The Stalker Actually Stalked Me: A True Story And Some Things We Could Learn From It

[castem]

"You will pay for your sins, castem."

 

Thus began the hunt.  Myself and 3 other Tenno were assigned to destroy some Grineer mining equipment when the Stalker decided it was time to get revenge for Vor.  So his words hit us, the lights dimmed, and then....nothing.  No wisp of smoke.  No appearance.  Nothing.

 

"Where is he?  Is he even here?"  my fellow Tenno asked amongst themselves.  I could not answer them - I did not see the stalker, but my feeling of dread had not subsided.  Was I being hunted?  Or was I free to continue my mission?

 

Not knowing what to do, we continued on.  We had taken out half of the mining equipment when I was slightly separated from the group - I was lagging a bit behind the others.  That's when it happened.

 

As I rounded the corner, I saw a Tenno on the ramp up to where I needed to go.  At first, I thought he was one of my allies - but with the black smoke around him and a bow aimed right at me, I quickly realized what he was.  I rolled back behind the corner, just narrowly being hit by 3 arrows.

 

And I ran.

 

I took another route to get there, avoiding the stalker, and ran as fast as I could to meet up with my teammates.  I wanted very much to say "he's behind me!" or "the stalker is here!" but the I could not afford taking the time to do so.  When I arrived with my teammates, I looked behind me - and the stalker was yet again nowhere to be found.

 

Shortly afterward, I was killed by Bombards on the way to extraction and the stalker was appeased with my death, so he left.  I used a revive and went to extraction.  The end.  (Yes, that disappointing ending actually happened.  Sorry guys.)

 

 

This encounter with the stalker was undoubtedly my favorite, despite its rather disappointing and unexpected ending.  Why?  Because it felt like he was an actual stalker, stalking his prey and attacking when it was most opportune.  It was also - dare I say it - scary, since I was playing Trinity at the time (my survival rate with Trinity plummets when all of her powers can be canceled) and I had no idea when or from where the stalker was going to attack from next.  And when I finished the mission, this is what I thought:

 

This is how the stalker should be.

 

Not as an overpowered killing machine.  Not as an enemy that appears directly next to you after giving you plenty of warning in advance that he's going to show up.

 

He should be smart.  He should be stealthy.  He should be eerie.  He should be a stalker.

 

So with all that said, here are some things we could learn from my story to apply to the stalker:

1.  Don't have him show up near the player when he appears.  This makes him too predictable and (when carrying powerful enough weapons and/or abilities) too easy to kill.  Instead, he should appear somewhere on the map.  Since the player doesn't know where the stalker spawns, the tension is heightened.

2.  Make the Stalker act like a stalker.  As of right now, he's little more than a mindless killing machine with a few OP tools at his disposal.  He goes after you, trying to kill you, and doesn't really put any more thought into it than that.  The reason he acted like he did in my story is because there was the distance between us (I presume - I'm unaware of any AI upgrade the Stalker may have had recently).  Therefore, I suggest - in addition to change #1 - his AI should actually take into account things like where the targeted player is in relation to the group, which warframe the targeted player is using, and so on.  Having him strike when the moment is right makes him feel more like an intelligent hunter - which would make having a stalker show up a much more exciting event.

3.  Don't give him a machine-gun that looks like a bow.  Perhaps I should explain:  I don't mind if his bow hits me like a train, but he should at least have to charge up his bow (like every other bow in the game) to deal that kind of damage.  His rapid-fire bow nonsense is OP when it deals as much damage as it does.

4.  Something about the stalker not getting his kill.  I'm not quite sure what to say here, but something doesn't sit right with somebody else killing the stalker's target and the stalker going 'Okay, I guess that's it, I'm gonna get going then'.  I feel like there should be more to it than that....

Edited May 22, 2014 by castem

[Tigersight]

Agreed. +1

[ArchBlood]

Stalker has Dread with full fire rate mods, yo.

 

I do like it went these sort of thins happen. The stories always give me a chuckle. He should stalk you, more then just "hi, guys" in the middle of a group as all just turn and destroy him.

[Pie_mastyr]

had a similar experience on my first solar rail mission. Although for some reason he would teleport in front of me for a brief moment, then disappear.

it was awesome

[F1UXie]

I had something similar happen on an ODD mission one time. I got his cryptic warning message and the lights flickered when I was perched high up on a ledge shooting down at infested. I kept waiting for him to spawn, but he never showed even when I finished the wave. Finally, I wondered if it was because of my location so I hopped down from the ledge and sure enough he appeared moments later.

[(PSN)japaneselonewolf]

You had me at 'And I ran.' I wonder if he will return because he did not get the kill. Excellent story.

