I almost never use the Infiltrator class but I do agree with the OP. They're too easy to see, even I can see them and I'm blind as a bat. I would say reduce their visibility significantly. Not totally invisible but not far off. The loud de-cloak sound they make would stop them becoming OP.
I'd imagine it would be a certification choice that infiltrator class could make. You could have both options available via load-outs. I don't know if they would go as far as to make a generic infiltrator class that doesn't use a sniper rifle or be able to invisi-cloak or if they'll just keep the existing infiltrator load-out with sniper rifile and allow you to obtain the invisi-cloak ability and use it in a 2nd load-out.
Agree with this. I didn't realize this was how the mechanic worked. I thought it was a bug, or something was wrong with my rifle. My squad mate was ambushed earlier today. I totally had the drop on the ambusher too. I had cloaked up around an obstacle and then got him right in my sights, but my damn gun was jamming. I was confused, thought maybe my gun was out of ammo, but no, I had a full clip. So I switched to my secondary firearm thinking that might help. *dooda dooda dooda* I'm dead. I damn near smashed my keyboard. My KD ratio is bad enough as it is to miss out on these golden opportunities.
Actually the whole Infiltrator class is mediocre at best. If it weren't for hacking, there would be no purpose for its existence. * Cloaking = mediocre See above posts. * Sniper rifles = terrible. I 'snipe' more accurately with with my Heavy's AR equipped with the 3.4x laser dot scope, mainly due to the lack of the ridiculous gun sway. It feels like my Infiltrator ate shrooms or something before setting out. The class needs to be un-nerfed.
Couldn't disagree more with the sentiments in this thread. I thoroughly enjoy playing my infiltrator, but must always admit I'm flumoxed by the utter idiocy of other infiltrators out there who just don't have a clue. I wonder if all the people crying about how useless cloaking is are the same who try to sprint right through big clumps of infantry or tanks with it on, fully expecting to be perfectly invisible. Rubbish. But sneaking in a crouch with the cloak on more than a few metres from people, and only those who know you are there and are actively looking for you will notice you. Besides, as a stealther, what on earth are you doing running around in FRONT of people? You're supposed to be sneaky and stealthy.. Well guess what, that isn't the same as just pressing an "I WIN" button and killing everyone. Cloaking is NOT invisibiliy, and nor should it be. Learn to keep out of sight. Learn to move slowly and take your time. Learn to plan your attacks. And for the love of the gods past, present and future, don't just sit in a spot shooting at everything that moves and then wonder why everyone suddenly knows where you are..
Nicely said. As a heavy assault I have to play cat & mouse games with infiltrators sometimes. The infiltrators that get shot are the ones that think they can sneak up in front of me and not get noticed. Cloaking works well when you exercise being sneaky at the same time. This is not invisibility like you see in MMORPG's, you are not a rogue going for the backstab. You want to cloak but stay AWAY from people at the same time. So many infiltrators try to run through armies of people and I really don't know what they're thinking. Play smart, learn your strengths and weaknesses.
I agree with most of the sentiment . However - running amidst infantry with the cloak on is not something people do thinking they're invisible. It's something you do to draw less attention to yourself from enemy fire and let that other infantry soak up the hits until you get behind that big tree or rock you're running for to help support your infantry by taking out some of the threats towards them or your tanks so they can do their job right. I don't think the cloak need to change; well perhaps the awful annoyingly sound, but there are reasons why I run around with it in an infantry push at times.
Only probs I have with cloak is the sound is kinda loud for a stealth suit and it's much harder to see on low graphics settings. I do wish we had the proper infiltrator cloak available though not that I can think of a great use for it in PS2. You could go sabotage a gen but in a defended base 3 or 4 guys at least will just come fix it before it does any good.
Well hell, I thought it was just me being ******** that I couldn't see cloak even when testing with friends, but really? You can't see cloak in Low settings? That's just an unfair advantage...and the only reason I have to go on Low is because of the damned CPU cap as well...
for those who claim the the cloak is fine,think about this it's an imperfect cloak it lasts for only 12 seconds it makes you more visible when you move it makes an HUGE noise when you activate it or deactivate it you cant fire when you are using it,wich means that if you get caught you have to uncloack then shoot sum all these negatives and you get the crappiest stealth mechanic in the history of world.
