[Gunblade]

I thought people were watching a little too much RWBY what with the "gunblade" threads that've been popping up lately, not just this one, until this thread reminded me of Final Fantasy gunblades (which, as one guy on page 1 mentioned, don't actually shoot things).

 

But seriously, as cool as gunblades would be, they don't belong in Warframe. It utterly breaks the loadout mechanics of the game and would be an absolute pain to program. Not to say certain melee weapons can't have ranged abilities. Swords that fire shockwaves or scythes that can throw their blades out like a glaive would be pretty cool and still fit the game system.

[[Suggestion] Defense Mission. Make Us Fight The Boss.]

The actual bosses of the system? Nah, that's pretty lore-breaking. Plus, why play anything other than Defense if you can even get boss fights/drops off Defense?

 

Now MINI-BOSSES, that's something i whole-heartedly agree with, but I won't go into too much detail here.

[Madotsuki’S Concept Diary [Entry 1: Grineers]]

omg u really did it 

I have more free time at school than i really should.

 

However due to lack of enthusiasm on my part, most of the scribbles are gonna be badly photoshopped images or REALLY basic scribbles, so I didn't "really did it" or anything >.>

 

I just couldn't get all those concepts out of my head, so I had to write it all down somewhere. Might as well post it online too.

[Madotsuki’S Concept Diary [Entry 1: Grineers]]

(This opening post contains minor amounts of in-character roleplaying. For those who don’t get it, google Yume Nikki or Madotsuki for more background information. The concepts themselves don’t contain any roleplaying, so knowledge of the character is unnecessary. The “scribbles” and images mentioned below are coming soon.)

 

Dear Diary,

 

Out of sheer boredom, I decided to write some re-work concepts for this game I’ve been playing called Warframe. It’s a game with a lot of un-tapped potential, and I doubt it’ll ever be tapped into properly, but hey, dreaming is kind of what I do. Still better than Nasu at least.

 

This is going to be an ongoing series of entries, in each of which I’ll write down related concept ideas, either be it re-working existing content or adding new content, plus some scribbles, because plain text is too dull nowadays, even for a diary.

 

For the first three entries, I’m going to start with the 3 enemy factions in the game, first of which is the Grineers, the space marine clone army. Their technology seems to revolve around bullets (hitscan), explosives, fire and teleportation. They also rely on various “human” soldiers as units, with very simple drones as support.

 

 

But before going into detail, I’m going to sum up my method of unit classification.

 

Units are classified into one of 3 categories:

 

Basic: Typical cannon fodder, such as Lancers.

Advanced: Tougher and less common enemies, such as Shield Lancers.

Elite: Toughest of mooks, few but powerful, such as Heavies.

 

The spawnrate ratio of each class is about 14:4:1. In other words, for every 100 units, you get about 70 basic mooks, 20 advanced units and 5 elites.

 

Also I’m going under the assumption that counters to the existing stunlock have already been implemented. Rolling out of staggers, quick recovery from knockdowns, etc, to balance out certain movement-interrupting attacks that enemies have.

 

 

Now let’s begin~

(If a unit’s name is colored red, that means a major re-work of mechanics is required)

 

 

General changes:

 

·Change grenades from existing plasma grenades to frag grenades. Orange-red explosion, deals 0.75x damage to shields and 1.25x to health. (While we’re at it, make grenades more visible and increase explosion delay by one second. This applies to both Grineer and Corpus grenades)

 

·Make them aim at a player’s location 0.3 seconds previously (slower reaction time basically), making it possible to dodge bullets through parkour despite them being hitscan.

 

 

Existing units:

 

Melee

 

Sawman

·Basic

·Replace tiny baby cleavers with a chainsaw arm. Come on, they’re SAWmen, not butchers at the mess hall.

·Chainsaws release a constant moderately loud whirring noise, notifying players of their presence.

·The most standard melee unit of the Grineers, they take no attempts at stealth or subtlety, they just rush in at Tenno on sight with suicidal fearlessness.

·No shields, low health, low armor, but fast and heavily damaging. A.k.a. Glass cannons.

·The chainsaw will be available as clantech, but we won’t go into detail here.

 

Flameblade

·Advanced

·Replace out-of-place stunstick with dual flaming cleavers (i.e. cleavers with fire mod effects). Again, FlameBLADES with corpus stunsticks, wut.

·Teleporting behavior does not need changing.

·Has a chance of igniting players (elemental effects to be explained at a later chapter).

 

Powerfist

·Advanced

·Speed up their charge speed significantly (i.e. 1.5 second charge time, excluding swing). They are the equivalent of a joke right now.

