Atlas Feedback

[Lazarow]

Prologue:(You can skip this if you want) When Atlas Prime dropped I wasnt at all excited for him and was more excited for Dethcube and not at all for Tekko, but for mastery I d collected his parts and today I got him done and it was time to level him. While I was doing so I saw how he has similarities to Wukong with spawning AI controlled allies units to having a melee theme to having armor buffs with abilities.

Landslide:

This ability is fun...for an hour even if that. I found myself using this the most but its not as good as it could be. The flaw of this ability it that it takes the current equiped melee stats(or so I have heard as such), while I have a good enough melee almost always on its still not its own weapon as it should be. My suggestion is that Atlas' new first ability be exalted fists(Hildryn also has an exalted as her 1st ability). The ability would work like this: Tapping the button to activate the ability will act as it is right now, while holding it for a second would activate the exalted weapon. While the exalted fists are active the ability can be tapped to preform a Landslide and to deactivate the ability hold it for a second.

Tectonics:

This I could not find a use for, I tried using this in mobile defense and failed, the wall is too small and turning into a boulder almost does nothing to enemies, its slow(yes as it should be) and doesnt do much damage. MY suggested for this ability is to make the wall curved similar to volt's shields and up to 3 can be summoned, the size would increase as well by 30-50 percent of what they are now, the walls can be rolled in boulders by holding the cast button for that ability for a second. With this change the ability would feel more defensive while still being behaving the way it does now.

Petrify:

I think this ability is good but it can also give energy orbs from petrified enemies(at a small chance ofcourse) maybe some other small boosts like sprint speed when picking up rubble. I honestly dont know Im sure someone else can suggest something better for this

Rumblers:

Rumblers only use melee and there are 2 of them by default, they move somewhat slow and help out a little. The best way to use them is in defensive missions where a small zone is to be guarded like mobile defense and interception, I dont think they would be very good for defense as they dont seem to do much damage. I will mention Wukong here again and say that his clone is better than this.

For last Ill try explaining why I think Wukong is better to be used than Atlas and other points:

-Wukong's clone does more damage than both Rumblers and the single rumbler, main reason is that the clone can use guns while rumblers cant.

-Ladnslide is fun but not good if melee weapons are being leveled as it draws stats from the melee weapon currently equiped. Wukong has an exalted staff which can be modded as you wish and is not dependant of the current melee weapons equiped

-Their 3rd abilities works almost the same which give armor

-Atlas Tectonics ability is mostly useless I could not see it defend anything as it is now, its cast is slow and I can only see it be used while reviving an ally but even then going in operator void mode is faster and safer.

[(PSN)Ragology]

1 hour ago, Lazarow said:

Tectonics:

This I could not find a use for, I tried using this in mobile defense and failed, the wall is too small and turning into a boulder almost does nothing to enemies, its slow(yes as it should be) and doesnt do much damage. MY suggested for this ability is to make the wall curved similar to volt's shields and up to 3 can be summoned, the size would increase as well by 30-50 percent of what they are now, the walls can be rolled in boulders by holding the cast button for that ability for a second. With this change the ability would feel more defensive while still being behaving the way it does now.

 

I don't think you can shoot through tectonics, so if it got too tall then it would be seen as an obstruction. A bit more horizontal length would be nice though since there's often a gap on the side when Atlas tries to plug up a walkway. Though if tectonics were a bit better at drawing enemy focus then increasing its size wouldn't be needed. I don't think its meant to be used like a Frost or Gara barrier that you use to surround an objective, but more like something you put out in the open to draw enemy focus (like a titania lantern) but can also be used to plug a doorway or quick cover for a revive/console hack. 

Also I'm usually against making Landslide into a modded exalted because exalted weapons have 10 less capacity than stat sticks so it'd be a direct nerf upfront. You also lose access to rivens and syndicate mods boosting the attack power (since it scales with elemental mods too, any rivens that raise elemental damage also raise landlside damage) The latest melee update changed things though. I'm not even sure if Landslide scales with the combo counter anymore. 

[ShasOBorkan]

First off...

3 hours ago, Lazarow said:

Prologue:(You can skip this if you want) When Atlas Prime dropped I wasnt at all excited for him and was more excited for Dethcube and not at all for Tekko, but for mastery I d collected his parts and today I got him done and it was time to level him. While I was doing so I saw how he has similarities to Wukong with spawning AI controlled allies units to having a melee theme to having armor buffs with abilities.

