AurumApocrypha

I'm glad to hear that some people might come to enjoy Yarlei with the new aesthetic. More people playing Yarlei, and discovering that she's actually really fun and strong once you get over her learning curve, is enough to make me happy. But as Gaxxian said above that I really feel encapsulates the real issue here; I really would have liked a skin for people who already liked Yarlei. We've waited long enough for a skin, something that actually has and/or accentuates her existing themes that appeal to the current, albiet small, Yarlei playerbase sure would have been nice.

Honestly, just getting a new animation set would do a lot to alleviate my concerns, as my main gripe with the skin is how badly it clashes with all aspects of her current aesthetic, not entirely just how the skin looks itself. I can squint and pretend I'm just playing a different frame with the same moveset provided there is an animation set to match. Still don't know how I feel about the skin in general, and will have to actually see it in game. Its certainly not Yareli, but it could, possibly, still be interesting.

For the three people unto who it may concern, Yarlei deluxe is horrible. When it was first shown off at Tennocon, I was a little hopeful that its rather poor immediate reception and the fact that it hadn't been shown off or hinted at in any capacity was an indication that it was being redesigned. Admittedly, it was a fools hope, but I did hope nonetheless. Seeing it modeled out and shown off at PAX was crushing. I understand the idea behind the design. A deep sea creature is a really cool basis for a warframe. There is always a logic behind the designs of a deluxe skin, of course. Take the recent Sevagoth deluxe. As a legendary railjack pilot, they took the idea of a ship captain, one of his core attributes, and turned him into a pirate ship captain. Despite the changes, it still matches his behavior, his moveset, and his animations. They iterated meaningfully upon a core aspect of his design, taking his core theme in a different, but closely related direction. The same can not be said for Yarlei. The core identity of Yarlei is of a pop star/magical girl/skater punk. The sea creature theme is in distinct last. It exists, for sure, but has nothing to do with her quest or lore, and only tangentially relates to her abilities and gameplay. Iterating on that last one creates this jarring divorce from her core attributes. And unless there are new animation sets released alongside Yarlei deluxe, something that I find highly improbable, it's a problem that really stands out. The word "edgy" has been used repeatedly by the design team, and I think it's quite silly to see this dark, brooding, deep sea monster giddily hopping around and making heart bubbles for her fans, hugging Merulina, or doing twirls to flare out her (now nonexistent) skirt. It's a cool design for sure, but it matches the frame its attached to in an incredibly shallow way that really bothers me. As one of the three Yarlei mains on the planet, my disappointment is immeasurable. All that I have left is to hope for Yarlei Prime. Yes, I am aware that I care to much about a warframe design, thank you.