Jibikao

It doesn't hurt me at all. It only shows me that you are very biased and unwillingly to accept the fact that not every set is designed to do the same amount of DPS. There are other factors involved.

So good luck finding your conclusive evidence because beating a pylon doesn't really mean much to me. Just because SJ has the best dps against a pylon doesn't mean it's the best set and I've given examples of situations where SJ isn't superior, except that you tend to think SJ is superior in EVERY aspect of the game. Yes, I am putting words in your mouth again because that's the impression you are giving me. Don't deny.

I think more people think more sets need to be brought up closer to SJ, Elec, Spines and Kinetic level than bringing them down. Before you nerf any set, make other sets better first.

i disagree that "personal experience" means nothing. I think personal experience means even more than "hard data" when people try to calculate against a Pylon that is stationary and predictable in behavior.

You don't think the dev have calculated SJ's performance?

And I also disagree that Spines sucks. Obviously you are very biased on SJ and there is no point in debating. A well-slotted Spines and Elec are very good. Yes, they don't have SJ's kind of ST damage but they make it up for everything else. Spine has good aoe and very good slow debuff that's very beneficial to the team. It's even more nasty if you combo with /Ice. The slow debuffs will make enemies run away slower which will help melee to kill runners more efficiently.

Elec's ST damage isn't the top but it's not bad either. At some point you gotta find a good balance between ST and AoE. SJ has high damage aoe but small radius. I love my SJ/Ice but I also love my Elec/Will and Spine/Nin. I feel each combo shines in different area. Elec is at its best to take out easier minions. Spines is better at aoeing large spawns that take a bit longer to kill. SJ is very good at burst damage and taking out that one annoying target.


And I do have problems with MA and have said it many times, but I just don't think MA's ST damage is that inferior to SJ. It may be a tiny % off but that's hardly unplayable or rewarding a nerf on SJ.

I understand this risk as well but this game is all about stacking buffs/debuffs. It's no different than seeing a super team of 8 Corr/Defender/Controller stacking whatever buffs/debuffs they have.

This is the only game that I've played that puts almost no limit on stacking buffs/debuffs. I know there's cap but it seldom gets there and if it gets there, it's already so overpowering already.


My only problem is that I see Wolves/Lions casting at similar time and for the same effect. It is not an issue if one of them dies and I resummon and I start another cycle of Howling and Roar. I just find it annoying to see the pets wasting their casting time/endurance just to over-write the other.


My suggestion of having different variation of buffs has its problem too because if one of them keeps dying, then you are not going to get that kind of buff. Oh well..

I like to slot my Dominate with purple Chance for Smashing and Chance for Negative (very expensive!) because I realize that my Fort is never going to be like Dominator or even Controller. Things that I can hold, I can do it with two holds. Things that I can't hold (AV, Hero), it really doesn't matter how much +hold duration or procs I have. Because of this, I treat Dominate as one of the best Range Attacks in the game. It is simply a good range attack with 100% mag 3 hold.

Fortunata is sturdy enough that even if the first hold doesn't work, she can still survive well.


I used to slot a mix of +hold and +damage but then I focus all on +damage and procs. With high enough recharge, I can stack two holds easily.

Actually, the only thing I can agree on is some sets need to be brought UP first and then you compare them. Right now some old sets lose pbaoe but their ST ability is not greater than SJ.

Bring up the performances of other sets and then we have a more clearer picture.

I have both incarnate SJ and MA. While SJ has greater burst damage, MA has a much smoother dps. In regular game setting, that massive burst damage can easily be wasted.


And also, I don't think SJ is superior than Electricity and Spines. Elec and Spine with the new AS perform extremely well on a large team.

Shadow Maul only has 50% chance to critical from Hidden because it's a pbaoe. I know it sucks but that's how it is.

Shadow Maul still has its natural chance to critical at 10% and 3% more with each party member around you (30 radius), up to 21%, so that's 31% total.

