xGBox
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Posts posted by xGBox
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A few days ago, I broke down and traded some of my platinum for Hornet Strike, because I have not been able to get one to drop. Even after playing an average of 6 hours a day for the past two weeks, and despite reaching Pluto and doing roughly every activity that had a chance of having Hornet Strike dropping (Infestation, T2D, Survival), I still haven't seen one dropped to this day.
This would not be bothersome if it were not for the fact that base damage mods are absolutely essential to any weapon's DPS. There is simply no build that does not use these. Without Hornet Strike, every secondary weapon I've used past Sedna were almost completely useless in inflicting damage. Without a base damage mod, an entire category of weapons cannot be utilized against enemies past a certain point.
That's why there needs to be a Damaged Hornet Strike. Considering that all other base damage mods are available in damaged versions, i.e. Serration (Rifle), Point Blank (Shotgun), and Pressure Point (Melee), pistols should get the same treatment. They don't do much, but they help give just enough weapon damage to carry players until at least Europa, where players can grab Tier 2 Defense rewards more quickly, starting at wave 5.
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Overall, the inclusion of Kubrows is a step backwards in terms of the forward progression of an account. Let's look at some examples:
1. Being penalized for being away, rather than being rewarded for staying committed. In contrast to login rewards, genetic stability (GS) reduction only serves to punish players for not maintaining active Kubrows. That's why there's stasis to stop the decay, which is great except for the fact that...
2. Players have to wait three hours just to pull a Kubrow out of stasis. Warframe has a clearly established system where items only have to be crafted before it can be used, yet Kubrows are so special that it also needs time to thaw before it can be equipped for a mission. People want to use the Kubrow for the alert that's happening right now, not three hours later. Players should be able to use every piece of available equipment at their arsenal immediately. They could just leave it active, but...
3. Without regular maintenance, 0% GS results in permanent erasure of a Kubrow. If GS degrades at a rate of 20% per 24 hours, then they only have a shelf life of 5 days without using DNA Stabilizers. And since the stabilizers only regain 40% GS per use, they would have to be applied every 48 hours for maintenance. This all sounds like a lot of work, and it'd be great if they were much better than Sentinels, except...
4. Kubrows don't offer any substantial advantage over Sentinels that justifies their current high level of maintenance. Kubrows make really nice tanks, as evidenced by their unique stat-sharing mods. However, they're still NPCs, and thus their behavior is somewhat unpredictable and uncontrollable. Also, if their deaths result in a penalty of some kind to players, then people are essentially signing up for escort missions in addition to whatever they're doing. So they're just different, but in no way are the differences enough that people should have to deal with the mechanics at its current state.
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So while not every one of the following suggestion needs to be implemented, here are my ideas to fix Kubrows:
1. Rename "Interact" to "Nurture," and doing so now restores GS at a rate of 10%. A Kubrow that has died in a mission now results in -20% loyalty, but completing a mission with it alive will now grant +10% loyalty. This will still retain the viability of DNA stabilizers, which will drastically reduce the time required to get a Kubrow back to optimum efficiency.
2. GS now decays after 48 hours of not nurturing a Kubrow, then every 24 hours after. It's essentially a grace period, but the decay will ramp up after extended periods.
3. Kubrows no longer die as a result of 0% GS. Instead, add an option to kill or release Kubrows. They shouldn't die as a result of player negligence. It might be true in real life, but it's a terrible game mechanic. Some people have better things to do than to maintain a virtual pet, so they shouldn't log back in a week later only to find out they've lost a lot of work.
4. Remove Stasis. I've yet to hear a good reason as to why it's even there other than to dump excess platinum. This also keeps it consistent with all of the other pieces of equipment in the arsenal, which can be equipped immediately.
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Considering how all other parts of a Warframe's loadout can be changed instantaneously, stasis becomes an absurd mechanic. Why should the player be penalized with a three-hour lockout before being able to use it as a companion? Basically, if the Kubrow is left out, it degrades, punishing the player. If players put it in stasis and decide to use it later, they have to wait.
Yeah, I'm freezing mine forever and sticking with Sentinels. They're more cost-effective, do just about the same things, and don't succumb to permanent death.
Special 3 Day Alert. Underwhelming For Now.
in General
Posted
The bottom line is that not every special alert is going to cater to the rank 16 gosu. I'm still on the leveling grind, so I don't really care for the Formas. On the other hand, the credits would come in very handy for me in upgrading my mods and purchasing blueprints.