TinyJuggs

One part is because of the animation time. Assassin's Strike has a long animation time while hiding. But if you open with another attack from hide it'll be instant. But also due to having +crit from hide on most attacks. This can be an aoe or single target attack. So in a sequence of 3 attacks your crit potential overall is higher when opening with a non-AS power due to Assasins Focus building up from non-AS powers. Just one will generate +33% chance to crit. On top of that you will also use t Non-AS opener 1)Highest damage non-AS = crit from hide. (Generate assasins Focus for +33% crit) 2) AS = more potential to crit without hide plus crit for next attack due to assasins guile proc. 3)Next non-AS attack building more crit and also assasins focus (now at 66% crit chance for next attack AS opener 1) AS= crits due to hide mechanic 2) Non-AS = crits due to Guile proc +33% crit from Assasins Focus 3 3) Non-AS lower crit potential So as you can see opening with Non AS generates more assasins Focus and has more Crit potential. Not only that you are also generating proc hide from the ATO's.

As Ice Melee I would roll a stalker over a scrapper. Ice Assassin's Strike becomes your highest single damage attack and replaces Greater Ice Sword which is mediocre at best.

Better yet, make storm a melee set altogether for melee AT's with a lightning sword.

What do you think of the test server changes? And what AT do you recommend on storm? I think defender might be the best, but I enjoy playing a corruptor or blaster more in general.

Nerf everything or one thing. What's the difference? Calling for nerfs because something performs well, is an outdated way of thinking in this day and age. This seems to me like an old way of thinking that came about 20 years ago and seems to have stuck around in modern day gaming. Does this actually fix things in the long term? No, all it does is provide short term fixes and then creates problems in the future by reducing the viability of certain powers. My entire point is that this way of thinking doesn't help fix the game. By calling for a nerf to one power, or another just ruins the enjoyment of the game for certain people. Aren't we here to enjoy playing a game? If we're revamping and buffing end game mobs, why can't we pursue a new approach to buffing and nerfing, by bringing other playstyles up to par, rather than nerfing others.

I can't speak with great knowledge on the buffs and nerfs as I'm just beginning to learn. But I can speak on general balancing philosophy. I understand the concept of power creep and the balance issues that can arise from "buffing" every power out there. However, the Homecoming dev team has done a wonderful job of juicing up endgame mobs. So if we take a look at that, wouldn't it make the concept of power creep redundant? If we have improved mobs, wouldn't it be safe to say that we can justifiably buff powers to resemble each other ran than playing a game of carrot and stick by buffing and nerfing a variety of powers ? To me the carrot and stick or "buff and nerf" approach seems outdated and hated by a majority of gamers. You seem to be in the minority on this issue.

How does the design philosophy of "never buff, always nerf" work?

I've been reading a lot, and learning about the "epic" powers. I wonder if the devs could answer a question. What is the intended purpose of them? Plugging in missing parts of an archetype? Are they supposed to be useful powers that save you in a tight spot? Are they supposed to be useless powers that simply make up power epic power pools and provide thematic powers? What's the deal?

Despite the whole situation and the other players complaints, I think the majority of us stalkers are very happy with the new change and having more consistency. The hide proc is such a critical, and enjoyable feature that only stalkers have. It has a meaningful impact on game play and fun at the same time. So this "fix" is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for correcting placate and proc hide!

I've only a dark/dark Dom till 20. But this sounds very interesting! I'm usually a stalker (ice/rad). I've been slowly peaking into the Dom forums and I've been seeing these hard versions and to me it sounds like fun. I'll be trying a few out like this build. How does plant/psi hold up in a similar environment?

I think that the traditional hide mechanic and the proc based hide mechanic are two different things from my understanding. The traditional hide should break if damage is taken. Say you walk into an enemy group with aoe. The proc based hide isn't actually a hide that makes you hidden from enemies as you don't get rid of any aggro. It is a hide mechanic solely to allow a critical attack. So let's say you're taking dot damage, or there is an incoming attack the moment after you trigger the proc based hide. You Will lose your proc based hide and next attack wont be a guaranteed critical. Currently on live when proc based hide occurs and you take damage you don't lose the status to crit. That's my understanding at least. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yea im not an experienced player, but this seems like an huge nerf to AS/hide from stalkers guile proc. So with this change if you take damage the hide from stalkers guile proc will be removed? This will basically reduce the viability of stalker by a lot.