That's a good point.

Or they can increase size to 20' or 25' so the pets don't cast buffs that overlap each other.

It seemed unfair to me at that time because Stalker doesn't get the FULL combo 3 critical value, while Brute's Fury enhances Combo 3 and Scrapper's base damage is much higher than Stalker's.

Stalker, at that time, also didn't have the new Assassin Strike and does not have Rib Cracker's -resist.

So yeah, it "seemed" unfair to me at that time and Synapse agreed with me but later he introduced the new AS and Focus system.

Am I clear?

There is no secrete that some sets got a lot more out of the new AS system. Spines, Electricity, Kinetic and SJ got a greater buff IMO. I am not sold that SJ is overpowering but I am sold that some sets are under-performing. If the dev wants to nerf SJ's damage, then other versions need to be brought down as well. And yes, "more damage" is what this Stalker AT needs. Stalker AT is not designed to be a tanker, meatshield, buffer, debuff, controller... Stalker's role is only to deal Damage. They can be fancy about it and add some flavors to each set but at the end of day, Stalker AT is all about dealing damage. And I do like using Demoralize on a team. I know some stalkers just scrap out.

I suspect it's "intentional" at first but if that's the case, then it's a pretty poor design. You can't control "when" the pets use those long-recharge buffs like Roar and Howl. The pets use them as soon as the upgrade is on.

What is the point of casting two overlapping buffs together? The pets spend like 2s to cast those buffs. Unless the dev can magically force the pets to only use it when the other buff wears off (it's impossible in this game I know), I don't understand the logic of this design.

I see two Lions casting Roar together all the time but only one serves a purpose. Why spending the extra activation time and endurance? (I've also noticed Lions are using a lot more endurance now)

I would much rather have each buff being a bit weaker but they can stack.

It's annoying because Protector Robot's force field can stack and Enforcer's Maneuver/Tactics/Assault can stack.


My ideal design of these "long-recharge" is to have a variety in each buff.

Alpha buffs +Damage and +Tohit
Howling 1 +Tohit
Howling 2 +Damage

Lion 1 Roar buffs Defense
Lion 2 Roar buffs Resistance or +Regen

This way, you don't waste activation time and endurance on overlapping buffs.

Man, you like challenges don't ya. 3 /Poison toons? My 2nd MM is Necro/Poson. I can't even remember which server this toon is on now. LOL That's how much I don't like it.

War Mace is definitely one set that I'll play as Stalker!!!

Scrapper's StJ's ST damage may be a bit behind Stalker in terms of raw damage but I am sure Scrapper can make it up with a bit higher HP and more aoe damage from secondaries. I just don't see some people's point of view that just because Stalker is now doing similar damage as Scrapper, it needs to be nerfed.

Yes I am very well aware of that...

The post said many T9 already has 100% critical so Uppercut shouldn't be 100% and I am merely pointing out that majority of T9 are not 100% critical. T_T


And also, StJ was created before they introduced the new Assassin Strike. Who knows.. maybe Synapse already had that idea or it was introduced later. If it's later, then StJ got lucky that it has two extreme ST attacks because nerfing other powers to fit the new AS in seems counter-productive.

I am not sure if pylon test is the "true" measurement of how Scrapper VS Stalker. I know it's probably the best method we have but Stalker gets a lot more ST damage with party members around him, while Scrapper's aoe has greater potential on a larger team.

And I am also curious to find out if Scrapper's SJ is really that weaker than Stalker's.

1. Not all T9 attacks have auto critical 100% damage. Not Ninja, Broadsword, Claw, Dual Blade, Energy Melee, Kinetic Melee, Electricity, and Spine. I don't know where you get the idea that many T9 attacks have 100% critical chance with double the damage.


