Disguises - What's the Point?

disky · September 1

I'm currently going through the Glenumbra Thieves Guild questline, and I'm enjoying it in general, but without spoiling anything, disguises are utilized sometimes in order to avoid threats. However, as you move closer to enemies you receive a DANGER notification and an eye icon appears above them to indicate that they might reveal you as an impostor if you move too close to them. My question is, if moving closer to enemies will initiate combat with them anyway, and stealth is generally more effective in avoiding notice, what's the point of using a disguise in the first place? Even if the disguise lowers the detection radius somewhat, it's not perceivable to me to any great extent. Walking past enemies still initiates combat, you lose the disguise altogether, and you have to go find another one, only to have the same thing happen yet again. It just seems like a futile enterprise, especially when I can just sneak past. Am I missing something?

I get that this is supposed to be a stealth mechanic, but when crouching is by far more effective, why bother? I'm not seeing a hard requirement for using them to make progress. It would make more sense if that were the case, I think.

Freelancer_ESO · September 1

If you are on a build that isn't great with sneaking such as a character with heavy armor the disguises can be more effective than sneaking.

In many areas with disguises many of the enemies cannot see through your disguise and you can get close to them. Only specific ones can penetrate your disguise.

AcadianPaladin · September 1

Normally, it is 'sentries' - sometimes carrying a torch - that will spot you. If the baddies have animals in their service, such as wolves, they will detect you as well. Normal 'foot soldiers' will be oblivious unless one of the sentries starts combat with you.

A disguise allows you to plot a route to avoid sentries and ignore normal enemies. It takes good scouting and fully optimized stealth abilities are sometimes better.

Necrotech_Master · September 1

i think mostly disguises are meant to be the "thematic" story way to get through specific quests

when you equip one, they typically make enemies yellow outlined (neutral until aggro'd), enemies that are still red while in a disguise see through it

personally though, all of the disguises are useless and i use an addon to auto delete them anytime i pick it up (though this has cause some issues with some quests where it wont progress until you equip the disguise)

ZomZom · September 1

I hate disguises. I can never remember which menu I have to dig through just to equip one. They also get in the way when looting because you can only carry a single disguise at a time, and they’re unreliable on top of that.

DoofusMax · September 1

Disguises work reasonably well for maneuvering through an area without alerting NPCs, except for the guys with torches. If you think specifically about Glenumbra, it's the first full non-starter zone for Covenant characters, so it would be a bit unreasonable to expect that players would have skill points for the stealthier skill lines and disguises work around that problem. Basically "move cautiously, don't do stuff to draw attention, and avoid the guys with torches." Plus, many disguises now convert to costumes when the relevant quest is completed.

For the Thieves Guild quest (I assume Dwynnarth Ruins, but might be something else), the ultimate target is carrying a torch, which is why the danger signal. The better strategy is to approach it more like a pickpocket mission (with good chances of success for those without Legerdemain skills) and stay outside the target's cone of vision. There are a couple of NPCs with torches on the way there, so avoid them like you would outside and it's fine.

Daoin · September 1

some are for quests i think if i remeber correctly

Calastir · September 1

Sneaking is broken in ESO. Might as well charge in like a maniac barbarian and save loads of time and frustration.

Nestor · September 1

While wearing a disguise, if the Mob glows Red, avoid it, if they glow Yellow, pay them no heed.

Note, there are several zone story quests that have disguises. These get added to your Collections, at least most of them do so you can wear them later as a costume. Don't know if the Costume usage gives the same protection as putting the disguise from Inventory.

Hapexamendios · September 2

Calastir wrote: »

Sneaking is broken in ESO. Might as well charge in like a maniac barbarian and save loads of time and frustration.

Charge! This is definitely my preference.