Leogunner

*clicks thread* *presses Back button*

Now that I pondered about it, there could be a lot of "ghost" sets. I could definitely see a set that uses spirits to possess allies or invade foes that weaken/control them as well as summoning spirits whose presence aids or hinders kind of like the sprites in Croatoa when you get near them. It could be a support set.

That actually reminds me that I believe religious symbols and themes were kept to a minimum I suppose because of overall game rating and possible backlash from the gaming community. Now that it's not really that important, a "Psychic Medium" or "Exorcist" Mastermind with some customizable religious symbology thrown in for visuals might be interesting. Also, there's the apparitions in First Ward that could be used. Why only Scrapper and Brute? But I disagree. Instant Healing is an "oh sh!t" button that rides with its other "oh sh!t" buttons and when stacked can pretty much leave you unkillable. But then, I never understand this obsession with being unkillable 100% of the time.

That's any DPS type (Scrapper, Blaster, even Brute), not just Stalker though. That being said, it sounds like the stalker was exemplared up so likely are facing mobs higher than themselves. If not, I'll just say it's not hard to take an alpha on a Stalker if you prepare. For someone like a Blaster, it's a bit harder to predict and a standard build doesn't have much cushion to fall back on. That being said, wtf is this thread? Half the posts don't make any sense.

Outside of farming maps and significant inspiration use, a Brute isn't going to get to damage cap. Caps tend to mostly play a role in teams, not solo. As for the topic, I don't see much of a problem. There are various ways to facilitate solo'ing, from using alternate builds, altering difficulty settings and crafting an IO build to shore up some damage. Tankers haven't ever really had a problem solo'ing unless they wanted to complain about clear speeds. Controllers have been the premiere squishy solo'er way back when they could have multiple pets and even without those, they could still get through mobs fairly safely and sometimes very quickly depending on build. It's always been Blasters and Defenders who had the issue solo'ing, with Blasters being the glass cannon that would fold when mezzed and Defenders who tended to range from slower to barely tolerable. But things have changed since a lot of QoL additions like difficulty sliders came into the game and IOs were a huge game changer. If there is any issue now, it's teaming, not solo. Anything end-game is just a clusterfuck of AoE and sets designed to focus on ST are left to the wayside. Roles are undefined, which isn't a problem, but has been more of an issue than solo is currently.

