Kaika

CoH can be a extremely easy game once you know what you are doing, I know people who have done "hardcore" characters like this, and they had to set all sorts of limitations on themselves to make it even a little challenging. Solo it would be trivial to dodge anything that could pose a threat, and teams would just be a wonderful way to make people angry at each other, as death could often not be your fault, or at least not be perceived as such. If you want to do it, go ahead, it can be fun if it's tailored how you want it, but attaching rewards to it is likely just asking for trouble, and that's ignoring the fact that someone has to program it.

As alot of people pointed out, for alot of reasons, getting held or mezzed just isn't as common. On top of the reasons others have mentioned, I think players in general just play/build better and are more prepared over all. Most squishies I see these days are quick to pop a CM if they get held or just don't get them selves into a position where getting held is likely. Players these days are very aware of how powerful +def is and tend to have things like maneuvers or sets that buff the groups def making getting held even less likely. As other have mentioned bringing IOs into the mix and by the time you call for hold protection it's gone, if you didn't already take clarion to cover that hole in the first place. Due to all of this it's less common for people with sets that have things like CM to take them or use them regularly since they aren't really needed as much. Honestly, I don't miss getting mezzed more. Out of all the things power creep has done, making getting mezzed for long periods of time less common is one of the ones I am most ok with. IMO Hold were always too long from a enemy standpoint, no one like being force to sit there for like 20 seconds doing nothing.

First the 5% is perma last the full 2 mins with a fixed 2 min cooldown. The thing is while time is extremely powerful, and the power boosted Far sight can bring you to ludicrous Def numbers, this isn't enough in 4* to make the team not take damage. I think important to state the difference in power between 4* content and normal content, is ridiculous, 4* enemies have MUCH higher to-hit and tend to all be rocking HEAVY DEBUFFS, making massive amounts of def needed to reach that effective soft cap. They do this by rotating Barriers on a timer, usually 6 of them two at a time, the aim is to keep the entire groups Def well above 100% as any below this and survivability starts to become a active issue. Barrier only has 5% that's perma but for around 30 seconds it provides 30% def and res, stack and timed and this can cap the teams res/def in almost any situation, while not limiting AT/Power selection. Basically it lets just about any combination of characters cap their Def and Res. Keep in mind also that this stacks with things like farsight as well, it's one of the reasons cold is considered good. Now this is all in the context of high end content, you don't need this for normal play. You don't need this in context of most normal missions, 45-50% Def is MORE then enough to make most enemy groups a joke, and easy to reach on your own. However barrier still lets you spike that def well above that point, allowing you to mitigate -def, and also provides you with a large amount of resist that you may not have. On top of that most high end builds only soft cap S/L or a relevant typed def, takeing barrier allows for leway on other positions or damage types that you might not have soft capped def too. Again this is why I mentioned that it's not exactly the choice for every toon, but why some, most 4*, groups require it

Overall barrier is generally the best pick, at least in a organized, hard content, setting. At it's lowest effectiveness it's still 5% Def and 5% Res would be big even if it was just that, but it spikes your teams survivability effectively to cap for around 30 seconds after use. Multiply that by 6-8 and you have a team that's basically untouchable in any content, without having to worry about personal def/res. This effect works easily in PUGs and in organized group and making handling the extremely buffed enemy's MUCH easier. Even if we take it out of 4* content Barrier is easily one of the best choices when it comes to effectively almost any content. Again even at it min, which can be perma, 5%def and Res can have a MASSIVE impact on survivability, the def alone can lower damage by around 50% if you def was already at 40%. The spikes it reaches can often be a better deterrent against Def failure then Ageless radial, as the spike of Def stops the exponential growth of -def and gives it enough time to fall off. This is not to say that it's ALWAYS the best, especially when solo, ageless core is infinite end effectively, rebirth can provide tons of sustainability to characters that otherwise have little, and Clarion removes what is one of the biggest weakness/annoyance for several ATs. It's just if all those are met, Barrier is a easy pick, and if stacked, quickly snowballs your survivability to absurd levels, something which does not really happen with the other choices.

