[Operator Maneuvering and "Hover" Concept]

Every time I play the operator as the updates go by, it gets delightfully easier and easier to incorporate them into my playstyle either on and off the plains. However, I noticed that within the classes, the void dash has buffs and extras added to them depending on the upgrades you decide to invest into. However, I also know for a fact that despite the improvements to operator/warframe tuning, the void dash is incredibly hard to manage, especially when chaos abounds during [insert mission here].

Elaboration: You get the basic void dash, which at full energy allows for three dashes at the most, unless you have upgrades and arcanes to help with that. If one would decide to do multiple dashes in a dashing, and the speed at which the dash goes by is incredibly disorienting, to the point where it's hard to aim for a second dash should one be so inclined. It's tough to steer your operator's body in the direction you want to go, and even tougher to do that when you're stuck crouching and are on limited time if you want to make enough dashes (which you kind of have to stay crouched if you want your operator to last long enough to be useable). This is a direct contrast to how the Warframe maneuvering works, which over the years has been so fine tuned that the camera direction and movement controls feel smooth, functional, and most importantly feasible even in chaotic situations.

In part, my proposed solution is one that could at least ease the issues with the operator's steering, while at the same time giving an indicator as to the direction where future fine tunings can go to help smooth over the operator interface (or whatever the terminology is).

The solution: Employ a "hovering" mechanic that is triggered when the operator does a dash and remains crouched in "void mode" after the dash. During this "hover" mode, the operator will float in place for a few seconds (the math on that may need extensive testing, who knows), still in void mode with the applied effects. However, when in this hover mode, the steering, the camera and aim controls would be tweaked to be, I dunno, a little faster perhaps, or somewhat smoother? I'm thinking this could work sort of like the "ground pound" mechanic in Halo 5, where you get that little bit of hover time while jumping and pressing a button, allowing you to select where you want to unleash the fury. Except in this regard, it only applies to the dash, and the aiming would help the player to better control where they go next in the series of dashes they want to make. This could even just be used not to make a second dash, and it could be used to just help you steer our operator in a direction so you can reappear amps blazing, there's a lot of application that can be grown from this , I believe.

[Man In The Wall Cetus Operator Suit Glitch]

My operator has the Vahd pauldrons and cuirass equipped. When the Man in the Wall appears on the Codex Console, the right pauldron  spawns in the air to the left of the "operator."

[Vauban Vortex Synching Issues]

The grenade doesn't synch up with the vortex "winds," which sometimes doesn't even synch up to where the actual ability effect takes place. So I'll be throwing a vortex grenade, only to have the vortex appear to the side of where the grenade is, and the actual point where the enemies go in usually goes where the vortex is (not where the grenade "stands"), but I could have sworn I saw the enemies congregate to a different effect point to where both the grenade lands and the "winds" spawn.

[Porta and Dendra Energy Color Bug]

The colors of these attachments aren't synching up properly with my Atlas' energy color. It happened after today's miniature update.

[Improving the New Player Experience]

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You guys did a horrible job of introducing NPC allies and enemies in game. Every boss never gets a proper introduction, save for Vor. But even Vor is fought thrice and unless you listen to Lotus' droning, or ante up on your wiki reading, or watch one of the old trailers for Warframe, you'll have no clue how or why you are fighting these bosses. I remember when beating Kela De Thayme on Sedna, I got a freaking transmission from the head of Steel Meridian thanking me for what I did, even though she was literally never established when I got to Sedna. And I get that by this time, we'll have interacted with her via syndicates, but that isn't good enough if you're a player who never got involved with the syndicates at this point (that in and of itself leads to another issue in the game which I'll address soon). The same goes for the head of the Perrin Sequence when you fight Ambulas. You get literally no introduction on who or what these people are past in game droning via lotus or last minute transmissions during the boss battle mission (which doesn't work out, since most players are focused on rushing to the boss room to get the fight over with).

There needs to be introductions not just to the planet itself, but to the characters and factions you interact with on your trek through the solar system. I think I may actually have a solution to this issue. Add cutscenes. I know that's a scary word, especially in an MMO style game so far in development, but I'm dead serious. Add cinematic cutscenes, like at the beginning of questlines that establish who these enemies are and why they are doing what they are doing. No more droning from the lost in-mission. That doesn't work at all, and it only serves to distract players who are otherwise talking with each other in game, or focused on the rush of the mission. Have these cutscenes play out after you complete junctions (or unlock the first node in the case of the void and the derelict), and make these cutscenes and junctions replayable (or playable/witnessable for older players). Extend that replayability to older quests and potential cutscenes for older quests if the devs decide to take on my next issue/solution.

There is another glaring issue that was actually brought up by the Beautiful Fecking Irish Potato in his recent video. That issue is of new player accessibility. Not only are characters never introduced properly, but in game mechanics are not introduced well enough either. Take for instance, The New Strange; This is easily one of the worst quests I have ever played, and I've played old Artix Entertainment games (fite me on dis). You're doing a mission, then you go back and forth to relays, other missions, rooms within relays, you get the point. The structure of the mission is disjointed, the introduction to new game mechanics like the scanner feel forced and put a stick in the gears of the flow of the game as a whole. This, and other missions like this, feel bland and pointless, and are only played because we have to play them to understand what is going on. There are times when players are given no hint, no clue as to what to do or where to go, and it's off-putting as heck and it needs to be addressed.

(Another thing related to the New Strange: Get rid of regular scanners, and just have the simaris scanners be available to the players. There's no reason for us to have the original scanners anymore, when we have an adjustable scanner that can be modded and used for everything the regular scanner does and then some. The original scanner doesn't need to exist, it's presence and importance to the early game is miniscule, and players only end up getting the simaris ones instead after they beat the New Strange early on.)

