The Steel Path: Feedback Megathread!

[SilverBones]

Greetings Tenno!

As you may have seen, we have recently released The Steel Path: Update 28.1.0! The Steel Path takes you on a much more challenging trip through the Origin System, with enemies on all nodes gaining +100 Levels - with new emotes, decorations, and rewards to earn.

This thread is for you to give your feedback about the Steel Path, so if you have thoughts that you wish to share, please do so here. If you see something you like, make sure to let us know! If you see something you don’t like, then please tell us why, and what you would like to see to make it better!

Please keep your feedback constructive, civil, and concise!

Thanks, and see you out there, Tenno!
 

[RevanZim]

I believe Umbra Forma should be a Steel Path reward.

Stance Forma can stay, sure, but I think only Umbra Forma feels rewarding and appropriate for playing the "hardest" missions in the game. I don't care how high the cost has to be, just add another consistent way of getting it other than Nightwave please. This seems the most appropriate place for me.

 

 

Originally, I did not want to edit my post. But since I'm already here and I think it's important, I'm gonna shamelessly plug my in-depth thoughts on the Steel Path and how to make it sustainable below:

 

[VVVVVVEmersonFisioVVVVVV]

3 minutes ago, RevanZim said:

I believe Umbra Forma should be a Steel Path reward.

Stance Forma can stay, sure, but I think only Umbra Forma feels rewarding and appropriate for playing the "hardest" missions in the game. I don't care how high the cost has to be, just add another consistent way of getting it other than Nightwave please. This seems the most appropriate place for me.

never

[thederpamon]

Hello, DE! Here is my first bit of feedback.

In my honest opinion, the only rewards for gathering Steel Essence being an armor set, some Kuva, and Stance Forma BPs is rather boring from an incentivization stance, and will quickly lose its luster once people have what they need.

I think you should add even more options to the Steel Shop, maybe some rare mods? Arcanes? Vaulted Prime relics? Maybe even a new weapon or two! Please, just give us more fun, gameplay-desirable things to grind for!

[Leo.lev]

Accept Teshin's challenge and unlock THE STEEL PATH?

YES | I'M READY!

What if I'm not ready?

[SupremeEvilDeathLord]

Okay, after a couple of missions with friends, our first impressions are that: rewards are... underwhelming to say the least, like, an operator armor is okay I guess, kuva is never a bad option, I don't understand why relics are there (It would be cool if it was a vaulted relic pack) and the stance forma is... meh at best, we don't have that many melee options to use that (Dark-Split Sword is the only one that comes to mind) 

Also, while we didn't test it yet, Hard mode Eidolons may be a new toxic hotspot, since they are a lot more tanky now, and we will have the same 45Min to kill them. I can already see the hellhole that public hard mode eidolon is going to be

[RevanZim]

14 minutes ago, ShiruBiru said:

never

Thank you for your elaborate, measured, constructive critique of my suggestion. /s

But seriously, if not here where else? Lore wise Teshin feels like the most likely character to have acces to it (why Nora has Umbra Forma is never explained, or the Sentient ships for that matter before they removed it). Teshin giving Umbra Forma at least feels like that makes sense.

And gameplay wise? Where else would you put it? If not in hard mode, where else? I know "The Steel Path" is not supposed to be endgame content or solve that problem, I'm aware of that. But it is some of the hardest content the game tries to deliver, intentionally. It only feels fair and appropriate to have some of the hardest to come by resource in the entire game represented in this mode. And not as a random drop, please, but in the shop. It all makes sense, much more than Stance Forma, especially from an incentive standpoint.

We want less islands in this game. The Granum Void already feels very bad in this way: you play it to get each reward one time and once you have them, there is ZERO incentive to ever play it again. I have better ways of getting Kuva and Relics than through this mode. And the amount of Stance Forma a Warframe player needs is basically 1. One unit, if even that.

Umbra Forma would make sense (both lore and gameplay wise), feels rewarding and would keep people coming back to this mode after completing the "new" starchart and getting the armor set.

I guess your reply is supposed to mean "DE would never do it". Well maybe you think that, but this is a feedback thread and I'm not that cynical.

[VVVVVVEmersonFisioVVVVVV]

Just now, RevanZim said:

Thank you for your elaborate, measured, constructive critique of my suggestion. /s

But seriously, if not here where else? Lore wise Teshin feels like the most likely character to have acces to it (why Nora has Umbra Forma is never explained, or the Sentient ships for that matter before they removed it). Teshin giving Umbra Forma at least feels like that makes sense.

And gameplay wise? Where else would you put it? If not in hard mode, where else? I know "The Steel Path" is not supposed to be endgame content or solve that problem, I'm aware of that. But it is some of the hardest content the game tries to deliver, intentionally. It only feels fair and appropriate to have some of the hardest to come by resource in the entire game represented in this mode. And not as a random drop, please, but in the shop. It all makes sense, much more than Stance Forma, especially from an incentive standpoint.