·When charging up their “powerfists”, the fist will light up from electricity effects and release a crackling sound.

·A successful hit will knock down the victim. Always inflicts shock.

 

Scorpion

·Elite

·Re-work appearance, mostly the “helmet”. Also add a visable hook cannon to their arm.

·New behavior: On successful hit, the hook knocks down the victim and drags them to her. The hook DOES NOT release unless 1. Scorpion is dead, or 2. Hooked target has not reached Scorpion in 5 seconds (i.e. stuck on terrain). While hooked and on the ground, the victim Tenno can use their sidearm to continue fighting, akin to being downed. (If out of pistol ammo, flailing with melee by mashing the melee button works, though not very effectively) When victim reaches the Scorpion, she will slash madly at the target in a killing frenzy dealing quick damage until killed, either by a teammate or by the victim. It’s like the Smoker from L4D except you can actually fight back while smoked.

·If hook misses, same behavior as current (faster recovery from a missed hook shot of course).

·Due to upgrade to Elite status, lower spawnrate but higher health + armor. Still no shields.

 

Non-heavy Ranged

 

Elite Lancers

·Basic

·Does NOT completely replace normal Lancers upon level 20. Instead, starting from level 10, 10% of normal Lancers will spawn as Elite Lancers. Percentage increases by one as level increases by one, up to a cap of 90%.

 

Shield Lancers

·Uncommon

·Make the shield slightly larger, enough to cover the tip of the head from a completely horizontal angle, not enough to cover the feet.

·Fix the goddamn hitbox on the shield bash.

·AI upgrade: Stop moving their shields aside to shoot when another unit is taking cover behind them.

 

Ballistas

·Uncommon

·Give them teleportation powers: Will teleport away from Tenno if one is within a certain distance. Due to imperfect mass-produced technology, they can only teleport once every 20 seconds.

 

Seekers + Rollers

·Uncommon

·Rollers no longer spawn naturally on their own. Instead, each Seeker comes equipped with one Roller that they will deploy on sight of a Tenno. (Solves: Rollers ruining stealth runs with their 360 degree vision, roller spam resulting in stunlocks, Seekers being a one-trick pony)

·Rollers will be destroyed if respective Seekers are killed before deploying them.

·Rollers take damage as well upon impacting a player. 10% health per hit, meaning they will self-destruct (explodes for bonus damage) after 10 hits.

·Seeker AI upgrade: Will attempt to hide in cover while continuously deploying Latchers, only resorting to the Kraken if found (i.e. took damage from a player or line of sight to one within a certain distance). Tenno have to hunt him down.

·Latcher damage increase.

 

Scorches

·Uncommon

·Add 1 second warm-up period before their Ignis can fire. Ignis nozzle lights up and releases unique hissing noises during period. This gives time for players to react, solving the issue of players getting insta-gibbed by ambushes.

·Slight decrease to their damage scaling on higher levels.

·Helmet change (Gas mask is more fitting).

 

Hellions

·Uncommon

·Remove guided feature to missile barrage, making the barrage akin to a shotgun rocket launcher instead of 12 Bombards firing in unison, and thus dodgable without forcing players to cower behind cover or die instantly.

·Make their jetpacks explode when shot, damaging the Hellion (and potentially players) and staggering them instead of fizzling away anti-climatically. Jetpacks destroyed mid-flight results in a ragdoll instead of a stagger.

·When the jetpack flies off after Hellion death, give them a delay of 2 seconds after impacting a surface before exploding (will be stuck onto said surface unless it’s a player/enemy), so players can actually avoid them.

 

Commanders

·Elite

·Remove Switch Teleport ability

·Allow Commanders to shout orders to nearby Grineers, i.e. COMMAND them. Orders are classified into two types, Random-triggered and Ability-triggered.

·Random-triggered: Randomly shouted orders. Examples: THROW GRENADE (all affected Grineers throw grenades in unison, not necessarily at the same target), CHARGE (all affected Grineers ignore cover and zerg rush the Tenno). These orders will provide some variety to enemy behavior, forcing players to react accordingly. Particularly effective at flushing Tenno out of cover.

·Ability-triggered: Triggered when a player uses an ability. Commanders only register said abilities if they can see them. Examples: THAT’S A FAKE YOU DIMWITS (response to Decoy/Moults. Grineers will ignore said Decoy after command), KEEP YOUR DISTANCE (response to traps such as Vauban skills. Grineers will attempt to stay away from said traps instead of rushing in like lemmings.), CEASE FIRE/TAKE COVER (response to defensive skills like Snow Globe/Absorb. Grineers will stop shooting and take cover, thus not feeding an Absorb/making it harder to shoot them from within a snow globe.)

