So, how's the new cloak?

NagualV

Hey everyone.

I wont have time to log in this week most likely, maybe not till next.

I just was curious to hear from the experienced players who use cloak/use counter stealth measures how the new changes are working. I did see a video posted on the forums which highlighted many of the changes and also the bugs(the health desync one being one of them).

So are you cloak users desyncing often? Not too bad? Is cloak actually working now? Are you able to counter stealth more effectively now?

Hopefully this thread can remain constructive and stay on topic. Thanks for commenting.

Theignson

I don't really see much difference, maybe I need to pay more attention lol. It hasn't affected my gameplay

fred4

I only PvPd for maybe 2 hours this morning. It does feel more consistent. Stepping onto Caltrops causes Miat's to produce it's "ding" sound to warn that another player is attacking, but as far as I could see I did not uncloak. When someone used a detection potion, even though you cannot actually tell, I felt more confident that he had done that and felt more in control as a result. The other detection methods have not seriously bothered me yet, but this has always been highly player-dependent. Relatively few people hunt NBs and use those skills consistently and effectively. Groups with a Magelight spam bot are typically more of a problem than individuals.

I feel a bit safer approaching sorcs in Lightning Form, but Streak has always been the real pain. What hasn't changed is NPCs shooting at you in IC with relatively slow projectiles. These will still knock you out of cloak when already in the air and you can get caught in a cycle of being knocked out of cloak and having another shot fired at you, if you're just trying to ignore some types of NPCs.

It's early days. I am using Celerity CP as I am the kind of nightblade who uses every ounce of speed they can get. Damage on a single-target, non-bombing and sustain-focused melee magblade, the build I play, remains low, even with (now) two proc sets (Caluurion and Thunder Caller). I might have to get rid of the procs, because they are simply not very good (at 4.8K to 5K spell damage). However the extra speed and reliability of Cloak have given me the confidence to stay in the fight a little longer, at least against the tanky, experienced but somewhat low damage players this morning.

L_Nici

The new cloak works amazing. Its way more reliable, you won't get pulled out randomly anymore. YOu can even cloak through most AoE fields and stay invisible. Its absolutely brilliant.

colossalvoids

It's way more consistent and reliable, I'd say it works pretty intuitively if we'd forget how bad it was throughout the years.

Vevvev

Invisibility Sprint on vampire is more reliable as well, but as for cloak's combat viability.... You better hope your target doesn't have reveal abilities slotted. Flare, Magelight, and Skilled Tracker are insanely good right now with their range increase and more rapid revealing.

Alchimiste1

its a buff, I've been back on stamblade and cloak is much more consistent

moo_2021

I pulled out someone today by arrow barrage with invisible and unstoppable poison. Guess it's a new requirement in PvP now?

Gilvoth

its finaly working correctly in my opinion.
i love it.

Sluggy

Haven't been on my Nightblade so far but I can say that I've definitely been seeing them hop in and out of stealth much more effectively that before. Even on my DK (which is basically just a walking nightblade detection machine) I really have to watch their movements and often just take guesses as to where they've gone. They're even popping in and out of stealth in the middle of large fights!

This makes me happy as it has basically been a joke for a long while now when I saw a Nightblade go into stealth mid-fight. It now looks like they can actually control much of the pace of the fight as they used to long ago. But wary players with the right setup can still find them if they concentrate and hunt them down. Seems things might actually be exactly as they should.

gariondavey

Vevvev wrote: »

Invisibility Sprint on vampire is more reliable as well, but as for cloak's combat viability.... You better hope your target doesn't have reveal abilities slotted. Flare, Magelight, and Skilled Tracker are insanely good right now with their range increase and more rapid revealing.

Yup I played a bit on my nb in no cp ic. Didn't realize procs were off so my gank damage was way lower than usual, low fps (this was on Monday) and was fighting this stam dk who used camo hunter. Between those 3 it was really not fun

Lapin_Logic

Detect Potions, the none optional potion.

Even with them, Cloak + Shadow image = clown world PVP, and I mostly play a NB in PVP.

I'm all for the "Theme" of the stealthy assassin but a "Glass Cannon" should also have the "Theme" of feeling like glass, not running through a zerg's AOE undetected, avoiding NPC aggro to not block you from door use or give your location away, appearing, dropping a nuke then if caught "Roll, cloak, Shade"(sometimes back to the "Immunity Tower/Platform" in IC to bank your Tel Var) seems like all the damage at a fraction of the risk, try running a Glass Canon on any other class and that is what I mean, Actual Glass.

New Cloak is a buff too far.

rbfrgsp

In short, new cloak is a collosal nerf for NB 1vXers. It's a massive buff against you if you're a skilled player fighting against a NB. And it's a major nerf if you're a beginner player fighting a NB. In other words: exactly the opposite of what should be done if you want to reward skilful play.

Why do I say this? Direct damage attacks take you out of stealth. Now, all you need to break cloak is a staff heavy attack. That's it. Hold down the mouse button = no stealth.

It means that attacking a group when outnumbered (thematically, the meat and drink of the NB class) is virtually impossible as someone in the target group will always have a staff and always hold down heavy attack.

Second, as a NB, there was nothing more impressive than fighting a skilled player who was good at predicting your moves. LoS around a rock and your opponent knows which path you probably took and threw caltrops or shalks down to pull you out of stealth? That was very cool to see.

Now, caltrops do nothing to a NB in cloak. Even though caltrops are there as an anti-infiltration defence and basically exist to prevent easy sneak attacks. Again: zos are thematically living in backwards world.

Alchimiste1

rbfrgsp wrote: »

In short, new cloak is a collosal nerf for NB 1vXers. It's a massive buff against you if you're a skilled player fighting against a NB. And it's a major nerf if you're a beginner player fighting a NB. In other words: exactly the opposite of what should be done if you want to reward skilful play.

Why do I say this? Direct damage attacks take you out of stealth. Now, all you need to break cloak is a staff heavy attack. That's it. Hold down the mouse button = no stealth.

It means that attacking a group when outnumbered (thematically, the meat and drink of the NB class) is virtually impossible as someone in the target group will always have a staff and always hold down heavy attack.

Second, as a NB, there was nothing more impressive than fighting a skilled player who was good at predicting your moves. LoS around a rock and your opponent knows which path you probably took and threw caltrops or shalks down to pull you out of stealth? That was very cool to see.

Now, caltrops do nothing to a NB in cloak. Even though caltrops are there as an anti-infiltration defence and basically exist to prevent easy sneak attacks. Again: zos are thematically living in backwards world.

I disagree , this is a buff even to nb 1vxers. As long as its consistent I can play around it. I can maneuver a lot better now.

rbfrgsp

It's a further "dumbing down" of game mechanics. Both for Nightblades who had invested time in learning how to use cloak despite its limitations before, and for opponents of Nightblades, who had spent time and effort practicing manual nullification of NB cloak. It was genuinely impressive to see players who had got good at combatting cloak with strategic AoE. Now it's just another, "one-button, DD AOE spam to uncloak". Very bad game design from whoever was responsible for this change.

Mariusghost84

NB main. Ive played quite a few BG matches but havent noticed any difference when it comes to cloak. I roll a lot and use speed/LOS though, so breaking stealh has never been an issue for me.