Jibikao
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Posts
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I don't think it is soooooooo unhealthy to compare your favorite AT's performance against others. Just because some of the dev think "stalker is alright", it doesn't mean all the players have to agree with.
Adding more damage to Stalker is probably the "easiest" thing they can do to improve this AT.
There are countless ideas for buffing Stalker, which includes adding more debuffs (like -regen), giving each Assassin Strike unique properties, adding more controls..blah blah blah.
If I were the dev, I would think adding more debuffs/unique properties takes way more time than simply adjusting Stalker's damage.
There are more ways to increase Stalker's damage. They can simply increase modifier to 1.125 (which I am not a fan of but I won't complain if it did happen).
Or they can increase critical rate (which I prefer), introduce more circumstances that can boost Stalker's damage or modify current Build Up. Build Up exists in EVERY SET. They can start by increasing Build Up value to 100% or decreasing Recharge or increasing Duration (to 15s). All these can improve Stalker's burst damage potential. -
Quote:To be precise, they nerfed Brutes that were used to be on the "top performance" but I actually enjoy the new change more because I gain fury faster in the beginning and lose slower. I no longer have to keep this "go go go" mentality" all the time. Sure, I don't normally go above 70% but my Brute doesn't need to.Originally Posted by Leo_G
But the devs didn't use the 'metric' spoken here to reserve some observed dichotomy between Brutes, Tankers and Scrappers by *buffing* Scrappers. They *nerfed* Brutes.
They may nerf Brute statistically at the top level, but the dev buff their gameplay (fun factor) for more players. A pure Nerf is losing something but get nothing in return. -
Robot/Trap or Thug/Trap
I've seen people posting their Robot/Trap trophies. He has used Robot/Trap to solo many AVs and even some GMs. -
Quote:Good idea too. So the powers that don't benefit much from Domination like Spectral Fear, they can change it to Fearsome Stare.Originally Posted by LuxunS
If I was a developer, I'd kill 2 birds with one stone and not bother making any new powers or animations. Just combine the 2 most asked for primaries into one and you don't need too much extra work. Most control sets follow the same format and dark and illusions could be combined easily to fit that mold without overlapping with a dark assault secondary similar to what blasters are getting.
Spectral Wounds
Blind
Tenebrous Tentacles
Tar Patch or Deceive or Group Invis
Howling Twilight (No rez, shorter recharge disorient kinda like stalagmites or flashfire.)
Phantom Army
Flash
Fearsome Stare/Terrify or Spectral Terror
Phantasm or Dark Servant
Something like this would mesh both together while keeping with the standards for control primaries. T1 and T2 from Illusions, T3 AoE immobilize, T4 another power from illusions or tar patch (earth gets quicksand so why not?), T5 taoe stun, T6 PA, T7 and T8 aoe hold and extra power, T9 Pet.
Just some quick recoloring on illusion powers to make them darker and you have a new power set that follows the rules, doesn't require any changes to the already created controller sets, and makes everyone happy. -
Quote:Hey at least they don't have the attitude that if something is not working right, it is because the user is stupid or incompetent.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Well good the devs aren't asking you. I'm pretty sure they put you on the same list as Johnny Butane and EvilRyu >_>
You, Sir, have that attitude.
I can name things I don't like about Stalkers but I never call the people stupid or give them the attitude that they are just incompetent.
Whenever somebody say bad things about Stalker, you immediately jump in and say "that's because you are doing it wrong".
Yeah, it's never the Stalker's problem. It's the users'. If you think EvilRyu is stubborn, then you are just as stubborn but on the opposite end.
And I still firmly believe Stalker should clearly out-damage Scrapper/Brute. There is no ifs or buts. Stalker shouldn't rely on teammates to deal similar damage as Scrapper.
By "clearly", I mean not just the first 10s during Build Up, or with 7 teammates surrounding you all the time. Those conditions need to be reduced. -
This is an odd question for sure. You want to have a MM that auto follows you....