2. Crushing Uppercut has 25s base recharge which is longer than most T9 attacks. Uppercut is no doubt an excellent attack but it is still only one target. And I've played so many Stalkers and I can tell you that SJ is not overpowered on a large team setting. SJ mostly only excels in ST damage. I'll gladly take Electricity over SJ on a large team. Is SJ better than MA? Sure. But is MA too weak? Hell yeah. There is no reason to give Stalker 7 ST attacks in a primary set. Actually, "weak" is the wrong choice of word. I would say "Bad Design" is more like it. There is no reason to create a set with 7 ST attacks and no aoe.


I don't understand the notion that just because some old sets are "bad", the new sets need to get nerfed. It's just like I've been reading more about Scrappers needing a buff just because Stalker suddenly got better? Stalker, as a 10/10 Melee Damage Specialist, was way under-powered.

Yup. I PMed Synapse about this issue when SJ was in beta because for an AT that excels in critical damage, it SEEMED unfair that Stalker's critical damage with combo 3 is really just combo 3 + combo 0 damage. Brute's Fury, however, buffs combo 3's base damage.

At that time, he agreed that he would make Shin Breaker a 10s attack (due to the loss of Rib Cracker's -resist) but I guess things have changed after the new Assassin Strike.

SJ's performance is really good but overpowered? Nah. Stalker has no secondary that can deal massive aoe damage. Stalker's performance is still very "restricted". It is other sets that need to be brought closer to SJ's.

I agree. I think the dev knows that some old sets are suffering a lot without that one good pbaoe.

In a way, I am happy that they recognize this so when they take one power out, it's usually not the most critical one. SJ is a good example. It lacks Rib Cracker (would have been my favorite move though!) but it has AS and gains two combo points. And really, SJ's aoe has pretty small radius (but high damage). Fair enough!

Kinetic Melee is a strange one. I know many players who I play with do not like the aoe knock back cone. Well, Stalker doesn't have that problem. Stalker has a very high damage Burst and refreshing Build Up system.

Staff loses one cone but the set still has one cone in Guarded and a pbaoe in Eye of Storm. Stalker Staff gains an amazing ST attack and the trade off is the lack of Form variety. Fair enough.


Looking at MA Stalker, the set really has no need for Thunder Kick.

I was going to mention those two sets.. I've tried Beam Rifle on Blaster. It has very high ST damage but overpowered? No way.

My Beast/Time is lvl 29. It's a fun set for me because I've always loved the "Druid" theme. This set has some critical problems and mainly it's because they are all melee-oriented. There are some minor AI issues and survival issue 'cause pets all run in (easy target for massive aoe).

I won't call Beast and Beam Rifle "pay to win" sets. /Time is strong and the dev has said that they want /Time to be as popular as /Kin and /Rad. /Time makes /Poison look bad but is that really /Time's problem or /Poison just needs a bit more love? /Poison has always been a less popular set and for a good reason.

Don't know about TW because stalker doesn't get it. And the new Staff looks good to me. I think Staff will be in the middle ground for ST and AoE. There is nothing wrong to be in the middle ground.

Don't worry I don't bite (normally). Exactly. Stalker is meant to have the highest 10/10 Melee Rating and it is the old sets that don't match up to 10/10 excellency. The newer sets are similar to what Scrapper/Brute get so why should we nerf them just because other old sets are weaker?

Stalker is supposed to out damage Brute and other ATs without buff/debuff situation. If some of you feel your Stalker is doing GREAT damage now, congrats, that's what the design goal is.

Who is forcing you to buy it?

You get VIP points for a reason. Not only you get free character transfer tokens as VIP (it used to cost money), you now have the options to buy stuff that you want. You also get Signature Story arcs for free.

Not all the sets cost points. The two new Dark/Dark are free for VIP.

We get new stuff way faster right now. I am not as patient as you are. I want new stuff quicker.


Seriously, did any of you thought Beast Mastery was even on the list 3 months ago? I know I didn't. It was leaked out. We were totally shocked when Beast was on beta (unfinished).