It sounds like you haven't played a ton of Atlas nor are you that enthusiastic for him, which begs the question a bit as to why we should be taking this feedback as opposed to the many other existing Atlas feedback threads out there recently.

Nonetheless all feedback ought to be taken seriously and respectfully, but looking at the solutions they seem very ad hoc... I'll try to explain.

3 hours ago, Lazarow said:

Landslide:

This ability is fun...for an hour even if that. I found myself using this the most but its not as good as it could be. The flaw of this ability it that it takes the current equiped melee stats(or so I have heard as such), while I have a good enough melee almost always on its still not its own weapon as it should be. My suggestion is that Atlas' new first ability be exalted fists(Hildryn also has an exalted as her 1st ability). The ability would work like this: Tapping the button to activate the ability will act as it is right now, while holding it for a second would activate the exalted weapon. While the exalted fists are active the ability can be tapped to preform a Landslide and to deactivate the ability hold it for a second.

I disagree the strongest here, making Atlas' fists exalted is not the answer to Landslide (if one is even needed). I and many other Atlas players scale Landslide fairly well, though there are arguments it needs better scaling out there. There have been other, simpler solutions proposed in other threads that wouldn't require such a shift in his core kit/gameplay loop. One such solutions is uncapping/increasing the cap for the Landslide combo multiplier past 4x to 8x, 16x or infinity. Exalted weapons seem unnecessary (and, in my opinion, less fun) as an alternative change.

3 hours ago, Lazarow said:

Tectonics:

This I could not find a use for, I tried using this in mobile defense and failed, the wall is too small and turning into a boulder almost does nothing to enemies, its slow(yes as it should be) and doesnt do much damage. MY suggested for this ability is to make the wall curved similar to volt's shields and up to 3 can be summoned, the size would increase as well by 30-50 percent of what they are now, the walls can be rolled in boulders by holding the cast button for that ability for a second. With this change the ability would feel more defensive while still being behaving the way it does now.

Tectonics is a terrible ability that most Atlas players struggle to find a fit for. Making the walls larger is a solution, but 3 volt shield walls seems arbitrary. In my opinion, either make the augment the status quo for simplicity's sake, or make the rockwall just longer and tall flat-out (ie: like a wall spell from Diablo, where is just casts a long wall across the floor separating the room). Alternatively, I argue it could do just as well for a strict remove & replace for something completely different, as it is a truly awful ability.

3 hours ago, Lazarow said:

Petrify:

I think this ability is good but it can also give energy orbs from petrified enemies(at a small chance ofcourse) maybe some other small boosts like sprint speed when picking up rubble. I honestly dont know Im sure someone else can suggest something better for this

Petrify barely needs changes, and this would be too much. Atlas does struggle with energy consumption, but all petrified enemies having a chance at dropping energy orbs seems like overdoing it. Instead, it may make more sense that landsliding a petrified enemy had an increased % chance to drop an energy orb along with the usual rubble. Also, sprint speed boosts would be quite out of character for Atlas.

I think the main changes Petrify needs is better scaling with ability range (in terms of range and FoV angle particularly).

3 hours ago, Lazarow said:

Rumblers:

Rumblers only use melee and there are 2 of them by default, they move somewhat slow and help out a little. The best way to use them is in defensive missions where a small zone is to be guarded like mobile defense and interception, I dont think they would be very good for defense as they dont seem to do much damage. I will mention Wukong here again and say that his clone is better than this.

Rumblers primary utility is in drawing aggro. The main arguments I see is rather that they have more effective taunt capabilities (like the augment has) as well as having better damage and/or health stats at base.

Rumblers built for damage will always be a bad ability, as it simply isn't what their primary utility is (and their damage will never scale as high as you'd want it to, and the AI for spectres and companions is undermining to their proactive damage utility more often than not).

 

In conclusion, I have to think this isn't falling on target for good Atlas feedback. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you made an effort with the frame, but not an investment into his stats and build opportunities to experiment with what can make him really work. An Atlas, well built with a Streamline or Fleeting Expertise can run as an incredibly high DPS one-punching machine. I think it is more constructive to put in more time to understand a warframe before a full feedback thread. First impressions matter, but as this is a f2p game with long-term commitment to grinding content, what matters more is the issues that plague frames well into their playtime and can't be resolved.

Thanks for the feedback though, you have identified some key areas where Atlas feels initially sluggish and could deserve some TLC to improve his play!

Edited November 2, 2019 by ShasOBorkan