This means pets need to be on Aggressive mode or maybe Bodyguard mode when the MM gets attacked. With Bodyguard, there is some delay.
I would say Demon is probably better because Demon doesn't really knock back. Demon Prince pet has chilling embrace which should help the mobs run slower and Ember Demon has some fire shield for you.
If you want a MM to follow you and doesn't require much babysitting, I would suggest Demon/FF. Just do a power boost + two shields ONCE (before you have to buff 7 times including you) and you are ready to rock. The shield lasts about 240 seconds.
So basically the Mastermind has Bubble Dispersion and Force Field for you which don't require active clicking.
Edited: The future Demon/Sonic should be good for you too because you can just cast Disruption Field on you and let your MM follows. You still only need to cast sonic shields twice (although I think the pets may die easier with sonic than with force field but I have a feeling you'll grab most of the aggro anyway). -
Big aoe damage while being very survivable?
Go with Soldier/Bane or Crab then. There's a lot of aoe option and with set bonuses, they can definitely survive well enough.
If you want a dom, go with Control / Fiery / Ice. If you are used to farming, you might like Plant/Fire/Ice although I really enjoy my Gravity/Fiery/Ice. -
Quote:But...but...but!!!! Stalker has an awesome Assassin Strike. :POriginally Posted by rsclark
And even when acting as stalkers, banes and widows throw out some massive group buffs and widows have some ranged attacks that stalkers can only dream of.
(please...this is sarcastic) -
Quote:Widows are much superior than Stalker in almost every way. I just recently found out that SoA has higher HP Cap (2400ish) than Stalker's HP Cap (poor 1600ish).Originally Posted by Nightchill_EU
2- widows something else than Claw Stalkers with confuse?
If you want a more "stalkerish feel", go with Bane. -
Quote:It certainly will improve Martial Arts' performance for sure. No AT needs a set that gives 7 single target attacks. It's a design error and I firmly believe in it.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Do you honestly think having that Whirling Sword/Lotus Drop, or Whirling Hands or Dragons Tail will suddenly close that gap?
Closing gap means Stalker should be dealing similar damage as Brute/Scrapper. That's wrong. Stalker should CLEARLY OUT DAMAGE Scrapper/Brute if you ask me. -
Quote:Wrong is a strong word. Stalker is very playable. Stalker is just statistically inferior.Originally Posted by GreenFIame
There really isn't anything wrong with Stalkers, I got a lvl 50, they not suppose to be like Scrappers or most other melee toons. Garbing More Stealth form the power Pool and Garbing Tough and weaver can really help improve your survivability.
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Quote:Why don't you shove your attitude up your a$$ for once? Pretty please?Originally Posted by Leo_G
Then why aren't you using BU + Throw Spines/1K cuts/Burst/Thunder Strike and a follow up AoE if you're trying to have a 'who kills the fodder fastest' pissing match?
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Quote:The funny thing is even if Stalker has 1.125 damage modifier, this AT still won't be overpowered as long as they have limited AoE potential.Originally Posted by untoldhero
personally tho I am not sure how to fix issues that could create over powered results, or make other AT'S seem redundant.
I don't play Brute/Scrapper much but I've seen how a well slotted SS/Fire Brute performs or a Elec/Shield Scrapper/Brute. By the time my first Assassin Strike ends, they already kill most of the minions.....
Stalker is a very playable AT but "overpowered" does not belong to the same sentence as Stalker. In fact, I think Stalker is more balanced for the game any other melee counter-parts. Certain ATs are doing "too much" damage if you ask me (given the right situation and right set combinations). -
Quote:Wow.. Stalker's HP Cap is the same as Mastermind, Defender and Corruptor? Damn. That is sad.Originally Posted by Kioshi
Read my first post, a Peacebringer (base hp 1070 vs 1204 from Stalker) can get to 2k with Essence Boost (Dull Pain) + Dwarf and accolades, that's why they put a high hp cap on an AT with little more HP than a controller.
