Is this the easiest fix for the Infiltrator?

Theory crafting! Team oriented!

Putting Infiltrators in their place!

This thread is about how I would change Infiltrators on Planetside!

Note To Reader:

I will bold & enlarge the main points, while highlighting my thoughts and explanations in green text.

Enjoy.

The Infiltrator

- Midrange snipers removed

Merriam Webster Dictionary (Google it)

Infiltrator: 4 : to enter or become established in gradually or unobtrusively usually for subversive purposes <the intelligence staff had been infiltrated by spies>

Infiltrators should not fill all range gaps. as heavy assaults cover short to mediumlong range, but fall short in long range takedowns. Current infiltrators cover all ranges and act more as Uncloak Assaults, a very gimmicky role to have in a team orientated game. Players should swap their midrange snipers (wtf) with semi-auto scout rifles. Uncloak Assault players should be encouraged to play more oriented classes like Light Assaults or Heavy Assaults, or either support class as well.

- Snipers now accumulate damage over distance

A sniper bullet will initially do no damage for the first few meters... Think damage drop-off, but instead "damage-pickup".

This encourages long range sniper play, and punishes 5 meter sniper kills. A sniper who wishes to be most effective in 'frontline close to medium range' should be equipt with a scout rifle, not a sniper rifle.

A nesting long range sniper that gets ambushed should be encouraged to pull out his or her side-arm, as they should anyway. Ambushing a sniper before they could swap weapons should be more likely, rather than running a long way away from the battle only to get unlucky-noscope-headshot-ed. You can save your Bruce Lee longest weapon against closest enemy shenanigans for another game.

- Scout rifles & SMG's only available during Nano-Armor Cloak

Mostly explained why in the above green-colored blocks of text. Nano-Armor cloak has a shorter use duration and is therefore suitable to short front-line bursts.

IMO, infiltrators should not be played as Stealth Assaults, but people will complain, so I'd allow their usage with a cloak tailored for the front line.

- Headshot kills replenish cloaking energy

Snipers should be rewarded for good marksmanship.

- Stalker cloak removed :^)

But wait there's more :^)

- New Predator cloak added
= Primary AND Secondary disabled

I just must really hate the game, that's it, you got me.

= Indefinite cloak time (even when moving)

(I hate the game remember?)

Knife usage will be allowed, but knifing will uncloak the user for a longer period.

= No shimmer when shot (broken shields will flash)

Cloak will remain active indefinitely as long as personal shields are active. Getting shot will not uncloak the user, but being shot without a shield will cause a colored shimmer to pass over the cloak. Shield and health will regenerate over time. Friendly medics will not be able to support this class. TK-Revive would not work, Predator Cloaks cannot be revived.

This is to make up for the lack of instant weaponry. This is a trapping, ambushing, and enemy prediction class. Infiltration at its finest.

Constant stealth should be more than enough to get behind and inside the enemy. Deaths should be penalized by removing the revive capability. Long range snipers spend a long time getting to a favorable position. Predator cloakers should also spend a longer time reaching a tactical advantage. If the player wanted instant and quick action, they should play a less tactical class.

= Class ability will activate thermal vision

You can see enemy players through walls. You also remain in stealth. This should be more than enough information to skillfully navigate the battlefield even with constant cloak.

This serves no benefit to your team unless your constantly relay information through mic. Talking so much becomes more roleplay, and not everyone has the guts to do that 24/7 every time they play.

Perhaps the thermal ability could be added once Predator Cloak has been fully certed?

Yes, this ability will deplete and depend on an energy meter.

= Motion spotter / detector still usable.

I left 1 thing ok. You're welcome. Motion detector being visible to the enemy on the minimap will serve a useful purpose as you read ahead.

= Ultility slot expanded with more options:
(Primary & secondary weapon slots become additional utility slots)

-= Claymores / Prox. Mines / Bouncing Betty, explode near enemy movement

-= Unfriendly Fire Trap, unloads half clip whoever walks over the trap

( Dude why did you shoot me? ... I didn't!?? )

* Does not affect NC.

-= Hallucinogen Trap, appears to EMP afflicted player (much shorter time than actual emp) ... then ACTUALLY replaces nearby friendly with enemy faction character model for a short time. (Does not deplete shields)

-= Unfriendly Cloak Trap, cloaks the affected player but removes friendly spot signature to appear as an enemy cloaker. Friendly damage will uncloak, or shooting.

-= Unfriendly Shield Field, appears to regenerate shield, slowly degenerates health. (Visible HUD will not provide accurate information.)

-= UnCloaker Trap, turns enemy cloakers into walking human flashlights instead of ghosts.