·Give them a different gun maybe?

 

Eviscerators

·Elite

·Give them two firing modes, a reverse to our Miters.

·Normal mode: Fires blades at half the current fire rate. Blades do not bounce.

·Charged mode: 2 second charge time (makes clanging sounds of blades being loaded up). Upon fire, releases 6 consecutive blades at twice current fire rate. Blades bounce, but have halved damage per blade.

·Due to upgrading to elite status, reduce spawn rate but up health + shields.

 

Heavies

·Elites

·Make shockwaves jumpable, like that of Shockwave Moas.

 

Bombards

·Reduce rocket homing capabilities (seriously, those things can do friggin’ u-turns right now).

·Increase rocket flight speed.

 

 Napalms

·Fix the goddamn hitboxes.

·Decrease explosive range of napalm shots.

·Knockdown shockwave replaced with a Ring of Fire (same method of trigger).

 

 

New units

 

Grenadier

·Heavy class

·Wields a pipebomb launcher (will be available as clantech). Pipebombs differ from normal grenades in that they can bounce off surfaces instead of sticking to them, and can roll slightly on the ground from momentum.

·Bombs activate after impacting a surface. 3 second count down before explosion after activation. Exception when bombs directly impact a Tenno, then they explode instantly. High damage explosions (i.e. 250 damage per bomb by level 20).

·3 shots per clip, Lex firerate.

·Role: Flush players out of cover, arcing and bouncing grenades mean less hiding places for the Tenno and more for the Grenadier.

·Starts appearing from level 30+.

 

Valkyrie

·Advanced melee

·Dark Violet-armored female Grineers

·Wields the Amphis. Shielded.

·Upon spotting a Tenno, they can cast Volt’s Speed on themselves (not to other units) and rush the target in a zig-zag pattern. The Speed boost lasts for 15 seconds, doubling movement speed and attack speed.

·Has a longer range than other melee units due to their weapon. Can jump and use ground pounds with the Amphis to make lightning shockwaves (staggers and induces shock, jumpable). Always starts a fight with the ground pound, 7 second recharge time.

·Starts appearing from level 30+.

 

That’s about it for now, it’s not like the Grineers are in need of a lot of new units considering they kinda have double the unit variety of the other factions right now, it’s just that their existing units aren’t very good. There ARE other units I have in mind, but those are tileset-specific, so they’ll be in a later chapter dedicated to planet-specific tilesets.

 

That’s it for Chapter 1. For a second there I wondered what you thought, but then I remembered you were a diary and thus can’t think. Oh well, I’ll start writing Chapter 2 some other day.

 

Until then I’m going back to bed.

 

~Madotsuki

[Is The Stalker Gonna Stay A Cheater?]

Lore-wise, a good writer will almost always be able to justify an ability. For example, the Stalker is a Tenno, and his job is basically to counter-assassinate other Tenno, you'd think he'd have a clear understanding of Tenno powers and be resistant to some while having the power to counter others.

 

However, gameplay-wise, the Stalker should be CHALLENGING, not CHEAP, as he is now. Being able to nullify every ability automatically is cheap and lazy, not to mention it means fighting the Stalker becomes nothing more than a gearcheck, where you either have grinded long enough to have gear that can 3-shot him (i.e. Straith, Soma etc.), or you just die, ggkthnxbainore. As it stands, Stalker is not a surprise challenge that gets players' adrenaline running, he is nothing but a nuisance at best, and a revive toll gate at worst.

 

He needs more powers, he needs better AI, but most importantly right now, he needs PROPER resistances/dispels against players that can be avoided/countered in turn with SKILL, not gear.

 

Maybe his scythe can have dispelling properties, so for example if he HITS you with his Hate, he can instantly shatter an Iron Skin (staggering both sides). Of course you can still avoid it if you have SKILL. Maybe he can do a super jump to avoid a stomp, then counter with a ground shockwave when he lands (that you can in turn jump over). Maybe something like Mind Control will stagger him and slow him down for a few seconds as he fights off the control, while Nyx receives feedback damage from Stalker's mind shield. Maybe he can teleport out of a Vortex or Bastille. Etc.

 

There are SO many ways to make him counter skills in non-cheap ways while making said skills still have an effect on the battlefield. How can people be so willing to accept a cheap auto-dispel+stagger as "challenge" around these forums? Are your expectations THAT low?

