura with low damage and high endurance cost). -
Quote:Both of my Kin/DA Stalker and Elec/Earth Dom are in 20s.Originally Posted by kojirodensetsu
So I roll up a kin/elec stalker. What do I find out? That Concentrated Strike doesn't automatically work out of hide. Going to have to delete my stalker now.
So I roll up an elec/elec dom. What do I find out? That domination doesn't work with the sleep, knockdown, and confuse powers. Going to have to delete my dom now.
However, Kin Stalker is very very decent at the moment. It has good ST attacks and one very high damaging pbaoe. This is what most Stalker sets should be like, at least ONE aoe IMO. I give Kin Stalker set a solid "B+" so far. I can't give it "A" because Kin set has Build Up. Yes, I know Build UP works better with Stalker's game-play but I feel like every solution to Stalker's set is take out AoE and add Build Up. Obviously Siphon Power wasn't designed "for" Stalker but nevertheless, the Kin set is GOOD.
Electricity Control is very very interesting. Yes, Domination doesn't help but between Condutive Aura and Static Field, you can drain endurance very efficiently! You can cast AoE sleep out of sight. The power itself is very good already so even without Domination, it is still fun. From Dominator's point of view, Dom melees a lot (well, I know my Earth Assault does!) so the aura helps me more than Controller unless the troller wants to be in melee range all the time. I see Elec set being better on Dominator than on Controller at the moment because if a troller wants to do Containment damage, the aoe immb may wake them up too often. I can't wait to get the 3 pets. :P
Many people want Dark Illusion Control and that set has quite a few powers that can't have Domination buff. -
Quote:Yeah, that's why I created this thread in the first place because I wanted to give MA a serious try on Stalker but I find MA Set having too many ST attacks and it's just seems kinda messed up to me. It's like why would Stalker need Thunder, Storm, Cobra, Crane, Axe and Eagle? A decent build really only needs 3 reliable ST attacks and with 1 or 2 aoe. This set offers too many ST attacks and with few synergies. The stun can stack reliably from two attacks. One has a kb, one has a chance to provide only mag 2 immb and one has no secondary effect at all and has no extra critical chance like the Scrapper's.Originally Posted by UberGuy
DM has been compared to entire secondaries in terms of the benefit it provides to survival. It's a very nice set, even if it's not the most damaging. It's not got much AoE going on, of course, but not that many Stalker sets do.
I end up making a MA/Elec Scrapper.
MA looks quite strong on Scrapper.
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Quote:You can have TWO builds. The guy who levels you up allows you to choose Build 1 and Build 2.Originally Posted by Acidian
I thought all powersets could have dualbuilds? Or are you just refering to the fact that a widow can either go fortunata or night widow build, which are a bit different from each other than say an em/shield tank and an em/shield tank?
The problem with having 2nd build is that you will need enhancements for it.
You can start with NW build and then slowly buying enhancements for Fortunata. Both are excellent teammates. NW is a damage-machine but a bit more fragile than Fort only because NW is mostly melee. However, you should take Spin and Eviscerate. It is not that hard to line up Evis for more than one target. It does a lot of damage. NW's Psionic Scream also does a lot of cone damage.
Fort is like a tank-troller. You are mostly ranged and have hold, confuse, stun. If your team doesn't have any control-AT, Fort is better. If you need has control-ATs already, you can go with NW for more damage. That's the great thing about having more than one build. It just takes a long time to invest in both. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Siolfir
I'll assume you're talking about Stalkers still, since Soul Drain's longer duration would provide a better performance boost over time than Build Up would (it also means I can be lazy and not factor it in, since BU affects all of these sets equally) - note that whether or not that pushes it ahead of MA for Scrappers is something I haven't looked at.
Dark Melee:
Midnight's Grasp: 1.23
Smite: 1.111
Siphon Life: 0.928
Shadow Punch: 0.795
Without criticals, MG->Sm->SL->Sm does scale 7.36 damage in 6.732 seconds for an average of 1.093; with 10% criticals it would be 1.202.
