Becoming the Stalker, Let's Chat

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

So I've seen people talk about being the stalker and hunting other players and I believe you could turn this into some clutch lore and maybe give a little depth to the Stalker.  I've seen people not wanting to deal with being attacked by an actual player (maybe cause they'll get rocked by non AI? [I jest {Kinda}]) so why not lock this behind something simple.  A quest.  

Locking this behind a quest would mean that only those that have completed the quest could become the stalker, and only those that have completed the quest would have the stalker potentially be a human controlled entity (maybe possibly have it still a setting [if you're on public it can happen, if you're a solo player {Kirito} this can't happen], at least if it's implemented how I suggest that could be annoying).  Naturally people who have completed this quest will run with others who haven't and to mitigate other saltiness that they don't want to get utterly and unequivocally savaged make the Human Stalker only able to deal damage to the assassination target, reasonings(ish) justified later.

Ever played the Dark Souls 3 DLC the Ringed City?  Or better yet Demon's Souls, namely the Monk boss fight?  Little backstory, when you're running through the level that houses the Old Monk boss fight you may get sucked into being the Old Monk and thus have to either get rekt, or dole some sauce to an unsuspecting player who forgot to turn their wifi off and play offline.  So after the quest, playing through various tilesets, you have the chance to be sucked into Stalker attempting to subjugate a poor Tenno of the same tileset (planet in general maybe?).  The only way to break this link is to defeat the enemy or be defeated yourself. (One would need some type of reward potential for winning, might alleviate just running in and getting dashed to death on the rocks of strong Tenno will and giving away a free Stalker drop of Dread).  Now how to go about the quest to make this make sense?

So Hunhow mentions to the Stalker about why he might hate the Tenno so much that he knows what he is, yada, yada, great quest.  So in this quest we come across the Stalker and try to seek out his origins.  We would have to put some firm conclusions to some things, such as someone using Transference at the least, and the stalker suit potentially having a mind of it's own to keep us on track to kill the target (explained by sentient enhancements adapting to the stalkers hate and thus making his frame suit hunt the target relentlessly?).  Now skip the juicy details we almost run across the source of the Stalker's transference but as we get close (in our operator let's say) a defense mechanism procs and royally messes up our somatics and mind (criss crossing them mental wires) and although doesn't scramble our Operator or anything it does cross our own and Stalker's Transference signals, thus us potentially cutting into the Stalker's link and being trapped in a Frame that is hunting and won't rest until it's stopped.

 

Now, super rough idea that could hold some great potential, and it can go one step further.  Stalker's transference cuts into our Warframe as we go into his Frames and now the people we're running with are fighting a (______) Warframe and listening to Stalker go mad cause he's been cut off from his target.  Let me try and summarize.

TL:DR; 

1. We do a quest and the end result is crossing Transference signals with the host of the Stalker Frame.

2. Randomly during missions (via on setting or being on public) we will switch with a Stalker hunting another Tenno on the same planet that we're on, now we must hunt them to be free, whilst the Stalker host is in our Warframe besieging our buddies.

3.  Give some kind of reward for successfully taking down our target before Stalker's Host is defeated in our original bodies, and give other people rewards for defeating us.

Thanks for reading, I'm sure I left some thought out of this, so if you have a question I might have an already made answer, or can make one up for you :D.

[Genitive]

If you want to play as the Stalker, make it a separate conclave mode. Don't shoehorn it into the main game.

[VadiseReikaz]

I am not against this, as long as it is an option similar to Solo/Invite/Friends/Public. I realize some people enjoy the challenge and that is perfectly fine and if they would like something like this then all the power to them. I am not one of them. The only caveat to this is that if it can be set to Friends Only. Then I wouldnt mind so much to be trolled by a friend. But otherwise, Opt in or opt out needs to be there. People come in for the PvE experience, and having this forced on those of us who expect PvE is not cool.

[AEP8FlyBoy]

If this mode actually does make it into the game, I don't mind it being an alternative to Conclave gameplay. As long as an opt-in exists so newbies don't get one-shot by MR25 Stalker-Meta Bois, I think it'd actually be a fun diversion from traditional Conclave.

If you down a player controlled Stalker, you get Conclave Standing. But if the player controlled Stalker downs you, they get Conclave Standing.

