Hello all, It has been... 11 months and 27 days ago that I came here posting a message that I was through with this game. I was a player of the first hour, trying to get the maximum out of this class that was so incredibly weak compared to the other classes.. that you had to be border line masochistic to hang on to it. Back then, the Infiltrator was riddled with self destructive drawbacks that seemed specifically designed to actively screw yourself over, without anything that could be done about it. The absolute biggest annoyance was that death would come to you, even if you made no mistakes, because the class itself was designed with mechanics to make it easier for your enemies to find and kill you. Even with a "perfect" game, you'd not get rewarded for your efforts, you'd get punished. .... wow.. even after all this time, I seem to still have abit of unprocessed frustration on that departement... But.. I didn't come here to give everyone a history lesson, or complain about how bad Infiltrators were in "my day" I came here to ask what the general concensus is on the Infiltrator this day. Is it still as bad as it was? Did SoE actually pay attention to my (and many other people's) ranter and make improvements? Did they finally manage to balance out the Infiltrator so it is comparable to the strength/weakness factors, other classes have? I am thinking to pick up the ol' sniperrifle again. But I'd like to know if the the Infiltrator actually became "fun" to play. And ofcourse.. I'd like to know who still is active from the same period I still played.
Infiltrators have changed a bit, but not so much that infils have really changed since launch. We finally had the infiltrator update, but that didn't do a huge amount. Gave us Stalker Cloak which allows us to trade in our primary weapon for a cloak that charges when you're cloaked and stationary. We also gained the motion spotter deployable which is another radar tool, it provides real time data on enemy movements within its radius and lats for five minutes, but you can only have one up at a time. The update also changed flashlights into darklight flashlights which make cloaked infiltrators glow when the light hits them. Cloak was finally made to look the same across all settings and we've got a few new guns, but beyond that infiltrators are much the same as they were. Oh, and if you weren't around before the balance update, nanoweave got changed, it no long has an effect on headshots so sniping has improved at range although all the bolt-actions have varying Maximum ranges. Close quarters ones lose the one hit kill at 200m, Tier 1 and Tier 2s (M77-B, SR-7 and Company) lose it at 250m and Tier 3 (RAMS and company) lose it at 300m (Which is infantry render range unless they're on a turret). Without specifically knowing you're complaints though it's hard to say whether or not you'd find things better now. Things haven't really changed on a fundamental level, so your complaints are probably still there. That said, Infiltrators have always been an incredibly powerful class if used right. We aren't kings of direct confrontation, but we weren't designed that way to begin with. We have what's arguably the most powerful tool in the game in the form of radar and we've got a variety of ways to approach infantry combat with SMGs, scout and sniper rifles, so we have plenty of ways of taking on infantry.
Were SMG infiltrators in the game when you quit? If not, that's something for you to try. They're great in outdoor fights and for the "token infiltrator" who's mainly there for the recon tool. Stalker infiltrator is new, and it's a lot of fun with the Hunter QCX Crossbow (also new). You can effectively instakill people at close range with the bolt+knife combo and pseudo-snipe people at longer ranges.
Hey AnuErebus, I remember you from when I was around. The bolt-action rifles not killing with a headshot beyond 100 meters, was certainly one of my major annoyances. That they increased the effective killing range on the higher tier sniperrifles only seems fair. In fact, I was so incredibly annoyed by this mechanic, that I did a video to adress the fact that higher tier rifles, were actually less effective at range, because they took longer to chamber another shot, and really had no real advantage over the "weaker" rifles, within 100 meters. Nanoweave armor was the most unbalanced suit option there was in the game. Everyone ran with it, and it effectively lowered the effective range of BASR's to somewhere around 50 meters. Even with all that, I still did quite well, but there were day where I'd shoot 10 people in the head whilst sitting in the 50-100 meter marker, and only 1 or 2 of them would actually die. This would usually be during prime time. And this would usually end up to the guy I just shot to blow my position to his teammates, and effectively getting me killed. It is good to read that they fixed the render of cloak, and that they have finally added Stalker cloak. Eventhough I've always depended on my BASR for kills, I suppose it's good to have other options. All in all, I have never really minded having drawbacks for playing a class that can cloak, but at the time I felt that SoE had stacked every known drawback from every game in existence on top of eachother, giving a sense of fear of even using the cloak, while it should have been a tool for survival. As such cloaking became more of a liability, than a bonus. From what I read, my two most hated "features" have been dealt with. It will be nice to actually kill what I hit. Just the fact that you now get rewarded with a OHK for pulling off difficult shots, feels like a major improvement... one I have been "fighting" for on these very forums for months. Regarding Darklight: I'd rather have enemies having to select a counter measure, instead of the counter measure being built in the class itself, so in that regard, I feel darklight is only fair. It bring balance, gives people a chance to retaliate, and justifies Infiltrators being abit more effective against people who don't use darklight. It is good to see on of the "old garde" is still going strong. ;-)
From the sounds of what you mentioned you would probably not like the changes which SOE made to some of the core infiltrator stuff. 1: your darts now have a visual on the minimap. This allows for your enemies to know when you're around. 2: cloak can be heard up to 300m away. Sure it is faint but iy can be heard. 3: you can now use radar beacons instead of darts. They give more info but they show up in an obvious way on enemy minimaps. 4: iff makes friendly infiltrators glow faction colored. This means if your enemy sees you you are probably dead. Add the performance updates and you will find cloaking is a flimsy defense at best. On the positive side of things. Wraith flash has never been better, battles have gotten larger so SMG infill works well and they added exp for enemies killed while detected by your darts or spotters.