Both EM (1.211) and MA (1.273) are ahead at that point, although Siphon Life certainly offers some benefit to mitigation. If I felt like playing around with it I could probably find the critical rate needed for DM to pass EM, but once again... I'm lazy.
Looks like DM is very good as it has many useful utilities even if it does a bit less damage. -
Quote:Sounds good and complicated. I would love for Stalkers to have smoke flash kind of power to allow them unleash criticals.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Too clunky IMO, Jib. Although if there was a bar to tell you what point you were at, it'd at least be more visible but just waiting on a message to pop when most likely, you'll have a power queued up and waste it...eh, just seems clunky and unpredictable.
Not that I think Stalkers are in desperate need of a damage buff, but reading the threads gave me some inspiration.
So a different spin on the "Killer Instinct" inherent idea:
-I always like to think of exactly how an idea would be implemented so it draws not only from Jibi's thoughts of more 'controlled bursts'.
-Also pulls from the tech shown in the new Fiery Embrace change.
-The ability of Mastermind's Smoke Flash power.
-Finally, Castle once suggested a change to Blaster Defiance when it was being looked at, that change being a buff for every foe you defeat.
Assassination Inherent
(what we've got)
-Bonus damage on Assassin's Strike from the 'Hidden' status (PvP and PvE)
-100% critical chance on single target attacks and 50% on AoE attacks from the 'Hidden' status (PvP and PvE)
-Demoralize on a group of enemies if attack does not defeat the target (PvE)
-Scaling Critical rate for each ally within 30ft range (PvE)
-20% chance to critical hit held or slept foes (PvP)
(what this idea would add)
-A 'Killer Instinct' counter for each foe the Stalker defeats with a primary power (PvE)
--You can only obtain 1 kill counter per power used. So a ST attack will get you 1 kill counter if the foe is defeated by the attack. An AoE attack will get you 1 kill counter if one or more foes is defeated by the attack. A successful Assassin's Strike, if the foe is defeated or not, adds 1 kill counter.
-You can stack up to 3 'Killer Instinct' counters that will basically appear in your buff bar as a unique icon, each of which will last approx. 30 seconds.
-Stacking more than 3 kill counts will rewrite the oldest counter's duration.
-Using Build up or Placate will basically expend the 'Killer Instinct' counters and reset them to 0.
Why focus on applying this to Build up and Placate? Because, as is, Assassin's Strike is already a strong tool with alternate uses (an Alpha dampener and burst attack from hide) while BU is pretty Binary and Placate does have some defensive capabilities and limited offense, it *is* a unique power to Stalkers...
Placate- When you use Placate with 0 kill counts, it acts like it does now. But for each kill count you rack up before using Placate, you basically get *another placate*. Think of it like MM's smoke flash that lets their Jounin chain crit for a short duration. Placate will basically be a BuildUp/SmokeFlash mash-up that basically boosts damage by giving you up to 3 extra chain crits *if* you defeated 3 foes within 30sec (or started out with AS and then defeat 2 foes within 30sec).
Build Up- When BU is used with 0 kill counts, it acts like it does now. But for each kill count you rack up before using BU, you basically get a 1-shot 'Fiery Embrace' damage add-on that is enhanceable by the inherent damage buff of BU. Think of it like Fiery Embrace, that adds (i believe) 45% of the base damage of an attack as fire damage. So BU would be a Placate/FieryEmbrace mash-up that gives you a +15% extra added damage to the next attack(the type of damage added would depend on the set...so Claws would add lethal damage and Energy Melee would add Energy damage) for each kill count you have...that's +45% of the base damage of an attack added if you kill 3 foes within 30sec (or started out with non-BU AS and then defeat 2 foes within 30sec).
I could see various approaches to take in a fight, some lending better to certain sets but every set being able to exploit any of the available approach due to the make-up of all Stalker sets.
