A class that one hit kills while invisible at a distance is killing the fun.

I am still new but every single thing I do has to revolve around minimizing this one thing randomly killing me all the time out of nowhere with no way to stop it unless I stay in a vehicle or play a max. It is no fun. It is absolutely no fun to play this.

The killcam tells you where they are. They are typically tunnel visioned on a specific area. To combat snipers, memorize their location and take either a different route and come back to them or run around the long way to go and kill them. Be quiet and avoid their recon, but if you happen to trip it, its alright, because its a 50/50 chance they weren't paying attention. Walk up behind them and mag dump them.

Always check higher hills that overlook the battlefield and spam Q. Infiltrators typically silhouette themselves, making it easy to spot them when you look up. Also, if they are closer to the battle, listen for the sound of cloaks and sniper fire. And if you hear a bullet whizz past your head, zigzag unpredictably.

You can continue to adjust to sniper counterplay as you continue to play. Its ok to die. Just keep learning and keep trying, bud.

Try to basically never be still and do not move in a predictable way. If you may be in the line of sight of snipers, do not just run in a straight line, change up your trajectory as you travel. They have to land a headshot to one-tap you. Try to avoid running through open areas if snipers are being an issue. Or go infiltrator yourself. Movement is critical.

For close quarters, you need to learn the unique sound of your faction's cloak. This can probably be learned best by playing and learning infiltrator class yourself. You should eventually instinctively know by sound when an enemy infiltrator is cloaking or unlocking near you and their direction based on the sound. When you hear it, shoot their head before they shoot yours. Try to maintain constant situational awareness, look at the minimap often to gauge the status of the battlefield.

Dying is perfectly normal and can be amusing even, however dying to cheese often isn't considered very fun. People don't mind dying to people they respect, but dying to something so blatantly broken is harder to swallow.

Infils, maxes, vehicles are the complaints of most of the new/returning players, and even the biggest issues for vets that play 24/7.

The advice given by infils to people who complain about dying in one shot at any range to something they can't see is 'don't stand still, learn to predict where infils will be and memorize the decloak sounds, shoot first or play infiltrator'.

1. People don't usually come on the forums to complain about being killed while standing still. Anything in the game will kill you while you're not moving/afk. This isn't just for planetside 2, you can't stand still in any shooter and expect to live. Unless the guy has played only games where it's impossible to die, I doubt he's gonna be surprised about dying while standing still, much less make a forum addressing only one class regarding that issue. So right off the bat you can skip the don't stand still rhetoric, because that's as silly a reply as the current state of the infiltrator.
2. Predict infils. Well there's only one issue with that actually. It's a massive game, huge maps, lots of players, and you're expecting people to predict where an invisible player is going to be amidst all that? Yeah ok dude, I'd love to see some clips of you doing that. Unless you're an infiltrator with the recon, doubt you'll have much success with that, especially at the longer ranges.
3. Memorize the decloak sounds in a game where sound is constantly breaking, and probably one of the most unreliable in all the games I've ever played. If we're being honest, I've actually just been playing on mute for the last 2 years since the sound constantly breaks so it's better to listen to music or something than have sound breaking randomly all the time. Although that is decent advice, with the way the sound is in the game, and the number of other sounds going off it's quite hard to make out the decloak/cloak sounds when they work. Also the decloak sounds can't be heard past a certain distance so good luck identifying an infil 300m away using that, even when the sounds are working.
4. Well you've got to spot the infiltrator before you're able to shoot first. The whole point of the class is to use it's invisibility to catch people off guard and kill them before they can react (and thanks to clientside & 0 ttk of most their weps it's quite physically impossible to react in most cases). Let's say you do manage to catch that infil and shoot first, scoring all headshots. Your ttk will be around 0.2-0.4s. The infiltrator can still instantly kill you, which does happen and I've exploited as well thanks to how easy it is to quickscope and even hipfire your 1hk sniper into someone's head.
5. If you can't beat em, join em! And to be fair that's what most people do (who stick around). The number of infils nowadays is incredible. There's some fights I play where it's in fact only infils I'm facing. The rest who prefer not to play a broken class either suck it up or quit. Very fun, very healthy for the game.

Now if we're done dismantling the silliness, could we get an actual solution to the infil problem, perhaps balancing like in PS1 or even the beta version of PS2.

1. Disagree. Often times I can tell a new player from a good player just from how they're moving. Just today alone I sent tells to two obviously new players who repeatedly were not learning this lesson despite being sniped over and over and over. I have over 800 hours in this game and even I could benefit from reminding myself to try to improve my movement game.

