[Suggestion] Infiltrators they're called, can they really do that?

Their cloaking sucks, they glow in the dark, and they're helpless at close quarters (unless you have an SMG). And why can't they hack more stuff !?
any ideas to improve this class with amazing potential?

-Slightly faster run speed

-Baseline Nano-cloak armor damage reduction, which is still active during the un-cloak delay until you can shoot

-Remove the glow

-Decrease slightly the cloak noise

-Hack empty vehicles, takes longer than normal, can't hack the deployed sunderers

The cloak has to render you completely invisible, when standing still at the very least. Extremely difficult to see while crouch-walking would be another bare minimum. From there, it has to have its energy drain faster based on how fast you're running, with being stationary draining it slow enough to last a minute or longer. The de-cloak animation can be lengthened significantly to balance this as an ambush tactic if necessary, and the total cloak duration and visibility while sprinting can be left exactly as they are now.

To fix the disparity between graphics settings with less than perfect cloaking, the low-settings cloak should scale in visibility based on how distant the Infiltrator is to a given onlooker. To provide players with a reasonable counter to cloaking at their own prerogative, weapon flashlight attachments may disrupt the cloak. This gives Infiltrator players a chance to see that their enemies are using a counter to their class mechanic and react accordingly - and coupled with a lengthened fade-out time, they should still be at a disadvantage even if they do notice it.

From there, an interaction with vehicles is necessary. I won't say hacking because it isn't strictly necessary, but a way to stop Sunderers from spawning troops is essential as there isn't a single objective in the game more significant than a deployed Sunderer. Everything else is fluff - I've suggested EMP darts for our tool slot which shut down vehicles and generators, a cloak variant which allows us to walk through base shields, and the introduction of additional hackable base objectives like doors or information terminals which could have any manner of effect, but without a functional cloak and the ability to deal with Sunderers, this class is nothing but a sniper with access to enemy terminals.

This is the 20th thread like this... I should just have a standard paragraph that can be cut-pasted into each thread

Lots of good ideas out there, I hope they hold off on the LA revamp and focus on infiltrators. Not only to give the class more abilities but to give the game more ways for us to interact with it (i.e the hacking mechanic is fine, its the lack of things we can hack that needs work)

Removing glow would make you feel better but you already ******* glow with the cloak. If you assume that cloaked or not you are just as visible as anyone else, it will actually make you better at moving around and infiltrating to tough spots.

Mustarde,
In particular with the hacking - when was the last time you could actually get in to hack something before your gung-ho team destroyed all the turrets and terminals to prevent the enemy from using them? It's a solid tactical procedure...that also renders the Infil virtually useless. The Devs need to take into account the changing techniques in the game so that we actually can do something useful to get XP.

It totally depressed me today, but I went in to my class stats on the PS2 - Players page (where you can see your killboard, etc...). You know what blows? My Infil is my main but virtually all my other classes (that I rarely play as) get at least roughly par or (in particular my medic) gets MORE XP per minute than my favorite, the Infiltrator. What the heck?!

Hacking a terminal in a hex where a fight is taking place, which is currently being taken over OR defended/captured back should give us at least 250 XP per terminal we hack. Dead serious.
Add up how many XP a medic makes while fighting the way into a tech plant. Add up how many XP an engineer gets for repairing stuff and dropping ammo. Even if the Infiltrator succeeds in hacking 3 terminals, for which he has to compete for with other Infiltrators and that can be destroyed before you can hack them, for 750 XP he ends up with less than any other class can do and gain for supporting the team.
25 XP for hacking is a bad joke from SOE. Why would I consider to go CQC with the weakest class, glowing, with a ****** up cloak just for 75 or 100 XP overall?
A headshot from a sniper rifle already gives me more XP. SOE just failed horrible in balancing out the Infiltrator in its use and XP gain with the other classes.

There are SO many question I'd like to ask SOE about the Infiltrator and the chosen class design. But on the other hand I fear the answers would give me cancer.

Just thought of another thing: destroyed terminals and turrets should not be impossible for the attacking team to repair. I don't care if an Infiltrator has to hack the smoking ruin first - there's no justification for why Engineers can't fix an enemy terminal when it's obviously beneficial to their faction to do so.

Yes, the infiltrator can infiltrate perfectly well. The problem is that there isn't a whole lot of stuff when you well do, other than to kill people. Which is fun, i suppose, but a few more options would be nice.

Hacking might seem unrewarding in itself, but the things you can do with the hacking tool can devastate entire enemy frontlines. You shouldn't hack for the XP reward, but rather for what the hacking allows you to do. One well palced AT-turret hack can decimate an enemy armor column worse than 10 Heavy Assaults.

If you want to succeed with the infiltrator you have to play smart. It isn't a cloaked Rambo class. It isn't some sort of uber-stealth backstabber. Take what you have and do the best with it, instead of focusing on what you can't do, and i promise you that you will see results.

Stop asking to be handed the victory, and instead earn it.

while cloaked ? because the take less damage while cloaked cert does not sound great

I would love flying an enemy fighter into a base but I suspect it would take more FF than anything maybe they could take empire colours ? example a NC hacks a Tr fighter it automatically gets NC paint job (blue / yellow)

how about a unique unlock for the dart gun slot ?

Here are my thoughts regarding infiltration. I made this mostly for myself but I'll share it on forums.

Move as if you have no cloak. That means making most of natural cover and waiting for enemies to focus their attention in some other direction.
Levels of cloaking:
Level 1: Sprinting while cloaked, most visible
Level 2: Running while cloaked
Level 3: Moving while crouching while cloaked
Level 4: Standing still while cloaked
Level 5: Crouching still while cloaked, practically invisible

If you infiltrate then you need silenced sniper rifle. If you plan on sniping from long distance then it is not needed as bullet drop penalty is pretty severe.