-= Magnetic Barrel Trap, forces next two turret shots to self-inflict shot damage. Works on AA Mana turrets as well. Trap is applied like C4, effects are applied instantly.

+ Any other clever traps you, the reader or developer, could imagine! Post 'em!

Placing traps would temporarily uncloak the user.

Cloak will be automatically reactivated after a moment.

Much Change

Very wow

Closing Statement

The infiltrator class is meant to infiltrate the enemy forces to allow friendly forces to advance onto a disoriented enemy force. Snipers should be encouraged to play at longer ranges and rewarded for doing so. Removing snipers from the front lines encourages other front-line classes to be played instead. "Front line infiltrators" will be equipt with the Predator cloak allowing them to inflict a serious disturbance within the enemies interior. Harsh disorientation encourages enemy forces to stick together and communicate as to overcome the mind games of a predator. The fear of traps will also force the enemy to advance more fearfully, scouting every doorway, ceiling, stair, wall, etc as to not fall victim. The lack of instant weaponry and a forced cloak playstyle will encourage intelligent trap placement and enemy prediction to maximize infiltration. Players who enjoy the thrill of stealthy stalking should feel at home with this new cloak. The enjoyment from hearing or watching enemies fall victim to cleverly placed traps will prove unparalleled to the enjoyment of a current uncloak and pistol kill. The enjoyment from watching enemies proceed with caution after they respawn will only encourage the predator's sinister laugh. Mwah. Ha. Ha. Hah.

THANKS FOR READING!

I wasn't sure if I should include the following, so I will leave them in a red section below the ideas I actually support.

The following are concept ideas. I'm now sure where to put them, but I'll leave them here!

More Complicated, Unrealistic Ideas:

= Weapons replaced with unfriendly repair tool, and unfriendly medic tool= Using either unfriendly tool will uncloak the user but replace character model with a friendly character model and use nearest ally name as disguise.

-= UFRepair tool initially makes repair sound and graphical feedback for maxes, then begins to drain health from max.

> "ILL PATCH YOU UP!"

"Gee tanks v1 v1 v1 buddy" <

> " :^) "

"What's going on!? WHY AM I DYING?" <

-= UFMedic tool will appear to replenish health. This replenished health will disappear a few seconds after "healing" stops.

"I'm full health thanks to this medic. Return to battle!"

"Where did my health just go? RETREAT!! "

Unfriendly disguise tools allow the predator to cause mistrust and paranoia in the enemy. An enemy heavy that just ran away with low health, but ran back into the fight with the aid of an unfriendly medic is a dead enemy heavy. An enemy who got annoyed by an unfriendly shield field may destroy actual friendly shield fields later on. Infiltrators are meant for the backline, of either side.

Um..........I had no idea there was a need to encourage more long range sniping tbh.

And infils can already carry things like mines (carrying even more sounds a bit OP). And we can already use the knife exclusively if we want, without the need to disable our ranged weapons entirely.

I think infils are pretty well as versatile as they need to be myself but it is always interesting to read other ideas.

Personally, I would like crouching stationary with max cloak to be as hard to see as it used to be, but that is about it.

Thanks, but no. Infiltrator is fine as it is, apart from long range snipers who're kind of overpowered (and mostly useless to the team), giving it some "damage pickup" to sniper rifles will just make it worse overall, plus that's not how guns should work.

Infiltrators' niche is precisely to stay as a medium-range support unit, or to flank, and both hunter and NAC are good for the job, whatever role you're filling. Stalker infiltrator is precisely the subversive unit you're talking about, and while a knife-only cloak sounds fun, giving it wallhacks AND infinite cloak is not a good move; mixing the bonuses of both the NAC and stalker cloak would be far enough to make it competitive (more shields, resistance while cloaked, recharges while stationary, no secondary nor primary). Onto the last noticeable point, more crap on the ground is a terrible idea, the last thing I want is a game where half of your deaths aren't due to gunfights (BF1 *cough cough*).

Thanks for the feedback, but you seem unclear on some points.

"Damage pickup" is meant to make snipers useless at the distances of small building rooms, or closer. Its not the infiltrators job to be pushing such distances. Damage pickup would bring the sniper to its current damage output, but only after a certain distance. Snipers (The stealth assault kind) who choose to fight on the front line will be allowed to do so with scout rifles and SMGs, but would sacrifice the longer cloak. Front line = fast paced. NAC is long enough to run away, and/or reposition, and re-engage. Overusing stealth would leave you vulnerable quicker. Like the current stealth assault gameplay = play with New NAC. Want to snipe = hunter. No, its not how real guns work, but this is a game and damage pickup is a mechanic meant to shape a gameplay environment.