The first questline is actually really well done. You have intrusive aspects in game that surprisingly set it apart from the rest. But after the first quest, what do you get? You get to hop from planet to planet until you figure out what to do next, either via the codex, wiki, other players, etc. But I've already covered those issues, and I'd rather focus on the problems with the first few quests themselves. They're repetitive. Some quests are literally just the same mission on a restructured map. I get that this is early game content, back when resources and experience was limited, but it's no longer that era of Warframe. As I said earlier, missions need variety not only in the mission types used, but in the missions themselves as you go about them. More effort needs to be put into them, and the content/characters introduced through them so that they can feel like questlines and not just another series of repetitive, boring, MMO missions you find in literally every other game. Maybe add cutscenes that better establish the characters, or take a few notes from Rebecca's Mission Suggestions board that she put up recently. Anything beats what we have now, and it turns players off both in the early game, and leading up to the Second Dream and The War Within.

Think about it this way: New players already run the rat mazes in their spare time in game. They do the same types of missions and objectives over and over again, but on a new tileset for each planet they go to. The questlines need to deviate from that, they need to set themselves apart from that, and while later questlines manage to do that quite well, the early and mid tier questlines completely fail to do that. Even the warframe collect-o-thon missions like the Limbo Theorem and the Hidden Messages ones are just the same two or three mission types with little to no variation. The only deviation they have can either be found in other parts of the game (in the case of limbo), or they can be wiki'd through (in the case of Mirage), and that spoils a lot of potential fun in playing these quests. The early quests need a complete and total restructure, or else players will get turned off before you can even get the chance to turn them on to what the rest of the game has to offer.

The first part of the game is the game's worst enemy, and things shouldn't have to be that way. With the increased dynamics in quest-types, and Rebecca's recent post on the forums asking players for input on what new quest types should exist, I feel like this is a perfect time to go back to step 1 and look at what can be done to really boost the experiences of new players when they are undergoing the first few stretches of the game. And I'm glad you guys are doing that finally, and I hope you implement some awesome stuff in the process, that even old vets can come back to enjoy.

[Mission Idea Sandbox.]

On 1/19/2018 at 2:23 PM, (Xbox One)AarrowOM said:

Mission type: Extraction Duty

Main Objective:  Escort a cryopod (defense objective) to extraction after a defense game.

Maps:  Maps will start out at or near the defense objective but then generate additional areas that you would have to escort a moving cryopod through in order to get to a waiting orbiter.  (A small scale version of hijack.)

Canonicity:  What happens to the defense objective after everyone chooses to extract?  (Or, how bad-a** are the extraction team operatives compared to normal Tenno?)

Gameplay:  Starting at the defense objective, gameplay works in a few phases.  However, unlike in defense games, enemies spawn continuously and at a higher level than the base defense mission at that node.
Phase 1:  Defend the objective during a countdown to represent the attachment of a movement system to the cryopod. 
Phase 2:  The objective moves slowly through the map while being escorted by the players.
Phase 3:  Occasionally, as a last-ditch effort to stop the Tenno, doors will be locked along the route requiring a countdown-based hack to open.

Some gameplay alternatives:
Phase 1 represents a cryopod opening sequence making Phase 2 be like a more traditional hostage escort (rescue) but with a walking-only and unarmable character (representing a freshly awoken, and thus unskilled, Tenno?)
Mobile defense-like door hacks replaced with friendship doors to speed up the mission.

Notes on tilesets:
For the Grineer Shipyard tileset, a pre-Phase 1 could be riding the tram around the track before the start of the mission.
For the Orokin Moon tileset, a pre-Phase 1 could include a pseudo-excavation mode to "stabilize the ground" and stop the collapses.

Or, perhaps instead of a Tenno awaking from a cryopod, have a player literally carry the cryopod (either on the shoulder like a badarse or via some sort of pushable cart, or they could just push it on the ground). This can set the pace at whatever the players desire, giving them more choice and strategy when making decisions on where to go and how to go about their extraction. It becomes less like a reskinned hijack mission and more like a blood-on-da-teeth extraction mission. I like this idea of yours. It gives us a chance to be the extractors, and it gives us the greater illusion that we're all working as a collective to bring about all these objectives and mission types together. I wonder if there are other mission types with similar open ends to the canon that can be capitalized on. 

[New Player Problems/Solutions Board]

We all know why this board is coming up. Tactikool Potato, the beautiful Irish Fecker just uploaded another awesome video that fairly brings a much needed criticism to Warframe that has been on the backburner for a while now. So without further ado, I'll just get to the point already. Here's the vid in case you have no clue what I'm referencing:

 

The problem is actually worse than what Potato brings up for new players, this problem affects mid-tier players and vets alike. For instance, the devs did a horrible job of introducing NPC allies and enemies in game. Every boss never gets a proper introduction, save for Vor. But even Vor is fought thrice and unless you listen to Lotus' droning, or ante up on your wiki reading, or watch one of the old trailers for Warframe, you'll have no clue how or why you are fighting these bosses. I remember when beating Kela De Thayme on Sedna, I got a freaking transmission from the head of Steel Meridian thanking me for what I did, even though she was literally never established when I got to Sedna. And I get that by this time, we'll have interacted with her via syndicates, but that isn't good enough if you're a player who never got involved with the syndicates at this point (that in and of itself leads to another issue in the game which I'll address soon). The same goes for the head of the Perrin Sequence when you fight Ambulas. You get literally no introduction on who or what these people are past in game droning via lotus or last minute transmissions during the boss battle mission (which doesn't work out, since most players are focused on rushing to the boss room to get the fight over with).

