State of the game - some thoughts of mine

[umadgurl]

Hello Tennos!

Before I start: I would like to encourage a discussion, but please keep it civil. Everyone has a right to their opinion and should be allowed to voice it without getting trolled/screamed down upon. We are not barbarians, even though we revolted against the Orokins 😉

I'm a newer player with only around 600h of gameplay-time. As such, my thoughts might provide some “ideas” from someone not too “involved” yet (be it from playing for very long time already or being part of the developing team).

Walking through this fantastic game, there are a lot of things that I noticed and that I would like to share with DE and the community. Hoping to give a constructive feedback and to give them some new ideas for the future.

I know a lot of these would require an immense amount of work/time, that DE, as a smaller studio might not have, since they are under pressure to supply new stuff all the time to keep cash flowing. But, as with the melee-rework they currently work on, they could implement it bit by bit.

And yes, I’m aware that some of the changes would require to break with old stuff or how they work (e.g. Rivens), and that some people might be upset at first, but it is my honest believe that Warframe, as it is, needs a serious look/rework of its core-mechanics.

 

 

Weapons Rebalancing / Enemy Balancing

1.       For purposes of really being able to measure a weapons power, Warframe needs some kind of damage-meter, so a weapons power can be actually measured (and I’m not saying that the community should get access to it, though it would be really nice to have), but it doesn’t feel as if the weapons are balanced at all, neither in terms of absolute power nor in terms of relative power to their Mastery Rank (MR)  and definitely not in terms of potential with Formas and Rivens. Which left me baffled a lot of times.

To make this easier to understand for the people who don't want to understand: What I'm sayin is not a DPS meter wehere you can only work with changes affected by mods, but freely, by manually changing numbers so you can see how it affects overall DPS BEFORE mods. I'll mark it fat below as well, so people can see this part clearly.
 

2.       Mastery ranks. There should be internal restrictions for each MR so that weapon restrictions to the MR actually makes sense. As well I believe that having weapons for each low-level MR doesn’t feel worth it, because players are able to breeze through low-level MRs faster than they can actually craft the weapons of that MR, making a lot of those weapons redundant for the MR level of the player and into mere MR-fodder.
 

Example for Internal Restrictions without any mods (needs the DPS-Meter!):

·         Master Rank 0 Weapons (doesn’t need too much damage, focus at this level should be to get basics/movements under control)

o   Max. 50 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 200 (that includes attack speed, magazine size, reload times, etc.pp.)

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Master Rank 1 Weapons

o   Max 150 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 400 (that includes attack speed, magazine size, reload times, etc.pp.)

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Mastery Rank 3 Weapons

o   Max. 350 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 800

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Mastery Rank 5 Weapons

o   Max. 600 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 1500 (that includes attack speed, magazine size, reload times, etc.pp.)

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Mastery Rank 7 Weapons

o   Max. 900 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 4000 (that includes attack speed, magazine size, reload times, etc.pp.)

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Mastery Rank 9 Weapons

o   Max. 1200 damage (to be divided into IPS)

o   Max. DPS of 8000 (that includes attack speed, magazine size, reload times, etc.pp.)

o   OR equivalent worth of CC-capability or what not for that level

·         Next weapons at MR 11, 13, 15, 17, 19

And so on. We don’t need weapons at each MR at low levels since most of these are just mere MR-fodder (aka redundant weapons, which don’t offer anything better/worthwhile), but instead make it more meaningful to actually get and craft them!

Rivens

Rivens. Now this will be a hot topic, since a lot of players invested an exorbitant amount of platinum/time to get their god-roll Rivens. But Rivens should and need to be reworked. Instead of having this random mashup of possible positive and negative modifiers, Rivens should be, based on the proposed weapon rebalancing, made to make low MR-Weapons into weapons able to compete with the highest tier weapons (as was the original idea of why rivens were introduced in the first place, afaik).

At the moment rivens do a somewhat bad job at balancing the weapons, because they do it solely by relying onto the riven disposition. Instead they should rely on the discrepancy between the MR levels and the disposition, whereas disposition means that more favoured weapons should get a slightly lower increase in stats and less favoured weapons a bit more. Like -10% on the stats and +10% on the stats of the riven.

