Steemship's Idea Compilation Part 1

[Steemship]

I had a nice long post compiling the ideas I've had about Warframe in the 140 hours I've played on it so far, but my PC shut down (Forced windows update) and I lost it all. The main thing that will be lost is the explanation that came before the ideas. A lot of the explanation was rather self explantory put in to be thorough. I will be following this post and will answer any questions that are asked regarding why some of the ideas are necessary or I had them. 

 

*The phrase "making the game better" in this post is in regard to things that make the game more polished and unique.*

 

Warframe

The game is great, but it is still lacking; it needs something unique and complex that makes it better than other games. 

 

- A more complex melee system. This could include direction of attacks or different types of attacks such as slash, thurst, and bash. This would face issues implementation and balancing effectiveness as well as changing the whole gameplay mechanic. 

 

- An expanded gun system featuring complex gun mechanics. This would probably be the weakest option that would require a lot of work to create the specifics. Edit: Instead of guns, make it an editing system for the Warframes themselves. This would include things like different gauntlets, shoes, etc. Still a weak option, but the gun mechanic system, while nice, didn't add a whole lot and it encroached on the mod system. A lot of other games including Blacklight Retribution had already done it.

 

- The direction the game is currently heading in and probably one of the better ones is expanded content. The key here is that the content has to be unique; new enemies need to come out and new types of guns need to come out. This can be a very tricky issue, so giving consideration to other easier ways of making the game unique might be good in the mean time if it doesn't detract from content. 

 

Mod UI

The most recent improvement of the Mod UI was great, but it is lacking a few things. Three things, to be precise.

 

-Card stacking is something that would make the game feel more polished and less clustered. This feature is pretty essential to the Mod Equipping Screen. Taking it one step further would be going to the Mod Inventory Screen. The duplicate mods and fusion cards would be unstacked during fusion or a Ctrl+Click could unstack the cards. 

 

- Weapon/Warframe Loadouts. Another asset for a polished game, this would make transitioning between Warframes and weapons a lot smoother of a process. Given how this would have more effect on higher level players, it probably isn't that high of a priority though if one at all.

 

- If Weapon Loadouts isn't an option (And even if it is really), the blank slots that mods have to be dropped in to be unequipped should be moved to the front of the cards to make modding a smoother process. 

 

Gameplay - Cooperative Play

The game is advertised as a cooperative game, but currently, other players aren't necessary except for opening doors and much higher level missions. 

 

- Combo power attacks (Mag's bullet attraction + Rhino's invincibility, etc) could be rewarded with bonus damage or an extra XP award. The XP reward would be better for teaching newer players trying to level how to play cooperatively. 

 

- More puzzle platforming. This probably isn't that viable of an option for the direction DE has said they want the game to go in, but it could be an option to consider.

 

Gameplay - Replayability

Somehow, I've managed to sync 140 hours in to Warframe, but I'm pretty sure that that time is coming to an end as I've almost got all of the Warframes and interesting weapons. I'm not abandoning the game by any stretch, but I'll probably just monitor the development a bit more. 

 

- Another system to explore unlocked at higher levels. Kind of like a New Game+, it could be so hard that it requires team mates to play. 

 

- Better boss fights. I know this is something DE is working on and it is by its very nature hard to do (I have no clue where to start honestly), but it would help with replay-ability if we didn't have to grind such basic bosses. 

***One idea for this would be to allow enemy spawns during boss fights so their is more to focus on. 

 

- A further emphasis on exploration. The game currently advertises as rewards exploration, but currently, deviating from the main direct route offers little reward outsdie of a few containers which may or may not give anything useful. Off-the map hidden areas that randomly generate on maps could help with this. These off the route maps could have a slightly higher chance of dropping rewards and come with tougher enemy spawns while in these off-the-map areas. 

 

- Another idea I've heard is cosmetic items that display time and experience. THis could be rank unlocks past 4 or cosmetic items. 

 

Gameplay - Warframe Idiosyncratic

This section is about little quirks that make Warframes more unique than a simple chassis for powers. These could be passive stat buffs or cosmetic appearences like Ash's smoke that could relate to the Warframe's "preference"

 

Frost : Reduced/No Shield penalty on ice maps. Reduce heavy Weapon penalties. Extra frost damage to enemies. 

Ash : I have no ideas for Ash. Extra damage when cloaked (Above the 50% and 100% buffs of Loki)

Loki : Harder to detect visually. 

Ember: Reduced/No fire penalty on exploding ships. Extra fire damageto enemies. Cos - Fire aura

Volt : Extra electric damage. Light aura (Not obnoxiously bright, but enough to see around by on Infested maps)

Rhino : Extra armor. Reduced heavy weapon penalty. 