There needs to be introductions not just to the planet itself, but to the characters and factions you interact with on your trek through the solar system. I think I ma actually have a solution to this issue. Add cutscenes. I know that's a scary word, especially in an MMO style game so far in development, but I'm dead serious. Add cinematic cutscenes, like at the beginning of questlines that establish who these enemies are and why they are doing what they are doing. No more droning from the lost in-mission. That doesn't work at all, and it only serves to distract players who are otherwise talking with each other in game, or focused on the rush of the mission. Have these cutscenes play out after you complete junctions (or unlock the first node in the case of the void and the derelict), and make these cutscenes and junctions replayable (or playable/witnessable for older players). Extend that replayability to older quests and potential cutscenes for older quests if the devs decide to take on my next issue/solution.

There is another glaring issue that was actually brought up by the Irish Potato in his recent video. That issue is of new player accessibility. Not only are characters never introduced properly, but in game mechanics are not introduced well enough either. Take for instance, The New Strange; This is easily one of the worst quests I have ever played, and I've played old Artix Entertainment games (fite me on dis). You're doing a mission, then you go back and forth to relays, other missions, rooms within relays, you get the point. The structure of the mission is disjointed, the introduction to new game mechanics like the scanner feel forced and put a stick in the gears of the flow of the game as a whole. This, and other missions like this, feel bland and pointless, and are only played because we have to play them to understand what is going on. There are times when players are given no hint, no clue as to what to do or where to go, and it's off-putting as heck and it needs to be addressed.

The solution: Restructure the quests so that players aren't confused/bored to tears when playing them. Reduce the amount of back and forth, eliminate uneccessary steps, and direct the players during the quest in the right direction when it gets to a point where they get lost.

The first part of the game is the game's worst enemy, and things shouldn't have to be that way. With the increased dynamics in quest-types, and Rebecca's recent post on the forums asking players for input on what new quest types should exist, I feel like this is a perfect time to go back to step 1 and look at what can be done to really boost the experiences of new players when they are undergoing the first few stretches of the game. And I of course welcome to this board all criticisms and suggestions that can help to boost the productivity of this discussion. 

[Scaring away new players]

I was literally just about to bring this up in a separate thread, and I may in case this one gets ignored since OP doesn't take the time to explain things in words, lol (no offense meant, just jabbing your way for kicks).

So to the point, the problem is actually worse than what Potato brings up for new players, this problem affects mid-tier players and vets alike. For instance, the devs did a horrible job of introducing NPC allies and enemies in game. Every boss never gets a proper introduction, save for Vor. But even Vor is fought thrice and unless you listen to Lotus' droning, or ante up on your wiki reading, or watch one of the old trailers for Warframe, you'll have no clue how or why you are fighting these bosses. I remember when beating Kela De Thayme on Sedna, I got a freaking transmission from the head of Steel Meridian thanking me for what I did, even though she was literally never established when I got to Sedna. And I get that by this time, we'll have interacted with her via syndicates, but that isn't good enough if you're a player who never got involved with the syndicates at this point (that in and of itself leads to another issue in the game which I'll address soon). The same goes for the head of the Perrin Sequence when you fight Ambulas. You get literally no introduction on who or what these people are past in game droning via lotus or last minute transmissions during the boss battle mission (which doesn't work out, since most players are focused on rushing to the boss room to get the fight over with).

There needs to be introductions not just to the planet itself, but to the characters and factions you interact with on your trek through the solar system. I think I ma actually have a solution to this issue. Add cutscenes. I know that's a scary word, especially in an MMO style game so far in development, but I'm dead serious. Add cinematic cutscenes, like at the beginning of questlines that establish who these enemies are and why they are doing what they are doing. No more droning from the lost in-mission. That doesn't work at all, and it only serves to distract players who are otherwise talking with each other in game, or focused on the rush of the mission. Have these cutscenes play out after you complete junctions (or unlock the first node in the case of the void and the derelict), and make these cutscenes and junctions replayable (or playable/witnessable for older players). Extend that replayability to older quests and potential cutscenes for older quests if the devs decide to take on my next issue/solution.

There is another glaring issue that was actually brought up by the Irish Potato in his recent video. That issue is of new player accessibility. Not only are characters never introduced properly, but in game mechanics are not introduced well enough either. Take for instance, The New Strange; This is easily one of the worst quests I have ever played, and I've played old Artix Entertainment games (fite me on dis). You're doing a mission, then you go back and forth to relays, other missions, rooms within relays, you get the point. The structure of the mission is disjointed, the introduction to new game mechanics like the scanner feel forced and put a stick in the gears of the flow of the game as a whole. This, and other missions like this, feel bland and pointless, and are only played because we have to play them to understand what is going on. There are times when players are given no hint, no clue as to what to do or where to go, and it's off-putting as heck and it needs to be addressed.

The solution: Restructure the quests so that players aren't confused/bored to tears when playing them. Reduce the amount of back and forth, eliminate uneccessary steps, and direct the players during the quest in the right direction when it gets to a point where they get lost.

The first part of the game is the game's worst enemy, and things shouldn't have to be that way. With the increased dynamics in quest-types, and Rebecca's recent post on the forums asking players for input on what new quest types should exist, I feel like this is a perfect time to go back to step 1 and look at what can be done to really boost the experiences of new players when they are undergoing the first few stretches of the game. And I of course welcome to this board all criticisms and suggestions that can help to boost the productivity of this discussion. 

[Mission Idea Sandbox.]