[Enemy Concept - Corpus Assimilator/converter W/pics]

Well Converter seems that they turn Infested into Corpus or such... but its a nice name, I think that keeping them as Corpus controlled enemies is the best idea, but I am starting to think of them as a more commom heavy and light units for the Corpus instead of infested missions only. Making them divide while playing it seems a difficult thing to program, maybe they could be triggered like Fusion Moa (separating from the Osprey) but making them only using medium range attacks while on "adult" form is what I was intending in my mind.

 

And how do I change the name of the topic?

Edit your opening post, and use the full editor. That'll let you change the title.

I don't think it'll be too difficult to code the split. It's basically deploying a unit, just like fusion moas deploy drones or Seekers deploy Latchers. Long as there's a counter keeping track of how many infested were absorbed, and then activiting a spawn sequence when the requirements are met, that should be okay.

[Enemy Concept - Corpus Assimilator/converter W/pics]

Madotsuki I was thinking of something that went out of control of Corpus, but might be a good idea to include them as a Heavy Corpus... thinking that way we can change the first concept to one that the Corpus developed these new enemies to destroy Infested but they turned out becoming Corpus Assimilators (what you think?) that created energy bodies from the overflowing energy from the Orokin Cores within them after assimilating Infestation.

Assimilators sound like a real mouthful :/ Something more basic would be better for a unit name.

What I was thinking was that if we left the Converters as rogue units from the Corpus, that almost turns them into a fourth faction, which seems really unnecessary. Keeping them as controlled units by the Corpus (even if lore-wise they were half-accidents) just seems less complicated.

As for your reply to biggles about the 2nd picture "sprites", those could make juvenile Converters. Perhaps Converters can spawn as adults (pic 1), and when they split from excess energy they spawn 1-2 juveniles (pic 2), which are weaker and can't use the tendril melee attacks. However they move faster than adults and, after consuming some infested (same number needed to split), they evolve to their adult forms.

Thoughts?

P.S. You may want to change the Topic title to attract some more attention. Something like "Enemy concept - Corpus Converter/Assimilator (with images)" would probably get your more readers than a vague "new enemy idea".

[Stepping Up Their Game]

A mix of good and bad ideas. I'll comment on each one.

Corpus

Capture Moa: I don't see many problems with this, just wanted to say it should be renamed the Cryo Moa. It has nothing to do with capturing (thank god).

Technician: These should not be normal units. Instead, just bring back the Scouts (with some tweaks, such as replacing the Spectra with the Detron) and make them replace Corpus capture targets on higher level missions.

Hazmat: Kinda "meh" on the visual design (dome helms don't fit the Corpus), but deploying the quarantine walls is an interesting mechanic. However, the quarantine walls should simply act as Volt Electric Shields without the damage buff when shot through them. Walking through them can zap a chunk of your shields, but NO STUNS.

Riot Crewman: NO, NO, NO. We have the Shield Lancers, we don't need a clone for the Corpus. The Hazmats are good enough for a corpus twist on shielding/barrier enemies.

Grineer

Slasher: Bad name. Really, they don't need to be an individual unit, just re-skin all Flameblades so they actually carry flaming dual cleavers, keeping the name and fire element. Your "slasher" was meant as a replacement for Flameblades anyway, which is pretty pointless when you can just adjust the Flameblade.

Repairman: Same with your corpus technician, just make these higher level Grineer capture targets instead of individual enemies. The radial blind should NOT stagger players, because the blind itself is already disorienting enough.

Shock Trooper: Not worthy to be a Heavy unit. As an advanced melee unit maybe. Electric ground pounds, longer range than most other melee units, etc. Also, NO to removing Napalms. In concept they are an interesting enemy type, they just need a heavy nerf to their explosive radius and a fix to the hitbox.

Grineer Sawmen also deserve to stay as the basic melee mook, long as they get some changes.

Infested

Spores: It's okay.

Ocular and traps: They're okay. Oculars should just stay dead after being killed though.

Behemoths: No need to call every elite an Ancient. They seem interesting, an Infested barbardier that shoots toxic grenades.

[Enemy Concept - Corpus Assimilator/converter W/pics]

It's an interesting concept, and that first pic DEFINATELY looks epic (and also actually does resemble Corpus tech).

I would think these things should only appear under a special condition of Corpus attacking an Infested ship. Every 5 light infested or every ancient they assimilate could make them split into another one.

I would classify something like this as an Elite-class enemy, like Heavies (with similar amounts of health/shields/power). Maybe their attacks against the Tenno could include energy blasts from their core and using their energy tendrils as whips for close range combat (you have to roll under them to dodge). Every time they assimilate an Infested they also heal.

