Tattered Page

Way back in September, Positron posted this tidbit on the CoH boards:

I had 2 PM’s in my box, back to back. The first was “Stalkers are useless in PvP” and the next was “Stalkers are overpowered in PvP”. The grass is always greener they say…

Now, I had some thoughts back then regarding the topic, but I wanted test out my assumptions first from a number of different angles. I’ll explain some of the Stalker basics after the break for you non CoH’ers, but for now, after a few months of analysis, Positron’s conclusion was wrong.

Both statements are correct.

For the Non-City Player

Stalkers are “City of *” games stealth-based archetype that were added in the City of Villains expansion. These guys can become largely invisible to their opponents and do extra damage when attacking from that stealthy position. They have one interruptable power that does an “assassin’s strike” that can almost 1-shot the lower-hitpoint archetypes like defenders and controllers, largely redlines blasters & many scrappers, and… well, it can really tickle a tank.

The mechanics behind stealth in the game seems to be simple:

• Every character has a perception value.
• Every character has a stealth value.
• A few powers, when active, modify each.
• If (range (distance between the two) + stealth) is greater than perception, you can’t be seen.
• Stalker stealth powers are so good, they’re invisible at a range of zero to a “baseline” foe.
• Once you attack, stealth powers take some time to come online.

Perception Modifiers

To be something more than “baseline” (aka, stalker-bait), you need to boost your perception. There are a few ways to do this.

• Inherent powers selected as you level, Not available to many Archetypes.
• A “pool power” called TACTICS, available to anyone, but an investment to get and not as valuable outside of Player vs Player combat. It also affects friends in close proximity.
• Occasionally-available “temporary powers” on a short timer.
• Buffs applied by a few of the powersets that last for 1-2 minutes
• A short-duration single-use self-buff called an “inspiration.” You can only carry so many, and even if you ONLY carty the perception-boosting “yellow skittles,” you might get 10-15 minutes of use. They can’t be bought in PvP zones.

Stalking is really fun.

While this sounds like this can be a fun game of cat-and-mouse, it is… well, at least for the cat. There is an adrenaline rush playing a stalker online. You’re fragile. Your main defense focuses on not being seen. You never can tell whether a foe has seen you or is just acting strangely- until the attacks start. Sneaking up, testing for detection, testing for defense, getting in position, hitting, finishing, and getting away makes for a pulse-pounding, unpredictable roller-coaster of gameplay… when you have prey available.

They tend not to stick around long once they learn they can’t do much to stop you.

Being Stalked Sucks

Being stalked goes something like this: You enter the PvP zone, see no sign of anything anywhere, and die. You leave the hospital and die again. You start chain-consuming the “yellow skittles” to keep perception up. As soon as your last one wears off, if you haven’t found a teammate that can buff perception, you’re dead again.

Remember that list of perception boosts? Here’s how it breaks down:

• The first two are infrequent build-centric decisions. If you don’t have them, you’ve got 3 options left.
• If there isn’t a perception buffer to team with, you’re stuck with the last two.
• If the temp power is not available, you only have the last option.
• Once you pop all your yellow skittles, you kiss concrete or leave the zone.

“Casual play PvP’ers” usually enter a PvP zone on a whim. They don’t organize teams before entering. They don’t schedule times to meet up. They don’t take powers that are unnecessary beyond PvP. They’re the ultimate stalker bait.

Sadly, CoH’s PvP model is otherwise so well-geared for the casual PvP’er, it’s a shame how this absolutely KILLS any chance at broader player appeal.

CounterStalking kills play just as fast.

You might think the solution is to make perception boosts more readily available. Luckily, you can see the damage this would cause by looking at the hardcore PvP’er teams. Hardcore PvP organizations build antistalker-centric teams. They schedule sessions where the’ll work with military precision, keeping teams tight, perception buffs high, and ready for any stalker trick. If a perception-buffer isn’t around, they usually have multiple PvP-centric alts to bring on to fill the gap. They don’t usually have enough perception range to hunt down stalkers, but they can crush any stalker that comes calling.

It works- stalkers just end up avoiding them.

Yes, for all that preparation, these PvP teams are rewarded with absolutely no PvP from the foe they’ve prepared most for.

The stalkers must seek out the less-organized stragglers- essentially becoming bottomfeeders of the PvP zone. Oftentimes, they have to focus on just a few easy targets, frustrating the prey until they leave the zone. Then, the stalkers, faced with no other prey, leave too.

Make perception buffs even more available and you COMPLETELY neuter the stalker.

That brings me back to Positron’s original statement.

In hardcore PvP, stalkers already are neutered. In casual play, they’re overpowered. In both instances, the availability of Perception (counter-stealth) is at fault. In both cases, the broader appeal of PvP suffers.

What To Do

I’ll leave “what to do” for an upcoming post on “reinventing stealth” in MMO’s in general, but I’ll start with this teaser to start you thinking:

Ever since the D&D ‘thief’ class, we’ve made stealth the realm of one build… usually resolved around a die roll. Yet… ever since early childhood games like “hide and seek,” “jailbreak,” and “bloody murder” (not to mention variations of ‘tag’) we’ve played robust and exciting games that were stealth-centric, resolved with a single hit…. and a whole lot more fun than a die roll.  Why not online?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 17th, 2006 at 5:03 pm and is filed under City of Heroes / Villains, Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.