Warfront: You and/or several players have to steer the battle for an army of npc allies (perhaps syndicate or colonies?) who are taking on the corpus/grineer eithe rin the open worlds or in a slightly modified map (similar to regular invasions, except more structured and its clear where you are going and what you are doing, and there are challenges and proper obstacles that give the mission a different feel besides "mission with slightly more objectives").

Stage 1: Preparations: You have a limited amount of time to set the stage for a successful assault, These objectives will be revealed simultaneously (four at maximum) at the start, and individual players can choose to either team up to speed through the objectives or take them on individually in order to save time. Missions can include the hijacking of supply vehicles (like the ones we open on the plains, or the corpus ones in regular hijack missions, make them moveable and have a player drive it or guard an npc over there to drive it as he defends it, perhaps) or the stealing of enemy assault vehicles (like the grineer flying vehicle which will be available soon), both of which can be used to bolster the npc's strengths in the forthcoming battle. Taking out enemy comms could reduce the availability of grineer reinforcements, or helping a stranded group of npcs and guarding their trek to base camp could bolster the allied forces. Saving an important NPC could bring forth an eximus commander to help your allied forces in battle, or hacking the turrets of the grineer camp to either turn on them or simply turn off (the second would be more fair, honestly). If done at nighttime on the plains, players can have an additional objective to fill a certain number of eidolon lures and take them to a far away location to keep the eidolon from entering the battle and reducing the chances of success for both sides. This can tie into a semi-easier eidolon hunt afterwards if you have the time, haha.

Stage 2: The Assault. Players and their NPC allies take on the fort after stage 1, their success and failure determinant on how many NPC allies are left standing (think OG Battlefront mechanics, where victory is determined partly by whether or not your forces are wiped out, but harder). Players have objectives during the assault that can make or break the battle. The number of enemies that the players kill will not affect how the tide turns. Otherwise, players will just ignore the objectives and just do a wholesale slaughter of the enemies and win the battle before the npcs reach the fort. This will force players to focus on their objectives, and to do so in a timely manner before the allies are overtaken. For each objective done, NPCs gain an advantage (perhaps boosted stats?) and enemies gain a disadvantage (perhaps reduced stats?). For each objective failed, NPC allies gain a disadvantage, and enemies gain an advantage. Objectives are simultaneous like in Stage 1, and some players with support frames/classes can stay behind to keep their npc allies alive to buy time. After a certain number of objectives are completed (perhaps 3 or 4), the players can finish off the enemy army and extract accordingly.

Bonus rewards are granted based on which and how many objectives are done, and perhaps a credit boost for a percentage of the NPC allied army that survives.

I feel like this particular game type structure can work either in the "rat-maze" maps or in the open worlds, and the objectives can be adjusted accordingly and adaptive, depending on which map we are on. For instance, if on Lua or in an Orokin type level, you can have a three way battle between allies, enemies, and the corrupted or a void storm that does corrupt allies and enemies alike, or even the infested, which spreads as they continue to kill allies and enemies on the field. Perhaps have objectives in stage 1 focus around building or setting up resistances to the corruption of infestation, haha. And in these three way battles, have enemy operatives go after some of the objectives, which make it an even greater race against not only time, but the enemy itself (killable, of course. You have the unique npc enemy types from both The Index and Rathuum that can be adjusted for this, and some of them can even be used canonically). Heck, have enemy operatives to race against in harder versions of two-way invasions! Why not?!

 

True Assassination: Before I explain this, I'm operating under the assumption that these games types will be implemented sometime around the release/reveal of the Open World Venus, which I'm also assuming will have corpus citadel locations that we can ninja around on. I may as well bring it up under the shadow of a good idea that fits within your guidelines.

In regular assassination missions, the players never actually FEEL like assassins. It just feels like you're going to a boss room, killing the boss, and getting out. I get why boss battles are rephrased as assassination missions, but why not have an assassination type of mission that truly feels like you are going about an assassination mission as if the game type was an assassination game? Imagine this, if you will:

"A massive, bustling corpus citadel on Jupiter, teeming with workers, soldiers, bots, sentries, and security drones. Tenno are sneaking through the rafters, across the rooftops, and along the walls as they take out guard after guard, and resume undetected until they find their target. A transmission from the Lotus: He's near. The Tenno spot the target either in the middle of a street or visible through a window, and they all take their positions to take out not only him, but anyone around him who could trigger an alarm. If they fail and alert or forget to take out an enemy, they have to fight brutally to get the he.ll outta dodge. If they succeed, they have to stealth their way out, or risk mayhem bonuses are offered that differ depending on if you are stealthy or not. Different bonuses for stealth as there are for mayhem survival."

[ATLAS Rework Discussion]

So the Atlas Rework has finally been announced, and after changing my underwear, I figured it would be a good idea to be proactive as community members and to pool together all our ideas and suggestions together in the naive chance that one of the devs sees it and takes inspiration when looking into the Rework. I've been itching for this rework for a while now, and have decided to use the forums as a means to communicate some possible ways we can improve Atlas when his rework finally rolls around. Any criticisms/alternate ideas are welcome to this board, let's get constructive baby!

Ability 1: Landslide: Keep it, it’s perfect. And with new impact damage types coming around with Khora, it’ll be @(*()$ magestic.

Okay, maybe a few suggestions for Landslide: In later combos, have Atlas use his legs for some aesthetic/combo flair. He’s a brawler, and I’m sure brawlers aren’t restricted to pugilism (though I may be wrong here. If so, disregard this).