For this to work, DE would need an algorithm that automatically balances the stats on the rivens to match low-tier weapons to the DPS of the high-tier weapons. I know this will be hard work because of the amount of different possible options (e.g. IPS, critical chance, status duration, attack speed, range and so on) to do so, but I believe it to be possible.

Gamemodes / Missionrework

Based on the changes of the weapons and their MR availability, starchart missions would need a redesign as well.

However, I do encourage a new tier of missions as well. We already have nightmare missions that add a certain negative modifier to the mission, like no shields or energy drain. So what I propose is sth along the lines of, current starchart is “normal mode”. After you finished all of the nodes you can then enter something like “advanced mode”, with enemies starting at level 80 and after that “expert mode” with enemies starting at level 160. This would come along with increased chances to drop resources or more of them, as well as a better reward-table or all these crap rewards like 5000 credits removed of them, so that it is actually worthwhile to do the higher tiered missions.

Let’s be honest, the current enemy-levels in the missions, even something “high-end” like sorties, is just a joke to any player who plays longer than 2 months and with the amount of damage available just plain boring. Even Arbitration, with its somewhat lacklustre drones, can be done for 1+ with just spin-to-win without having to worry about dying, unless you stand still and get oneshotted by a Toxic Ancient. With the new modes we would have something to actually use all that firepower for.

And yes, I know that this would “split” the community somewhat. Veteran players would more likely be in the advanced/expert modes and beginners in the normal mode. BUT, here comes something into play that I never even knew it existed, until I was way past the point of needing them: The guides of the Lotus. After the tutorial new players should automatically be transferred to a Tenno Relay Station, where those guides of the lotus will be (honestly, I never saw one of those guys even until now, although - theoretically - there should be hundreds of them??? So most likely they would some additional marker, like an arrow above their character). They should help those new players with missions and answer questions.

You could try something like mentoring-quests as well. Something along the lines of matchmaking. A new player requests help at a mission and will be matched with a “veteran” player (above MR 11) who offers his availability through some new mentoring-mechanic. The veteran would get a reward of some sorts and the newbie could advance. I still remember how I was stuck at Interceptions missions or those missions where you have to kidnap a machine or sth when progressing through the starcharts. An automatic mentoring system would have been of great help there.

Additionally, there could be NPCs added who answers a lot of questions or basic stuff.

AI

Yes well, I guess this is an old one, but seriously, the AI in this game is just plain…uh…dumb? Not even talking about their inability to pathfind properly, even how they walk one by one to their demise is somewhat…uh… a lot of times I’m thinking, why they not grouping up before running in?!?!?!?

Edited April 9, 2019 by umadgurl

[umadgurl]

New Warframes / Content

In my humble opinion the amount of Warframes in the game right now, with a lot of them adding just the same thing with a new name and effects, as well as slightly modified numbers and looks and/or added/removed extras, is enough for a while. Some of them should get a rework to make them (more) viable again (like Mirage: remove some of the damage and give her some more survivability. For example her clones could be farther away from her mainbody and draw more of the enemy fire. In return her third ability could add less damage/damagereduction. No point playin it if it just dies all the time from a sneeze) and stuff like Anti-CC-drones in Arbitration should get a serious workover so that all Warframes are still viable, without having to rely solely on spin-to-win.

Therefore I believe it to be better to actually give yourselves (DE) some more time to actually make those Warframes feel unique and worthwhile instead of rushing them without giving them much love/balancing (like what we saw from Wisp in devstream feels kind of generic and underwhelimng and Hyldrin as wel feels kinda bleh).

 

 

Matchmaking

1.       Hosting. It shouldn’t be hard for DE to implement a clientside function to measure someone’s Internet speed (upstream especially) as well as their system. And then when matchmaking have the player with the best conditions be the host.

2.       I proposed this before, but there should be an option before matching the players into a group, to choose if they want to stay longer than the bare minimum required. A lot of times players (me included) are annoyed by players dropping after first round, with no one else able to join and replace them. This gets especially cumbersome in Arbitrations like Survival (not enough mobs) or Interceptions (having to hold 3 towers by yourself is … ). So yes. Make it an option for matchmaking, or allow players to get grouped up . Like 2 groups had 2 players drop after 5 rounds, so matchmaking will combine those 2 groups into 1 with 4 players again.

