System overhaul Concepts / Ideas

[chaotea]

System overhaul Concepts / Ideas

I love this game, and as such I’ve spent a lot of time on it (MR30 Whoop!). And because I love it so much, I’m highly critical of it! (Games I don’t love, I don’t invest time in caring about how it could be better). Among the various Warframe and Game-mode concepts, I’ve had some thoughts on some core system improvements to make the game more fun. Do note that I come from a position of having a lot of things, and so don’t take a stance of asking for things so I can get them easier, but do take in to account that any revision has to be fun to earn for new players, but respect the investment of long term players. I hope these concepts please both sides, and spark discussions that lead to even minor improvements to the game.

NOTE: BASICALLY EVERYTHING IS A SPOILER! DON’T READ IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS UP TO THE WAR WITHIN.

Final note before we start, incase it crops up. I’m a firm believer that while systems should be designed to discourage afk or cheating methods, this should never be more detrimental to legitimate users that it would be to others. Many such people will find a way around systems eventually, and then only the legitimate players suffer.  

Ill be using spoiler tags to keep things Tidy. For the sake of keeping your own replied tidy, try to just quote the parts your replying to, or put parts in spoilers. Thanks!

Mods

Spoiler

So my idea for the mod system overhaul is to reduce redundancies, and improve flexibility for players.

My thoughts are to convert the current mod system, which is like a big box you just check your mods into, to a more ‘sticker book’ style. When you first start the game, you have a blank ‘sticker book’, much like the current codex (referred to as the book from here on). As you scan enemies who drop mods, these mods are revealed in the book, but remain greyed out. When you first get a mod, it is permanently added to the book. When modding, you use these mods available in your book (so only 1 of each is shown). Note that most of this is functionality based and wont alter the interface were used to so far.

When you use endo to upgrade a mod, you choose the mod in your book, then upgrade it as normal. The difference to my proposal is that when you are installing this mod, you can choose in the interface what rank you want the mod to be. This will allow you to tweak the build to the capacity you have, without the need to keep multiple copies of mods at different levels of investment.

Now, the topic of mod selling / scraping and trading. In my mind, none of the mods from the book would be able to be sold or traded. Once locked in, its bound to your account. You could consider this first mod consumed to unlock the sticker. The main reason for this decision is both functionality, but also to bypass the ‘I accidentally sold my last mod’ issue. In this line of thinking, any excess mods earned would be delivered to an ‘overflow box’. These wouldn’t be able to be ranked (ideally endo could be allowed for trade to offset the buy / sell impact here) and so would stack cleanly, allowing users to scrap them for endo quickly and cleanly.

While not a complete overhaul, I think it’s a viable upgrade to the existing system that would be worth the investment. Especially as it might otherwise smooth the mod system for new players. However due to the complexity of Rivens, they would need to be excluded from this system (Though the change to alterable mod rank would be a welcome addition).

 

Rivens

Spoiler

My idea for Rivens is multi pointed, aiming at reducing some of the RNG, while perhaps increasing the investment and trading opportunities.

 

The first and most radical change though is a simple one. It might be divisive, but bare with it.

I’d change the way Rivens are generated, so that once revealed they assign themselves to the weapon they are unlocked on. Two reasons for this. One would be to reduce the frustration on unlocking a riven for a weapon you don’t like, or don’t even have (I assume this is a thing. I’ve never really sold any weapons so I can’t really test it). The second would be to avoid the massively inflated selling price on Rivens for newly released weapons, regardless of quality, do to scarcity. It would seem better that these things be valuable due to good stats rather then difficulty to obtain (and if anyone can roll a certain weapons Riven, then better rolls become more valuable).

The rest of the changes are more radical. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the systems in Diablo 3.

Firstly, The MR of the Riven should be set at 8 minimum and 30 maximum, but should otherwise match your own MR level at point of unlocking. The MR of the Riven determines its ‘Riven Power Level’ or RPL. RPL effects the maximum stats it can have. Two revealed Rivens of the same weapon would be able to be combined via Valence Fusion, increasing the MR of the base mod to the MR of the second if higher, or by 1 if lower. (RPL would also effected by Riven disposition, though by how much would be up for debate.)

Each Rivens spawns with 4 ‘slots’ for stats. The strength of each stat is determined by the RPL (Negative stats boost positive ones, but are also effected by RPL, as shown below). Some slots can be spawned as blank slots. These ‘Blanks’ have no stat, and draw no RPL. This would improve the other stats by reducing the draw on the RPL. RPL is divided [ RPL ÷ (Slots with stats – Slots with Negative Stats) ] . So a slot with a Negative Stat provides a bonus to overall RPL division.

