Hi all,
first i dunno if anything like this was suggested before, but i didnt find anything in the first 10 pages of results for "sneak" so i decided to make a new discussion for it.
Further i apologize in advance if i am making any major mistakes in english language, as it is not my natural one...Please feel free to correct me and i will happily change my mistakes

On topic:
I feel like the current sneaking system is a little bit odd with respect both to other MMORPG and the Elder Scrolls series and playing a lot of sneaky combat in cyrodil and pve alike i found some major issues. Some Examples:
1) Everyone can sneak right from the beginning and there is no progression whatsoever while doing it.
2) Kind of like the first one, but: Everyone has ALL benefits sneak has to offer right from the start.
3) There is no penalty for running around in full plate armor while sneaking. This one just dont make sense at all for me ^^ (and there was a penalty for this in all Elder Scrolls games)
4) One can see full groups of 15 or even more people running stealth in cyrodil and popping at some place. There are full tanks and i dunno what inbetween...doesnt seem like a very sneaky thing to me.

So i tried to get some solutions for the things above without making sneak a pure Nightblade thing or something like that, because i actually like that everyone is able to sneak around...but with some exceptions.
So for now the current system works in general like this (please correct me if im wrong):
- sneaking player has some detection radius where he will not be seen by others
- sneaking reduces movement speed
- sneaking costs stamina while moving
- successfull sneak attack gives bonus damage

Because i do not know actual numbers on all things, I will write an X for all improvements and in brackets () a number that i come up with and that is up for balancing and discussion.
So here is the new Sneak World Skill Line:
- does ONLY lvl through successfull sneak attacks or sneaking while ENEMY players or monsters are around. I made it that way, because i dont want people just ignoring stealth till VR and then upping the skill line with Quest-XP. it should really be a playstyle and not just a benefit everyone must have.
- Experience gain should be so that it hits lvl10 at the start of Coldharbor if u are frequently using sneak and sneak attacks to open a fight. I think this is in line with the other class or weapon lines. I know this is a rather slow progression, but major skills that will improve your sneaking performance come early in this line. The more beneficial skills, that improve sneak further then it is today, on the other hand are supposed to come rather late into action.
- Increases from 1 to 10 and everyone has this skill line right from the start

Passive 1 Sneak (automatically granted at 1, improvable at lvl 3):
- Rank1: While wearing at least ONE piece of heavy armor: Increase detection radius and reduce sneak speed by X % (50%), While wearing at least ONE piece of medium armor: Increase detection radius and reduce sneak speed by Y % (25%).
- Rank2: Reduce penalty for Heavy Armor to X/2 % only aply it when wearing at least THREE pieces. Remove penalty for medium armor.
- light armor has no penalty at all times
- this makes it harder to sneak in heavy armor, which is both more realistic an also helps balancing things in group play, since one heavy armored guy could be seen and screw your whole group

Passive 2 Improved Sneak (at 2 and 8 ):
- Reduce Stamina Cost of sneaking by X %(25%) at Rank one and Y %(50%) at rank2
- This comes with an OVERALL INCREASE in stamina cost for sneaking, so people who dont have that passive can sneak for shorter time then now.
- has a nice synergy with medium armor passive wich is intended

Passive 3 True Sight (at 4 and 7):
- Increases Range YOU can see OTHER hidden enemys by X m(2m) at rank1 and Y m(5m) at rang2
- while this is not as good as the magelight ability, which SHOULD be better since its an active, people who are used to sneak should be able to see others from a longer distance

Passive 4 Swift Stalker (at 5 and 10):
- Increase sneak speed by X %(15%)
- Allows sprinting while sneaking BUT with a high stamina consumption
- this would allow people to catch up enemys without being seen but at the cost of a lower stamina pool at the beginning of a fight

Passive 5 Deadly Aim (at 6 and 9):
-Successfull sneak attacks deal X %(25%) more BONUS damage and stun for Y sec(1sec) longer at rank1 and 2X %(50%) more BONUS damage and 2Y sec(2sec) longer stun on rank2
- Values are halved when using a bow (so 12.5% and 25%, 0.5sec and 1sec)
- this has a nice synergy with stealthy racial passives and with the Assasination passive from NB (if this really should work in some time.. ) wich would make for some nice stealth builds

Active Ability Spot Enemy Weakness (at 7):
- Stamina based
- Your next successfull sneak attack in X sec(10sec) ignores Y %(60%) of target armor
- morph1 Detect Soul: also reduces spell resistance and you can see the enemy even if he hides/stealths
- morph2 TBD: successfull sneak attack stun lasts Z sec(1sec) longer and immobilzes enemy for W sec(3sec)
- while this is similar to the mark target ability from nightblade this one hase lower values but comes without the heal and negative aspect. it also lasts only for the sneak attack so its more an opener then then a buff during a period.
- its main purpose would be in builds that really focus and rely on the sneak attack

As i said before, this is a suggestion for a reworked sneak system. And while i know that there are more important things to fix and balance right now i would like to see something similar implemented in the near future, because i think that the sneak system could be so much more awesome then it is in its current state.

So now feel free to bash my ideas or even share constructive input on this