Pretty sure that's more of a "defeated and slithered away" kinda deal more to show how powerful Cole was then to impart much story significance or else villain side would need some MAJOR overhauls.

In the mender arc Captain Holtz basically steals the Honoree with a device used to control him in a bid for power, yeah it's a little contrived and does not do a good job at explaining whats going on really, but it's not a alt universe/timeline thing or anything like that as you don't enter a pillar. Presumably Honoree is still in Vanguard custody, they seem to be trying to figure out a way to cure him. He shows up in the Finale of Dream doctors arch where you fight mot, and joins you if you take the allies and says "Keep: Control. Able to assist: to best of my abilities." showing that he is starting to slowly regain control, but isn't entirely there yet. As far as I'm aware that's the last time he showed up on live.

For the secondary shield for sure providing up to 13% def for teammates and -7.5% damage to enemies, which has a pretty good effect on team survivabilty at all levels. A few other sets have some useful de-buffs like ice or Bio, or unique stuff like rads heal or EA and Dark control auras, but I feel nothing comes close to that 13% def in terms of usefulness. For reference against a base 50% hit rate, 13% added def lowers that to 37% which lowers damage by roughly 25% and it's value only goes up if they already have def buffs, up to the soft cap around 45% (higher though if in incarnate or 4* content). Now if that soft cap is already reached normally more def wouldn't help much, however this ALSO is one of very few powers that can grant Defense debuff resist to other players. Def debuff being one of the worst debuffs for a player to get hit, as getting hit quickly increases the chance of getting hit more and getting debuffed even more. While it's not enough to really protect from it, it increases the chance for a player to react to it and mitigate it. Needless to say, it's a good power. On top of that Shield also grants you alot of extra damage and a amazing AoE, making it very good for offense as well. It's biggest weakness is it's lack of self sustain, but that also suits team play well as almost every support set has a heal in it and can take care of that for you. The set was entirely designed with team play in mind. In terms of primary it's alot harder to figure out. I would say Ice would probably be the best for team play. It has a great control skill in ice patch which can keep enemies slipping forever while also having some really solid AoE in frost and frozen aura, and a very solid single target damage rotation which includes a stack-able hold in it, all with one of the least resisted damage types in the game and slows on everything. I could also see a argument for any other high tier set though but I think ice is the best all around package specifically just for team play. So I would say Ice/Shield would be the best team stalker.

Allow me to get together my thoughts a bit better about why this mag 50 afraid is no longer needed, at least in this incarnation of ignite. Now I can't seem to find the quote so take this with a grain of salt but I recall one of the OG devs stating the intention of ignite was actually more of a control "area denial" sort of power. The idea was the place it in-front of yourself to stop enemies from getting into melee with you, as they would touch the fire and instantly turn around and run away, rather then simply delivering it directly. Current ignite does this actually rather well, most enemies don't even reach you before turning tail if they touch it and those that do only tend to get off a single attack before fleeing. Now in the fast paced "Soft capped 45% S/L def 200% recharge blaster" days that use really isn't as important. Given that it can no longer be place, in some way it's losing this original intention, which is fine honestly, but if that's the case, that mag 50 Afraid only serves to hamper the power as it's new incarnation is meant to be used solely offensively. I would actually recommend going a step further and adding a unehanceable immobilize effect to the main target, as it would serve it better as a attack and synergize well with the single target immobilize most blaster secondary get, and often skip now that they can. That way it can get more use when solo.