HP caps: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hit_Points
I mean, if you read my first post again you'll understand, a regen scrapper, a /EA Brute on Overload, etc, can use these caps to full advantage, Stalkers are the only one who can't.
Scrapper with Dull Pain slotted to ED cap for heal - 2132 hp - 2400 with accolades, almost their cap.
Stalker with Dull Pain unslotted - 1685 hp. Oh wait the cap is 1606 like blasters and trollers and corruptors and defenders so sucks to be you regen Stalker(and ice in i21), you'll stop at 1606 regardless of sets +hp bonuses and accolades. Your Dull Pain/Hoarfrost is only a big heal with lousy recharge.
(If the cap was higher, my regen Stalker could go to 1918 - only 200 less than the Scrapper, or 2159 with accolades - with IOs we could reach the Scrapper cap of 2409 since it's not hard to build an IO'ed Stalker without a +hp power that hits the 1606 cap)
Willpower Stalker with HPT - 1561 hp - get one accolade and you're at the cap, isn't that nice? Screw if you have IO +hp bonuses they're good for nothing since HPT is an auto power.
People say overload is the best tier 9 'godmode' (if you like godmodes, I personally do) because it raises your max hp. I don't need to say Stalkers benefit very little from it. Brutes can go from 1499 (base hp without accos) to 2692 HP with Overload. Stalkers go from 1204 to.... 1606 lol.
They can go for a happy middle ground like 2000 or something. That's still almost 400 more HP which can prevent a lot of one-shot situation.
Scrapper's cap is more than 800 HP. sigh....
Somehow I feel Stalker isn't getting any survival buff because they want Stalker to be easier to kill in pvp. -
Quote:You can't even use build up + AS to kill most +2 lieut with any kind of lethal/smashing resistance at lvl 50.Originally Posted by untoldhero
Why I see your compeling argument fair and just, I really can't see devs doing anthing. Stalkers are what they are and get good benefits for it. AS is a rather special power and pretty much one hits bosses.
I will trade my special Assassin Strike for your Dragon Tail or Whirling Hand any day. You know why? Because Eagle Claw already critical hard enough and Energy Melee already has two heavy hitters. The "need" for Assassin Strike on these two sets greatly reduce at higher level. AS is useful on Spines if you need one heavy punch on a boss (although most Spines just open the battle with BU + Throw Spines). -
I am hoping for more diversity in Incarnate Powers for specific ATs.
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Quote:It's due to "stance" issue. Oni's AI keeps checking for "stance", whether to keep using range (check distance) or to go forward to use Melee attacks. Oni's AI is constantly struggling to find the right stance. In a way, yeah, he has too many attacks.Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
it's weird that the AI suffers from "too many attacks syndrome" that it doesn't know what to use when a power is recharged...
Oni has:
Fire Blast 4s
Ring of Fire 4s
Char 8s
Fire Sword 3s
Fire Hack Sword 6s
There shouldn't be any major delay in his attack when he draws the sword out but if you have Oni, study him. He has so many pauses. I've also noticed that Oni uses more attacks when you don't assign him target. He would switch target and use more attacks.
In comparison to Demon Price, all of his attacks have 8s recharge which doesn't leave too much room for Prince to decide which attacks to use. 8s leaves good space in between each attack. As for Oni, once several attacks are recharged, which one should he use? Should he use Fire Blast or Ring of Fire? Should he keep using Fire Sword or Char? Oni needs a re-vamp because his design is based on the old pet AI where once he is at melee range, he uses mostly melee attacks and nothing else and vice versa. With the new pet AI change, he doesn't know when to use what.
The most aggressive minion in the game is Genin. Yes, I know they are fragile but they sure don't hold back when it comes to attacking. They use Crane and Exploding Throwing Star as soon as they are recharged and they constantly shoot stars even at melee range.