Aesthetic suggestions/Landslide: This ability is already awesome in function and style. Though I’ve noticed that it can also target airborne units without really changing in terms of the animation used when punching them into orbit. My recommendation would be to tweak the animation sets that Atlas uses against airborne enemies so it’ll be less awkward to look at when Atlas “punches flat” in midair (if that makes sense). And please don’t remove the airborne targeting, it’s one of the few things about this ability that make it awesome.

Another suggestion would be the rocks themselves. I get that they are rocks, and it’d look stupid for them to have exactly matching colors to the warframe, but at least add some form of molten cracks (based on energy color) to the rocks to give the warframe/ability color schemes some level of synergy.

Ability 2: Tectonics: Arguably one of the most niche and useless abilities out there, only remotely useful when the augment is in place (ridiculous waste of mod space). I say replace the summon of a single rock segment at the push of a button with the “growth” of a custom sized wall that drains energy as you hold the button down and “grow” it. The player can move slowly (much like they do in the petrify ability) to expand where and how his wall grows. This solves the problem of its niche use, while not turning it into a Gara/Frost shoddy knockoff ability.

Now of course, this brings up a problem with the wall’s “rolling stone” alternate and the augment that goes with it, Tectonic Fracture. I say remove the “rolling boulder” aspect of the ability altogether, and instead turn Tectonic Fracture into an augment that “blasts” portions of the grown rock wall towards the general direction of the enemy as it is fired at or when it loses enough health (perhaps have a limitation that gives the wall in total less health if there’s a need to balance it out).

Aesthetic suggestions: Molten cracks in the rocks like in my previous aesthetic suggestion for Landslide, but have their glow increase as they are fired upon to help players indicate which part of the wall is weakening.

Ability 3: Petrify: Admittedly another one of the most useless abilities in Atlas’ arsenal, since [insert Warframe here] can, has, and continues to have abilities that do what petrify does exponentially better. So how can petrify be improved in the rework? Well, I say if you can’t replace the ability completely (it seems the devs are uncomfortable with those types of ideas), then make petrify a more nuanced and effective ability.

Suggestion 1: Make the ability a quick “blast” of conical energy that petrifies those within the cone, blinds those at the edge, and knocks back (perhaps with impact damage?) those around him. It removes the need to “crawl” everywhere, increasing Atlas’ mobility (which is important if DE wants to keep this a fast-paced game).

Suggestion 2: Make the ability a “blast wave” that petrifies those around him within a certain radius and blinds enemies slightly outside the radius of petrification. Once again, it maintains mobility, and keeps the ability useful. However it does run the risk of overshadowing other abilites in this form, and once again just proving to be a knockoff.

Ability Four: Rumblers: An interesting and cool, whose effectiveness is questionable (at least to me). I call it a wrong execution of the right idea. So how to improve their effectiveness? I say instead of putting the rumblers on a timer, have them be toggle-summoned at the cost of “reserved” energy based on a predetermined percentage of the total energy available (similar to how Path of Exile reserves mana for some abilities, if that makes sense). It gives the rumblers a chance to last for useful amounts of time, while also providing a penalty that doesn’t mimic the summoning abilities of other Warframes like Khora.

Aesthetic suggestions: Molten cracks like before with the other two, perhaps have a fire aura that flares up from the rumblers as they take on more damage that reaches a minor radius for aesthetic/strategic purposes (color based on energy, of course).

Synergy Suggestions: Landslide + Tectonics: Have the tectonic targetable by Landslide punches, and for every punch that goes towards the rockwall, have a smaller rolling boulder shoot down the direction where the punch is aimed.

Petrify + Rumblers: When petrify is used (regardless of suggestion), have the rumblers also use petrify within their own radiuses to expand the range and effects of the ability (perhaps at a cost to effectiveness, maybe have their versions be weaker or not as long lasting).

Landslide + Rumblers: Have the rumblers also be targetable by landslide. When hit, the rumbler in question becomes fused to Atlas (I noticed Atlas has the rumbler cover his body during casting, perhaps base the aesthetic on that?), and increases his armor and attack power in the process (to be deactivated when the “rumbler armor” wears off (perhaps it can wear off with each attack given and taken by Atlas). When the armor wears off, the rumbler collapses while the unused rumbler remains active, to be used for a backup “skin” if the player wishes (this can play into the rumblers augment, which can increase the effectiveness of the ability itself and the synergized variant here.

[ATLAS Rework Ideas/Suggestions Board]

So the Atlas Rework has finally been announced, and after changing my underwear, I figured it would be a good idea to be proactive as community members, and to pool together all our ideas and suggestions together in the naive chance that one of the devs sees it and does something accordingly. I've been itching for this rework for a while now, and have decided to use the forums as a means to communicate some possible ways we can improve Atlas when his rework finally rolls around. Any criticisms/alternate ideas are welcome to this board, let's get constructive baby!

Ability 1: Landslide: Keep it, it’s perfect. And with new impact damage types coming around with Khora, it’ll be @(*()$ magestic.

Okay, maybe a few suggestions for Landslide: In later combos, have Atlas use his legs for some aesthetic/combo flair. He’s a brawler, and I’m sure brawlers aren’t restricted to pugilism (though I may be wrong here. If so, disregard this).

Aesthetic suggestions/Landslide: This ability is already awesome in function and style. Though I’ve noticed that it can also target airborne units without really changing in terms of the animation used when punching them into orbit. My recommendation would be to tweak the animation sets that Atlas uses against airborne enemies so it’ll be less awkward to look at when Atlas “punches flat” in midair (if that makes sense). And please don’t remove the airborne targeting, it’s one of the few things about this ability that make it awesome.

