Jibikao
-
Posts
3510 -
Joined
-
Quote:Oh! No wonder I was confused because I see the new incarnate abilities but I don't see the new trials and I thought that's the big part of 21.5 and I also didn't see Titan Weapon for sale (I found out it's coming out on Dec 6?).Originally Posted by Agent White
For the most part, 21.5 is live. The new iTrial is still waiting to get turned on though as they're still tweaking it in beta. Since the trial was supposed to be the centerpiece of 21.5 they kind of downplayed it. -
Well, issue 22 still sounds far away. When is issue 21.5 coming out? Is it already out? lol I haven't checked any of the new itrial yet.
The only thing that sounds awkward is Assassin Focus. It only says it builds up so your Assassin Strike can do critical. What if instead of increasing the "chance", Assassin Focus increases the amount of Critical Damage? Other games have that as well. This ways your Assassin Strike hurts more. This could be more useful when you have time to build up and use it on a hard target like Elite and AV. On regular mob, it could be way over-kill to use up all AF. -
Soul Absorption- Regen+ after defeating enemies (for whole group)
Fade- Targeted, like a mini MoG for others.
Don't know the details of these two powers but I would gladly trade the ST hold for one of them. Fearsome Stare is a big loss but Controller already has primary control. The problem is losing the -tohit debuff but think of it this way. If most things are controlled, who cares if their tohit is less? :P The problem with my controllers is when controls don't work.
Soul Absorption sounds interesting. I have a feeling it's going to be similar to Warshade's soul leeching power except it fuels +regen. The healing from that warshade power is so good.
Fade looks interesting too. You can put a "god mode" on a teammate.
Who knows, the new /Dark already sounds very good to me. They should have done something with that awful Black Hole though. lol -
Quote:I would assume Staff won't have build up then? Would this be the first stalker primary that has no build up?Originally Posted by Firemoth
Staff Melee- Scrapper, Brute, Tank, Stalker
Power Staff Mastery- much like Swap Ammo, in where you can pick from three styles
Mind = gives boost to recharge
Body= Gives boost to Damage
Soul= Gives end discount
Perfection is built thru attacks, and there are two attacks that will either build or spend it.
Eye of the Storm and Sky Splitter.
Staff will have a longer range than most melee classes. -
Quote:tears........... *_*Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
At the Pummit they said that Stalkers will not be getting Titan Weapons.
I can't imagine why they would do that. Why can't they just re-name Titan Weapon to Deadly Scythe or something like that and just change the weapon images so Stalker isn't holding a big Giant Axe? If they spent the time to create a new melee "cash" set, why are they excluding sales from stalker fans?
I know I certainly will not buy Titan Weapon because I don't play Brute/Scrapper/Tanker and the fact that they want to exclude Stalker makes me hate this set even more! -
Quote:I'll definitely vote for getting rid of Thunder Kick for a cone or pbaoe for sure and I still think MA ST damage still has room for improvement. EM and DM are only ranking a tiny bit behind but both of them do dual damage type which has an advantage.Originally Posted by UberGuy
That's not the proposal I was responding to. I don't have Thunder Kick, and would have no room for it unless it was made into a cone or something.
Yes, because it would screw up my existing attack chain and require significantly more recharge to fix. -
Quote:You don't need 6 ST attacks. Come on now! There is room to change something. There is really no need to keep Thunder Kick, a fast recharge, low damage attack.Originally Posted by UberGuy
I do not want that change for Martial Arts. Please leave it alone.
Martial Arts suffers from a lack of AoE, certainly, but its single-target damage is just fine.
And I still think there is room for MA ST damage. It is the highest for Stalker but not by much. Would you be against it if they make Cobra and Crane 12s attack, Thunder 4s, Storm 8s and Eagle 18s? You can still enjoy ST attacks but each one hits harder with longer recharge since there are 6 (and 7 if you include Assassin Strike in the future as a must-use attack) to choose from? -
Quote:Well, on a controller, you have a whole primary devoted to controls. If Fearsome Stare gets taken out from courrptor, then I agree with your concern.Originally Posted by EricHough
Well, considering that the -to hit in fearsome stare was half of dark miasma's low level debuff capability I hope they provide some kind of replacement in the new powers. Adeon mentioned some a high-mag, short duration defense buff - hopefully that isn't being considered as a replacement for the to hit debuff in FS.
