No, they’re really not, as you could see and hear their footsteps in the cinematic. Something god-tier OOC stealthers usually conveniently forget to emote. In fact 99% who use the OOC stealth IC don’t emote at all, be that before stealthing or during. They also usually don’t check with you for any wards or other ways of exposure. It’s plain boring / borders on godemoting.
At the same time, not all of these stealthing characters are deathstalkers who are likely trained in these particular magics (esp. via void should be easier for them to master). In any case, ways of IC stealthing isn’t the topic here so I’ll drop that.
Sure. When they get close. Same as how it works in game, if you’re using Stealth and get close, you get spotted. Same thing as happened to the Deathstalkers in that cinematic. I meant invisible, not inaudible.
Wards would kind of be on you (as in the person being observed, not the personal ‘you’) to describe, even as simple as emoting looking around suspiciously would give them a clue that they may not be as hidden from your gaze as they think. Sururmar gives a good example of suspicion, as does the ‘grunt’ reaction noise NPC’s use if they are about to notice you. Even taking a Demon Hunter as an example, using their special sight is an active thing, not a passive thing, and I can’t honestly see why a person -in- stealth would emote, I mean you can’t -see- them, so wouldn’t notice what they are doing.
It isn’t Godemoting in the slightest, it is a ‘thing’ that can be done, as is seen in game, in novels and in cinematics. The methods may vary, it might just be someone very good at being stealthy (though standing in plain sight would be weird in that case), it may be some Gnomish or Goblin tech allowing invisibility, which we know exists in game, or yes, it may indeed be a more magical ability, and Forsaken Deathstalkers by no means have a monopoly on such.
Just clarifying my opinion on the subject, not trying to prolong an argument or pick a fight over it.
Isn’t the whole thing with Stealth, the ability(From the rogue -class-) that they kinda use some minor shadow magic? Or was that just headcanon that got spread around?
I think people tend to use various IC explanations to justify what is essentially the same mechanic as an outcome. Which is all fine and dandy, as long as they fit the setting, aye.
Absolutley! Im also fine with people roleplaying as just a person trying to hide, and not the actual stealth mechanic, but then it is their choice and other rogues doesn’t need to adhere to this.
You can make noises even at a distance btw, but yeah usually they are master assassins IC, I suppose it doesn‘t happen. There are also scents. There‘s very few cases where emoting nothing at all is actually appropriate. In any case, to each their own, however I wouldn‘t really recommend doing it with strangers.
Edit: To clarify, I was never denying there‘s ways IC to be invisible. I was just doubting it‘s a good tool to use in RP to depict it, mainly due to OOC mechanics involved.
Oh for sure, absolutely, if my G.C.O Gnome drops his rifle whilst stealthed, that’s going to make a noise, and I’d emote and drop stealth accordingly, but equally he is kind of trained in this shiz, being G.C.O, so isn’t likely to make such a rookie error. Stealth does imply that the character is good at this shiz, so they’re not likely to be crashing cymbals together as they approach because ‘I am Invisble’, to take it to a bizarre extent. I’d strongly imagine that whatever nation they are of, there would be a certain amount of training to minimise the things that could give you away, and that if you are inexpert at it, chances are you will get rumbled (Which is kind of handled by the fact that high level characters can spot stealthed characters at a greater range than characters of a comparable level)
This is an interesting one, and a bit off tangent, so bear with me. We know, from novels, and heck even the ‘Elven Crew’ stats for Dockyards, that Elves of all types have superior eyesight. We know that Worgen have a superior sense of smell, both of which make perfect sense.
Basically here is a thing that bugs me, and I’d like to know other people’s opinion on it;
Forsaken Smell.
Do they though?