Another suggestion would be the rocks themselves. I get that they are rocks, and it’d look stupid for them to have exactly matching colors to the warframe, but at least add some form of molten cracks (based on energy color) to the rocks to give the warframe/ability color schemes some level of synergy.

Ability 2: Tectonics: Arguably one of the most niche and useless abilities out there, only remotely useful when the augment is in place (ridiculous waste of mod space). I say replace the summon of a single rock segment at the push of a button with the “growth” of a custom sized wall that drains energy as you hold the button down and “grow” it. The player can move slowly (much like they do in the petrify ability) to expand where and how his wall grows. This solves the problem of its niche use, while not turning it into a Gara/Frost shoddy knockoff ability.

Now of course, this brings up a problem with the wall’s “rolling stone” alternate and the augment that goes with it, Tectonic Fracture. I say remove the “rolling boulder” aspect of the ability altogether, and instead turn Tectonic Fracture into an augment that “blasts” portions of the grown rock wall towards the general direction of the enemy as it is fired at or when it loses enough health (perhaps have a limitation that gives the wall in total less health if there’s a need to balance it out).

Aesthetic suggestions: Molten cracks in the rocks like in my previous aesthetic suggestion for Landslide, but have their glow increase as they are fired upon to help players indicate which part of the wall is weakening.

Ability 3: Petrify: Admittedly another one of the most useless abilities in Atlas’ arsenal, since [insert Warframe here] can, has, and continues to have abilities that do what petrify does exponentially better. So how can petrify be improved in the rework? Well, I say if you can’t replace the ability completely (it seems the devs are uncomfortable with those types of ideas), then make petrify a more nuanced and effective ability.

Suggestion 1: Make the ability a quick “blast” of conical energy that petrifies those within the cone, blinds those at the edge, and knocks back (perhaps with impact damage?) those around him. It removes the need to “crawl” everywhere, increasing Atlas’ mobility (which is important if DE wants to keep this a fast-paced game).

Suggestion 2: Make the ability a “blast wave” that petrifies those around him within a certain radius and blinds enemies slightly outside the radius of petrification. Once again, it maintains mobility, and keeps the ability useful. However it does run the risk of overshadowing other abilites in this form, and once again just proving to be a knockoff.

Ability Four: Rumblers: An interesting and cool, whose effectiveness is questionable (at least to me). I call it a wrong execution of the right idea. So how to improve their effectiveness? I say instead of putting the rumblers on a timer, have them be toggle-summoned at the cost of “reserved” energy based on a predetermined percentage of the total energy available (similar to how Path of Exile reserves mana for some abilities, if that makes sense). It gives the rumblers a chance to last for useful amounts of time, while also providing a penalty that doesn’t mimic the summoning abilities of other Warframes like Khora.

Aesthetic suggestions: Molten cracks like before with the other two, perhaps have a fire aura that flares up from the rumblers as they take on more damage that reaches a minor radius for aesthetic/strategic purposes (color based on energy, of course).

Synergy Suggestions: Landslide + Tectonics: Have the tectonic targetable by Landslide punches, and for every punch that goes towards the rockwall, have a smaller rolling boulder shoot down the direction where the punch is aimed.

Petrify + Rumblers: When petrify is used (regardless of suggestion), have the rumblers also use petrify within their own radiuses to expand the range and effects of the ability (perhaps at a cost to effectiveness, maybe have their versions be weaker or not as long lasting).

Landslide + Rumblers: Have the rumblers also be targetable by landslide. When hit, the rumbler in question becomes fused to Atlas (I noticed Atlas has the rumbler cover his body during casting, perhaps base the aesthetic on that?), and increases his armor and attack power in the process (to be deactivated when the “rumbler armor” wears off (perhaps it can wear off with each attack given and taken by Atlas). When the armor wears off, the rumbler collapses while the unused rumbler remains active, to be used for a backup “skin” if the player wishes (this can play into the rumblers augment, which can increase the effectiveness of the ability itself and the synergized variant here.

 

(Alternate suggestions: Please have the eidolon joints be targetable by landslide when within range? I’ve always wanted to wanpanch the pieces off bit by bit!)

[Atlas Lanka Mishandle]

Whenever Atlas has the Lanka equipped, his left hand is never actually holding the barrel, it's just holding the space beside the barrel. This is regardless of skin and attachments, and it seems to only  occur in Atlas' noble stance.

[Plague star crash]

We literally finished killing off the last of the infested,  then the network stopped responding and soon after the game @(*()$ crashed. This was literally right after the hotfix was implemented and I restarted the game.

[Game Literally Shuts Off]

So I'm going on an Eidolon hunt with three other randoms on The Plains. We just got done taking out a second limb when all of a sudden, the screen goes black and I'm sent to the Xbox home screen. I then have to log back into Warframe, as if I were just starting it up. I've noticed this happening even before Eidolon, but thought nothing of it since I was running on college wifi. However, I am using different wifi now, and the same thing is still happening, where the screen goes black and I'm sent to Xbox home.

I love this game, and I'm glad the devs do everything they can to fix things where they can. But a lot of time is put into Eidolon hunts, and a lot of my time got wasted, with none of the resources or experience I earned saved when it glitched me out of the damned game. If you guys are going to keep this thing afloat, it'd help if you tried to make it so that the game literally doesn't go dark out of nowhere. It makes me not want to put hours into the game at all, and I'm sure the same can be said for others who've gone through this same thing.

Now, if this is an issue that can't be fixed in terms of the game itself, then I am happy to take suggestions on how to prevent this from happening in the future. I love this game, and want to continue playing it, but it seems like it doesn't want to be played half the time when it goes black on me.

