Now that enemy scaling is fixed, viral and our unbelievable damage output need nerfing?

[(PSN)Crixus044]

16 hours ago, Lakais said:

This focusing on raw stats and highly curated simulacrum tests based judgements where jumping numbers are king, feels like it's going sideways away from what Warframe's gameplay is supposed to be. I implore anyone who feels like trying new or old weapons in the game to at first go into your options and turn off affinity and damage numbers. Then you'll be more focused on the shooting and less on the numbers. 

This game is coded with and built on numbers. The stats are made with numbers. Numbers can be compared. There are no feelings involved until after the numbers are done. Serration clearly says +165% damage. It doesn't say "feels better". Do you occasionally check your speedometer whenever you drive or do you just assume and feel it out? Does the speed limit say "Go whatever feels slow"? Ignoring the numbers in the game is like driving a car and "feeling" how fast your going.

"I FEEL like im going the speed limit"

*WEEEUUUUUWEEEWUUU*

"Here's a number for ya" *100 dollar ticket*

It's called optimization. Done right, it improves your performance dramatically. And just because im running numbers doesn't mean I'm in the simulacrum. Take my thesis on how bad gas damage is now. I ran in-game tests to confirm my theories. I run tests that account for the totality of the game. Im sorry that you've seen too many people half-ass it, but testing and number crunching is far superior to feelings. Feelings are not facts. If something is clearly superior, it's much easier to figure out through math and numbers.

Fallout Plays said it best,  feelings are not numbers.

Maybe it's too complicated for you. Maybe you're just not good at math. Most people are too. This is fine we all have our strengths, but don't deny what is fact. If the numbers prove that something is bad, it will only be improved through numbers. Everything in the game is buffed or nerfed by the numbers. I can and will offer any help in learning how to run the numbers

Edited April 8, 2020 by (PS4)Crixus044

[(NSW)Greybones]

22 hours ago, Lakais said:

I implore anyone who feels like trying new or old weapons in the game to at first go into your options and turn off affinity and damage numbers. Then you'll be more focused on the shooting and less on the numbers. 

I. Am going to do this, good person. Thank you for the suggestion, cause I never even thought of it till now. +1 like to you for this idea

edit: I turned off enemy names and health too (though their health is still displayed at the top in a tiny little bar 😕 ), and the one mission I’ve done so far looks promising! Feels immediately different and I’m behaving differently in my fights against standard enemies. The Stalker showed up and he felt a lot more threatening because I couldn’t easily tell how damaged he was 😋

double edit: It’s working great so far!

Edited April 8, 2020 by (NSW)Greybones

[TheGrimCorsair]

On 2020-04-05 at 2:40 PM, Hypernaut1 said:

We need endless missions that start at 150

I agree, we need endless missions removed from the game. They're poison as are the people who advocate for them remaining.

[Lakais]

2 hours ago, (PS4)Crixus044 said:

-

While you saw it fit to quote me twice, I will respond as if you had done so once.

There is a point to which competitiveness is good. Thankfully this being 99% a PvE game means we can more easily brush off the rather colorful personalities that inhabit true competitive games like CS, DoTA and LoL. But here the focus on what is considered top tier as far as players go now lies more in spreadsheet builds and how easy they are to replicate. The super-high level missions and such should be the focus of a small minority of the vocal community. The number crunching and Excel sheet scouring should be the purview of a small, dedicated group of players, NOT the focus of damn near EVERY review video or opinion piece you find on reddit or youtube. The devs themselves lament this point where the FIRST thing our community influences do when new gear is put out, is non-use leech-level it in some endless mission a few times and then make a video of it in the Simulacrum focused entirely on what color the numbers are and how many places does it have. That type of content has a place and it has fans. Who am I to deny them, you, their kicks? But it should not be the front and center as a litmus test.

I do not hate the "min-max" style of play, I resent that it has become a kind of standard to strive towards.

