Staticor: Bad Business

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

So today PC got these changes to the Staticor:

• Quick fire area-of-effect returned to 2m as intended.
• Charged fire projectile speed increased.
• Mag size increased from 45 to 48.
• Ammo capacity increased from 270 to 288.
• Clip size no longer affects charge time and is now set at 1 sec.
• Charged fire now deals self damage.
• Reduced the shockwave distortion FX.

Of particular note is the very first change where the uncharged projectile has its radius reduced to 2m, "as intended." The problem is that if this was intended why did it take months for this change to occur?

I understand making changes for the sake of balance or testing and sometimes a balance change doesn't work as intended and needs to be reverted or changed again, but this process doesn't require months to achieve. This is compounded when the change that wasn't intended is so obvious that the entire community knows it is broken.

The problem is when DE does nothing; no hotfix, no revert, no changing the radius to what was intended in the next major patch, nothing. So either DE didn't realize that they made such a huge mistake, or DE was willingly taking part in a predatory business practice where players would invest plat/resources to craft, purchase, forma, riven/roll, etc. the Staticor since DE intentionally left it unchanged for months.

This should have been a simple oops where DE made the change, realized it wasn't intended, and then hotfixed it within a reasonable amount of time. The actual balance changes could have waited until a major patch in the future. Instead, just as with rivens, DE willfully neglected to make the change. Why? I honestly don't know since it was such a simple change given that the 2m radius was intended from the very start.

Please let this be a learning experience for DE. Don't neglect simple fixes when the only result is harm to the community. Yes, it was fun while it lasted but in the end everyone loses.

__________

And for the record, a better fix would have been to leave the radius but to add falloff damage beyond 2m for uncharged shots. The charged shots reduce this damage falloff up to the full radius. This would have at least made it usable for low level clears or trash packs without being forced to use the awkward charge mechanic, which never provides optimal dps. Heck, making it auto-charge for 1s between shots would be ideal so you can either rapid fire with reduced radius, or wait 1s between shots for max charge. Having to hold down the input is just clunky for a weapon that has a high fire rate and so much ammo. Charging only really works for high damage weapons like the Velocitus or Lanka.

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

Lazy?  Possibly. 

Predatory?  How?

[IrisuKyouko]

Least they could do at this point is let us use fulmination on it now too but they probably forgot that mod exists entirely by now.

[(XBOX)Mechanized Mind]

How could this be perceived as predatory?  Just seems like something that either slipped under their radar, or they had to push off for a bit while they were focusing on getting Fortuna to both console and PC.

[Archforge]

I wouldn't go far as saying they are a predatory business but I think its just laziness and mismanagement in DE's part. Due to the required release of Fortuna this year, they must have prioritized "the big update" rather than the small patches here and there. No Game developers are perfect and when things get hectic in the office especially during big updates like this, there would always be a part in the game that they would unintentionally ignore or forget. But still, I expect them to be organized in their game updates and I am hoping that weapon changes would be a regular thing instead of a random release when an update comes. I'm beginning to think why Rivens are there in the first place if they can adjust weapon stats like that 🤔
 

Off topic: They nerfed Tonkor again? *insert stop its already dead meme*

[Gremlin]

15 minutes ago, (XB1)Thy Divinity said:

Lazy?  Possibly. 

Predatory?  How?

For the bait.

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

25 minutes ago, (XB1)Mechanized Mind said:

How could this be perceived as predatory?  Just seems like something that either slipped under their radar, or they had to push off for a bit while they were focusing on getting Fortuna to both console and PC.

It is predatory in the sense that DE intended to have the radius be 2m but did nothing to correct or make this intention known. You don't think players spent resources/money on the Staticor due to its previous changes? If I neglect something that happens to make me more money than I would have made if I fixed it then at some point that neglect becomes criminal.

Now don't misundertand, I think DE is one of the best developers in the business but that does not excuse rampant neglect. This is not the first time they let something slip that hurt the community. But at some point they need to improve so that these mistakes are corrected more quickly. I mean willful neglect is not something to be proud of and once a history of neglect has been established it becomes very difficult to prove that it is not intentional.

Again, I want Warframe to be the best game it can be but simple one line of code fixes (since radius isn't listed in-game) are not something that should slip through the gaps for months. As a project manager these oversights are embarrassing as they are both easy to correct and inexpensive to accomplish, particularly if they were intended from the start.

Edited December 18, 2018 by (PS4)Hiero_Glyph

[mikakor]

35 minutes ago, (XB1)Thy Divinity said:

Lazy?  Possibly. 

Predatory?  How?

Predatory in the way that it made people spend money/platinum on a good weapon, then forma'ed it, potato'ed it, probably got a riven for it, and left in this powerful position for a long time, much more than what would have been needed to change it back, and then once everyone used the money on it they change it back

 

That's a predatory practices, but I don't think DE made this intentionally. Or at least not with these intentions in mind. It isn't like them. I would say it is mismanagement.

