Player-Controlled Stalkers

[Nitresco]

(Thanks for tuning in to read this; any feedback is appreciated.)

 

At the initial release of the Stalker, he was an exciting bonus to playing any mission. Being visited by him gave a boring grind a bit of oomph. After time, however, his behavior became common knowledge. Whenever invaded by him, all you had to do was group up with your party members, wait for him to charge blindly into the room, and then gun him down. Within seconds, he would be dead. While an encounter with him still spices up any normal run, it has somewhat lost any initial excitement it already had. When invaded by a mysterious entity bent on your death, you would expect him to be smart and to fight you with the elements of surprise and mystery instead of just blindly charging you with a sword and assault rifle.

 

So, how about having Stalkers that are controlled by players?

 

When being controlled by human intelligence, a predictable fight with a Stalker becomes a tangle with the unexpected. You could no longer just sit in the corner waiting for him to blindly charge you. He could come at you from anywhere at anytime. You would have to go through the mission cautiously approaching any corner for fear he would be awaiting your approach.

 

For balancing purposes, player-controlled Stalkers should only be able to attack parties of 4 players.  A button could also be added to the party-leader's interface that enables/disables player-controlled Stalkers from attacking his parties.

 

Invading someone could either be as complicated as using a menu listing any available parties to attack, or just be as simple as pressing a button that instantly looks for a party to throw you in.

 

Yes, this could be regarded as PvP. I do realize there will be some nay-sayers to this idea simply because it can be. Either way, though, feedback on the idea is appreciated. Maybe we can fine-tune it into something the devs would consider adding.

[DreadScourge]

You're silly, that's already a thing.

 

Every stalker is DE_Steve after all...

[Dominix]

I like the idea, but only if you can opt out.  It would be good for the soulish area.

[AsteriskCGY]

So many people just want more Dark Souls. 

[artemisfortune]

This is that copy pasted dark souls idea. I don't like it ;~:

[Nitresco]

This is that copy pasted dark souls idea. I don't like it ;~:

This was no copy-paste.

I wasn't basing this off Dark Souls either. Thought, now that I think about it, it does seem somewhat similar...

[CorvanPhoenix]

The last time Stalker showed up for me he was killed solo by a teen level infested dog! It was fking hilarious!  As he dies he says "This is not possible!" LMFAO.

 

Oh, your idea. Too complicated to implement, would be cool sometimes.  Not going to happen, put it to bed.

[Ishmod]

Actually, this COULD be a decent idea though. Random drop in ongoing game matches, player playing the stalker CANNOT choose a loadout, you just click the stalker drop button and away you go.  All good , random griefing stalker player having to go up against what ever with what ever the stalker is loaded with . would be interesting IMHO.

[AsteriskCGY]

This was no copy-paste.

I wasn't basing this off Dark Souls either. Thought, now that I think about it, it does seem somewhat similar...

Any time I read player invasion combat, I think Dark Souls. 

[BigSchmexy]

I think it would be interesting and fun but really good people might be able to take teams of people and while I agree they are a bit too easy now they can just up the stalker difficulty make it stronger better weapons and shield etc. that seems like it would be easier than making player controlled stalkers IMO

[archchunk]

This is that copy pasted dark souls idea. I don't like it ;~:

 

I guess we shouldn't do anything similar to any game ever created then? Like using guns and swords? That's gotta be the most copied thing I've ever seen.

 

I think this is an amazing idea and a fantastic way to implement pvp, assuming of course you can opt out, but also give some slight reward for opting in, like extra credits.

[Motox831]

I think this is a great idea. I am someone who wants to talk about pvp options that will arise later on as they finish up their PVE and balance out the game. I actually wrote up a decent write up but because it got flamed by so many fanboys who can't truely read FAQ it got locked by spam. 

 

It would be neat if they intergrated this into the game. 

 

I see one problem though:

 

Everyone would want to do this even with the kids who rant on PVP posts. 

 

So I think if they were to integrate a small thing like this it would have to be a privalege to become a stalker. Perhaps allow a person to do it only once a day or perhaps once a week. If that person wanted to be a stalker more often, then maybe he or she would have to farm a certain map to earn a stalker credit or perhaps even have to spend a high amount of in game currency to purchase like a stalker token. 

 

Just a thought though because it would be flooded with people trying to become stalkers.

 

Also I didn't read a lot, but I think if the Stalker can succeed in wiping the team  (which would mean you would have to also get rid of their revives) you could get a decent reward. 

[Aldunari3]

I'd be the kind of guy that would have a hell of a lot of fun with this one :D

 

Also they could make it so if you have enabled Player Invasion then you get bonus exp/credits, maybe 5-10% extra

[Motox831]

I'd be the kind of guy that would have a hell of a lot of fun with this one :D

 

Also they could make it so if you have enabled Player Invasion then you get bonus exp/credits, maybe 5-10% extra

 

I like the bonus credit idea :)

[Aggh]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/19316-what-if-players-acted-out-the-stalker-role-like-in-dark-souls/

[cidiantoby]

As to your suggestion.. What system would you determine for who gets to control the stalker? What stops the person who controls him to help out the players or become a complete troll? 