You can infiltrate bases but you can also infiltrate enemy positions. For example you can get to nearby enemy sunderer and shoot targets of opportunity.

Enemy alertness
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As a hunter surprise is your most potent weapon. As soon as enemy become aware of your presence you should try to find an escape route and wait for several minutes before getting back to hunting.
Your greatest enemy are players bent on finding you who sweep nearby terrain looking for you. That is why it is important to get as far as possible from incursion site as soon as you get discovered.

Choice of targets
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Every shot you take increases the chances of you getting detected. Don't be a dork and spray bullets on far away targets or those who are running. Be patient and move around. You should look for stationary solo players and take easy headshots.
Use common sense here. If enemy is distracted with something else you can choose your targets more freely but if there is not much action going on you should play it more safely.

This is one step away from an admission that Hunter Stealth is worthless. How are we supposed to judge it if not when enemy players are looking at us? Of course you're right that Infiltration is possible. What people overlook is the advantages that playing an Infiltrator provides in this situation. They are:

- Temporary immunity to spotting
- A recon dart which reveals enemy movements without direct line of sight
- The ability to hack enemy controlled terminals and turrets

And nothing more. Please don't try to pretend otherwise.

Baseline run speed increase because afterall we have no armor/backpack. the current nano-armor cloak cert is really bad imo, the hunter cloak is hand down the best but having a baseline damage reduction while stealthed could really improve the class as we're squishy as **** and harmless while stealthed, we can't just turn around and shoot due to the un-cloak delay.

But I'd prefer a cloak mechanic change like mentionned above and yeah the hacked vehicles should take the empire colours though I bet it will be long before we see this happening

Adapting to the situation is paramount. There are three types of infiltrator setups
A)Long:Unsilenced bolt action rifle with 12x scope
B)Medium: Silenced sniper rifle, standard scope, I prefer bolt-action
C)Short:SMG with silencer and soft point ammunition, I prefer laser dot
This is your toolbox. Closer you get, more deadly you are.

In A) and B), Hunter Cloak allows you to observe your enemies and take aim for a short duration without being seen.
Adequate cover is necessary in order for cloak to regenerate.

B) in some rare instances Hunter Cloak will allow you to move from cover to cover without being seen. The less you have to rely on your cloak to do that the better.

C) Arguably the best setup for urban scenarios. Hunter Cloak increases your chances for moving undetected through base.
More importantly it allows you to pounce on your enemies when they are least expecting. With SMG you can take out a small group of enemies, hide and wait for next opportunity to strike.
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How to infiltrate?
Enemies will usually be focused in one direction. Approaching from that direction guarantees failure.
Gauging where enemy focus lies is very important. If someone is repairing his tank, chances are he will be oblivious to his environment. If enemies are engaged in fire fight, they will be preoccupied with what is happening in front of them and they will be most vulnerable to infiltration.

Become familiar with this variable. Use it in tandem with natural cover, cloak and patience to successfully position yourself at the enemies flank or rear.
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Lastly, infiltration takes time. When you successfully position yourself you want to capitalize on that as much as possible.
Learn to hide yourself when enemies become alerted to your presence. You must wait until they leave for next base or become involved in combat with someone else. Then you can start hunting again.

I'm not asking you for advice, I'm asking you to stop spreading misinformation about what is and is not exclusive to our class. I know how to sneak around already - it involves not activating Hunter Stealth at all in close quarters unless someone has already spotted me or is likely to try, because that makes a noise which alerts others to my presence. I know to use radar tools to avoid lines of sight as well. I also know that I don't need to be an Infiltrator to do this stuff. Shooting someone in the back is just as possible as a Light Assault with a silenced weapon and it achieves the same results. The access to C4 and a jetpack is in many ways superior to the ability to remove spotting IFFs anyways - you're less well equipped to deal with getting caught but far better equipped to avoid getting caught in the first place and capable of dealing some actual damage from a position behind enemy lines.

Best use I've had of my Infil to support the team is to find my way into the enemy base while it's under attack, get to the nearest undestroyed/manned Turret, and turn it on the enemy. Not only am I denying that asset to the enemy, but I'm also adding it to our side. Once was able, on Indar, to help take a base by grabbing an AV turret away from an enemy engineer and taking out an enemy Vanguard and Lightning, allowing the rest of the zerg to get inside the base of the tower. Another time, I was able to take out about 3 ESFs, a Lib, do significant damage to a Galaxy, and take out 2 Sunderers by hacking turrets on an AMP station wall (or maybe it was a Tech plant? Can never tell those two apart)- when the enemy was near to taking the turret out, I just hopped out, cloaked, and went to the next one while they spent the time finishing off the one I'd been in before. (Flak helps with this immensely)

cheesus, they must have been blind because AA turrets are nothing more than a deathtrap (AA phalanx loses a duel vs ESF easily)

lolwut? Amp stations have these nice walls and big courtyards, Tech plants look like a giant spider

AMP station then.

And the turrets were dying rapidly- however, I would jump out of one and hop in the next each time they approached the explosion point. I think I might have pre-hacked a lot of them.

You call it misinformation. I call it knowledge.

Yeah, any class can infiltrate. And any class can kill enemies. That does not mean that one class is not exceptionally much better at it than other classes.

I'm quoting that.

Dr. Euthanasia is keen on depicting infiltrator as a class which does not offer advantage in stealth gameplay relative to other classes.
If you cannot see advantage in using cloak, sniper rifles and other tools infiltrator class has access to then further discussion is redundant.

I see now that this is a QQ thread so I will stop posting actual gameplay tips and leave you to whine for cloak buffs.
Hopefully some players will find my tips helpful.

Klondik3 out.