Saryn : Reduced posion damage to health. Extra posion damage to enemies. 

Trinity : Pick up downed enemies faster. Constant health regeneration.  Health regenerating aura. 

Banshee : Reduced sound radius for detection. Reduced weapon sound. Pumpkin Appearifier: Innate enemy radar.

Excalibur : Extra melee damage. 

Nyx : Innate enemy radar to a limited extent. Aware of the way enemies will move? It would be hard to program, however.

Mag : Magnetism type thing for dropped items. Repelling dead bodies away from her. 

 

One more Warframe idea: A weapon bonus based on the weapon in the Warframe's picture. 

 

Gameplay - Stealth

With the addition of certain Warframes, the devs have shown an interest in stealth game play. This would be a great aspect that would extend the replay-ability as well. 

 

- Energy reward for stealth kills. Currently, steath killing can only easily be done by cloaking, running and stealth killing. Then the player is out of energy and must begin running and gunning. This issue could be solved if some amount of energy was rewarded for a stealth kill.

 

- Reduced enemies when they aren't aware of your presence, so it is a bit more practical. The number of enemies could scale with level for more of a challenge.

 

Additionally, stealth needs a greater reward to address the greater difficulty of doing it. Possibly, an exponential or linear XP growth based on the number of stealth kills. (1 stealth kill = normal XP, 2 stealth kills = 1.5x XP, and so on)

 

The Crowning Idea - Community Maps

This would create a more dedicated community and gain further support and bring DE closer to the community as well. 

This would also allow for the easy production of maps for Warframe. Maps would, of course, be inspected before being added and players could be rewarded for their time with in-game rewards.  I'm not sure, however, if this is feasible with Warframe's map development process. 

 

This concludes Part 1 of my idea compilation thread. Part 2 will come tomorrow and will feature more nittpicky things and small ideas generally regarding possible game content. I will be expanding on this and Part 2 as ideas and issues arise and including user idea posts that I like. :p A link to Part 2: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/37666-steemships-idea-compilation-part-2/

Edited April 30, 2013 by Steemship

[Nuntium]

I like these ideas, especially passive bonuses, which seem to be a popular topic. Also, could you expand a bit on the "complex gun mechanics?"

Edited April 30, 2013 by Nuntium

[(NSW)123er432]

on the passive bonuses, lots of these seem pretty nice, but the Banshee one seems like it was just thrown on, not to mention that its just a much weaker version of her current silence, and has no use once enemies are alerted.

 

My suggestion would be to give HER the passive enemy radar (take it off of her Sonar or have using sonar boost the range for its duration) or maybe some form of  enemy pinpointing (like how you can see allies through walls but applied to enemies).

[Fijasrules]

 

- A further emphasis on exploration. The game currently advertises as rewards exploration, but currently, deviating from the main direct route offers little reward outsdie of a few containers which may or may not give anything useful. Off-the map hidden areas that randomly generate on maps could help with this. These off the route maps could have a slightly higher chance of dropping rewards and come with tougher enemy spawns while in these off-the-map areas. 

 

This part right here is a big deal. I love going exploring to see whats out there and if that was rewarded (like some of the loading screens kind of suggest) that would be awesome. +1

[Steemship]

on the passive bonuses, lots of these seem pretty nice, but the Banshee one seems like it was just thrown on, not to mention that its just a much weaker version of her current silence, and has no use once enemies are alerted.

 

My suggestion would be to give HER the passive enemy radar (take it off of her Sonar or have using sonar boost the range for its duration) or maybe some form of  enemy pinpointing (like how you can see allies through walls but applied to enemies).

Edited to include this for Banshee and change Nyx.

 

I like these ideas, especially passive bonuses, which seem to be a popular topic. Also, could you expand a bit on the "complex gun mechanics?"

The Complex gun mechanics I was thinking of kind of encroached on the mod system when I was thinking of them at the time and it would be customizeable gun barrels and stuff akin to Blacklight. Now that I think about it, it would really be a bad fit for Warframe.

[Nuntium]

Edited to include this for Banshee and change Nyx.

 

The Complex gun mechanics I was thinking of kind of encroached on the mod system when I was thinking of them at the time and it would be customizeable gun barrels and stuff akin to Blacklight. Now that I think about it, it would really be a bad fit for Warframe.

 

Yeah, I enjoy Blacklight's weapon customization immensely, but probably not a very good fit considering the mods are what alter stats in this game, not different parts.