[Motox831]

As to your suggestion.. What system would you determine for who gets to control the stalker? What stops the person who controls him to help out the players or become a complete troll? 

 

 

Uh not sure if serious?

 

You understand what a stalker is right? Stalker is to kill the person? How could you troll that exactly?

 

The stalker is a single person who would que up to play that roll in a game of 4 people (That is if they set an option to turn it on).

Edited May 7, 2013 by Motox831

[TheErebus.]

Take this discussion to the link that Aggh provided.

[OoKeNnEtHoO]

I support this idea..it has been mentioned many times.

 

It's not hard to implement since almost everything is already in place.

 

Just need to allow players to control the stalker.

 

Even balancing is already done. Stalker invasions are already happening.

 

Just allow players to choose to take over a stalker.

 

 

What system would you determine for who gets to control the stalker?

You are the first guy to ever offer a valid counterargument to this idea.

 

The system is already there. Just look at how you enter missions. There is a queue.

 

 

What stops the person who controls him to help out the players or become a complete troll? 

The player can't troll the players for the same reason the current stalker can't troll you.

 

Stalkers can only invade once and once the target is dead, he has to leave.

 

Of course, we have make it so that the stalker is penalized for killing the wrong players.

 

Otherwise, trolling stalkers will kill all the players by killing non-target players 4 times and target player 1 time, assuming he can survive that long against both the players and the enemies.

 

In the event that you meant trolling in the form of doing stupid things like pressing the elevators and stuff, if I'm a troll and I want to do that, I would choose to be part of the team since there is no friendly fire. The stalker takes fire from both players and enemies so this behaviour isn't caused by the implementation of this mode.

 

As for helper stalkers, that can be a problem because that is effectively 5 players doing one quest but since stalkers invade randomly, there is very little chance for collusion unless you happen to invade your friend's game.

 

Thus, we maintain the current system where the name of the stalker is shown as "stalker" for the players.

 

As for the stalker, he will only see the name of his target as "Target" and the other players' names will not be displayed.

 

In the event that they somehow can still collude, we can give the stalker a timer to finish his kill. Of course, this has to be a reasonable amount of time enough to do the kill but not enough to go sight-seeing.

Edited May 7, 2013 by OoKeNnEtHoO

[Motox831]

I support this idea..it has been mentioned many times.

 

It's not hard to implement since almost everything is already in place.

 

Just need to allow players to control the stalker.

 

Even balancing is already done. Stalker invasions are already happening.

 

Just allow players to choose to take over a stalker.

 

 

You are the first guy to ever offer a valid counterargument to this idea.

 

The system is already there. Just look at how you enter missions. There is a queue.

 

 

The player can't troll the players for the same reason the current stalker can't troll you.

 

Stalkers can only invade once and once the target is dead, he has to leave.

 

Of course, we have make it so that the stalker is penalized for killing the wrong players.

 

Otherwise, trolling stalkers will kill all the players by killing non-target players 4 times and target player 1 time, assuming he can survive that long against both the players and the enemies.

 

In the event that you meant trolling in the form of doing stupid things like pressing the elevators and stuff, if I'm a troll and I want to do that, I would choose to be part of the team since there is no friendly fire. The stalker takes fire from both players and enemies so this behaviour isn't caused by the implementation of this mode.

 

As for helper stalkers, that can be a problem because that is effectively 5 players doing one quest but since stalkers invade randomly, there is very little chance for collusion unless you happen to invade your friend's game.

 

Thus, we maintain the current system where the name of the stalker is shown as "stalker" for the players.

 

As for the stalker, he will only see the name of his target as "Target" and the other players' names will not be displayed.

 

In the event that they somehow can still collude, we can give the stalker a timer to finish his kill. Of course, this has to be a reasonable amount of time enough to do the kill but not enough to go sight-seeing.

 

Love this post!

 

Also though, if the stalker were to help it would be completely useless to him because he wouldn't get rewards for helping (hypothetically speaking).

 

It could maybe be used as an exploit later down the road if they enable trading and this method is used to farm a hard map. (Ultimately meaning the team would need 5 to kill a boss or something easily)

[Callback]

If anything, this would need to be an invitation system.  You randomly get an invite to play as the Stalker, once per day similar to how you are visited by him.  You then enter the instance, given Stalker's loadout to use.  You have tracking of your target only, so they can't just run away.  If you successfully eliminate your target, you win a potato blueprint.  

 

The big issue is that horrible laggy hosts would make this hell for both the target and the stalker.  DE needs dedicated servers, none of this p2p crap.

