Change hunter cloak sprite.

[Whistle]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary): New sprite is much to visible in low light conditions. Return it to the old one.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole): Makes cloak viable again.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc): Few use cloak effectively and honestly it was the main reason I played xeno, to stalk and hunt.
I do not feel you can do that as a hunter anymore with the new sprite.
There's no, will they see me? won't they? They will and you'll die.
The change in profile made it hard to spot, you managed to blend into the weeds.
This is worse than those "Remove cloak from hunters." threads that pop up as this effectively gives you a false positive, you can still cloak, but it's pointless, you may as well just run and hide off screen, charge in like a runner and just be a bigger one that can't run under tables.
All action, no sneak.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it):
Return old hunter cloak sprite.

Note: New skin cannot hide on weeds without being visible, which is my biggest gripe, not even the nodes.
Will get pics of new skin up tomorrow should there be doubts cast.

[Shyguychizzy]

Indeed I give this a +1 a tad easy spotting hunters, I noticed it has been the old sprite not so good as the newly sprited hunters. As long as they won't be too OP while cloaked, I like your method for cloaking.

[Rahlzel]

It's never going back to the old sprite because it doesn't fit at all with our new Xeno sprites. The only thing that might happen is to change its translucency, which is extremely unlikely due to this:





If anything, the sprite might be made less translucent because it's extremely difficult to see.

[Seehund]

If anything, the sprite might be made less translucent because it's extremely difficult to see.

That doesn't sound like a really bad thing, given it's camouflage we're talking about.

[Surrealistik]

-1, because this:

It's never going back to the old sprite because it doesn't fit at all with our new Xeno sprites. The only thing that might happen is to change its translucency, which is extremely unlikely due to this:





If anything, the sprite might be made less translucent because it's extremely difficult to see.

Hide is insanely powerful on weeds, and nearly impossible to spot at max translucency, even if you're looking for it.

[Rey]

It was changed?
On one side great, now it actually fits.
On the other I can be spotted easily now it seems.
I feel like it would be great if it was returned to it's previous condition when it was impossible to be spotted on weeds, you rarely ever see anyone using it anyway, plus it is KIND OF marines fault for not getting rid of the weeds, no?

[Whistle]

It's never going back to the old sprite because it doesn't fit at all with our new Xeno sprites. The only thing that might happen is to change its translucency, which is extremely unlikely due to this:





If anything, the sprite might be made less translucent because it's extremely difficult to see.

Sadly I am inclined to disagree, you picked, perhaps unintentionally one of the few places the cloak actually works, in a light tile covered in weeds.
The bridge, the spaces between the weeds are bright therefore covering the white claws and baldie shine of the xeno.


The old sprite was symmetrical, less obvious to those searching for an irregular pattern, had one white gleam, distinctive on the mouth which could be hidden, it was also smaller.

New sprite has three seperate white segments, claws, head, front and back, so that hiding the gleam is impossible, the tail is also curved up besides you, the full length of the xeno.


Perhaps the biggest issue is the cloak is useless on any surface that is not weeded. Half the map. This will restrict hunting. This will dull gameplay and limit hunting potential.
You can also not hide the gleaming white (White being a renowned sneaking colour.)

I was speaking with another player today who described the hunter as now" just a stepping stone to T3" rather than a uniquely gifted xeno.


Perhaps this is just a "Change is bad" Reaction, however I am actively playing xeno or observing and seeing a distinct lack in using the cloak ability in favour of just running at/away enemy and playing like a runner.

[Rahlzel]

I was speaking with another player today who described the hunter as now" just a stepping stone to T3" rather than a uniquely gifted xeno.

This is a reasonable counter-argument if it's true. I need more data though - screenshots of its visibility in different lighting and on different tiles.

Or I'll poke around and try to see for myself.

[forwardslashN]

I was speaking with another player today who described the hunter as now" just a stepping stone to T3" rather than a uniquely gifted xeno.

Tier 3s are meant to be stronger and more useful members of the hive. That is why they are limited; the hunter is unique from other castes in that it can cloak, but the cloak was never the selling point in all of the time I've spent playing on the server. It was situationally useful, but a ravager or crusher would always trump the hunter when it came to actual combat. The hunter's selling point was always the pounce, that allowed it to kill lone marines, and it still has that advantage in spades.

[Jdobbin49]

The hunter is the only alien that I would really play that isn't a tier 3 and not due to the fact it can pounce but she to it's unique ability to cloak.

I agree with whistles in that the sprite needs something tweaked about it but not returned to the old sprite because as rahlz said it doesnt for with all the new sprites.

In a match earlier today i was playing as a hunter, I decided to go out and do a bit of scouting and see where the marines were at and they were approacing the hive I decided to cloak myself on the jungle floor (not sure if that's the name) but without even having to really think I was shot and killed by marines, this new sprite just doesn't do the hunter justice for what it used to be able to do. On the jungle floor you can clearly see the different colour of the hunter which makes it completely pointless!

Just like whistles said the hunter is now restricted to cloaking in weeds which means that you no longer can go out and scout unless you're certain all the marines are completely blind.

[Surrealistik]

This is a reasonable counter-argument if it's true. I need more data though - screenshots of its visibility in different lighting and on different tiles.

Or I'll poke around and try to see for myself.

Hunter is easily better than a Ravager in skilled hands: lower skill floor, higher skill ceiling.

The reason has to do with vent crawling, faster speed, pounces, and stealth which is brutally effective on weeds as you've pointed out.

[Whistle]

The reason has to do with vent crawling, faster speed, pounces, and stealth which is brutally effective on weeds as you've pointed out.

After playing more rounds as hunter, I feel comfortable saying that the white visibly on the hunter is much more pronounced when in lowlight conditions.
I set a trap using a few bodies and stood at the very limit of the low light spectrum on weeded terrain, I was spotted near instantly and was forced to skirmish multiple times.

Low light has been obviously the ideal hiding place for hunters in the past.

That said I have stood within full blaring flare light and armour mounts as a marine team walked up to me, so there is some validity to the new cloak, just not something I feel melds with their ideal usage.

Darkness should be the cloaks strong suit, not 100% light condition.

As per request for images, they will be taken within the next few days and capture different environments and situations where the cloak has proven effective/ineffective.

In the mean time I would ask for player/staff experience and thoughts on the subject as I do feel strongly about the hunters ability to cloak as I've noted before, it's singular and adds a stealth aspect where there usually would be none.

[forwardslashN]

About a week and a half later, nothing new on this. Considering this resolved for now.