Hey buddy! My advice is to just hop into the game and start playing again - kick off the rust and see how you do. There have been a lot of changes over time, it's hard to pinpoint the most important ones since you left.... -Nanoweave was adjusted so all headshots with a bolt action will OHK, unless you are outside of a given range (300m RAMS, 250m SR7, 200m M77B/TSAR). -When they made that change to BASR's (the range limit) they compensated by increasing the short reload on the sniper rifles dramatically. You can fire a lot faster than before. -Cloaking, while it has undergone many small changes, remains functionally the same - never rely on it to be invisible, but use it to move between cover (the same damn rule we've been saying since 2012) -Most of the scout rifles and semi-autos have been buffed either in hip-fire, velocity or magazine size over time, and I find them to be very useful. Semi-auto's had a COF bloom buff, although they could probably have gone further. -EMP's kill beacons. -Motion spotter is great for sniping/point holds. I still use recon darts for roaming combat (SMG/scout/SASR/TSAR) Overall, infiltrator is in a good spot. It's not insanely different from last year, but our weapons are on-par with what I think is balanced, and most of us have adapted to the weird quirks that exist in the class. I still think our cloaking audio is too loud and when the server lags, the cloak/decloak action can really screw up your ability to fire the weapon when you need to. But that's not enough to stop playing, or become too frustrated. Welcome back
Yay welcome back Scan! For me hands down the most important changes which have not been covered by others so far have to do with radar. You can crouch walk safely and avoid detection from all forms of radar. If you use the Sensor Shield implant (I don't feel I need to TBH) it protects against detection while walking, but not sprinting. Scout Radar, on the Flash, ESF, and Proxy Radar on Tanks is under the same restrictions as our Radar Tools now. They will not give you away any longer like they used to. If you are motionless or Crouch Walking your safe. Darklights instead become our "hard" counter and we will surely know when we have been detected since we glow our faction specific color. Personally I feel infiltrators are in a much better place now then they were previously. When you left it was during a time of intense turmoil within the class. BASR's not functioning, our cloaks getting colors and everyone having to change their entire play-styles. At the time Infiltrators offered limited tools a group would want. Incentive for dart spam just wasn't there and back then hardly anyone but seasoned infiltrators even fully certed into RDD, rarely were they used effectively. Public dart spam used to be extremely rare. No offense to RDD but Scout Radar on the flash was usable by everyone and had a wider range. It was our bane, and we were killed without standing a chance. My goodness how things have totally changed in a wonderful way. We are rewarded positively by EXP for using Recon Darts, and Motion Spotters, and the community has embraced this role with a wide majority of new infiltrators enthusiastically using their recon tools to the fullest. Dart usage is now common place among our brethren, same with motion spotters. The community has come to depend on this luxury and most attitudes have changed to be much more positive towards infiltrators in general. You always get the slime bags who just don't understand the merits of an ambush orientated class but never-the-less things are better. The new motion spotter is incredibly powerful and trumps all other forums of detection. Darts still have their place when mobile but unlike the old days its very common for at least one infiltrator to be present, and desired in a squad, and even for higher level team play its almost mandatory now. In an ideal platoon setting one infil will run motion spotter, and one will run RDD at least. However I have seen at maximum 2 infils in a squad, and it still very functional and viable. Stalker has changed the game as we knew it. We are much better at sneaking into basses and harassing capture points now. However the drawbacks of stalker loosing its primary make this risky without coordinated group support. You don't have the firepower to hold out for long by yourself, and your lack of ammo will force you off point eventually. Hacking is as lackluster as ever, and nothing has changed besides token energy bridges being introduced which only appear in a few specific locations. Bugs, Bugs and more bugs, but overall the developers have made efforts to squish them. It takes a long time to get them resolved and our community here has been pretty good about posting them and spreading awareness and work arounds. Planetside