To be honest, I really thought it was just a neat joke they debuted at TennoCon 2017 for kicks, but it seems like a lot of players would actually enjoy the option of "conclave" in our normal tilesets.

I don't know.
I'd personally be okay with it. As long as it has an opt-in, opt-out system attached.

Edited March 19, 2018 by AEP8FlyBoy

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

1 minute ago, VadiseReikaz said:

I am not against this, as long as it is an option similar to Solo/Invite/Friends/Public. I realize some people enjoy the challenge and that is perfectly fine and if they would like something like this then all the power to them. I am not one of them. The only caveat to this is that if it can be set to Friends Only. Then I wouldnt mind so much to be trolled by a friend. But otherwise, Opt in or opt out needs to be there. People come in for the PvE experience, and having this forced on those of us who expect PvE is not cool.

Definitely, I get that a lot wouldn't be down for this, it would need some kind of setting (heck make it so the quests' only reward is being able to do this so you can just not do the quest ever and not have to deal with it).

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

2 minutes ago, AEP8FlyBoy said:

If this mode actually does make it into the game, I don't mind it being an alternative to Conclave gameplay. As long as an opt-in exists so newbies don't get one-shot by MR25 Stalker-Meta Bois, I think it'd actually be a fun diversion from traditional Conclave.

If you down a player controlled Stalker, you get Conclave Standing. But if the player controlled Stalker downs you, they get Conclave Standing.

To be honest, I really thought it was just a neat joke they debuted at TennoCon 2017 for kicks, but it seems like a lot of players would actually enjoy the option of "conclave" in our normal tilesets.

I don't know.
I'd personally be okay with it. As long as it has an opt-in, opt-out system attached.

Yea could get messy if you have MK-1 Bo runners getting munched, would definitely like it to be you using exactly what the stalker uses, so abilites and whatnot, stalker not buffed just has a mind.  Your frame you leave behind on the other hand...well, oopsies.

[AEP8FlyBoy]

1 minute ago, (PS4)ArchangelX3Z said:

Yea could get messy if you have MK-1 Bo runners getting munched, would definitely like it to be you using exactly what the stalker uses, so abilites and whatnot, stalker not buffed just has a mind.  Your frame you leave behind on the other hand...well, oopsies.

What I think would be hilarious is that the Stalker's Achilles Heel is our little Operators. Be fun to see experienced Conclave players acting as Stalker just getting slammed by noobish Operator players with spammy Amps.

Oh man.
I'd laugh until I couldn't.

[Ham_Grenabe]

If people want Griefer Mode in their game, that's their thing. As long as there is a permanent "Disable Stalker Invasions," I'm okay with it. 

I mean, conceptually, I'm not okay with it. I think it's a bad idea, and I hate it. But if DE wants to do it, it's their game. If they give me the option to toggle it off, I'm good. If they don't, I'm out. 

EDIT: in light of @VadiseReikaz point about completionism, I'm revising. It has to have a "Disable Stalker Invasions" toggle in settings. Optional quest is not enough.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Ham_Grenabe

[VadiseReikaz]

Nah.. completionists will go for it just for the achievement, and because Lotus wouldnt shut up about it if you havent done all the quests, and the lore and cinematics are normally cool to watch. Sure, it can be an optional quest, but it still needs opt in/out. If that simple requirement is met, then I'd be happy to see it added. There never is too much content. The Dargyns being hijackable, as buggy and pointless as it is, I love that it is there.

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

3 minutes ago, AEP8FlyBoy said:

What I think would be hilarious is that the Stalker's Achilles Heel is our little Operators. Be fun to see experienced Conclave players acting as Stalker just getting slammed by noobish Operator players with spammy Amps.

Oh man.
I'd laugh until I couldn't.

Lol, I can imagine there could be some runs where you just get smashed so fast you just walk away from the game for a few moments, then come back to your squad saying they slew your frame in 3 seconds.

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

4 minutes ago, Ham_Grenabe said:

If people want Griefer Mode in their game, that's their thing. As long as there is a permanent "Disable Stalker Invasions," I'm okay with it. 

