The Infested Are Better Ninjas Than Tenno

[Nubsawce]

I would just like to complain that the infested, at least in my game, have virtually no (or absolutely no) footstep sound, even the huge ancients, which probably weigh more than twice any Tenno does and also is likely not attempting to walk silently.

 

I wouldn't be so annoyed about the silent footsteps if Infested couldn't spawn very close behind you and silently walk up and smack you off your feet. I don't want to have to be looking 360 every 5 seconds or less to avoid this kind of bullcrap stealth.

 

The easiest fix is to just give at least ancients some kind of footstep sound. Or all infested. Seeing as they aren't trying to be stealthy and instead are just mindlessly swarming me. That should be rather loud and noticeable.

 

The other fix would be to lock out spawns from rooms behind the player. I don't know how I feel about that one.

 

Any other fix ideas are welcome, but "omg ur just bad" isn't what I'm looking for. Sorry to break your heart if you fit this category. I'm appealing to common sense and pointing out cheap, artificial difficulty. Even if it's hard, it should be hard in a reasonable, not cheap, way.

 

Edit: I'm not talking about chargers. I'm mostly talking about ancients, with a side mention of runners, who sometimes squeal when they see you, but not always. If there are other squealing infested in front of me, too, this one moment of sound from a distance may be lost. Footsteps are more obvious directionally-speaking in my experience, and would help make this a non-issue.

 

TL;DR: The Infested should be difficult for reasons that are not their tendency to silently spawn ancients and slap you from behind. I would much rather see real difficulty in tackling problems that are at least mostly apparent.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Nubsawce

[X3Evanescence]

Infested, especially chargers, let out a telltale sound. They make so many sounds, they attacked you? Unmute your game, problem solved.

[Cyrosage]

Infested, especially chargers, let out a telltale sound. They make so many sounds, they attacked you? Unmute your game, problem solved.

Thanks for posting.

Anyway, chargers obviously make a sound as was shockingly pointed out.  They just move very fast and not in a straight line so they can easily surprise you from many angles.  Judging by OP's description, he likely is referring to solo play being the biggest issue and OP is mostly focused on the Ancients who can literally come out of nowhere and b-slap you for your lunch money.

My OPINION (that's the thing where you say something without ASSERTING you are inherently right because you said so) is that thunderous footsteps would have made an awesome effect on immersion for the old Ancient model.  The new one isn't as rigid and therefore could technically move rather quietly.  A low pitch rumble/roar could be a nice touch to add a fear-type immersion effect.  Also, chargers could have an extended roar.  Why roar, stop, run to enemy, bite?  That's not very savage.  Make contact, sprint, lunging roar would be a nice touch.  Still doesn't solve the sneaky factor.  But if it did, the surprise would be mostly removed from infested and they would be unarmored Grineer that can't shoot back.

In group play, I make a habit of covering the rear if I happen to be.. in the rear (Frost!).  Surround sound headphones also help immensely.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Cyrosage

[Nubsawce]

Thanks for posting.

Anyway, chargers obviously make a sound as was shockingly pointed out.  They just move very fast and not in a straight line so they can easily surprise you from many angles.  Judging by OP's description, he likely is referring to solo play being the biggest issue and OP is mostly focused on the Ancients who can literally come out of nowhere and b-slap you for your lunch money.

My OPINION (that's the thing where you say something without ASSERTING you are inherently right because you said so) is that thunderous footsteps would have made an awesome effect on immersion for the old Ancient model.  The new one isn't as rigid and therefore could technically move rather quietly.  A low pitch rumble/roar could be a nice touch to add a fear-type immersion effect.  Also, chargers could have an extended roar.  Why roar, stop, run to enemy, bite?  That's not very savage.  Make contact, sprint, lunging roar would be a nice touch.  Still doesn't solve the sneaky factor.  But if it did, the surprise would be mostly removed from infested and they would be unarmored Grineer that can't shoot back.

In group play, I make a habit of covering the rear if I happen to be.. in the rear (Frost!).  Surround sound headphones also help immensely.

You are right. I typically play solo, and I'm not talking about chargers at all.

 

I like how the previous guy assumes I'm playing muted, as if I'm absolutely brain-dead. Thank you for your contribution.

 

And yeah, I guess any kind of noise the ancients could make would be great. We all know they can ninja slap you from behind, and I'm pretty sure we can agree that there are better ways to make something more difficult than doing this to us.