Issue tracker was created to help track existing bugs in the game and get them resolved quicker then forums. The developers have made significant efforts to understand Infiltrators better. Ex Higby trying to SMG and Snipe as an example, and quality of life perks were developed for our benefits in mind. The process has been incredibly slow...but steady. Things like the super cooled coil (straight pull bolt attachment) SOE attempted to make faction specific sniper rifles, (but kinda failed lol) because they sucked for the most part. Recently they introduced new optics which don't disappear when we cloak. They gave me a Crossbow on Valentines Day <3 WHICH IS MY ULTIMATE LOVE NOW <3 especially with stalker cloak. While all classes can use it, the xbow really shines on a Stalker Infiltrator because it enables us to attack from a variety of ranges, and use EMP's where the weapon has the most risk...turning it into a OHK beast. The Xbow also has perfect knife synergy but you had better not miss your shot because of a 1 second re-chamber time between. Trail before you buy, however I suspect given your aim, and proficiency at range you might really enjoy this for a stalker loadout. SOE tried to give us assist EXP on EMP's, I think the recent bug was fixed but not sure. EMP's behave very differently now. EMP's wont crack a HA out of his shield, or do anything fancy but they will pop deploy-able enemy mines, motion spotters, medic bubbles, spawn beacons. The same LOS restrictions apply for infantry shields but the EMP's are very nice and can be excellent to take down enemy assets behind walls, even if an EMP blast won't affect infantry shields because of line of sight, all the support in the room is knocked out. I think if you can stomach some of the bugs you should be pretty content with the class compared to where it was previously. Once I picked up stalker I haven't been able to put it down its addictive. Edit: On the subject of implants Awareness was added to the game but its high energy cost means hardly anyone runs it besides those in vehicles. They also implemented a "Wrel Cam" which shows a line to the position of a sniper killer using an un-silenced weapon. Please note: Silenced weapons like the crossbow will show up on the Wrel Cam, even though they are silent because they do not officially have a "silencer". The same thing goes for knife kills. If the killer is using a silencer a red flashlight cone is drawn instead on the mini map and the middle line is offset by jitter concealing the exact location of the killer. Its not nearly as bad as it sounds and most people just quickly click past the death screen. I rarely encounter "revenge" kills and most can be avoided by simple re-positioning.
Hmmm. I'm unfamiliar with the gripes of infiltrator. I never have a problem sniping or invading independently with smg. Most played/fun class for me.
Infiltrator is mostly the same as it was when you quit. We barely got anything on the "infiltrator update" as the most exciting thing got scrapped (recon drone). Instead we got stalker cloak, a stationary tracker and a crappy ES sniper (vanu got charge up YAY! ********...) Stalker cloak was useful for a while but recently there was a cloak update which made the cloak appear the same across all graphic settings. This was something we wanted for a long time, but they took the liberty to make the cloak easier to spot when doing this. Not only do you see infiltrators easier now but you can also see them at long ranges. Before the cut off range for infiltrators was about 50m and after that range they were 100% invisible. Now you can see infils from a much further distance, my personal record being about 85m (he was crouched and was entering deep cloak). Despite all this I do pull off amazing kill streaks with my NS Vandal, using hunter cloak as a mobile cover when engaging in mid to long range combat. My best kill streak was 27/0 KD in a 30min session (without revives). It helps if your aware that your horribly visible when running around, and you should gauge your enemies skill when determining at what range they are likely to spot you. The more skilled BR100s will likely spot you at around 50m.
Hey all, A bit late maybe.. it might very well be that most people who posted here all left already, but thanks for the replies! Things didn't quite go as planned. I did want to start playing again, but I had some ... problems in the relational departement. But.. these are all behind me now.. and I am ready to hoist myself back into the spandex suit and get some killing done. In the meantime even more time has passed.. so I imagine even more has changed. SoE doesn't seem to be running this anymore. Any monumental changes that I must know about? I read somewhere that IRNV can see cloaked things now. Is this true?