As for a name...how about the Corpus Converter?

[So The Worst Enemy Coming In Update 11 ?]

My guess is an enemy that can either cloak itself ala Loki/Ash, or can easily dodge bullets and can only be killed with melee.

 

Frankly, I'd love to see a mob like that.

Oh please, that's not nearly evil/cheap enough.

[So The Worst Enemy Coming In Update 11 ?]

I'm calling it right now, the new enemy is going to be a Dispeller Droid. It's going to work the same way as Stalker's dispel, auto-dispelling anything and everything you cast or have cast as long as you're within its VERY large AoE (and staggering you in the process), and it HIDES.

[Level 2190’S? No Problem.]

Damn, some people have way too much free time on their hands. Still, congratulations.

How long did it take to down a single Tech at level 2190?

[Considering Rhino's Last Performance In The Profit Trailer...]

Kind of makes me wish they'd alter Rhino's Roar power.

 

Upon using Roar, while it gives a damage buff to allies, Rhino himself gets a major buff to armor and speed, but is "reduced" to his FISTS OF RAGE. And then he just rushes in with his raging aura and punch the living daylights out of his enemies.

 

Rage Fists

Base damage: 40 (ignores armor)

Swing rate: equivalent to kogake

Charge attack: RHINO PUNCH (a sucker punch to the face region. 100 base damage, ragdolls enemies and sends them flying away)

Jump attack: equivalent to radial blast with less base damage. damage increases with fall distance before impact.

Ground execution: basically what he did to the robo-puppy in the trailer.

 

Thoughts?

[Corpus Concept: Corpus Snare Moa (Images)]

It's like a Scorpion but even more annoying. How did this even get this much support.

 

If this thing is ever to work, two alterations to it must be made.

 

1. Snared players should be allowed to mash melee to escape if they're out of pistol ammo.

2. No Snare Moas in solo. Ever.

 

This is under the assumption that the tethers can be dodged with skill like with current Scorpion hooks.

 

But seriously, we haven't even fixed the existing stunlock, we don't need more stuns/snares/cc against players, especially since the Snare Moa sounds like what the Scorpion should have been like (the "can retaliate while dragged" part). So, no, i don't think this is an enemy that should be implemented in-game.

[A Step In The Right Direction Finally [Zanuka's Related]]

Just because something can dispel/resist warframe powers doesn't mean it'll ruin the fight, if the dispel/resist is done RIGHT. Basically, said enemy should resist certain aspects of the powers, but still make the powers have a role and effect on the battlefield.

 

For example, in the case of Zanuka:

Snowglobe - Blocks bullets and ranged attacks from Zanuka. Instead, being in a snowglobe causes it to rush into the Snowglobe for melee, and is NOT slowed while within.

Stomp - Staggers instead of stasising it, deals damage.

Bastille - Can hold up Zanuka, but it can still turn and shoot at full strength while caught and will break the Bastille in a quarter of its natural duration.

 

Meanwhile, it can have dispelling properties on certain attacks, for example shockwaves that can dispel and do damage (can be jumped over), a back-mounted turret that can fire dispelling projectiles simultaneously with other attacks (can be dodged), etc.

 

Long as powers still have a significant (though non-gamebreaking) effect in the fight and dispels can be avoided through skill, it will ADD to the experience instead of subtracting from it.

 

Or DE can just do it the Stalker way and make Zanuka another gearcheck boss, which they most likely will. *sigh*

[Ancient Disruptor... Split In 2?]

I wouldn't mind this too much, but you know what would be really fun and interesting for the Disruptor? If we took away the energy drain, MAYBE keep the shield drain, keep the disruption (cannot use abilities while disrupted), and add in one new feature: When you're disrupted, your controls get reversed. Left is right, forward is backwards, jump is crouch, etc. That'd actually be less frustrating than an energy drain and more disruptive to the player, which is, y'know, kinda supposed to be its job as a Disruptor?

But at the very least that energy drain needs to be heavily nerfed. Splitting the Disruptor into two seperate units doesn't really stop the energy drain from being a horrible mechanic.

[Corpus Reinforcement: Traicere]

I never said energy there at all, nor is it a pair of scissors. Its a buster sword that is bifurcated and uses a scissor-like attack on charge 

 

and I did not specifically say they would be used by the crewmen, i was thinking along the lines of a Sword Tech (if an enemy uses) plus do you see corpus running around with Obex?

If it's Corpus you gotta put something about energy into it, otherwise why make it a Corpus weapon at all?

A "buster" sword, a.k.a. broadsword, would be even more boring then. The scissor attack would be little more than a nice little visual deviation, and in fact would be less useful than a nigh 360 degree slash from something like the Galatine.

