[Suggestion] Invisibility

I really like this game. Except for the invisibility/cloaking. It seems like the vast majority of people who kill me are invisible. Any time I engage someone at long range, they "cloak" and either run and hide or shoot me in the face from their invisible state. What is up with this? I surely cannot be the only person who(m?) this annoys. In fact, it doesn't just annoy me, it downright ruins the game for me. I cannot play this game anymore because of the shear frustration of being killed by people (or ATVs!!!) that I can't even see. I don't think that this creates a fun, or talent rewarding, gaming environment. I understand this isn't a war simulator, and I don't want it to be. But, invisibility is a cheap tactic (requires next to zero skill to use effectively) that negates or weakens the effectiveness of all other abilities/vehicles/weapons in the game. There should not be any single ability with that much power.

Of course, I know it can't leave the game at this point, but I think it should be substantially weakened. The efficacy of invisibility itself, and/or a movement restriction while cloaked or, perhaps, a cooldown between de-cloaking and shooting.

The infiltrator could also have some sort of non-active camo, like a Ghillie suit, that they could adapt to their environment, like snipers actually do. Not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Maybe I'll see you down the road, Planetside 2.

Play a sniper and kill them back. One of my favourite jobs as a sniper is counter-sniping. I love nothing more than taking out the other teams snipers to ease things up for my faction.

A tip: NEVER NOT NEVER EVER stand still. You are just begging to get head-shot.

Turn up your graphic settings. Infiltrators are 100% invisible even while sprinting when you have set graphics to low.

Infiltrators cannot shoot while cloaked, so eother you have really bad lag, or you just aren't seeing them when they uncloak

Counter snipe them, its fun as hell. Watch them closely be calm, flank them, take them out one by one.

If this dude is getting killed by invisible people, he's gotta be lagging pretty hard.

If you unlcoak and then quickly shoot, you will appear as shooting while still cloaked to your victim due to the bad netcoding this game has.

Stop saying what I am about to say!
You even stole my profile picture...

Maybe a bit of clarification is order. When the people actually kill me, they're no longer invisible. Just all the time leading up to my death. It's not lag that I'm complaining about, or graphics settings (I don't think, at least). I'm complaining about - what I see as - a fundamental flaw in the game; that it relies on cloaking to balance the fights. To be fair, I'm not a fan of invisibility in MMOs or shooters in general, for, as I've already stated, I see it as a cheap tactic that attracts the players with the least skill and/or "honor". As a result, those who use it end up exploiting it because they come to rely on it instead of improving their skills. And, because it's extraordinarily effective.

I think a good shooter will use creativity to balance the game, not a cure-all like invisibility that always feels like it's thrown into the game as a last ditch effort to bring this balance. Maybe I shouldn't call it a cure-all though, because I don't think it does, in fact, bring balance. I think cloaking/invisibility undermines the abilities of other classes, ie unbalances the game. I like to play Engineer, for instance. Very often, the turrets are nearly unusable because as soon as I hop on, I get headshot or flanked by someone I can't see. There are a variety of ways to take out a turret otherwise, so cloaking is not bringing some needed balance to the game in this instance.

Ok, done ranting. Not very poignant, except to say again, that I hate cloaking. =D

What a load of bollocks hahaha

Seriously, why is it that peeps want to change this game just to suit themselves? Beggars belief!

I am one hundred and ten percent with the peeps in this post saying how they deal with snipers... SNIPE THE FVCKER5!

I play sniper most of the time. I have the utmost respect for anyone who gets the better of me, either a counter sniper of someone who has bothered to come after me.

And as for skill. Jeez... Sniping is a skill all of its own. And cloaking/shooting/moving/cloaking is a part of that skill. I've watched many a good sniper doing just that, and they are good, and deserve any reward coming. If I can I will counter them, but the good snipers are hard to get from a distance.

I will admit that Engi's are easy meat, especially the lazy ones who think they can sit behind their sheild and farm outside spawn rooms. They are the first to get headshot. I've seen good engineers at work and they are always in and out of their turret, turning all the while, making it difficult to get a hit on them (time to pull out the Phoenix LOL).

You don't play cloakers or inviso's, so we're cheap and cowardly to you. I played engie almost exclusively until the stalker cloak came out. I still like my engie, but find I kill more engies with my infiltraitor than anything else, except MAYBE other cloakers.

Just because we play the chess game while you think you can just spray bullets doesn't make you braver or smarter.

Pretty sure this problem's in your head, keep playing, you'll figure it out.

I feel like the invisibility is in a good spot right now, its one of the few areas where SOE didn't hit it with higby's nerf hammer and destroy it into oblivion, and it also isn't God Tier, it is actually one of the few areas where it is dare I say, balanced.

Here's some tips to help you with dealing with cloakers... Remember that everything - And I mean EVERYTHING - makes a sound. Foot steps. Reloading. Spotting targets. 'V' key callouts (Automatic voice callouts dont make sounds for the other factions). Cloaking and decloaking. Silenced weapons make noise, too, even if they don't appear on the minimap.

You need to learn to make use of this. Turn off your music, get a pair of headphones and turn the volume up some. It'll help alot. I've had quite a few infiltrators call me a hacker because I was able to track and kill them based on the sounds they made.

I've also come across the idiot cloakers that think they can run right up to you, in plain sight, just because their cloak is active.

Imo it is actually too visible on high settings. (it's a problem that graphics settings make a large difference)
to make stalker cloak more viable crouch walking should be way less visible. Other than that it's pretty much fine.

They dont kill you while invisible, thats impossible. They have to uncloak to fire.
If you are getting killed by "invisible" snipers, it probably means they hid behind a rock out of sight, cloaked, moved 2m to the left/right, aimed at your head, uncloaked and fired, because you were the only one in a crowd ADSing and not moving.
And that is something you learn to not do eventually

If you get killed by infiltrators in CQB, it probably means you didnt pay attention to sounds or your surroundings.
Again, simple game experience fixes this problem aswell.
Eventually, you wont be killed by infils nearly as much as other classes.

Compared to PS1, i dont think cloakers is a big deal.
Where you were 100% invisible when not moving, 90% invisible when crouch moving, cloak didnt "drain" and could be left on however long you wanted, and you could shoot while cloaked. Also you could load up on (free) grenades.
You couldnt use SMGs or Snipers though.
And that leads me to my final point. Cloaking is a part of Planetside, and has been for over 10 years. Its part of the core and wont change.

Well that can be said for so many things. MAXes? RL primaries? Lolpods? Tankspam? Spawnroom warriors? AP Mines?
So that isnt really a valid arguement tbh.

I agree with this. On medium upwards seeing a cloaked player is really really easy. Quite frankly I'm amazed I do as well as I do with my infiltrator. A lot of people must be playing on low.

Incorrect. I have been playing cloaker a lot of late as its such good fun, but its also a high risk. To sneak up on two people and take them out requires skill, certainly on HA with their shields and if your being taken out a lot then you are just camping, so you deserve it or your not using your ears.

To help.

1. Everyone makes a sound, your ears are just as important as your eyes. So make sure you use your headset and change the settings so footsteps are heard.
2. Game settings. It makes a difference to what you can see. GraphicQuality has to be on medium or high, everything else can be low, although i play on low and i find people cant see me, so the topic seems to have diffrent opinions.
3. Dont stand still or camp. Often i see someone camping i go out my way to get them.
4. Flashlights on guns, cloakers cant hide that, so enter a room and check the corners.

Or, if you try the role yourself, you will find out how to play cloaker and as such you will think how they play and that will prevent you from being killed, or certainly helps your game thinking.

You say no honor makes us infiltrators bad huh?