Without_Pause

I've recently switched to conservative to help smooth things out. It pumps put enough orange numbers to where I'm sure going defensive would be fine enough. I won't be surprised I'm at least vet level 50 before I feel comfortable in saying how sturdy it feels to me. Also a bit curious how much sturdier it would be on a tank. I only really have a WP Brute at 50 to compare. I concede the incarnates on that one needs to be nuked and rebuilt. Any other set is too low to say anything. At least scanning the Tank forums it tends to go Inv and Shield as the sturdiest but no real ranking after that. For me, game balance would need to happen where if a set is on the more offensive side, its defensive numbers should be lacking. Not that games are known for balance. * Not going to compare EA on a Stalker. Would love an EA Tank though.

Just think what we all thought the day before it was announced CoH was closing down. This situation is different, but the devs behind this are volunteers on a pirated piece of software. Lets not get too cocky.

I found out about the Vanguard Sword this past weekend. Their sorcerers were a rude awakening.

Oddly enough when I went looking for build info for a Rad/bio Brute Ageless was the default one talked about being taken. I'm close to getting everything T4ed, but after I do, I'll work on Barrier as something to try out. I'm in the phase of kicking the tires and seeing how much I can push the build in terms of solo play, but it can have its issues. Granted, I'm getting better at playing it. While I do think it is sturdy on some level, I think the fact you need to use its various clicks consistently to keep it up and running might be why people think it is squishier. It certainly isn't a build I would blindly drop down into a +4/x8 map regardless of the mob or at least currently.

+1. I popped it into my level 14 Rad tank and the end gain is quite nice since the end cost in Radiation Therapy is so much smaller compared to Dark Regeneration(13 vs. 33.8).

Devs have already mentioned Page 4 if not 5 so I don't expect work to stop for some time.

Brute is best given the options, but Tank is best for WP.

My go to uncommon recipe to convert went from a slow drip of 10k to over 225k. Selling price of what I converted it to was consistent, and now it is a bit all over the place since so many more are on the market. Curious to see how soon things stabilize.

Still good but neither are on the level of Rad/fire for sheer AoE damage.

I figure if I can get Plant/storm to 50 on common IOs, there's no reason not to get a Fire/time there as well. You basically have to moderate how much you do as going all out will purge your end bar. Hit Health and Stamina with the obvious procs and see what recovery bonus you can find even on the cheap level until you can go for a final build.

On the flip side, I get a build to 50, and it is vastly parked unless I get the desire to go further. I'm currently at nine 50s, and could ding a few more if I lifted a finger or two. Going through the process of adding in fully going T4 on a build makes me less wanting to repeat that process. We are talking 80+ levels overall and at some point it does feel a bit like a grind. Once I get past having a build fully T4ed and can build up a stash of Emps, then yeah, it will make things easier for the next one. Also note using shards meant as soon as one of the abilities became unlocked, I almost always had a T3 ready.

It is easier than ever to get a build to 50, and see how it works even with just SOs. Hell, it is even quicker on Beta. I just don't think that many people take each primary and secondary to 50 on Stalker. Also, I don't think it takes much to figure out Claws without Spin is going to be hurting. Granted, I have taken Claws to 50 twice. So while I haven't played it as a Stalker, yeah, it's not going to be good. I mean, people do pylon and Trapdoor tests to show how well a set does. We can see how the Stalker versions of sets fair after conversion. I think synergies are a bit baked in. It is partly why Dark would be a second tier set for me. It isn't first tier partly because I freaking loath Shadow Maul. Incarnates patches Shield incredibly well, but I don't think it is that crippling to play before hitting 50.

+1 to the above. The 20s weren't fun, but I was using common IOs. I parked it at 32 in case I want to get back to it, but I would be adding in some better IOs to make the ride a bit smoother.

Because it is decidedly faster to get to T4s on everything if you use shards for the Alpha slot. I have two characters at the same vet level. One has 3 T3 and 3 T4s. The other has 5 T3s and 1 T4. I'm sure you can figure out which one uses shards.

S Tier sounds more like a set which needs to be nerfed. I wouldn't say StJ has bad AoE. It has two AoE powers which is rather normal overall and certainly for a Stalker. Dark is a tier below StJ for me. If Dark ever switched Shadow Maul to Engulfing Darkness, then we can talk about moving it up.

Scratch that. Until the screen hogging animation of Upthrust gets changed, I have zero desire to use the set.

I didn't the chance to deal with Beta, so looking at the animations for Seismic Blast. They are disappointing as I had feared. Upthrust looks to fill the screen similar to what the mobs do in DA missions. Can't wait to get on a team in cave missions. *sigh*

I wouldn't do +3/x8 at low levels unless the lead was using a 2x XP booster. Handling content on a full team depends on the team. Do you mean PuGs? Rad should be fine against Vahz as their exotic damage type is Toxic and Rad covers that. Dark is more resist based so I'm curious what you mean by soft capping and what you define as early.

KM's animations are still a bit slow for the damage though. Every time I make another one, it doesn't take long before it gets rerolled. Currently running around with low level Elec, Dark, and Ice to try to see what those are like in the end but distracted by alts. The sound effects for Ice are a bit off putting for a Stalker. My continued experience with Shield across all ATs is that it blooms late and is rather helped by end game building. I would need to retry Ice and I haven't done Nin, but Shield is the weakest def based set pre level 50 so far. If I liked Shield more, I think a Ice/shield Stalker would be great. I have tried Psionic on a brute and until Insight is fixed, that's a tier below where it needs to be. Trying other armors on other ATs. I can confirm Bio is great for offense, but lesser on being sturdy and that's on a Brute.

On live I had a Spines/elec. I liked it, and that was the Scrapper version. I would likely go Brute or Tank these days. You can easily cap three of the most often used damage types. Brutes with two damage auras is pretty fun.

It partly depends on the rate of firing of the proc. They tend to be slotted more in powers with lower/no damage so the proc damage adds a decent amount of damage. You also need to still factor in things like acc or what the power is built for. Some powers, for Brutes, can get away with less slotting of damage since Fury drives so much of theirs so they can slot heavier in procs. As mentioned, you lose out in set bonuses so there is a bit of give and take. Controllers and Defenders are two AT which are really good and slotting lots of procs.

What is officially the Old School Challenge? If that is using only things which drop for you, that goes back to at least the days of Diablo I, and it is called Living Off (the) Land, aka LOL before it meant something else.

Just like so many social aspects of the internet. "I win if you click. The fact you clicked due to being angry is even better since you are now emotionally invested."

You'll likely want to pop onto Beta and see the new changes for yourself. Early returns say they are quite good.

I think any primary which offers disorients, Stone and EM, will work well with it. Primaries with lower end cost, Claws, Savage, and Staff will work well. Rad will be great for AoE but both the animations aren't going to be kind if you need to click on the heal asap.