Sneaking and Stealth

[GrayOldDruid]

I've been trying to go back and do some low level quests on Elite to get favor up (and do those that I just never got around to).

Stealthy Repossession is STILL almost impossible to do stealthily. There are doors to open and a 50/50 chance the first prophet will aggro when you open the first door ( or so it seems ). How about giving Stealth an actual chance? You realize the way a lot of people complete "Stealthy Repossession" is to have a tank pull aggro and run it around while the rest run to the gem piece and pick it up - then everyone kills everything. That is NOT in the flavor of the storyline behind the quest - where you're supposed to sneak through and have the prophets blame each other for the missing gem. (and, yes, I have completed it using stealth. Alone and on solo.)

First, you have to be sneaking and hiding in order for sneak or hide to do ANYTHING at all. Doing anything at all breaks sneak mode. Sure a door opening may alert a sentry, but that doesn't mean that they are going to see the sneaky individual who opened it and rush to kill them.

Give those who have Open Lock, Hide, Move Silently, etc. a good chance to get into a door without having to slam it wide open and say "Hello!" You know, there are ways to open the door, slip inside, close the door and move to a corner without making noise or drawing attention.

A Good Rogue or Ranger (or specifically a super duper stealthy camo-spelled Ranger/Rogue) should be able to pull that off with ease - especially against kobolds.

Please give us something better to do with our Stealth than simply to get into backstab range of the first enemy in the mob. Have it be actually useful!!

[Ghoste]

I've found plenty of use foe stealth. Just keep practicing.

[Laith]

stand to the side of doorways when you open them.

pull levers when monsters are looking the other way, and DON'T MOVE! moving triggers listen checks. listen is 360degrees, spot is not.

use cover to block line of sight. don't bump into baddies. keep those "eye" icons low.

keep invisibility handy, just in case, as it's the only way to lose aggro once spotted (aside from killing those who saw you).

seriously, stealthy repo isn't as hard as many make it out to be.
sneak speed is incredibly helpful, so be sure to enhance that in any way possible.
invisibility is almost necessary to recover from any mistakes. that IS a problem.

stealth is hard and involves practice and many tricks. Also, you do have to kill things occasionally. Find low-risk spots to do this. Use failed listen checks to slowly pull groups apart. As long as you don't fail spot, you can lose aggro by getting some distance between you and your enemy.

it's far from impossible though. i've done stealthy repo solo (and sneaking) on normal/hard at lvl2, elite at lvl4. i went on to do Ruined Halls up to elite by lvl6, and a few other house K & D quests. All while getting Discreet or Insidious Cunning bonuses.

[GrayOldDruid]

stand to the side of doorways when you open them.

pull levers when monsters are looking the other way, and DON'T MOVE! moving triggers listen checks. listen is 360degrees, spot is not.

use cover to block line of sight. don't bump into baddies. keep those "eye" icons low.

keep invisibility handy, just in case, as it's the only way to lose aggro once spotted (aside from killing those who saw you).

seriously, stealthy repo isn't as hard as many make it out to be.
sneak speed is incredibly helpful, so be sure to enhance that in any way possible.
invisibility is almost necessary. that IS a problem.

stealth is hard and involves practice and many tricks. it's far from impossible though. i've done stealthy repo solo (and sneaking) on normal/hard at lvl2, elite at lvl4.

Okay, have not thoroughly tested, but you can loose aggro with invisibility?? Via potion or spell?? eeeeeennnnteresting... did not know that. The time or two I tried that, it didn't work, the enemy came around the corner and straight to me.

Opening doors pops you out of sneak and even not moving and hitting sneak as soon as possible draws aggro from around corners.

Like I said, I have done it with stealth before - took over an hour, but I got it done (when I was level 4~5). And, yes, if you HAVE to use invisibility in addition to stealth skills - then you're not just using stealth skills. Maybe I just don't have the patience now.....

[Laith]

Okay, have not thoroughly tested, but you can loose aggro with invisibility?? Via potion or spell?? eeeeeennnnteresting... did not know that. The time or two I tried that, it didn't work, the enemy came around the corner and straight to me.

well... sort of.

say you get spotted.

