Stalker Feedback

[CubedOobleck]

5th May Edit - The stalker was gone for a while and now he is back, but unlike before you can respawn after he murders you. Is this for the better? It's already hard for him to kill you and if you can respawn as soon as he leave then there is really nothing scary about him. I hope DE makes his kills permanent for the duration of the match again because right now it's really lame.

 

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Well first, I want to say this is a great addition to the game, when the stalker comes by he breaks the monotony of whatever you are doing (most likely farming) and that's absolutely a good thing.

However I think he taunts too much, he should say something as he appears right before attacking you, instead of chatting with you minutes before attempting the assassination. After all, the surprise element is his forte and it's too easy to kill him if you were expecting him.

 

I like Stalker encounters because they are short: he can kill you before you even know exactly where he is, but you can also kill him in seconds with decent equipment; I realize that this is a slim balance. Essentially what you need to kill the stalker is a either a strongish weapon or strongish warframe and being accustomed to the game helps, so rather keeping the Stalker from targeting players with a warframe below level 5, I think it would be best to keep the stalker from targeting players below a certain mastery rank, perhaps 1 or 2.

The other issue is that the novelty dwindles quickly after the first encounter and we don't want that, right?
So here's the idea, each time you meet the stalker he is equipped differently: One time he might be an excalibur with a burston, an aklato and a bo, the next time he might be a mag with a boar, a lex and a scindo. Random. Every time you meet him you would need to understand how he's equipped, what skills he can use, if he is fast, if he is more dangerous from afar or up close. With this small puzzle added to his element of surprise there would be some suspense every time you meet him, not just the first or second time and each encounter would be different.

I'm guessing the most difficult part in all this is allowing the stalker to use the skills of the warframe he wears, so as a first implementation he should be able to use at least 1 skill for each warframe. Moreover ash(3), ember(1), excalibur(1), frost(1), loki(3), mag(2), nyx(1), rhino(2) and volt(3) already have skills coded for AI usage and could be easily made into stalker counterparts, unlike banshee, saryn and trinity who are the only exceptions and would need a bit more work.

It would also be nice to have some 'stalker stats' to keep track of how many times you met him and how many times you survived, this would fit well in that info page where you can see your most used weapons, kill count, ect.

Sentinel feedback - https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/31149-feedback-on-sentinels/
Melee feedback - https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/26007-melee-feedback/?p=234551

Enemy feedback - https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/41123-enemy-feedback/

Fusion Core feedback - https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/32773-fusion-core-feedback/?p=298534

Minor UI issues - https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/19436-ui-many-minor-issues/

Edited May 7, 2013 by CubedOobleck

[Kahereck]

While we are at it they might aswell add a drop to this fella, its kinda annoying with all the rumors lately.

[Tsukinoki]

Well, the reason he doesnt drop anything is that you aren't supposed to actually kill him.

At around 10% or so of his health he kneels down and teleports away...killing him can happen but I dont think it is supposed to.

[PatiqForLife]

Well, the reason he doesnt drop anything is that you aren't supposed to actually kill him.

At around 10% or so of his health he kneels down and teleports away...killing him can happen but I dont think it is supposed to.

I think he will be a future boss for a new warframe.

[Tsukinoki]

I think he will be a future boss for a new warframe.

That could be interesting but to stand up with the rest of the bosses he would need a health and shield buff....he just doesn't last long enough, unless they put him on a lower level map.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Tsukinoki

[Splosions]

Stalkers sounds are not affected my game volume settings. I had all my volumes set to minimum so I could play and watch a movie at the same time. In teh middle of my movie i hear *BRAHAHAHHAHA* black smoke everywhere.....was horrible.

[CubedOobleck]

While we are at it they might aswell add a drop to this fella, its kinda annoying with all the rumors lately.

I don't really care for him to drop anything special, the last thing I want is to farm him, but I do want something, perhaps a consumable item or even just credits to feel a bit rewarded.

I think he will be a future boss for a new warframe.

No! Please, no.

The whole point of the stalker is that HE comes after YOU not the other way around. And do you really want another boss with huge shields and hp on which you simply rain bullets for 5-10 minutes? I certantly don't. The 2 reasons the stalker is fun are that he can catch you off guard and that he doesn't take for ever to defeat. He comes and goes and whether he killed you or had to flee, it was a short, but intense fight that brought suspence to what ever you were doing.