We want less islands in this game. The Granum Void already feels very bad in this way: you play it to get each reward one time and once you have them, there is ZERO incentive to ever play it again. I have better ways of getting Kuva and Relics than through this mode. And the amount of Stance Forma a Warframe player needs is basically 1. One unit, if even that.

Umbra Forma would make sense (both lore and gameplay wise), feels rewarding and would keep people coming back to this mode after completing the "new" starchart and getting the armor set.

I guess your reply is supposed to mean "DE would never do it". Well maybe you think that, but this is a feedback thread and I'm not that cynical.

we alread get 1-2 umbra formas/year wich is more than enougth. It need to give more kuva, something between kuva disruption and kuva survival and keep arbies on top.

[phoenix1992]

First impressions are really bad.

Bullet sponges that can't land a hit and if they do it is not a strong one. The rewards seem mediocre at best. I am currently recording all missions and I am being more annoyed than anything else.

[Xenophil]

Remove armor scaling with levels
Or rework armor to be an another layer of health, same as corpus has shields (but without %damage reduction)

[LoopStricken]

18 minutes ago, Jarriaga said:

That's the very same context Brozime and many people here including you are willingly removing/ignoring so you can argue your point.

Did we watch the same video? All the Xoris did was remove a few moments of tedium poking an enemy with your melee weapon.

[RevanZim]

16 minutes ago, thederpamon said:

I think you should add even more options to the Steel Shop, maybe some rare mods? Arcanes? Vaulted Prime relics? Maybe even a new weapon or two! Please, just give us more fun, gameplay-desirable things to grind for!

I agree, and I think that addition should be Umbra Forma.

[Lutesque]

28 minutes ago, RevanZim said:

I believe Umbra Forma should be a Steel Path reward

Looking at the Rewards it seems like its not worth it for new players to bum rush through content to reach the Steel Path (like they already do With Arbitrations)

If you add Umbra Forma as a reward that will change.... those players will die... then they will complain Blah Blah.... you know the rest.... 

I want more Umbra Forma too but the steel path is not a good place for it.... not even as a Blueprint.

31 minutes ago, RevanZim said:

Stance Forma can stay, sure, but I think only Umbra Forma feels rewarding and appropriate for playing the "hardest" missions in the game. I don't care how high the cost has to be, just add another consistent way of getting it other than Nightwave please. This seems the most appropriate place for me.

Just to be clear.... these actually are good points.... its just that the way this game is designed doesnt make this sort of thing fair.

15 minutes ago, thederpamon said:

Hello, DE! Here is my first bit of feedback.

In my honest opinion, the only rewards for gathering Steel Essence being an armor set, some Kuva, and Stance Forma BPs is rather boring from an incentivization stance, and will quickly lose its luster once people have what they need

Hey they did it for Defection, Infested Salvage, Railjack and Granuum Void. Why not do it for Steel Path too 😛

17 minutes ago, thederpamon said:

 

I think you should add even more options to the Steel Shop, maybe some rare mods? Arcanes? Vaulted Prime relics? Maybe even a new weapon or two! Please, just give us more fun, gameplay-desirable things to grind for!

Becareful what you wish for....

16 minutes ago, sirz_benjie said:

Those statements indicate that an infinite combo meter somehow affects damage output.  It doesn't.  The xoris change was quality of life and they mention that nowhere in the post.  They refuse to address other, more pressing issues regarding its power with other weapons, i.e. jaw sword and riven.  I'm not being disingenuous, the description of these changes is.

Dont argue with Jarriaga.... Hes too focused on technicalities to see the actual big picture.... in any case we are back to having no Consistency. Im sure hes very happy.

4 minutes ago, Xenophil said:

Remove armor scaling with levels
Or rework armor to be an another layer of health, same as corpus has shields (but without %damage reduction)

Absolutely no Enemy in this game should have Damage Reduction for any reason....

Its the only thing we cant mod for....

 

[sirz_benjie]

19 minutes ago, Jarriaga said:

"They haven't explained themselves"

They haven't.  I don't care about the change, I don't like the way that DE approached it.  I don't like how they have been mishandling the community response to such things with silence -- in a post that should be about community engagement.

[RevanZim]

3 minutes ago, ShiruBiru said:

we alread get 1-2 umbra formas/year wich is more than enougth. It need to give more kuva, something between kuva disruption and kuva survival and keep arbies on top.

"More than enough" is a very subjective thing. Maybe more than enough for you, but personally I have at least 5 warframes waiting for an Umbra Forma while I only have two that I currently own (already got the current Nightwave one). And that's not factoring in melee weapons, of which the Xoris for example very much deserved one until the news of the nerf came.

[Gabbynaru]

Are the enemy spawns for the level active? Cause I played Eden Prime and there were no enemies, I had to search for them. Level 40 Oceanum on Pluto has way more enemies than level 103 Eden Prime, so what the heck's that all about? The only reason I wanted to play this mode was for the increased number of spawns, but if they still have the level 1 spawn numbers, what the heck's the point? I may as well go back to Pluto.

