[Suggestion] Possible Stalker Buffs

[MattHarrigan]

Some suggestions about Stalker's tactic, appearance mechanics and properties. I tried to be as specific as possible...

  - Buff Stalker HP, armor, speed and damage in high level squads
  - Decrease chance of a Stalker encounter in defense missions
  - Increase chance of a Stalker encounter for Alert missions, especially the ones with high credit or blueprint rewards.
  - Give him the power to disappear to do hit and run attacks; for example: if outgunned, that could mean if his damage given/damage received ratio is below a certain point, he can just safely vanish in a puff of smoke
  - Make him reappear a random number of times, say up to three times per mission if he has to flee
  - Let him give off another HUD scrambling warning buffer prior to his reappearances, but decrease the early warning time with increasing difficulty
  - Increase the randomness of when he will initially appear to a point where it is no longer reasonable to just ambush him but to carry on with the mission in a careful way
  - Don't reveal who he will attack prior to his attacks

Do you think this would make him too strong? What other things can you think of would improve the Stalker experience?

[Yanga]

Speed and Damage of Stalker is good enough, Armor and HP is already tough as it is.

 

If you have a lv30 Frame, it takes a while for you to kill him even with a Rank 30 Lato Vandal (which I had to use on him with a Banshee Rank 30) still took a long time and had to use Sound Quake to void the damage he could have done, and even after that it required 2 Trinity Blessings to keep him from killing me before we got him.

 

Defense Missions could use a less chance of stalker appearing... Wave 15 and a Stalker appearing in Kiliken was a tad difficult...

 

Rather not have him interrupt me in a Alert mission if I'm by myself (aka Solo/Private with no one else).

 

He has Smoke and Slash Dash... No need to give him more stealth than he already has.

 

Reappearing... not if he doesn't drop anything afterwards :l

 

Warnings of his appearance and who he attacks should remain as it is... everyone knows how it works currently and changing it might make a negative impact to those attacked.

[-CM-Zura]

lol it makes me sick XD 30% of this thread is right

[SpartanChief1170]

I play solo most of the time and when I get hit by a stalker most of the time I am just screwed (mainly because I am not in a maxed frame with maxed weapons, I am trying to level other ones). I try to carry one weapon that is near 30 at all times just in case but it usually doesn't make a difference. He pretty much kills me with a couple bursts from the rifle, while i can only ever get him down a sliver.

With 2 or more people we are able to kill stalkers easily, so maybe adjusting the difficulty curve down a bit for solo then up for more people could be good.

Also might want to tweak the AI to not be entirely single minded. If he can't reach/shoot his primary target have him shoot other tenno, then other factions. (just a thought)

[MattHarrigan]

He has Smoke and Slash Dash... No need to give him more stealth than he already has.

He is pretty scary if you are soloing with a weaker char, but with a full party he doesn't even have time to use these skills. This is why I suggested to make him more evasive and careful in that sense. As it is right now in any high level party, he just charges in and gets gunned down instantly; dead on arrival. Also his time of appearance is pretty clear. Where is the stealth in that?

 

If he can't reach/shoot his primary target have him shoot other tenno, then other factions

Good point, I forgot to add that. After being killed by a Stalker, Tenno should be able to get revived but the Stalker could try to pin him down and attack his revivers. It doesn't make sense for the Tenno not to be revivable as it is right now. While this could be extremely frustrating for a solo guy or a pair, this would really spice things up for a group.

 

About the monsters being able to kill it. He really should be able to defend himself there.

 

About the HP and damage. I aggree he is very scary for weaker chars, all I'm saying is his strength should increase with that of his target, so a high level player doesn't get to 2-shot a supposedly formidable opponent.

 

lol it makes me sick XD 30% of this thread is right

Care to tell us which what exactly in this "thread is right" and why?

 

Rather not have him interrupt me in a Alert mission if I'm by myself (aka Solo/Private with no one else).

Again I'm talking about Stalker attacking full and strong parties. Afaik you don't need to complete the Alert mission in the timeframe given at first, so you don't need to rush it. My suggestions are made around threatening rushing groups with lots of exposed targets, making them slower and more cohesive as a team. That Warframe suffers from rushing is pretty much consense.

[SpartanChief1170]

Good point, I forgot to add that. After being killed by a Stalker, Tenno should be able to get revived but the Stalker could try to pin him down and attack his revivers. It doesn't make sense for the Tenno not to be revivable as it is right now. While this could be extremely frustrating for a solo guy or a pair, this would really spice things up for a group.

 

About the HP and damage. I aggree he is very scary for weaker chars, all I'm saying is his strength should increase with that of his target, so a high level player doesn't get to 2-shot a supposedly formidable opponent.

 I was talking more about while you are still alive(if you are the target) that he should be able to target others if he doesn't have a way of attacking you prioritizing other players first then other things that are attacking him. But I like that downed concept a lot. It would make him more scary since he could wipe your entire squad. Although then it would be a ton more punishment.

 

Maybe having different stalker types. So if you killed the boss, that the stalker is claiming revenge for, as a group and all the members of that group are in the current party when the stalker comes, it will wreak everyone instead of targeting one.

 

Very much agree scaling for multiple party members could be better (as i said before 2+ we kill it easily since the target can just run around while everyone else shoots it) 

[Yamir]

I think it would be interesting to make the Stalker not announce who he is coming for specifically, but to just make his incoming presence known. Say keep the flickering lights and force everyone to group, or have him send a message to all players in the squad.

 

Though I am partial to just dropping it to the flickering lights because it would punish people that aren't paying attention. Could you imagine running around a level and suddenly the Stalker just pops out and is like "Suprise mutha --"? But on the other hand a coordinated group/alert player would see the signs and group.