I think you are completely misinterpreting the cause of the "Sneak Crit"....your weapon is not doing more damage (per se), your ability to surprise an enemy and land a better placed shot due to their unawareness is what is causing more damage. I get it's kind of "iffy" as a reasoning but do you not agree that you stand a better chance of causing more damage to any enemy if they don't see the attacking coming? It has nothing to do with any change to your actual weapon damage.

Now the idea that it ALWAYS lands additional damage is highly questionable and the chance should be effected by training (your perks and "skill") and the enemies current state of awareness (whether they have actually located you or not).

Certainly any "glitch" that allows you to sneak just before the hit lands and gain the extra damage is something that needs to be addressed, but that is simply an exploit in the system that can easily be avoided by a player. That particular glitch also sounds like it is also dependent on the AI detection range, not just the general sneak critical system.

I'm not convinced that the meter ONLY charges while you are in VATS....I certainly haven't seen anything that implies combat out of VATS can't charge the meter and / or there might be some Perk that determines how the meter charges as well as how fast (I think LUCK itself effect the charge rate in some way).

Yeah, looking at it like that it makes a bit more sense, but then I'd argue that you're applying skill to your attack in order to hit a critical target. And what about this new crit activation thing? We clearly don't have all the information yet, but it sounds fishy to me that you can CHOOSE when to land a crit =/

You know you're playing a game where monsters roam the wasteleand and you can eat other people to gain health and aliens might come down and abduct you, right?

Stealth criticals are essential and important. There would be no point in playing a stealth character if it just did normal damage.

The point would be that that's how you choose to play Fallout? Demanding to be rewarded for everything you do perfectly symbolizes what is wrong with the younger generation.

...so, does getting a sneak attack bonus with, oh, a Rogue character in a fantasy RPG, count as being "rewarded for everything you do"? Just wondering, because bonus damage for successful sneak attacks has been a pretty common feature of RPGs for decades. How is it an example of "what's wrong with the younger generation"?

You dirty kids ruins my games with features that have been in forever. Stop ruining my down my games!

*By the way that was sarcasm

Lmao, sneak has been in games forever! The whole point of a good rpg is to cater to everyone's playstyle and make each playstyle unique and rewarding in its own way. If it didn't reward sneak or passive playthroughs then everyone would just have the same character and the game wouldn't be as good as it is!

I'm hoping you were just joking with this though lol.

Thing is, there is no penalty for sneaking in Skyrim, especially with ranged weapons. You deal several times your normal damage, AND you do it from the safety of the shadows, so a huge buff to both offense and defense with the single press of a button. In most RPGs, sneak attacking takes you out of stealth, and there are often positional requirements (ie. striking from behind).

It's not a play style, it's god mode.

i agree it is kinda like a god mode there is a reason most characters use bow and sneak around in skyrim only things that take effort are boss battles. i can see them doing standard head shot bonus damage and just makeing crit meter charge faster from steath kills then on top that you have all the bonus/perks from agi/luck for being a ninja.

if they don't change the gameplay from fallout 3/skyrim their very little reason other than player choice approach combat another way because you take favorite melee/gun and get 6/3x more damage per ammo/durabity out of it most likely oneshot the target

hell my current mage uses steath untill spotted then frys stuff with magic.

Most people agree sneak is op in Skyrim. But I don't remember it being that way in Fallout 3 or NV.

Oh, but it is, with silenced weapons (or even non-suppressed, if you're far enough away).

Isn't there a Perk on the Perk Chart called "Ninja" now? I think it's description is that it increases damage done to unaware enemies. So it could be a replacement to default sneak criticals.

This may be true or if may be just for stealth melee attacks.

I definitely think that it is a bit overpowered in Skyrim. I never really had that issue in FONV or FO3 though except with the Chinese stealth armor.

I'm hoping they make the AI smarter and more versatile in this game to wear sneaking will still be powerful, but it will be more difficult to execute. Maybe only headshots in sneak will critical and normal shots will just get a mild damage buff?

I would like to see the AI react to dead bodies and maybe have some sort of reaction animation when they see you instead of just immediately shooting the instant they notice your presence. Maybe better search AI to try to locate you or a better stealth system that isn't just "hidden/not hidden".

The thing is, you have to invest your character for sneaking well and consistently. Sure, a non-stealthy character in Skyrim might be able to get off a potshot from stealth before jumping into combat, but to actually consistently evade and assassinate most characters you have to spend some perk points to increase sneak attack damage and your ability to remain undetected. This is looking even more true for stealth in Fallout 4, since your stealth skills won't level just from using them.

Yeah, from the Perk poster, it looks like you'll need to invest in a least 3-4 Perks to be fully specialized in Stealth, and those will all have 3 levels of effectiveness, and some are level-locked. So you'll still be able to become a sneaking stealth god in Fallout 4, but it will take effort and focus on the player's part.

And let's be honest, unless there are silencers for weapons, realistically you are only going to kill one or two enemies from a group from stealth before the noise brings the whole raider nest down on your head.

Hopefully. I can remember oh so many times in F3 taking out a Raider with a nonsilenced weapon and his buddies just down the hall were oblivious. Really hope Beth fixes this.

*Snipes dude in the head* Enemy runs around the corner and steps over his dead friend's body. "Guess it was nothing" *goes back to his business*