[Motox831]

If anything, this would need to be an invitation system.  You randomly get an invite to play as the Stalker, once per day similar to how you are visited by him.  You then enter the instance, given Stalker's loadout to use.  You have tracking of your target only, so they can't just run away.  If you successfully eliminate your target, you win a potato blueprint.  

 

The big issue is that horrible laggy hosts would make this hell for both the target and the stalker.  DE needs dedicated servers, none of this p2p crap.

yeah lag will always be a problem in any game.

 

this definitely goes with my suggestion i had allowing one a day per player this will also not allow que's to be insane if your trying to be a stalker. 

[Aggh]

As to your suggestion.. What system would you determine for who gets to control the stalker? What stops the person who controls him to help out the players or become a complete troll? 

There have been 17 pages of discussion on how to do this.  I posted the link to that discussion.  Maybe you could read some it instead of expecting people to explain something that has been thoroughly discussed.

 

I support this idea..it has been mentioned many times.

 

It's not hard to implement since almost everything is already in place.

 

Just need to allow players to control the stalker.

 

Even balancing is already done. Stalker invasions are already happening.

 

Just allow players to choose to take over a stalker.

 

 

You are the first guy to ever offer a valid counterargument to this idea.

 

The system is already there. Just look at how you enter missions. There is a queue.

 

 

The player can't troll the players for the same reason the current stalker can't troll you.

 

Stalkers can only invade once and once the target is dead, he has to leave.

 

Of course, we have make it so that the stalker is penalized for killing the wrong players.

 

Otherwise, trolling stalkers will kill all the players by killing non-target players 4 times and target player 1 time, assuming he can survive that long against both the players and the enemies.

 

In the event that you meant trolling in the form of doing stupid things like pressing the elevators and stuff, if I'm a troll and I want to do that, I would choose to be part of the team since there is no friendly fire. The stalker takes fire from both players and enemies so this behaviour isn't caused by the implementation of this mode.

 

As for helper stalkers, that can be a problem because that is effectively 5 players doing one quest but since stalkers invade randomly, there is very little chance for collusion unless you happen to invade your friend's game.

 

Thus, we maintain the current system where the name of the stalker is shown as "stalker" for the players.

 

As for the stalker, he will only see the name of his target as "Target" and the other players' names will not be displayed.

 

In the event that they somehow can still collude, we can give the stalker a timer to finish his kill. Of course, this has to be a reasonable amount of time enough to do the kill but not enough to go sight-seeing.

 

 

No.  You can't give a penalty for killing players other than the target since they will be attacking the stalker too.

 

It's a 4v1 fight so the stalker will always be at a disadvantage.  People that don't want to deal with that can just play in a non pvp matchmaking region.

 

The best way to avoid abuse and trolling is rewards.  If the incentive is strong enough for the stalker to properly play out his/her role, then he/shewill do so.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Aggh

[Carcharias]

How are you going to make a player target one person on the team? How are you going to get a player stalker into a private game? What would be the reward? This idea is a daydream, sounds cool but implementation with out feeding the trolls strikes me as near impossible and the team has lots of other more important things to work on. (IMO)

Edited May 7, 2013 by Carcharias

[Nitresco]

Wasn't expecting this many posts on the topic when I came back. Thanks for the feedback.

 

So, what we've determined is that:

 

1. How often you could pilot the Stalker should be limited. Maybe a set limit each week would work. Allowing 5 each week would probably be a fair limit, and it would turn that day where the counter resets into a Stalker-heavy day. I personally like the idea of it happening more during one part of the week the most. It's like Taco Tuesday at Taco Johns; just a little something you look forward to at one part of the week more than the other.

 

2. There needs to be some sort of reward; both for the person playing the Stalker and the players he invades for running the risk of being invaded by him. As mentioned a 10% increase in credits and/or experience would be nice for the non-Stalker players. Possibly even 15%. As for the Stalker, maybe he could get varying rewards after a successful hunt. Materials, affinity, credits. Special collectible rewards could also be added, which are unlocked after a certain amount of successful kills. Maybe a Stalker helmet for Excalibur that has no other effect other than reskinning his Slash Dash to the purple tint of the Stalker's, a custom avatar, or trophies for the upcoming dojo.

 

3. The invader would have to be restricted to the Stalker's usual loadout; no one-shotting people with the Hek.

 

4. He should not be able to harm Grineer, Corpus, or Infested and vice versa. No 5th player helping the cause.

 

I think this about covers it. I'm going to update the main post with these edits at some point, and then post a link over in the other thread discussing this. I'd appreciate it if nobody else offered feedback here, and moved it over to the other thread.

 

To those who think it's ridiculous and will never be accepted: You won't know until you try. Maybe the devs will like this idea.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped refine the original suggestion.