Invisibility And Sentinels

[Kettles]

I'm sure a lot of people are aware that Loki's invisibility (and possibly Ash's smokebomb, although I haven't tested it yet) doesn't cloak the player's sentinel.

 

Since invisibility is mainly used either as an escape ability when you're getting shot to ribbons or as a tool to amplify melee damage when you're close to enemies, popping invis usually results in a lot of aggro being redirected at the sentinel. The sentinel just has to take it on the chin in these situations, whether it's a Wyrm because it can't cloak, or whether it's a Shade because taking advantage of the melee bonus forces it to decloak.

 

Luckily for them, well-modded sentinels are pretty robust. However because they don't stop drawing aggro when a player is invisible it has some unfortunate side effects on the player themselves, probably the worst example of which is that Grineer heavies will target the still-visible sentinel with their AoE knockdown and inadvertently floor the invisible player.

 

Is this intentional, or would you consider having invisibility skills cloak sentinels as well as the player, but render them passive for the duration of the invisibility, or something similar?

 

Regards.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Kettles

[MetalGerbil]

strangely enough it does work with ash's smokebomb. this kinda makes me think they consider invisibility an offensive skill. 

 

one way or another its a problem for players trying to play an aggressive style or that have frames suited to that as sentinels do get targeted far too much.

 

i play solo mostly and mine gets targeted more than 50% of the time. it forces me to play defensively or simply not use skills like invis or even iron skin in an offensive manner. i could be perfectly fine but spend most of my time hiding behind a box. i cant put the sentinels defensive skills to use as it gets nuked far more often than i do. wish i had a skill to boost HIS shields.

 

id give anything for a perma-cloaked sentinel that has no abilities like shield recharge or ghost but gives passive bonuses instead. 

 

right now i play missions fully expect my sentinel to die half way thru if not earlier. and thats with most of his mods at 10. 

[TheHeraldXII]

I agree 100%, I ended up putting my sentinels away because if I use any sort of defensive buff, my sentinel ends up taking a ton of hits leaving me with the choice of playing super carefully or letting my pet explode. If nothing else, I think that the enemies should be smart enough to prioritise *you* most of the time instead of taking out a disproportionate amount of pent up fury on my poor, cuddly Shade.

Edited May 9, 2013 by TheHeraldXII

[PleasureMan]

I agree - came to the forums to make a similar suggestion. Not only does Loki's Invisibility's failure to cloak the sentinel cause to it to be targeted by every enemy in the area and die horribly, but it breaks Loki's Invisibility for dealing with mobs like the Grineer chaingunners or bosses like the J3-Golem, as the enemies will target the sentinel with precisely the AoE attacks the player was trying to avoid with Invisibility.

 

Moreover, I'd like to suggest that sentinels are targeted a little bit too much by common enemies even when the player is a viable target. I often run into a room of Grineer and find them all pointing their guns at the ceiling shooting my sentinel, which is rather durable for a floating Tamagotchi pet, but hardly enough to take that kind of firepower. Not only is this somewhat annoying, but completely illogical; enemies direct their fire at what is probably the least menacing entity in all of Warframe while the heavily-armed space ninja it is attached to slices them apart.

[Kettles]

Not only does Loki's Invisibility's failure to cloak the sentinel cause to it to be targeted by every enemy in the area and die horribly, but it breaks Loki's Invisibility for dealing with mobs like the Grineer chaingunners or bosses like the J3-Golem, as the enemies will target the sentinel with precisely the AoE attacks the player was trying to avoid with Invisibility.

 

That sums it up more or less perfectly.