Redlynne

Yeah well ... the whole reason why the Interrupt is there is because ... uh ... um ... ... it's a Melee Range SNIPE Power (yeah, that doesn't make sense to me either) ... with an extra penalty on it to keep it from doing Awesome Damage all the time, because Stalkers really shouldn't be using Single Target NUKE powers ... or ... something ...



"Mind if I like down here for a minute?"
- Ed Grubermann

Galtsman from I'm Sick Of You All Earth

LORD STATESman from Endless Oratory Earth (he talks his enemies to death!)

Here's a wild and wacky thought ...

What if Assassin Strike only had an Interrupt Time while Hidden?
What if when not Hidden, the Interrupt Time was "zero" (or as close to zero as to make no difference). It ought to be perfectly possible to apply a +10,000% Interrupt Reduction when NOT HIDDEN modifier into the power (somehow) so as to achieve this effect.

I think that's just the Devs (re)discovering that the Terror (OF BOREDOM) Volta Trial is ... literally ... a waste of time.

Thread Necro ... because Terror (of Boredom) Volta is the WST again this week.

I spend more time WAITING for something to happen in the Reactor Room than is needed to COMPLETE either a BAF or a Lambda Trial!

Ironically, Force Feedback is "best" slotted into powers which have a base recharge time of 20 seconds or less. That's because of how the Proc self-suppresses and how its +100% Recharge bonus only "operates" for 5 seconds at a stretch ... which is a HUGE boost to quick recharging powers, but which is almost a "margin of error" adjustment to long recharge powers like Hasten (or Phantasm, in this case).

I kept asking Kheldian Questions during the Q&A section and Zwillinger kept studiously ignoring them. Was rather annoying since Arbiter Hawk has been the ... most communicative ... of the Red Names on Kheldian Issues up until this point.

The flipside of all of this is that Ninjas are the flimsiest of pets.

In that case, the in-game store can stay down forever.

Makes sense that Reese would have ... issues ... after ... uh ... *submitting himself* to the ... um ... Tender Mercies ... offered by ... Dominatrix ... better known as Praetor Duncan.

And I can easily see Praetor Duncan LYING to Reese and telling him that he is now somehow ... undying ... in much the same way that BV is ... undying. After all, nothing makes a LIE stronger than mixing it with a TRUTH of some kind.

The weakness of the Trials, BAF in particular during the prisoner phase, is that they're too tightly scripted. Once people "worked out the script" it was EASY to adapt play in ways that exploit that scripting. When the Trials were "new" they were hard, simply because people didn't know the "patterns" the Trials followed. But now that those "patterns" have been discovered, and it is known that the variability of them is severely limited ... it's not that difficult to defeat those Scripts.

Here's a thought. What if Assassin Strike, rather than being a Melee Range Snipe (yes, it's basically that stupid of a construction) ... what if instead, we had something like a Build Up TOGGLE (yes, toggle!) that had a 1 second activation time with 5 second duration buff ... so you could stack it 5 times on yourself. You'd then get a variable damage increase that corresponds to the amount of prep time spent preparing the strike (ie. 1-5 seconds). While the toggle is building up, you are rooted, and the toggle is automatically shut off by your next attack and then has to recharge.

Cross couple that with making Hide give you +Defense to Melee, Ranged AND AoE while Hidden ... not *just* AoE ... and you'd be able to sidestep a tremendous number of problems with making Placate "work right" through Debuffs (which EVERY Stalker Primary applies!). It would be a workaround, rather than a solution, but one that would "work" in actual gameplay ... except when it "doesn't" due to a Lucky Hit. Hide would then become something akin to a Pocket Elude, which then "breaks" when hit, or when attacking, for 10 seconds.

The *only* way you'd be able to do Hide as a Click Power, rather than a Toggle, would be if you can "click off" buffs on yourself (like WoW permits, for instance). Currently, in Issue 20, that functionality does not exist. But supposedly, in Issue 21, we will be able to "Click to Expire" buffs that are in effect on yourself. So it would be possible to recode Hide as being a Click Power with a LONG duration and a short(ish) recharge like you say.

Still don't think that would be that wise a choice to implement though.

We do know that it is possible for NPCs to cast powers "upon defeat" ... Exhibit A being Nemesis Lieutenants and their Vengeance. It should therefore be possible to apply a "Grant Power" effect to Stalker Primary Attacks which will cause the affected $Target(s) to cast a(n invisible) "carrier power effect" in a PBAoE when they are Defeated which then triggers a HIDE NOW activation on all Stalkers within melee range of the Defeated $Target(s) ... because they have been Defeated.

So it would seem to be technically feasible to do this ... but I honestly don't see the "game changing utility" of being able to implement this, mainly because it will be far more useful on Piles o' Minions, where it's not really needed, rather than on Tough Boss(es), where it is. So although a Hide On Defeat Of $Target mechanic would be "nice to have" in that it would aid Stalkers in better leveraging their Hide Mechanic than they have up until now, it isn't the sort of Combat Aid that I'm thinking Stalkers need to be something OTHER THAN gimped Scrappers.

What if you had a Mastermind Primary that ran on Toggles instead of Clicks for Summons? You could have something that would just automatically summon one new Pet every 10/20/30 seconds running as a Toggle, which would have an upper limit on the number of Pets that can be concurrently summoned (3/2/1 as usual). The upgrade powers would also be Toggles, that automatically apply themselves (in Do Not Stack fashion) to every Pet with a 1 minute duration (so if the Pet runs off after something, they don't "un-upgrade immediately" when leaving PBAoE radius of you).

That would give you 5 Toggles which are continuously draining endurance in your Primary ... but which are "Set and Forget" as they keep summoning new henchmen for you whenever one (or more) of your henchmen gets defeated. The penalty, relative to the Click Summons/Upgrades, is that you can't summon "on demand" and that you'll pay out more Endurance over time than the Click system would cost you ... in exchange for a measure of convenience which allows you, the Player, to focus on more than just micromanagement of (re)summoning.



Wacky ... but possible to do ...

Here's a monkey wrench to consider, that would make Stalkers into more of a "flickery" type of Hit-and-Run attacker.

• Critical Hits when NOT Hidden will automatically cast a 3 second Melee Range PBAoE Placate and Hide the Stalker.
• Critical Hits when HIDDEN will automatically recharge Build Up for all Stalker Primaries.

Basically, Critical Hits perform two different functions beyond just merely inflicting Damage On Target, which then leverage the Stalker's AT Signature Hidden capability. Essentially, Critical Hits would enable the Stalker to "blip in and out" Hidden Status while scrapping against spawn groups in a way which is NOT POSSIBLE for other ATs to do. The overall net effect would be that Stalkers would be able to "chain together" Critical Hits in ways that a Scrapper wouldn't (be able to count on doing).