Stalk_obot_EU

Today in Sirens Call I was a part and party to the most unfair and abuse of powers I would have ever imagined possible in the PVP areas. The imbalance was so much that I have dubbed our exceedingly unsporting group the League of Evil

The scene is this, Sirens Call, monday evening and Control-obot just joined up with 6 other PVP controllers containing no less than 3 storm controllers. Combined we laid waste to all villains unfortunate enough to cross our path, Brutes died in seconds as our feeble solo damage when combined was farcically powerful.

Now a team of one specific AT is a thing to behold and can be insanely powerful but I cant really imagine any other AT specific team/teams being a patch on our troller squad

I would like to try and organise a time on Defiant in Sirens call and get as many Villains as possible to try and take on this rather specialised team say if you are interested and maybe TG can set something up (You already must have known he was largely responsible for our banding together )

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heh yeah, stalkers are definately not squishy- they can rack up the highest number of kills out of all the ATs, with ease- that really doesn't cry out as squishy to me.

As for regens, they have least chance against a stalker if you think about it, regens suffer most from alpha strike and high damage coming at a high rate, and that is effectively what a stalker is all about, so basically a regenner has less chance of surviving against a stalker than say an SR scrapper as an sr scrapper has a greater chance to mitigate that AS with defence as rare as it is its true, and even more so at the high end of PvP-elude

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No, what you mean to say is not ALL stalkers are squishy, mine is but I built him that way. They still ahve less def and much less HPs though but their powers are geared towards this.

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It was great fun starting the TP process and pre-loading total focus so I could bash them before they could react

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It may have been great fun for you but not at all for your victims. This power/tactic/combo/whatever you want is the less resisted in the whole game. Only highest values of defense or a kinetic can protect you from it. And if you're a squishy (blaster/defender/corruptor/dominator/some controllers), even if u scream through TS the first second you see the animation, you're already dead. This power really needs to be fixed, maybe by increasing the number of buffs protecting from it or by severly decreasing its precision...

Most of people on the boards are good PvP players, who will know how to use different strategies but IG players who just read the guides halfway will have a very less efficient adaptation, I hope. For example, we did a massive battle in SC on Vigilance, I came with my defender, did a pick-up group (no try to optimize anything, it was just for the big big battle) so no kinetics. I was tp'ed all evening long Even, once, I was tp'ed in a group, ready to kill me by a very fair 5 vs 1, but another group tp'ed me right away, and another one, it was tp foe killing robbery (this example just to show how narrow-minded are people using this tactic in massive battles)

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All my victims? You mean the friends I was playing against? It was the first time I was in there on this alt and I know how to play ethically, I see no harm in TPing a flying warshade into my reach or for that matter pulling runners back into the conflict.

As for its precision, given that the accuracy in pvp is reduced from .75 to .5 its already pretty damn imprecise, people have to slot it up to get any real benefit from it and if they are willing to invest in the power they should be able to use it, same with any other power.

I couldnt comment on the game ethics on the US servers but I have yet to witness any kind of TP kill robbing on defiant to say the least.

TP foe is not a problem if you are quick to react, its not as effective as it could be due to not being able to use anothers targetting in PVP, nor does it need "balancing" IMO. I only have the power on my Stone brute which is not one of my PVP characters, I dont need the power on my PVPers nor do I ahve any desire to spec it in, I just happened to be missioning in Sirens and had a bit of a break

Sadly Dominators are thin on the ground in the PVP zones only Winter the Black seems to be in there regularly

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Well. Many a villain using Teleport Foe on my en/en has felt PRETTY stupid when they suddenly lie face down in the mud after about 7 seconds of blasting luuv, so I'll say there are way too many newbies (don't confuse with n00bs) who blindly follow half[censored] PvP suggestions from the boards. Only once have I been teleported and died as a direct consequence, and that was due to a drone.
But personally, I haven't had such a big problem with TP foe. of all the time spent in Sirens, I think I've been tp'ed 4-5 times. maybe I'm not on in the most tp-foe-heavy hours?