[On Warframe's Stealth and Inprovement]

Warframe has stealth, yes. But the stealth seems to lack anything resembling traditional stealth mechanics. Sure, there are vents and alternate pathways sometimes, and sure there are plenty of boxes, walls, and junk to slip behind, along with everyone's favorite invisibility mods and warframes and whatnot. But despite this, it doesn't feel like the stealth mechanics are as well developed in this game as they could be. A lot of potential within the levels are lost when it comes basic things like hiding, peeking around, and general common sense when it comes to level design. I get that Warframe is more geared towards mobility, but why bother with these simplistic stealth mechanics if the most efficient way is literally to float through the level at mach speed? It's a problem I saw with the nature of Warframe's current difficulty setup, and we're seeing DE start to address the core problems with the combat system. I'm wondering if they'll ever address the problems within the stealth mechanics later on (not anytime soon, I get that Eidolon and The Sacrifice are eating up the squad's time and energy, which is perfectly fine). I want to know what you guys think of the stealth mechanics, and how they've changed from the past updates. I'll write down some of the problems I see so far:

The stealth lacks incentivization. In a game where you are a superpowered biomechanical war suit with magic powers and a void demon supertwink, there is literally no incentive for the stealth mechanics to be utilized unless you and/or friends decide to pull a "Hold my Beer" and challenge yourselves. In games where stealth and full throttle mayhem are options, I see this problem a lot, with no real solutions except to force players into levels that stress complete stealth via harsh punishments for detection. However, this wouldn't be so much of a problem in my opinion, if detection in game were... Not easier or harder, but more functional (I'll address that in the next bit). But reasonably, this kind of authoritarian restriction never really works out in the games I've played, due to the fact that they restrict gameplay mechanics already in place. The only solution I can see, or at least a concept behind the solution would be to find a way to redesign the stealth systems and mechanics so that they challenge the warframes in their current state. Which brings me to my next point.

The stealth systems/alternatives, while they manage to allow for any warframe to manage/F*** up, they feel bland, uninspired, and at times easy to miss, especially considering the high speed alternatives the game offers. The systems are mundane, and almost seem to be designed for non-warframes. Which in a lore sense, might make sense considering that the factions aren't exactly allied with each other in any real sense. But then again, the factions aren't exactly allied with the Tenno either, and it would make a lot of sense to redesign the security systems to properly be pitted against warframe capabilities, while at the same time offering more suitable alternatives to get around those obstacles, and risks associated with those alternatives as well. The new Deus Ex games do this exceptionally well (No clue about the originals). While I know that we're comparing a free to play mmo game to a big budget triple A game, the concept can and has been executed before very well, even in older games with more simplistic mechanics like the Tenchu or the older Splinter Cell games. We won't know how Plains of Eidolon will pan out for Warframe, and whether it will allow it to compete with games like Destiny 2. But if it does, this means that DE can take on the game industry's most successful genres in a free to play game that has free updates. My idea is that if they can master the open world aspects in the realm of the mayhem-related facets of Warframe, then they can compete with the best stealth games the next time they get around to reworking the stealth mechanics (if they ever do/can/etc.). But back to my point. The stealth mechanics feel bare bones, and they are in desperate need of the intricacy found in actual stealth games. They still go by the motto of "ninjas play free," and while I get that DE has had to deviate from that with the newer updates and warframes, the main theme still manages to revolve around the "ninja" aspect and aesthetics. The motto will eventually ring hollow as time goes on and they don't address it.

 

Those are my thoughts on it so far. What do you guys think? What else is wrong? What do/did they get right? What can be fixed/added/improved/etc.?

["Grounded Melee Experience"]

This idea floated around in my head while I was on the toilet earlier, so forgive me if I don't explain it clearly.

I have no clue if this is just an Xboner issue, or if it's just an issue with the game itself, or even if the wider community doesn't even think of it as an issue. For me, it's a nagging itch on the side of my noggin, and that itch involves the melee experience in Warframe. I've noticed that when you're slicing and dicing in your biorobot thing, there's something missing when you're engaging in combat with enemies or even tenno. I in fact noticed this issue when I started doing conclave brawls. Sure, the controller vibrations are there, and sure the animations suggest that impacts are made, but the impacts during melee hits seem to lack a certain "grounding" found in other games. For instance, in Dark Souls or Ninja Gaiden (original Ninja Gaiden, not the new swill), every melee impact is not only felt, but seen, heard, with every component from animation to sound effects tuned to such a point that the impact feels grounded, like you're actually making each hit and strike actually hit and strike something. The experience with those kinds of melee based games convey the illusion of contact with each hit in a way that Warframe seems to miss. With Warframe, the melee feels floaty, and when I make a strike, it doesn't feel like a strike that really lands or digs in. There's a lack of immersion found within the way that the melee system is rigged, and it becomes more noticeable when you're going pvp in the conclave. It's almost like the running and the speed based mechanics interfere with how grounded the melee could be, and I'm curious if anyone has ever felt this kind of nagging lack of feeling in the melee gameplay. .

And before you point it out, yes I know that comparing Warframe to games you pay for is a pretentious and taboo thing to do, but after seeing the Eidolon Plains reveal, I have a feeling DE has struck some major forking gold here. I'm just tryna polish some fingerprints from that shiny golden nugget, ya feel? In my experience, forums are a great way to see if anyone else feels or thinks the same or differently.

Speaking of which, what do you guys think? Am I onto something, or am I deluding myself somehow into thinking the game is flawed after playing it for so long? What other related issues are there that can be brought? What am I missing here?