2. You make it sound like it's some kind of complicated science to know when you are more likely to be sniped. If I'm in an urban CQC environment with lots of corners, short hallways, and cover I'm going to be way less worried about being sniped than if I'm trying to run across an open field. If you can't make these kinds of deductions and automatic assessments in your head, especially after becoming experienced with the game, then the problem is with you.

3. Just incorrect. I don't even have to think about it. I instinctively recognize when an enemy infiltrator uncloaks near me. I haven't had an issue with this. Seems like you're having some personal issue. I specifically said the audio cue is for close quarters. That you would think the audio cue would be relevant at "300m away" seems to indicate you're thinking about this is on the wrong tracks.

4. Much more often than not, when an infil has uncloaked on me in CQC I'm able to flick on them and win the duel. Maybe that's hard to do for lesser skilled players? I'm not saying I'm great, but maybe I'm above average because enemy infiltrators aren't that much of a concern to me but you seem to be unable to handle them.

5. I don't know what server you play on, but I've never seen a fight that was just infils vs infils.

I think a reasonable nerf to infiltrators would be like maybe add something like 0.1 or 0.2 seconds to the delay time before they can fire. Would make sense for there to be a longer delay for bolt action rifles which can one-shot. Sniping is something that frustrates players in any and every FPS.

You are right. Infiltrators destroy any long range fight. As infantry you should try to stay in close quarter fights.
And if you want to counter an infiltrator the easiest system is to pick an another infiltrator.

I personally don't know why the game designer don't fix some of the "toxic mechanics" of the game like:

Invisible Flash
Invisible Ant running over ppl for roadkills
One shot knifes
Infiltrators that destroy any long range fight (snipers)
Infiltrators with smg (this is the worst... broken af)
Armored vehicles dropped with anvil inside a base, often equipped with kobalt... cmon this is the cheese of the cheese.
Tank with Hesh camping a base (this was already fixed reducing the killing potential of hesh vs armor, but then the gun was buffed again).
Maxes pointless vs vehicles but OP vs infantry.

In general there are beautiful maps, but you always end to play inside a base because infantry get deleted in outdoor fights.... and this is a waste. We need some counter to cloak (a big disruption field / aura generated by a sunderer ? ) because is really toxic vs new players.

I've got above 10k hours on the game between all chars. I've experienced a bit of PS1, and I've been in PS2 since beta. Throughout the years I've evolved, thought I still play casually I'm decent enough to encourage new players and give advice to them. I can also grasp some of the issues regarding the game and how rapidly it devolved.

The way you are framing this is disingenuous. A new player in this game will move differently than a vet, yes. A new player might stand still, might move in straight lines, forget about cover, etc. Ok. This puts them at harm for pretty much everything in the game, not just the infiltrator class. Acting like moving in a straight line or standing still is something that only the infiltrator exploits is stupid. If he was complaining about not being able to stand still or move in a straight line, he wouldn't be complaining about the infil, he'd be complaining about literally everything in the game.

And sure, while movement may make you more prone to dying to infiltrators - and every other class - it's something people understand, and wouldn't get too frustrated about. If I made a mistake like standing still or whatever, and I die, idc, I know it's a mistake. That alone wouldn't justify someone taking the time to point out infils are broken.

This gives me the impression you have little idea what you are talking about, or deliberately playing dumb. CQC environments with hallways and corners are extremely favorable to the infiltrator as they can clientside someone without even decloaking on their victims screen. Using the minimap and the cliendside advantage, short hallways and stairs become the perfect environment for CQC sniping. And it's not just for the cqc-basrs, every sniper works extremely well in cqc, especially with critical chain. This is how I auraxed all my snipers.

Also you're being disingenuous again, everyone can predict they will be shot at. Predicting where the shot is going to come from a sniper that doesn't appear visibly or on the minimap is a different story. No matter how good you are, there's few situations where you can predict the first shot from an invisible enemy.

If you are that good, I would suggest you make youtubes.

Again disingenuous. Memorizing the sound isn't the problem, the problem is the audio rarely works, the noise is minimal when you factor in all the other sounds going off, and on top of that the sound can only maybe be heard up to a certain range AND in most cases the sound will trigger after you die since infils can shoot on a client's screen before decloaking since DX11 update.

Also you're making no sense here. You claim in your other point that you don't have to worry about infils in cqc, they only target you at longer ranges - where you admit the sound is useless. So it seems you're the one getting mixed up lol.

