The IFF and why it needs to leave.

(Well, my last post got locked...fiddlesticks.)
(THIS IS NOT A POLL, THIS IS A THREAD MEANT FOR INFILTRATORS WHO HATE THE IFF TO TELL SOE THAT THEY WANT IT GONE. THANK YOU.)

As much as I hate Forumsiding I feel this issue needs to be addressed. A few days ago I made a sort of rage post in which I bashed the Infiltrator IFF and screamed pseudo-intellectualism. (Big word for jack*ss.) Well now I feel sorry for the poor sods that read it and interpreted what I said to be true (or otherwise) To be CLEAR about the IFF:

-All friendly players will see, in addition to the murky haze the Infiltrator cloak normally is, a lattice of empire-specific lines. For example if you are playing TR you will see friendly Infiltrators as red patterned.

-Enemies do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT see any empire-colored lines that are not theirs. Ex. If you are Vanu you will not see bright blue lines on an NC Infiltrator, you'll just see the hazy cloud the Infiltrator cloak used to be.

What the SOE dev team was trying to do was eliminate the chances, or at least reduce the chance, of friendly fire kills to Infiltrators. Before GU11 all cloaked Infiltrators looked nearly identical: a mirror-ish blob. In addition, there was no empire-specific tab over their head while cloaked, which I guess created this problem: Is that heat haze, distortion effects, or an enemy/friendly Infiltrator?* And although I admit that the IFF has solved this problem by practically duct taping neon glow sticks to your clothing when you cloak, it has replaced it with a new, much bigger problem: They made it too easy for any player to identify enemy Infiltrators. Is that shimmer glowing? Don't shoot. It isn't glowing? Shoot.

In a far-distance sniping scenario this doesn't matter that much, but in middle range battles with scout rifles and ESPECIALLY in CQC with the SMGs, this recent "fix" to a problem that wasn't that big of a deal to begin with has made the Infiltrator useless in any close-quarters scenario.


If you are one of any number of fellow Infiltrators who has been plagued by this recent update, do not hesitate to post your frustration at the IFF below. I want this thing gone as much as you do.

Thank you,
-First Sgt. Knife



*EDIT 1: Now that I think of it, if the Infiltrator has any buggering idea as to what he/she was doing, he/she'd be away from his/her teammates alone. So GU11 caught the Noob Plague. Oh joy.

SOE keeps screwing with situational awareness. I immediately noticed this as a nerf to the infil class. Not to mention your clearly visible to your own faction 300m away so at times you'll get people coming to your position and revealing where you're at to the enemy. At most IFF should show up out to 20m but I'd rather it just be removed.

IFF on infiltrator is fine, it was a positive change. Those complaining don't seem to understand how this works.

At long and mid-range, nothing has changed - allies could already easily be identified by a dorito anyway. At close ranges, the change is in FAVOUR of infiltrators - enemies already know you're about because of the cloaking sound (99% of the situations you die in close range you would have died before the change too), but now you're a lot less likely to die to allies.

i keep thinking the NC Inf are Vanu HA with the shield on.
they look more purple than blue to me.

+1
Get rid of IFF entirely or do what this guy said in bold.

You obviously have never played Infiltrator. Ever.

"At long and mid-range, nothing has changed"- In long range, no, nothing much has changed*, but enemies will start to pay attention to shimmering blobs that are within 25-ish yards. And with the recent addition of IFF, it makes in painfully easy to identify Infiltrators. If it isn't glowing brighter than the sun, shoot it. This has made the Infiltrator useless within middle and close range.

*Unless there are snipers with low graphics options, which makes even long range fighting (SNIPING) a pain.

"At close ranges, the change is in FAVOUR of Infiltrators"- This is a flat-out lie. Teammates who have grown a pair but have failed to grow a brain won't bother wasting time trying to identify what faction color your sporting and will pump you full of lead. Enemies who are paying attention will know who you are instantly and kill you.

"99 of the situations you die in close range you would have died before the change too."- I can't even begin to describe the amount of blatant stupidity in that statement. An Infiltrator running an SMG who knew what he was doing BEFORE the update could destroy a squad or two in CQC before he got gunned down. Now with the IFF he will die before even being given a chance to kill more than 2-3 people.