Unless you define substantive, the only answer I can give you is what difference it would provide. For the example of executioner, it would have less ability to crit and do burst damage but have, instead, greater application of the demoralize effect. The demoralize effect is a -5% ToHit on all foes within, I want to say, 25ft radius that cannot be resisted. That is, on an AV target who has high amounts of resistance to debuffs, a Corruptor's Darkest Night normally debuffs -15% ToHit but it will be resisted by an AV to very little (likely below 5%) but demoralize will always be -5%...it also casts fear on all foes in range at a 20% chance up to Lt rank for 8 sec. With proper building, you could pump out lots of this, keeping foes at -5% and spreading lots of fear. In contrast, many stalkers ignore the demoralize effect because it only occurs when you are hidden and you wind up the interruptible AS. At best, it's limited because of the requirements. On the other hand, a dissector Stalker will need to build and be aware of their surroundings so that they can pull off AS as often as possible and for the optimal amount of damage. It'd be similar to how old Stalker played (which was very different) but have somewhat of a payoff in the big numbers they could pull off on hard targets with AS. So it's not about "I crit like this, rawr", but what leads up to those crits and what is the result of those crits. All these factors matter when you are actively playing the Stalker and building to optimize their specialty. Not really. There are differences in the AT beyond their inherent, even for ATs that are very similar like Brute and Scrapper. Again, a good deal of their differences comes with their AT modifiers. Brute gets a 0.75 damage modifier and Scrappers get a 1.125 damage modifier; Scrappers are capped at 75% resistance and Brute is 90%. As for the difference between Tanker and Brute, that differentiation is being shifted as we speak in the test servers with regards to both inherent AND AT modifiers. So it's not a "choice between Fury and Assassination" because there is so much more at play, to include the powers available to each AT. That being said, the point isn't to make an Executioner Stalker as uniquely defined from a Dissection Stalker as an Assassination Stalker is from a Brute. It'd merely be a means of giving horizontal customization to an individual AT without opening the flood gates of just giving more power at the cost of nothing. To get a different inherent, you have to drop the old one...but the new inherent isn't going to transform you into a tri-form Kheld or something, you'll still be the same AT, just with different functionality. I think you've jumped the gun. What example presented expresses tripling the ATs? The ones I presented, you're still a Stalker, using AS and BU and Placate, they just have slightly different effects. One could even say it'd just be having different era Stalkers in the same game: Early-game Stalker, Beta-test Stalker and Current-game Stalker. Conceptually they are the same. If you're talking about the coding to make such a thing possible, that is the pie-in-the-sky conceptualization of "decoupling" inherent powers to begin with, which we know would be a herculean task. My particular suggestions don't blur anything. Like I said before, the examples I presented ARE what Stalkers were but in the past. They don't make a Stalker more like any other AT because no AT shared its same purpose or execution. As for how would a newer player choose: they don't have to. It should be something that you pick later in your character's career similar to an Ancillary power pool or Incarnate powers. At that point, if you can't tell if you'd benefit from spreading demoralize or shoveling more DPA on a hard target is better for you, you can just choose nothing and stick with the basic inherent power. Even if you choose and choose wrong, you just need to respec. Moreover, the powersets tend to favor certain styles of play as well. Some sets can be compensated for so they can fit better within the status quo, but it can't be said if those same powersets would shine better if they used a different approach that linked with the inherent. For example: combo sets like Street Justice and Dual Blades and AoE sets like Electric Melee greatly benefit from having the steady stream of ST DPA with Assassin's Focus + Assassin's Strike but sets that are more ST focused or debuff focused, like Ice Melee, Dark Melee, Claws or Savage Melee might benefit more from spreading CC and debuff. This type of favoritism of sets isn't limited to Stalker either, as portrayed by other posters commenting that Vigilance doesn't help their Kinetics Defenders since they don't need END discounts with their abundance of +END. One could just add more bonuses to Vigilance so that Kinetics can be satiated but you're also adding the same bonuses to every other set at the same time. You could do that...but you could also compartmentalize those bonuses by having alternatives to the inherent power. That's the basis of the suggestion.

It's the same as other RPG Class Specializations. The reason you don't just pick an inherent (skip picking the AT) and then pick powers is because the specializations are a subset of the class (or AT). You don't pick Domination and then proceed to build a Tanker who has inherently high HP, high defensive caps and taunt while giving them the most aggro management/nullification in the game. I mean, you technically CAN but that would be even more steps of extra balance further than "decoupling" the inherents so that they have a level of interchangability...you'd also need to link in AT mods to inherents and so forth which further complicates the balance and character building for inexperienced players. As for what the Stalker AT plays in the above example, since they have some level of interchangability, if you made your Stalker and chose Executioner but after playing it, find it's less fun, you can respec to the other inherent without having to reroll a new character from scratch...or you can just use the multiple build option and have 2-3 different playstyles if you fill out each build and on one character. It's basically taking the Stalker "pool" and making it wider to swim around in (horizontal progression, some call it). Just removing ATs and relying on inherents is basically a whole other game. You might as well try and make a CoH2 because its concept is so vastly different. The question of if it's better is rather a misnomer since no one could actually answer that definitively without at least fleshing out the idea first. At best, one can presume it'd give players a few extra build options they currently don't have. On the second question, is there substantive difference between those stalker inherents? Yes. I have played stalker since CoV launched and I have been around for all iterations of its inherent change (both on live and test servers). It had some pretty interesting changes and the current Assassination inherent, while not my favorite (and some will also argue it's a bit too strong), it is the most effective. I was around before when crits happened from hide or on mezed foes only (still the case in PvP), before demoralize came about, when they tested %HP of the target and so on. Every time they changed the inherent, it changed the way the AT played. And yes, Assassination does cover most of the identities listed, but it emphasizes Scrapping more than Assassinating to such a degree that it has shifted Stalkers into being arguably better Scrappers than Scrappers, which was the point of outlining ideas for specialized Stalker inherents. It covers the same things but emphasizes different aspects. If you're coming at the idea questioning why bother, then perhaps you're reading the air of the thread a bit too seriously. You're free to elaborate on your own ideas. Go ham. I just think your idea would require a whole slew more elaborating to even get a minor glimpse of what implications it would have on a similar game as CoH. And if you're not suggesting removing ATs from the balance equation then I'm not sure why you're suggesting that I am.

