Suggestion: Unbound loadout slots.

[(XBOX)TehChubbyDugan]

Obviously weapons are classified by type, with some using rifle mods (even if they're bows or launchers.) some using shotgun mods, pistol mods, and melee mods.  I'm not asking for that to change.

What about having loadout slots not be bound to type though?  What if you could equip 3 melee weapons, or 2 different primaries and a secondary, or any combination of them?  I don't see balance as an issue here.  Guns are not in a place where even a slight bit of power creep would put them on par with melee/nuke frames, and having more than one melee weapon in your loadout does not seem like power creep to me considering you're losing out on nearly all ranged options (aside from some really short range stuff.) and you can still only use one at a time.  Even having all the strongest guns equipped at the same time doesn't really sound like power creep to me considering many of them would be redundant with each other, you could still only use one at a time, and you'd be giving up the strengths of having a melee on combined with having to prepare for ammo issues with that many guns equipped.

The only obstacles I see are coding/programming issues, DE being unwilling to budge because of some "vision" they have about the game (like with them refusing to put univac in.) and this violating that vision, and there being a general lack of interest in this as a feature.

It's just something I think would be pretty interesting and would increase build diversity.

[fr4gb4ll]

though i never figured out why DE did this restriction in the first place, i'm sure they did have (or had) their reasons. it can't be any fear of powercreep though since there are powerfull weapons in all categories already - something i guess wasn't the case right at the games begininng. me too would like to have the option of choosing 3 kinds of weapons of my own choice, no matter of which catrgory they might be - mostly for functionallity and not for raw power (for that, i usually only need one weapon only or just an ability).

[Kefirno]

That would be great. We already have most powerful guns in melee slot and pea-shooters in heavy weapon slot. If DE are incapable of balancing anything or giving weapons properly defined roles then it's better to just embrace the chaos and let players enjoy the variety.

[Birdframe_Prime]

I put this down to DE's speciality: Spaghetti Coding!

It's likely the very same reason that the Dark Split Sword doesn't actually work as originally advertised (being able to split apart and use the stance for either dual swords or a heavy blade). DE's spa-codey means that the weapon would count as two separate melee weapons in the mission and their engine can't load in the necessary dual status of your melee weapon in that instance.

Similarly DE's decision to move Arch Guns onto their own inventory item rather than their original plan of having your Secondary slot disabled for the mission if you equipped an Arch Gun in your Primary gear slot. Spa-codey won't let them classify an Arch Gun as a weapon capable of being used in Archwing and also as a Primary weapon. It has to be custom equipped in mission, not before.

And so comes the lovely part about your suggestion; putting the other weapons into the other slots. Spa-codey says that no matter what you're trying to attempt, even though the slot on the UI is called Primary, the actual coding for what the game loads is already just 'slot A, slot B and slot C' each with its own particular programming.

So according to the spa-codey, it could be something as stupid as 'in order to put any secondary weapon in the primary slot, all secondary weapons must also be coded as primary weapons.' which leads to 'since all secondary weapons are also coded as primary weapons, they are now eligible for primary mods.' and then you have to domino that problem all the way down to the end of the line.

It could be any number of things like that ^^

The Evolution Engine is spa-codey from one end to the other at this point, the only way DE is fixing the engine... is with Warframe 2.

[Electropuncher]

1 hour ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

I put this down to DE's speciality: Spaghetti Coding!

It's likely the very same reason that the Dark Split Sword doesn't actually work as originally advertised (being able to split apart and use the stance for either dual swords or a heavy blade). DE's spa-codey means that the weapon would count as two separate melee weapons in the mission and their engine can't load in the necessary dual status of your melee weapon in that instance.

Similarly DE's decision to move Arch Guns onto their own inventory item rather than their original plan of having your Secondary slot disabled for the mission if you equipped an Arch Gun in your Primary gear slot. Spa-codey won't let them classify an Arch Gun as a weapon capable of being used in Archwing and also as a Primary weapon. It has to be custom equipped in mission, not before.

And so comes the lovely part about your suggestion; putting the other weapons into the other slots. Spa-codey says that no matter what you're trying to attempt, even though the slot on the UI is called Primary, the actual coding for what the game loads is already just 'slot A, slot B and slot C' each with its own particular programming.

So according to the spa-codey, it could be something as stupid as 'in order to put any secondary weapon in the primary slot, all secondary weapons must also be coded as primary weapons.' which leads to 'since all secondary weapons are also coded as primary weapons, they are now eligible for primary mods.' and then you have to domino that problem all the way down to the end of the line.

It could be any number of things like that ^^

The Evolution Engine is spa-codey from one end to the other at this point, the only way DE is fixing the engine... is with Warframe 2.

I really hate how right you are with this. Technically, there's no reason for the limitation of "Primary, Secondary, Melee" other than the fact that the trend in games during 2008-2012 was "You get two guns, that's it." Warframe has a lot of what we'll charitably call "influence" from games like Halo, CoD, and Battlefield, while using a lot of what DE learned from Unreal Tournament. The movement systems in WF are really the one thing it does that's really unique, and we're otherwise playing over-the-shoulder Diablo in a sci-fantasy setting. Honestly, I'd rather just have a ranged and a melee slot, with weapons actually being split into types, because I just don't get the point of having two guns on hand and a summon for a third (that's even weaker). ...I'm gonna work on this idea, since I think I'm onto something there.

[Birdframe_Prime]

9 hours ago, (NSW)Electropuncher said:

I'd rather just have a ranged and a melee slot, with weapons actually being split into types, because I just don't get the point of having two guns on hand and a summon for a third (that's even weaker)

Take (one of the many) Mass Effect's ideas; You can always take a melee that you can customise into different classes, but weapons actually have a weight and deliver their dps based on it.

So if you want to take a Sniper, it's one of the most damaging weapons in the game, with an ammo pool to balance, but you can only take a light pistol as backup. Shotguns and Rifles are medium, so you can take one of each together if you want, but that eliminates your backup pistol and so on. You can even, if you really want, sacrifice some of the damage modding in order to put on a weight modifier mod that will allow you to equip an extra weapon when you wouldn't normally. Vice-versa you can get mods that actually increase stats at the cost of that weight and limit you further in your choices, but maybe the trade-off is worth it...

Ideas there.