To me water/time feels like a good blapper due to nice aoes and from water blast and cc's/hard hitting melee from time. Water/time primary as ranged feels lacking due to no snipe and poor single target damage.

Ice/ Stalker is amazing and top tier. I can't speak for other archetypes but stalker ice melee is fun. You have great single target, cc and aoe. For secondaries most pair it with ice or stone. Bio and rad armor also work if you like having more aoe damage.

Have you tried the new changes on the test server? I haven't rolled storm yet. But I'm going to roll one on the test server to get a feel for it

I wouldn't be using AS from hide. 99.99% of the time I use another attack from hide depending on the situation either another ST or aoe. The only rare time is if I'm struggling with a group and I want to delete something instantly. Open up with something else and it'll be instant and you'll stop losing end. Also whenever you can afford it you will get the stalkers guile ATO which has a chance to proc hide. You want to slot this on your assasins strike. If you're lucky, you can get back to back crits doing this.

Nice to know my ice/rad stalker is not popular.

Great thanks for the share, I think I saw your post from a while back but wasn't sure if it was up to date. I'll definitely give it a shot. I think elec/elec fits thematically for me and this build looks nice.

For rad I would play brute as a first option. Everyone starts rad/fire brute for farming, im currently leveling one but I actually find it fun. I think DP/Time is a blaster build I've seen floating around. But try them all till 20 and see what fits you. Start them up on one of the double exp servers, or even 50% exp servers, get the p2w double exp booster, throw in some prestige enhancements and you should be golden running tf's to 20.

It definitely feels like one of the developers plays stalker alongside tanker and blasters haha

I'm hitting two brutes to feel them out one will be a Savage/Bio. Now I'm set on wanting to do an Elec/ build. The one thing I'm split on both /Elec and /EA. I did love EA on my stalker but I feel like I've already played it. Conceptually for my character long term I think I'd just want Elec/Elec, but /EA could kinda work in terms of feel. Although I want to play Elec melee I actually have zero experience with it besides trying a bit on my stalker for a few levels but I felt like using it on a brute more. But I want to limit my alt addiction to hitting one for now, which pairing for Elec/ would work best together.

I would search an existing build and use it as an inspiration on what powers to aim for while leveling and what enhancements to get by looking at the general acc/dam/recharge/endurance on primary skills and similarly on defensive skills. You can see how much % each power has and try to reach a nice ratio. You won't hit the same targets since they'll be max level usually. But you get the idea. Generally main attack powers need 1 Acc 1 End 1 recharge 2 Dam and the last slot is up to you. Toggle defense buff or resist sets you usually go for that stat and throw in an endurance or two. For recharge skills you try and find a balance between recharge and the applicable Stat for healing damage or whatever stat is provided. I wouldn't follow it exactly. But you get a general idea of what skills are better and how to slot them. Play around with skills and if you don't like them, you can always respec. Most builds posted are endgame builds but most of them grab critical powers you'll need either way. I've done this for all my leveling builds. It let's you learn the powersets playing them and gives you goals to aim for.

Ice is probably better with rain for corruptors. But elec is also fun, and most work with /kin very well. Especially in groups, you're opening up with /kin buffs and debuffs. Then following up with main powers to damage where your opponents are already lower in HP and scourge is kicking in where your damage becomes more viable. This is why I prefer corruptor over defender at least in groups.

With double exp and p2w exp booster. Run a few to 20 and then go from there. You can get away with tf's just level and avoid spending money on any beginner enhancements besides a few basic one especially since you get prestige enhancements. I usually run one char to 10, pick up another, see some tf run with that group till whatever level, that outlevels that tf. Rinse and repeat. Switch to alts when eligible tfs are running. Of course you want to focus on one character eventually. But it's good to stagger viable alts for possible tfs to get a quick level boost without having to tediously level each one.