Stalker Infiltrators - What do you think ?

Hi,

What do you think about the current Stalker state?
Especially in terms of its (almost) total and permanent invisibility associated to its firepower ?
Do you think stalkers balance is a good one for now ?
Would you change anything about it ?
In a few words how would you describe Stalker class ? "Hard to master", "cheezy", "useful", "useless", "underpowered", "ok", "overpowered" ?

(I'm not looking for any tips or anecdotes about stalker gameplay)

Thank you for your feedback.

Good, useful, fun. Not too much action sometimes though.

After the cloak buffs a monthish ago cloak in general is pretty balanced, all i want to see now is a few nitpicky things with cloak being some bug fixes and lowering the cloak/decloak volume

overall stalker is not hard to learn, op, up, or cheesy. its really just your own playstyle, and figuring out its playstyle. its no harder to learn to play light assault than to play stalker

I wish there were more/better melee options. I WANT MY SWORD! Other than that it's quite enjoyable.

Pure bait for shotguns with lights on them.

Best class evar. Anyway,u play hunter with TSAR-42 and the Armstice,if u change to stalker u are a noob. Well,if not change to stalker too

Yup, i'm not interested in playing Stalker. I just wanted to know what people thought about it.
I feel like their permanent invisibility is a bit too much. I mean, you can be in a hudge battle with one of them in the middle of your teammates during 10 minutes, and you'll not notice the guy. Then he pops from nowhere and insta kills you.
But my own opinion may not the right one... It doesn't seem to be the most shared one.

First off, it's not permanent invisibility. I've been killed loads when sat perfectly still in deep cloak. Experienced players know what to look for, maybe a slight distortion in the background, but you're never truly invisible.

I love stalking with my crossbow, nothing gets the adrenalin pumping like stalking a heavy and giving him the old one two with a crossbow/knife quick combo.

I think it's fine as it is, can be rewarding but not easy to master.

Thank you for your feedback, Jobiwan.

To be a affective stalker that is useful to your team takes skill i don't think its op at all as a stalker has low health and no primary weapon plus people who use dark lights which unlike any other device in the game completely nullify the stalkers ability!

Also dark lights still reveal Infiltrators through walls floors and ceilings added to the fact friendlys always run around with their dark lights permanently switched on often forcing Infiltrators on their own fraction to run as they constantly reveal them to the enemy by accident often through walls floors and ceilings!

I think they are overall fairly balanced (permacloak is very powerful, but the lack of anything but a sidearm/knife is a massive drawback) - but because they have such very limited offensive capability they tend to not be able to really pull their weight. It is rare that a stalker can do much more than pick off isolated targets - and they usually can't do that in quick succession - so their impact on a battle tends to be low. the exception is if they are used to intelligently to harrass capturepoints in leapfrogging. That's one of the few things a stalker can do that can turn the tide IMO.

This is mitigated somewhat if the stalker uses his sensor tools well. They can be a huge multiplier to his friendlies even if he himself isn't directly doing much of the heavy lifting.

The other side is the cheeze... a lot of stalkers get used just to try to aurax sidearms, knives or "joke weapons" like the candy cannon in the current haloween event - but since it's hardly the OP-type of cheeze it's hardly an issue.

Overall I think stalker is too small of a niche, and not too well adapted to the game that is too combat-centric for a pure stealth-class. There just aren't enough important opportunities for infiltration. We'd need stuff like doors, more hackables, infiltrators actually being able to hack controlpoints more efficiently than others ect. for that sort of playstyle to really have a role IMO. Stalker is a throwback to PS1 infiltrators, but the game has changed too much since then.

Ultimately it is just a small side-role to a class that otherwise works ok for the most part, so its no biggie.
-Stigma

I wish we had more things to do. Like Stigma pointed out, we're pretty much just snipers that can hide longer and hack things easier, but IMO that's it. Yeah, we have sensors, but most people see those now and immediately pop them. If we had more things to infiltrate and a better sidearm (still praying for throwing knives), I think Infs could pull weight as an actual class that isn't just "I shot u frm 300m awy."

I've said it before and I'll say it again: any cloak is just that, cloak, not invisibility. Treat it as a highly useful camouflage that changes colors but nothing else. You will get spotted, and if you wait until you are spotted you are simply dead as by the time the first hitmarker comes they've already been able to shoot a non-moving enemy for 0,2 seconds or more, add your own reaction time of 0,25 seconds (for the best of us which I'm too old for, 0,3 for the rest) and you simply don't even have time to uncloak.
Stalker trades it's primary weapon for a permanent cloak, but the 12 second cloak is useful enough for most situations, especially since it gives you enough range to get to the next cover, and you'll be looking for that cover to remain unseen rather than thinking you are invisible as a Stalker.

Also as infiltrator you get the most out of attacking people just before they discover you. Use this to your advantage and attack as they are about to trip over you.

Another nail to coffin.

Also we need Wraith Harasser..
..it will be cool, what can go wrong?

Stalker cloakers should have 2 secondary weapons.

1 in the primary weapon slot.

1 in the secondary weapon slot.

LOL if this happened nobody would play any other class! xD

fun, but i couldn't play one all night, if you're playing for a few hours then its always fon to spend 20 mins or so stalking

Hmmm... that's not entirely unreasonable perhaps. Having 2 options of secondaries is still quite a bit less powerful than having a primary accessible. Main problem is that some sidearms are so specialized that they almost fill primary roles. A blackhand is essentially a pseudo-sniper. If you could add to that a CQC sidearm that might be a bit much. The idea is worth exploring though.

-Stigma

I think it's underpowered when compared to an SMG inf, but still interesting enough to be fun for people who want a change of pace. Obviously anyone can camp a sundy during a big battle and use the ohk knife cheese to great effect, but actually stalking other infs and using your gun without being caught requires more consideration.

One thing I've learned is to not be too cautious. A lot of time can be wasted waiting for perfect opportunities, and it's especially frustrating to spend a lot if trying to get into a perfect spot, only to be seen by someone while in deep cloak, or to have a flashlight shine on me through a wall.

Personally, I think the deep cloak for the stalker should be completely invisible, as it's actually not hard to spot the deep cloak for experienced players.

All its cloak levels need one level of upgrade (sprinting has the current walking, walking has standing, ect.) and crouched and not moving should give full invisibility.

I really don't get why the devs are so afraid to give true invis to things.