[4MostlyHarmless2]

Oddly enough, something like this also happened to me recently. Someone had a mark from Stalker, the lights started flickering, we all started preparing for a fight and for Stalker to appear near us... and nothing happened. We all stared around a bit, then we decided to continue on. Just as we passed through a doorway there was a smokebomb effect and he appears, shooting at us and rolling around. We managed to defeat him, so I thought there was nothing out of the ordinary. 

Perhaps DE has been tweaking the Stalker's AI behavior recently without our knowledge? 

[S7ORM]

I think the stalker should have a similar effect as the Shade sentinel.
He should, with a cooldown naturally, become invisible until right before he attacks.

[DarknightK]

At first, I thought your quote was "You will pay for your sins, Casshern"

 

I agree with all of your points though. Stalker needs an AI change to make him worth of a Creepypasta entry.

 

I mean, Herobrine is kinda-somewhat already inaugurated into the Hall of 3spooky5me.

 

 

An AI that would consistently hunt you out would be interesting to fight against. Unlike other enemies, he wouldn't be direct in facing you. He might be hiding on a support beam overlooking a bridge on the way to the mission objective.

[deltaheavy]

"You will pay for your sins, castem."

 

Thus began the hunt.  Myself and 3 other Tenno were assigned to destroy some Grineer mining equipment when the Stalker decided it was time to get revenge for Vor.  So his words hit us, the lights dimmed, and then....nothing.  No wisp of smoke.  No appearance.  Nothing.

 

"Where is he?  Is he even here?"  my fellow Tenno asked amongst themselves.  I could not answer them - I did not see the stalker, but my feeling of dread had not subsided.  Was I being hunted?  Or was I free to continue my mission?

 

Not knowing what to do, we continued on.  We had taken out half of the mining equipment when I was slightly separated from the group - I was lagging a bit behind the others.  That's when it happened.

 

As I rounded the corner, I saw a Tenno on the ramp up to where I needed to go.  At first, I thought he was one of my allies - but with the black smoke around him and a bow aimed right at me, I quickly realized what he was.  I rolled back behind the corner, just narrowly being hit by 3 arrows.

 

And I ran.

 

I took another route to get there, avoiding the stalker, and ran as fast as I could to meet up with my teammates.  I wanted very much to say "he's behind me!" or "the stalker is here!" but the I could not afford taking the time to do so.  When I arrived with my teammates, I looked behind me - and the stalker was yet again nowhere to be found.

 

Shortly afterward, I was killed by Bombards on the way to extraction and the stalker was appeased with my death, so he left.  I used a revive and went to extraction.  The end.  (Yes, that disappointing ending actually happened.  Sorry guys.)

 

 

This encounter with the stalker was undoubtedly my favorite, despite its rather disappointing and unexpected ending.  Why?  Because it felt like he was an actual stalker, stalking his prey and attacking when it was most opportune.  It was also - dare I say it - scary, since I was playing Trinity at the time (my survival rate with Trinity plummets when all of her powers can be canceled) and I had no idea when or from where the stalker was going to attack from next.  And when I finished the mission, this is what I thought:

 

This is how the stalker should be.

 

Not as an overpowered killing machine.  Not as an enemy that appears directly next to you after giving you plenty of warning in advance that he's going to show up.

 

He should be smart.  He should be stealthy.  He should be eerie.  He should be a stalker.

 

So with all that said, here are some things we could learn from my story to apply to the stalker:

1.  Don't have him show up near the player when he appears.  This makes him too predictable and (when carrying powerful enough weapons and/or abilities) too easy to kill.  Instead, he should appear somewhere on the map.  Since the player doesn't know where the stalker spawns, the tension is heightened.

2.  Make the Stalker act like a stalker.  As of right now, he's little more than a mindless killing machine with a few OP tools at his disposal.  He goes after you, trying to kill you, and doesn't really put any more thought into it than that.  The reason he acted like he did in my story is because there was the distance between us (I presume - I'm unaware of any AI upgrade the Stalker may have had recently).  Therefore, I suggest - in addition to change #1 - his AI should actually take into account things like where the targeted player is in relation to the group, which warframe the targeted player is using, and so on.  Having him strike when the moment is right makes him feel more like an intelligent hunter - which would make having a stalker show up a much more exciting event.

3.  Don't give him a machine-gun that looks like a bow.  Perhaps I should explain:  I don't mind if his bow hits me like a train, but he should at least have to charge up his bow (like every other bow in the game) to deal that kind of damage.  His rapid-fire bow nonsense is OP when it deals as much damage as it does.

4.  Something about the stalker not getting his kill.  I'm not quite sure what to say here, but something doesn't sit right with somebody else killing the stalker's target and the stalker going 'Okay, I guess that's it, I'm gonna get going then'.  I feel like there should be more to it than that....

 

 

+1

 

and maybe he could hack the doors and lock you in with him :0