Please fix!

EDIT: Oh, by the way, Steel Path doesn't apparently apply to Nightmare missions. Fix that too.

Spoiler

 

[phoenix1992]

Update: Operator mode trivializes the content, as expected.

[Orakan]

Players should have rewarded with 2 Umbral Formas if they have complete whole star chart in Steel path. After all people get the umbral formas much easier in the begining of the empyrean update (farming rare caches on sentient murex ships) . Players who have completed Steel Path should be worthy this kind of reward

[LoopStricken]

This bullheaded and unwarranted Xoris change has already had some of my clan members quit the game over the direction they perceive DE is taking the game. DE, I implore you to consider; infinite combo counter is not the source of the high damage, and it's disingenuous and disrepectful to suggest otherwise.

[Kingdom_key599]

So far not impressed at all with the potential rewards... theres very little to no incentive to even do the mode... an armor set with Kuva is i understand... stance forma is... okay at best (i still question why stance forma exists still) but other then that it seems like these are rather minuscule when looking at feedback currently present in this thread. I do agree that we do need another place for Umbral forma, but not in the store, we need incentive for farming the forma so having it in a drop table somewhere on the star chart or even as a reward for defeating a specter would be great as well. but we actually have to work with it the problem with this is that the drop rate for this CANNOT be lower the 2% otherwise it is not worth it as explained in previous content with ridiculously drop rates for ephemreas back in the day.  

[RevanZim]

4 minutes ago, Lutesque said:

Looking at the Rewards it seems like its not worth it for new players to bum rush through content to reach the Steel Path (like they already do With Arbitrations)

If you add Umbra Forma as a reward that will change.... those players will die... then they will complain Blah Blah.... you know the rest.... 

I want more Umbra Forma too but the steel path is not a good place for it.... not even as a Blueprint.

Just to be clear.... these actually are good points.... its just that the way this game is designed doesnt make this sort of thing fair.

I don't think new players bumrushing is a thing you can easily fix, nor should you thus balance around it. Arbitration rewards are exclusive to Arbitrations and the Arbiter store, Umbra Forma is also offered in Nightwave. And new players will have to at least complete the entire star chart to unlock "The Steel Path", which will take some time at least. In that time, they will probably already get one, maybe even two Umbra Forma from Nightwave, hopefully reducing the incentive to rush.

I believe you, when you say, that you think the Steel Path is not a good place for Umbra Forma, but be honest: where is a good place otherwise? Everything fits.

I know Umbra Forma is a delicate resource and should be handled with care, but like I said before: if not here, where else?

[LSG501]

Got to be honest...I don't honestly see a reason to do steel path and even if I do end up doing it I really hope I don't 'need' to do tridolons to 'clear' earth, I don't enjoy them on normal levels due to all the visual junk going on.

Bigger issues for me though is rewards.... this is aimed at 'high level players' and lets be honest we don't really need resources and we don't need the increased mod drops (most of us will have got all the mods already).  I don't personally care about the mr and the planet rewards look lazy imo, the scarlet spear one looks far better.  Then we have the rewards from teshin himself which are incredibly lacklustre... at the very least you could have added in, well, something (outside the armor) we can't get elsewhere for a lot less 'effort'

Then there is the issue with the male operator suit being really poorly designed compared with the female one.  The female suit is just so much better looking with all it's 'frilly bits'.

[Shadedraxe]

I would love a way to get umbral forma outside of nightwave. It was already taken out of railjack. Could we get umbral forma’s in steel path? Pretty please!

if not umbral forma, then how about new arcanes. The current rewards feel very lackluster.

[Lutesque]

Just now, RevanZim said:

I don't think new players bumrushing is a thing you can easily fix, nor should you thus balance around it. Arbitration rewards are exclusive to Arbitrations and the Arbiter store, Umbra Forma is also offered in Nightwave. And new players will have to at least complete the entire star chart to unlock "The Steel Path", which will take some time at least. In that time, they will probably already get one, maybe even two Umbra Forma from Nightwave, hopefully reducing the incentive to rush.

Maybe... Maybe not....

All i know is DE is always pissing off their long time players so it would be pretty dumb if they started Aggravating new players too by denying them Umbra Forma. DE needs new players to replace the old ones that leave....

And completing the star chart doesnt take as long as you think it does.... remember Taxying is a thing and the i myself know i can start a new account right now and clear the Star Chart before i reach which ever rank of Night Wave had the Forma.... infact.... i already did that last year.... sort of.... i had a head start because Intermission hadnt started yet.

7 minutes ago, RevanZim said:

 

I believe you, when you say, that you think the Steel Path is not a good place for Umbra Forma, but be honest: where is a good place otherwise? Everything fits

I vote we put in the market for 20 Platinum 😛

 

[phoenix1992]

Why is almost everyone talking about the rewards and not about the gameplay?

I mean, sure the rewards are important but they are the after effect, what about the core loop?

I am couple of missions in and it feels like "bring your Mesa day", since the things are just eating bullets and my time.