Your idea is flexible in a way that you can choose to score 3 critical in a row or choose to get 3 stacking buffs.
I think the # of critical may be reduced because 3 critical in a row is pretty nasty and also if we keep the natural critical rate, Stalker could be scoring too many criticals.
The difference between your idea and mine is that yours requires Stalker to "kill" first and mine is just simply re-working how Critical happens in Stalker AT. My idea is very unpolished as I am not good at math to figure out how the "timer" should be. My main complaint on Stalker is how the critical(s) is "random" most of the time. Scrapper's critical is random and Stalker's critical should not be. -
Ok, I've posted my idea in another thread but looks like this thread is more about possible changes to Stalker. My idea could be more dramatic but I think it's better for an "Assassin game play".
The system we have now, Stalker scores one critical in the beginning and that's it, unless you do nothing for 8s or use Placate (which has pros and cons).
After the initial Critical, all the other criticals are "random". Having more teammates around you, is still "random". That's not how I envision an Assassin. When I think of an Assassin, I think of "planned" Critical, not random. Planned critical allows me to eliminate things faster and if I feel lazy, I don't need to switch target. There are plenty of times when I score a critical with Eviscerate on a dying minion.
I am thinking of a killer Instinct timer. When it pops up, your Stalker's next hit is a Critical which follows the current critical formula (aoe/cone). The timer is longer when you solo but with more teammates, the timer recharges faster which allows you to score more critical. If I see the icon is up, I know that my next successful hit is Critical and I can plan it! I don't know how the timer is going to be. It should match the current critical rate. The natural critical chance is like 10% and more with teammates. Maybe it pops up once every 20s and the timer goes down to 12s with full team or something like that.
But I think in the end, we are going to get something like larger critical radius so Stalkers can play more like a Scrapper. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not very Assassin-like. -
Quote:I am trying to avoid getting bonus when Stalker attacks because that would be like Brute/Blaster. I don't want Stalker to be "forced" to keep "scrapping" if you know what I mean.Originally Posted by seebs
What about 1% chance to crit bonus, used up on any crit, for each successful attack by you OR your teammates?
Stalker has natural critical chance and when it's up, your next attack is just like "hidden status". You can still play your Stalker like a Scrapper because when you have Killer Instinct, you get a critical so it's like a random critical if you don't plan on how/where to use it.
However, if I see KI is up, I may change target to use my Eagle Claw on a minion because I know that would probably kill him in ONE hit! No more random chance and less Placating.
The Killer Instinct icon doesn't have to appear on the upper right hand corner. It can be right above Stalker's head... I guess. This way it's easier to see.
I don't know. I just like this idea but it may be too complicated to change after 6 years. We probably just get more random critical chance so just play like a Scrapper and hope for more critical. :P It works but just less "Assassin" like as there is almost no "strategy" involved.
But if I know I get Critical once every 10s, I will definitely watch for it and switch target necessary and I don't suffer from being attacked and lose "hidden". -
Quote:Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe
I am very much in favor of the planned critical. When I want to tear off in a red haze of random fury I'll play one of my many scrappers. I like the tactical mindset of planned criticals, and when I'm in that mood I'd rather play stalkers.
Having said that, I can accept that the scaling criticals can be planned. When I look around and see my team in close range I'll know to focus on the biggest target there because of the increased critical chance, and I can accept that for what it is, so long as that is as random as it gets.
I'm against increasing the crit radius for the same reason, however.
I would hate to see yet another bar added to another archetype's UI, and I am dead set against any further "gimmickie" additions to our archetype.
However, what if we did away with the team-dependent crit radius in favor of a scaling and stackable chance to crit after every successful hit? Sort of the way that defiance 2.0 buffs a blaster's damage with each attack?
Eh. Sounds awful gimmickie, but if it comes in place of the team-dependent crits.... ?