All living creatures smell, no matter how clean and perfect their hygiene is, they smell. To us, as real life humans, unless someone has a hygiene issue, or is wearing excessive cologne or perfume, we don’t generally notice, it is just ‘background noise’ (to mix two senses!) We get used to it. Now Forsaken. Rotting flesh obviously smells, pungently, -But- They have stopped rotting. They are trapped in an unnatural state. They are not giving off the subtle pheromones, they do not sweat, breathe out carbon dioxide, have body odour, and most importantly: They are not rotting anymore! They can’t be. Rotting is an active process that has to happen. If they were still rotting then Lordaeron is as good as free in ten years time, just wait for them to skeletonise. I put it to you that the idea of Forsaken ‘stinking of death’ is just a baseless metaphor playing on fears. I mean they can’t. They’re trapped in a static state, where their decay has halted, they do not give off living pheromones either. Such an entity would smell of absolutely -nothing-. They would be as antiseptic as a tight hospital ward. Now that very -absence- of smell is probably incredibly unsettling to animals, or those with animalistic perceptions (Hence Ivar Bloodfang sensing the hidden Deathstalker in Silverpine), which is possibly why the Forsaken favour mounts such as their own Undead Horses, or Bats, who in some breeds have traded off (Evolutionarily ) their sight and smell for Echolocation. (Not all Bats, Fruitbats have pretty good eyesight, but the Forsaken Bats definitely are not big Fruitbats).
Forsaken can’t smell, basically. it makes no sense if they smell of putrefaction, because, well, they aren’t putrefying anymore?
They should smell as creepy as a hospital ward smells, perfectly sterile, unusual, unnatural.
Anyway, that’s my personal take on it.
There’s nothing wrong with using stealth IC, as long as you are sensible about it, to be fair…
Can‘t say much about your last question, but yes. OOC stealthing makes a lot of assumptions about the other char and you can simply overlook obvious things, like the race of the other player.
Orcs can smell a drop of blood on the lower level while being in the first level of a building. Worgen are literal wolf men, go figure. Night elves and orcs have better vision at night than humans. Different classes can sense magic in their surroundings. I don‘t feel I should be writing „has a nose“ in my TRP just to cater to OOC stealth RP so they pay special attention to it. I shouldn‘t have to emote sniffing the air necessarily either, smelling is a rather passive thing.
The scent thing is even funnier when these assassins are drenched in blood from the battlefield, yet no emote follows for worgen/orcs/shapeshifted druids. Overall a tiring thing to deal with in RP. Not combining it with emotes takes any opportunity away to communicate with each other and potentially fill any blind spots.
If you don‘t trust the guy being spied on to not change his behaviour after knowing you‘re there, I don‘t know why he should trust you RPing OOC stealth correctly.
I just realized: Garithos was basically a racist roleplayer who disliked RP-PvP (or was banned from those events because of his bad behavior) and therefore had no chance to RP a racist against his actual enemies, so he decided to RP racism against allies even though it made no sense.
It all makes sense now.
Garithos was an expendable character who’s whole purpose was to be an antagonist to the fledgling blood elves and later to be shown as a hypocrite when he allies with the undead. He’s a meme.
Go to the story forums tho and people treat him like he’s a genuine character with noble flaws lol.
Thing is, if they want a “Racist” character to like, there is a decent human one, Sky Admiral Rogers. While not having -that- much screentime, she is displayed as competent and while a bit brash(a character flaw) still treats her allies well. Her racism is more a deep hatred for the Horde, in particular orcs and Forsaken whom she both see as lesser creatures/monsters rather than just enemies. Checking on her wowpedia as well, she seem to display this in Before Storm novel too, being opposed to the idea of accepting Forsaken deserters or w/e to call them.
She was also not against the idea to try and wield the Sha as a weapon against the Horde during MoP(another character flaw).
True, and I did specify that some races have better senses than others, whether smell, hearing or sight, or as you say, more mystical abilities. I’d include Gnomes in the ‘better eyesight’ bracket, as they did until recently mostly live underground (Although admittedly Gnomeregan does/did seem to be well lit, it would not always have been thus.
