Sniping - Getting pulled out of hiding

[JustDan]

What are the factors in getting that wonderful "you are no longer hidden" message when firing a bow from the shadows?

I'm 3x in hiding, plus some enhancives. I've got a 112 DEX stat (can't login to check the bonus ATM, but I'm an elf). I've got 5 ranks of smastery, and use ARMOR STEALTH. And I get yanked about 35-40% of the time. Is that right?

I'm just wondering if there's something I could be doing to decrease that, because when hunting the bowels, you can't avoid the swarms. And they laugh at e-wave. So getting yanked out of hiding (and thrown into 3-4 seconds of offensive RT at the same time) is usually a get-fucked-up sentence, if not an outright death sentence.

[Drew]

What sort of armour are you wearing? The other thing I've seen that helps rogues a lot is the cman distract one, where they wander to another room. Very helpful for clearing targets out of your room so you can solo one.


On top of that aren't you mastered in sweep as a rogue? The illoke can be swept easily, and the krynches.

[audioserf]

It's CMAN DIVERT.

[JustDan]

What sort of armour are you wearing?

Hauberk, basically. With 130 ranks of Armor Use. Is this a huge factor?


The other thing I've seen that helps rogues a lot is the cman distract one, where they wander to another room. Very helpful for clearing targets out of your room so you can solo one.

Since I was going ranged, I didn't even bother to get to 1x CM yet... I don't even have Mobility. :) Divert is after that on the wish list, somewhere around cap, probably.


On top of that aren't you mastered in sweep as a rogue? The illoke can be swept easily, and the krynches.

For sure mastered, with spiked leg greaves. I whacked a couple of them, with so-so results, when I first started hunting up there... maybe I need to revisit that now that I got my haste imbed issue sorted out.

[Drew]

Bowels are not a good place to overhunt. If you are whacking them you might want to get a couple levels (also take off the spiked greaves if that happens, they give you -10 on the cman roll).

[Drew]

It's CMAN DIVERT.

THANK YOU.

[BriarFox]

Level comparison, number of foes in room, perceptiveness of critter.

[prance1520]

The formula for armor stealth is (Rank * 2 * (5 - Armor Group)).

So in Hauberk, your looking at 5*2*1 = 10 (I don't know if this directly adds to the stealth roll or if its added some other way).

In robe, its 5*2*4 = 40, so depending on how this number is used it could be a big deal.

3x hiding, armor stealth, smastery, and a dwarf, I get pulled out of hiding in OTF between 5% and 10% of the time. About half those times I'll fail on a non-griffin (which could never sniff me out by searching), so there is some % of failure that doesn't seem to be avoidable.

[JustDan]

Level comparison, number of foes in room, perceptiveness of critter.

That's what I was lookin for. Thank you, sir.

Level 80-82 sucks ass. Jarls are 89, and decently perceptive, and swarm, and insta-stone fist. The Rift is awful for bounty tasks and encumbrance. And OTF is awful just in general. Gonna be SO glad when I can leave the bowels behind.

[Stry]

CMAN VANISH

Problem solved. Though divert isn't bad either.

[JustDan]

CMAN VANISH

Problem solved. Though divert isn't bad either.

Yeah... right up until you pop your muscles because you got yanked out on three consecutive shots at a Jarl, and you know that if he gets a shot off, you're insta-dead.

It's almost enough to make a man start drinkin...

[Drew]

OTF is definitely way easier than the bowels at your level, especially for an archer. Really you should only be hunting stone krynches and earth elementals but the problem is they are both in full plate (jarls and elders are in hauberk). Also elementals have nowhere good to shoot an arrow and have a flat 20% damage reduction on top of that plate.

[JustDan]

OTF is definitely way easier than the bowels at your level, especially for an archer. Really you should only be hunting stone krynches and earth elementals but the problem is they are both in full plate (jarls and elders are in hauberk). Also elementals have nowhere good to shoot an arrow and have a flat 20% damage reduction on top of that plate.

Day 1 of OTF:

Five or six successful hunts of gremlocks. I'm feeling good, kicking ass. Then I get wtfpwned by a Ithzir something or other ambushing from hiding. Then within two seconds, it has reached down and snatched a 3m-ish enhancive ring off my finger and wandered away.

No more OTF for me. I'll just deal with the Bowels for a while, and try and maximize my chances of survival.

[Middian]

Damn! That sounds like a prison raping! You go DEEBOed! My bike bitch! =)

[Stry]

Yeah... there's a reason I avoided OTF and forced myself to hunt the bowels.

Honestly though, I'm convinced the bowels are the most difficult hunting ground for their level, overall for any profession, anywhere in the game. Some might argue with me, but I've never been WTFPWNED more times, or so often anywhere else on any character.

Overhunting there is just rediculously dangerous, but still better to spend silver on chrisms and deeds than to lose gear/items in OTF.

[JustDan]

Yeah... there's a reason I avoided OTF and forced myself to hunt the bowels.

Honestly though, I'm convinced the bowels are the most difficult hunting ground for their level, overall for any profession, anywhere in the game. Some might argue with me, but I've never been WTFPWNED more times, or so often anywhere else on any character.

Overhunting there is just rediculously dangerous, but still better to spend silver on chrisms and deeds than to lose gear/items in OTF.

I definitely agree with this. Between the insta-stone fist from Jarls, the maneuver attacks from krynches, everything being pretty crit resistant (except elder's eyes), the fact that they have the same 'fall on you when I die' maneuver that gargoyles do, the 'call for help' that sentries do in Nelemar, and the fact that they swarm like crazy... oh, and did I mention that the area itself likes to RT stack you randomly? It's a nightmare. But it's my only real option at this point. Minotaurs are a little too young to really learn from any more (and their gen rate sucks ass). I'll stick it out, but it's not a lot of fun.

[Stry]

You forgot the major e-waves from greater elementals, the gas rooms and the jarls casting 1615 at you.

Yeah, after the bowels, I went the Sunfist route until cap, looking back I should have done it after minotaurs. The big 3 options for 93+ didn't appeal to me at all.

As far as the mechanics of getting knocked out of hiding? I think you're doing what you can, I just suggested Vanish as an emergency maneuver, but yes, 30-40% frequency is a lot.

Chances are you're fireing more arrows cuz they don't crit and take reduced damage, and thus makes you fall out a lot more often than you're used to.

[top shottah]

As a sniper, I only hunted the Illoke in there. It made no sense to me firing arrow after arrow to plink away at the rocks that are elementals & krynches.

On the elders & jarls, I normally aimed for the leg first, that usually would bring them down without landing on me, then just aimed for the eye afterwards. That circumvented them crushing me after I killed/legged them & leaving myself vulnerable to anything else that may have wandered in.

As I gained trains, e-wave was much more successful on the Illoke in bringing them down for an eye shot.

Purify air (207) helps with the random gas in the rooms that gives you RT.

Yes, the bowels sucked, and I am glad I finally moved on from that damn place.

[andrew wiggin]

The terrain there makes stealth a bit harder also. as an Elf and a Rogue. you're not receiving any terrain racial or professional stealth bonus, which is actually pretty significant.

lvl also adds innate stealth bonus.

if mechanics hasn't changed for stealth range. there is a hard cap of %5 failure for stealth sniping and accuracy. every shot there is a stealth check verses each creature's perception.

I'll mention that for a meleer, Silent Strike is pretty amazing. The capped success rate was increased to 97 or 98%? and it also bypasses creature's perception. no check against a creature's perception, just your own manuever roll.