Techs are basically Crewmen suffering from Gigantism right now anyway. By "crewmen" i basically meant any Corpus guy that's not a robotic proxy. Point taken on the Obex, though the unit that uses said Obex (or something similar) probably just hasn't been released yet, like how Flux Rifle took awhile before a unit started using it.

[Corpus Reinforcement: Traicere]

Giant energy scissors seem pretty far-fetched, even for Warframe, though they can be pretty cool.

 

Imagine if the two scissor blades are normally two seperate dual-wielded blades (instead of a greatsword), and for a charged attack, you attach the two blades into a giant scissor to snip enemies in front of you in half. That'd look cool at least, if nothing else.

 

Also it'd probably be better to make it an ether weapon on the market instead of corpus clantech. The corpus would actually have to use this if it's gonna be clantech, and I really don't see Corpus crewmen running around with giant scissor blades being a thing :/

[About That Enemy Diversity?]

Ah, well now that you elaborated a bit more, yes, I completely understand what ya meant, and I have to agree! Can't hurt to throw out some ideas they can implement later on though, just to make things a little (if not incredibly) more interesting. 

 

With me saying that, I don't expect these kinds of changes to be implemented night over day, no! Of course not. Do I want some of these, with alterations and designs more fitting for the game? Hell yes. 

 

Yet that isn't everyone elses cup of tea, and I respect that. 

 

Yeah, Bruisers would be a bit iffy, I agree, but have you seen the enemy AI? I just thought the friendly fire would be a nice touch, (especially with the Infested Bruiser eating it's buddies to fuel and build up for a greater rampage) and overall stress to the player that this bruiser would be Enemy Priority #1

 

As for bandaid mods, I fully agree... nngh... Lets not tempt fate!

 

As a final note, I really appreciate keeping this civilized, it's great having people who don't go 'You're wrong.' 'This is better!' 'Howbout dnt get cot in staggerz n nokdownz n00b?' etc... (cringed typing like that)

That Infested Bruiser idea might actually be pretty cool, and actually would fit the theme of the Infested. Reminds me of the Goliaths in Borderlands 2, who can kill their own teammates to level up. As a mini-boss who spawns with a large horde of light infested, this could actually work!

And yeah, the forums are pretty toxic nowadays. Most threads either get ignored or deteorate into flame wars, it's hard to find anything really constructive.

[About That Enemy Diversity?]

Mate, don't take it wrong, just the way I took your opening lines,

 

To an extent, yes, these enemies would take work, and effort to code but that's the point. More effort needs to be put into enemies and how dynamic the gameplay is, and enemies as they are, are quite lack-luster. Anything to make it more interesting WILL take an immense effort on their part, but the sheer amount of new life and fun it would breathe into this game would more than justify it in my opinion. 

 

So I disagree with that second line of posting. 

 

Secondly, I'm aware there's enemies that deploy other enemies, but it's so generic and white-washed, there's nothing interesting about it. There's no reason not to add more diversity to that enemy type, so again, I'll have to disagree.

 

Bruisers aren't meant to be a constant thing, like the droves of Ancients and Heavy units we have the misfortune of encountering, but a nice mechanic that comes into play not frequently enough to trivialize the weaker units, but often enough so that when your squad as settled into a rhythm, that 'Bruiser' comes in, shakes up the gameplay, and suddenly squadmates are dying and you have to put more thought and coordination into how you take down this superior threat, and once all is said and done, more of the standard enemy types can shuffle back into the pool 

(I'd think a reduction in weaker enemies spawned while the Bruiser enters the field would be wise)

 

Sure it would kill it's own guys, but the idea is to stress to players that this is an enemy you need to care about. It won't only rip into it's fellows but it will also rip into you, and overall, the Tenno these Bruisers go after are the priority here, so if designed properly, yeah lesser mobs would be caught in the cross-fire, but the Tenno would still be at a greater risk. 

 

That and... block is broken, and I have yet to block a single grenade with it. Can't fix THAT with bandaid mods!

 

[[Also forgot to add, that your enemy type is interesting; just the kind of idea this forum needs, and could see myself enjoying this kind of encounter in-game!]]

What I'm trying to say is, as with my example of the Corpus Marksmen, YES, current enemies are lackluster, but that doesn't mean they all need to have completely game-changing mechanics to make them interesting. Taking the Marksman as an example, the basics of the Marksman cloak is already in the game (for players anyway). Hell, I even missed out an important part of the Marksmen arsenal, Flashbang Grenades (blinds players if they explode on screen), which are, again, already in the game in the form of Radial Blind, just need to be semi-re-coded to grenade form. Simply using existing assets, they can create a completely new and unique foe with a few minor tweaks.