I have a very positive outlook on the company that bought Daybreak. They were responsible for saving another game company in the past. Daybreak has done a pretty good job of making new content. I don't want to backhand compliment them but SOE speed was snails pace. Major things: Sundies stealth cert line now ends with a Sundie cloaking bubble. Any class can use it, and all infantry inside the bubble are concealed. Becomes an excellent method for us to hack out sundies and place them in spots enemy would not expect. Also great for snipers if they can find a way to park near their sniping spot. The recon- drone still exists in the files. Same with some kind of lightning rod turret thing for engineers. However they are not being developed at this time. Speaking of engineers they got a new automated turret ( which can be hacked ) So be sure to EMP the new B3PO. You can avoid being shot by cloaking making them only an issue for us when we are killing enemies nearby. Crosshairs can be seen while cloaked now. Not just HSNV. Crouch cloaked walking has been improved to be similar to deep cloak. I would still recommend start / stop movements to reduce visual impact. Its not as good as deep cloak but its usable and changed stalkers considerably for the better. Engineers also have access to the Archer which is an AV / Anti Max Sniper Rifle. Tank mines also affect maxes now similar to our mines. You can also EMP mines which is great fun for killing enemies dumb enough to roll over their own factions mines thinking they are safe. Cloak is the same on all graphic settings now. I think you were around for the sniper rifle revamp - this is old news but the sniper rifles were redone into tiers . Short / Medium - Long / Very Long range. Longer the range the longer the rechamber and reload times but the faster the bullet velocity. Shorter the range the more responsive the weapon becomes. Sway removed from weapons using 4x scope or lower. You wont need to hold your breath with a ghost *(not sure if you were there for that) Heavies have been changed, this is relevant because it makes our lives easier. They can use their sheilds more often now, but they absorption amount was decreased. Quick knife still exists, and quick knife still offers a cone of damage instantly. However knives can be held in your hands. Instead of having a cone of damage - a small white dot appears and you must have that on target (and be within range on their client) for it to go through. Faster rate of stabbing when holding it in your hands but larger risk of missing the target due to client-side and movement issues. When you swing a knife, either via quick-knife or with the new wielding mechanics you will stop sprinting and cannot automatically re-enter into sprint. Release the sprint key and tap once your finished swinging. This makes jump knifing helpful in order to keep your speed up since your movement will slow the moment you push the key. This often allows the target to escape your reach when holding the knife in your hands. New "power" knives were added. Instead of being instant like the classic style knives, they have a small delay. Inferior for quick knife antics because of this. However when held in your hands they can be activated to do double damage and basically one shot enemies. They make noise specific to your factions knife and unfortunately suffer greatly from movement issues and client-side detection. EMPS were buffed prior to the HA shield revamp. They now affect all other class abilities not just infils and can used to make LAs fall to their deaths to strip HA shields or prevent enemy medics from healing themselves ect. They also take out deployables. Wrel was hired as a developer: Expect tweaks to our EMP nades at some point now that Heavieside 2 has been addressed. Also expect changes to motion spotters at some point. Wrel is also in the midst of a pistol revamp at present. Features coming down the pipe: New ANT vehicle which collects resources and can build things like mini walls (with a shooting slit) mini bunkers, turrets of various types (automated) generators that can go boom and destroy everything horrifically. Shenanigans. Ant will have a cloaking module which uses resources to power. Unlike the bubble it moves like the wraith flash. Vehicle Hacking: LordCosigne and BBurness have figured out a way to make vehicle hacking. They are using existing features creatively and it will take a while to iron out. Specifics not released yet.
BEGONE, NECROMA- Wait, this is your thread, innit? The hell do we do of a necroposter on his own thread? All good. 'kay, boss. Anyway, to help Compliment the Stalker Cloak, you might wanna try out the new Blackhand revolver. It's basically a pocket battle rifle with a 4x scope: Commie-Style damage, but has an impressive bullet velocity, rather low bullet drop, and did I mention it's a secondary? Lesee... New Recon Tools, Darklight- Oh, hows about the- no wait, the special snipers are more than a year old now... Nano-Armor Cloak no longer shimmers when you take damage and cloaked, but it doesn't stack with Nano-Weave Armour suit slot. In this case, higher value is used. Decoy Grenades were removed entirely. EMPs now detonate on Contact. We got implants now, which can give you some decent buffs for a while. The one everyone has lets you see the health of your enemies (As in Health, no shields). It uses an energy system, though, but personally I do not use implants. Uhm... I think that's it from around Year's end of '13...
So, pretty much everything has been said. However, I'm pretty sure you can now one-shot Heavies using Adrenaline or NMG due to it's actual absorb nerf, although it recharges faster. I may be wrong, but pretty sure on this. You can also get Implants (think these are relatively new) that, for snipers, 1) Tells you exactly how far away an enemy is if you have your crosshair over them 2) Increased hold breath duration (gets pretty high) 3) Auto-spots enemies who spot you, so now you know if you've been seen. Other than that, look at all the posts above mine.