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Its not a TP foe heavy zone to be honest. I just got TP foe on my new EM/Stone brute and took it to sirens last night (need tp pool for when soloing with granite without my kinetic friends ) It was great fun starting the TP process and pre-loading total focus so I could bash them before they could react

Took my new NRG/Stone brute into Sirens last night and TPing the warshade who was floating above shooting at us down and into my total focus made me smile

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stalk-obot-dude snowstorm is -fly and a slow which means you have no way of getting away from us stormies if your anchored because your superspeed is reduced to a crawl, i thought you'd start to notice that when fighting my troller botty, Get SJ or TP!!!! i keep telling you!!!!


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Duh, I do know that but when hit with slow with SS the effects and somewhat deminished to say the least and I still (usually) manage to get away unless there are other trollers stacking things, I dont get into positions where u can stack hotfeet on me any more

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Yep tp them off a roof instead while your team waits to pounce on the team that were hiding under the stormies skirt

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Damn u stop giving all secrets away!!!

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Heh, thats what we did in BB after the christmas party to the femme fatales, TP stormie away and rush on in

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And finally, developers should NOT only look at "team balancing". 1 on 1 is just as important.

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Problem with that is where do you draw the line? Empaths that are balances against brutes is an extream and surreal example but you know what I mean. None of the perceived "strong" pvp builds are unsumountable, just different and require a different approach.

Personally what I think is wrong is the detoggle ability of blasters V brutes. My NRG/INV brute who can plough through PVE without a pause, gets battered in Sirens by NRG blasters when defiance starts to kick in and my defence falls so easy its not even funny. Sadly this means I am somewhat loath to take my brute to the PVP zones

Still, even though I dont think anyone here will say the PVP system is perfect its not bad, it could be a LOT worse and it is a lot of fun in Sirens Call on defiant most of the time (when there are semi-even teams)

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Indeed, Spines is the only ranged stalker set and build up + impale takes 50%+ of any stormies health off on one hit, 2 more crits and hes down. Spines is the best stalker set for trollers who utilise PBAOES (IMO) as impale is a damn fine attack. TP into the stormie, land practiced brawler and TP away again is another good way of KOing 50%+ of a stormies health away, when me and D'monique are roaming sirens, stormies know they are vulnerable Otherwise due to the close combat nature of stalkers stormies are the biggest pain

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Hey, what happened to claws and focus?

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Not played them or teamed with anyone with them is all excuse my ignorance

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Nah, leave stormies alone. I only got mine to avoid stalkers :P

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Thats funny, stormies are the only reason I made my stalker

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hehe. i remember u saying on another post that your stalker was built as an anti stormie. Everything I hear suggests stormies are strong against stalkers. Except maybe spines.

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Indeed, Spines is the only ranged stalker set and build up + impale takes 50%+ of any stormies health off on one hit, 2 more crits and hes down. Spines is the best stalker set for trollers who utilise PBAOES (IMO) as impale is a damn fine attack. TP into the stormie, land practiced brawler and TP away again is another good way of KOing 50%+ of a stormies health away, when me and D'monique are roaming sirens, stormies know they are vulnerable Otherwise due to the close combat nature of stalkers stormies are the biggest pain

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Stalk-o-bot (I think) and some other stalker introduced me to the amazing pool power that is Teleport foe. Cue 2 AS strikes and splat on the ground

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Aye sounds like botty and D'mon tactics to me scoundrels

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Nice to see a good natured `new` pvper in sirens Frazz and yeah me and D'mon are a royal pain in the [censored] However with Gandrel we ahve to impale and practiced brawler him as hes using repel these days :P

(For the record I dont have the TP foe power pool but others do but we dont TP people out of hospital/hero base )

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Some very funny ones. It's good to hear people are having fun PvPing and not everyones letting the banter that does happen in pvp get to them

I'll have to add another one. Was just the other day when fighting in sirens. It was some pretty regulars that had teamed up on both sides. Well villains were having a rough time being mostly all stalkers except a brute or two, but they managed rather well and worked out some neat tactics

Well the moment came when stalk-obot dropped out of invis above our group to impale me after whichs seemed like a swarm of stalkers appeared around me and brought me down in seconds.