Also another phenomenon, if you're the only player in planetside 2 who's audio is never breaking, tell us all how you do it because that seems to be an unfixed 'feature' since launch practically.

I'm starting to thing you might just be that good as well. Again, you should maybe consider making youtubes.

Connery, emerald, miller. It's mostly during off hours, but it's not rare to have squads of up to 12 players all pulling infils to cap a base.

In any case, you're again missing the point. The number of players using the infiltrator class has significantly increased over the years. Why is that?

Infils are perfectly fine I deal with them with ease, I see nothing wrong with the class but for the lesser skilled, I will grant you a minuscule nerf.

Why is that? And ofc in this game they merge invisibility with sniping.

Oh, and if you get hit but it wasn't a headshot, but it did high damage, do not keep running in a straight or predictable path. Also, a mistake many people make is turning around to see where the shot came from. No. Don't do this, because it makes you easier to shoot than if you kept running in a straight line or otherwise predictable path. If you get shot or shot at, zigzag and shuffle. If they are using a bolt action, it will be MUCH harder for them to hit you if you do this.

If there is a problem with Infiltrators in the game, its not getting fixed anytime soon, and we and the devs know that. Therefore, no. We don't need to turn every discussion about Infiltrators into an argument about Infiltrators, especially when there is a new player seeking some semblance of advice or a fix to his problems. Therefore, we will at least try to help him with the basics instead of just saying, "Infiltrators are broken. Infiltrators are the plague of the universe. You will die every time to them and you had no chance whatsoever. This game is dying. Enjoy it while you can because every battle may be your last. I hate Wrell." because that does no good for him and it's untrue. We might as well help him with things that help us to survive as non-Infiltrators against snipers than complain to him about something we can't or won't change, at least not here.

If you want to complain, go to the "Cloaking is killing the game" thread.

I want to say I'm sorry when in my other topic about missions I accused you of not understanding what my perspective is like. After reading your post, it's clear how wrong I was. I can see now you really do put a lot of thought into knowing what it feels like entering the game and coming up against things like this. Wanted you to know it is very much appreciated to at least feel like someone out there understands the frustration and how daunting it all feels.

I don't think developers look in this forum but I wanted to post this before it's gone from my thoughts.

What if new players had access to a tactical item that reduced the damage of a single headshot by 33%?

It would use up the tactical slot, have a quantity of 1, and be consumed immediately on receiving one headshot. It could be sold for 1 cert.

It is bandaid, but I am only thinking about limiting the jarring nature of OHKO that feel impossible to deter. This item would give the player the option to equip something that lets them feel a little safer from that.

I think a really good idea would be a suit slot against snipers. I don't know what the downside would be, but what if when your shield broke, you didn't take any extra damage? It would be very potent against snipers since they are one of the few weapons that will do more damage in one shot than your shield, but it wouldn't have any effect on automatics, maybe saving you one bullet. Maybe the downside would be a longer shield recharge or you take more damage in general. That way, if you are dying a lot to snipers or just want to be on the safe side, pop that and you are good to go. But it would make counter sniping harder if Infiltrators equip it. Maybe not allowing them to have it, as they would benefit the most from it?

Listen here, I'll give you some advice. One that I am sometimes struggling myself and need to work on. If you keep dying and the situation is not getting better since the enemy has the upper hand no matter what: Leave this base and try another fight. Goes against any fight, not just against infiltrators. Don't think like "OK, NOW I will get them." It doesn't work and will only frustrate you further. Leave and try a new fight, one where the other side does not already dictate the situation. Bases can be retaken, but you alone can determine if your trip down to Auraxis is a pleasant one. If you find something that suits your playstyle, then go and play the heck out of your playstyle.

Are you kidding? Snipers are the easiest targets a CQC infiltrator can find. They are isolated, most of them suffer from tunnel vision and even if they come in groups, they don't pay much attention to one another. I remember going ice-fishing on Esamir for some sniper boys and girls around Eisa Tech plant with nothing more than a Blackhand.

Dude, he didn't say that. He said he has never seen a fight that was JUST Infils vs Infils. He didn't say that Infiltrators aren't an Infiltrators biggest threat. He didn't say it wasn't easy for a CQC Infil to find a LR Infil. He simply stated that he has never sene a fight where only Infiltrators were present.

Yeah, that is right... In that he is most certainly correct.

Another thing to consider is that sniping infils don't capture bases. And when you pull a tank to go hunt for the sunderer they're spawning from, that infil then has no antiarmor capabilities to impede you. I think one of the biggest problems with new players, and bad players as well, is that they aren't inclined to spend their nanites to pull vehicles to do things like hunt for buses or just kill infantry and other armor.

