The first steps to fixing Warframe's issues

[Teridax68]

On one hand, I can easily agree with many of the OP's suggestions regarding the removal of mods, because Warframe is indeed a game full of mods that are almost always mandatory on any build, which in turn makes the game's customization systems that much shallower. Damage and multishot mods are near-essential, and take up almost all of a gun's customization pool without polarities or potatoes (which means most guns will end up having the exact same two or three mods), and even beyond just that, crit and status builds each tend to look very similar from weapon to weapon, despite the plethora of more interesting mods that tie into that system, like Argon Scope. Even in the case of warframes, much of their customization ends up being pretty cookie-cutter, because most frames typically perform better when min-maxed and supplemented with survivability mods (unless they have stealth), which in turn follows some pretty consistent rules from frame to frame (i.e. there is a consistent set of mods to equip when building for power strength, duration, or the like). Because of this, only a fraction of Warframe's total mod pool sees play, because some mods are so good as to be considered essential, whereas others aren't considered worth picking under almost any circumstances (especially outdated mods like Rifle Aptitude).

With this in mind, though, I can also understand why so many would oppose peeling all of these mandatory upgrades, outside of simple fear of a nerf, because so many of Warframe's current mods are simply doomed to be either mandatory or useless. Even the OP anticipated that peeling back the first player of mandatory mods would give rise to a second layer, which may in turn lead to a third, and so on. While going through this process could certainly help balance the game better, the problem will always remain that much of the game's customization isn't about generating new gameplay options, as it is about simply piling on more power. Piling as much health and armor onto Inaros doesn't change his playstyle, for example, it just makes him tougher, and to some extent, min-maxing a frame for strength, duration, or range not only fails to meaningfully expand their gameplay, but in fact reduces it, as the end result is usually a kit where only a portion of the abilities see regular use, whereas the rest are so atrophied as to barely be worth activating in most cases.

Because of this, while I do think the changes suggested by the OP will have to happen one way or another for the game to improve, I also think there needs to be a reevaluation of the core design behind Warframe's customization. We need more mods to behave like Argon Scope or even some of the Fortuna set mods, providing unique bonuses that either genuinely change how we play, or capitalize upon existing, yet unique ways of playing. Tailoring weapons and frames to suit our preferences is fine, and I feel should still stay in some form, but slapping on pure stat increases should never be more attractive than truly modifying one's playstyle. Giving a weapon pure power through mods should be, at most, as attractive as modding the same weapon to capitalize upon more interesting gameplay, and even then should only be attractive if what one wants is simpler, more basic gameplay. In turn, giving these mods to newer players right from the start could both smooth out the learning curve and equalize player power, so that new players don't feel like their power fantasy is being hampered by a lack of raw stats, but also so that veteran players can express their mastery through esoteric and much more personalized builds.

[(PSN)CommanderRadec81]

4 hours ago, Teridax68 said:

On one hand, I can easily agree with many of the OP's suggestions regarding the removal of mods, because Warframe is indeed a game full of mods that are almost always mandatory on any build, which in turn makes the game's customization systems that much shallower. Damage and multishot mods are near-essential, and take up almost all of a gun's customization pool without polarities or potatoes (which means most guns will end up having the exact same two or three mods), and even beyond just that, crit and status builds each tend to look very similar from weapon to weapon, despite the plethora of more interesting mods that tie into that system, like Argon Scope. Even in the case of warframes, much of their customization ends up being pretty cookie-cutter, because most frames typically perform better when min-maxed and supplemented with survivability mods (unless they have stealth), which in turn follows some pretty consistent rules from frame to frame (i.e. there is a consistent set of mods to equip when building for power strength, duration, or the like). Because of this, only a fraction of Warframe's total mod pool sees play, because some mods are so good as to be considered essential, whereas others aren't considered worth picking under almost any circumstances (especially outdated mods like Rifle Aptitude).

With this in mind, though, I can also understand why so many would oppose peeling all of these mandatory upgrades, outside of simple fear of a nerf, because so many of Warframe's current mods are simply doomed to be either mandatory or useless. Even the OP anticipated that peeling back the first player of mandatory mods would give rise to a second layer, which may in turn lead to a third, and so on. While going through this process could certainly help balance the game better, the problem will always remain that much of the game's customization isn't about generating new gameplay options, as it is about simply piling on more power. Piling as much health and armor onto Inaros doesn't change his playstyle, for example, it just makes him tougher, and to some extent, min-maxing a frame for strength, duration, or range not only fails to meaningfully expand their gameplay, but in fact reduces it, as the end result is usually a kit where only a portion of the abilities see regular use, whereas the rest are so atrophied as to barely be worth activating in most cases.

Because of this, while I do think the changes suggested by the OP will have to happen one way or another for the game to improve, I also think there needs to be a reevaluation of the core design behind Warframe's customization. We need more mods to behave like Argon Scope or even some of the Fortuna set mods, providing unique bonuses that either genuinely change how we play, or capitalize upon existing, yet unique ways of playing. Tailoring weapons and frames to suit our preferences is fine, and I feel should still stay in some form, but slapping on pure stat increases should never be more attractive than truly modifying one's playstyle. Giving a weapon pure power through mods should be, at most, as attractive as modding the same weapon to capitalize upon more interesting gameplay, and even then should only be attractive if what one wants is simpler, more basic gameplay. In turn, giving these mods to newer players right from the start could both smooth out the learning curve and equalize player power, so that new players don't feel like their power fantasy is being hampered by a lack of raw stats, but also so that veteran players can express their mastery through esoteric and much more personalized builds.

https://giphy.com/gifs/clap-cheer-cheering-Rgn6cUfaN5zW

[(XBOX)EPOSSTYLE]

DE should just listen to me period.