PVE uses for stealth

[Kinglazy]

I find it strange that stealth is entirely dedicated to PVP shenanigans beside capping some crafts. Me and most the people I play with never even touch this stat which is a shame because it has great thematic potential. And it also sucks seeing "stealth" on equipment and gildings and be all

Since everything in the game is balanced for pvp, my idea is to hit two birds by incorporate stealth in to something else I wish improved, hunting. I don't like how hunting in this game is basically just cheesing the AI and abusing the combat with buffers, BUT maybe I just hate how it breaks immersion by the obvious mechanical abuse. What if stealth helped mask the cheese. The following points aren't necessarily made to complement each other, only to give ideas.

- Animals have passive perception (some find you easier than others by smell or sight) which is translated in to a wider aggro range. Increasing stealth shrinks aggro range of all animals. Some remain hard to avoid even at high stealth, but some have the aggro range completely gone. Some birds could even be caught before they fly.

- Aggro range remains the same but each animal has a threshold to perception that if exceeded, the animal won't aggro you. Example: Bats have 50 PER. With 51+ stealth the bat never aggro you. [unless provoked of course]

- Remove Aggro range and introduce a much wider ring called the Detect Range that works on a distance based gradient. When entered by a hearthling, a constant battle of hearthling stealth and animal perception occurs. As you get closer to the animal, it has easier time finding and attacking you. Animals also now have multiple levels of detection. 0=unaware| 1=alarmed| 2=searching(you might wanna run) |3=aggroed. Each time hearthling fails the check, the animal advances a level of detection. Other factors that might affect the equation. Time of day vs nocturnal/day animals. Crawling raises stealth, running lowers it. Terrain vision.

- With ranged combat, animals have a chance of not being able to detect the source of the damage and runs away in fear. Leaving a trail to possibly repeat the process until animal dies. OR each hit could put the animal in to a different detection level so particularly dull animals could have multiple arrows in before acting.

- The first source of damage to an unaware animal does critical damage modified by stealth.

[serVar161]

I also barely level up my stealth skill—just enough so that the quality doesn't drop too much when crafting certain items. And since I don't commit crimes, concealing my scents doesn't make sense to me.

The idea of ​​adding a point to leveling this skill for "law-abiding" players is interesting.

1) Catching birds before they take flight is debatable. I don't think you can catch them barehanded, without bait, no matter how stealthy you are.
Narrowing the animal aggression zone is logical.
But
2) I don't think removing the aggression zone completely is a good idea. I think there should be a minimum value, depending on the factors you suggest in point 3—movement speed, time of day.

3) The rings around animals are misleading—they look like they represent the animal's aggression zone, but in reality, they're not, and the circles are simply an indication of aggressive animals. I wouldn't remove them, but I would make them much smaller in radius and height.
Replacing them with wider circles based on the aggro zone isn't a good idea, as that would make the entire map appear in circles.

You could avoid any indicators and let players figure out through experience how close they can get with their current stealth level.
Or you could make the indicator appear when you click on the animal.
I prefer option 1, as 2 would turn the game into Shadow Tactics or other similar stealth games. Although it will allow you to clearly see how this area is changing and detect if something is not working properly.

4) The animal's escape when suddenly damaged is a good idea. More natural behavior.

5) Critical damage with a stealth shot is classic RPG fare, but I don't think it's necessary – what really matters is where the shot hits, not whether it's unexpected or not. A stealth shot to the leg will deal the same damage as when the animal sees you. The reaction is different, but the damage isn't.

[Kinglazy]

5) Critical damage with a stealth shot is classic RPG fare, but I don't think it's necessary – what really matters is where the shot hits, not whether it's unexpected or not. A stealth shot to the leg will deal the same damage as when the animal sees you. The reaction is different, but the damage isn't.

Fair. Then how about this, as you hold your bow and aim, the hearthling is taking aim at an animals weak spots. The longer he holds it, the better the pay off but only for the first shot if the animal isn't aware of him. Stealth wouldn't directly contribute to the damage, but allows more leisure to approach the animal for a more accurate hit. i.e allows you to reach the maximum shot power quicker.

[serVar161]

Fair. Then how about this, as you hold your bow and aim, the hearthling is taking aim at an animals weak spots. The longer he holds it, the better the pay off but only for the first shot if the animal isn't aware of him. Stealth wouldn't directly contribute to the damage, but allows more leisure to approach the animal for a more accurate hit. i.e allows you to reach the maximum shot power quicker.

That's a variant. Or the damage increase due to the Marksmanship bonus—not exactly critical damage, but similar. The question is, does the game distinguish whether you're aiming at an animal or a player? Otherwise it will work against the players as well.