How noticeable is halfling stealth?

[Jimjam]

Just curious what kind of difference the Halfling stealth actually makes?

How often are there moments where you're like "Damn, glad I went Halfling, that saved me"?

Are there certain play styles you can use to maximum the ability?

[Fammaden]

Ideally not noticeable at all if you are behind the mob.

[loramin]

I made my Druid and Cleric both Halflings specifically because of the racial Hide/Sneak (and of course the +5% XP bonus :D). On paper all that seemed to give Halflings the best racial benefits for both classes. However, in practice I almost never use either skill on either character.

Sneak I probably could use to vendor in certain places ... but I never think to do so; I just port somewhere I can sell on my Druid, or wait and sell later on my Cleric. And of course my Druid can just use Invis, and my Cleric can use Invis items. Maybe if I played a Rogue to a decent level I'd be more used to it, and so take advantage of it more? But for me Sneak wound up never getting used.

Hide however I did use ... very rarely. It's perfect for when you are are soloing, and don't want to have to find an "AFK safe spot". You can just Hide, /con something to make sure it worked, and then go AFK peacefully.

[magnetaress]

Everyone should get sneaking.

[Fammaden]

Yeah the hide can be nice for afk/idle time, sneak can be helpful for warrior with the lack of invis, but mostly they aren't that useful and 50 skill cap is inconsistent resulting in excessive attempts to succeed.

Dwarven barrel roll is the supreme racial ability for any class that can be a dwarf. It never stops being functional in any situation or at any level or phase of the game, and you will never stop loving it every time its used.

[Vizax_Xaziv]

Halfling Warrior could use Sneak to tag mobs after Monk FD. Dunno if that still works or not but it was fantastic when I played my Warrior on Blue.

[Bardp1999]

Sneak tagging has been 'fixed' since like 2017

[Entee]

Just curious what kind of difference the Halfling stealth actually makes?

How often are there moments where you're like "Damn, glad I went Halfling, that saved me"?

Are there certain play styles you can use to maximum the ability?

lol

[GinnasP99]

Sneak is sorta useful for getting past the first 2 seahorses in SG.

[Vizax_Xaziv]

Sneak tagging has been 'fixed' since like 2017

Ahhh....that's too bad. Was insanely strong on Halfling Warrior

[getsome]

Sneak Allowed unfettered movement in VP on my cleric.

Sneak Assisted me on countless CR’s when the rest of my group were lazy.

[Videri]

I've been able to take advantage of Potatus's Sneak to sneak into/around/out of Sol B and to get around hostile city NPCs. I also use it to safely stand in line of sight so I can pull from a distance with a bowshot, disengage Sneak, and run back to camp without getting hit. I don't think it's gamebreaking, but I do use it frequently. Halfling warrior, 54 atm.

[aspomwell]

I've been able to take advantage of Potatus's Sneak to sneak into/around/out of Sol B and to get around hostile city NPCs. I also use it to safely stand in line of sight so I can pull from a distance with a bowshot, disengage Sneak, and run back to camp without getting hit. I don't think it's gamebreaking, but I do use it frequently. Halfling warrior, 54 atm.

The idea of someone sneaking around in full plate is hilarious!

[Gustoo]

If getsome story is legit than its pretty cool./

I have never really got any benefit from sneak but it isn't why I chose halfling.

[fastboy21]

I use hide/bindwound on my halfling war all the time...there are spots I solo that it wouldn't work otherwise.

[Xer0]

I made my Druid and Cleric both Halflings specifically because of the racial Hide/Sneak (and of course the +5% XP bonus :D). On paper all that seemed to give Halflings the best racial benefits for both classes. However, in practice I almost never use either skill on either character.

Sneak I probably could use to vendor in certain places ... but I never think to do so; I just port somewhere I can sell on my Druid, or wait and sell later on my Cleric. And of course my Druid can just use Invis, and my Cleric can use Invis items. Maybe if I played a Rogue to a decent level I'd be more used to it, and so take advantage of it more? But for me Sneak wound up never getting used.

Hide however I did use ... very rarely. It's perfect for when you are are soloing, and don't want to have to find an "AFK safe spot". You can just Hide, /con something to make sure it worked, and then go AFK peacefully.

hide is useful when charm kiting as a druid cause it lets you break charm.

It's also helpful if you can't invis and need to avoid aggro from a hostile for one reason or another. but as mnetioned by others, the skill cap of 50 makes it not entirely reliable and often requires multiple attempts.