In a game like counter-strike or valorant, when you get AWP'd (one-shot to the body btw) it's frustrating. And the next round that person can just AWP you again. In Planetside, if i get one-tapped once by a sniper, there are easier ways for me to avoid being sniped again and more options for counterplay than in other games. I very rarely will get sniped by the same person a second time and will almost never let them get me a third time.

Also, though this isn't relevant to sniping distances where they actually are essentially invisible, the cloak doesn't provide literal invisibility. I get plenty of kills on cloaked infils I see moving around who can't even shoot back at me because they're cloaked. I'd estimate the ratio of infils that uncloak and kill me to infils I kill who are still cloaked is like 1:3 to 1:5. If you can't see infiltrators when they're at closer ranges you should try changing your graphics settings.

And if you don't have a computer that is good enough to raise your graphical settings to find Infiltrators?

I can't see cloaked Infiltrators from range very well, so I just guess.

Just guess.

I think only one parameter needs to be set high. I think it's the graphic quality setting. I also have textures high, but I think maybe that can be left low. I turn effects to ultra because I think I heard that can help with being able to see bullet tracers and everything else I have off/low.

You could try downloading and using potato.ini for planetside 2. Maybe that would help.

Unfortunately, having a good computer that can give you good frames just gives you a huge advantage over those that can't, especially in large fights. I think this game is more CPU intensive than GPU, though so if you have a decent enough GPU could maybe spring for a CPU upgrade instead of the overpriced GPUs.

A streamer on twitch brought up a point that in other games the snipers can't cloak and their scopes have a glare that makes them stick out like light-bulb if they are aimed at you while you are looking at them. But I guess planetside is lightyears ahead in game balance!

You mean Ahorn? I wish I knew why he was so incredibly salty towards infils. Yeah, it's annoying to get one-tapped by a sniper, but a lot of things in this game can one-tap you and be frustrating.

I'm the main knifer for my faction. Or stalker (emissary/blackhand).
However I use to play LA c4 fairy a ton.

The thing new players don't understand, or people in general who have a hard time vs snipers is. Once you get decent at the game, snipers are for sure, the least infantry class spec, you'll die to. I die to snipers the least, on any infantry class I play. Honestly, even when I was a new player, I don't see how that would be any different. Most fights are at bases, not fields, most base fights don't have snipers. Snipers are usually just for hills, towers, & bridges. Not base fights, besides a few of course.

Their are afew pros tho, that make it annoying at times, like scout rifle pros (however barely any of them exist). LA should have ambusher jets anyways, the other jets aren't as useful. If ambusher, you're usually moving too fast for a sniper to do much. HA can just hug doors & is fine. Medic hangs with allies, so is fine. Ect. Truthfully, you should be dying to LA & HA more, because that's how it is in general.

As for people in other threads whining about cloaking. 1st of all infil has weaker armour, a commisioner is able to 1 shot me, as infil. Next SMG infil is the LEAST PLAYED spec, I've ever seen. Nobody plays it, compared to most specs. It's even more rare than pistol infils. If smg infil was all that, more people would play it, it's not that easy. As for 1 shot knives, oh so a shotgun 1 hit kill ambusher jet LA, with nightmare implant, is okay? But not knife? Naw, knife is just a shotgun's dps & range (ish). Shotguns can't cloak, but have more range. Knives have no range, can cloak, but you have to literally hug the opponent to score a kill. Many times you'll miss the swing, based on how extremely close you have to be to an enemy to even knife them, then if they backup while your swinging = dead infil. Actually it's taken me years to learn how to sneak up on others & I still die all the time. Front of the line infils are also most prone to getting tk'ed.

I don't sniper much, but it's never been some grand scheme class to pick for farming kills. It's situational. Some classes are good in all, or most situations, snipers not so much. The only class I can see snipers being bothersome with, is if you're a medic main, even then, like I said you're surrounded by allies usually. HA can take a hit & should be trying to learn how to run to cover, regardless of sniper fire or not.

Actually this game, has done cloaking better than any game ever to exist, people should stop dissing it or trying to nerf it, sheesh. As for flash's, who the ..... pulls a flash... who complains about dying to a flash? haha. *facepalm*. Who complains about dying a ant? xD Just move to the side & throw some c4 on the invisible wall trying to ram you, or ambusher jet above it, idk, invisible ants aren't running people over left & right, barely happens. & is avoidable most the time, you can hear the wheels, before they arrive.

Lastly, you have a kill cam, telling you where they shot you from.