[Chaemyerelis]

Nm

Edited December 18, 2018 by Chaemyerelis

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

1 minute ago, mikakor said:

Predatory in the way that it made people spend money/platinum on a good weapon, then forma'ed it, potato'ed it, probably got a riven for it, and left in this powerful position for a long time, much more than what would have been needed to change it back, and then once everyone used the money on it they change it back

 

That's a predatory practices, but I don't think DE made this intentionally. Or at least not with these intentions in mind. It isn't like them. I would say it is mismanagement.

If players spent money on buying a Staticor, then that is not on DE.  The changes were lazy, I'll agree to that.

However, anyone who paid for something that they could have farmed themselves has no excuse.  It's not like the requirements were back breaking work either.

[trst]

Or y'know fixing it sat in someone's "to-do" list underneath "make Fortuna" and other far more important additions/fixes. Also we don't know how long they've even been aware of the issue.

And there are 346 weapons in this game, the Staticor is one of them. If someone can somehow justify that fixing one weapon counts as "predatory" then I'm not sure how long they could manage playing any game in active development because spoiler alert: everything you "earned" and worked towards is subject to change.

[(XBOX)Kuljack]

4 minutes ago, (XB1)Thy Divinity said:

If players spent money on buying a Staticor, then that is not on DE.  The changes were lazy, I'll agree to that.

However, anyone who paid for something that they could have farmed themselves has no excuse.  It's not like the requirements were back breaking work either.

Yup this, at the very least spending more than 500 plat on a riven at this point is crazy. With the recent riven changes to distribution everyone should have been reminded that investing in riven grolls has a big risk to bite you in the butt down the road.

I almost bought a groll Arca Plasmor last night for 600p(+ArgonScope/MaimingStrike) cause the rolls were Crit Chance/Crit Damage/Projectile Flight Speed/-damage to infested but then I remembered I like my plat too much to spend that much on rolls that could be reduced tomorrow so I bought one for 150p and will just roll it till I get what I want.

I think it's just poor wording on their part, but we must always remember this game is still considered to be in BETA. That means anything/everything is subject to experimentation and rapid development. We are at the mercy of their creative decisions and that's just how it is. You cannot really be mad at them for playing around with ideas when they give us the whole freaking game for free.

[FoxyKabam]

Why didnt DE make these changes back during the mass weapon balance pass?

they looked at every primary and secondary

[PawPaWuFF]

i was raging about tonkor self dmg and not exploding on contact and excalibur radial blind being line of sight and blocked by latchers (the lil ball like on clems shoulder) mirages blind too now im dead inside its hard to feel anything for any new "fixes" but the simulor seems nice now tonkor is still trash but atleast it explodes on contact 😜 time to find new meta weapons no biggy

[Chaemyerelis]

I wouldn't consider it predatory. In these types of online games there will always be that strong item that will eventually get nerfed. So anyone deciding to take advantage if it should know by now that it won't last forever. The reason is pretty irrelevant. 

[(PSN)FriendSharkey]

Well all I can say is I have my fingers crossed for Anthem to be good...another Sci-fi looter shooter putting their foot on the gas pedal for fun means everyone else has to work on their power fantasy since other guy is doing it as good or better...Then all these nerf and changes start to take differing tacks to retain their player base rather than irritating the snot out of them over time lost on weapon builds...other than that..it's Warframe and everyone by now should know not to get attached to anything in this game.... 

Edited December 18, 2018 by (PS4)FriendSharkey

[(XBOX)ECCHO SIERRA]

1 hour ago, mikakor said:

Predatory in the way that it made people spend money/platinum on a good weapon, then forma'ed it, potato'ed it, probably got a riven for it, and left in this powerful position for a long time, much more than what would have been needed to change it back, and then once everyone used the money on it they change it back

 

That's a predatory practices, but I don't think DE made this intentionally. Or at least not with these intentions in mind. It isn't like them. I would say it is mismanagement.

A potato, riven and 5 forma later. rip. The fanboys can relax I know "subject to change" but it is kind of frustrating to make that investment based on an attribute (splash damage) they, at least i thought, buffed on purpose and then have that attribute taken away.

 

 

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

15 minutes ago, (XB1)ECCHO SIERRA said:

A potato, riven and 5 forma later. rip. The fanboys can relax I know "subject to change" but it is kind of frustrating to make that investment based on an attribute (splash damage) they, at least i thought, buffed on purpose and then have that attribute taken away.

 

 

The issue with rivens imo stems from the constant balance updates that accompany games of this nature, or online games in general.  

I will openly admit I despise rivens for the simple fact that they make balancing worse.   For example: having a 4-5 star riven disposition on a Kohm is all fine and dandy until a major update to weapons is decided.  The Kohm is seen as under performing due to usage rate and gets a hilarious buff, at which time it becomes Octavia tier and the riven system needs to be adjusted as well.