I shoot any infiltrator I cant immediately identify as friendly, and I don't feel bad about it at all.
And I imagine I am not the only one. The cold hard math is that a friendly inf lost in you own lines are no big deal, while an enemy can do a lot of damage.
From a gameplay perspective I would also say that it is intended to hide you, not disguise you. If you want to blend with the enemy then you cant complain when your own side waste you.

THIS.
THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.

IFF has not solved any friendly fire problems. It has created MORE.

*Facepalm*

Blend with the enemy? Disguise you? WTF are you even talking about. This is not Team Fortress 2. The Infiltrator is not the Spy.

The Infiltrator is designed around being a lone wolf powerhouse in almost any scenario when played properly and when the proper equipment is used. He is meant to cause havoc among the enemy and make life for anyone who isn't paying attention a living h*ll. Well now with the IFF you take away any form of effort to identify an Infiltrator, which makes it easy for anyone from a no-ranker noob to a seasoned veteran to instantly destroy you within middle range. I loved CQC with the Infiltrator, I pour hundreds of certs into the EMP grenade, laser sights for SMGs, and the cloak. Now its all reduced to standing behind rocks and trees and taking shots from people hundreds of feet away. The IFF is not welcome. Period.

Agreed
Although i don't really see the difference between with/without IFF i wouldn't be against removing it. It causes this much trouble for players and brings little advantages (infiltrators are rarely team killed while cloaked). It bugs 50% of the time which actually results in team kills

+1

Sounds like TF2 to me. The goal of an infiltrator should be to remain undetected, not unidentifiable. Otherwise the other players will start to "spycheck" them.

I already see far too many that think infiltrating means yelling "Look mom, no pants!" and then run into the middle of a group of enemies. Play that way if you like, but the logical consequence is that anything cloaked moving towards a friendly will be shot.

when people do this i tend to yell at them over mic...or shoot at their feet lol

Thats kind of the point. Infiltrators were barely ever team killed to start with

I don't know what you were seeing until now, but it was not Vanu HAs. Their shields are green.

So, you complain that the change has made the infiltrator useless in CQC, but you are fine with the changes up to 20m aka CQC?
You need to keep at least a basic amount of consistency in your posts.
But hey, judging by you happily jumping at every post that seems to agree with you, I guess you don't really read them.

Anything that prevents me from being team killed is a good thing in my book.

Also, just how has this change made the infiltrator class useless at close quarters?
Exploiting the enemy's fear of team killing is ridiculous and should never be a thing in the first place.

My gameplay hasn't changed.

20 meters isn't CQC. Getting right in the enemies face is CQC.

Oh for gods sake...I'll explain it again.

BEFORE GU11, all faction Infiltrators looked almost identical when cloaked.

AFTER GU11, all faction Infiltrators have color-coded grids added to their cloak.

EFFECT: If the enemy sees a cloak that does NOT have a friendly grid on it, it is shot automatically.

THEREFORE: It is far too easy to identify a non-friendly Infiltrator at close range. Cloak is rendered useless in CQC, thus the Infiltrator becomes obsolete within 10 meters.

THEREFORE: This has alienated SMG Infiltrators like me and is p*ssing us off. Remove IFF. Simple as that.

Exactly. I know I atleast fire at anything cloaked and moving at me. Of course, I am not deaf, dumb or blind(despite wearing thick *** glasses) and stop firing once I hear the beep and get the red cross thing. BUt yeah, if your a cloaker moving at me...I will smoke you with a round or 2.

But IFF? They put some glow on people that IDs them as ally or enemy now?

Uh are you sure you didn't reply to the wrong post?

And second, before GU11 a cloaked Infiltrator was almost always shot if he/she was running towards a big group of paranoid friendlies. Us smart Infiltrators just depended on the "norm" to learn by experience and NOT walk into friendlies. Well noobs just sat on their big fat a*s and expected easy mode to drop into their plate. Well now you got it. Happy now you degenerate Fun Police?