What made it a great pvp moment for me is that it was a well organised attack and i know the reason they did it was cause i was being a pain to them and I know Stalk was behind the setup. I could imagine what he was telling his group, that scoundrel

Also later that night I finally managed to catch or make sure another stalker (D'monique) didn't get away from us even though it did cost me my own neck but that was a very satisfying moment indeed as she's gotten away from me constantly til then. Very slippery one that one

Hmm odd how all my favority PvP moments seem to involve myself faceplanting

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I do prefer to play things a little more relaxed and just have fun but when things start to shift in terms of balance some teamwork and tactics have to come into play (its such a bonus when they involve Gandrel though ) Impales Immob must be really annoying for him as he cant reach a villain/npc to heal himself as the hoard decends upon him

I think there were 2 kinetics in there that night and I have never died so much before 2xSiphon speed and I just turn off all my toggles so I die faster as I know I am done for

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There is nothing skillful about holding a player in a container with hurricane once they have been tp'd into the container its an exploit by which the definition is using terrain in a way not intended by the dev's. There is certainly nothing skillfull in that style of play. Anyhow a few of us sent petitions out on it as we were forced to disconnect to escape and quite frankly none of the dev's I'm sure want to see people bouncing on and off the server due to this.

Got no problem with most controllers in PvP I find them a challenging class to play against. I win some I lose some I got Talin with focus on the rare occassion he stepped out from his bus stop but I see no way as to how that tactic cannot be conceived as an exploit. In fact if anyone complains on Broadcast its usually got something to do with the misuse of tp foe.

Building a rep from tping people into enclosed spaces and using hurricane to keep them thus using a clear terrain exploit does not constitute playing with skill. Anyone can build a controller to do that all you need are a few mates to finish of the victim. It is solely Reputation farming.

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It isnt rep farming as TG already has Maximum PVP rep points, check out info next time. I get abuse because I run around ASing people but thats my signiture move, as annoying as what he is doing can be for opponents he is only using his powers in an effective way, if he wasnt then u guys would ahve wiped the floor with him. Its easy to say something is too easy as opposed to working around it like the regulars in Sirens do against me and TG. I mean seriously where will it all end? Im a coward because I use hide and AS? People complaining about people using their powers to the best of their abilities is what its all about, I prefer killing a hard target than a easy one. I personally like it when he troller is roaming sirens, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to take him down as he isnt easy to beat solo. If you dont want him to utilise a specic map point make him come to you.

As for having to disconnect, if you didnt want to do this try speaking to him, I know for a fact that if you said something along the lines of "OK mate you got me but this is taking too damn long, let me out of here please" he would have done.

As far as I and most of the regulars in Sirens Call are concerned, the only abuse of TP foe is to TP someone into a tower, into a mob or out of the base, hes just using it the way I try to use my powers and thats to optimum effect.

Will just interject before this turn into a hate / look at my PVP e-willy thread

TG/ Talin le Thaed is a massively experienced pvp player and has racked up far more pvp points that I can amass (I have got well over 1000 thanks to them deleting my score periodically and he has got well more than that the scum ) He is not just some n00b using a few simple moves, hes using a specific pvp build thats slotted for maximum effect in the same vein as I have built my pvp stalker. Using the terrain in places like Sirens is all part of the game and there are much worse things that people can do than to block your exit with a power, he could ahve locked you in the tower (which is a practice I do not condone and will tell anyone who does this to pack it in as its weak, unless its a freind of mine and we are just messing about )

In TGs defense regarding his boasting, you need to understand that effective PVP players get all sorts of abuse from irregular players and though you may not have been indulging in this practice people do tend to get caught in the splashback. TG gets all sorts of abuse because he is effective so he trashtalks back, whats he supposed to do? Stop playing because he has his powers/technique down well? Not really fair is it. Also in arena matches (which he has played a ton of as well, its common practice to try and bug your opponents in order to make them make mistakes) My stalker has gotten loads of abuse on both broadcast and tells and its really not on and I usually broadcast whats been said advising I will petition the next insult to which the regulars on both sides tell the culprit to stop being an [censored].

