[Suggestion] Cloak is Pathetic

Discussion in 'Infiltrator' started by QuantumSerpent, Nov 19, 2014.

  1. QuantumSerpent

    Heavy Assault walks into the room. I'm good, no darklight. I'm sitting on top of the capture point. Range is 20m or so. Crouched, not moving, in deep cloak.

    Heavy looks straight at me and guns me down. Not trying to find me, else he might have shot the base of the point but not above it. Must have seen me.

    I can see being visible when you're moving. I can even live with those noises. But being seen while crouched, completely still, and in an unexpected place? Hell no. Might as well not have the thing if you're going to do that.

    I think each level of cloak should be kicked up a notch: (Even when you're moving, you still shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, which you do at the moment)
    -Sprinting = current walking
    -Walking = current crouchwalking
    -Crouchwalking = current crouch
    -Crouch = COMPLETELY INVISIBLE. (Except w/Darklight). I mean completely and totally. No one should ever see a crouched, cloaked Infiltrator unless they're looking with a Darklight.

    And no, this wouldn't be OP. Why? Because if you shine a flashlight on a cloaked Infiltrator, they do--and still would--show up very clearly.

    So the effect is this:
    If you're dedicated to looking for an Infiltrator, you'll find them.
    If you're just glancing around, you won't.
    This is, I think, as it should be. Otherwise, what's the point of losing my mobility, my ability to fire instantly, and my primary weapon?
    • Up x 11
  2. Dualice

    Sitting on the capture node like that has become quite a predictable trick for stalkers: if I know one is around it's usually the first place I check (i.e. shoot/knife at), and I'm sure I'm not the only one. That is most likely what that heavy was doing.

    However I do know what you mean. You're in deep cloak, seemingly invisible, and some dude comes along and pops you like you were in plain sight. Asides from the occasional "what the..." moments I do think deep cloak currently works as you describe it should be:


    I can't remember the number of times running 'round a corner, cloaking, crouching, and staying still has saved my bacon. More often than not, if someone hits you in deep cloak without using a darklight they either got lucky, or you were sitting somewhere predictable.
    • Up x 8
  3. QuantumSerpent

    Fair enough, but I know I have, on occasion, actually seen a deep cloaker well enough to nail 'em. There was a guy trying to do the same thing I usually do (while I was sitting on the capture point) a while ago; he didn't notice me, but I could see him well enough to shoot him in the head with my crossbow.

    A rare occasion, but it shouldn't happen at all.
  4. Bitmap

    A crouching, immobile infiltrator should not even render. As in, the only client that needs to keep track of where you are is yours.

    Deep cloak should be for crouch walking only.
    • Up x 2
  5. Bulltahr

    I use stalker cloak alot. On top point or in a corner of the room is the first place people check. Better get on the very edge of range, as far from the point as you can. Once they see it's contested then you will likely be nailed pretty quickly. Only time I have seen a deep cloak infil easily is when he was sklined on a ridge. Dark backgrounds seem to work best.
    • Up x 3
  6. QuantumSerpent

    That's what I was thinking, though I was a bit worried it might cause some kind of mechanical issue.

    It's not always nighttime (he was not against a ridge, he was in a corner between some boxes, but it was daytime). Are we supposed to only play at night?

    Of course they find you accidentally when they're looking (e.g. they accidentally shoot you)--but on occasion you can actually see them.
  7. Bitmap

    Don't see why it would. Not having to render all those cloaked stalkers would likely improve performance.

    Also, looking around should not count as movement when sitting still for the purpose of deciding wether to render you or not in my example.
  8. QuantumSerpent

    With programming, who knows? (I mean, SOE knows, but other than them)
    Tweak one function and it breaks the whole damn program.
    • Up x 1
  9. Tykune

    People have been complaining about the cloak ever since the game came out, and I can certainly say that they are in the right for it. The curent cloak, and cloaks in the past, have been nothing short of crappy quality that can be easily spotted to the trained gamer eye. Even walking into a room, its not hard to spot a HEAVILY distorted background. SoE needs to fix this crap once and for all.
    • Up x 5
  10. Moonheart

    I would have done this to you with a HA without fail, and without even seeing you.

