Steel Path has an interesting difficulty

[JackHargreav]

I was stubborn and wanted to complete the entire starchart with one frame, solo.

Thing is, my chosen warframe was Protea. Who's only defense is shields, mobility and Cc.

Now in solo some of the missions were straight up unplayable nightmares. Others were piss easy. Like a Mobile defense against ship-corpus was almost impossible for me but a Hijack mission against Grineer was really really easy.

And that's what I mean when I say the difficulty is weird. It changes so much per mission and faction.

Which is probably due to how the game wasn't ever balanced with a hard mod in mind. The orignial Grineer, Corpus and the infested all were easy to manage.

But new units were waaay to accurate, powerfull and they might spawned in greater numbers even. Like the Vapos and Juno corpus units. These guys unlike the vanilla corpus are extremely deadly in comparison.

And the inconsistent difficulty problem doesn't end there because you have solo and co-op. And I dare to say, playing in public made the entire Steel Path a cake walk. Regardless of what frames we had in our groups we had an easy time completing any mission. It was like playing the normal missions as long as we stayed somewhat close to eachother.

But anyways feel free tell me how you experienced steel path.

(Btw I have no problem with the rewards. A bit better dropchance would be nice for steel essence tho and I will barely touch this mode now that I'm done.)

2021 edit:

More or less I find some of these still true. But I should add that some changes to my strategy made it possible to complete about 99% of the SP content with just one frame.

If you have all warframes obviously you can solo all the content. 100%

Currently my biggest problem is the Corpus ship tile missions. Well actually it's just the defense missions really. Mostly due to the Comba units that DE is lazy to fix. Once one of them uses it's S#&$ty powers you have absolutely no choice but to kill every single enemy that was within the range of it's S#&$ty ability.

If you're using a frame like Mesa this might not be a big problem. For obvious reasons. But if your frame relies on anything else than nuking pay attention to those units ALWAYS.

[Traumtulpe]

10 minutes ago, JackHargreav said:

But anyways feel free tell me how you experienced steel path.

Apart from very rare exceptions (Sentients), Steel Path just feels like a Sortie that includes the entire map and has no rewards. Sorties stopped being interesting quite a while back, nowadays I just run through as fast as possible, if I do them at all.

[Infirito]

Game was never balanced around playing through it with a single frame either, I'd assume. If you don't use right tool for the job, don't be surprised that some missions are way harder than they can be.

[KosmicKerman]

The quality of public squads will vary the longer Steel Path is out. I was mostly matched with MR28 or MR29 squad mates. As newer players start doing Steel Path, you may end spending a bunch of time ressing teammates. I also feel sorry those trying out Steel Path several months from now. While I cleared multiple Interception missions solo, that is the one mission type where there is a major difference between solo and co-op. It's going to be rough for many players when the Steel Path missions are much less populated than they are now. Even now I see people struggling with interceptions, I joined a couple of Interception missions in progress where the player was struggling to keep one point clear.

[JackHargreav]

4 minutes ago, Infirito said:

Game was never balanced around playing through it with a single frame either, I'd assume. If you don't use right tool for the job, don't be surprised that some missions are way harder than they can be.

Yeah for some missions I ended up using other frames. But I mostly achieved what I wanted.

[JackHargreav]

5 minutes ago, KosmicKerman said:

The quality of public squads will vary the longer Steel Path is out. I was mostly matched with MR28 or MR29 squad mates. As newer players start doing Steel Path, you may end spending a bunch of time ressing teammates. I also feel sorry those trying out Steel Path several months from now. While I cleared multiple Interception missions solo, that is the one mission type where there is a major difference between solo and co-op. It's going to be rough for many players when the Steel Path missions are much less populated than they are now. Even now I see people struggling with interceptions, I joined a couple of Interception missions in progress where the player was struggling to keep one point clear.

With interception I ended up using Vauban. And wow is he a great cc frame. No enemy came even close to claim any of the towers.

But those who don't have him will probably have a hard time.

[JackHargreav]

12 minutes ago, Traumtulpe said:

Apart from very rare exceptions (Sentients), Steel Path just feels like a Sortie that includes the entire map and has no rewards. Sorties stopped being interesting quite a while back, nowadays I just run through as fast as possible, if I do them at all.

Thing is, what kind of rewards could they add?

We can already get everything from anything else and most of the player base is just casuals like me. Giving exclusive rewards to hard mode would probably piss of way too many people.

