1) S.O. - no longer should deal piercing damage. Just flat physical damage. This is the "survival" tree not the damage tree. So take your pick.
Not enough. Should be removed completely and changed into some other buff. Sabos don't need any more damage buffs, nor do should they even be "on par" with other TR paths. The reasoning is simple: if its even "on par" with other paths that alone makes all the other paths obsolete.
Currently it deals superior damage to all other paths and still offers easy perm/near-perma management. If its still on par with other paths its an obvious choice as to what a PvP TR player is going to choose -- it deals as much damage as other paths and still can perma? No brainer. Why would anyone want to play a Scoundrel or an Executioner?
2) Stealth should NOT be 100% crit but rather it DOUBLES your crit chance. This makes a TR more incentivized to stack crit rather than ignore crit because its build in. Its easy to get 50% crit which would then STILL be 100% crit. Currently Every TR in the game ignores ARP - because their damage is peircing and they ignore crit because they get free 100% crit.... Changing #1 and now this would make TRs forced to stack stats like everyone else which is only fair.
Every Sabo you mean, which is as much a problem for us TRs as well as other players. Scoundrels are practically extinct, Execs only survive under one particular perverted build that just maximizes the use of another broken mechanic -- the [1min-mythic SigDiv + AP cloaks + high AP gain + First-strike SE spamming+ "double tap"], which used together can just spam SE continuously in every 30 sec intervals or less.
The changes to "double crit chance" is fair, IMO.
3) Change Shadow Strike so that the "stealth bonus" is now that it refills stealth and the "normal" tooltip is that it dazes the target. So this is merely a "ranged" Daze however can be use tactically when used inside stealth.
I think thats really it. Now its harder for a TR to get back into stealth once out of it, making it a much tougher choice to CoS spam in stealth, its used more defensively now. You can still try to "perma" because Shadow Strike still refills INSIDE of stealth.
This has also been brought up by non-Sabo TRs in the past, during mod5 days when some were arguing that the Scoundrel can chain-daze for over 10 secs. This is one of those things that a non-TR player simply does not know, since it involves actual advanced combat management. You don't learn this stuff by reading the tool-tip alone -- which, many anti-Scoundrel whiners were doing.
In mod5, the reality is that Sabos were all that permastealth + SO-boosted damage, and can still daze just as long as MI Scoundrels in that;
(1) their SS does not proc OWTS (while a QOL fix from the devs, it was also a very bad move that drastically lowered the already low difficulty of stealth management for Sabo players)
(2) they had other options to restealth, making it easier for them to use SS as a dazing tool without needing it as a restealth tool
MI Scoundrels usually ran with ITC-DS-SS. Scoundrel Skullcracker applies only after an encounter is used. When a CC is used, your stealth is dropped. So Scoundrel combat involves attacking outside of stealth, in which case the double damage buffs of SC + Lowblows were applied to non-stealth damage, which was still lower than stealth damage which automatically has +75% damage applied in the form of crits.
Of course, after the daze is over, how does the Scoundrel escape retaliation? SS. So the basic attack pattern of the MI Sabo was to hit with DS during stealth, proc Skullcracker for a 6-sec daze and beat up the target with generally low damage while the stealth was gone, and then use SS to restealth. If we count in a well timed Concussive Strikes, that's a total 8.5 seconds of low damage, unstealthed CoS shots.
Of course the Sabo, can run with the same setup, Hit someone with Dazing Strike from stealth which automatically restealths with OWTS, keep the attack going with CoS shots boosted with SO, and then throw a SS from stealth to keep another 4-sec daze going, and then continue the attack with more CoS shots boosted with SO -- which, in comparison a Scoundrel would be avoiding so he can buy his time in stealth until Skullcracker ICD is finished. That's 8 secs of daze with much higher damage than a Scoundrel.
The only TR that would daze longer were WKs like me, in which case usually ran with VP-DS-SS, the first shot of VP proccing Skullcracker from stealth, and then continuing with a Dazing Strike, for 10 secs of daze.
...
Sorry for the digression, but the debunking of the mod5 Scoundrel myth had to be done. This is mainly why former Scoundrel players like me, or morenthar, are so angry about. They didn't do anything about the Sabos, but they did the one thing that would entirely kill off the Scoundrel. They just gutted down the CC duration without carefully checking into what effects it would have for this path... based on crude, false, propaganda from whiney bunch of people that had no clue as to how the actual mechanic worked.
...
But to return to SS discussion, what needs to be done is:
(1) SS needs to proc OWTS just like how Scoundrels throwing SS procs Skullcracker as well. Like mentioned above this is the main point, the "big mistake" that made Sabo management as easy as it can be. Before that, initially during preview, it was actually possible to mess up the perma rotations if the attack sequences and timing went wrong, where you threw SS to restealth but this would waste OWTS.
This forced Sabo users to be more careful with their number of power uses during mod5 preview. Now, with OWTS separated from SS, the stealth management is a no-brainer.
(2) The daze from stealthed SS needs to be reverted to 2 seconds as it was before. Another "bad mistake" that makes it so easy to hit SE from stealth.
I guess the other thing I would like to see changed is:
4) Shadow of Demise: This feat should now JUST buff damage done IN stealth by 50%. Forget this "piercing thing, forget this "delay" blah blah. Just give a FLAT 50% damage boost inside stealth. Done. Now this is a true assassin class. My only feat with this is SE spam during stealth... However atleast TR would be more of a 1 hit wonder.