Elaborate enemy behaviour can be nice, but interesting enemies can still very much be attainable without extremely elaborate coding. Of course hard work needs to be put in, and we rightfully expect DE to work as hard as they can on their product. The important part is to find the balance to obtain high quality content at a reasonable time cost. But I'm mainly focusing this argument against the whole "gravity switching" thing.

As for enemy deploying enemies, as i said, more can be added on, but what we have right now isn't that bad, especially the Fusion Moa. The fact that they can release a powerful drone when on low health makes the enemy pretty unqiue and challenging, as players will have to keep control of its health and burst it down just before it launches the drone, instead of just randomly shooting it and potentially end up emptying your clip just as the Moa unleashes its hellspawn.

As for Bruisers, they sound more like "mini-bosses" to me, which is something I would support, though the whole friendly-fire thing still seems redundant. I have quite a few ideas for mini-bosses and how the system works, but that's a whole other story that i won't go into detail here unless you really want to know.

And yes I know block is broken and useless, and no there isn't really a mechanic for batting back grenades right now, I'm just listing an example of acceptable friendly fire which requires player skill (reflecting projectiles) instead of enemy idiocy (AI walks into line of fire). And don't underestimate DE's determination to bandaid-mod everything and anything. They did make Handspring afterall.

[The Game Has Artificial Difficulty And We Are Not Progressing Away From It...]

Yet everybody complains about helions on phobos which are prob one of the only units in game which are actually challenging...(fair weapons which are a threat, high mobility enemies)....to be very honest I'm not entirely sure this community knows what it wants or that it even wants actual difficulty.  I'm more of the mind that the community wants simulated difficulty where it feels like you can fail but in reality you know that you pretty much never will (BG: Dark Alliance is a great example of this).

Honestly the Hellions are pretty bad as they are in terms of gameplay. What do they present to the game?

"Shoot the big thing on their back. Run screaming and hide like a wuss when they're hovering because the rocket barrage is nigh un-dodgable without cover. When they die, pray to god the jetpack doesn't randomly fly into your face if it wasn't destroyed earlier."

That's about it. The whole mobility thing I understand and love, doesn't mean the rest of the unit is designed well. The base design is NOT BAD though, a few simple changes could make it a challenging but FAIR enemy, such as:

1. Making the rocket barrage non-guided, so it acts as a shotgun rocket launcher instead of multiple Bombards zipped into one unit.

2. Make their jetpack explode and damage+stagger the Hellion when shot, instead of fizzling out as it does right now.

3. Give the jetpack a 2 second delay after impacting a surface (after it flies off after Hellion death) before it explodes, giving players a chance to dodge if it does randomly fly near them.

Also, there's nothing really wrong with simulated difficulty if done well. Players like to feel like a badass, and the best way for them to achieve that is by being thrown into danger but come out victorious by the skin of their teeth. If you can actually make a player feel threatened against the enemies (there is a real possibility of failure), but always provide him with the means of victory (quick-time recovery from knockdowns, second wind in some games, etc.) instead of bashing them over the head with a metal baseball bat every time they make the slightest mistake (Ancient Disruptors in a nutshell), then that game is entertaining and satisfying, and isn't that what games are for? Entertainment?

[About That Enemy Diversity?]

Yeah, stunlock is a huge problem in the game right now. Can be easily remedied if they just let you perform a quick recovery while knocked down by pressing a button at the cost of stamina and allowing you to roll out of a stagger, but doesn't seem like DE will ever do anything about it.

As for the new enemies you suggested, enemies that change gravity or are really agile can be an absolute pain in the &#! to code, especially the former. New enemies can be unique and challenging without extremely elaborate behaviour like that. Not saying I don't want really agile enemies, the coding would be justified if it's used on a boss or mini-boss.

There are already enemies that deploy other enemies. Leech Ospreys, Fusion Moas, Seekers, Techs, etc. Of course more can be added on, but we're not exactly in desperate need of these kinds of things.

Stealth enemies would be a good addition to the Corpus faction. An example:

The Corpus Marksman (re-vamped Sniper): An advanced unit, they can use cloaking technology and snipe from afar. They maintain a slight silhouette even while cloaked, and can be shot as well as shoot while cloaked. Since they use the Lanka, their shots are projectiles and CAN be traced back to the Marksman's location given that you see the shot, and they don't switch locations unless damaged. When they fire, their cloak flickers. When they are hit, their cloak is temporarily disabled. If they are far enough from the player when damaged, they attempt to run to a new vantage point and cloak again after a few seconds of recharge. If close enough, they take out a combat knife and try to melee.