And even then whatever new rewards would get added still no one would be satisfied.

[6KIRA9]

a toothbrush is only meant to brush your teeth, not the floor,

a broom is only meant to brush the floor, not your teeth..

 

it's hard to find a warframe that is suitable for all missions solo.. and even if you find one (Loki Master Race :D), you can't do it with a single build !!

[(PSN)Hopper_Orouk]

12 minutes ago, JackHargreav said:

And even then whatever new rewards would get added still no one would be satisfied.

i'd be satisfied with crafted forma

i mean,

nightwave gives us crafted potatoes 

14 minutes ago, JackHargreav said:

We can already get everything from anything else and most of the player base is just casuals like me. Giving exclusive rewards to hard mode would probably piss of way too many people.

you mean players who are just starting out? or players who can't play the update?

[Veridian]

I'm done up till mars so far, but I did derelict and fortress to get them out of the way.

The only thing which stuck were the sentient in lua mobile defense, which block progress. Damn, even with 1 team mate constatly removing resistances it must have taken a few minutes to bring them down.

 

[Graavarg]

Well, I find the Steel Path refreshing. It actually reminds me of how it was in the beginning, a long time ago. I also think the balance settings are pretty ok, once you get over that you actually suddenly have to hit/shoot enemies more than once 😀. Still, if you have all the warframes & weapons and know them and the game, nothing is too bad. However, if you've blown through the normal starmap using a favourite warframe and one meta-weapon, you will be in trouble (unless you team up). And that is how it should be, in be opinion.

The enemy level encourages you to change warframes (and weapons/damage) between missions, especially when soloing, which is really nice. And some of the boss fights are refreshing, as an example we had to drop ammo pizzas on Oro (Vay Hek) at the last stage (just like a long, long time ago 🙂), luckily one of us had them equipped in the wheel. That put a real smile on our faces.

Anyone doing it for the drops need their head examined, unlocking the starmap again against 100+ enemies is just as insane as Teshin makes it sound. But then again, the same could be said for playing any game. And it surely isn't "end game" either (as DE has made eminently clear). And since it isn't for the drops (farming) and isn't the fabled "end game", the only reason to do it is for honor (or something), and that something exists only between your ears. I like that, it is my kind of insanity. Haven't tried the Steel eidolons yet, have to get my trid team together (it's summer, if someone hasn't noticed).

At times I was thinking, what if DE adds another level, and adds a starting level of 200+ and 5X to armor, health and shields? 

[JackHargreav]

On 2020-07-14 at 6:06 PM, 6KIRA9 said:

a toothbrush is only meant to brush your teeth, not the floor,

a broom is only meant to brush the floor, not your teeth..

 

it's hard to find a warframe that is suitable for all missions solo.. and even if you find one (Loki Master Race :D), you can't do it with a single build !!

Yeah. But I have a bit weird mindset. I always test every frame on every mission, enemy type and on every level.

If there's a frame that can do well enough. I use that frame 99% of the time.

This probably comes from the time when I was just a new player and I was stuck with two frames. 

Using more than one frame leaves a bad taste in mouth and the same goes for the Operator. I only ever use the Operator when there's absolutely no way to save myself. Or with frames that eat way too much energy.

[JackHargreav]

26 minutes ago, (PS4)Hopper_Orouk said:

i'd be satisfied with crafted forma

i mean,

nightwave gives us crafted potatoes 

you mean players who are just starting out? or players who can't play the update?

Well forma is fair enough.

And I'm talking more about players who can't play yet I guess. Thing is steel path doesn't offer anything else than what you can get from other sources.

Relics are there on the plains, on vallis, you can get them from syndicates. Kuva is there on the kuva siphon missions and you can get them from nw (It's even easier to get it from there) and a little bit from Liches.

The only thing you can't get anywhere else is the Dax armor, and the stance forma I don't even know where can be found. Sorties maybe? But who would use that anyways?

[6KIRA9]

il y a une heure, JackHargreav a dit :

Yeah. But I have a bit weird mindset. I always test every frame on every mission, enemy type and on every level.

If there's a frame that can do well enough. I use that frame 99% of the time.

This probably comes from the time when I was just a new player and I was stuck with two frames. 

Ueing more than one frame leaves a bad taste in mouth and the same goes for the Operator. I only ever use the Operator when there's absolutely no way to save myself. Or with frames that eat way too much energy.

in this case you need to cover the weaknesses of the warframe with your weapons, i've never used Protea so i can't give you any tips/ideas.

