Stealth

<!-- HIDING OLD STEALTH SECTION FOR NOW The stealth (not to be confused with Camouflage) classes of Camelot Unchained are VeilWalker, VeilStalker and Scout. The first two will be able to travel through the Veil thus becoming invisible to the outside world, while Scouts travel by Spirit Travel, letting their soul wander separated from body. The exact connection of Spirit Travel and the Veil seems not to be detailed yet.

VeilWalkers and VeilStalkers will be more physically aggressive and less mobile compared to Scout, who will be centered more around infiltration, sabotage and of course scouting. Roughly speaking, `Walker and `Stalker will be closer to the classical Rogue/Assassin, with `Stalker additionally being the anti-stealth class.

VeilWalkers, VeilStalkers and Scouts were finally confirmed as a part of the Stealth Unchained  Stretch Goal and might or might not be playable immediately at launch, depending on circumstances, anyway they will be in the game as soon as possible. Because of huge differences in playstyle, `Walkers and `Stalkers are treated separately from Scouts in the rest of this page.

VeilWalker`s and VeilStalker`s Playstyle & Stealth
No one-shots or similar extremely quick kills, no 100%-to-zeros against helpless opponents. Anyway, these stealthers will prefer more lightly armored combat targets (likely mages/casters), applying very strong interrupts and disrupts on these - besides locking them down, well timed disrupt should be very painful due to spell backfiring.

Stealthers of Camelot Unchained are designed to be viable even in large scale fights (in fact, that was THE starting point of the whole design). During these, `Walker and `Stalker will be going in and out of the Veil (i.e. in and out of stealth) much quicker, thus being even more dangerous. That quickness will be scaling with the concentration of magic in the area i.e likely with the number of Mages nearby.

Alternatively, playing in the style of classical Assassin, the "Lone Wolf", will also be viable - the idea of the design is not to deprive players of options but rather to give them alternatives. Just, be prepared for longer TTKs (time to kill) than "average" ones in many other games, compensated by other things some of which were already mentioned.

Stealth and the Veil
`Walker and `Stalker can stay in the Veil for very long, but for a price: the more time they spend stealthed, the more health they lose when they emerge. The stealthers are changing their appearance while stealthed (that is, in the Veil) as can be seen on the image.

Also, they always have to watch out for the VeilStalkers, since these can either travel within the Veil or stay out and hunt anybody sneaking inside. The VeilStalkers have the power to detect the Veil-stealthed, lay down traps and prepare other defenses, thus shining at protecting other fighters (especially Mages), builders and crafters in RvR.

Grouping and Gear in the Veil
The more players close together, the more irritated The Veil becomes thus taking away even more of each player`s health once they leave it, which makes stealth parties less than optimal playstyle. Also, wearing metal inside of the Veil is not recommended because of the metal sounds that can be heard outside, allarming the potential victims. The noise also scales up with the number of stealthers nearby.

In other words, if you suspect that a stealthed enemy is sneaking around, you better start listening very, very carefully (or bring your VeilStalker friend). To avoid being heard, `Walker and `Stalker are often using specially crafted gear and weapons inside the Veil, preferably made by highly skilled craftsmen.

Developer`s Quotes
As Mark Jacobs explained : "The classes of ‘Walkers and ‘Stalkers are still oriented towards killing other players, but are not as focused on things such as scouting or coordinating attacks on other Realm’s areas. These classes would be closer to the concept of light-to-medium damage fighters, and bear little resemblance to one-shot-kill assassin types. While that may disappoint some, those types of classes do not belong in a game like Camelot Unchained. This game is not about getting quick kills on other players. It just doesn’t work with our design goals of a meaningful death penalty, travel times, etc. The game’s battles, whether 1:1 or 200:200, need to matter. If one-shotting is a thing, we failed on the design side."

Another variation of that, by the same man : "There is no one-shotting here, not even close. That's why I'm putting them into heavier armor than most rogues. These guys are supposed to be able to fight without relying on strong burst DPS to kill another player before the other player can react. These guys are intended to come out of the Veil, have a strong opener and then fight. Also, most of their attacks are going to be disruption-based rather than damage based so against a mage, they will be tough. Against a more heavily armor melee character, they will lose (assuming both players are of equal skill)."

The Scout Concept


Scout`s playstyle will be very different from that of `Walkers and `Stalkers, as Mark Jacobs explained recently : "Right now the intention is to keep the class focused on scouting and infiltration/sabotage. They are not intended to be good in traditional 1:1 battles as that would start them down a dangerous path. This way, we can focus their abilities on a limited set of things, make them quite powerful and not worry about them crossing the line into assassins.  Scouts are really going to be designed for people who want to scout and be a PITA (pain in the...) at times but for whom PKing (player killing) is not something that they are interested in doing."