Weird, for me people in stealth are invisible even if they are in a full sprint. It may be a matter of graphics settings...
Its a cloak , not a "hahah im invisible nobody can see me" if you want crap like this go play wow, or something else with stealth.
Well, I am playing on low settings, mainly on esamir, and against the snow the infiltrators are realy hard to spot for me, though they can be seen against the skybox quite well if you at least know there is someone out there. I have no problem with spotting people, even if you had problems spamming "Q" would place a nice triangle on enemies, but the cloak is realy hard to spot for me. So I think its a graphic setting problem which is realy dull...
My opinion also is that cloak is close to perfect, assuming its perceptually consistent across all graphic settings. Effective use of it requires care and discipline.
This really sounds like a case of "bad workmen blame their tools" to me. If you rely exclusively on the cloak to make the infiltrator work when you're being pretty lazy and desevre a bit of a beating. The class gets a lot of other useful options for surprise attacks and hampering enemies. Invest some certs into the proxy mines. These for me are more defining to my actions than the cloak, especially in combination with the semi-auto Scout Rifle. Hacking can provide resupply terminals for your team as well as deny tank, aircraft and turret access to the enemies. Even the Recon Tool is something I make plenty of use of to give more information to my empire. As for the cloak itself, I've found it a generally nice addition to my tactics. It's very useful for changing positions while sniping and just moving from cover to cover with less chance of being noticed. And that's basically how it is, the cloak makes you less likely to be noticed, but you still need to using some clever moving and planning. I find if I use the cloak with unpredicatable movements and situational awareness it works pretty well for getting me out some some jams while sneaking in an enemy base.
To be honest i cant believe im seeing this! The cloaking ability (when used correctly) is perhaps the most effectivbe "tool" for the role. Why? simple, most of the time you get the jump on someone. Many times people have ran towards me not noticing, i run round behind them and put some rounds in the back of the head then cloak instantly again and onto the next. Also i have a macro set which spams cloak ability every 2 seconds so if i have been spotted a hit that macro and i start "cloacking/un-cloaking" making it very hard for them to keep me in their sites. I never die with infiltrator but im ligth assault at heart
With the volume of meat flow from respawn points as high as it is, it'd take a bloody master of infiltration to cause any lasting damage in an enemy-controlled area. Besides, have you seen the keenness of that meat stream? They barely use their eyes between the spawn point and the front line. This in itself is a testament to the lacking infiltration mechanic of this game. You see, awareness in games with infiltration mechanic rises and falls depending on the amount of damage done through it recently and general viability of such approach. If you don't believe me, just grab a game with remotely viable infiltration and go harass the enemy there. I've done my share of infiltration, and my share of countering. I'm not among the best, but I've seen and done enough to know that one quickly changes to reflect the other, and eventually you find about as much players with their brows twitching standing back-to-wall in a generator room (figuratively speaking of cause) as the mechanic allows. In this game, no one even bothers to to see if you'll visit the same generator room a second time, and rightly so. With things the way they are, I see only one reason why infiltration system isn't being pumped-up. I think the developers simply don't want it to have an impact on the game. Makes sense from a certain standpoint, the moment that meat mob gets a reason to look around between the spawn point and the killing grounds is the moment it turns into a very upset mob. The way you describe is how I use the LA. Thing is, you don't need a cloak to surprise someone who isn't looking for you yet. On the other hand we have a beeping class with a bunch of tools for behind-the-lines havoc and no beeping way to get him there. 1. We aren't equipped for surprise kills. It's possible, but any other class does them better as soon as they have a surprise element working for them. 2. We are equipped with a bunch of mumbo-jumbo we can use behind an enemy line. 3. We aren't equipped with anything that lets us bypass the front line. Result is discouraging, any place we can get into, HA can get into almost as well, and LA can get better. If you can get behind the enemy lines yourself, chances are, you can get a freaking squad of supported HA in there, because you walked a path no one was watching. And in that case, who needs YOU there? If you can't get HA in there, well, you can still get a squad of LA, and that almost always raises the same question, who needs you there? If a squad of LA can't handle it, and It'd be good to have a few proxy mines and/or a hack or two in there it's almost always the place you can't get into either. The one thing I'd want on a class that is equipped for behind-the-front-line havoc is a way to bypass the front line in a way unavailable to the standard infantry, and that's what the cloak sucks at. To all those people saying how they fare well with behind-the-back sneaking with an infiltrator: Honestly, try playing LA, his ability offers you a better deal 9 times out of 10, and his arsenal gives you a better deal all the time. Bah, how can an INFILTRATOR work if he isn't infiltrating? Sniper? Sure. Ninja-fetish plain-walk ambusher? Probably, but only after you spend 1k fitting it to catch-up with a tool other classes start with - a weapon. Infiltrator? No. Useful hacking is an illusion. Cloak doesn't provide you with a way to get into a place your infantry can't just storm into, and once they can, they don't really need to wait long before those terminals change hands without your hacking. And sorry for sounding like a troll, but could you show us the list of "a lot of other options for surprise attacks"?
