» Tue May 15, 2012 4:10 am
Pickpocketing other players has been tried and it wasn't that great. Trying to do any banking in UO was a major annoyance. I just don't foresee any dev wanting to open up that can of worms again.
There are other factors to consider in regards to stealth though. Divination school of magic should have abilities to improve stealth detection. By design, stealth and anti-stealth will have to be skill based to some extent. Then there is chameleon which is magic similar to stealth but does not reduce noise like stealth does, meaning it is sight only stealth. Then again, there is true invisibility which simply renders a character invisible ala wow. What I am saying is that TES, by design, has a number of different ways to achieve some degree of stealth, making it far more accessible than the typical mmo design.
Wow did in fact have stealth detection built into it, although it was a stat that could not be tinkered with. Druids seemed to me to be the best class for detecting stealthers. You could hear them before you saw them usually. You would get that sound that played when characters entered stealth and I would know to start looking for the ripples in the terrain and to start seeking a target. If I could get them rooted or stunned before they got the jump on me it was usually another HK for me.
If stealth is implemented in this game for either combat or just general roguery such as pick-pocketing, then anti-stealth skills will also be needed. I am thinking traditional high perception characters such as archers may have some by default and of course, divination magic should be able to boost it via some buff system (short duration high detection or long duration short detection type mechanic). Typically, stealth characters in group pvp are line breakers, penetrating the heavily armored line to seek softer targets such as healers and squishy mages. If those characters are able to boost stealth detection via divination, then it makes for near certain death for a stealth character once you factor in cc measures and the ton of dps being poured on them.
Most WoW rogues hang out, seeking soft targets simply because, if I understand them right, they svck in a group setting. They are easily way over-powered 1 vs 1 depending on who gets the jump but in a group setting, they are nearly as soft a target as healing priests.
Im not trying to argue for or against stealth, merely trying to open up the view to what it is and how it will affect group pvp. It is indeed hard to balance. Make it too strong and it's nearly always win for the stealther. Make it too weak and the class typically becomes nearly unplayable.