The most aggressive boss pet is Lich. Yes, he doesn't do much damage but he constantly uses powers whenever they are recharged. -
Quote:I honestly don't know much about HP CAP. I've always under the impression that Tanker (or maybe Brute too) has the highest Cap and then Scrapper/Blaster and the rest are the same. lolOriginally Posted by Kioshi
Yeah because my Brute can mag 4 hold a boss in 1.5 seconds with Seismic Smash, and a hold is usually better than a Stun. And since TF is mag 3 now, well why keep it making about the same damage of ET from Hide?
The cap is a bug imo. A bug they didn't care to fix. We have too many powers (HPT, Dull Pain, Overload, the upcoming Hoarfrost) that could take advantage of a higher HP cap. Warshades have ONE (Dwarf) and they get a 2409 hp cap just because of that. Banes have one +HP power that gets them to 1500 hp with accos, and Crabs and PBs have one that puts them at 1918 with accos (Dull Pain) - all these ATs have lower base HP than Stalkers.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but Widows (a separate AT since you could put Crabs and Banes in the same bag, so makes sense for banes having 2409 hp cap since they're a branch from Crabs who can get way more than Banes off this larger pool) also have the 2409 HP cap without any powers to boost their maxHP.
BTW, all these Epic ATs have lower HP than Stalkers (1070 - defender and controller HP - vs 1204) and they can reach more than 2k Hit Points (in the case of a Dwarf with accos or a Crab with some set bonuses).
I do love my Stalkers but I actually don't have as many of them as I'd like because of these limitations. Once I put together a very very nice build for a Spines/DA. Then it occurred to me... Except for the more manageable end drain (since I don't use purps when planning builds) I though 'damn I'm losing Death Shroud and Quills, and the AoEs only have 30% (Spine Burst) or 50% (Throws Spines) chance to crit.
Also, I know I would be getting much more mileage out of my elec/regen stalker if he was 'allowed' to have 2k+ hp with dull pain like every other AT who has it.
What is Stalker's cap anyway? I am surprised that SoA can go up to 2409. I thought all SoA has low HP Cap due to their high defense. This means my Fortunata still has a lot to fill.
Judging from what you say, Stalker's damage is even more NOT JUSTIFIED with that low HP Cap. My biggest problem with all my stalkers is damage. I think my Stalker survives fine but then again, I've never tried Regeneration (I hate that set).
When I have full team critical buff, damage is good but why do Stalkers need to rely on others to have high damage potential? Stalker alone should have the highest melee damage (Blaster should have the highest damage potential).
Edit: Speaking of Bugs, I still can't figure out why 3 out of 4 Epic sets cannot critical while Fireball has 100% critical. I refuse to think this is "intended". Even Scrapper version can critical with all 4 sets. I must have submitted 3 bug reports on this. I think this is a pretty serious bug because I literally dropped Weaponry and respec my build due to no critical. Critical is a BIG part of Stalker's design and if the attacks can't critical, it defeats the purpose. This is like Controller doesn't get Containment with patron attacks. I haven't tried patron on controller but I think they do get containment. Funny how Stalker is always over-looked. Stalker is always that last little poor kid in the corner. Sometimes they remember you and sometimes they forget about his existence. -
Quote:Oh which is even better!Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
They changed Conserve Power to Energize, not Energy Drain. They did remove the heal from Energy Drain, though, and are replacing it with a scaling defense buff... <3
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Quote:Isn't it funny that whenever Heroes are getting Villain sets, the sets immediately gets attention and sometimes buffed? :POriginally Posted by Kioshi
I hate to get into the 'devs hate villains' argument, but compare the buffs to EA they've done before and how much they are making the set better now that scrappers are getting it. Same goes when they got Electric Armor, my sm/elec Brute is much better now... because Tankers and Scrappers got it. But not even changing the HP cap (again, I consider it a fix, not a buff) makes me think they 'hate' Stalkers more.