In the same thread he mentioned : "The VW/VS will absolutely use the Veil for movement. Scouts might as well but I'd prefer to have camouflage, spirit travel and the Veil as three separate mechanics for each archetype." So, even the concept itself is still a work in progress.

Scout`s Teamplay and Playstyle
As mentioned, Scouts will be able to Spirit Travel by separating their soul from body, with the body-soul maximum range increasing with skill. They will also be able to use special lanterns instead of body, but someone else (for example, their party) will have to carry these around. Scouts will have the choice to specialize more either into spiritual or corporeal side of their duality, with various gains - for example, a Scout with strong party support would likely want to maximise his spiritual/traveling strength, relying on others for carrying around and "corporeal" defenses.

Scouts will also have the ability to (in spirit form, of course) travel through walls and other obstacles, together with some telekinetic powers enabling them to infiltrate enemy bases, sabotage siege engines and do all other kinds of nasty stuff to enemy players. "The ultimate troll class", as one guy on forums described them. Enemy will, thou, have some tools to try to detect and kill scout even in spirit form.

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Stealth is made of several mechanics that the allow players to hide or sneak up on opposing players. These mechanics were funded by the Stealth Unchained Stretch Goal. The primary trios that utilize these mechanics are the. All classes can make use of some of these mechanics, but the Archers, Scouts and Stealthers specialize in using them. Though stealth and trios that heavily utilize it might or might not be usable immediately at launch, depending on circumstances, anyway they will be in the game as soon as possible.

Overview
Some of the main goals for the design of the stealth system were to ensure that it was fun, not overpowered, wouldn’t promote or encourage Stealther gank groups, did not have stunlocking, no easy on/easy off stealth, and no unlimited stealth + strong opener + vanish. Another very important was that stealth and stealth classes work well within the entirety of the RvR framework, and not simply be something that be narrowly designed for solo or small group encounters only.

Concept and Philosophy
The design goals for this Stretch Goal can be summarized below:


 * Goal #1 – Design a fun, interesting stealth mechanic, and classes that are not seen as “Easy Mode” by non-stealthers.
 * Goal #2 - Do not design a class that is centered around a strong opener, stun, and vanish with long/unlimited stealth, nor a class that can hide, one-shot, vanish again.
 * Goal #3 – Design a class that has the ability to be very active and sought-after, either in RvR groups or as roamers.
 * Goal #4 – Design a class that some non-traditional Stealthers want to play.
 * Goal #5 – Design a class that requires skill to play well, and not just unlimited patience.
 * Goal #6 – Design a system where a gank group of Stealthers is not possible.
 * Goal #7 – Design a system that doesn’t affect the launch date of the game.

Camouflage
Camouflage is useable by all classes.

Archer classes get “magically enhanced” camouflage. Camouflage effectiveness is determined by the garb and environment. Camouflage works by drastically increasing your concealment stat while in use.

Concealment
Concealment prevents you from being detected and is different the Stealth. Whether or not you will be seen is based off an unknown formula that pits the users concealment value against the enemies detection rating.

Scouts enjoy a large boost to their concealment stat while in their scouting form with no duration to limit the effect, although the effectiveness may be diminished based on time of day.

Veil Walking
Veilwalking is distinct from camouflage and concealment. Veilwalking is the Camelot Unchained term that best translates to traditional MMO "stealth", and is the primary mechanism for the Stealther trio. It involves the practitioner going into the Veil, and it is their presence in the Veil which provides these classes their stealth status. All in attempt to gain surprise, and/or build up resources in order to gain an advantage versus an opponent.


 * Veilwalking duration is not permanent, but instead lasts a “long” time (further specifics have not been given as of yet).
 * Stealthers will be able to see other stealth classes while within the veil (the distances are unknown).
 * Stealthers will be able to see other player characters outside the veil. (the distances are unknown).
 * Stealthers will be immune to abilities from characters outside the veil unless they are specifically intended to target those within.

The longer the stealth classes remain within the Veil, the more damage they take when they emerge from the Veil. Estimates of damage are unknown. This is considered to be a balancing factor that allows CSE to give stealthers “strong openers”, and not force the stealthers to stand still to recover as was originally planned while unstealthing. This mechanic may or may not prove necessary and may not be kept (needs citation).

The more Stealthers within an area, the more Veil disturbance is created. Veil disturbance increases the damage taken while within the veil, and makes those inside easier to detect by creating more “noise” vs. the Detection statfromn their opponents. This noise is partially countered when many players help create background noise. This background noise will act as a mask to reduce the ease at which Stealthers are detected around larger fights. The results should be:


 * 1 Stealther vs a single target : the Stealthers has normal stealth effectiveness.
 * Multiple Stealthers vs fewer targets: the Stealthers have reduced stealth effectiveness.
 * Multiple Stealthers in an area where multiple people are fighting: the Stealthers has normal stealth effectiveness.