 

Your problems with the Infested are a good point, but I think it's a little silly to lose all of my shields and energy because I couldn't hear an ancient disruptor spawn behind me and charge me. I have suggested this before and I will suggest it again: give the Infested a ranged unit, or give them some form of attacking that isn't just swarming. That's the -real- issue with Infested difficulty. They shouldn't have to rely on being surprising and then dogpiling my completely helpless and shieldless frame (or the same issue with me instead taking massive hp damage from toxins).

 

Thanks for your contribution, sir.

[Madotsuki]

The light infested is usually fine in terms of sound. It's the completely silent ninja Ancients that need to have unique sounds added. Some kind of gurgling while they're walking around or eldritch shriek when they spot you and prepare to charge would be nice.

[Jaon]

I see no issue in this thread.

[VScipii26]

Disruptors are really the only ones that have ever gotten the drop on me. All others make sounds, and the Healers give off big green bubbles, and failing seeing that, you can see the green on the rest. And then the fart clouds give away the others.

While I can agree they could use sound, the amount of complaining I'm hearing is inspiring just a tad of "try harder".
Don't tunnel vision. Why are you already not looking everywhere?

[Xylia]

I've been doing a lot of leveling in Infested levels and I have never had an Infested sneak up on me unless I was already distracted by something in front of me and even then it is usually an Ancient who hits me with his ridiculously long range knockdown attack.

 

I'm not really complaining about that, though... it sucks when they start chaining the attacks (we really need stun/knockdown diminishing returns to prevent stunlocking), but otherwise they're fine.

 

Try playing with headphones; the chargers make lots of "thump thump thump" noises when they walk/run, and they are always making growls, hisses, and groans. I can hear an infested mob of any kind from 2 rooms away thanks to the constant zombie and animal noises they make.

 

If nothing else, get yourself a decently leveled Warframe and Weapon, and go to E Gate on Venus; the infested there are only Lv11-14, listen closely as you practice on that level, you'll get used to the sounds they make.

 

E Gate is also an excellent place to level melee weapons too, as the Infested there are very weak and easy to kill.

 

If that's slightly too high, you could try that Sabotage on Mercury... there are no Disruptors there.

[fatpig84]

Use Enemy radar. 

No sneaky bastards.

[Nubsawce]

Use Enemy radar. 

No sneaky bastards.

That's probably a good idea. I have never heard these moans out of ancients, and indeed they've always all seemed nearly silent except for a few sporadic moans when they're long range, but maybe my hearing is just poor...

 

Perhaps my problem is also not coming across clearly enough. I'm not blind. I'm not just looking one way with tunnel vision. I'm suspecting these assertions come from those who aren't soloing often. Things can become ungodly kinds of hectic, where i'm running from a swarm or two into silent ancients around corners and through doors of rooms i just cleared. The problem mostly occurs when I'm in Eris high difficulty missions like Naeglar. I am looking around. I can't always look everywhere though, and the sounds I have found to be not clear enough, and perhaps even absent.

 

Finally - Jaon, if you see no issues, you can't read. Thank you for posting anyway.

[fatpig84]

That's probably a good idea. I have never heard these moans out of ancients, and indeed they've always all seemed nearly silent except for a few sporadic moans when they're long range, but maybe my hearing is just poor...

 

Perhaps my problem is also not coming across clearly enough. I'm not blind. I'm not just looking one way with tunnel vision. I'm suspecting these assertions come from those who aren't soloing often. Things can become ungodly kinds of hectic, where i'm running from a swarm or two into silent ancients around corners and through doors of rooms i just cleared. The problem mostly occurs when I'm in Eris high difficulty missions like Naeglar. I am looking around. I can't always look everywhere though, and the sounds I have found to be not clear enough, and perhaps even absent.

 

Finally - Jaon, if you see no issues, you can't read. Thank you for posting anyway.

 

I solo run Phorid with Loki with Enemy Radar. Because you typically don't need that much energy for a short boss run.

However my loki has 450 energy with plenty of mods to boost out his cloak duration.

 

So that's probably I can see why I don't really need the energy siphon for missions that are short.

At full energy, I can cast invisibility more than 10 times, thanks to Streamline that is enough to kill and get out.

 

Not to mention essence continuity and constitution which buff duration even longer.