It doesn't seem to matter how much we've complained about Repel aura in Energy Aura previously, but as soon as Scrapper is getting it, it's changed.
Oh, how I love conspiracy theories....
And I do agree that Energy Melee needs more love. Total Focus should critical harder.
But I don't want to see Stalker having higher HP. We don't need Scrapper level HP. We just need to out-damage Scrappers on a regular basis. I can live with less survival but my damage needs to be the highest among all 4 melee. And in the sets that have +max HP, they can add a bit more overall resistance to make up the fact that Stalker has less HP cap. -
Quote:Well, to make design purpose more interesting, I would only add Defense Debuff Resistance on ninjas and fix Oni's AI so he would use whatever it's recharged.Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
poor Ninjas...they could use a buff lol
If they make Oni's AI better, Oni's damage potential is extremely high. He has 2 melee, 3 range and 2 aoe.
I'll make a clear distinction between Ninja and Necro. I'll make sure Ninja out-damage even more than other sets (at the loss of survival) and make Necro survive even better. Zombies need to have Lethal resistance and Grave Knights need to have both S/L. I find it odd that it is range pet like Robot that has more survival than Necro. -
Quote:I really wish the previous dev team wasn't that loyal to "cottage rule" because some powers just don't fit certain AT.Originally Posted by FlashToo
Wouldn't that change what sets could be slotted? I thought changing something from ST damage to AoE damage would break the Cottage Rule, because of that.
In fact, they made a cottage rule change on Blaster's Dark Blast. The current Dark Blast on Corr/Defender don't have Aim but in order for Dark Blast to fit Blaster's need, they made two major changes. One is to add Aim and one is to combine aoe knockback with nightfall. They could have just ported the exact same version of Dark Blast to Blaster and hear them complain. :P Why should Dominator not complain about certain powers in certain set that just doesn't make sense. Propel is one of them.
Now looking at Propel, Dominator does NOT need Propel. It has such awful activation time and the damage is only "meh". Propel makes some sense for Controller who doesn't have a legit attack until epic.
They also changed Stalker's Energy Aura greatly. They changed Repel Aura to Stun Aura and Energy Drain to something like Energize (heal + endurance efficiency).
I can argue that Propel is mostly used for knock back so making it a Knock Up isn't completely changing the core purpose of the power. They can make it Group Lift but with much longer recharge (24s). -
I skipped both Personal Force Field and Repel aura. I had the repel aura but the endurance cost is just way too high. I took Tough instead and I don't regret it at all. The repel aura is very situational, and so is PFF and Force bubble.
I didn't take PFF because if things go bad, I run away in bg mode just like I do with all my other toons. PFF doesn't have stealth so it's not like I can just ignore things and even if I do, I would still draw aggro to me.
I took Force bubble just because it's a lvl 38 power. I rarely use it. Last night I did use it at choke point in BAF which I find surprisingly helpful.
I don't find any of the arrow attacks worth using. They have no real secondary effects that can be used for procs. Fistful of Arrow is ok if you put Chance for Energy and Chance for Knock Down. I just simply 5 slot Smoke Flash and throw it whenever it's up. -
Focus also has 100% knock down and it doesn't require weapon redraw. If you switch between Dark Blast and claw attacks, you will need to redraw.
Of course you can take both to have two range attacks. My old Claw Stalker did. -
By the way, tier 4 Musculature is totally worth it. I can see why it requires two Tier 3 paths because at tier 3, it boost damage % to 121 but at tier 4, it boosts up to 154% which is more than DOUBLE of tier 3's value.
I did think about getting Nerve for the +defense but at the end of day, I think I already have enough defense for Ninjas. They just need to kill faster and smoke flash makes one of them double damage most of the time. So if I can increase Genin's damage by 10, that means it's 20 damage after smoke flash.
By the way, Genin is the best choice for Smoke Flash in Trials. Their damage is the highest when they are at 50+2 with you.