This will be a quick run down on everything you need to know about training stealth. First, lets start with a simple question.
Why stealth?
There are two ways to look at defense, you can avoid trouble or you can run from it. Hiding is the skill that allows you to do these things. Stealth is the natural extension of hiding being that it allows you to move while hidden. Sometimes people say magery is for jerks overpowered because 100 skills lets you perform a fascimile function of other skills. That may be true, but what spell lets you move while hidden? That is the answer to the question of why choose stealth. Stealth does what magery can't.
Alright, got it, don't need magery when I've got stealth!
Hold up there, hoss. Alls I'm sayin' is magery can't replace stealth, but it can replace hiding. In fact, you can stealth without even hiding, you can stealth off of an Invisibility cast. The boon stealth gives to a mage or archer shouldn't be overlooked. A build that offensively uses group stealth tactics is not common because of the difficulty of coordination and the trade off of losing some other skill, but they can be the terror of the server because by the time you know they're there it is too late.
Quit wasting our time with bad writing, where's those sweet macros at!
The macro I've got is very elegant, it reads your journal for system messages and responds accordingly. I took the base from some forum long ago and modified it to work better. You will want to create a .macro file in Razor's Macro folder which is probably located in Users>AppData>Roaming or something similiar.
Keep in mind that it only will use Hiding or Stealth if the sucess or failure messages are in your journal, meaning you have to attempt to hide once before running the macro.
I can't even use stealth! I can't gain past 80! This guide sucks!
You'll need to have achieved 80 hiding before you can attempt to use stealth, you don't need a fancy macro for that though. Once you do have 80 hiding you should get started on stealth right away because my stealth macro will train hiding as well as stealth. If you begin training stealth after hitting 100 hiding you'll be wasting potential gains when you fail to stealth and have to rehide.
Once you hit 80 stealth in just your newbie clothes you'll find the gains stop. Stealth is a difficulty based skill, your ability to sucessfully stealth is based on your characters armor count (AR). You could leave your stealth at 80 if you never plan on wearing armor, but this will also limit your stealth steps count to 8. If you don't need the 20 points for tracking or something, or want to go 10 steps, or want to wear armor then take it all the way to GM. In order to do this you'll need to put on a full suit of leather armor, though past 98 stealth you might try switching to studded if you're really obsessed with saving some time. I noticed no real difference in gains prior to 80 stealth when I tried raising my characters AR by 1 per 10 skill. For simplicity's sake you can just wear a full suit of leather and GM stealth.
Ok I'm 100/100 Hiding/Stealth, dropped Eval/Tactics and I hit like a kitten! This build sucks! I want my money back! 1/10 On Rotten Tomatoes!
You'll have to think hard about what exactly you want to do with stealth. By choosing stealth you're choosing to become specialized. If you're a stealth mage or fighter you wont be able to stand toe to toe in a standard skirmish. Pick your battles. Or be like me and don't battle! Cower in fear as the murderers run by! Pick their leftover kills like a buzzard as they pay to attention to the ghost walker! Take your stealthy lockpicker from dungeon chest to dungeon chest without fear! Two pesky Balrons in the Terathon Keep guarding your dungeon chest? No problem, they might as well be mongbats.
Why stealth?
There are two ways to look at defense, you can avoid trouble or you can run from it. Hiding is the skill that allows you to do these things. Stealth is the natural extension of hiding being that it allows you to move while hidden. Sometimes people say magery is for jerks overpowered because 100 skills lets you perform a fascimile function of other skills. That may be true, but what spell lets you move while hidden? That is the answer to the question of why choose stealth. Stealth does what magery can't.
Alright, got it, don't need magery when I've got stealth!
Hold up there, hoss. Alls I'm sayin' is magery can't replace stealth, but it can replace hiding. In fact, you can stealth without even hiding, you can stealth off of an Invisibility cast. The boon stealth gives to a mage or archer shouldn't be overlooked. A build that offensively uses group stealth tactics is not common because of the difficulty of coordination and the trade off of losing some other skill, but they can be the terror of the server because by the time you know they're there it is too late.
Quit wasting our time with bad writing, where's those sweet macros at!
The macro I've got is very elegant, it reads your journal for system messages and responds accordingly. I took the base from some forum long ago and modified it to work better. You will want to create a .macro file in Razor's Macro folder which is probably located in Users>AppData>Roaming or something similiar.
Code:
!Loop
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you fail in your attempt to move unnoticed.
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044081|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000
Assistant.Macros.ElseAction
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you must hide first
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044081|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000
Assistant.Macros.ElseAction
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you fail to hide
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044081|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000
Assistant.Macros.ElseAction
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you have hidden yourself well.
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044107|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000
Assistant.Macros.ElseAction
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you begin to move quietly.
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044107|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000
Assistant.Macros.ElseAction
Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|you must wait a few moments to use another skill.
Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044107|
Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000Keep in mind that it only will use Hiding or Stealth if the sucess or failure messages are in your journal, meaning you have to attempt to hide once before running the macro.
I can't even use stealth! I can't gain past 80! This guide sucks!
You'll need to have achieved 80 hiding before you can attempt to use stealth, you don't need a fancy macro for that though. Once you do have 80 hiding you should get started on stealth right away because my stealth macro will train hiding as well as stealth. If you begin training stealth after hitting 100 hiding you'll be wasting potential gains when you fail to stealth and have to rehide.
Once you hit 80 stealth in just your newbie clothes you'll find the gains stop. Stealth is a difficulty based skill, your ability to sucessfully stealth is based on your characters armor count (AR). You could leave your stealth at 80 if you never plan on wearing armor, but this will also limit your stealth steps count to 8. If you don't need the 20 points for tracking or something, or want to go 10 steps, or want to wear armor then take it all the way to GM. In order to do this you'll need to put on a full suit of leather armor, though past 98 stealth you might try switching to studded if you're really obsessed with saving some time. I noticed no real difference in gains prior to 80 stealth when I tried raising my characters AR by 1 per 10 skill. For simplicity's sake you can just wear a full suit of leather and GM stealth.
Ok I'm 100/100 Hiding/Stealth, dropped Eval/Tactics and I hit like a kitten! This build sucks! I want my money back! 1/10 On Rotten Tomatoes!
You'll have to think hard about what exactly you want to do with stealth. By choosing stealth you're choosing to become specialized. If you're a stealth mage or fighter you wont be able to stand toe to toe in a standard skirmish. Pick your battles. Or be like me and don't battle! Cower in fear as the murderers run by! Pick their leftover kills like a buzzard as they pay to attention to the ghost walker! Take your stealthy lockpicker from dungeon chest to dungeon chest without fear! Two pesky Balrons in the Terathon Keep guarding your dungeon chest? No problem, they might as well be mongbats.