Now we discuss re-rolling. In my concept, im looking at putting more emphasis on rerolling. As such I’d increase the base cost for re-rolling to 3,000 Kuva, but remove the scaling price (less impactful with the changes im offering). In addition, players can re-roll individual slots, though at a cost of 2,000 Kuva (slightly cheaper, but overall more expensive). With this concept, if you rerolled a blank slot, getting a positive would decrease the power of the other slots while getting a negative would increase the other slots power.

Last part of my concept, and the one that would make the biggest change to trading. I’d look to introduce 4 new varieties of an item. The Kuva Gem. The Kuva gems can be used to remove a stat from a Riven, storing that stat for future use (Note: Due to the system described, this stat might be + x% fire damage, but wouldn’t be a set amount of damage. That is determined by the RPL of the weapon). Any slot a gem is used on becomes ‘Hollow’. Hollow Slots are considered Blank, and cannot be re-rolled. A Hollow slot requires either a Gem with a stat to be used on it or a 1 time purchase of 5,000 which will convert it into a blank slot.  Each of the 4 Gems is crafted using an Eidolon Gem or other rare game and small amounts on Kuva, probably around 500-1000. Each Gem can store attributes depending on its colour (Red – Attack modifiers, Blue – Crit or Status modifiers, Green – Ammo or reload modifiers, Yellow – Misc or utility modifiers). Once stored, the Gem can be traded. A gem can be used on a slot of choice, overwriting the existing slots contents (including Hollow slots). Gems are consumed during this process.

My aim here is to remove a lot of the more infuriating elements of the RNG from the Riven system (not including the RNG of actually getting one in the first place), while also increasing the ability to get invested into the system. From the perspective of trading, I aim with this concept to clean up the process, and hopefully get more people into the Riven trading system through Gems and Good roll trades. Seller will be rewarded for their investment into the system, over just luck. That’s my hope anyway.

 

Dojo

Spoiler

So my issue with dojos is more a conceptual one. I’ve been in a clan since clans were introduced, and while I got kicked out at one point (mostly due to a mix-up on my part) I was immediately re-instated. Still, I have seen posts describing situations were clans of several years have seen leaders get into fights and just yet everyone out of a clan, destroying all that investment. So for those people, this is for you.

My idea for the Dojo rework also contains an event. I’ll give an overview of that first. The main focus is this: I want to blow up all the dojos. Yep.

So the idea is that a Fomorian has located your clans dojo. You enter an arcwing survival, and have to hold off the enemy forces for as long as you can while your dojo is evacuated. The longer you survive the more event points you get. At the end your dojo is destroyed, and you are refunded at least 50% the value of anything destroyed (no worries, the dojo is probably cheaper now, read on) up to 100% depending on the overall clan score. Im thinking it should be balanced depending on clan type / size so that if 50% of a clan survives for 30 min you’d get 100%. Not overly hard, but an incentive none the less. After its destruction, you get a new dojo, in a new sector of space. You can re-design your dojo then, with the new futures below. (Any rooms or decorations destroyed would be considered ‘unlocked’ under the proposed system. Any research completed prior would be carried over too. Any resources in the clan vault would be preserved. The only loss would be in the value of built items).

So on to the dojos concept. I want to approach this in two ways. First, I want to make it easier / more fun to decorate dojos. Really free the imagination. Secondly, I want to make player investment into dojo mean more, even after your clan ends.

First part is this. Rooms and decorations are no longer built. Instead they are researched. Once a room or decoration has been researched, it is able to be constructed for free with no build time. Decorations would use a similar system to the orbiters own decoration system. Function rooms like Clan Halls and Reactors are now single rooms that have upgrade stations inside used to upgrade the rooms function (Clan Halls would also unlock cosmetic rooms with unlocks). This is aimed at reducing the need for those long empty corridors with nothing but reactors and such.

The second part is that, while part of a clan, every dojo research made is attributed to all members of that dojos account. When a player joins a clan, any attributed researches are made available to the clan and dojo (though not considered ‘researched’ again, and so not unlocked for those persons already in the clan). This information would be available to clan leaders and clan admins, allowing them to see the value of members (e.g. Player X hasn’t been online in 3 months. You might consider kicking him out, but he’s adding 3 researches and a room to your dojos catalogue. You may think he’s worth keeping in for the unlocks. Or, you’d prefer someone who actively participates, even at the price of unlocking these things). This also adds a nice safety net for players whose clans implode. They can start their own clans, safe in the knowledge that they wont be starting from zero. This should also encourage new players into starting clans and investing in them. If it doesn’t work out, at least you don’t loose your investment.