Bruisers as you described might not be a very good idea. It's more likely for them to be more efficient at killing their own guys than a player considering the AI. If it was something like batting a grenade back at an enemy with a well-timed block, that would be "justified" friendly fire, but not directly without a player's counter.

[Corpus Reinforcements: New Weapons [With Pics!]]

The Exora and the knifes thing are pretty generic, but the GLACIO. THAT, needs to be a thing. However it shouldn't just be an Ignis but with an ice element instead of fire. I'm thinking it should spray a stream of liquid nitrogen. Instead of a straight gaseous stream, it should be an arced liquid stream.

Horizontally fired, it has about the same range as Ignis. Pointed at a higher angle though, it can go further than the Ignis. This is offset by the fact that its damage is reduced the further the target is from you.

Enemies struck by it, regardless of distance, are chilled and slowed. HOWEVER. If enemies are within a certain range (i.e. within slightly smaller than the Ignis range) and the spray is maintained on them for 2-3 seconds, they will freeze solid. When an enemy is frozen, they take bonus damage from physical attacks, such as bullets and blunt melee. Enough damage from these sources will shatter the ice for bonus damage. Given enough time they'll thaw on their own for no bonus damage (provided they are not still being sprayed). (This new frozen status ailment ought to be applied to Frost powers too)

I would SO make the Glacio if it worked something like that!

BTW, those pictures are friggin' beaut, they look almost like official images from the DE art team!

[Get Rid Of Energy Siphon And Make It A Passive For All Frames.]

Energy isn't limited like it was in the past. Between ES, restoration totems, mods like Equilibrium and the new corrupted mods helping to up Energy Efficiency (to the point that we now know what the roof number for that is), we're not suffering much in the way of lack of energy restoration options as we have before. I agree that a mod for kill = 1 energy per rank would be neat, but as a passive it's giving too much where there is already enough.

You have a point that energy isn't exactly very scarce in most situations. It just seems irritating that the default method of acquiring energy is completely reliant on RNG drops, and the only way to acquire a reliable method of getting energy is through having certain mods, which, AGAIN, require RNG to attain in the first place. Restoration totems are way too expensive to craft to justify making them a "thing" that you are expected to use.

I suppose for now the energy system is "reasonable". There must be some way to improve it further though.

[The Game Has Artificial Difficulty And We Are Not Progressing Away From It...]

*snip*

It's the primary reason I rarely play anything other than Rhino nowadays (sometimes Vauban, just because I friggin' LOVE Teslas and Bounces), and the reason why I never play nightmare mode. There are so many stunlock enemies in this game that I'm too sick of trying to deal with them, so i just IS. Rollers, Scorpions, Heavy ground pounds, shield lancers, getting punched while trying to melee, any and all Infested that's not a crawler... The list goes on and on until I got sick of watching my warframe slowly crawl back to his feet and die instead of actually letting me play the game, so I figured, why play at all? Pop IS, commence faceroll.

As for nightmare mode, tried it, hated it. The timer ones are just obnoxious, no shield + no energy is just impossible, vampire is practically shields-only mode, etc. The "challenges" are not interesting at all, they just gimp the player to all hell and promote rushing it. Hell, since the introduction of nightmare mode people have been asking for them to be made optional (i.e. allow playing the normal version of the mission while nightmare is active), and we still don't have it despite DE saying they'll "look into it". I'm scared to even finish my maps anymore because nightmare mode is so obnoxious.

And the sad part is, the stunlock part could be remedied with a single move that would require less than a week to program, within a day even. Simply allow pressing a button (such as the sprint button) while knocked down to perform a quick recovery at a hefty cost of stamina, allow rolling out of a stagger, and apply diminishing returns for CC (both for players and enemies). In less than a week of work almost all problems of stunlocking can be solved, and yet DE just refuses to do it.

And the nightmare mode part, while a little harder to remedy, allows for so much creative space. Requiring a melee strike to finish an enemy (you can damage them with guns, but the finishing blow must be melee), double spawn rate on heavies/elites, only headshots or melee can deal damage, etc. etc. THE POSSIBILITIES!

But no, nothing is being done, and it's highly doubtful that anything will be done. Why? Is it due to DE's stubborness? Ineptitude? Apathy? Who knows. All I know is that even some 18 y/o freshman could think up solutions while waiting for a video to buffer, yet these problems continue undealt with over the course of months.