Blades Runner
Posts: 616
Joined: Thursday, 25th October 2012, 03:19
Stealth - revisited
I propose that stealth is buffed in the following manner: When a creature spots you and shouts, or generally brings attention to other monsters about the stealthy player (I'm talking about fairly all-out stealth focused builds, not with just a touch) that instead of getting swarmed by packs of then fully aware monsters the monsters that were given an alert more often move to an in-between state rather than dogpile the player. Sure we have some things sort of like this, moving out of LOS and monsters forgetting, but I'm talking about the scenarios where the stealthy player simply has no choice but to proceed to attack something in the way of progress where it's going to get 15 more monsters immediately attacking. If the player is doing something where the noise is focused on them (they start making loud noises themselves instead of continuing to attempt stabbing tactics with light weapons and silent spells) then they wouldn't receive as much grace.
Here's an example flow: player approaches a monster with 10 near it and tries to kill it, but is discovered. The other 10 are no longer asleep, but perhaps in a confused state more often than currently. They know there is a threat, but just knowing doesn't mean they start advancing and targeting right away. They should act more as if the player is invisible because their knowledge that a threat is lurking about isn't the same as actually clearly seeing the threat.
I think the game already somewhat operates this way, but I'd like to see it enhanced. What's the point? Simply extending the shelf-life of stealth like tactics into the more crowded situations. Light armour and light weapons have a more difficult time dealing with large packs. A change further in this direction would make the strategy more viable and fun without it getting overpowered by being buffed to the point of instant sleep-kill stabbing everything (silly), or rendered a useless strategy for many of the most dangerous situations.
What about running away you say? Yes, there's hit n run, but it doesn't work well with so many creatures that move the same speed or faster than the player. I can't think of many creatures that move more slowly than most players. There could be a risk of introducing too much luring, but I think as long as there is an opportunity cost of the monsters gradually becoming more aware over time, that it could be kept in check.
I think at least the topic deserves some attention and more discussion. It's complicated to balance well, but worthwhile to spend time on considering. I don't think I have all the answers for this topic by a long shot, but wanted to present some of my thoughts.