You've all been very helpful people. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Especially Cutebeaver. You really put alot of work into your reply. Also... sorry for Necroposting.. and letting it slip because it was my own thread.
Welcome back old friend... it certainly has been a while. I think most of the stuff was already covered. Cloak got buffed visually to be very hard to see when still and crouched which makes stalker viable, and also can be a nice trick for live play. I still love the scout rifles to death. Use them more than my trusty SR-7/V10 nowadays tbh. The head hitboxes were shrunk sometime in 2014. Most of us have adjusted but you may notice it is a little harder to snipe moving targets than it used to be way back in the day. Infil is one of the best classes in the game for raw killing power, especially after you get a feel for how battles flow and can position yourself to capitalize on them. There are a lot of toys to play with, but for me it always comes down to the tried and true - A good SMG loadout, sniper loadout and scout rifle. I don't mess around with the blackhand, crossbow or empire specific snipers. I've used them all and auraxed them for fun, but they are too situational for how I play. The stalker is the one feature added that goes beyond "novelty" status for me, as it can really be a menace in the right situation. Anyways, welcome back and I hope you can stick around longer this time!
Hello mate, it is good to see you're still around. The sniping itself is going quite well still. Not as accurate and fast as I used to be, but still able to pull off some excellent headshots. I very much like the BASR, eventhough supressed, will OHK from further away. Compensating for the drop has something I had trained myself in and nowadays it seems it's paying off. (as it should) That said though, the feel for "how battles flow" and "positioning myself" is something I am having alot of trouble with at the moment. Somehow it feels like the enemy has far less difficulty spotting and killing me, while at the same time I have found myself emptying out clips with my pistol on people, only to be shot dead with one burst. Could it be that the sidearms that I used to use have been nerfed somewhat to counterbalance Stalker cloak? Because where I could easily take out an assailant with my pistol in the past, I now find myself getting killed while reloading because the first clip wasn't enough to bring the target down. Furthermore I developed a "feel" for how much distance I had to keep to prevent from being seen. I get the feeling that distance became alot longer. I dare say that was pretty good in my day. Apparantly MLG material. Could "snap shot" people in the head with a 12x like no tomorrow and was deadly accurate. Wether moving or not. And well... I am having alot of trouble getting back into it and find myself struggling at the moment. Anyhow, I don't wish this to become a QQ post. Maybe I just need more time to get re-adjusted. I have been gone for a long time after all... If anything, it's nice to see some veterans are still in the game.
It seems everything has been pretty well covered so I'll just welcome you back into the game and say we're glad to have you. My two cents: As someone whose played on and off for the last year, mostly I noticed the changes in how other players deal with infiltrates. People have had a lot of time to get good at the game. Really good, like, scary good. I've been (to much frustration and anger) at the same skill level I was at when I used to play with my old outfit about a year ago. I lose a lot of 1v1 fights because I can't aim very well and pretty much limit myself to harassing people at range or amusing people from behind these days. People got really good at being situational aware so those moments where you are able to massacre an entire hill of enemies because they never realized you were there are few and far between. Not saying they don't happen, just less frequently. Experiences will vary. There's a lot I miss about the old infiltrator but what we have now is a very powerful class and I'm proud to say that I still main infiltrator.
Hey man, Thanks for sharing this. Seem to have similar issues here. People on servers nowadays seem to be alot less stupid in general, making it alot harder to get the jump on them. But, I have to look at my own gameplay too, and it seems I've broken a few of my own rules, one of them being "never approach them from the front." Especially in smaller battles I am having alot of trouble staying alive. I've been getting these squads composed of fully certed out BR 105+ powerrangers that hunt you down and kill you the moment they hear your cloaking device. This had me not use my cloaking device, and I am beginning to think Nano armor cloak might be a better option for fights such as this. My pistol "problems" were solved by switching to the commissioner. I think I'll use that for awhile until I get my feel back. I've been the most succesful in bigger battles where there's alot of noise hiding your cloak "fart", and other things that distract your would be victims. Had a decent run yesterday during a stand off, while defending behind a box, popping in and out to snipe people in the face. I had teammates next/near me so that made it easier for me to get these snipes. All in all, I seem to need practice again. The game has matured. The playerbase has too. And I am finding myself lagging behind somewhat. Since I sometimes get these short moments of shine where I feel like my old self, I am sure the more I play, the longer these moments will last.