I put very little stock in min-maxing. The style of play is bland to me. I respect accuracy and creative on-the-fly combination of mobility, positioning, gear and game knowledge. And macro use of some single spam-attack for hours that relies on an aspect or combination of mechanics that would in any other scenario be considered blatant exploits, tend to not match up with my interpretation of skilled play. There's a fine line where my exacting "skilled play" starts and the "min max" ends and I can't say what is what but only that I know it when I see it. 

And let me add in, we have not gone 8 years with the same levels. Little over 6 years back, we had a level crunch with the introduction of Damage 2.0 in Update 11. If I remember right, the level gradient for enemies was much finer back then. Endless missions started becoming a thing since U7 and issues came to light. What was discovered was that enemy levels spiked excessively so they crunched down. What was then a level 100 became our level 40-ish. The levels have not stayed the same for 8 years and I do so believe that it is long past time for an another serious shake to the formula. 

Now you might be temped to say "Lets crunch the levels again then." But note that the change was made in combination to the complete overhaul of the damage system. If such a thing is to happen again, I would hope that the mythical (bordering on vaporware) Damage 3.0 is the catalyst. For that system to truly have an effect, changes need to be made to everything. 

Finally; endgame. That word again. In damn near every sense it is like the term "challenge" that people want. Hollow concepts in the minds of the writers of them. Generally poorly thought out and hyperfocused on a single aspect or group. I hope my disdain comes through.

In truth, if DE got the network hardware down, the true competitive scene would not be endless missions. The closest to a universally accepted "Endgame" where the skills of the player would be put to the test would be Conclave. For all it's faults and shortcomings, the Conclave would be where you see the best, the ones who understand how to use the main gameplay loops and mechanics to their fullest extent. It is ironic that this failure, primarily through neglect (from both DE and players), to build and maintain it to become mainstream and provide what I believe to be the closest to the notoriety being "The Best" in a competitive scene and the influencer circles brings, is what has staved off the rampant immolating toxicity that has plagued so many other games. A dark bit of comedy. 

As for your... rather interesting reply on numbers. 

You miss my point. Entirely, in it's complete concept. Is the game run by numbers? Yes. Are those numbers important under the hood? Yes. Do they need to be on your screen at all times? No. 

And that last part is where the crux of my point lies. In the testing, in simulacrum in these highly curated laboratory conditions, those stats are useful. But in actual gameplay, where the rubber hits the road, they are unnecessary. They distract by drawing away your attention from what is actually important in that moment: the flashy bits and gun noises. And in the end, we as humans are eily saswayed by flashy things. When the flashiest thing on the screen is a big number that pops out of a dead enemy, then that catches the eye. Especially if it has a highly contrasting color, say like yellow or red. Combine that with the dopamine hit of the small victory and you got a Skinner Box feel-good tied to the numbers. 

When I say that the feel of the game changes without damage numbers, it is not the feeling or the emotion that shifts. It's the focus of your attention from the stats to the art. Your eye and thus attention is drawn to the flashiest thing and when the numbers are gone, what is left are the guns, the abilities and the enemies. The Skinner Box does not go away, it is merely directed at something else.

To fully appreciate this shift, you should try it for a few weeks. You will notice your loadouts changing. You will have the old faithful builds you bring out when you need to, but any other moment, there will be odd weapons and builds. Because does it mater how much damage your gun does if the enemy dies to a single headshot or two shots in 0.2 seconds? On paper yes, in practice no. What becomes more important is if the gun handled right. Did it sound awesome? Did you look cool? Did it feel great? 

[(PSN)Crixus044]

40 minutes ago, Lakais said:

 

I cannot disagree with the majority of what you said here, nor did I ever.
It seems I mistaken your disdain for numbers as a disdain for math whereas it was about how numbers distract from the game itself. A very valid point that I have brought up many times before. Stealth numbers are too big and take away from the action of the game. I have complained about it before.That's why I was happy with the new number cap, but fearful of the obvious opportunities for stealth nerfs that DE is known for, underhand at its finest.