-
Quote:Yup, especially for Martial Arts and Energy Melee. MA has 6 ST Melee Attacks (minus Assassin Strike which from the way it looks will be used in attack chain as well) and there is really no need for Thunder Kick. Storm Kick has an absurdly high DPA but I still prefer they increase recharge a bit more so each attack hits harder.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Personally, I'd love a rebalancing of Stalker melee attacks to recharge slower but do bigger damage. It'd give Stalkers a reason to put AS in their attack chain as well since the lower tiers would recharge slower too.
Synapse said he may increase Shin Breaker's recharge more so it has higher base damage. I think the dev should look at some of the old sets again and increase damage/recharge ratio just like what they did for Dominator. -
I am not surprised that they took out Fearsome Stare. That stare is a very good one with extreme tohit debuff value. There is no way they'll let Controller have that. However, we haven't seen those two new powers yet. They may provide even better gameplay when controls don't work well. Those team buffs may provide even more than Fearsome stare.
-
I do think there is a difference between doing "some" AoE and "zero" AoE. It is the "zero" AoE that some of us really dislike. Dark Melee has a cone and while it's not the greatest cone in the game, you at least have an option to use it when the mobs are close.
I am less annoyed by MA and EM now since they lowered patron/epic requirement and I haven't tried that Spring Attack yet.
I just think it's a bad design to take out the only aoe in those two sets but it's too late to go back now.
The only option I see is to change one of the ST attacks to a Target AoE like Spinning Kick or a cone attack. -
Quote:Damn, you are good at maths!Originally Posted by Siolfir
Inherent Assassin's Strike wouldn't be a bad change, but that opens the Pandora's Box of inherent Hide (which is more central to the AT) and giving back the secondary power as well. While not undesired, it's a lot of work for the powers team and what do you add to Ninjitsu?
As for the comment on nerfing Brute damage... they did. And I thought that in their announcement they said that they nerfed it more than they did, but I was wrong and it was lowered to +675%, not 675% total (+575%). Even that amount would have Brutes doing more than Blasters with melee attacks, but Stalkers at their cap would outdo them at a 10% critical rate at +361% damage and above, and Blasters using ranged attacks or Scrappers would do far-and-away more damage even without taking criticals into account for the Scrapper.
But the reason I'd advocate adding to the damage cap for Blasters instead of nerfing Brutes again in this case is because of Scrappers, which would need a huge nerf to be in-line with Blasters as far as damage-to-survivability. There's also the point that Judgement means that every AT has access to a high damage AoE in the endgame, so Blasters are in the same boat as Stalkers with adding nothing special.
