Still not good enough for me, the cloack takes way to long to recharge and last not long enough If they add a speed boost to the cloack (30%), i will use it I dont mind that a cloack doesn't last long enough but i must go from point A to point B cloacked or am dead PS: i only use cloack that often when there's a huge zerg going, the decloack sound gets lost in the mist of random noise, and when am waiting for a target, long cloack= win
Yep, works well with 1-4x sniper rifles as well. Basically, if you're rolling squad support (I've been told having a closer range sniper in the rear is awesome), being the squad's recon-buddy, and throwing EMP's to soften targets for a push. With the new changes it will be a step up if you need to flank something, whereas with the current numbers it's more of an 'evade only' option. It does work in CQC with an SMG, but runs on a little more aggression than a lot of infis are used to putting out, as you kind of have to go off a little half-cocked at times. But yeah, it does require a different perspective on how to play it and make it work, mostly in that you rely less on your cloak for stealth and more for getting the hell out of dodge after you leave the flaming bag on the doorstep. I can probably sum picking a cloak for close quarters like this: If you have even slightest semblance of a PLAN going into it, the familiarity and more liberal timing of Hunter is probably going to feel more comfortable. If you're bitter, crazy, and have gone the way of the honey badger... NAC it, as it tends to give you that little extra to help stupid risks pay off. If you have the theme of 'Beverly Hills Cop' stuck in your head as you sneak around you may wish to save certs for Stalker.
Nope the idea is not to remain undetected. The idea is to make it harder to pinpoint your position, until you are right on top of them. Take note that this doesn't always work. The ideal conditions are during large battles where the enemy is taking cover behind rocks, trees and such in an open environment. They'll be focused more on what's in front of them, and will most likely not break cover to chase you, because they'll end up getting shot.. In closed spaces, it becomes alot harder, because there's less distractions keeping them occupied. Maybe I should make a vid about this to show you what I mean... It's been awhile since I made one.
No but that theme played over nearly every sneaking or subterfuge moment in the films as well as other movies and television shows where characters are trying a little too hard to be stealthy or subtle, so it's associative. It's one of those, "They're sneaking so nobody's going to be talking for several minutes, queue the music" type things. I'm probably dating myself by making the reference.
With the NAC buff I've decided to max it out and give it a shot Works great and reduces significant damage. However, there is one glaring and murderous bug that seems to be continually happening. I will activate the cloak, and a second later after taking a shot (or no shot even, but more common after a shot), it will deactivate despite having a full cloak meter. This is different from the visual not appearing and accidentally activating cloaking/uncloaking. It will trigger, then immediately de-trigger independent of my keyboard actions. Is there any chance this could be looked into? Quite that problem as it's used for escaping and since it decloaks a second after it activates at full meter this is an issue. I want to capture this for you with FRAPS, but my computer, she is a toaster and has not the power. I'm sure others are experiencing this issue. So far loving NAC but when it decloaks after a single shot I'm feeling something isn't right.
I couldn't put max NAC to the test tonight due to too much lag and massive TR zerg that was murdering everything in their way. I was also getting the random decloaking, but activating cloak/decloaking had a ~2 second delay so I'm not sure what was happening, dropping mines resulted in strange drop locations too and nowhere near where I originally dropped them.
Oh I am so excited! I can finally go back to my main loadout ASC +NAC! Recently I have been playing Hunter Cloaking with Nanoweave but now it looks like I can save my certs on maxing out Nanoweave. Thanks SOE!
They are slightly different. When fully certed out one allows you to stay cloaked more than not cloaked (or nearly), while the other gives you extra defense against small arms fire. One cloak will be more useful inside complexes while the other will be more for being outside.
Compared to what they were they have gone towards homogenisation. Basically, they have made the NAC more like the Hunter Cloak. That does make things more balanced, because they are more similar, but it is a very very lazy way to balance a game and makes me have less faith in the developers to make fun and varied alternatives that are balanced. I don't agree that the Hunter Cloak is definitely superior to the NAC outside - even when sniping. The extra duration is not necessary in any form (although it is nice) and the recharge times are very similar now. The damage reduction from the NAC could save you from headshots and accurate return fire if you are are at medium range. I think neither is really superior outside because neither functional difference really comes into play much. Inside bases the NAC is the obvious choice because the cloak is rubbish for remaining undetected - worse than rubbish when you factor in that enemies can echo-locate if you use the cloak. Cloaks can, however, be useful for aiding in an escape and/or blockade running - the NAC damage reduction comes very much into play here, while the Hunter's extra duration not so much. People used the NAC for this before the update - it has only got "better" at this. Although I say "better" it really is just the same in any one particular event, however, it can now be used far more often because of the recharge change. A buff was definitely needed, but it could of been made to differentiate between the cloaks even more, instead of making them more the same. I listed some fun and interesting ways this could have been done, but it doesn't require other people to have an IQ of 160 for them to also be able to work out that this is the probably the laziest and least enjoyable way they could have buffed the NAC.
