Stalker mode and thoughts on how to make it work. Lessons from the Souls series.

[BallisticSalsa]

So with the teasing of stalker mode I know and understand the developer hesitation with its implementation. So I wanted to share some thoughts from the Souls community who is very familiar with this kind of invasive gameplay.

1.  Tie opt in/ out options to the  gameplay. Specifically stalker players should only show up in public games with maybe an option to to turn him off/on in solo, invite and friend games.

This gives players options to opt in or out based on their preferred playstyle. Solo players or premade groups can decide for themselves whether to risk the stalker while public players must go in with the knowledge they can be interrupted.

2. Let players be able to escape. Simply put if the target extracts they are safe. This incentivizes the stalker to actually stalk and gives players the option to run away.

On missions where this isnt an option it simply becomes an associated risk.

3. Stalker player succeeds when they down their target but gets extra rewards if they down more than one.

Stalker is already at a disadvantage in every game due to about all of them being 4v1. This making the mission simple with increasing reward based on performance. It also pressures the 4 man into protecting the host.

4. Let stalker players pick the nodes to spawn at including sorties. But bar them from relic missions, open worlds and anywhere else stalker cant go into.

In the souls games this gave many locations a certain weight to them amd some even became popular dueling spots due to how the environments played out. 

In this case places like kuva fortress, europa and neptune would be avoided due to the winding and annoying nature of their tilesets while stalkers will likely congregate in defense missions where the map is small and players are concentrated and unable to escape.

5. Stalker should be customizable but limited in what he can do.

Essentially instead of being fully moddable and able to equip everything stalker should have a set default of weapons and abilities. What mods do then is instead of increasing numbers it would change the stalkers weapon load out and stats appropriately.

So the stalker might have a default invisibility and Hate but can mod it out for adaptive armor and War instead. Default dread and an ability that slows opponents in an aura by 25% can be switched out for a weaker assault rifle and the ability to teleport. Their can also be mods that lower health but increase power strength or other such sidegrades.

From here the only difference between a fresh stalker and a blooded one is more about playstyle than raw numbers.

4. Enemies can attack stalker and stalker can interact with the environment but not the objective.

The truly entertaining part about invasions in the souls series is the you never know what you'll get. An invader may be showering you with gifts before getting you killed at the worst possible second. A hacker may give you an impromptu "bossfight" with flashy effects and abilities but still ultimately beatable. A memelord invader may come in with underwear, a farmers hat and a pitchfork to murder you hilariously while on the invader side you may run into a bunch of naked players wearing boxes on their heads doing JoJo poses at you when you spawn.

The unpredictable nature of invasions is what helped maintain its popularity and why games like dark souls manage to maintain a loyal pvp base to this day.

This adds a wrinkle of strategy as well as a stalker can wait for the players to engage a large number of enemies but risk getting killed in the chaos.

5. Tenno immunity and damage reduction should be a given. 4v1 is hard enough without getting one shot by a chroma's eidolon gun, or being melted by saryn before you even encounter the group. While the weapons should be potent enough to threaten most players. Having an ability to strip buffs will certainly be key.

6. Syndicate rewards should focus mostly on getting stuff for your stalker. However you should also be able to get things like augments for your Stalker weapons, arcanes, and stalker cosmetics.

Its important to make the game mode fun first before focusing on rewards. However rewards can provide incentive for continued play and if that reward expands play rather than increases power then players will feel more encouraged to continue working toward that goal for enjoyment rather than obligation to get bigger numbers.

Lastly it requires a reward that can allow players to continue being rewarded even after completing everything. It could be forma, catalysts, rivens, kuva, or any expendable but rare resource a veteran player might want.

There's more I can add but I feel this is at least a solid base to work from.

[Xaelroa]

So... you want to basically kill public matchmaking entirely, beyond people new to the game, who will promptly begin hating the game and leave? (This happened quite a lot in the early days of the souls series and it's ilk.) First and foremost: Stalker, should it be implemented as a player available mode, should be something that can only be done where all parties consent to the appearance of a player operated stalker, as it's basically pvp... and let's face it, pvp in warframe sucks for anyone who hasn't played it since the beginning, restricted loadouts or not. And it shouldn't be a cheap excuse to pump your ego by newbie stomping.

[BallisticSalsa]

5 hours ago, Xaelroa said:

So... you want to basically kill public matchmaking entirely, beyond people new to the game, who will promptly begin hating the game and leave? 

Public matchmaking thrives despite all its flaws.

Having people hop in to get roflstomped in a 4v1 is hardly going to mean anything.

Also your post suggests you've a poor understanding of the soulsborne series and is just more unhelpful hate towards even the suggestion of pvp.

Edited January 27, 2019 by BallisticSalsa

[AtsiaZ]

6 hours ago, BallisticSalsa said:

.  Tie opt in/ out options to the  gameplay. Specifically stalker players should only show up in public games with maybe an option to to turn him off/on in solo, invite and friend games.

If I can't have the option to opt out entirely no matter what than forget it.

[BallisticSalsa]

2 hours ago, Atsia said:

If I can't have the option to opt out entirely no matter what than forget it.

Then it simply won't happen. So, yes, forgotten.