To look at a couple of proposals and how they affects thing, the damage cap increases are in yellow and adjusting the Stalker AT modifier to match Scrapper damage is in green - assuming you're using an identical so that the damage is only affected by buffs and AT-specific means:
6 * 1 * 1.31 = 7.86 (Stalker, at proposed cap and MAX 31% critical rate)
5 * 1.125 * 1.31 = 7.36875 (Stalker, at current cap with Scrapper damage modifier and MAX 31% critical rate)
6 * 1.125 = 6.75 (Blaster, ranged attack, at proposed cap)
6 * 1 * 1.1 = 6.6 (Stalker, at proposed cap and 10% critical rate)
5 * 1 * 1.31 = 6.55 (Stalker, at current cap and MAX 31% critical rate)
8.5 * 0.75 = 6.375 (Brute, at old cap)
5 * 1.125 * 1.1 = 6.1875 (Scrapper against lt or above, at current cap; Stalker, at current cap with Scrapper damage modifier and base 10% critical rate)
6 * 1 = 6 (Blaster, melee attack, at proposed cap; Stalker, at proposed cap using attack that does not critical)
5 * 1.125 * 1.05 = 5.90625 (Scrapper against minion or below, at current cap)
7.75 * 0.75 = 5.8125 (Brute at current cap)
Here's how they'd do for "normal" performance:
2 * 1.125 * 1.31 = 2.9475 (Stalker at Scrapper modifier with 100% slotting, at MAX 31% critical rate)
2.5 * 1.125 = 2.8125 (Blaster, ranged attack with 100% slotting and 50% defiance buff)
2 * 1 * 1.31 = 2.62 (Stalker with 100% slotting and MAX 31% critical rate)
3.4 * 0.75 = 2.55 (Brute with 100% slotting and 70 Fury)
2.5 * 1 = 2.5 (Blaster, melee attack with 100% slotting and 50% defiance buff)
2 * 1.125 * 1.1 = 2.475 (Scrapper with 100% slotting, against lt or above; Stalker at Scrapper modifier with 100% slotting, at base 10% critical rate)
2 * 1.125 * 1.05 = 2.3625 (Scrapper with 100% slotting, against minion or below)
2 * 1 * 1.1 = 2.2 (Stalker with 100% slotting at 10% critical rate)
And looking at short-term burst:
4.125 * 1.125 = 4.640625 (Blaster, ranged attack with 100% slotting, 50% defiance, BU and Aim)
2.8 * 1.125 * 1.31 = 4.1265 (Stalker at Scrapper modifier with 100% slotting and BU, at MAX 31% critical rate)
4.125 * 1 = 4.125 (Blaster, melee attack with 100% slotting, 50% defiance, BU and Aim)
3 * 1.125 * 1.1 = 3.7125 (Scrapper with 100% slotting and BU, against lt or above)
2.8 * 1 * 1.31 = 3.668 (Stalker with 100% slotting and BU, at MAX 31% critical rate)
3 * 1.125 * 1.05 = 3.54375 (Scrapper with 100% slotting and BU, against minion or below)
2.8 * 1.125 * 1.1 = 3.465 (Stalker at Scrapper modifier with 100% slotting and BU, at base 10% critical rate)
4.2 * 0.75 = 3.15 (Brute with 100% slotting, 70 Fury, and BU)
2.8 * 1 * 1.1 = 3.08 (Stalker with 100% slotting and BU, at 10% critical rate)
Given how the charts shift around with the various buffs, I'd rather see Blasters get the higher damage cap - putting them at the top of everything when capped until a Stalker gets the max teammate buff for criticals, and Stalkers get a higher AT modifier.
I am leveling two Blasters right now. I haven't played Heroes for years. My very first lvl 50 Hero is a Sonic/Ice Blaster but at the time, there was no sets and I didn't understand the game nearly as much.
One of the blasters I am working on is Beam/Fire. Oh my, Beam Rifle has ridiculously good ST damage. To give you an example, I was running through Signature Arc 1. The elite boss in mission 3, my Blaster pwn him under 10s while my Stalker took at least 20s. Both characters are level 25 and 26 so it's not that big difference.
I really forgot how high damage Blaster is, but I do agree that Blaster should do the most damage in the game since they trade their survivability for it. I guess they are only adding Damage Cap which isn't likely to happen all the time. Blaster should out-damage Scrapper and Stalker. -
Haunt pets are not Unaffected. I think they are just temp pets that only focus on one target and once the target is dead, the pets are gone and the pets can be killed.
-
Quote:So once the target is dead, the pets disappear? And does Controller get Dark Control as well?Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
The Haunt pets will be killable, although since they are single target focused and have a mez they should not draw to much aggro. One of the devs (I think it was Synapse) basically said that invincible pets are a balance nightmare.
If Controller gets Dark Control, then I guess Dominator still needs to wait for another version of Illusion control? -
Quote:I felt similar at first but from the design point of view, we already have two melee ATs that do better AoE damage (Scrapper and Brute). Giving Stalker more aoe may make Stalker too similar to other melee ATs.Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
Honestly, I'm glad they did something, but wrapping it into hp and AS means we still have no AoE, and I'm not sure that the AS changes mean that stalkers can compete with scrappers. That's why I was in the other threads saying don't buff hp, infact roll them back. But we'll see how it goes. Technically a pure buff is a pure buff, so hope it makes more of a difference than I think it will.
