To be pedantic, it is documented, it’s just listed under the Fixes category. Their visibility before was due to a bug in the way a combination of fog and their invisibility effects were being rendered.
Fixes
- Fixed issue where Stalkers became very visible in fog
I saw that issue listed on the patch notes, but it doesn’t do the change justice. It’d be like if I told my wife that I fixed the issue with my car making a weird noise, and then she went out to the garage to see I bought a brand new car.
I have to agree, their stealth has become a serious threat now. Before you could generally spot them easily, it was the determination and moment of surprise were they got you. Now a wounded but hidden stalker remains a concern.
Yeah they actually feel pretty scary to fight against now. The stealth was kind of funny before since they were still really easy to spot. Not so much now!
Personally, I still find it amusing to spot them bippin’ about in the distance, drop an AC sentry out on a 45, maybe squeeze off a few rounds to keep the li’l fucker occupied while the strat spins up, and then plink the “invisible” jackass just enough to drop its cloaking… so I can laugh maniacally while the sentry shreds it into a ragdoll.
Can you spot them in the distance now? I came across a few nests last night and genuinely could not see them most of the time. I was thinking they might be completely invisible at a distance.
I’m gonna say no if there are any other nearby enemies that have you attention. Had a squad of some 50s-80s last night and we got thoroughly fucked up on insane difficulty.
Problem was that we couldn’t see them until they were within striking range due to fighting the general stream of rabble, then they’d uncloak and almost instakill before getting a short distance away and reclaiming while wounded. We couldn’t follow the stream of them back to the nest either, so they basically preyed upon us until we stumbled upon and bombed the nest. Then we suffered from the ones already on the map since again, we could only see them when they were within a meter or two and they’d quickly kill us.
They are by far the most lethal addition, as you can detect and evade other giants long enough to kill them, but you can’t run or hide from these bastards. Certainly forced us to operate much closer to each other in future games.
I saw a video that made it look like they were completely invisible until very close - and then they just pop out of mid-air. So yeah, I think spotting them from a distance is impossible now. Makes them way more scary!
Dunno, I might’ve spent an unusual amount of time hunting them specifically out of spite. Their telltale mirage ripple grabs my attention more than any other ambush sign (I still get blindsided by a Charger if there’s more than two nearby). All in all, I’m sure it all balances out, and yes they most certainly got buffed last night, IMHO.
Yeah they’re wicked cool, but also wicked scary. Screwed me up in an extreme mission last night, I was trying to close the hole to the lair and one came out and killed me. Definitely my most dreaded enemy, and has become a priority target in missions for me.
I only play on helldivers and played around with loadouts and found one where i could do pretty much everything. This is fantastic i thought. I was galavanting around the map by myself, doing objectives, collecting samples, all that jazz. It was going great, nothing can stop me. Suddenly i got tounge punched by a stalker and my mood suddenly shattered. I quite literally forgot they exist and there was not a thing i could do. This game man.
Man, I still hate hunter packs more.
Hunter packs are pure evil, and the only reason i carry the new airburst launcher. Usually i try not to be seen by them when they patrol, now it’s all: eat shit you bastards