I mean, conceptually, I'm not okay with it. I think it's a bad idea, and I hate it. But if DE wants to do it, it's their game. If they give me the option to toggle it off (or as mentioned above, a fully optional quest where this is the ONLY reward), I'm good. If they don't, I'm out. 

Why do you think it's a bad idea?  Very curious. :)

Edited March 19, 2018 by (PS4)ArchangelX3Z

[Ham_Grenabe]

Just now, (PS4)ArchangelX3Z said:

Why do you think it's a bad idea?  

I don't like the concept of providing tools specifically to let players to interfere with other players' game experiences. 

In video games, if there is a way to #*!% with the game or someone else's experience, there always a non-insignificant number of people who will figure out how to do it and enjoy doing it. Generally, griefing is the kind of thing that developer impose consequences for, and exploits are something they try to fix. On the other hand, when the developers are handing over tools specifically designed to do so, they're saying "go ahead and mess up other player's experience." 

It's not that I dislike PvP -- structures / traditional modes are fine, and I've had a lot of fun with them. I don't like the concept of invasive or "surprise" PvP.

That said, if Stalker Gamemode was something I could blanket enable or disable in Options, then I can choose for it never to affect me. If other people want to leave themselves open to it, that's okay with me. I won't ever agree that it was a good idea, but at least it wouldn't be my problem. 

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

4 minutes ago, Ham_Grenabe said:

I don't like the concept of providing tools specifically to let players to interfere with other players' game experiences. 

In video games, if there is a way to #*!% with the game or someone else's experience, there always a non-insignificant number of people who will figure out how to do it and enjoy doing it. Generally, griefing is the kind of thing that developer impose consequences for, and exploits are something they try to fix. On the other hand, when the developers are handing over tools specifically designed to do so, they're saying "go ahead and mess up other player's experience." 

It's not that I dislike PvP -- structures / traditional modes are fine, and I've had a lot of fun with them. I don't like the concept of invasive or "surprise" PvP.

That said, if Stalker Gamemode was something I could blanket enable or disable in Options, then I can choose for it never to affect me. If other people want to leave themselves open to it, that's okay with me. I won't ever agree that it was a good idea, but at least it wouldn't be my problem. 

Fair enough I can understand that.

[sir_deadlock]

I personally would prefer all of these mission attackers to have their own alerts, like Maroo's treasure hunt and Clem's job.

 

 Maybe have it be a general mission. since a lot of us are marked by two or more attackers at any given time (not to mention syndicate marks), so any one of them could show up. But I'd prefer if it didn't interrupt other missions. Maybe it's just me, but when prime time was happening and they used Stalker to wreck the point, I didn't think that was funny. Only after were they like "oh wait, I hope they weren't like 10 minutes in and you just destroyed the point."

[kgabor]

Stalker invasions would change your stats and abilities into their Conclave variant? Operator invulnerability with Void mode, invis, invincibility and other imbalanced mechanics would be turned off? Would this affect your Conclave stats? You couldn't damage the targeted players's teammates but they could damage you or...?

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

5 minutes ago, sir_deadlock said:

I personally would prefer all of these mission attackers to have their own alerts, like Maroo's treasure hunt and Clem's job.

 

 Maybe have it be a general mission. since a lot of us are marked by two or more attackers at any given time (not to mention syndicate marks), so any one of them could show up. But I'd prefer if it didn't interrupt other missions. Maybe it's just me, but when prime time was happening and they used Stalker to wreck the point, I didn't think that was funny. Only after were they like "oh wait, I hope they weren't like 10 minutes in and you just destroyed the point."

I have not heard of that moment in Primetime, although doesn't sound ideal.  Alerts could definitely be a thing mayhaps.

[Ham_Grenabe]

I just read about that Prime Time, didn't watch it, but I do recall that the first instinct of the invading stalker was to trigger mission failure by destroying the defense point. 

I would hope that even for players who do accept the risk of an invading PvP-Stalker, the player taking on the role of Stalker would be unable to interact with mission objectives (so they couldn't destroy a cryopod, trigger alarms in a spy vault, cap a zone, or mess up an extractor, for instance). 

Edited March 19, 2018 by Ham_Grenabe

[sir_deadlock]

2 minutes ago, (PS4)ArchangelX3Z said:

I have not heard of that moment in Primetime, although doesn't sound ideal.  Alerts could definitely be a thing mayhaps.