    1- I enter the capture room... I see the word "Contested" on the flag => There is an opponent around.
    2- I spin.... no one to be seen => That's a Stalker
    3- I shot in order to: the top of the capture point, on top of crates and in the corner => You're dead meat if you crouched there.

    Obvious places to crouch are only working against people who don't get a clue about stalkers.
    The top of a capture point used to be a good trick, but too much of us have been used it and the most experienced players learnt about it and usualy shoot there first.

    As a thumb rule: every place you think first to hide are usualy bad places to crouch, because if you thought it, every stalker did, and people are used for us to do so and will seek here first.

    For exemple, you can have an amazing success by hiding.... just in the middle of a room.
    I do it sometimes, and it is amazing how hard the deep cloak mode is hard to spot when you are crouching in a place that no people think you could be.
    You can also stay in a stair for hours, with people running everywhere around you brushing you while they run up and down, unaware.

    I think the best laugh I had was when I put myself on the top of an enemy tank that was spamming our spawn room. There was like 20 enemies all around me, and the driver sometimes jumping out to repair his tank at least than 2m of me.... an no one even suspected anything until I uncloaked to kill a few guys.

    The deep cloak is NOT easy to randomly spot. It is just easy to spot when you know WHERE to look.
    • Up x 5
  11. Rikkit

    cloak is awesome and is working:
    • Up x 4
  12. Moonheart

    Aawwww Rikki ! That video just gave off one of my favorite hidding spots to everyone on this forum... :(

    Yup, you weren't affraid of the MAX enough.
    When hiding at a window to make some harassment/diversion with a capture point, the biggest threat you face are people that could be interested to use that window as a firing spot. They will come close to it, right nose-to-nose to you, and probably notice the deep cloaking distortion.
    And MAXes have often long range weapons to do tempted to do so.

    Additionnaly, what was the point to stay? You cannot kill it, and it cannot capture the point alone. You should have hide and let him lose time to seek around. :)
    • Up x 1
  13. Rikkit

    there was also the footstep of a normal soldier around...
    and thought, the max would do the same as the soldier bevore, and check the balkony first...
    • Up x 1
  14. WarmasterRaptor

    Light is your enemy.

    Any cloak will bend the luminous background your in front of thus giving away your position.
    I spotted many Stalkers with that. It worsen when you look around as it makes you move.

    The hardest to spot are those using the shadows around...
    • Up x 1
  15. QuantumSerpent

    Easy? No. Possible? Yes.
  16. Moonheart

    Given the very few amount of times I get spotted by eyes only when I crouch in plain sight in the middle of a ******* capture point room, I'll say "Possible? Yes. Likely to happen? No."

    I feel that asking for a game change for something that is responsible only for 1% of your death once you get experienced when there are so many things much more annoying when playing the stalker cloak is a lack of sense of priorities.
  17. QuantumSerpent

    I find this to be much more annoying than most other issues I've encountered. Even if it is only 1%, it's still not working as it should
  18. Jac70

    Last few days the cloak seems more visible than usual. You can see moving infs pretty easy but I have seen a few guys that were stood still easily. Usually I would find it hard to see these guys but not recently.
    • Up x 2
  19. QuantumSerpent

    Yeah, I think they've been buggy lately.
  20. Dualice

    If an infiltrator is cloaked but standing still they are still quite easy to spot, unless it's somewhere very shadowy. As others have said, light gradients can be used very effectively. Probably something I don't do enough.

    I've noticed the devs have actually added light sources in places that would be "too" effective as hiding spots. In the old style amp stations, the larger of the rooms that holds the control point shield generators, there was a cabinet in the corner you could hop on as a light assault and be quite inconspicuous. They've now added an underglow light to the top of the cabinet, so doing that trick now makes you stick out like a siren. You can still sit on top of the doorframe of control point rooms on smaller outposts though. P*ssed off some BR100 heavies ambushing from there more than once.
    • Up x 1