I just don't want them to throw us a crappy bone and then say "well those guys are just whiners who are never happy, we gave them a buff and they still don't appreciate it". I'm not sure this puts stalker st damage far enough over the top of scrapper/brute damage to make up for the loss of aoe. So I'm not sure it really addresses the core issue. Again, hope I'm wrong.
I can't make up my mind yet. I think they want Stalker to be the King of Melee ST dps. That goal needs to be met first before we get into anything else. Right now, Stalker is probably the worst core AT to solo a pylon due to less survivability and less ST dps on his own.
My only question to the dev is if all Assassin Strikes are going to be "normalized", meaning they need to at least have the same activation time. I say this because if Stalker is going to rely heavily on Assassin Strike to surpass other ATs in DPS department, then sets like Ninja Blade and Broadsword will have huge disadvantage since they have the longest activation time, while Kinetic Melee will have the biggest advantage with the fastest act. time. I am willing to look past "Damage Type" (Ninja does Lethal while Dark Melee does Smash/Negative) but activation time needs to be normalized. -
In addition to Dark Control, Controller will get /Dark Affinity.
It is basically Dark Miasma with Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze removed. One of the replacement powers was a team wide high magnitude, short duration Defense buff (the comparison used was to Moment of Glory) but I forget the other.
This info is from another thread. -
Quote:Wow awesome info. Thanks a bunch!!!!Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Going by memory here so power order is wrong off but powers were:
Single Target Immobilize
Single Target Hold
Cone style AoE Immobilize
Fearsome Stare (from Dark Miasma)
An PBAoE Stun
Haunt, a power that summons two temporary pets that will attack the foe you target and damage + terrorize him.
A targeted AoE hold power (it sounded like it was a patch power similar to Distortion Field)
The last power was not announced and I'm forgetting one other power.
Additionally Controllers will get Dark Affinity and Dominators will get Dark Assault.
Dark Affinity is basically Dark Miasma with Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze removed. One of the replacement powers was a team wide high magnitude, short duration Defense buff (the comparison used was to Moment of Glory) but I forget the other.
That "Haunt" power sounds very cool. I wonder if it's an Unaffected pet like Phantom Army. Could this be Dominator's "Illusion" control?
Dark Affinity... I am sure those controller fans will love it. They've been wanting /Dark for the longest time. Even without fear and single hold, the team buff will be useful.
So Dom is going to be Dark Assault... -
Well, so far there's no "nerfs" so even if we don't use Assassin Strike, our Stalker performance should be the same with those buffs. At least HP cap is higher.
-
Quote:That's cool. Since Assassin Strike isn't going to be taken out of the set, we might as well make it a super AWESOME attack. Interruption during Hidden is still annoying at high level content when there's so much "dot" on the ground and so many mobs attacking. Is Assassin Strike going to be uninterruptable during Hidden as well?Originally Posted by Arbiter Hawk
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.
Does Assassin Focus work like current SJ combo points? You hit 3-5 times and the next Assassin Strike that hits is guaranteed 100% critical? Or it's more of "random" thing? Assassin Focus just gives you more chance and if you miss it or if you don't get lucky enough to score a critical, the "Focus" counter resets?
Any chance that Martial Arts and Energy Melee can have one aoe attack? -
Quote:Yeah good point. It will be kinda odd that using AS is easier than using it during hidden. lolOriginally Posted by Dispari
I'm also curious if AS is going to remain interrupable while from Hide. No issues with it keeping its cast time. Just it seems like very few people would continue to use it from Hide if you could lead off with a non-interruptable attack and then go stab someone else with AS all without having to worry about positioning, moving, DoTs, AoEs, or patches. For being a signature power of an entire AT, I think it's silly it's interruptable at all.
