Why Warframe and augment balance updates rarely happen

[(PSN)thegarada]

I am curios, why does DE development rarely update or balance warframes and augments? Outside of the brand new frames, which is normal to that they see updates soon after they are released, less than 10 frames got any work in like a year span. As far as I remember, 3 out of the 4 new frames got update, Garuda, Titania, Ember and Vauban (the Mag thing does not count), not much has changed in almost a year. Augment changes are even for less frequent. I think there was only 1 update to existing augments in the last few month.

Personal opinion, many frames need work and augments, with the exceptional few, are near useless. So why are changes so rare? 

[kapn655321]

No money to be made in tweaking an old thing. Players are drawn to/back to the game through new items and events.

As much as it would improve the experience of Warframe, that doesn't mean it results in a tangible profit to cover the cost of that development.

Oh, not to mention, no matter what they do... someone invariably thinks that they broke it and they're all a bunch of fools, and then make a big show about quitting the game as a result.

Edited April 2, 2020 by kapn655321

[MBaldelli]

4 minutes ago, (PS4)thegarada said:

I am curios, why does DE development rarely update or balance warframes and augments?

Because most augments have been done as a leg up for playing, not completely broken from the get go.  Those that are broken were nerfed/reworked accordingly.  Like Resonating Quake for example.  

As for Warframes...  this is why Warframe reworks are done on the down-low and not always publicly announced unless it has to be done...  This has always been a cautionary tale as to why you don't see many warframe rework announcements for fear another riot such as this one will be produced because of the micromanagement done by DE on their signature: 

 

[kapn655321]

6 minutes ago, MBaldelli said:

link

Thanks for that video. Been many years since I've seen the old Nav map. 😃 Forgot what it looked like.

[MBaldelli]

1 hour ago, kapn655321 said:

Thanks for that video. Been many years since I've seen the old Nav map. 😃 Forgot what it looked like.

Not a problem. 

DE has never forgotten it because the forums were in absolute disarray for 24 hours.  Even with the mod problems back then -- there was no way to squelch the rage that kept pouring into the forums.  And given last year's debacle with cronyism and moderator abuses getting to mainstream gaming media -- DE remains vigilant against a recurrence of that sort of thing happening again.  

[kapn655321]

Just now, MBaldelli said:

Not a problem. 

DE has never forgotten it because the forums were in absolute disarray for 24 hours.  Even with the mod problems back then -- there was no way to squelch the rage that kept pouring into the forums.  And given last year's debacle with cronyism and moderator abuses getting to mainstream gaming media -- DE remains vigilant against a recurrence of that sort of thing happening again.  

Last one I remember was Nidus' launch.. Visual cooties with no cure ruffled my feathers, as well as many others. Really wasn't on the forum much then. Of course, sometimes these things pass some players by totally unnoticed. I would assume, being that I don't keep track of the meta if I can avoid it, that the problem from the video went completely unnoticed. I seem to recall an Interception change, and...

Oh wait... Was that when they removed Trinity's 1+2 combo? o_O Yeegads man, I haven't thought about that in years.. May be a different instance, but that took me way back for a moment. I remember the launch of syndicates well enough, and some of what I heard in the video rings a bell.. but ultimately I think I avoided the majority of that mess. Same with the mod thing. Had not the slightest idea of it while it was happening.

To bring this back around to OP's topic, what we may look at every day as wreckage or fine, DE has a totally different point of view, and many more factors to consider than we do. So like, I could think the most important thing is X, another player would say Y, and DE does Z. Kind of depends where we're looking at it from, and what we're looking for.. and in DE's case, what limits they have in producing a meaningful resolution that satisfies all of those needs.. if that's even possible to begin with.

[(PSN)thegarada]

2 hours ago, MBaldelli said:

Because most augments have been done as a leg up for playing, not completely broken from the get go.  Those that are broken were nerfed/reworked accordingly.  Like Resonating Quake for example.  

As for Warframes...  this is why Warframe reworks are done on the down-low and not always publicly announced unless it has to be done...  This has always been a cautionary tale as to why you don't see many warframe rework announcements for fear another riot such as this one will be produced because of the micromanagement done by DE on their signature: 

 

I do agree, reworks can be problematic. People still complain about Ember reword, even though, on every level, Ember is so much better now. However, they are also extremely infrequent. Like 1-2 per year. I am talking more regarding normal changes. Like Garuda changes for example. It was just number adjustments. It made her better (not good enough though). People will always complain if there is a nerf. But slight buffs and nerfs to put frames where they should be, balance wise, are necessary. If I like frames A, F and M. And they under perform a bit, and get no attention, there is a good chance that I will stop playing. 

[Hellmaker2004]

6 hours ago, (PS4)thegarada said:

I am curios, why does DE development rarely update or balance warframes and augments? Outside of the brand new frames, which is normal to that they see updates soon after they are released, less than 10 frames got any work in like a year span. As far as I remember, 3 out of the 4 new frames got update, Garuda, Titania, Ember and Vauban (the Mag thing does not count), not much has changed in almost a year. Augment changes are even for less frequent. I think there was only 1 update to existing augments in the last few month.

Personal opinion, many frames need work and augments, with the exceptional few, are near useless. So why are changes so rare? 

Why does the Mag thing not count?

[ShortCat]

20 hours ago, kapn655321 said:

No money to be made in tweaking an old thing. Players are drawn to/back to the game through new items and events.

Ah, yes, this old fallacy again.

1. Skins. As far as I know, skins are the main income for DE. If there is a greater variety in items people want skins for, there are more incentives and creative freedom to create new additions. Furthermore, you do not have to fight the same audience with a Nth Mesa skin.
2. As far as I know, Prime access happens to "old" Frames. You may take a gues how successful Titania's PA would be without any changes to her kit. Wukong PA is another example, where a Frame went from least played to most played with a rework right in time for a skin as well as PA.
3. Reworked content is new content.
4. Reworking can be easier than creating something entirely new, since most of the assets are already there.
5. Properly managed reworks may improve the gmae in general, which is a long term goal.
6. Reworking crucial parts of the game (ahem New Player Experience) helps with player retention.

[Madway7]

Most augments aren't good anyways, sadly most of them just give marginal improvements to the ability while taking a mod slot.

 

I feel like they should go more the route of augments changing how the ability works rather than the simple "you get a buff for using the ability this way" 

 

Like Ironclad Charge, I feel like it should be innate to the ability and the augment should give Rhino DR (while active), but his 1 turns into a Gauss run (except much slower). In addition to that it could give more power strength so the armor bonus values are higher.

It would make the base ability better while giving an optional take on the ability which works into it.