[JackHargreav]

1 minute ago, 6KIRA9 said:

in this case you need to cover the weaknesses of the warframe with your weapons, i've never used Protea so i can't give you any tips/ideas.

Just need aoe weapons with some cc aspects. I used the kuva Nukor and the Arca plasmor.

And Sigma & Octantis for really heavy units.

[(PSN)Wil_Shatner_face]

1 hour ago, JackHargreav said:

Thing is, what kind of rewards could they add?

We can already get everything from anything else and most of the player base is just casuals like me. Giving exclusive rewards to hard mode would probably piss of way too many people.

And even then whatever new rewards would get added still no one would be satisfied.

I think they should just make it another way to get potatoes and make the efficiency comparable to nightwave. That way nobody is forced into the harder content that doesn’t want to play it, and those that have more fun fighting high level enemies can start ignoring nightwsve after rank 30 and just get their potatoes through steel path instead.

I’m sure there are problems with this suggestion that others will point out but it seems reasonable to me after thinking about it for ~30 seconds.

[KosmicKerman]

1 hour ago, JackHargreav said:

With interception I ended up using Vauban. And wow is he a great cc frame. No enemy came even close to claim any of the towers.

But those who don't have him will probably have a hard time.

Interesting. I didn't think to try him.  I used Khora and Nova. 

[JackHargreav]

2 minutes ago, KosmicKerman said:

Interesting. I didn't think to try him.  I used Khora and Nova. 

Khora might have been better because she has a bit more defense with more health and healing.

[Qetali]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who tried this. I completed it all with Banshee! I know people like to change frames, but for me I enjoy the challenge of using one character in a game to try and beat everything solo. It definitely helped me learn how to manage Banshee so much better.

[-CdG-Zilchy]

I used a Nova and Kronen prime for pretty much every mission, I alternated between Slowva for Interception and Speedva for everything else. For Survival I swapped to a Nekros for life support drops and for Bosses I used either Banshee or Nyx with a Gunblade. Oh and Volt for Ropalolyst only. Didn't have any real problems, mainly swapped out my primary slot for a miter or rubico prime depending on if I needed damage or utility. I think provided you adapt to each mission with your loadout choices and not necessarily your frame, then Steel Path is very easy. I personally wish it was more challenging but not via time to kill per target, just more interesting with enemies that can actually kill you to provide a threat.

[Monolake]

of course there is no difficulty change when you dont have to fight and just do the objective duh

[-CdG-Zilchy]

On 2020-07-15 at 2:09 AM, Ver1dian said:

I'm done up till mars so far, but I did derelict and fortress to get them out of the way.

The only thing which stuck were the sentient in lua mobile defense, which block progress. Damn, even with 1 team mate constatly removing resistances it must have taken a few minutes to bring them down.

 

Revenant can kill them in 3 Reaves, or you just bring a corrosive damage Paracesis or Exodia Contagion. All 3 methods will decimate them.

Edit: nvm somebody necro'd this thread, ignore.

[killerJoke66]

On 2020-07-14 at 6:21 PM, JackHargreav said:

 

But new units were waaay to accurate

Wrong , grineer are almost all carry hitscan weapons with aimbotting , only dodging kiiinda lessens their accuracy as in coding or else , try solo peaking 1 milimeters into any unit behind a cover like a room door and youll notice only certain units miss and other will always hit you , and also all the ancient's grappling hook attack is 100% dead accuracy whether or not if its succeeds on the damaging part , the other status effects and all that statchecks you 100% with ancient disruptor energy drain on any attack aura and all that schmuck.

Just  a heads up.

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

They have this thing called the Helminth. 

They have this thing called silence, or shooting Gallery. With a little range you can prevent those enemies from shooting at you.

They also have thing called an Operator. Its void dash is a great CC because it knocks enemies down in a conal AoE. If you have a Klamora prism it's great for nullifier bubbles as well.

[JackHargreav]

Just now, (PSN)Madurai-Prime said:

They have this thing called the Helminth. 

They have this thing called silence, or shooting Gallery. With a little range you can prevent those enemies from shooting at you.

They also have thing called an Operator. Its void dash is a great CC because it knocks enemies down in a conal AoE. If you have a Klamora prism it's great for nullifier bubbles as well.

If this was directed to me, I posted this months ago. Like this post was made in july but someone necrod it.

Nowadays I play the game mode often just for fun.