But does anyone actually use it? Even without the shimmer when shot coming up soon, will it still even be viable? How do you think it could be improved without making SMG Infiltrators broken?
It used to be fine, i would stack with nanoweave armor. Made it usefull to tank more bullets while running away. Obviously you can't attack while being cloaked, but it would give you way more chance of survival. It was sadly changed, they tried hiding it as a "more accessible" by letting the last upgrade as is, but buffing the early ones because even as it was before, nearly nobody used it. Now, it's pretty much useless since you might as well run nanoweave armor and profit from the 20% at all time including while cloaked. Hunter's pretty much the go-to now. It was a stupid decision of SOE - not the first one. But since nearly nobody was using it, there wasn't much talk about it. To answer your question, if they simply reverted it back to what it was (stacking with nanoweave armor), it would be fine. As it is right now though, even though I liked the old one (against all odds), I consider this one a waste of certs.
NAC is great! Used it today to rack up tons of kills weaving in-and-out of the teleporter room and surrounding cover while attacking a biolab. I've been closing in on finishing up my Exceptional directive tree to get the Black Camo, and NAC has been much more effective for maintaining a high KPH than Hunter/Stalker would be. It's situational, though; Not something you pick for every battle (Unless you specifically pick your battles with the express purpose of meeting its niche). I'm really excited to try out the NAC buff on live! Have you tried it with Adrenaline Pump? Through my perspective, the purpose of NAC isn't really to "tank bullets". Instead, it helps absorb a couple of chance hits while you dodge and weave in erratic patterns through cover. The increased movement speed from Adrenaline Pump really amplifies this effect.
its amazing for those "allah hu akbar" moments when your spawn is being camped and you run into the zerg to throw down proxy mines lets you survive long enough to go boom in amongst them!
The devs are also talking about making NAC revert the infiltrator shield debuff. In other words, you'll have 1,000 hp when using it. I hope this makes it into the next patch.
they could just make you move faster while you're using NAC, maybe 20% bonus movement speed at the last rank? that way it'd be awesome for aggressive smg infils
Since NAC is that one fast-paced-fight-oriented cloak, how about giving it a slight buff to cloak/decloak time? Just so you could switch from cloaked to firing faster than with other two cloaks. I think it would be a powerful change and it fits the "swiftness" of NAC. How about that?
I use NAC as well when using any SMG + ghost (besides the NS7-PDW where i am usually farther back). NAC really helps when your going for headshots. I loved the suggestion Wrel had on twitter a few nights back. He suggested you take roughly 400 HP (works out to be slightly higher then the current 35% dmg mitigation for our effective hp) as a mini cloak shield. That way if your stuck waiting for clientside to uncloak you, and eat a bullet no biggie because the cloak will take that hit. It would fall off automatically when depleted, the infil won't actually have more hp while attacking someone, but the cloak could be used to help escape, or tool move from cover to cover through heavy fire and be more useful for positioning. You can see his suggestion here: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1skq1sm
I use it with all my SMG loadouts. I think it's decent. It would be nice if it gave a tiny bonus against explosives, but otherwise it's fine. Speciality, I guess. I'd love if it decloaked a little faster, but that could be too strong.
The new non-shimmer effect makes it pretty neat. I like to use it whilst I snipe at longer ranges. And here is why: I know, it's a weird habit to have, but the shorter timer doesn't matter as much to me, since I utilize cover, and I move constantly. With the Parsec, I spend all my time between shots cloaked up, as per proper form, but I shoot a lot with it, since it is a machine at mid-long range snapshots. My in-between shot time is fairly low, and I show up from a good ways away on the enemy minimap, so naturally I am a more visible and mobile sniper than most. This leads to countersnipers grouping up to try and drop me. Normally, this isn't something to worry about, but on the off chance that one of chances into hitting my head whilst cloaked with a lucky potshot (even with a Tier 3 sniper rifle), then I will survive. I'm not sure if this is bugged or intentional, but I do intend on continuing to utilize it. Also, if a group of heavies decides to light up my general vicinity with LMG rounds, and I am hit by a stray, then I am still virtually untrackable. That no-shimmer effect is absolutely wonderful, and long range players (especially those that are forward-thinking, around a lot of stray fire, or enjoy countersniping) should give it a try! Stay Fr0sty
If it's a max rank, it gives you a 35% bonus to resistance against small arms fire (anything not a vehicle gun other than the kobalt and possibly some of the fighter guns, and not explosive in this game). Otherwise, it gives you a 25% bonus, which is the same as max rank nanoweave armor. They explicitly DO NOT STACK, so if you're running nano-cloak, I'd personally recommend using something other than nanoweave, like Advanced Shield Capacitor if you're going SMG, or Ammo Belt with a sniper rifle. Those are just personal recommendations though. Experiment for yourself and find what you like to use. All in all, I'd say it's pretty good as an investment once you get used to repositioning often and using cover.
I probably should've mentioned that in my first post. Using both at the same time is indeed a waste. Thanks for adding that! If my first post is a bit long, it can be summed up as: It seems that NAC does protect your head from sniper rifles (enough to survive a T3 round at max rank), while nanoweave does not. Not sure if this is intentional or just a bug, but that alone makes it a super valuable tool for aggressive long range players. Think of it like trading some cloak time in exchange for an anti-sniper helmet and losing your glow when hit by stray shots.
I imagine this is intentional. the nano-armor cloak is more similar to the resist shield (presumably using exactly the same code), which also protects against headshots.
A wild _itg appeared! F0st used "Thumb up!" ...It's super effective! I'm hoping it's intentional, and NAC using the same code as resist shield does make sense. I'd highly recommend it to some of the more fast-paced and experienced snipers. Once the cloak timer is accounted for, it offers enough viable positives for me to consider revising the Sniper's Guide and adding it in as a personal recommendation for higher-tier players.
It is likely intentional, as it has been this way for quite some time. It's also very well balanced, because it's essentially providing you with the equivalent of a max Nanoweave HA without the shield active, only while cloaked, and only at max rank. But take another bullet scratch, and you'll be dead. Think of it as the infil's emergency escape shield. The short duration is caused by the power being diverted to provide protection.