On initial meetings with TG in an opposing pvp scenario its VERY easy to despise him but he is a mine of information and help should you make an effort to converse in a pleasant and jovial way. It was down to his build that I actually created and lvld my stalker who is now a nice little stormie hunter I took fly and superspeed to escape his -fly and slow and Entropy sheild from the Energy aura powerset to negate his TP foe and controller effects (takes a minimum of 3 good stacked holds to get an effect) and spines for the ranged impale to bypass the -acc of hurricane, impale when combined with build takes 50%+ of his health off (and has a nifty immob in it too ) Due to his immensly annoying storm troller I became a much better play and have a pretty good dedicated pvp stalker. Stormies are not a problem for me to take down due to my build but that said I am not built for scrapping so have next to no chance with good regen scrappers, its all swings and roundabouts

Also being a controller is very hard to kill someone, the amount of times I ahve had to apologise to people for the uber slow crushing death my controller is giving them is comical, its sometimes hard to get the hitters to disengage from their own battles

TG is really good at what he does and its annoying just learn from it is all I can advise, nothing is unsurmountable with a little thought

oh and I ahve flu so if im not coherant cut me some slack

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Nah, leave stormies alone. I only got mine to avoid stalkers :P

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Thats funny, stormies are the only reason I made my stalker

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I don't think it is very wise to pick a secondary set if your only getting one power from it. Anyway, I'm building this stalker for pvp only. So far I know I will pick Kinectic, Power and Entropy shields. Also picking Repulse, Enrgy Drain and Overload. Not so sure about Conserve Power. I wonder if with Conserve+Energy Drain we can do well without stamina. For pool powers, I'll get Stealth and SJ.

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My dedicated Spines/EA PVP stalker and anyone I ahve played with/against in Sirens Call on Defiant would disagree with you Its a somewhat unusual build sacrificing end draining toggles to run 2 travel powers consistantly (Fly and Superspeed, I can get the flyers wonderfully and if I am -fly I can run like the wind) I have racked up well over 1000 PVP points on this build and though its not easy to PVE with it it does exactly what I wanted it to

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Unless you have some specific personal reasons (themed AT for example) for picking EA, I'd suggest you scrap your stalker and re-make it using a different set, if you really want to PvP.


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Only reason I took EA was for the anti-tp foe and controller effect capabilities of Entropy sheild, it works very well. If you are going to PVP as a Stalker I highly recommend Entropy, if you are going to be more akin to a scrapper then another secondary will be needed.

im sick and its nearly 3am so excuse me if i become incoherant

I like the idea of a cone of vision, I nearly always strike from the back anyway as its harder for them to get a lock and hit back Am i cowardly the way I play? No, I dont mind if I die but I will do all I can to avoid getting squished (and I am squishy) and having to walk all that way back Im so weak I dont see it as much of a win for them if I just hang around, as it stands people are quite pleased when they kill me and I think this is a good thing, theres nothing like bringing down a player who are good players and you dont catch very often. Also I do generally work my way through a team and not just pick on the controllers/defenders, Im fully slotted on max pvp points, Im just in it for the fun

As for giving heroes a Stalker AT dont they get the Stalker in the future? At least I ahve been led to beleive there will be a "defecting" Task Force mission to swap sides, I look forward to stabbing the (generally) weaker defence villains and other stalkers

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I thought we were meant to get IR goggles when in control of sirens? We took it about 6 hours ago and still no goggles.

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you need to do it twice in a row to get IR goggles and Cryonite armour, these powers both suck though

Entropy is a must have, in fact its the only thing I have from the EA pool on my pvp stalker

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Sorry, but that would make ASing anyone but those AFK completely impossible (OK, so hold/stuns would make it possible, but not everyone has a power like that, and even then you'd need to hide again). You can't really expect someone to keep in meele range with a long charge time power that can be interrupted.