Only on ignite. Enemies are programed to run when taking constant damage from pseudo pets, like burn or rains, if not taunted or otherwise controlled. Ignite in theory would do this but it has a mag 50 Afraid, which is I think the only source of afraid left in the game, which forces it instantly. Normally Burns or rains cause enemies to run but it takes a moment or two, which lets you apply control or just get some extra damage on them. Afraid also leads to weird situations where enemies near a tank will get afraid applied to them causing them to turn around and run for a split second, then get taunted by their aura and turn back around in a odd spinning maneuver. Functionally it's not too much different, but it does harm the powers usability over things like burn or rain. Keep in mind this is specifically "Afraid" NOT fear https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Afraid

I think this was less to bring back beanbag, and more of a compromise to add a non situational Single target power while not removing ignite, as due to the burn patch and Mag 50 afraid (which is still there for some reason) ignite remains situational, though much more powerful. As is right now just about everything in AR can be considered a straight buff from where is is on live, with the only thing really being lost is ignites ability to be places. I would still like to see a world where I get both ignite and Aim, but i see what they are trying to do here. On a more constructive note, I messed with it a little but I didn't do much in the way of testing, but as said before while this new ignite is pretty much a straight upgrade in terms of damage, it's still hampered by the mag 50 afraid. Considering enemies already run out of burn patches if not taunted, I don't see why this needs to be here, and I'm not sure anyone would miss it.

I'm not sure you understand how DPA(Damage per activation time) works, Buckshot is arguably one of the best powers in the set due to it's high DPA and low cooldown. From a pure DPA standpoint Buckshot does about twice the DPA as M30 grenade. Now both powers have their usage but there was a reason buckshot went untouched, it's very good. Though I do agree, I miss the potential for Gaussian's, but if this is the compromise that lets me keep ignite I guess it's fine

Looks good at a glance, I would at the very least dump a Adjusted targeting in Build up for the Gaussian's SFC Chance for Build up proc, preferably swapping out one of the ones that give recharge. Due to BU reset proc, the double BU is MASSIVE in terms of damage gain and you can live without that 3.75% S/L res.

Odd this seemed like the change that was more well liked, but I'll withhold judgement until I see the next build, I'm more curious about ignite/incinerator as if the current changes went through I would be dropping this power as I have no need for another single target attack on my AR/Nin. Through my testing, incinerator did not seem worth it over my current attacks. While the DPA seems ok, the damage still isn't anything to go crazy over and takes too long to take full effect. Good for Corr/defs or blaster more reliant on their primary sure, but for my toon with access to good single target attacks in nin this change is a straight downgrade that removes a high damage but situational tool from my kit. My plan was to replace it with aim (Likely making it a net positive over all) if the changes went through but now I'm curious to see what will be done.

I have to agree, nerfing 50s that are IOed out for the sake of 1-50 on SO, is not the way to go. I agree that sets should be fully functional on SO but to do this at the cost of angering everyone who uses the set with IOs is foolish to be frank. They are effectively nerfing the most dedicated players for the sake of players that may not even stick with the toon, and lower the end potential of that set. To me it seems like a great way to please no one, you tick off the dedicated players, and the players the changes are made for are likely indifferent to the changes. Anyone playing strictly on SOs likely does not care much about a sets performance as they are already not optimizing, and those leveling will be disappointed to find the set has lower potential then it use to when trying to build it out.

I've noticed two pretty annoying bugs while playing Ar/nin blaster that seem unique to this set. First whenever I visit the tailor my sheathed weapon is defaulted back to hidden and the original legacy rifle, this requires me to change my rifle back to holstered, the correct model, and the correct color as that's also defaulted, ever time I want to adjust my costume. I also spoken to several other players and if my costume has a holstered weapon, they cannot see it when drawn, my character is in the pose for holding but the gun is invisible. This only happens on costumes when the weapon is holstered, I tested with it hidden and it shows up just fine. This may effect holstered Rifles in general as a Merc MM seemed to have the same issue.