Infiltrating isn't hard. Most Amp Stations have back doors which are usually unguarded, and plenty of empty buildings to hide and recharge your cloak in. Small outposts can be approached from many angles and have building to use as cover. Use the teleporters for Biolabs and get in before enemies wise up to people using them. It would seem the best way to infiltrate is to read the flow of battle and get to the next battle before your empire does, before the battle has heated up there and the enemies are on max alert. It's important to know the layout of bases as well, so you'll know which entry points will be least active. Then you can get a head start on hacking those AA and Ground turrets, making things a bit smoother for your approaching army.
I don't think Sony is done with the Infiltrator yet. I think the hunter cloak was made for snipers, getting to vantage points and sniping without having to worry as much about counter-snipers. I don't think its a case of Sony turning the Infiltrator into a sniper, I think it is the first part of the infiltrator class. Sniping can be hugely powerful at times, and I think Sony is trying to perfect this new role in the infiltrator class before moving onto the closer range aspect of the infiltrator. For example, stalker cloak, one hit kill melee from behind, etc. We have claymores with is awesome, and I think that's a first of many close range tools.
I may be lacking in the knowledge of history of English (and other languages in the same group), and how the words were formed, but isn't "infiltration" supposed to relate to "bypassing a filter of some kind"? That's exactly what I do... As a Heavy Assault. Well, except for the fact that I recharge the shield, not the clock, and instead of hacking I go capturing. You can use guile with any class, but infiltrator lands as the last choice not the first (from the added cost of non-sniping weapon, nearly useless ability, and overall close combat inefficiency). And the point I'm trying to get across - infiltration is more than just an act of getting in a funky position and shooting someone in the back. Ideally, the work of an infiltrator (based on similar roles in other games) includes getting somewhere no other class can get to at the time, and cause enough problems there to set the enemy team back enough to affect the front line. Our "infiltration tool" is barely useful for sneaking around poorly guarded area. It's useless if there's no poorly guarded area to exploit. Our sabotage is of no use if we can't use it in the right spot, and place which a group of HA can break in is no valid spot for sabotage. Ask yourself, how often have you ran for the terminal while the responsible control point is being actively contested? How often have you ran for the terminal when there's a poorly guarded control point nearby to capture? There goes the usefulness of our hacking in poorly guarded areas... Heck, even if we do get behind the enemy lines, how long would it take for a respawning Infiltrator to hack back his terminals, conveniently placed close to his spawn point? Yep, definitely a big impediment to the enemy team... But let's not get ahead of ourselves, we CAN'T get behind the enemy lines unless the enemy has a freaking "=>overrun us from here<=" corridor open to anyone who cares to tread. A pity really, this game could have benefited greatly from a back turner, much more than most games where similar mechanic actually works. I mean, have you seen the fray around the choke points? Longest stalemates, and shortest lifespan out of any game I can remember ATM. That's mad, and nothing says "fray's over" as well as a defence mechanism going off-line. And currently, the closest thing to this is a LA-sponsored generator downtime on SOME maps (priceless endeavour). Where do we fit in this scenario? Nowhere. We're a class than can hide when not being sought and, after re-fitting, shoot at people's backs, which is a useful tactic, ... already employed by anyone who cares to employ it.
