Dev statement about infil. cloak?

Is there any statement about the infiltrator cloak from the devs/sony? I would like to know design-wise why the cloak have to make a noise and don't really cloak the target rather than conceal it. This is not a subtle rant, I really want to know what will happen to the cloak in the future, if there is any improvement at all.

Beta happened, infiltrators were nerfed into oblivion.

The cloak is a tool to make you harder to notice, not render you completely invisible. It fosters a hit-n'-run play style, ambush tactics, and makes for a pretty damn good scout. When you're marching within 10m of someone with the intent to play stealth, you're doing it wrong, period. What most infiltrators don't realize is that they should always act like they're uncloaked and their presence is known, using it primarily to move from cover to cover with less presence, or to abuse deep cloak when they need to make an escape or an opportunity. They also fail to realize that this game isn't really fostering stealth game play, just ambush game play. Cloak is an interesting tool to support a play style, and to give players another type of enemy besides simple targets in the engi/medic (these two classes are as basic as they come from an FPS standpoint, the rest are for interesting engagement scenarios.)

Fun fact - sans the usage of nanoweave and maybe shotguns, the infiltrator and the other classes have the same TTK. It's *over distance where the 100 less shielding becomes apparent on the infiltrator, but it also becomes more and more difficult to spot the shimmer as the distance increases. When an infiltrator and engineer for example begin exchanging fire within 6m-10m using, say, the NS-PDW, they both will take 8 rounds to kill. 7 rounds with 143's, and 6 with 167's. Any perceived extra fragility comes from the fact that most SMGs begin to bleed damage at 6m, giving their opponent that extra round of life. Of course, their RoF is often so high, it's negligible when the idea is to have the element of surprise (and with lag, that's a good few rounds before the other guy even hears the gunshots.)

More CQC cloakers should really consider the nano-armor cloak for when they need to make an escape.

*For reference, a cycler/pulsar would have to drop down to 128 damage to require 8 rounds to kill an infiltrator. That's nearly max fall-off range for those weapons.

As for the fart noises they make, that's to tip players off there's a cloaker nearby. It's easier to spot a cloaker when you're aware of their presence as opposed to being completely unaware of their proximity.

If they took off the sound then it would immediately become OP for a few good weeks, Imagine having enemies running around your base but you cant tell if they have decloaked to recharge.

As an SMG infiltrator, the only way apart from seeing me to get a chance at a counter is listening for the decloak sound ;P

SoE overnerf happened i think. They dont know how to gently tweak/balance something like normal people would.
And once they "break" something, they (for some reason) decide to not do anything about it. And when they do, its usually too late.

Like PS1 BFR balance for example.
Step 1. Release something that is a large almost immortal walking tank that can fly and change weapons to be anti-everything at will. Like a flying MAX, in tank form.
Step 2. Dont do anything for a long time, and wait for everyone to leave and the game to die.
Step 3. Then, finally "balance" it by making 1 guy able to solo it with Decimator and Jammer grenades.
Why? Because apparently if its OP, it needs to be destroyed and be crap forever, for some reason. (Like ZOE).

While this logic could same to make same, it doesn't take in account the case of Stalkers.

Stalkers don't have a primary weapon. Their TTK is a lot higher compared to others, and their other stats also (rof, damage fall-if, accuracy...) making the extra fragility a fact. The farting sound making them more noticeable just make them even more fragile: If spotted first, a Stalker is dead, it is then a large drawback to have people warned into a 250m radius (distance from where the cloaking sound can be heard according to some ingame tests) when the do the slightest action.

Add to this the flashlights that everyone starts to slot on their secondary weapon nowadays...

Sadly enough, actualy, playing Rambo with the Infiltrator (hunter cloak, SMG, running everywhere with bloodshot eyes and spraying bullets) is much more easy and rewarding cert-wise, than playing a true infiltrator role (stalker cloak and patient move behind the enemy lines)

Been playing a lot of infil lately with SMG and soas-20 and I find the current cloak mechanics very well balanced. The bugs currently associated with it are kind of annoying though.

Ya 250m sounds like a lot. It doesn't need to be that far. At most it should be 10m. There are so many hard counters now, I think it's safe to bring it down a few notches.

Cloak is concealment/advanced camo, not invisibility unless you are at sniping ranges. Simple.

If you want to be a ghost to enemy sight so bad, switch to a XM98/M77-B/NC14BoltDriver for your primary infiltrator weapon and learn to use it. Making you nigh-impossible to see within spitting distance breaks the infiltrator class (for everyone fighting them, that is).