...But then what about teaming incentive? Bah. It's been a long day and I'm obviously too tired to brainstorm. Let me think on that one a bit before I put it in the suggestions thread.
Regardless of what I say, though, Jib, toss the Killer Instinct Bar over in that thread as well. You never know!
Hehehe...I know...another Bar. Well, technically, they don't have to make a bar. Just make the icon appear when Killer Instinct appears, much like how they show "Hidden" status.
Basically, Killer Instinct fills up at a normal rate when you are attacking but when you are not attacking, it fills up faster. This is like how you get back to Hidden status by basically doing nothing. By doing nothing, it means you are trying to find another target to eliminate if you put it that way. And if you have more teammates, the natural rate it regenerates goes faster. Basically, the rate is to match Stalker's current "random critical" chance. I don't know the math but let's assume Stalker can randomly critical once every 20s but with more teammates, Stalker's 33% chance to critical becomes one critical in 10s or less. I suck at math but that's the basic idea.
The idea is to allow Stalker to score critical in a planned situation rather than relying on "random chance".
And which thread should I put this in? -
Quote:Do you guys feel that Stalker should be more about "planned Critical" than "random Critical"? Random critical is nice in a way that you don't need to think about it but that's also Scrapper's category.Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe
Zem, let me quote myself from a couple of posts up with regard to the post you're quoting:
I was talking about what *I thought* would have been some of the good aspects had they gone a different route than random criticals back in I-12, but it was never meant to be a suggestion. If for some strange reason you're still curious about how I'd respond you can always send me a pm, but it really won't add anything to the discussion at hand.
I should probably just delete that post.
To me, I would rather see a bar that fills up to fuel Stalker's "Killer Instinct". When the "instinct" is full, Stalker can unleash a planned Critical hit, much like Placate. And this Killer Instinct bar fills up quicker with more party members (which improves Stalker in a team setting).
I know this idea won't fly but I like it! This way my Stalker can plan out who should receive critical = who should die faster! This bar thing sounds complicated to implement and it may interfer with Placate. I never like Placate that much anyway. I never take Placate until I am way past lvl 26. I sometimes don't like blinding the target with Placate. I want the aggro to stay on me but I have no control of the "blind" part. It would be nice if we can have an ability to control Critical(s) during Battle and not just during Hidden.
Scrapper is all about raw damage and random criticals. Fine.
Brute is all about maintaining fury to deal more damage. Fine.
Tanker is all about controlling the situation by taking damage for the team. Fine.
Stalker should be all about "eliminating target(s)" ASAP in a "planned" situation. When your Killer Instinct is up, your next attack is a critical and it can follow the same formula for aoe/cone. I don't want a "button" like Domination to activate. I just need an icon to show me when Killer Instinct is up because I can control which attack I want to use when the icon shows up. -
Quote:Not really. I've been playing this game a long while and Brute is the only Villain I don't have at lvl 50. Why? Because I can't stand losing Fury and I like to chat a lot. Brute can be fun for a while but I don't like that "go go go" mentality. Probably the same reason why I have 3 lvl 50 Stalkers....Originally Posted by Deathstroke33
I guess I'm wondering what does a scrapper offer that a brute doesn't? Once a brute gets rollin its damage is far higher then a scrapper even with the crit bonus. So I'm just wondering what place a scrapper has now. They seem obsolete.
I just made a new Scrapper. Scrapper is very straight forward. No need to chase Fury and no need to hide/AS. Very good for beginners. Not sure how long I'll stick with Scrapper but we'll see. I am more curious as to why people think Scrapper > Stalker so much. I need to test my Scrapper to see if that "grass is greener" mentality is correct. -
I don't know about you but those Robot Boss pets are so freaking cool! They look huge, robotic and I love their Chest Beams. It reminds me of champions for a while but it makes me think that CoX can really use a serious "character model" upgrade. I would love to make my character walk and die like Ghoul and make a Robot character like the one from the new zone.
