So, I've been playing with a rogue type character and while backstab damage can be impressive it is very finicky.
My main gripes are these:
-Enemies constant animation more often that not made me miss a hit.
-There is no indicator for a backstabbing position. I've been wasting precious AP to find that one spot behind their backs that allows for a backstab and it's even more frustrating when they're knocked down.

So my suggestions are:
- improve enemies hitboxes so that their animation doesn't make you miss hitting them if you're in the right position.
- Create a colored cone behind enemies backs that shows you the correct backstab position angle. Allow it to be seen only by Scoundrels and make it more wide with more points invested into Scoundrel.

+100500, had the very same suggestion, been too lay to write it down

I agree that the motion thing is annoying but there is an indicator for backstab - your cursor changes.

I know that, but I don't know exactly where to stand for that backstab icon to appear. Right now you gotta constantly adjust your position behind their backs, wasting precios AP, to get into the right spot. With the indicator you would be able to see where you need to stand to be in the green.

Yeah a Rogue is one of my main characters and I find it a bit difficult at times to find the right spot aswell. Every once in a while I have to do a bit of line-dancing (yeehaa!) to finally find the right spot aswell.

It seems to me that the radius of the backstab detection zone is rather small, so some kind of indication before moving would be nice. Now it's a sort of find the right pixel mini-game.

Bump.. any news from devs or modders regarding this?

Worst part of every fight.

+1

Agreed!

Once you know where the enemy's back is you should have no problems getting into place. It's not like you're finding a perfect pixel, there's a good cone for where you can stand.

getting into place should also not cost anything, as any movement distance from an AP you didn't spend makes moving free until you use it up. My rogue can move like 5m on a single ap so I can circle an enemy several times.

Even if I know it (I already figured it out) it still doesn't always show, so indeed, some indication, like a red line being drawn from the enemy on the floor indicating backstab position (having to stand on that line for example) would already be a HUGE help.

Heck, I wouldn't mind if it was a skill or alike that is being added. lol

Bump... We really need this. I just spend 4 APs dancing around a single soldier trying to find the right spot to stand. When I finally found it, and did the backstab, the animation made it miss. :-(

I thought this as well. I figured a good fix would be a small circle around an enemy (much like Attack Of Opportunity's circle) when you hover an attack icon over them. The circle would have an cone showing their field of view. The point of that would be their direct front, assisting in finding their back. As you recommended, maybe high dex, perception, or scoundrel could spawn a small arrow pointing from their back, getting bolder as you level it.

The problem lies (I think) in the differing stances, affects, idle animations, and mob types. Like I fought a group of humans and had diseased a group of them. The marksmen and mage I could tell where their 'hunching' was still their stance, but the guy with a shield hunched more drastically and I had to make several clicks to find his sweet spot.

I think larger or odd shaped monsters exasperate this. Personally i've tricked myself into considering this a challenge booster- "Rogue, get hit back!" "Shut up! It's a troll with huge fat rolls, he is ALL belly...". Regardless it happens now and again, where lining up a backstab doesn't visually fit. I would enjoy a fix or work around.

Dragon age origins has a great circle indicator for rogues showing where you can backstab.
At the beginning it's a small area in the circle, but then you can unlock wider range.
Something similar in D:OS would be fantastic.

+1

Yep, it is annoying.

1. Move behind enemy. Obviously this is the back end, the face and eyes are on the other side.
2. Hmmmm, still no backstab icon. Well, I can shuffle a bit without movement cost.
3. Shuffles: up up down down left right left right
4. Dagnabbit, still no icon and I spent an action point or two.
5. *Moves away from the target about 1 character width and icon shows up*
6. Wha...? Well, ok. *click, enemy model shifts and character walks around to the front*
7. !!!!!

While I was doing all this fidgeting my coop buddy Lone Wolf Man-at-arms with his 2-Handed weapon has killed everything. The mage has been relegated to a juggling act for the stream viewers.

+1

Someone from Larian, can you please let us know if something is on the cards for this?

+1

I really love my rogue/GC/leech toon but this is indeed annoying..