What I will disagree on is the fact that the "endgame community" (more of a title than a definition nowadays) is a minority. On the contrary, it constitutes a large aspect of higher MR players. Why doesn't it seem so large? They keep leaving, that's why, but they are there and disregarding them is a crime. It's like a cycle. A player plays warframe as a beginner, goes through the game, succeeds in game, surpasses the game, gives up on the game. This is where more difficult content comes in. It is true that Damage 1.0 to 2.0 had a level crunch. RIP Acrid. I remember they also made health out-scale damage as a direct attack against trinity, something they've reversed, even though we have octavia aka trinity link but better, and I'm not asking for another one. we currently use .1% of the levels in the game. We don't need another crunch. We COULD use an expansion.

The issue with hatred on min/maxing is that there is no reason NOT to min/max. Why would you use something that is purposely worse? It's not like you have anything else to do. Why NOT make your gear the best? That's the whole point, to become stronger. You play the game to become better at it.

I've preached this ideology before and I'll tell you about it too.

Spoiler

There are 2 different facets to the term skill. There's building skill and mechanical skill. Mechanical skill is those things like parkour, accuracy, postioning, map awareness, enemy prediction, etc. These are skills that are universal to gaming. Every game needs and benefits from these skills. Conclave is a fantastic way to hone these skills, which is where your preference to skill competition seems to lie. You're a mechanics guy. I honed my skills in duels and simulacrum duels, but that's just my way lol. This is very important as it optimizes our performance at the gameplay level. Then there is building skill. Creating synergies, optimizing builds, tactics, etc. This is a more mathematical skill and relies on the ability to connect the dots and formulate the best performance. You must know the game on a fundemental level. It can be boiled down to game knowledge. Both these skills need to be challenged. You can have all the ninja skill in the world, but if you are shooting potatoes at enemies, you are useless. At the same token, shooting laser beams is pointless if you can't hit the broadside of a barn. Thus you need both. Warframe enemies that challenge mechanical skill are those like nullifiers, ancients, eximus, nox, juggernaut, etc. The only thing that challenged building skills is the TTK/KPS ratio

In this game, the building skills FAR outweigh the mechanical skill because of 2 things. A. Enemies don't do crap. If you were a lightly armored clone with nothing but a meat cleaver in your hand, running straight at your enemy is probably the worse idea ever. Because of this, not much mechanical skill is needed. Thus, everyone pours everything into building skill. This is why min/maxing has taken over. It's the only thing that has a real effect in the game. I can teach you all the ways to cancel animations like Cleaving Whirlwind's stumble, it'll only get you maybe +20% more dps. But use THIS builds, and you deal 5x your dps. The next issue is that the building skills of the game have far outpaced the power of enemies. Enemies are tissue paper to us, and DE only made that worse by nerfing their health. NOT ARMOR, health. I personally advocated for an increase in health and a streamlined improvement in enemy AI and mechanics. This way, we can get both.

Why not just nerf our damage? because you will never get it right. It's called the whack-a-mole effect. You nerf 1 thing, another pops up, and round 'n round we go. Look at how the meta has shifted. Lootcaves, farming spots, etc. A simple raise in enemy attributes fixes many of these problems. A fine example of this was when Phoenix Intercept came out to prepare us for raids and later on sorties.

To get true challenge, you must stimulate both aspects of skill

This is my belief that I've compounded over years of gameplay, deep mathematical formulation, optimizations, personal challenges, and numerous feats. Try taking the OLD pangolin sword to a 4 hour survival, pre melee 3.0, pre enemy nerf. In 2016

[dreamycreampie]

9 hours ago, (PS4)sweatshawp said:

I used to test my builds via simularcrum but when it comes down to endurance runs those test can be heavily inaacurate so i stopped. im not against the room but id like them to properly scale enemies in there 

there's nothing inaccurate about damage comparison in a controlled environment, unless the damage literally works differently in that room as if it's another game. if anything the tests you used to do were accurate unlike now.

Gearmatrix said it best

Quote

Cant do that in a normal mission because there’s too many variables to skew the results and make any information gained worthless.

like seriously did you take Chemistry in school? You NEVER conduct an experiment where you have zero control over outside factors.