Affinity Distribution

I mentioned this somewhere else as well, but the distribution of affinity makes 0 sense, as it encourages or even enforces leeching off your teammates.

Don't get me wrong, I believe it is good to do sth against "kill-stealing" affinity, but why not distribut the affinity evenly?

- I kill sth? I share 100% of the affinity with my teammates, my pet, and evenly divided between warframe and weapons.

- You kill sth? I get 100% of the shared affinity and split it evenly between my warframe and weapons, plus my pet gets 100% of the affinity as well and splits it between weapon(if equipped) and - ya - the sentinel

and with evenly I mean evenly. So if i got 1 weapon its a 50/50 split, if I got 2 weapons it's a 33/33/33 split and if I happen to have all 3 weapons it's a 25/25/25/25 split.

Edited April 9, 2019 by umadgurl

[peterc3]

2 hours ago, umadgurl said:

and definitely not in terms of potential with Formas and Rivens

Rivens do not factor into weapon balance.

Why does DE need to make a damage meter when basic math let's you do the same?

2 hours ago, umadgurl said:

Rivens should be, based on the proposed weapon rebalancing, made to make low MR-Weapons into weapons able to compete with the highest tier weapons (as was the original idea of why rivens were introduced in the first place, afaik).

Rivens were never put in the game to be the sole means of making "weaker" weapons compete with top tier weapons. It was totally to get people to even look at weapons they wouldn't normally while they worked on the big rebalances.

Enemies at level 80 do not warrant more rewards. They are not all that different to level 1 enemies. Outside some framework like Sorties, lvl 160 enemies don't need more rewards either.

2 hours ago, umadgurl said:

why they not grouping up before running in?!?!?!?

They'll die in a group vs individually.

2 hours ago, umadgurl said:

In my humble opinion the amount of Warframes in the game right now, with a lot of them adding just the same thing with a new name and effects, as well as slightly modified numbers and looks and/or added/removed extras, is enough for a while.

Your opinion runs counter to every bit of data DE has and every single discussion and interview DE has taken part in. You aren't listening, so why should DE listen to you?

[umadgurl]

59 minutes ago, peterc3 said:

1. Rivens do not factor into weapon balance.

2. Why does DE need to make a damage meter when basic math let's you do the same?

3. Rivens were never put in the game to be the sole means of making "weaker" weapons compete with top tier weapons. It was totally to get people to even look at weapons they wouldn't normally while they worked on the big rebalances.

4. Enemies at level 80 do not warrant more rewards. They are not all that different to level 1 enemies. Outside some framework like Sorties, lvl 160 enemies don't need more rewards either.

5. They'll die in a group vs individually.

6. Your opinion runs counter to every bit of data DE has and every single discussion and interview DE has taken part in. You aren't listening, so why should DE listen to you?

At the very least you should read what I actually write and propose as a whole and not look at each part individually before stating from the current state of the game

1. I never said they do

2. Math doesn't let you do the same at all, factoring in magazine size, reload speed, attack speed, status procs, hit scan vs. procetile vs. aoe, and and and. If you can do that with maths on a large scale: gratz you are somewhat of a genius

3. Why would we look at them if they can't compete with the top tier weapons after factoring in the rivens then. Doesn't even make sense what you sayin

4. That's only because of the current power creep. As I said, you should think about what I am writing and proposing as a WHOLE not just pickin a line and sayin thats bullS#&$ 😉

5. Not necessarily at level 200+ with rebalanced weapons

6. Why should I listen to you if you criticism of what I write is not even you thinking about the whole thing for a second? Plus I never said they have to listen to what I write, it's what I believe to be a way out of the current deadlock with powercreep, having to nerf warframes/weapons/rivens all the time and pumping out new warframes in a somewhat loveless/halfbaked style like Hyldrin and not really any high level content that would actually make us have to make better use of the powercreep. Plus just it goes counter to what they said, so I should just shutup because I got an opinion of my own? That's like the dumbest S#&$ I ever heard. Should the people have shut up when dictators try to take power as well then?  Should all the great geniuses who invented or researched new stuff that went against their times believes should shut up because it went contrarry to what everyone said? The greatest enemies of progress are people like you *smh*

Edited April 9, 2019 by umadgurl

[peterc3]

12 minutes ago, umadgurl said:

1. I never said they do

Then there should be no mention of Rivens and weapon stats and balance. They don't exist in the same bubble.