Turn him into a boss and he is ruined, if you don't understand this don't even reply.

Edited April 5, 2013 by CubedOobleck

[GTG3000]

Completely agree with you, stalker would be a whole lot better if he could alternate between skins and weapons, though maybe he should have a few skins of his own, too, that he would get randomly despite the warframe he gets, and use rarely to catch a player off-guard when he gets low on health?

And, a consumable sounds nice... Maybe, a one-time 'stalker buff', that would make your char slightly better at combat and add a sinister black cloud?

[Imbaland]

Ok, if this thing is easy to kill, maybe I'm missing something, and need pointers.

I just encountered one for the first time, and it was a simply $&*&*#(%& fight. After I dodged his first melee swing and ran away, he just gunned me down in under a second with insane damage output.

I had no energy, so I couldn't go invisible, but that shouldn't really matter.

[GTG3000]

He is easier if you don't let him shoot and have support of other players. Not to mention that Loki isn't the tankiest of the warframes. Just try to trick him into slashdashing a wall repeatedly or making melee attacks you can dodge, and you should be okay.

[CubedOobleck]

Ok, if this thing is easy to kill, maybe I'm missing something, and need pointers.

I just encountered one for the first time, and it was a simply $&*&*#(%& fight. After I dodged his first melee swing and ran away, he just gunned me down in under a second with insane damage output.

I had no energy, so I couldn't go invisible, but that shouldn't really matter.

It's true his damage output is good, especially if your warframe isn't decked out, but he is nowhere close to bosses when it comes to shields and health, that's part of what makes the fight interesting: striking first nets you (or him) the greatest advantage, but it's tricky to strike first because it's not easy to immediately tell where he is coming from.

[Syllabea]

He seems to me like a rogue Tenno. I think that instead of spawning in as a different frame with different weapons every time, he should be his own unique frame with his own unique weapons and tactics. I think that this would be better. To me, the Stalker is his own person: a Space Ninja turned evil. 

[CubedOobleck]

The stalker was gone for a while and now he is back, but unlike before you can respawn after he murders you. Is this for the better? It's already hard for him to kill you and if you can respawn as soon as he leave then there is really nothing scary about him. I hope DE makes his kills permanent for the duration of the match again because right now it's really lame.

[Renan.Ruivo]

Stalker used to be interesting challange and change in pace, but after that it just gets boring and annoying. In my opinion, he needs a revisit and redesign to make him more challenging. He is too easely distracted by the other enemies, and you can easely use that to your advantage. You can also run from him and trap him behind (over/under?) an elevator. For more feedback along those lines, see here: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/39593-give-a-super-radial-javelin-to-the-stalker-that-only-affects-mobs-because-this-is-getting-ridiculous/

 

Or just watch this:

 

[Beltan]

My idea for a stalker:

The son of a $#*(@ starts harassing you from the beginning of the level. Appears on a random timer between 1 and 3 minutes.
When the stalker appears it's attack strategy changes on a random possibility roll:
The stalker might snipe at you from long distance and stay far away from the players, using stealth weapons and abilities
The stalker might keep a medium distance away and harass the target with a shotgun or pistol, using some warframe abilities.
The stalker might rush the target and use it's melee weapon and warframe abilities to hurt and stun the victim.

The stalker might draw a large crowd of enemies to the target and then vanish.
The stalker might show up, go for a charged-up power strike or use a powerful ability, then vanish.

If the Stalker knocks you down, it teleports to you finishes you off and you have to use a revive to return. Stalker timer won't start ticking again until the target revives.

When the target or the stalker goes down (or when the stalker vanishes), the timer is reset:
Stalker vanished: 25-60 seconds
Stalker badly wounded (less than 15% health): 1-2 minutes.
Target down: 25-60 seconds
Stalker eliminated: 5-6 minutes.

Until the mission is finished, the Stalker keeps on, well, stalking the target.

"Stalker mission completion"= rewarded with 10 platinum. Or something else really rare and nifty.

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Just had another idea: Send a "first come first serve" Alert mission to several players, whoever responds first is the Stalker sent after the target >:D

Edited May 5, 2013 by Beltan