BAM! enemy homes in on you.

If you use invisibility (potion/scroll/whatever), and then return to stealth, the enemy will continue to home in on the spot you were last spotted at. Returning to stealth is STILL important, because otherwise they just keep hearing you, and updating that "last spot you were spotted at". If you JUST use invis, the enemy will keep on your trail, generally lagging behind a bit.

The trick is to not BE there anymore. (hence stealth speed)

At this point, the AI is supposed (Ghoste will tell you it's bugged sometimes, and i agree) to start a "search pattern". Now, if the quest is full of narrow hallways, this search pattern will 0wn you, and the (now alert) enemy will have a good chance to find you. If you have a big open area, it's much easier to escape.

While you don't necessarily "lose" aggro, the threat is alleviated, and you can proceed on your way (the quicker the better).

oh, i forgot one: don't sit infront of enemies for long periods of time. They keep making better and better spot checks until they eventually see you.

[Ghoste]

The trick is to not BE there anymore. (hence stealth speed)

Unless you want to...oh wait, could get in trouble for saying that. Ya that's right...sneak AWAY from the kobold...yeah...

[Mercules]

I've been trying to go back and do some low level quests on Elite to get favor up (and do those that I just never got around to).

Stealthy Repossession is STILL almost impossible to do stealthily. There are doors to open and a 50/50 chance the first prophet will aggro when you open the first door ( or so it seems ). How about giving Stealth an actual chance? You realize the way a lot of people complete "Stealthy Repossession" is to have a tank pull aggro and run it around while the rest run to the gem piece and pick it up - then everyone kills everything. That is NOT in the flavor of the storyline behind the quest - where you're supposed to sneak through and have the prophets blame each other for the missing gem. (and, yes, I have completed it using stealth. Alone and on solo.)

First, you have to be sneaking and hiding in order for sneak or hide to do ANYTHING at all. Doing anything at all breaks sneak mode. Sure a door opening may alert a sentry, but that doesn't mean that they are going to see the sneaky individual who opened it and rush to kill them.

Give those who have Open Lock, Hide, Move Silently, etc. a good chance to get into a door without having to slam it wide open and say "Hello!" You know, there are ways to open the door, slip inside, close the door and move to a corner without making noise or drawing attention.

A Good Rogue or Ranger (or specifically a super duper stealthy camo-spelled Ranger/Rogue) should be able to pull that off with ease - especially against kobolds.

Please give us something better to do with our Stealth than simply to get into backstab range of the first enemy in the mob. Have it be actually useful!!

Again I'll post that I snuck through it just fine not that long ago with a level 2 perma-death WF Rogue which means untwinked. He had Mithral Body so I was even at a -1 to my skills. Yes it was normal and elite should be more difficult, but stealth can work in that quest.

[GuitarHero]

it can be done stealthed, but it is still so much easier running through with a hypno'ing caster or a facinating bard though!

Stealth run=half an hour.

CC run=about 2 minutes.

[Osharan_Tregarth]

I've been trying to go back and do some low level quests on Elite to get favor up (and do those that I just never got around to).

Stealthy Repossession is STILL almost impossible to do stealthily. There are doors to open and a 50/50 chance the first prophet will aggro when you open the first door ( or so it seems ). How about giving Stealth an actual chance? You realize the way a lot of people complete "Stealthy Repossession" is to have a tank pull aggro and run it around while the rest run to the gem piece and pick it up - then everyone kills everything. That is NOT in the flavor of the storyline behind the quest - where you're supposed to sneak through and have the prophets blame each other for the missing gem. (and, yes, I have completed it using stealth. Alone and on solo.)

First, you have to be sneaking and hiding in order for sneak or hide to do ANYTHING at all. Doing anything at all breaks sneak mode. Sure a door opening may alert a sentry, but that doesn't mean that they are going to see the sneaky individual who opened it and rush to kill them.

Give those who have Open Lock, Hide, Move Silently, etc. a good chance to get into a door without having to slam it wide open and say "Hello!" You know, there are ways to open the door, slip inside, close the door and move to a corner without making noise or drawing attention.