[adruidarkly]

Sneak has several solid applications but ultimately not game changing to the l degree to be a halfling

[Keebz]

Sneak is just a convenience thing for getting around/vendoring/questing at this point.

It's only 50 skill so it's kinda hard to get a sense for the power of sneak on a halfling, but it's useful.

Hide also, but the convenience is much more obvious for classes that can't invis.

[loramin]

hide is useful when charm kiting as a druid cause it lets you break charm.

Not really ... or at least not once your server gets to Kunark. Why? When charm fighting you need to break the charm now, not "when Hide feels like working". If you try to Hide and it doesn't break your charm, either your pet kills the mob and you lose half its XP ... or your pet dies instead, and you lose 100% of its XP.

In short, all Hide offers a charmer is a decent chance of losing XP on every charm fight. You're better off casting Invis on yourself, because even if it's slower at least you know for certain that it will break charm, and you can try and time your casts accordingly.

But the real answer is that if you're charm fighting, you want an instant-cast Invis item, like the Circlet (Necros) or Goblin Ring (everyone else).

[Xer0]

Not really ... or at least not once your server gets to Kunark. Why? When charm fighting you need to break the charm now, not "when Hide feels like working". If you try to Hide and it doesn't break your charm, either your pet kills the mob and you lose half its XP ... or your pet dies instead, and you lose 100% of its XP.

In short, all Hide offers a charmer is a decent chance of losing XP on every charm fight. You're better off casting Invis on yourself, because even if it's slower at least you know for certain that it will break charm, and you can try and time your casts accordingly.

But the real answer is that if you're charm fighting, you want an instant-cast Invis item, like the Circlet (Necros) or Goblin Ring (everyone else).

I usually don't break charm mid combat. I get the XP from the uncharmed mob and then if the charmed mob is low enough (15% or less) I break charm in between pulls.

So yeah, it sitll works for breaking charm.

[zodium]

I use sneak constantly both on green and blue. to complete quests, vendor, check if I have aggro on mobs, set up pet pulls, sneak around like VP or whatever as intended, or just chillaxing out max and turning on walk while sneaking so it looks like im doing the Robot. one time on Blue I did the Fiery Avenger quest even though i'm max KOS to some of the quest mobs just because i killed their god like 50 times, and not a paladin.

imo it's an insanely powerful ability that puts all the lesser races in their place.

[Cawin]

Sneaks benefits, although not utilized much were detailed in many of these posts (passing certain mobs like in SolB, merchants, bow pull). Hide I saw the AFK stuff, but on a cursory scroll, didn't see mention of:

Hide on pull for Clerics and Druids.

Often especially in mid level dungeons pulled mobs will jump the healer due to sit aggro. The most pro Halfling priests Hide on pull to avoid this. It's also terrifying. Can't tell you how many times I freaked out that Holyfeet bailed on us in the middle of a group session.

Also: Halfling master race! Fun fact; Halflings were already favored because of Hobbits, but the 5% exp bonus was meant for HUM and was mistakenly given to HFL. Early manuals and guidebooks were printed stating Humans as having this bonus and Halflings not due to this, but they decided to never correct. Pras!

[uygi]

Entertaining to me that OP appears to think that hide/sneak on EQ works like stealth in WoW. Hide and Sneak in EQ are binary, on or off. Hide is also IVU for rogues only, but still binary. Any character (other than rog kinda) that is hidden is exactly as well hidden as any other character.

Hide cap of 50 isn't perfect, but it often works first try and would be unusual to fail more than twice.

[loramin]

I usually don't break charm mid combat. I get the XP from the uncharmed mob and then if the charmed mob is low enough (15% or less) I break charm in between pulls.

So yeah, it sitll works for breaking charm.

You're getting half XP from the uncharmed mob then :(

[Benanov]

Entertaining to me that OP appears to think that hide/sneak on EQ works like stealth in WoW. Hide and Sneak in EQ are binary, on or off. Hide is also IVU for rogues only, but still binary. Any character (other than rog kinda) that is hidden is exactly as well hidden as any other character.

Hide cap of 50 isn't perfect, but it often works first try and would be unusual to fail more than twice.

Of course, the worst part is that if you're not a rogue you can't hide & sneak at the same time.

[Gustoo]

Hide was nice when it worked against undead for non rogues.

switched to only work vs living which is sad but I believe correct.

[uygi]

Hide was nice when it worked against undead for non rogues.

switched to only work vs living which is sad but I believe correct.

It was super OP back when it applied to undeads... and you could test your own hide success... and being hidden while FD guaranteed a full aggro wipe. That was nuts by itself, never mind the ridiculous pulls it allowed.