No, of course not, it is quite evident if a character is missing their nose, but it is a ‘cue’ to the stealthed person, that they should act accordingly, if they are trying to sneak up on a Worgen, who then starts visibly sniffing the air, as opposed to just breathing normally. It is a two way process, if you ain’t noticeably ‘looking’ for them, they don’t know that you are, and equally they should be trying to avoid getting close enough for that to happen.
Oh well, in that case they are an idiot, and I didn’t know you specifically meant assassins, as opposed to just stealth users in general. The key element of successful assassins in our real world is to make themselves relatively ‘invisible’ in terms of just blending in, and always has been since the Hashashin from where we get the word. Being blatant is not terribly sensible. (Don’t ask me why Mathias Shaw has glowy shoulderpads) Not cleaning blood off yourself is not only unhygienic, but also incredibly foolhardy and likely to degrade your armour/clothing. Anyone who has ever injured themselves badly enough to have spilt a fair amount of blood will recognise the smell of blood, it is not exactly a forgettable odour, trust me. Even if not a Werewolf or Shapeshifted Cat, it is pretty darned distinctive.
As I say, its give and take. If the stealthed person is indeed playing it sensibly, chances are very high they will remain undetected, and you don’t -have- to RP with them in that situation, because quite simply, you don’t know they are there. Tough luck if you are doing something boring like sitting in a Rose Garden, or a Cemetery whilst you afk and pop up the shops, or go to the loo, or put the kettle on. -They- are the ones watching you, if you’re not doing anything interesting, then kind of tough luck on them.
What I was referring to was, as you mentioned Wards, if you -do- have any means of detecting Stealth, that go beyond “I’m a frickin’ Worgen, I can smell you” then -that- is the unusual factor, at which point the onus is on you to make -them- aware of it, if you see what I mean. Has to work both ways. I’ve actually had that happen, on said aforementioned G.C.O Gnome. No intent to murder the person I was observing, I was just asked to watch them, because they were a suspected Twilight Cultist. Like a total Rem I clicked one of my macro’s meaning that the character puffed on a cigar. (By accident, my left mouse button is more skittish than a stray cat in Battersea Dogs Home) Well obviously that gives off a smell, So I was neither aggrieved or considered it godemoting when the human character said “Who’s there, I can smell the smoke”, so cursing his lapse of judgment, Gallery Fitzjinx hit his pectoral, disabling his Stealth generator and just fronted it out. “Look, you’ve been acting fishy, and people think you are some sort of weird void cultist, so I gotta ask you ‘Stretch’, are you a Void cultist? Saying no don’t mean you’re off the hook, just means next time they’ll send someone who doesn’t have a nicotine habit…so best we have this conversation now, don’t try anything funny, there are guys on the roof with rifles…” (There weren’t, I was just blagging it)
Go to the story forums and just about every Alliance character, even the ones deliberately written to be massively flawed and unpleasant somehow transmute into good guys. “Garithos was good, because if you look at what Garrosh did…”
Sorry, What?
The two never met, there is no correlation in their story, and they were 100% ignorant of each others existence.
“Yes, but the Horde…”
No hang on, Garithos, we’re talking about Garithos…
“Theramore was a bigger act of racism than Garithos committed, he did nothing wrong!”
Right, OK, can we have the same conversation with people with more intelligence than a peanut?
Sky Admiral Rogers is one of my favourite characters. Dread Captain Tattersail is approaching that, but Rogers is brilliant, she has a clear, defined reason to hate the Horde, she’s even limited, she blames Orcs and Forsaken, especially Forsaken, but she has -good- reason to! She’s not like Garithos. “Grrr, The Forsaken Blighted Southshore! I hate the Tauren so much right now!”
Garithos was like Alf Garnett without even a reason!
Sky-admiral Rogers is absolutely mint as a character with motives goes.
Hot take: if you’re in RPPVP and are flagged on, you’re entirely in your right to use rogue / druid stealth IC (without emotes). If you don’t get caught, it’s entirely fault of the enemy for not using demon hunter [Spectral Sight] or hunter [Flare].