Forum messed up; please read the rest of the post that you didn't get to see before - tell me if you agree with any of it and, of course, if there is any that you do not agree with! However, I guess I can still reply to this question - my answer is that I don't dislike the change itself, I just dislike that they decided to go with this change because it did not require much effort in either the mental faculties or the time and energy to implement it rather than deciding on a far more interesting change (that might or might not require more time and energy to implement, but would definitely require them to do some thinking). It isn't like the ideas were not out there, and most of them would have been just as easy to implement, but it would require a little more thought from the developers on how those ideas would interact with balancing rather than just homogenising the options like they decided to do. They have decided to take the easy way out, and more importantly to me, they have decided to go with the option that added the least amount of fun to the game. I am not really enjoying the game much at the moment and neither are my friends (hence why we have quit playing for all but the odd occasion); so adding more fun to the game is something I feel is very much needed. Other games just need more balance, but this game needs more than just balance at this point. This is sad, because I really enjoyed Planetside, and this franchise fills a fairly unique genre at the moment (a large-scale base-taking FPS).
What would you have done to buff it? I would have preferred they simply increase the recharge rate by a good margin so that the difference in cloak time was more pronounced, perhaps even buffed the defense bonus by 5% or 10%. That way you could decide to have a cloak that lasts double duration (6 seconds versus 12) or a cloak that lasts half as long but gives a sizable defensive boost. The thing that made the NAC unusable for me was not the duration but the recharge rate. The duration usually lasted as long as I needed it but having to wait almost 30 seconds to reuse it was too much.
Agree totally with what you are saying about the recharge rate. Some ideas on what could have been done instead of the duration increase: Speed boost - make it more capable of dodging and weaving which would perfectly suit close-range play. "Mirage" effect - some variations possible with this, ranging from Mesmer (Guild Wars 2) clone style to Ethereal (WoW) after-image style to a Heat Haze effect to a fluctuating Diffraction Bubble. Allow instant decloak when having received damage within the last n seconds - duke around until the enemy's fire either becomes inaccurate due to bloom or they have to reload, then take instant advantage of the opportunity. Absolute-damage reduction - take off x amount of damage received per bullet; makes it more useful against spray and pray weapons, which is one of the things being slightly more difficult to hit (cloak visibility) doesn't really help with. I am sure there are more, of course. But anyone of those would have been many times more interesting than what we got. The strength of the effects need not be much at all (examples only; 10% speed boost, weak mirage effect, last 2 seconds for instant decloak, -20 damage per bullet), but the effect would be enough to change the style of the cloak away from that of the Hunter cloak. Personally would prefer they buffed the duration of the Hunter cloak to something like 20 seconds, while keeping the NAC at 6 seconds max, along with a strong enough version of one of those ideas I listed (so more than in the examples), recharge being as they are now with this update. The Hunter cloak isn't exactly going to be overpowered with a 20 second duration, but it would be a big quality of life change and would give the NAC more leeway in being different.
I have definitely noticed a difference in how close combat infiltrators fight now, I've been facing way more rogue infiltrators than before (well since the first week the first wave of SMG's came out), with the NAC changes they're much braver that tends to bumrush even when they know they're spotted, my playstyle hasn't changed but my survival has increased a little. This is a good change, the longer duration was needed.
You do know that at max rank, you get a +35% damage reduction right? Buffing the duration of something that everyone already uses would've meant that no one would bother trying NAC at all besides the people who legitimately want to master every aspect of the Infiltrator class.
After having have spent a couple of hours using NAC now, I gotta say I'm starting to warm up to it. Nano Armor cloaking, is as I initially thought, great for running and gunning in situations where I expect to get alot of hostile fire. The 35% dmg reduction is highly noticable, and when I cloak up while I am under fire, I feel more confident that it'll soak up enough damage to keep me alive long enough to either finish off whatever is trying to kill me, or get behind cover to heal up. In quite a few incidents already, it has done just that. Soak up enough damage, in situations I'd otherwise had died without it. For the main part, you'll be sacrificing alot of stealth, for survivability. Hence you shouldn't try to use this cloak as a Hunter cloak replacement, because it isn't. Do not use Nano-armor cloak with the idea that i'll help you keep hidden. It's not meant to keep you hidden. It's meant to help you escape in one piece after you went: RAAAAAAAGGGGGH as you fired your SMG into multiple people. Hunter cloak remains the cloak for getting behind and flanking the enemy when sniping, and I'll still be using it in situations where I prefer to not try to draw too much attention, or want to get somewhere behind the enemy lines without being spotted. I think SoE did a fine job in making NAC useful to the degree that it can be used as a viable side-grade to Hunter. There are now two possible choices that are equally good, yet have two diffrent playstyles they've been tailored towards.
I don't get your first statement at all - what are you trying to say? The part you quoted was in reference to the strength of the ideas I was suggesting (which would be additional to the damage reduction), not the strength of the damage reduction. Maybe I didn't make that clear, if so I apologise. For clarity, the 35% damage reduction would still be there. The second part is a false statement. I suggested that they increase the duration of the Hunter Cloak so that they can also do more to the NAC - the fact that the Hunter Cloak would be better than currently would not subtract from the fact that the NAC would also be better than currently. The major difference would be that of how they are used and what the results are, which would differentiate the two cloaks. They would be used as people saw fit for the situation at hand - neither would be better than the other. It would be like comparing apples and oranges.