Those with the old rivens will be just fine, while those with the new ones will just have to hold that L.  Or vice versa.  It's a lazy way of balancing that has created a meta (and a plat sink) that imo is unstable and destined for disaster.

 

Ok rant over.  My apologies.

Edited December 18, 2018 by (XB1)Thy Divinity

[FashionFrame]

26 minutes ago, (PS4)FriendSharkey said:

Well all I can say is I have my fingers crossed for Anthem to be good

It's an EA game. Don't expect much and stop giving them money XD

 

As for the staticors, yeah I'm upset that they buffed it and made people hop on the meta, and then DE seen it was too good and proceeded to "nerf" with self damage. While I can easily adapt and still keep using my staticors, I find it silly that they didn't just revert it to its original way, instead of the self damage mumbo jumbo. But oh well, I'll have to pretend it's a Lenz from now on.

[(PSN)FriendSharkey]

1 minute ago, FashionFrame said:

It's an EA game. Don't expect much and stop giving them money XD

 

As for the staticors, yeah I'm upset that they buffed it and made people hop on the meta, and then DE seen it was too good and proceeded to "nerf" with self damage. While I can easily adapt and still keep using my staticors, I find it silly that they didn't just revert it to its original way, instead of the self damage mumbo jumbo. But oh well, I'll have to pretend it's a Lenz from now on.

I never give them money...but I can hope a competitor comes around...that's usually the only time the consumer get's a fair shake on anything till they figure out a back room deal where they fix the pricing..then we the consumers are right back to square one on the BS...

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

1 hour ago, (XB1)Kuljack said:

I think it's just poor wording on their part, but we must always remember this game is still considered to be in BETA. That means anything/everything is subject to experimentation and rapid development. We are at the mercy of their creative decisions and that's just how it is. You cannot really be mad at them for playing around with ideas when they give us the whole freaking game for free.

And this logic is exactly the problem. I mean after 5 years of full release you don't get to say it's a beta and expect things to be alright. There are actually laws that limit how long you can market a product as new because after a certain amount of time has passed it's just a lie. Thankfully(?) software has no such regulation.

The issue here isn't the degree of the error but the history of errors that is becoming more and more common. Obviously this is management issue at some level when basic fixes are not being deployed for months. I mean is anyone going to argue that changing the uncharged radius to 2m is a time-consuming and labor intensive fix? Of course not. But this issue is becoming very common and it points towards a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed (internally) sooner rather than later. The alternative is that it was intended and that is too horrifying to consider.

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

5 minutes ago, (PS4)Hiero_Glyph said:

And this logic is exactly the problem. I mean after 5 years of full release you don't get to say it's a beta and expect things to be alright. There are actually laws that limit how long you can market a product as new because after a certain amount of time has passed it's just a lie. Thankfully(?) software has no such regulation.

The issue here isn't the degree of the error but the history of errors that is becoming more and more common. Obviously this is management issue at some level when basic fixes are not being deployed for months. I mean is anyone going to argue that changing the uncharged radius to 2m is a time-consuming and labor intensive fix? Of course not. But this issue is becoming very common and it points towards a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed (internally) sooner rather than later. The alternative is that it was intended and that is too horrifying to consider.

The game is not in Beta, 100% agreed.

 

 

It is, however, power crept to high heaven.

Edited December 18, 2018 by (XB1)Thy Divinity

[clxrffdman]

1 hour ago, trst said:

Or y'know fixing it sat in someone's "to-do" list underneath "make Fortuna" and other far more important additions/fixes. Also we don't know how long they've even been aware of the issue.

And there are 346 weapons in this game, the Staticor is one of them. If someone can somehow justify that fixing one weapon counts as "predatory" then I'm not sure how long they could manage playing any game in active development because spoiler alert: everything you "earned" and worked towards is subject to change.

Totally agree, they don't constantly check the status of every single weapon, someone must have recently brought it to their attention. 

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

1 minute ago, clxrffdman said:

Totally agree, they don't constantly check the status of every single weapon, someone must have recently brought it to their attention. 

Don't pretend DE is this ignorant. They have usage statistics that they check regularly. They knew that the Staticor jumped significantly in usage and they could figure out why this happened.

I mean I know DE is a small indie studio of 250 people actively working on Warframe but let's not pretend they don't know what is happening in-game because they hotfix exploits that benefit the community inside of a day.

[Vox_Preliator]

Why did anyone ever think it wasn't going to be nerfed once they got around to it?  It was significantly above the effect/effort curve.  Someone who spent money on it (And why would they, it's relatively cheap and potatoes are plentiful if you don't just shove them into every single gun) has nobody but their own complete lack of foresight to blame.

If this is "predatory" to you then I wish I had your innocence.