 

[Lakais]

3 hours ago, (PS4)Crixus044 said:

I cannot disagree with the majority of what you said here, nor did I ever.
It seems I mistaken your disdain for numbers as a disdain for math whereas it was about how numbers distract from the game itself. A very valid point that I have brought up many times before. Stealth numbers are too big and take away from the action of the game. I have complained about it before.That's why I was happy with the new number cap, but fearful of the obvious opportunities for stealth nerfs that DE is known for, underhand at its finest.

What I will disagree on is the fact that the "endgame community" (more of a title than a definition nowadays) is a minority. On the contrary, it constitutes a large aspect of higher MR players. Why doesn't it seem so large? They keep leaving, that's why, but they are there and disregarding them is a crime. It's like a cycle. A player plays warframe as a beginner, goes through the game, succeeds in game, surpasses the game, gives up on the game. This is where more difficult content comes in. It is true that Damage 1.0 to 2.0 had a level crunch. RIP Acrid. I remember they also made health out-scale damage as a direct attack against trinity, something they've reversed, even though we have octavia aka trinity link but better, and I'm not asking for another one. we currently use .1% of the levels in the game. We don't need another crunch. We COULD use an expansion.

The issue with hatred on min/maxing is that there is no reason NOT to min/max. Why would you use something that is purposely worse? It's not like you have anything else to do. Why NOT make your gear the best? That's the whole point, to become stronger. You play the game to become better at it.

I've preached this ideology before and I'll tell you about it too.

  Hide contents

There are 2 different facets to the term skill. There's building skill and mechanical skill. Mechanical skill is those things like parkour, accuracy, postioning, map awareness, enemy prediction, etc. These are skills that are universal to gaming. Every game needs and benefits from these skills. Conclave is a fantastic way to hone these skills, which is where your preference to skill competition seems to lie. You're a mechanics guy. I honed my skills in duels and simulacrum duels, but that's just my way lol. This is very important as it optimizes our performance at the gameplay level. Then there is building skill. Creating synergies, optimizing builds, tactics, etc. This is a more mathematical skill and relies on the ability to connect the dots and formulate the best performance. You must know the game on a fundemental level. It can be boiled down to game knowledge. Both these skills need to be challenged. You can have all the ninja skill in the world, but if you are shooting potatoes at enemies, you are useless. At the same token, shooting laser beams is pointless if you can't hit the broadside of a barn. Thus you need both. Warframe enemies that challenge mechanical skill are those like nullifiers, ancients, eximus, nox, juggernaut, etc. The only thing that challenged building skills is the TTK/KPS ratio

In this game, the building skills FAR outweigh the mechanical skill because of 2 things. A. Enemies don't do crap. If you were a lightly armored clone with nothing but a meat cleaver in your hand, running straight at your enemy is probably the worse idea ever. Because of this, not much mechanical skill is needed. Thus, everyone pours everything into building skill. This is why min/maxing has taken over. It's the only thing that has a real effect in the game. I can teach you all the ways to cancel animations like Cleaving Whirlwind's stumble, it'll only get you maybe +20% more dps. But use THIS builds, and you deal 5x your dps. The next issue is that the building skills of the game have far outpaced the power of enemies. Enemies are tissue paper to us, and DE only made that worse by nerfing their health. NOT ARMOR, health. I personally advocated for an increase in health and a streamlined improvement in enemy AI and mechanics. This way, we can get both.

Why not just nerf our damage? because you will never get it right. It's called the whack-a-mole effect. You nerf 1 thing, another pops up, and round 'n round we go. Look at how the meta has shifted. Lootcaves, farming spots, etc. A simple raise in enemy attributes fixes many of these problems. A fine example of this was when Phoenix Intercept came out to prepare us for raids and later on sorties.

To get true challenge, you must stimulate both aspects of skill

This is my belief that I've compounded over years of gameplay, deep mathematical formulation, optimizations, personal challenges, and numerous feats. Try taking the OLD pangolin sword to a 4 hour survival, pre melee 3.0, pre enemy nerf. In 2016

I will preface all this by stating a fact that should be obvious to anyone: I am a biased individual. I can not and will not claim to know the desires and tastes of the majority. I merely voice my opinion on what I THINK is the best course of action. I don't know everything, so I can be wrong in some assertions. But I will hold to my opinions and claims unless I state otherwise.