Even in its nerfed form, I agree that it is lame. I'm an Executioner now, that is of course, not a MI, so I don't have SE. I don't even have all that supposed "burst damage" because of how its changed, and therefore the only use the Capstone feat has for me is usually with the increased stealth regen speed. With the Capstone feat + rank4 Tenacious Concealment, it takes about exactly 10 seconds for the stealth meter to recharge, so it helps immensely in survivng without ITC.
If it does straight-up 50% damage buff, that would be more useful for me than this current useless form.
Comments
Not enough. Should be removed completely and changed into some other buff. Sabos don't need any more damage buffs, nor do should they even be "on par" with other TR paths. The reasoning is simple: if its even "on par" with other paths that alone makes all the other paths obsolete.
Currently it deals superior damage to all other paths and still offers easy perm/near-perma management. If its still on par with other paths its an obvious choice as to what a PvP TR player is going to choose -- it deals as much damage as other paths and still can perma? No brainer. Why would anyone want to play a Scoundrel or an Executioner?
Every Sabo you mean, which is as much a problem for us TRs as well as other players. Scoundrels are practically extinct, Execs only survive under one particular perverted build that just maximizes the use of another broken mechanic -- the [1min-mythic SigDiv + AP cloaks + high AP gain + First-strike SE spamming+ "double tap"], which used together can just spam SE continuously in every 30 sec intervals or less.
The changes to "double crit chance" is fair, IMO.
This has also been brought up by non-Sabo TRs in the past, during mod5 days when some were arguing that the Scoundrel can chain-daze for over 10 secs. This is one of those things that a non-TR player simply does not know, since it involves actual advanced combat management. You don't learn this stuff by reading the tool-tip alone -- which, many anti-Scoundrel whiners were doing.
In mod5, the reality is that Sabos were all that permastealth + SO-boosted damage, and can still daze just as long as MI Scoundrels in that;
(1) their SS does not proc OWTS (while a QOL fix from the devs, it was also a very bad move that drastically lowered the already low difficulty of stealth management for Sabo players)
(2) they had other options to restealth, making it easier for them to use SS as a dazing tool without needing it as a restealth tool
MI Scoundrels usually ran with ITC-DS-SS. Scoundrel Skullcracker applies only after an encounter is used. When a CC is used, your stealth is dropped. So Scoundrel combat involves attacking outside of stealth, in which case the double damage buffs of SC + Lowblows were applied to non-stealth damage, which was still lower than stealth damage which automatically has +75% damage applied in the form of crits.
Of course, after the daze is over, how does the Scoundrel escape retaliation? SS. So the basic attack pattern of the MI Sabo was to hit with DS during stealth, proc Skullcracker for a 6-sec daze and beat up the target with generally low damage while the stealth was gone, and then use SS to restealth. If we count in a well timed Concussive Strikes, that's a total 8.5 seconds of low damage, unstealthed CoS shots.
Of course the Sabo, can run with the same setup, Hit someone with Dazing Strike from stealth which automatically restealths with OWTS, keep the attack going with CoS shots boosted with SO, and then throw a SS from stealth to keep another 4-sec daze going, and then continue the attack with more CoS shots boosted with SO -- which, in comparison a Scoundrel would be avoiding so he can buy his time in stealth until Skullcracker ICD is finished. That's 8 secs of daze with much higher damage than a Scoundrel.
The only TR that would daze longer were WKs like me, in which case usually ran with VP-DS-SS, the first shot of VP proccing Skullcracker from stealth, and then continuing with a Dazing Strike, for 10 secs of daze.
...
Sorry for the digression, but the debunking of the mod5 Scoundrel myth had to be done. This is mainly why former Scoundrel players like me, or morenthar, are so angry about. They didn't do anything about the Sabos, but they did the one thing that would entirely kill off the Scoundrel. They just gutted down the CC duration without carefully checking into what effects it would have for this path... based on crude, false, propaganda from whiney bunch of people that had no clue as to how the actual mechanic worked.
...
But to return to SS discussion, what needs to be done is:
(1) SS needs to proc OWTS just like how Scoundrels throwing SS procs Skullcracker as well. Like mentioned above this is the main point, the "big mistake" that made Sabo management as easy as it can be. Before that, initially during preview, it was actually possible to mess up the perma rotations if the attack sequences and timing went wrong, where you threw SS to restealth but this would waste OWTS.
This forced Sabo users to be more careful with their number of power uses during mod5 preview. Now, with OWTS separated from SS, the stealth management is a no-brainer.
(2) The daze from stealthed SS needs to be reverted to 2 seconds as it was before. Another "bad mistake" that makes it so easy to hit SE from stealth.
Even in its nerfed form, I agree that it is lame. I'm an Executioner now, that is of course, not a MI, so I don't have SE. I don't even have all that supposed "burst damage" because of how its changed, and therefore the only use the Capstone feat has for me is usually with the increased stealth regen speed. With the Capstone feat + rank4 Tenacious Concealment, it takes about exactly 10 seconds for the stealth meter to recharge, so it helps immensely in survivng without ITC.
If it does straight-up 50% damage buff, that would be more useful for me than this current useless form.