Finally postioned right (losing 2 ap's on the way) backstab aaaand..walk

-.- nooo

I clicked on the exact position to be able to backstab at the exact moment that the enemy animation made me attack him instead of move behind him. It's too frustrating.

This could all be solved if somehow when you Moused Over an opponent, his animation stopped.
Rogues and Rangers would be very happy.

I think it would be best if they widened the hitbox to include the animations. And add a backstab cone or something that widens with your scoundrel abilities.

+1 for backstab position indicators.

It's just ridiculous that mages - OP as they are - get tons of combat support. Max range hints. LoS hints. AoE radius circles. (BTW, it's a shame you can't turn at least AoE circles off in the options. Remember Baldur's Gate where you had to guess the radius of that fireball? And if you guessed wrong and hit your melee it could be a real "aw crap" moment. That was fun. Oh, and Lightning Bolt bouncing off walls and harming everyone in its path was great too. I wish Blitz Bolt in D:OS worked like that.)

Melee rogue is a tricky class to play. Not to mention that you basically have to pick a specific set of talents to be effective while other classes are much less talent-dependent. Larian, please. Make rogues' lives less miserable. It's much more reasonable to know which way your opponent is facing (and therefore where you need to be for a backstab) than the exact radius of a fireball before it explodes.

+1 for backstab position indicators.

Greta idea!

Larian, please don't leave us in the dark here. Just let us know if you acknowledge the problem and are planning to tackle it anytime soon.

I don't agree on the cone, the current backstabbing design avoids a pointless hand guiding "click here" and involves a light learning curve.

I agree more on the animations of some enemies, and frankly on screen shaking too. Now increase the hit box can have bad side effects like totally hiding another enemy.

the thing is ,normally I can position quite well..but some things (plants ed) have no face!

Exactly. I would prefer it if they make the current backstab cone a little wider, but they need not add a cone for backstabbing. Just increase the range to around 45 degree from the back of the character and I would be a lot happier. Along with the animation fix, though.

Of course there is, the mouse indicator is changing to a knife to let you know you're on the right position.

It's more than enough to me, worst case scenario you're losing 1 AP to position properly but sometimes it costs 0 due to your quickness.
Widening the hitbox could be an option though.

The rogue is already VERY powerful making crits and all, mine is just very fine and does not need more indicator. And If I'm losing 1 AP, what are we talking about here...


The only thing I don't get with the rogue is the fact that the 50% +dmg talent does not seem to work when you're making backstabbing crits + invisibility.
I've tested it several time and my damage is quite the same when I'm invisible or not as long as I'm backstabbing.

Are you talking about Guerilla? That does the damage while you are SNEAKING, not INVISIBLE.

On a side note, I just discovered the tactical camera and it makes it a lot easier(at least for opponents with a face) to find the backstab position. But I still think the backstab cone needs to be widened a bit along with the fix for character animations.

Larian, taking five minutes to put in a quick reply would be great. No need to propose a solution right now. Just let us know if you are considering it, or it's not on the cards.

Thanks a lot, this is where I regret to play in French and not English, the translation made the Guerilla talent unclear

Those minutes you think are no less than 5 actually involve carefully reading the whole thread, checking with the staff, fetching your best PR person (who's probably doubling as PR when not busy), get them to write a carefully worded reply.

Just saying that a company and those that represent it are not as free to post things as the common forum user is.

I work in this industry and I totally second this.

Larian has seen the request of increasing the backstab box area, there's no need to be impatient.

I'm sure we'll see it in a future patch, in the meantime go and enjoy this amazing game!

Yeah, I work in software development as well(mobile apps, specifically) and I do understand it. And the main reason I am impatient for it is because I am enjoying the game a lot. Rogues are fun.

There is no 'learning curve'. One knows what one should be doing, but in a lot of instances the games itself screws up your efforts.

Rather than 'learning' a technique, it works out, in practice, hit and miss.

There needs to be some kind of 'hint'. Guess work isn't very effective when your enemies know exactly what they are doing and pull it off 100% of the time.