It was during the charity drive portion. Every stalker kill got money for the charity. When they destroyed the point, they counted that as 4 kills since it made that group lose their mission.

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

2 minutes ago, kgabor said:

Stalker invasions would change your stats and abilities into their Conclave variant? Operator invulnerability with Void mode, invis, invincibility and other imbalanced mechanics would be turned off? Would this affect your Conclave stats? You couldn't damage the targeted players's teammates but they could damage you or...?

I would say when you become Stalker you have access to all of his abilites.  No operator abilities when you're in Stalker since you're essentially criss crossed into this body and are basically trapped.  Your warframe on the other end would utilize whatever you have equipped and basically would interact however the stock Warframe specter (like when you do junctions kind of AI) would. So you might have savage equipment, but it's now limited by AI. I'm not sure how damaging the other players teammates would go, just cause they didn't sign up to fight a Human controlled Stalker.  I'd say being in the Stalker frame (how I put earlier, sentient enhanced and adapted to the hate for the target)  would make you deal normal damage to the target and either heavily, heavily reduced damage to team mates or none at all.  Really zero in on you needing to hunt the target and beat the clock.  i'm gonna say yes to teammates damaging you at -50% rate or something.

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

1 minute ago, Ham_Grenabe said:

I just read about that Prime Time, didn't watch it, but I do recall that the first instinct of the invading stalker was to trigger mission failure by destroying the defense point. 

No on this.  Period, no screwing with defense targets, you'd be able to deal damage to your assassination target only.  Something like that would be utterly stupid.

[(PSN)ArchangelX3Z]

1 minute ago, sir_deadlock said:

It was during the charity drive portion. Every stalker kill got money for the charity. When they destroyed the point, they counted that as 4 kills since it made that group lose their mission.

Charity I could see, always down for that, no any other time period.

[Ham_Grenabe]

Just now, (PS4)ArchangelX3Z said:

No on this.  Period, no screwing with defense targets, you'd be able to deal damage to your assassination target only.  Something like that would be utterly stupid.

In fairness, they probably didn't really think it through that time (I edited my post to say that in any implementation of this, the Stalker must not be able to interact in any way with mission objectives). 

[sir_deadlock]

12 minutes ago, Ham_Grenabe said:

(I edited my post to say that in any implementation of this, the Stalker must not be able to interact in any way with mission objectives). 

This in general would be a fantastic change to mission attackers as a whole! Though I don't know if it could apply to the G3 or Zanuka, since losing to them means you get kidnapped. But we're just talking about the stalker here, so yeah, that would be a pretty good change to the stalker. Though again, Stalker's M-O is griefing players. He exists to cause you as much trouble as possible, hopefully taking down the target player in the process. The fact a real life player would grief harder doesn't change the purpose of there even being a Stalker to begin with.

It's not a concept I particularly enjoy. But some people swear they love the extra challenge. -_-

 

Edit: maybe there'd have to be some kind of combo counter to uphold, lest the "Stalker" be fired for getting distracted.

Edit2: Ha! I can just imagine the scene now: Stalker flickers the lights and everybody's like "just ignore him and he'll go away!" then he walks up to the defense point and gives it a couple smacks with his weapon *clang! clang!* "Come down here and fight me or I'll take out the hostage!"

Edited March 19, 2018 by sir_deadlock

[Ham_Grenabe]

6 minutes ago, sir_deadlock said:

This in general would be a fantastic change to mission attackers as a whole! Though I don't know if it could apply to the G3 or Zanuka, since losing to them means you get kidnapped.

I had no idea Zanuka or the G3 could kidnap you. I've never lost to them -- I didn't know losing would result in mission failure. Learn something new every day.

[sir_deadlock]

2 minutes ago, Ham_Grenabe said:

I had no idea Zanuka or the G3 could kidnap you. I've never lost to them -- I didn't know losing would result in mission failure. Learn something new every day.

Oh yeah. If you lose to the G3, they install a clamp on you and you can't use your powers until you craft a key to unlock it. I think my account glitched a while ago, because I forget which frame had the clamp... and I forget if I made the key. But it hasn't affected me for a long time.

And with Zanuka, you get taken to the chopping block on Alad V's base and you have to escape.