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Long-term player incentive: Away from RNG; Keeping it simple - colors


Sdric
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Introduction: With the recent surge of RNG power gated gear (Kuva Weapons, Railjack Gear) a large amount have shared their extreme displeasement with this shift in design philosophy. It's a point that I very much share as it makes a majority of drops feel unrewarding, adds anxiety to build / invest in a non-perfect roll, promotes burnout on grind for hardcore players and leaves casual players with a sense of resignation "I'm never gonna get that anyways, so why try".

Compromise & endless potential: I do understand DE's intent to stretch content, though. Rewards are a great incentive to replay content even if it isn't as fun as the first few hours you played it. RNG power creep however has done more harm than good in most games, thus I'll suggest a constructive alternativity instead: Colors.
Skins have always been a sought after reward people were willing to grind for - and players felt rewarded getting them. Warframes unique customization system harbors great untapped reward potential here, as not a full skin would have to be build, but a single color can already be used to turn around your characters' optics.  

The idea: Once per month DE adds a new color scheme. After each Railjack mission / Kuva Lich / (content of DE's choice) players get to select one single color from this scheme as a reward. Those would be 5*18= 90 new rewards each month - or in other words: 90 incentives to replay the same content for collectors, possibly more if it was combined with a token system, yet each run would be feeling rewarding as you unlocked something completely new that expands your options on how to design your frames.

The advantages:

  • The system can create an immense amount of content / longevity that's desirable for collectors with close to no effort once the structure / UI is built; generating new colors can be reduced to single button press.
  • As a conclusion DE can reduce / remove RNG rewards without the fear of player running out of content. Which would be a VERY appreciated and pleasant withdrawal from the new, unpopular design philosophy that has plagued Lichs & Railjacks.
  • "Fashionframe is endgame" - it ties in with what veterans already like to do.
  • While it might reduce the amount if color palettes sold, it might very well increase the amount of skins / Tennogen sold as new players get a way to customize their frame and get a desire to do more.
Edited by Sdric
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What if single colors dropped from enemies like Pigment?

Whether that's something you need several of like Pigment,
or just a rare chance to drop the one color.
I recognize, this is not in line with reducing RNG, but your post made me think of it.

When you start the game, you only get 1 row of basic colors, so it's within reason to have parts of a pallet.
This might cut into their income, as I'm sure a considerable amount of that comes from colors.

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There are 2 main problems i see with colours as rewards:

1. People already have every colour they could ever want already from the previous colour palates.

2. Even if the new scheme had new colours we didn't have, each of the 90 colours will have to be unique which is means this system would only produce new colours for a ~2 months before the colours repeat (or are so close in colour to previous ones that they may as well be the same colour).

Alternate ideas would be to change the material of certain channels on a frame/weapon (i.e. primary,secondary,tertiary,accent channels).

Say by completing X mission you have Y% to get a material for 1 of your currently equipped warframe/weapon/companion/operator.

Not only will this give good rewards it also minimises the RNG as you know what items you will get rewards for.

Potential materials:

-metalic

-plastic/smooth

-rough

-glowing

there are probably more but these are what i can list from the top of my head.

The only real issue is how they would implement the material changes but i'm sure Steve and the others in the art and coding departments can figure out some possible solutions.

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vor einer Stunde schrieb kapn655321:

What if single colors dropped from enemies like Pigment?

Whether that's something you need several of like Pigment,
or just a rare chance to drop the one color.
I recognize, this is not in line with reducing RNG, but your post made me think of it.

When you start the game, you only get 1 row of basic colors, so it's within reason to have parts of a pallet.
This might cut into their income, as I'm sure a considerable amount of that comes from colors.

Considering the time it takes for new players to reach Empyrian I don't think that new players will say "I'd rather play 300 more hours and grind on top", than to pay 2€ for a color and get it immediately. The variety of colors accessible by the market also instantly gets you what you want and more, so it will ultimately be far more efficient to buy colors. Also (at least as my suggestion is intended) the colors in the store are different from the ones gained via missions, so there shouldn't be a conflict if somebody wants a specific color. As for RNG, we've far more than is healthy tbh. I feel like we really need something to progress towards, something that rewards progressing and time investment instead of being just another slot machine.

 

 

vor 35 Minuten schrieb AndouRaiton:

There are 2 main problems i see with colours as rewards:

1. People already have every colour they could ever want already from the previous colour palates.

2. Even if the new scheme had new colours we didn't have, each of the 90 colours will have to be unique which is means this system would only produce new colours for a ~2 months before the colours repeat (or are so close in colour to previous ones that they may as well be the same colour).

Alternate ideas would be to change the material of certain channels on a frame/weapon (i.e. primary,secondary,tertiary,accent channels).

Say by completing X mission you have Y% to get a material for 1 of your currently equipped warframe/weapon/companion/operator.

Not only will this give good rewards it also minimises the RNG as you know what items you will get rewards for.

Potential materials:

-metalic

-plastic/smooth

-rough

-glowing

there are probably more but these are what i can list from the top of my head.

The only real issue is how they would implement the material changes but i'm sure Steve and the others in the art and coding departments can figure out some possible solutions.

You can "always" get new colors, the amount of RGB combinations is 256*256*256=16777216 possible colors. Even if some are very similar there's still a minor difference. At the very least it serves the satisfaction of collectors to fill new palettes. Even if you have bought multiple color schemes getting a new, slightly different one as a guaranteed drop is far more rewarding than grinding for hours, days, weeks or even months and getting nothing more than a low rolled Kuva weapon or bad RJ Reactor again and again and again once you already got a decent one (though no sane person does this - and those players who do usually get burned out on the game afterwards).

The sorting by types is an interesting thought though. Maybe Lichs could drop metalics, Railjack rought colors, etc...

Edited by Sdric
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vor 8 Minuten schrieb kapn655321:

Was thinking Thralls, as you mentioned Lich.

If they added 100 kuva, a color from a pallet, and a riven shard to the drop table, that may be Way more worth our while.

I did, true. I still think that killing a level 5 Lich takes gear that requires some time investment. There's no point in nitpicking though.

Personally, I feel like getting these players to start experimenting & enjoying Fashion-Frame might earn DE more money in the long run than the few cents they get from a color palette sale (while increasing longevity and player satisfaction!). Not to mention that there's frequently events with free palettes, which I'm pretty sure DE wouldn't do if it really had that much of a negative impact on sales, rather than subtly boosting them. I'm just talking for myself, but when it comes to me - if I start customizing a character I want to do it right.

Edited by Sdric
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1 minute ago, Sdric said:

events with free palettes

While there are holiday and baro colors, they're very limited.
I like your ideas. 😃

If they do expand on colors, it would be nice to add them to some drop tables, however they do it.
Some players simply can not afford them. Tying it into Thralls isn't perfect, but certainly makes that grind more worth while,
especially for those who, despite having top level gear, cannot afford to look nice.
Looking nice does drive the sales and satisfaction of users.. and if it's potentially a chance for 1 at a time,
it'd still be best for a player to buy the pallet rather than farming it.
Always thought it was odd they were nowhere in the drop tables, especially when pigment is.
It'd take a good long time, but they'd have an option.

But, that's just my take on it.
I'm not opposed to anything that expands the cosmetic options.
Baro and Nightwave had helped improve that dramatically for players without plat thus far, but there's always room to improve.

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