-
So they are making Assassin Strike a must-have now? In a way, I kinda like this buff because I find current Assassin Strike not worth it to use in high level content.
So you build up Assassin Focus to give Assassin Strike more chance to critical outside of hide. I wonder if it works like the combo points in SJ where you hit 3-5 times and the next AS is guaranteed 100% critical? ... interesting.
I wonder how high is Superior damage? I am assuming the damage scale is similar to Total Focus?
The HP cap is good change. I know many people want this. -
Quote:I remember back when Castle pushed for Dominator big change. There were few that were against the idea of Domination not giving damage buff because some of them could stack domination for a while. Some feel the "high and low" feeling was lost but in general, Dominator has a good improvement. I see way more people using them at lvl 50 than before. I guess you can call it a "positive" change to the Domination population (even though some old hardcore fans were unhappy about it).Originally Posted by Siolfir
If I were going to be my usual, cynical self, I'd comment that they'll get a revamp in the manner of i13 PvP - driving all Stalker players into doing something else by making it intolerable for the people who like the AT and want small tweaks with huge sweeping changes that wreck the feel and force an enormous paradigm shift for something that's overall less fun, and thus reducing the already-low population to a negligible amount.
That said, I'm hoping that they looked at the Stalker buff thread that I started during GR beta for ideas.
Now, with regards to Stalker, I think we've heard and seen enough complaints that any new change will be welcome. I am not opposed to new ideas if they are sound. I mean what can REALLY happen? Stalker is already the squishiest of all 4 melee ATs. Stalker already ranks 3rd for damage. Stalker is already not fighting like a good assassin with that god awful long Assassin animation with interruption. What could go really bad?
I am optimistic at the moment but I may not be testing by the time issue 22 beta starts because I'll be playing either Diablo3 or GW2. hehe -
What if this Stalker "change" revolves around giving back the pbaoe attack that was taken out for Assassin Strike?
Call me crazy but I can't figure out how they are going to give Staff set to stalker with Build Up that is tied to every single primary. And they can't figure out which attack to take out that won't interfere with Titan Weapon design (two slow attacks and then faster attacks?).
Would you guys be against it if Assassin Strike becomes an inherent attack and all the pbaoe attacks are going to be put back in? This sounds like a major change that may require a lot of re-coding but this change sounds logical to me because it will be so much easier to port a set to stalker if stalker primary has the same powers (with exception of Placate which replaces Taunt). Isn't it less headache to create something for Stalker in the future?
Putting back the pbaoe attack doesn't mean you can't use Assassin Strike. It just means that Stalker will have the option to choose.
(I find it crazy that they give Blaster 100% more damage cap. lol They really need to nerf Brute's damage so they can stop buffing everyone elses) -
I have to say I was expecting something more "wow". Dark Control sounds like it can be put together in an hour if they want to. lol
I am not going to trash the set until I see what's in it but it better be "unique" and not just a clone of current dark controls. The fact that it's a "free" set worries me. They probably won't spend as much on it as they do on a "cash" set.
I was hoping they could announce that "exciting" plan like Whip Assault or something. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Twoflower
4. Did they say if Stalkers get Staff Fighting? (I'd assume yes, but TW didn't, so...)
5. Someone vaguely mentioned changes to Stalkers in I22. Anything specific?
Anyone know more about these two? How come I have a feeling that most of Stalker sets are going to be reverted back to Scrapper, meaning Assassin Strike will be an inherent attack and pbaoe attacks that were taken out are going to be put back?
I say this because Staff set is going to be a pain to work right for Stalker since Stalker is currently married to Build Up (which means no Form change), Assassin and Placate. I can care less about Placate because it only replaces Taunt which I don't need. And I will definitely quit this game if they skip Staff for Stalker like they did with Titan Weapon. :P I can't see it happening so my logical guess is that Stalker primary will be re-vamped to look llike everyone else's but with Placate in place (although Claw and dual Blade will be tough with follow-ups or they may just keep build up?).
I heard that it's going to be a Stalker "change" (not really a buff), so is this too big of a change to put back those pbaoe and turn Assassin an inherent?