Now, to the point: I am glad that in part we share views. But I would provide a counter to the argument that the supposed endgame boils down to making the best possible statistical equipment. I won't argue that there is a charm in it and I do take part in constructing these build on occasion that can get me through damn near everything. But I hardly use them. They are ultimately limiting. I am limited to high level missions to feel "challenged" and those are few and far between or otherwise generic and repetitive. I am limited to a very narrow and particular style of play, again creating a sense of repetition. Now, granted, this could be alleviated by the ability to "prestige" level up enemies on the star chart. But you must admit that it is just a bandaid when many of the minmax builds still rely on features or mechanics that may skirt uncomfortably close to being exploits. 

And this focusing and distillation of gameplay down to the most efficient methods and styles is, in my opinion, the crux of why high MR players feel like leaving. People become so enamored with the big numbers and the weapons that give those big numbers that even if they find things that might be more fun to them, they won't use it because the numbers on the screen when you click on an enemy are bigger on the one they've been using for months, maybe years. And because all the big names are focusing on this, the other things they could do is partly seen as wasting their time or otherwise not of equal substance. In an ironic twist, this goal of efficiency results in the game itself being less and less relevant. Maximum efficiency would be not playing the game at all, reducing it to a cookie clicker game. That is what I see when I discuss these things. 

Finally, the risk of coming off a hypocrite I'd like to propose my definition of "Endgame";

Endgame is, an item, mission, piece of content or concept that engages and holds your interest at present time. It is not one definite thing, but a personal, ever changing component of your personal gameplay experience.

I am reminded of a passage from the Hyperion Cantos (a splendid sci-fi saga, I recommend). A simple mentality of life: "Choose again". That is my take on endgame. To choose again. I can choose the same way every time, but I can also redefine what I am going for. Now, my endgame is fashion. Later I follow my own headcanon story and do missions that follow it. Tomorrow I will binge ESO for a while and thus do the minmax thing and later still I will try my hand at interior decorating of dojo and ship. Any of those things can be taken as "endgame" by someone in some way. I doubt you would argue that any of those are inherently wrong if considered endgame and done with enough dedication. And maybe tomorrow I decide not to log on at all and instead mine rocks in Star Citizen because I am not married to Warframe.

 

[(PSN)Crixus044]

6 hours ago, Lakais said:

Now, granted, this could be alleviated by the ability to "prestige" level up enemies on the star chart. But you must admit that it is just a bandaid when many of the minmax builds still rely on features or mechanics that may skirt uncomfortably close to being exploits. 

Some do, but honesty, just normal synergy and number optimization can get you there easily. A lot of things that people consider "cheese" are simply optimal builds like slide attack atterax back in the day. Exploits is a term I've rubbed elbows with before, but ultimately an exploit is using something in the game that shouldn't be there, like infinite power strength or double stacking mods. If you've ever heard of SummitRain/Summit, you know me lol. DE has lied and tried to cover up these bugs before, so it's hard to decide what is intended and what isn't since DE doesn't even know. Just look at the Venari change.Remember Void_Glitch?

6 hours ago, Lakais said:

Endgame is, an item, mission, piece of content or concept that engages and holds your interest at present time. It is not one definite thing, but a personal, ever changing component of your personal gameplay experience.

This is 100% true, which is why I said before that at this point, the the term is a set title more than a label based on the definition. Endgame as a definition is the goal of something once you've done everything else. You wanna make your visual style it's optimal peak. Color mixing, lighting and shading, mixing different pieces of armor and skins, etc. you wanna look your best and role-play in your own story. This is your endgame and luckily, this game can host that.

The term endgame in warframe began to note endurance players because it followed the natural progression of gaming, where you get stronger, fight stronger, rinse and repeat.

