Prisma, Wraith, Mutalist, and Vandal Variants - Moar PLZ!

[TenTonneSkeleton]

This is territory with untapped potential. I'm sure it's been mentioned before, or least I hope DE is aware of the opportunities here, but I feel compelled to say something. Imagine Atterax Wraith, Kohm Wraith, or Lanka Vandal, or Amprex Vandal, perhaps a Prisma Akvasto or a Mutalist Atomos! The list is pretty extensive. Prisma Opticor, Corinth Vandal, Jat Kittag Wraith, and Mutalist Magistar are just a few more ideas.

Also, I feel I should bring up the fact that there isn't exactly a special infested variant. We only have a few Mutalist variants, but they aren't based on infested weapons. They are instead infested versions of weapons from other factions. There is no Mutalist Lesion or Mutalist Pox for example. Why not? Perhaps we need a new variant type? Again, I see wasted potential!

Along with the Prime content cycles, I feel that it wouldn't be too far fetched to include cycles of these special variants to be earned in events or through some of the higher level mission types. Arbitration (purchased with Vitus) or ESO might be a good mode to farm for these as it would encourage us to play this content regularly and feel excited when we earned something. This could be done in the same way that the Lato Vandal and Braton Vandal were introduced or it could be awarded from a special type of event - enemies in the faction would match the variant type. You might even give us a little bit of a quest or some additional lore about the faction we're up against.

I feel that regularly introducing variants of popular weapons with slightly better stats is a great way to keep us players engaged with the game. Tenno weapons get Primed variants and faction weapons get faction variants. Eventually, we could see sentient variants of weapons as well!!

But I do feel that it's much better for the game to introduce these types of variants through high level content, rather than say Baro Ki'teer. This encourages us to play the game with the goal of attaining something, rather than spend a few ducats and be done. I also think that another key here, just as with Primes, is limited availability. This causes these items to be more rare, more exclusive, and more sought after. One can also purchase them from another player if they have enough plat.

I'm sure that Baro is a good place for some things like Primed Mods perhaps, but I think it's a waste to introduce faction variants here, when you could be giving us the motivation to actually play the content you create. Just some thoughts, cheers!

Edited October 25, 2018 by TenTonneSkeleton

[Duality52]

43 minutes ago, TenTonneSkeleton said:

I feel that regularly introducing variants of popular weapons with slightly better stats is a great way to keep us players engaged with the game. 

So you want even more powercreep on already strong weapons?

Take the recent Prisma Twin Gremlins from August. The variants are meant to bring life back into older weapons that underperformed. The normal TGs are okay after the Shrine of Eidolon, and now the PTGs are monstrously fun and strong. Even the Supra Vandal, which was seen before its large buffs earlier this year fulfilled a similar purpose.

Few weapons I honestly wish to see a variant of are:

• Hind
• Grinlok
• Single Furis (not the Dex)

Edited October 25, 2018 by Duality52

[Zi-Sui]

Even though I liked OP's post, there is the case of powercreep. Even though it's the abilities that make bulk of the powercreep in this game, so I guess it wouldn't be too bad seeing a Prisma Opticor or Falcor Vandal.

But as the post above pointed out, it'd be nicer to see underused and less powerful weapons like Argonak get a buffed variant. I mean who uses that when you have Tiberon Prime?

[ShaKaL95]

Prisma Falcor maybe. Vandal are for grineer weapons while Prisma are for corpus made energy arsenal.

[TenTonneSkeleton]

On 2018-10-25 at 2:07 AM, ShaKaL95 said:

Prisma Falcor maybe. Vandal are for grineer weapons while Prisma are for corpus made energy arsenal.

Vandal are for Corpus weapons. Wraith is for Grineer. Prisma appear to be random from either Grineer or Corpus and more less oriented towards Baro.

Yes, powercreep is certainly a concern. Thank you for mentioning that. But I do feel like there are already worse problems out there right now with Rivens and Primed Weapons with substantially more power-creeping potential. At least the majority of weapons I mentioned already have low to mid Riven disposition. We would probably not see quite the powercreep that we get with things like Pyrana Prime and Gram Prime for example.

I think it would be reasonable for say the Kohm Wraith to get a slightly higher status chance, perhaps 200 more maximum ammo, and say a smidge more slash damage or fire rate. It's already a great weapon, but it sort of requires a Riven to be truly meta at this point.

I agree that less played weapons should certainly see buffed faction variants, such as the Hind and the Grinlock like you mentioned. It would be up to DE to properly balance any released faction variants. Some should see more substantial buffs than others. But honestly, the Prime Variants have been hit and miss. I can think of quite a few mediocre primes that I just never use, while I can think of several incredibly powerful Primed variants that have become very meta. I believe this is largely due to Riven disposition not being adjusted for the Primed Variants, while some types of weapons will simply always be sub-par because of their functionality.

The above is true for the existing faction variants as well. We see several powerful ones, while at least half of the existing ones are pretty sub-par compared to the current meta, and hence not used.

Syndicate variants is also a potential route for DE to take. We could see syndicate variants for Ostron or Solaris United. Perhaps these could simply be some special zaw parts ala Plague Keewar, although that's more of an event variant rather than a true syndicate variant.

To reiterate, I feel the goal of more faction variants would be to keep people engaged with the game similar to how the current prime cycles work, but perhaps on a shorter time interval. Say every two weeks we get something new, and the old weapon cycles out, however we can be assured that it will make a reappearance at some point just like recurring event rewards (Plague Star) or the void trader. I personally feel the best way to introduce these weapons would be through the Arbitration store as the current reward pool seems a bit scant. This would give us another reason to keep coming back to this mode.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by TenTonneSkeleton

[Poseidyn]

I'd like to see Companions get this treatment too.  We already have some primes (Wyrm, Carrier, Helios) and Prisma Shade.  Thinking Diriga Wraith (with Vuklok Wraith) and Taxon Vandal (Artax Vandal) would be nice additions.  For Mutalist option, I would prefer to see something not already primed/prisma/etc, so perhaps Djinn or Dethcube.

[AzureTerra]

Wraith Grinklok and i'd be very happy