Hacker could use some buffing

[Vert]

I feel that hacking is already a bit of a sloppy mechanic. The hacks are slower than your character can run, travel along strange paths to get back towards your character and they don't always disable the one specific defense you needed down. Allowing the hacker to get them quicker doesn't make the mechanic any less sloppy.

Additionally, outlet placement is completely randomized and they will often be generated in unreachable places. Even worse is if they are generated on the side of the level without anything to disable, with none of them showing up near the laser light shows. For all of these reasons, I feel that the hacker is the weakest character currently, especially for speedrunning. If you look at the pickpocket story all-time multiplayer leaderboards, you will find 0 hackers played in the top 10.

I suggest that hacks remain how they are for everyone else, but give the hacker one of the following things:

Hacker's hacks move faster
Hacker's hacks last longer
Hacker always has one 'free' hack.
Hacker spawns a hack when using an item
Hacker's hacks disable defenses longer

I welcome any discussion on my suggestions, or others suggestions, on how to improve the hacker.

[Differ3nce]

There is a guide for the hacker, maybe there are some useful things in there. Though I do agree that the hacker could use a buff. In my opinion the main problem is the power outlet placement and I think there should be more control of the outlets in the editor. Like the way you have control over the lootspawn, you could force a better spread and also you could actually force how many power outlets are availlable. If this will be added to the editor, the original campaign levels can be modified to incorporate this and the hacker could be balanced for each level.

[Warlord]

Yeah, the hacker is nice, but outlets are rare as heck, never convenient or predictable, and sometimes absent entirely. I like his faster camera and computer access, but there's always another way around every camera without a hacker.

[Jiik]

Цитата допису Differ3nce:

There is a guide for the hacker, maybe there are some useful things in there. Though I do agree that the hacker could use a buff. In my opinion the main problem is the power outlet placement and I think there should be more control of the outlets in the editor. Like the way you have control over the lootspawn, you could force a better spread and also you could actually force how many power outlets are availlable. If this will be added to the editor, the original campaign levels can be modified to incorporate this and the hacker could be balanced for each level.

u talking bout mine? xD

[Differ3nce]

yeah :P

[Vert]

I'd like to revise my OP to show, for the record, that there are no hackers played in the top 10 of any MP all-time leaderboard, except for a single bugged time. That alone should show that this class could use a little love :)

[Differ3nce]

Personally I don't think speed runs are a good way to compare characters in general. Speed runs are something you do after you've played the game a lot, but most players don't do that. So buffing a character only for the small amount of speed runners is not a good thing. Though I still think the random outlet placement should be better.

[Jiik]

Цитата допису Differ3nce:

yeah :P

thanks, i honestly think i need to improve it.

[mole]

the thing is, being able to go faster means you were more effective at getting past traps/npcs and collecting coins, and movement through the level. in theory the hacker is good for disabling traps, but in practice you really don't get much from being a hacker. random outlet placement is what makes it bad, if outlets were map features then you'd have additional tools to work on maps with. every other class brings something unique to the table except locksmith. The difference is locksmith being able to open doors, of which there are dozens, if not hundreds, and safes/registers/atms, which are full of coins, super fast makes the game much easier in lots of segments.

the ability to hack a computer faster than normal is almost never relevant. being able to hack cameras faster is interesting but usually not a big deal, most of the time you won't be manually hacking cameras at all.

[NoRepro [dev]]

One point about the hacker that not many ppl seem to get is that hacks also turn out lights, which make you stealthier, especially while sneaking. That's not to say you guys are wrong, but any particular player's style will only suit 4 of the characters or so, and the others will seem underpowered.

I didn't expect the popularity of the gentleman, for instance, but it turns out there's a lot of people out there that like to play the game a little more stealthily than I ;)

[AndyN.]

There is a tiny bug that can cause the outlets to be unreachable and in some levels, this happens a lot. Perhaps it's worth discussing increasing the frequency of the outlets then.

[mole]

I suppose if outlets generated as always reachable, and more often, it would make the class more attractive. as it is now, it's rare to find an outlet that actually helps in any way. I know guards and coins are also random, but outlets being in any wall square makes them a lot more variable.

[Vert]

Any class can grab hacks and turn lights off though, so this doesn't benefit the hacker exclusively. It's also kind of a crap shoot if you're running somewhere and the hack trails behind you, unable to turn off the lights in front of the patroller around the corner ahead of you. This is perhaps where my suggestion of increasing the speed of the hacks themselves can improve that and make it a distinct advantage to bring a hacker along.

I'd also like to point out that there's only two computers I've seen that the increased hacking speed (50% of the hacker's secondary ability) allows you to grab without alerting/alarming. The first is in Pearls before Swine, at the front desk. A hacker can grab that computer without fully alerting the guard standing across the counter looking at the computer. Keep in mind, the cleaner, redhead and gentlemen can all access this computer with their primary abilities without alerting.

The other computer is in Identity, on a desk on the 4th floor between the alarm tiled/camera shotgun turret section. This is the only real place that the hacker shines, as it's suicide to grab that hack as any other class.

But I agree, I feel that the biggest improvement to the hacker would be improvements to the outlet generation. Maybe you can increase their spawn rates near zones with heavy amounts of electronics?

[Lemming Jesus]

Just letting us click to tell the hack what to disable would go a long way towards making them useful. There's been times where a room is full of security and the hack moves around to the wrong place. Although I don't expect we'll ever get that when we can't even click menus.

[Differ3nce]

It was a design choice to make the virusses behave like this. In everything you see in monaco you don't need an extra button, which is exactly what you have now with the virusses. If there would be some more power outlets, the hacker would create an army of virusses and would disable all things on his path. Maybe a longer virus time for the hacker would increase this power, because getting a lot of virusses sometimes takes too much time.

[Warlord]

Well, maybe not an extra button, but possibly have them try to either gravitate towards the mouse cursor in M&K mode or in controller mode right thumbstick should make them move that way generally. it's annoying they only sit on the closest electronic. The safe underground in the prestige is a pain to get alone because the virus refuses to stay on the camera and instead sits uselessly on the floor panel as you try to open a safe, letting the camera spot you. if I could just press up on the thumbstick to force it further up to stick to the camera, that'd be nice...