My endgame has changed dramatically. My endgame use to be predicated on being the best. Master every aspect of the game and walk unchallenged. I don't know if I ever achieved that, but at a point in the game, I'd say I was untouchable. Consistent 25-0 conclave games, master of dueling, optimized builds, level 9999 tissue paper with literally anything, etc. I've since fallen from that level dramatically due to life, but my endgame now is to only mathematically master the game and fix all its flaws. There's so much that is wrong mathematically in this game that it's kinda sad, and unfortunately, DE won't listen. They have a keyword aggregator that they use to get their opinions, not warframe partners, Design Council, or the details in their own feedback page

6 hours ago, Lakais said:

I am limited to a very narrow and particular style of play, again creating a sense of repetition.

A lot of tactics that you would think don't work, I can help show you. This is where Min/maxing and optimization differ. Min/maxing is about the absolutes, what is the best. Optimization is making the best with what you have. Back in the day, I use to make Pangolin Sword nuke slams that would destroy level 2k enemies. Just imagine that. Being able to play as Thor with a pangolin sowrd. This was before Arca Triton came out, so I had to make my own thor lol

There's also the idea of shotguns. Shotguns are thought to be close range, high damage weapons, but I optimized my build to turn shotguns into a group killer, by changing the weapon to a punch through god with high spread, I wouldn't have to stand at close range. Imagine a sancti tigris taking out groups of enemies like an arca plasmor, but better. It's not optimal dps, but it get the job down and brings out a new playstyle to a weapon that people thought impossible. How about fishing spear endurance runs? My friends always complain that I bring up these obscure styles and weapons to use, they'd always go "Why not just use so-and-so?" I'm feeling like never touching the ground, so Imma pick up Arcane Arachne (Before its nerf) and use valkyr. I feel like using Rhino and I wanna do a LoR trial. How can I do that? *Optimize build for max range, use Jat Kittag to ragdoll difficult enemies and use it's slam radius to destroy Vay Hek's rockets before they hit me. I wanna use the amphis today, but I feel like thor; what can I do? Use wukong Iron Jab to create a mass electric proc on slam, ultimate unconventional crowd control. Bring a wukong into a raid? You crazy he has no use *Slams rockets back at Vay Hek's face and sending enemies within a 52m radius into space with Jet Kitty* "Nvm"

Optimization can bring out unconventional styles too, it's just a matter of getting it to work at the levels you wanna fight.

You personally are a casual player, so you have many fun styles you cn do. I use to love bringing my ignis onto Apollodorus, when it was a level 1 survival mission and just have a good ol time burning enemies. I would love to use my furis' augment to nuke enemies for free health, and my braton prime with punch through, shooting through a door into corridors, shredding everyone on the other side (Braton use to be the true king of auto rifles, but nobody realized it)

I'm sure there are certain things you wanna do in the game, but can't find a feasible way to do it. This is where optimization comes in handy. Just a though

Edited April 8, 2020 by (PS4)Crixus044

[Lakais]

13 hours ago, (PS4)Crixus044 said:

-

What in particular strikes out as wrong with Warframe's mathematics? I personally see a few issues, but primarily I attribute them to the design decisions (some I don't agree with) regarding endless scaling and favoring statistics based enemy designs as opposed to mechanics based (weak points, breakable armor, etc). Armor values not being static is one of the main ones, in my opinion in the current system of scaling. And how and off of what weapon damage mods function, especially Elemental ones. That one has had me scratching my head and hoping it is some kind of oversight they simply aren't brave enough to correct or truly believe is the superior option.

I appreciate the offer for your assistance, but I have not found anything that I couldn't tackle or research viable solutions for. Doing my own homework, so to speak. I am not above using the creative work of others to replicate powerful builds should the need arise. I accept that I am not, nor will I ever be, the best when it comes to optimization. Simply, I make do. Maybe I am at heart a masochist, maybe I am a prideful principled ass or possibly I am just lazy. A combination of all the above most likely. 

[Aesthier]

How about they remove all rivens before they start balancing the damage types.

Makes it a little harder for those at the top end without jacking all the damage up for those on the bottom.

[(PSN)sweatshawp]

14 hours ago, Aesthier said:

How about they remove all rivens before they start balancing the damage types.