Anyone feeling the enemies have better "graphics" than us? lol That Chest Beam looks awesome!
There is a thread about alternative animation. I can't figure out which set can use Chest Beam except maybe for a new Chest Beam Blast Set when CoX finally has new character model for Robot/Creatures. :P -
Do those who play Hero 90% of the time think Longbow is a harder group to deal with at high level?
I am very used to LBs and I've seen plenty Brutes who jump in and die so quickly (those Sonic Grenade) or my squishy toons got Bean Bagged for like 30s. lol -
Quote:Originally Posted by NightSable
I have a lvl 33 vigilante KM/WP stalker, and I love it. I have recently started getting good at playing her too. So last night, I had a moment that made me swell up with joy and pride.
Citadel TF. Running smoothly. We got a good team. We split accidently as this stuff happens. Me and the brute accidently run off to the right. The blasters, trollers and corrs run off to the left.
Me and the brute (also KM/WP) find ourselves alone in the little jail room with about two mobs swarming. First off, kudos to the brute for surviving the alphas. What happened next? The brute is in the middle of the mob and just stands there, but I was already there. I build up, pop a med red and fire off burst from hide. The brute is suddenlysurrounded by a wounded archon and two lieus (all injured). I placate and AS the archon. The rest of the council move in quick. I pop reconstruction and burst again after a couple of single target shots in between. They are dead.
The brute asks what the hell just happened? I said, well it appears we kicked some ***. He says, well his mouse batteries died (OK< LOL to mouse batteries). He then said, wow stalkers can kick some ***. I gave him a praetorian salute and moved on to the next room. I then went into hide as my eyes swelled with pride.
You got to understand, no one usually ever says anything like wow, nice stalking. Typically you hear, awesome healing dude, or great heals or nice tanking, but never once in 72 months (of course some of these do not count) has anyone ever said nice stalking or the like.
I like Kinetic Melee and I think every Stalker set should have at least ONE aoe even if it's a weak one Flashing Steel from Katana. KM's Burst has 100% critical from hidden. With Build Up and proper slotting, Burst from hidden can kill +0 minions in ONE hit. You can hit up to 5 targets.
Some Stalkers just never want to open the battle with anything but Assassin Strike. In that situation, opening with Burst is the smart choice especially they are all in tight area.
Now, if you are an EM/MA, you may run out of endurance before killing the target one by one.... T_T -
Quote:Yeah. Basically, those Huntsman builds are hybrid between Huntsman/Bane or /Crab.Originally Posted by BunnyAnomaly
Correct me if I'm wrong but Crab Spiders can get all the same powers as a Huntsman plus have additional options. It's impossible for the Crab Spider to be worse, numerically.
I think Huntsman/Crab can be just as good because Crab has better survival. -
Quote:My first Crab build is all ranged and I even took Burst from Soldier to have another decent 8s range attack. I also had Spiderlings to help out my ST damage when I solo. After a while, I find it a bit boring...Originally Posted by Ledneh_
Here's a related question about Crab AoE builds, then. Do they, as a rule, take their melee AoE skills, or do they stick to ranged (and therefore pick up wolf primary powers, resulting in gundraw)?
Then I respec into a semi-Crab build because honestly, Crab CAN melee. Crab has awesome defense, resistance and +HP. If anything, Crab is the most "sturdiest" of all 4 branches especially with set bonuses. The problem with Crab melee is that your ST damage isn't excellent. It's good enough but not excellent. I use that Arm Slash because I just love the animation and sound of it and if I can line up right, I can hit at least 2 targets. I took Slice even though Channelgun is a better attack and Longfang is a must for me. Slice also forces me to melee because I only have one reliable ST range. lol
I also love Frenzy. It sounds COOl but the graphic is a bit lacking IMO.
Basically, I start by shooting Venom, run in to line up Arm and then Frenzy. It's more fun for me. And even if this semi-melee build is a bit less "efficient", I think the fun factor is better.