You could take Placate, which is what the AT did before ATO, and just do BU>AS>another combo builder>Placate>CU. Or, as you mentioned, just put the chance to hide proc into something else. Shifting things for optimal use for Stalker SJ rather undermines the other sets that aren't optimized for Stalker use.

It's all good though. I believe Stalkers get the better deal with Ice Melee and Invulnerability. Just how the cookie crumbles. I think a Claws/Nin Stalker would still have its perks but it seems the Scrapper would win out in basic categories of damage, efficiency and powers options.

I like the idea. If pie-in-the-sky is the backdrop for such a suggestion, I'd also put them as "unlockables" and "enhancable" in some way like it being a reward for some kind of content. Like, let's just say that when you start off the game, every AT gets the same inherent (Beginner's Luck) that fades until lvl 15 where you can then complete an certain arc or be granted a certain badge that then gives you your AT's base inherent. Then later, you can achieve certain AT goals that unlock other inherents for your AT. In the purview of your particular idea, I don't think it has to specifically be Solo, Team and Misc but just different means of doing what your AT does already. For example, some Stalker Inherents: Assassination - same bells and whistles as current Assassination. Executioner - trades in the 3% crit chance per nearby teammate and Assassin's Focus. Stalkers with this inherent always have fast AS (even when hidden) and when AS critical hits, it will always create the Demoralize effect (even when unhidden). AS also has a 50% chance to critical vs feared foes when not hidden. Dissection - trade 10% crit when unhidden (you still get 3% per nearby teammate), demoralize and Assassin's Focus. Assassin's Strike is always interruptible (no fast AS) but it will always crit for its hidden value. This value will do current AS damage +% of the target's health depending on rank (minion = 10%HP, Lt = 5%, Boss = 3%, AV/GM = ?%). I can see there being some inherents that are rarely picked but at the same time, I could see players utilizing those lesser used inherents and making a build around them as more of a flex and for fun. With the examples above, I don't really see any of them being more prone to team or solo but they emphasize different attributes of the current Stalker AT. Executioner might have lower overall crit chance but enjoys faster DPA on hidden AS and that tasty demoralize debuff. Dissection is for those old school AS users that like to get off their meaty damage on the hard targets. It would have overall less DPS but have a place where using AS on tough targets is their sole purpose. Obvious answer: you don't. Your blaster example is already the case because if Bob doesn't want to gear up for perma-hasten, capped defenses and utilize the best secondary for their purpose but rather build for *gasp* concept, there will undoubtedly be a Sally who punches harder and faster.

I'm not saying balance was somehow perfect until this new enhancement was introduced but it's be retarded to disregard balance just because you've got some jaded perception on how unbalanced everything has been and you just want your gibs no matter the costs.

I say, considering what the enhancement has done to some power balance, that's just too bad for you. Any more clemency is even more pandering at the cost of balance.

It could depend on how often it pulses too. A 3% chance every sec vs 3% every 0.33 seconds could make the difference. I dunno how quickly it procs, just saying.

That group was close enough for someone's KB power to push it into the next spawn? Sounds like you should have pulled the 1st group away or just anticipate that 2nd group catching your scent. If I were a Dom on that team, I'd have domination or my core mez laying in wait and if none are recharged, just be prepared to AoE immob and get behind cover. If I were on my stalker, just use some inspiration and/or have your tier 9 ready and lay in wait to AS a tough target. Most of my stalkers can hold their own for a bit. If I'm on my defender, I've got to have some trick up my sleeve that I hold back for emergencies. Or hold my finger on vengeance. In those circumstances, if you have a blaster on your team and they look at their power tray to find Aim, BU and their nuke is recharger, they will be smiling ear to ear. Basically, what I see in your example is an opportunity to pull off something crazy or different.

I still say the KBtoKD IO should reduce the effect of the KB in the power you slot it in to near nothing then add a low chance unenhancable KD.