[Concerns about Dynamic and Warframe's Future]

As a disclaimer, I have to say that it took a while for me to try and figure out how to express my concerns here without coming off as a know-it-all jackoff. I am by no means an expert on game design, and my perspective is entirely based on that as a consumer, and a die hard fan of the game since I started playing several months ago on the Xboner.

Playing Warframe has been a fantastic experience for me, and it is most definitely a game that I can place within my top ten favorite games of all time. The game is fun, the world is immersive, the community is great (unless we're talking about bazaar haggling with new guys, but that's for another day), and the developers actually do take heed of the community concerns when those concerns are actually important.

But there are some major issues I see plaguing the game, and it's bothered me for some time since I got farther along the solar system and farther into the game: The way enemies operate, and the level designs themselves. Warframe is an MMO style game. What sets it apart form most other MMOs is that it has an insane amount of variety not just in enemy types, but also in the amount of weapons, stances, abilities, etc. that players can use to take on these enemies. Then there's the multiplayer clan and alliance system, which utterly surprised me in how complex and competitive it seems to be (I say "seems" because I haven't taken part in it yet). But while there is variety in terms of enemies and weapons, etc. there seems to be a lack of dynamics in how these enemies operate. In almost every mission I've played the enemies operate in much the same way, I.E. "Charge and Shoot," "Stay back and shoot," "Charge and melee," all the basic enemy behaviors you'd see in an MMO style game. In other words, the enemy behavior feels simplistic and predictable, with no real tactic or variety in how they operate or how they use what special abilities they have to complement each other when fighting Tenno.

Now this isn't to disparage the gameplay itself, or to disregard DE's attempts at introducing variety into the game itself. For instance, a lot of the boss fights and field bosses introduce dynamics that could be implemented into regular gameplay (Sargas Ruk's and Ambulas' destructible armor pieces, or Zanuka and the Hyena Pack's agile movesets) to spice things up a bit. And that's not even taking into account the really cool Index enemies on Neptune and Sedna's Arena style maps/mission enemies which are &#! kickers in their own right. But even with these exceptions, most of the game's enemies feel like standard MMO enemies that don't really do anything to challenge the players. A common solution to this I see implemented is the health/damage/etc. scaling that increases health/damage/etc. as their levels increase. Sure, this makes them harder to kill, but it's not in a positive way. I saw The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion make this same mistake, which resulted in high level players getting chased across Tamriel by a wolf that looks like a porcupine, with more enchanted Daedric Arrows in their hide than actual fur.

This lack of dynamic in how the Enemy AI operates, also affect how players play the game, or in better terms how they don't play it. I see this issue exacerbated in the high level sortie missions, where everyone save for a few psychotic tank frames (and Limbo) tend to avoid conflict altogether, in favor of just completing the objectives and spilling out (unless the objective is to kill enemies, in that case everyone huddles together and prays their endgame frames can last. Then again, I'm not as well versed in warframe as most other players, so I may be wrong there). Now this would not be an issue, say, if the gameplay can accommodate stealth alternatives in missions. I've seen DE try that, and the attempts they've made in their maps are interesting in that they manage to offer some alternate passageways/etc. while still working within the "MMO map" limits. The problem is, most of the time the alternatives provided are simply not feasible or visible enough to pursue, and with the level hundo enemies sprawled everywhere, it becomes a rush to get the S#&$ over with, instead of an engaging mission that offers a decent challenge.

This segways into my next and last concern, which is in the level design itself. Warframe differs from a lot of MMOs in that it's not an open world. Instead, players engage in missions across a map, and these maps differ... somewhat, depending on the planet/ship/etc. There are 3 main faction tilesets, which layer on to a night and day difference (depending on the planet) and a further infested layover that all mix and match to offer different experiences to the players. then there's Lua, the Orokin void, and the derelict to tack on top of those, but back to my point.

From a player perspective, a lot of the maps feel the same. Despite the way that the faction tilesets layer over the landscape, and the technical variety that comes with the many different environmental factors that can be tacked on, the game's maps still feel rehashed. I mean absolutely no disrespect here when I say this, nor do I mean to disregard the work that goes into creating the game and its maps/etc. But I see this affecting once again, how players "Don't" play the game. This is obvious when looking at the number of open squads available past Pluto. Eris, Sedna, the last third of the Void, nobody seems to actually play these maps. This drop off point could mean trouble for the future in the game, if there's nothing to incentivize exploration into these parts. Since Warframe has no open world, exploration for the sake of exploration and map-filling can't work to fix this. With the lack of enemy dynamic, and the only difficulty scaling resulting in the "Porcupine Wolf" effect, I find it hard to see a future in this MMO once the warframe and weapons releases start to hit a point of varietal stasis (that is, it no longer serves to keep gamers engaged. The hamster walks off the wheel and just takes the carrot from the string, instead of running on the wheel with each new release). 

I'm only bringing this up, because I've brought it up with other members of the Facebook Warframe communities, and they all seemed to be in agreement, and felt that it needed to be brought up. This game has a lot that separates itself form most MMOs. The cinematic cutscenes, the warframes themselves and their playstyles, the close developer/community relationship, the developers' expression of appreciation for artistic ingenuity via Tennogen and their other similar contests, and the freakin memes themselves that generate from the community all serve to give Warframe its unique blended flavor of soy and space ninjas that deviates from the mass of MMOs that range between Pay-to-Play and Free Anime Girls Online Doki-doki deluxe.

Because of how unique it is, I want nothing more than to see it succeed, and as an obnoxious jackass with a keyboard and an opinion, I feel this is the best way to help it survive. What do you guys think? Are we thinking the same things here? Is there more I'm not seeing? Am I seeing stuff that doesn't exist? Hash it all out on here, I'd love to hear your opinions.