No Fx option for all stealth powers, particularly hide on stalker, or at the very least no/less fade

Month 1 player here, I remember when I was new my first toon, was Kat/Regen, back when Katana shared Broadswords animation. I deleted it at level 6 because I was getting mad at how long my HP took to regen... I only had fast healing. The first toon I really mained back then was Ill/kin due to finding confused absolutely hilarious (it still is), I actually got kicked from a few teams back then since confuse "made us lose XP". I still remember the wonder of exploring all the high level zones with invis and discovering monster island in PI and was just absolutely mesmerized. But yeah, I can attest to what everyone said about Fire tanks back then, PLing these days has NOTHING on how crazy you could make things back then. Haste was just ALWAYS perma, have a +res shield? Well that res was capped. Takes Stamina? 6 slot that baby and forget end exist. Was really a different game back then. My first 50 was a Kat/invun around issue 4, and I used to get alot of flack and just curiosity for NOT playing regen at the time.

Yeah it really comes down to there not really being a market for that sort of thing here. Influ was rarely necessary and farming was easy and incredibly optional, even way back in the day people would regularly hand out millions of influ to new players. Inventions made it so there might have been a small market for it but considering the games population and much tighter nitt community, my guess was they rarely got any bites. On top of that I recall the dev's being pretty on the ball with stopping it (or at least appearing to be). All and all it just wasn't worth the time and resources for the gold farmers.

Yeah honestly Ice is one of the best generalist sets for stalker IMO, it keeps all the strengths the other ATs get but does not have to trade it's single target damage for it. Regen is probably not doing you any favors but as Without Pause said, the control is definitely gonna make it work better, at the very least better then it would otherwise. I think it would work better with another secondary but, hey if you want to make regen work on a stalker that's likely your best bet

Thanks, I was actually gonna mention this but I forgot to, and that was basically the point I wanted to make. I currently can't think of and reason this power should be ground targeted, even if you summon it next to a guy it is just as likely to shoot at someone on the other side of the room. For some powers like shield charge, I can see why it remains ground targeted even though alot of people use a macro, but for this power I can't fathom why you wouldn't want to macro it.

So finally got a chance to respec my Ele/Dev(50 IOed, out the teeth, and full incarnate) and tried out the changes for myself, overall it seems like great changes. Shock mechanic: I particularly like the shocked mechanic, regardless of how effective it actually is my little scrapper brain LOVES seeing Big words pop up and more numbers happen. As I am running a blaster, more damage is always good in my book and getting rewarded for draining a enemies end Bar even if I don't get it the whole way reminds me this set actually has a secondary effect. 10/10 Short Circuit changes: I like the idea behind this short circuit change, it really gives me a way to reliably drain someone quickly outside of my nuke. I feel like it needs... something small though to make it feel good. Either a little more damage or a bit faster animation. Either way it's already a full on upgrade over what we had before. 8/10 Tesla Cage Changes: I gotta mimic what I have heard alot of other players say about this power feels underwhelming. It's like it's trying to do too many things and does none of them all that well. First things first, the chain mechanic is VERY awkward to use and does not really feel good. Since the initial target takes little damage it's very hard to control where the damage goes. I can try to aim it at a enemy to specifically control the spread but that's still a crap shoot. The jump distance also felt too small, I would throw it at enemies near a group and if it jumped to any enemy slightly outside of the group it stops. Also this takes way too long to build up, maybe it's because I'm not using this with /ele (another problem I have with the changes) but I often found even by the end of a fight I would not be full on static and alot of it would quickly run out before the next group, making this move hard to get out even when I was trying too. Honestly if you are gonna make be build up to this I should feel like I'm really getting something out of this, something I want to do, a slow hold and some damage I can't direct isn't it. I feel like this needs to go back to the drawing board, I'm not even sure why it's focused on AoE the set is fair good at AoE already and could really use a good single target blast and this would be a great contender for a Freeze Ray treatment (maybe not as crazy). I really don't know what this power is supposed to be. My point is if this went to live like this I would 100% be skipping this power. 3/10 Voltaic Sentinel Changes: I like the idea of making it a toggle, but I have to echo everyone else, just make it last through holds. I don't even say this because I hate having to cast it again, but it's so easy to forget if it's on or not, since unlike most other powers that detoggle on hold, it has no visual effect on you, sure the pet is visible but when I'm constantly lobbing electricity everywhere it's REALLY easy to not notice when this thing has been turned off. As is right now it just doesn't feel worth the hassle against control heavy enemies. Even if we don't get it to not detoggle PLEASE stop making me ground target it, it should work like gun drone and just summon infront of you, I just don't see any realistic reason I would want to place it in a specific spot, specially now since it's a toggle. 5/10 Charge up: Not much to say about it, I quite like the idea of the "Aim" power enhancing the secondary effect of my powers, makes it feel a bit more impactful, I think the small damage and to-hit trade off is very worth it here. 10/10 Overall I really like the changes, I feel like Tesla Cage could really use some more time in the oven, but if this hit live tomorrow I wouldn't be mad. I still feel like it should not directly interact with other sets like /Electical manip now even more so then before and the static generation felt way to slow with moderate use of my secondary. But those two things aside I do like the changes.

