Solarverse

Just noticed this. Why do you find it that a player who has been playing this game since its first week going live, who was part of this game from the very beginning, who has made countless suggestions over the years that ultimately lead to some (but not all) changes we came to see on Stalkers today, would be bold to give his opinion on the direction that Stalkers have taken, which by fact is an apple that has fallen far from the tree of what they were originally designed to do? I don't know if you meant it that way, but that kind of rubbed me as if you are trying to say that I lack the knowledge or time played or experience to give my opinion on this forum when you said, "it's a rather bold choice talking about how wrong the path this class has taken in the forum populated by people who are dedicated to it." as if I myself have not put in countless hours, months and years being fully dedicated to the class before it turned in to the set it is today. You have no idea the insanely long hours I have spent on the OG forums pushing for Stalker buffs to make them a better class, the long hours arguing with idiots who didn't even have a basic understanding of the mechanics of Stalkers, they were simply Stalker haters and no buff was welcomed because they wanted to keep the Stalker class in the mud. So yeah, that comment kind of stings, because although you may not know me (even though I have posted City of Hero Forums since its first couple months going live) or may have never even heard of me, but one thing you can believe, is that I have most certainly put in my time and country to this class long before many people playing today was even aware the game existed. Anyway, not upset, just kind of feel like it was blowing me off in a way that made it out like I have not put in my work for this class...trust me, I have war scars because of this class, lol. Anyway, trying to let it drop the best I can, I already said I wasn't trying to push anything further since you guys like it as is, I just wanted to get a base feel of how other Stalker players felt about the set. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

I hear ya, I just can't stand taking the same exact travel power on all melee toons. Once upon a time, you didn't need anything like it, you didn't need Fold Space or Combat Teleport, because once upon a time, you didn't have anywhere near the amount of knock back that we have today. I am set in my ways I guess, but it is what it is, nothing I can do about it. So I gave up that fight a long time ago.

I have to admit, you kind of got me there...I am guilty of this very same thing, so I can't say it's not true, lol.

Really? My god, that is a very tiresome response when nobody said that. That is a strawman straight off the bat with the very first sentence and to be honest, it insults my intelligence. I don't even think you believe that first statement, you just wanted to be a bull in a china shop. Maybe actually read what I have written here...then get back to me, until then I will not be dignifying that with a legit response.

That boils back to al the damn knock back this game has now. This has always been an issue with all melee AT's, not just strictly a Stalker issue. Tanks, Brutes, Scrappers and Stalkers all share that same problem. However, the Knock Back crowd won that war, so now we have to deal with it. However, no matter which melee AT I play, I already know that chasing my target or mobs is always going to be a problem. That is why they gave us Fold Space, the problem with that is though, not everyone wants to take Teleport as their travel power to get it on every single melee character they have, so that power in of itself becomes redundant. I don't see any of that changing though, but point being, that is not a Stalker problem, that is a melee class problem.

You say this, yet Ninja Blade is still one of the most popular Stalkers, and that is very ST focused. That Cone is a bit of a laugh, so I won't even comment much more on that one. In the end, I still say Stalker should have remained ST focused, it just needed to be better. Instead of making it better like the class was supposed to be, they instead added in AoE, which in my opinion was just a huge mistake. Had they done with the class what it was designed to do, I don't think we would be having this discussion. But, you know, Devs do what Devs do and us players have to make sense of it all. We just have our different ways of looking at things, only difference is my way of looking at it is in the way the class was supposed to function by design, not what they have turned it in to. It needed help, they gave it the wrong kind of help. Now the class is beyond putting it right, so we are stuck with it as is.

I disagree. It was the way people played them, not because of any other reasons, IMO. I even made videos showing what Stalkers could do if they stopped doing dumb ass things like hit and run, or running ahead of Brutes and thinking they could Tank damage, or pulling aggro and running. I was playing Stalkers in those days just the same way I play them now. I stay single target focused on all but Elec (for obvious reasons) and I rip high priority targets to shreds. But, everyone was trying to play Stalkers like they were one trick ponies and that was never my style...those players in those days gave Stalkers a bad name, and because of what has been done with Stalkers, giving them all of this AoE, sadly Scrappers are taking the back seat to them IMO. These days trying to do AoE seems redundant when you have blasters that pretty much one shot everything they look at except the priority larger targets. Difference in game style I suppose, but I will say I regularly am commented on my playstyle (tooting my own horn I guess, but comments given to Stalkers has always been rare, so I take mine with pride) most especially when facing off against target similar to Paragon Protectors, Malta and anything that pops a T9 or uses phase shift. 😉 To each their own, sadly, to each my own was trampled upon, heh.

Just realized why I thought it used to work much better. Like yuo, I have been playing this game since its first week of release (my computer sucked and wouldn't run it, so had to buy a new one to play the game) and why I thought it worked better, is because NPC's used to pack much more tightly than they do now. Collision mechanics and all.

