Before getting into it I really like the idea of adding more end game activities to the game and appreciate all the updates. Everything I mention here is of course based on my view on things and others might see things differently which is completely fine. After completing the regular Archimedea in a public group and the Elite Archimedea solo to test both experiences out I must say that I'm really underwhelmed with this new end-game. The update post says:
However especially the last part isn't really true since you're being forced to play one of three random Warframes and weapons (in Elite you can technically change one thing if you don't care about the low amount of Vosfor you'd get for taking everything) so you can't actually test the loadouts you prepared and that you're familiar with. Also what's the point of introducing late game upgrades like incarnon weapons if you can't actually use them in the most challenging content (unless you get lucky)?
The Personal Modifiers are also horrible because some of them (like not being able to use Transference with "Transference Distortion") are build breaking and not fun at all. It's fine to introduce modifiers to make the game harder like you did in Netracell runs but they shouldn't completely break certain builds or in the case of Transference get rid of a massive component that the game has to offer. The same goes for certain Risk Variables like "Vampyric Liminus" which are basically invulnerable enemies that drain your life and energy bypassing shields - again - introducing challenging modifiers is fine but please don't make them break certain builds and play-styles - it's simply not fun to play.
The next point I want to mention is that the content is not actually challenging in the way it should be. All those modifiers and limitations just force you to play sub-optimal builds and therefor heavily slow things down. You're being forced to play all three missions after each other without being able to take a break or change anything to adapt to the Risk Variables (for some reason) however with all those slow-down mechanics a mission that would usually take around 5 minutes might all of a sudden take 15 minutes. That doesn't mean that it's more challenging, it's just more time consuming. This whole thing becomes really obvious in the last mission where you're not facing one bullet sponge Necramech demolisher but two instead. You can't use transference at all and you're being forced to play whatever RNG picks - bullet sponges are generally not fun but not even allowing players to use everything they have in their arsenal against them is just ridiculous.
As per usual it's more of a disadvantage to play in a group (unless you are pre-made maybe) and it's much easier to complete the Archimedea solo because of the group scaling and people being forced to play sub-optimal builds. The regular Archimedea run that I did with a random group was actually more challenging than the solo Elite Archimedea run I did. Both runs took unnecessarily long because of the slow down mechanics that make the whole experience not fun to play.
Considering the severe time invest it's probably not even worth it to run those missions to be honest. Even a single mission usually takes longer than a full Netracell run and you have to do three of them in a row. They are also much more annoying to play because you can't use whatever you want and because of build bricking modifiers.
The changes I'd suggest:
Get rid of the limited Warframe/weapon choices and replace the current Personal Modifiers with the ones you get at the start of a Netracell run, Personal Modifiers like "Transference Distortion" that are build breaking and disable such a massive game mechanic should not exist. Also get rid of build breaking Risk Variables like "Vampyric Liminus". Regarding the rewards if you keep the slow down mechanics in place additional rewards should be added to compensate for the time invested and you should receive a guaranteed Tauforged shards and an Arcane instead of getting a random reward out of a pool of both.
Before getting into it I really like the idea of adding more end game activities to the game and appreciate all the updates. Everything I mention here is of course based on my view on things and others might see things differently which is completely fine. After completing the regular Archimedea in a public group and the Elite Archimedea solo to test both experiences out I must say that I'm really underwhelmed with this new end-game. The update post says: However especially the last part isn't really true since you're being forced to play one of three random Warframes and weapons (in Elite you can technically change one thing if you don't care about the low amount of Vosfor you'd get for taking everything) so you can't actually test the loadouts you prepared and that you're familiar with. Also what's the point of introducing late game upgrades like incarnon weapons if you can't actually use them in the most challenging content (unless you get lucky)? The Personal Modifiers are also horrible because some of them (like not being able to use Transference with "Transference Distortion") are build breaking and not fun at all. It's fine to introduce modifiers to make the game harder like you did in Netracell runs but they shouldn't completely break certain builds or in the case of Transference get rid of a massive component that the game has to offer. The same goes for certain Risk Variables like "Vampyric Liminus" which are basically invulnerable enemies that drain your life and energy bypassing shields - again - introducing challenging modifiers is fine but please don't make them break certain builds and play-styles - it's simply not fun to play. The next point I want to mention is that the content is not actually challenging in the way it should be. All those modifiers and limitations just force you to play sub-optimal builds and therefor heavily slow things down. You're being forced to play all three missions after each other without being able to take a break or change anything to adapt to the Risk Variables (for some reason) however with all those slow-down mechanics a mission that would usually take around 5 minutes might all of a sudden take 15 minutes. That doesn't mean that it's more challenging, it's just more time consuming. This whole thing becomes really obvious in the last mission where you're not facing one bullet sponge Necramech demolisher but two instead. You can't use transference at all and you're being forced to play whatever RNG picks - bullet sponges are generally not fun but not even allowing players to use everything they have in their arsenal against them is just ridiculous. As per usual it's more of a disadvantage to play in a group (unless you are pre-made maybe) and it's much easier to complete the Archimedea solo because of the group scaling and people being forced to play sub-optimal builds. The regular Archimedea run that I did with a random group was actually more challenging than the solo Elite Archimedea run I did. Both runs took unnecessarily long because of the slow down mechanics that make the whole experience not fun to play. Considering the severe time invest it's probably not even worth it to run those missions to be honest. Even a single mission usually takes longer than a full Netracell run and you have to do three of them in a row. They are also much more annoying to play because you can't use whatever you want and because of build bricking modifiers. The changes I'd suggest: Get rid of the limited Warframe/weapon choices and replace the current Personal Modifiers with the ones you get at the start of a Netracell run, Personal Modifiers like "Transference Distortion" that are build breaking and disable such a massive game mechanic should not exist. Also get rid of build breaking Risk Variables like "Vampyric Liminus". Regarding the rewards if you keep the slow down mechanics in place additional rewards should be added to compensate for the time invested and you should receive a guaranteed Tauforged shards and an Arcane instead of getting a random reward out of a pool of both.