It's more the principal that I disagree with rather then how powerful it may or may not be. Honestly from the notes tesla cage looks..... unwieldly and underwhelming but I'll withhold judgement till I get my hands on it, even if it's not great now, I doubt it will stay that way if it's supposed to be one of the signature powers in the set. I feel like what I'm more concerned about is it giving the same resources as Electrical Affinity rather then Tesla Cage. It gives direct and unique benefits to your support capabilities from attacking that you wont get with a different blast set.

I haven't had a chance to test out the changes (I'll probably make a follow up post when I do, they look fine), I want to comment on this specific change since it has been living rent free in my head since I read it. To Be blunt: I think this is a terrible Idea. Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic when I say this but I feel it goes directly against the core idea of CoH character builder. It discourages diversity by attaching direct mechanical advantages to playing a specific combo. Giving bonuses tied directly to unique mechanics makes me feel like I'm not getting the full Electric blast experience if I don't pair it with a thematically appropriate set (same for Ele Affinity and Manipulation). I'm fine with these set synergizing well with each other, they all contain end drain which Ele blast benefits from, but adding specific interactions like this that I miss out on because I play Ele/Dev is something I really do not like and feel like has no place in this game. I'm aware this was done a bit by the original devs with AR/Dev and I thought it was a awful idea then (was also kind of a laughable bonus). At the end of the day I just don't want to feel like I'm missing out on the full potential of my primary/secondary because I decided to go with a different combo. IMO any kind of of unique mechanic like this should be self contained or effect ANY secondary choice.

Dual Blade is actually one of the better stalker primaries when built correctly. Ablating strikes and Sweeping strikes are very high DPA attacks, along with Assassin's Blades filling out the single target rotation. With enough recharge you can solely stick to these attacks offering some pretty high DPS . On top of this it gets access to a def debuff and a melee AoE in the single target rotation which lets you slot in both -res procs (Achille's heel and Fury of the gladiator ) for even more damage. It also get two decent AoEs which, while a bit unwieldly , gives you solid AoE presence. Ninja blade on the other hand I would not recommend as much. The low Damage per attack does not play as nicely with the stalker formula, as you planed crits aren't as good. On top of that, while flashing steel is a OK AoE it's a rather small one and all you get. Ninja blade isn't bad but it loses out in its transition to stalker, losing its main AoE (the lotus drops) and one of its better attacks (Gambler's cut). If you want to play a "Ninja" character I would recommend Katana/Ninja scrapper over stalker as I feel the set just works out much better on the other melees.

Fair, though I am still under the impression that would be the response, but you are correct that just leads us into circular arguments. Regardless, I feel like this change should not make it through, and this is a discussion we should be having when Kinetic melee gets revamped.