I have to say, of all my concepts, this one interests me the most. Its also the one I’d gain the least from.

 

Focus

Spoiler

My thoughts on a focus rework are threefold. First, to make it have a more meaningful existence outside of operators (its abit of an island in many cases at the moment). Second would be to reduce the feeling of grind, while perhaps increasing the investment needed. Third is to unify the system into a single skill tree, where you can aim to use everything instead of swapping schools to get particular buffs.

 

To kick this off, my reference image is that of Final Fantasy 10s skill tree (though maybe less messy). Image below. The idea is to have a large tree, with multiple parts. Many nodes each providing small, incremental upgrades. But these nodes would be individually easy to unlock. So rather then grinding weeks to get a bigger buff, it would be better grind shorter intervals and get more frequent unlocks, even if overall the time – buff is the same.

Ref Image

Spoiler

My idea here is that you have five ‘Focus School Zones’ or FSZ. Each FSZ contains one centre node, that of the emblem of the school. On unlocking focus after the second dream, you will unlock the corresponding node to whatever school you chose. Each FSZ is detailed and designed in different shapes, but have a similar number of nodes. Each FSZ is connected to the others, through connecting nodes to the one on either side or a central node.

While my concept also covers a new focus gathering method with new values, ill explain that after. For now ill explain the nodes. Each FSZ emblem is your starting zone. They don’t give any bonus, but do give you access to the school greeting emotes. Other than the first one, players unlock other nodes by ‘buying’ any node touching it. Unlocked emblem nodes count as bought nodes. To buy a node, you much have bought at least one node touching it. FSZs will have multiple routes interconnecting, letting players choose their path. Price will vary, being cheaper closer to each emblem node, medium priced at the boundaries between side FSZs and the outside edge of the focus skill tree, and most expensive at the centre intersection of the five FSZs. Pricing for ‘Cheaper’ areas will scale from 1-3 per node. Medium will be 4-6. Expensive will be 7-10.

Nodes will offer bonuses. Some will match existing focus abilities. Others will affect things like Warframe, weapons or other environment factors. Examples might be that a node could offer a 0.5% dodge chance, with 20 nodes in the tree (or 10 nodes, with 5 that give 1% in the medium area). There would also be ‘Gate Nodes’. These nodes would generally be abilities or large bonuses, often slitting into a large amount of new node lines, but would require double the price of nodes in that area to unlock.

Now talking about price, the numbers seem low. I feel the current system uses an inflated numerical system, that doesn’t really help anything.

My concept here is that after a weapon has been max ranked, a lens can be installed (all lenses become school-less focus lenses). With any lens equipped, the weapon will continue to earn affinity at 50% of usually affinity rate (Affinity gained by focus would be counted separately, so you could still level weapons and get focus at the same time with no demerits to either system. Though this means taking more lensed weapons wont necessarily give more focus). Each lens above Regular offers an increase to the %. Greater is a total of 60%, Eidolon is a total of 70% and Lua is a total of 80%. Once a weapon or Warframe obtains enough focus experience to ‘level up’, the player gains 1 focus point. These would be capped, both per mission (I’m thinking equal to MR level) and per day (Possibly also by MR. Maybe a multiple of MR). The higher the Focus levels gained in a match, the more focus affinity needed to get to the next one (should scale with how much enemies give as missions go on). While weapons will benefit from bonus affinity from end of games (making longer runs more rewarding) any weapon focus affinity left over is discarded after this is calculated, and new missions start over from ‘focus level1’.

If collected, Convergence orbs give a +20% focus affinity gain.

I’d also thought of a prestige system. Players could reset the focus tree once it was maxed. They would maintain school emblem nodes, but loose all unlocked nodes and focus points. They would gain a permanent, stacking buff of +100% focus affinity earned (each reset will be quicker), a increase to the daily focus point cap, and small buff to something like drop chance, affinity gain, credit drop, ect (Things affected by boosters). These boosts would be small enough that it wouldn’t make resetting the Tree feel necessary, but to anyone who wanted to would be a good bonus for their dedication.

To anyone who, like myself is currently invested in the focus system I’d offer the following proposal for a transfer to the new system. If a school is already unlocked, it will be unlocked in the new version. In addition, players would receive 1 focus point for each node on the current tree unlocked across all schools (so a node with 3 levels would give 4 tokens). These would further be multiplied by the number of schools unlocked.

Hope this is of interest to people.

 

And those are my concepts. Glad that’s off my chest!