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True, but there have been times i've seen someone working up to AS me, but I couldnt target them for some reason (they were still transparent, couldnt click/tab onto them). Most melee attacks to my knowledge, still hit even if the target gets a distance away from you at the point of impact... 'knockout blow' for instance, is a nasty uppercut with a bit of wind-up time. Its not much, but a target can still get away from you but still recieve the damage. I can understand the reasoning for this, as normally the animation of the attack is just added fluff to keep the games superhero/villain/action feel. The problem is, AS acts like a snipershot. In my thinking, if there is a period of time when you can interrupt the attack, shouldnt it also check for distance too? I cant quite think of any way around this, but given the strength of AS, the fact it ignores distance does seem like too much.

It doesnt have to be -absolute- melee range, stalkers are supposed to be stealth classes, they shouldnt be able to 'tag' a target who runs by at high speed, finally AS'ing him at the end of the wind-up when he's halfway down the second block. Isnt that what your auto-critical from hiding is supposed to be for? Yes, I realise that reveals you, and unless you kill them quick, you're toast. I guess it would be nice to see a trap-like technique in each of the secondary sets for stalkers (other than ninjitsu which already has caltrops).

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You CAN get out of range from an AS strike, the AS animation is performed, it doesnt hit (not a miss) and you stay hidden but you ahve to wait for the power to build back up.

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The other alternative is simpler, of course. Cryptic remove the buff/debuff effects entirely. I would have no complaints.

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I would be a quick easy fix and seemingly please most people, I think the high XP missions are a good idea to gte people in the zone as you never know, they may dabble in pvp and stick around. From the posts in this thread I dont think anyone will miss the buffs/debuffs and would prefer consistency (me anyway )

If Im in a team I just need one "wingman" (Dmonique) and the rest are just distraction as we surgically work our way through

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Define 'decent'.

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Slim Shaolin

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I think Assasin Strike doesn't quite count as a crit...

Edit - Just checked a combat log from my stalker and it does say it's a Crit, so I assume the damage doesn't infact get resisted, not sure I agree with that.

I was under the wrong impression since I've been one shotted on my scrapper in Bloody Bay/Sirens (Lack of Tough, and at the time Dull Pain) but never in Warburg (Where I have Tough)

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3 medium insp will enable a one shot AS on a decent regen scrapper if anyones interested

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2 blasters run up to a stone-brute in granite.
2 stalkers run up to a stone-tank in granite.

Who dies first, Jack?

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Shall we do numbers (kinda)? I'll write the long answer first. Skip to the bottom line if you can't be bothered to read all about numbers and tactics.

We'll assume that this is in Warburg, and that both of the stalkers have taken their "Elude" type toggles with 3 slots for defence in each. A */SR stalker (don't know the numbers for the others) with the AoE defence toggle running AND elude comes out with around 105% defence to AoEs. If both stalkers click these, mudpots has a 5% chance to hit them which really isn't very much. AS'ing through Mudpots is not hard at all. However, Granite armour does dramatically lower the stalkers damage to around 21.3% of what it is originally. Tanks have obscenely high HP anyway, and if he's clicked Earth's Embrance he's got 80% higher on top. Factoring this in, I'd say that the tank would very slowly squish the stalkers, assuming that the stalkers don't run away after they see the pathetic amount of damage their AS has done.

Now we'll look at the blasters. Assuming they're going to stick mostly to range and kiting by jumping over the mudpots (as I'd expect any good PvP blaster to do), mudpots isn't really a factor like with the stalkers. Due to the obscene resistence (though not as high as the tanks) provided by granite, the blasters overall DPS will be lowered but will still be higher than the stalkers (as stalker damage sucks when not hidden, imo). Since Granite slows movement a whole lot, and assuming that the blasters keep moving like I said earlier, I'd expect the brute to have a lot of trouble landing a hit on either of the blasters.

The short answer is this: The brute dies first.

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and if the blasters have fly the stone brute is seriously boned

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,and stone has mud pots , no AS possible :P

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I can confirm you can AS through mud pots so long as it doesnt get a hit on you.