12 minutes ago, umadgurl said:

2. Math doesn't let you do the same at all, factoring in magazine size, reload speed, attack speed, status procs, hit scan vs. procetile vs. aoe, and and and. If you can do that with maths on a large scale: gratz you are somewhat of a genius

Then I must be imagining the numerous sites that have a measure of weapons DPS and there not being an outcry that none of them are accurate. If they are accurate, they are just using the stats from the weapons and your "damage meter" doesn't need to exist.

14 minutes ago, umadgurl said:

4. That's only because of the current power creep. As I said, you should think about what I am writing and proposing as a WHOLE not just pickin a line and sayin thats bullS#&$ 😉

You literally just proposed the player base splitting mission tiers. There was nothing to indicate anything more that might warrant more rewards.

16 minutes ago, umadgurl said:

5. Not necessarily at level 200+ with rebalanced weapons

People can't speak to things you don't write. Nothing in the game is designed for going past 100 as it is, Sorties are just at the limit of what the game's systems are designed for. You can't just make assumptions about what the game is in your imagination and then build off of that.

As for 6, Guides of the Lotus are gone. DE has said many times before that they can't stop making new content. Frames are included in that blanket statement. This isn't a debate, that is how it is. You aren't listening to what DE says and making assumptions based on what they say not being the case.

Don't try that misunderstood genius garbage here, it is 1487% irrelevant.

[umadgurl]

14 minutes ago, peterc3 said:

1. Then there should be no mention of Rivens and weapon stats and balance. They don't exist in the same bubble.

2. Then I must be imagining the numerous sites that have a measure of weapons DPS and there not being an outcry that none of them are accurate. If they are accurate, they are just using the stats from the weapons and your "damage meter" doesn't need to exist.

3. You literally just proposed the player base splitting mission tiers. There was nothing to indicate anything more that might warrant more rewards.

4. People can't speak to things you don't write. Nothing in the game is designed for going past 100 as it is, Sorties are just at the limit of what the game's systems are designed for. You can't just make assumptions about what the game is in your imagination and then build off of that.

5. As for 6, Guides of the Lotus are gone. DE has said many times before that they can't stop making new content. Frames are included in that blanket statement. This isn't a debate, that is how it is. You aren't listening to what DE says and making assumptions based on what they say not being the case.

6. Don't try that misunderstood genius garbage here, it is 1487% irrelevant.

1. I know I said to keep this civil. So I just say this once more: READ AND COMPREHEND THE WHOLE THING NOT JUST 1 LINE. After that you can come and discuss with me again. Thank you.

2. Just because noone said sth doesn't mean they are 100% accurate. *facepalm* And dps on paper is just that. And those sites with their paper dps simply can't factor in things like reload speed, magazine size, etc.pp. Go ask the people who made them. They didn't.

3. look at 1. thank you

4. Just because they are not designed for atm doesn't mean you can't go for it *facepalm really hard*

5. I didn't say make new content. I said rework the current and add a mode, with old content just higher tiered. *facepalm*

6. Don't even think you have that capability seeing your replies

 

Edited April 9, 2019 by umadgurl

[peterc3]

51 minutes ago, umadgurl said:

2. Just because noone said sth doesn't mean they are 100% accurate. *facepalm* And dps on paper is just that. And those sites with their paper dps simply can't factor in things like reload speed, magazine size, etc.pp. Go ask the people who made them. They didn't.

I just went to Warframe Builder and took a random weapon and the DPS numbers changed when adding reload speed mods, magazine size mods, etc.

At the very least attempt to verify things before you say them.

[umadgurl]

22 minutes ago, peterc3 said:

I just went to Warframe Builder and took a random weapon and the DPS numbers changed when adding reload speed mods, magazine size mods, etc.

At the very least attempt to verify things before you say them.

Ok I see that you really are..-insert whatever you want except positive things -

Where on that meter can you manually change numbers to see how it affects DPS. Nowhere? Nowhere. You can only see how it works if you insert mods. Which is not what I was sayin or intended. As I said, read and comprehend before sayin random stuff.

 

EDIT: I even went up to the threat and marked it in extra fat ,  where I wrote that it is WITHOUT mods

Edited April 9, 2019 by umadgurl