A Good Rogue or Ranger (or specifically a super duper stealthy camo-spelled Ranger/Rogue) should be able to pull that off with ease - especially against kobolds.

Stealthy repossesion is perhaps not the best example you could have picked. Some was complaining about that exact quest a month or two ago, and one of the devs took up the challenge. Rolled a new character, and dropped it straight into stealthy repo. Completed with no problem, with no additional gear.

Few things...
1. They've given mobs progressive spot chances. So the longer you are in their view, their chances to see you keep getting higher and higher.

2. Timing is all... Make sure you are standing beside the door up against the wall.. Or besides the switch up against the crates... Wait until the prophet(s) is(are) walking away from you.. Open the door and turn stealth back on. Works just fine.

3. Make sure you don't have noisy armor/shields on. If you are getting skill check penalties from armor/shields, your success chances will go way down.

Please give us something better to do with our Stealth than simply to get into backstab range of the first enemy in the mob. Have it be actually useful!!

I don't bother anymore, but when I was doing solo BAM runs for loot and getting ores, I would sneak all the way across the main room, open the lever next to the doors, restealth, and then go through the now open door into the next room. It's a little harder now, but should still be doable if you can avoid the fire elementals running around. There are all kinds of other quests where sneaking around mobs is a great tactic, but you have to practice at it to figure out how to avoid drawing aggro. On the same character, I would also sneak through the bulk of the corridors in the wiz king to figure out which side the wiz king was spawned on.

I find stealth in this game pretty useful, but not with a full party along. It's slower and the other party members get bored fast.

[MrCow]

Stealth run=half an hour.

Once you know your way through stealthing Stealthy Repossession it is generally a 4 minute or less quest (unless a certain Witch Doctor is by a certain last lever).

[parvo]

I've been trying to go back and do some low level quests on Elite to get favor up (and do those that I just never got around to).

Stealthy Repossession is STILL almost impossible to do stealthily. There are doors to open and a 50/50 chance the first prophet will aggro when you open the first door ( or so it seems ). How about giving Stealth an actual chance? You realize the way a lot of people complete "Stealthy Repossession" is to have a tank pull aggro and run it around while the rest run to the gem piece and pick it up - then everyone kills everything. That is NOT in the flavor of the storyline behind the quest - where you're supposed to sneak through and have the prophets blame each other for the missing gem. (and, yes, I have completed it using stealth. Alone and on solo.)

First, you have to be sneaking and hiding in order for sneak or hide to do ANYTHING at all. Doing anything at all breaks sneak mode. Sure a door opening may alert a sentry, but that doesn't mean that they are going to see the sneaky individual who opened it and rush to kill them.

Give those who have Open Lock, Hide, Move Silently, etc. a good chance to get into a door without having to slam it wide open and say "Hello!" You know, there are ways to open the door, slip inside, close the door and move to a corner without making noise or drawing attention.

A Good Rogue or Ranger (or specifically a super duper stealthy camo-spelled Ranger/Rogue) should be able to pull that off with ease - especially against kobolds.

Please give us something better to do with our Stealth than simply to get into backstab range of the first enemy in the mob. Have it be actually useful!!

Sigh...OK, I'll show you how to sneak. Send me a PM and I'll demo Stealthy repo on elite with a low level Rogue.

[parvo]

Once you know your way through stealthing Stealthy Repossession it is generally a 4 minute or less quest (unless a certain Witch Doctor is by a certain last lever).

And the certain withchdoctor is actually just there to spook you. I know two ways to get past him even if he can smoke you in toe-to-toe.

[parvo]

it can be done stealthed, but it is still so much easier running through with a hypno'ing caster or a facinating bard though!

Stealth run=half an hour.

CC run=about 2 minutes.

Stealth run 1/2 hour...hehe...funny

[Mercules]

Stealth run 1/2 hour...hehe...funny

Yeah... my last stealth run was probably 10 minutes tops. The last time someone tried the "Hypno" tactic they ran out of mana and suddenly it took MUCH longer.