All your deaths would be due to gunfights, unlike what you mentioned. Claymores/B.B./P.M. would not be changed, yes those would kill you as they already do. All predator traps would disorient and disadvantage* the enemy, so the next time they do engage gunfights, the affected player will be more likely to lose. Ex. You think you have health but you don't. You think you are in stealth but every enemy can see you. You think you're repairing your shield but your health is draining. You're running with your squad when you suddenly unload half your clip into the friendly in front of you. You no longer trust your own team, you refuse shield repairs, heals, and refuse to run in a group. This is infiltration and sabotage.

Current stalker cloak is cheese. Stalker hacked a terminal and cheeses the next person to use it. Person comes back with heavy assault + shotgun to remove the annoyance. Stalkers go on short sidearm killstreaks. Very short lived, and does not impact the enemy as much. EMP+bandolier is the most effective loadout for current infils. I initially wanted Predator cloaks to not have the knife either, but thought that would trigger too many people. One youtube video suggesting hacking terminals so vehicles are rigged when spawned. I believe all infils (including predator) should be AI only, unable to affect vehicles. Bring an end to cheese camping terminals, or cheese camping with a pistol.

Predator is about debuffing and demoralizing the enemy infantry. Predators make enemy advancement more treacherous, and friendly advancement more favorable. You can still spot enemy predator traps and destroy them, and other infiltrators can hack them to their own side after being defused by an engineer. More team play, and no more cheese pistol play that serves no good to either team.

Well, I'm not an amazing infiltrator...but here is my two cents as to what needs to be fixed.

Removing Tracers on Crossbows and Silenced Sniper Rifles.

Everyone sees silenced snipers and the kill screen shows you the general direction of the sniper who killed so you can be found. This combined with everyone equipping dark-light flashlights and shooting all common hiding spots...makes being an sniping infiltrator a lot harder...for new snipers...impossible... especially with light assaults with both shotguns and dark-light flashlights hunting you.

Remove Short Range Death Direction.
Deaths within 20 meters should not show direction if they were not spotted previously. This would be for all classes. If you don't have the situational awareness within that distance...you deserve what you get.

Only Allow Darklight Flashlights on Secondary Weapons.

This allows a more even playing field for infiltrator hunters hunting stalkers.

After 30 meters...All Cloaks...Even When Running...Should be Invisible.

I can't tell you how many times I've been sniped while cloaked at 50-100 meters away...or more...moving or not. More importantly...right now many infiltrators have to be extremely mobile in order to be successful...especially in close quarters. Further...map awareness is required...which means that those who don't know the maps as well get penalized severely because they don't know where they can run...or they run to a common spot and get killed.

Adrenaline Pump Speed Increased.

From 10% to 15%.

Remove Chameleon Cloak and Shimmer.

Many Infiltrator hunters...even though we are easily spotted...get caught by random gunfire because our cloaks shimmer...We already don't have true invisibility...but this makes it a lot more difficult to operate.

Remove Lights from Prox Mines.

Anyone who is even half aware of their surroundings see them which often makes purchasing them wasted certs. Just make them partially faction colored. yellow for NC, Purple for Vanu and Red for TR.

Fix Cloaking Bugs.

There is no reason my helmet, armor or weapons should be visible when cloaked...fix it.

Like I said...I'm not pro...but I can hold my own...despite the shortcomings of the class as it currently stands.

Maybe predators could place down small deployable stealth bubbles. That way you could ghost cap as a team and scare the heck out of enemies would realize theres a whole team somehow crammed inside a stealth bubble near the checkpoint

I tend to agree that infils are pretty much OK as they are (although the ease of spotting them now is a bit of a challenge) But I think sniping does help the team in the right situation. Recently we faced a huge attack across open ground on a base and us snipers broke up one wave of infantry attackers after another before they got into the buildings.

And last night our base defence was being sniped heavily at long range from hills behind them - I counter sniped three infils before they gave up and I'm fairly sure that helped the other defenders who were firing over a parapet to pin the attackers around their spawn sundy

I may be really aware of my surroundings most of the time, but i still trip over them from time to time because i'm being impatient. That's what they're there for, people who are careless of their surroundings. Of COURSE a competent player is going to see them. Just look at a claymore, they literally stick up like a sore thumb, you have to actively hide them around objects or inside foliage for them to work, even then, sometimes they detonate prematurely for no reason.

Plus have you ever noticed how difficult it can be to see BBs and Especially PMs that can sometimes phase through the dirt, building floors, and staircases?