I guess my memory is just old as dirt then, lol. Honestly, I have never understood Stalkers getting AoE Damage, they were supposed to be King of Single Target, not AoE. I have been against Stalkers having AoE since day one and believe AoE goes completely against the concept of Stalkers. But, you know, man, that is just my opinion, lol. But as strong as you all are about not changing Golden Dragonfly, I was just as strong about Stalkers not having AoE. I didn't get my way. Like I said, about 75% of changes in this game negatively impacted me. That's why I am not trying to push this issue much on you folks, because I know exactly how that feels when some jackass complains away something you love. Really pisses me off, so I try and not do that to others.

The only thing that bothers me about them is at times when you have persistent beggars, who beg every 15 seconds and you have several of them battling for the spotlight on LFG chat, completely covering up my post to form a Task Force in mere seconds...but still I grit my teeth so hard they bust in my mouth and say nothing...most of the time. But what will set me off faster than anything else is when my wife and I hit up AE to grind out some cash for our alts, some random sends me a damn /tell begging me to sit at my door....those guys I rip in to relentlessly. It's not bad enough I have to watch them beg and cover up my requests to form a Task Force, but I have to receive tells from them too? Nah.... I don't think so...Homey don't play that.

I miss the original Hollows. I mean, I really miss the original Hollows and was horrified at the change they made to it. I was beyond horrified, I was outright livid, lol.

It has been a while since I have played my Elec Stalker, but I am sure it Critts from Hide. I can run tests at some point in time today if you wish just to be sure? Edit: I stand corrected. After running a few short tests, it does not critt. What I was remembering is the extra damage from procs, not from critts, and it does not break hide, so your follow-up attack critts. So you are correct, it is not flagged to crit so my point is moot.

Not sure that is the case, since (I think) Lightening Rod works much in the same way and it Critts.

You know, back in the day, that thin cone worked a lot better. I seem to recall Golden Dragonfly having a much further reach...dare I say double what it is now. In those days, I didn't mind, actually kind of liked it, but now...not so much. Was it actually changed, or has powercreep and the popularity of knock back cover up my illusion? I used to be able to target the NPC in the back of a mob, and hit three, maybe even four of them in a single hit...loved it. Now, if I target the NPC in the back of the mob, he's out of range.

I think this may be why I don't find the cone as useful as you do, I don't do much soloing. Mobs get knocked, pushed, teleported, pulled by singularity, repelled by...well, a lot; and then there is the speed in which blasters kill mobs, or another player causing collision involuntary movements....there are so many things that can and do happen to screw up lining mobs up for that fraction of a cone. So having learned this, I can see why it is far more useful to you and rather a hindrance to me. But this is a situation where it can't be changed to help some because it would hurt others. Same reason most changes in games don't sit well with people, heh. And trust me, I know how that feels, been on the receiving end of that for about 75% of the changes made in this game, all the way from sounds, to graphics, to mechanics to outright power changes. So I can sympathize.

You solo a lot?

I mean, yeah, if they widened the cone even slightly, and extended the range slightly, that would make all the difference in the world.

Yeah, I guess that probably would break a few builds. I seem to recall a bit o an outcry when this was done to Claws as well. My main gripe is that the Cone is so weak, I don't see it justifying the -critt chance and -damage. If that was changed, I wouldn't care, don't think anybody uses it like a cone anyway since it is so unreliable.

How often do you really hit more than one enemy with this ability? I honestly can't remember too many times where I have actually hit more than one NPC since the OG Devs changed how NPCs stack. Yet, this power, which is our hardest hitting power, has a -chance to critt vs other Ninja Blade abilities and it takes a bit of a -Damage hit because it is considered a narrow cone. This ability needs to be Single Target only, it's damage adjusted to match a T9 Single Target Damage table and have a 100% to critt from hide with a normal chance to critt outside of hide. Discuss.

Now it makes sense. So we have always gotten both ambushes, just sometimes we get both at the same time which gives the illusion of there only being one. Nice catch, thank you.

You and I are on the same page there, both of these are mysteries to be sure. I have tried to figure out the enigma with no luck. I know the Buzz-saw Boss has to die, but what specific mobs after that is a mystery.

My fondest memory is back when places like Hollows were actually Hazard Zones, mobs were packed tighter together, there were more of them and they were higher level. Now, the Hollows is nothing more than a little playground, even has an unnecessary contact in it that you HAVE to pick up in order to progress through David Wincott's story arc to move on to Flux. Complete nonsense.

Well I'll be damned. Nice catch, Clave. When in the hell did they sneak that in?

Player made maybe?

By that logic, why have LFG chat then? I mean, people have been known to use it for chit chat and not anything LFG related, so why bother having any type of specialized chat? Seems to me that it makes better sense to have an AE chat than not. Also, generally when somebody uses a chat for something that it is not for, people have zero issues reminding you about it. Sure, they might get mouthy at first, but they eventually move on to the right chat tab for whatever it is they are doing. Clearly what we see now is not working, in fact, I see it starting a lot of arguments if anything. Players trying to form teams for missions often get rude with players looking to door sit...I think it would help more than it would do harm.