Statement? Why should a statement be given?


Cloak is what it is dood.

Don't like it? Don't use it.

I'm not sure what it is with all the complaints recently, but as someone that inflitrates quite a lot it seems to be balanced quite well currently (apart from either a bug or ESP hack that seemingly lets people instantly see you in deep cloak sometimes - not the bug where you have to move a bit to activate deep cloak, but something that occurs even after that).

The noise is pretty much spot on for both a SMG and Stalker Inf IMO and it is fairly irrelevent for a sniper Inf.

The case of stalker cloak is that a bunch of Metal Gear Solid fans got into PS2 and wanted the PS1 cloaking mechanics (or close to anyway) but never realized it's a waste of certs without anything to actually, y'know, sabotage.

By the way, ANYONE with a handgun versus a real gun would feel fragile.

And while it may be 250m, that's with the volume up on a really good sound system and on a very quiet battlefield. I certainly can't hear those cloakers sitting with a bolt driver 100m out with tank shells PPA orbs splashing against the wall behind me, some dude with a jet pack unloading into my boys, and sniper rounds from other snipers whizzing past my head.

It is more what you think.

Because many people complain about the sound and visibility. I would like to hear what the devs say about this. On the one hand it is interesting to hear their point of view from a developer, on the other hand maybe they hint if the balance this class in any way. This is the class with the most potential to be either overpowered or too weak. So there must be a lot of thoughts going around the balancing issue from Sony.
There are not many games with stealth mechanics and I like playing cloak-and-dagger tactics in close quarters. Apparently, this is more difficult than being a sniper from far way.

But the fact you can see a cloaker easily @30-40m+ needs addressed. And it's invisibility for standing still, crouch while moving need adjusted.

The main problem is with the sound, and it is two-fold:
1. It is incredibly loud which makes it very easy to pin-point.
2. The sound is faction specific so you know you need to be on the look-out for the cloak distortion effect, and when you can ignore it.

It is not very hard to spot infiltrators when cloaked either, unless you play on low. Then there are so many hard counters now to stealth-gameplay it is stupid. Radars and sensors are everywhere, so you are going to ping the map no matter what you do.

Like mentioned before, too many nerfs and too many hard counters out there. Cloak, and other concealment effects, should also be hard-coded into the settings making it impossible to tinker with due to being such an integral part to both the infiltator's gameplay and the effects it has on other non-infiltrator players. It should be the same for everyone.

You don't need a dev, it's blindlingly obvious why those things are the way they are; those are primarily counter-play elements, they leverage the competence of your opponent against you as an infiltrator, rather than just the one way. It also helps increase the skill floor and ceiling for the infil, rather than being a boringly simple and cheesy class.

Do not expect any changes to cloak for a very long time, aside from bug fixes.

Cloak has only been made better since the start of the game... almost everything done to the infil has been a flat out buff. The only nerf I can even think of was their decision to remove shotguns from infil - even though shotguns were never intended for the infil, they only allowed infil to have them just to see what would happen/if it could work [people love to leave this part out].

There are three distinct ES sounds for the hunter cloak. It is a function of the Nanites that produce these sounds and, yes, they could be considered to be loud. Nanite Systems first developled the cloak and the reason for the different sounds is that each faction has fiddled with the NS cloak, but to no real advantage over the other factions, other than the type of sound.

As much as they have tried, no one has yet managed to make the cloaking sound any quieter. And hooray to that, I hear all the other classes say. The general concesus on Auraxis is that the Infiltrator has to have at least some down sides, to counter their ability to pass almost unnoticed.

So, there we have it... No need to go pestering SOE for an official stance on this issue

If Im not Ninjaneering in a Lightning tank, Im probably playing Infiltrator. And Infiltrator cloaking is perfectly fine. I maintain a good KDR playing Infiltrator and often go on longer killstreaks with a NS Vandal than I do a tank. (VandalMasterRace)

If you're having trouble with cloak, you're doing it wrong.

the only problem i have with cloak is that you can hear the cloaking sound far to loud and far away, even in a battle where tank shells are constantly hammering the tower you are in, a cloaker in the next room cloaking is still louder and good to hear xD

I think the cloak sound should be greatly diminished through walls.
That way, if you're trying to be sneaky around an air tower or some other structure, you're not blatantly advertising your exact location to everyone in a 50m radius.