I'm kind of the opposite. I don't mind some struggle and some deaths every now and then because of mob difficulty but only limit to 1 wipe a map. Anything more and you're going to be in danger of players dropping team. If there's no struggle you can't use the full spectrum of a team's capabilities. Some players are apt at defending vulnerable allies who just rezzed, some use ingenuity to suppress foes or absorb alphas, some are great at swooping in and saving a player or group from eating dirt at the last seconds and yet a lot of players are good at capitalizing off momentum after rolling through the previous mob. I want to feel it all when I'm running a team.

Well frankly, I don't care. I tried to simply correct the incorrect fact that Oilslick Arrow is 5ft radius (as you can clearly see). Maybe had I not been called a troll, constantly had the point deflected by how many TA characters I currently have or whatever other bullshit and then spent MY TIME proving an obviously incorrect statement (I mean, does anyone, beyond a shadow of a doubt, believe Oilslick Arrow has a smaller radius than a armor-set damage aura like Death Shroud, which is 8ft radius, btw?), perhaps I would give a damn about being polite lol And just incase you're in doubt, I made Defenders too just to make sure the AoE was the same and it is. With controllers, I could lay down an Ice Slick (25ft) right over an Oilslick and they match sizes (with Oilslick looking a bit larger because the visual fx gradiens at the edges), the -def portion shows up on those foes at the edge of the ice all the same, which is the doing of the oil, not the ice.

It's 25 ft. If you weren't trying to be a damned miserable twat and just logged onto your supposed Trick Arrow character you have at 50 or just the test servers like I did, maybe you could see with your damned eyes rather than forcing me to download the whole damned game on this old laptop of mine on a fucking slug of a hotel wifi speed.

I usually stay out of topics like this. But the costs it has on balance might be too high. The elephant in the room is Bonfire. Some other questionable shifts are Shockwave (both of them), Gale, Repulsing Torrent. I'm sure there are others. IMO, the issue isn't the damage potential (I assume that is the purpose players slot the IO in the first place), it's the mitigation and that tends to revolve around the chance of KB (in those powers, it's 100%) and the rech (most of those powers recharge quickly). This tends to eek out powers already balanced to perform with KD (ice slick /patch, oil slick, dragon's tail, 1k cuts, etc). In some cases, it's not hard to just ignore (like Shockwave vs 1k cuts) as being different enough. But it's harder to do in cases like with Bonfire vs ice slick. Then you're talking about buffing ice control (I don't think anyone would be opposed) but it would continue this chain reaction of buffing more stuff because of other buffs. That being said, you could alter the IO to debuff the power you slot it in to have a longer recharge time or maybe reduce the chance of the KD from occurring to a flat 10%.

Well if you have, you'd know the number displayed in MIDS is obviously wrong. By comparison, ice patch from ice melee is 10ft and it's obviously smaller than oil slick. I don't think electric blast has anything to do with that fact. As for Tactical Arrow, I've never played it. Still has nothing to do with oil slick not being 5'. As for Bonfire, that is a whole other can of worms and likely should be adjusted down or the effect of the IO altered. It's an overprerforming power mainly when coupled with the KB to KD IO compared to a lot of other similar powers like ice slick, ice patch, etc. Pushing that power to light to prep up your point is the exact definition of power creep : using the level of power of other sets and powers to justify other boosts.

Have you ever even played Trick Arrow? 5ft is melee range!

I mean, if you really want to "not waste time", we should be running all missions at lowest possible difficulty with as few mobs as possible. If you can't be arsed with playing with a bit of variety in tactics for such a plebeian reason in a GAME FOR WASTING TIME, perhaps you're not having as much fun as you think. I'm not saying you have to accept whatever shit rolls down the hill every time but sometimes you people sound like you have the most massive of sticks up your asses I wonder if you're forcibly tried to your computer chairs and forced to farm inf for literally nothing at the whims of some sinister Chinese inf seller whose sole purpose is torturing you. #sorrynotsorry

Oilslick is NOT 5 ft radius.

Oh it's power creep, alright. But power creep isn't an excuse used to dismiss a suggestion, it's a reason to be critical of changes. Criticizing =/= "shouting down" or dismissing.

I could see adding another attack to VS that it only uses on EMP vulnerable targets. Could be practically and plethora of options.