Makes it a little harder for those at the top end without jacking all the damage up for those on the bottom.

itd be impossible to remove rivens without literal War on DE

[(PSN)Crixus044]

On 2020-04-09 at 8:34 AM, Lakais said:

What in particular strikes out as wrong with Warframe's mathematics? I personally see a few issues, but primarily I attribute them to the design decisions (some I don't agree with) regarding endless scaling and favoring statistics based enemy designs as opposed to mechanics based (weak points, breakable armor, etc). Armor values not being static is one of the main ones, in my opinion in the current system of scaling. And how and off of what weapon damage mods function, especially Elemental ones. That one has had me scratching my head and hoping it is some kind of oversight they simply aren't brave enough to correct or truly believe is the superior option.

I appreciate the offer for your assistance, but I have not found anything that I couldn't tackle or research viable solutions for. Doing my own homework, so to speak. I am not above using the creative work of others to replicate powerful builds should the need arise. I accept that I am not, nor will I ever be, the best when it comes to optimization. Simply, I make do. Maybe I am at heart a masochist, maybe I am a prideful principled ass or possibly I am just lazy. A combination of all the above most likely. 

I am also not a fan of armor scaling. In my opinion, it is simply a multiplier of health. If you want tankier enemies, you don't multiply the health, then multiply the multiplier of health. Armor would've been a simple percentage for me, but I've grown to accept it as it is a long standing mechanic that at this point is kinda minor.

I asked to introduce the mechanic of armor breakdown/fatigue, where a percentage of damage is converted to armor strip, whether localized or general. It was a neat concept that scaled well, but ignored. It would work even better now.

As mentioned with the whack-a-mole effect, the ttk balancing needs to be improved by raising health rather than endless line item player changes. This isn't so much as a way to create bullet sponges as it is to give you the mechanical challenge. Raising the number of seconds to kill by a few seconds doesn't change much by itself. It's only a few seconds, but it gives enemies something most valuable to them; it gives them time to fight back.

What good is enemy AI when they die as soon as they gaze upon you? All the mechanical challenge in the world will be useless if they die too soon to display it. Weakpoints like nox, shield gating and juggernaut are really just a minor delay or a slight annoyance, if they die literally as soon as you get around that. Plus, it's only a matter of time before DE introduces a hard bypass *Glares at Miter*. You need the enemies to live looking enough to show off their skills, just as you show yours and the only way to do that is raise health.

The other issue is how weapons and rivens are balanced. Sometimes, one is balanced because of the other. Rivens as an idea was a failed concept to begin with "give less used/weaker weapons a chance to compete" HOW ABOUT A BUFF? Or a weapon variant? Remember the last time DE tried that concept, to give less used weapons more power? Weapon augments! Look at the Jaw Sword's augment. Why not simply rebalance these weapons, maintaining their unique stat types.... just better? It baffles me.

Remember when Kronen Prime first came out and its stats were worse than Ohma? I gave a beautiful base stat suggestion that made it feel just as amazing and perform just as amazingly. I even did a mock test, using various warframe buffs like chroma, harrow, and finely tuned mods, to simulate what it would've been like. I had my friends try it out and they loved it.

And don't get me started on riven rng. Oh God what a #*!%ing disaster. A terrible idea from the start. "Let's make the stats completely random AND make the amounts completely random. If you like a stat on one but not the other,  TOUGH LUCK F BOY! Now gimme more of your parent's money." What a nightmare, seriously. Remember when Maiming Strike was added to rivens?

You know that to get the absolute perfect roll would take more time than the age of the universe? Yep. If you did nothing but optimally farm for kuva for 6 hours a day, it would take longer than the age of the universe to get 1 perfect roll. You can divide this by a certain number of players and call in the trading crew, but that's still 1 friggin roll. Just imagine, some schmuck could've already gotten an absolute god roll and deleted it without knowing what he had, never to be seen again. Some rolls will NEVER be seen.

It would take you 113,344 rolls to get the optimal stats. Then another gazillion to get the perfect amounts. It would take 1000x that number of rolls to get at least to top 90th percentile of those stats. That's a crazy figure

Edited April 11, 2020 by (PS4)Crixus044