Please add Steel Path Arbitrations to the game

[Jarriaga]

Hi DE.

Now that MR30 is here and many players are starting to peak with no goals available to them, I think the next logical step towards content aimed at those who want content that is more-appropriate for the tools they likely have at their disposal (3+ forma per item builds, 2x max level arcanes, Helminth, rolling guard, etc. all at once) would be Steel Path Arbitrations, unlocked after clearing the entire Steel Path star chart.

Steel Path Arbitrations would contain both sets of rules from Steel Path and Arbitrations, meaning:

- HP/Armor/Shield enemy modifiers of Steel Path.

- Enemies start a level 160-180 from the get-go (60-80 standard Arbitration level + 100 Steel Path modifier)

- Steel Path enemy spawn rate.

- Eximus units have a chance to drop a Riven Sliver, as in Steel Path. 

- An Acolyte spawns every 3-7 minutes as in Steel Path and drops Steel Essence as expected.

- Items have a cooldown, as in Steel Path.

- Arbitration mission objective and rotation length modifiers.

- Arbitration shield drones spawn and work as in standard Arbitration missions protecting other enemy units from abilities and damage. They drop Vitus Essence as in normal Arbitrations, but boosted by the Steel Path drop chance modifier.  

- As in Arbitrations, if you die, you can't respawn on your own. Can't be revived without the Resurgence Tokens, which still affect your teammates as expected.

- Altered Arbitration reward pool with radiant vaulted relics replacing the arcanes or some mods. If this is not financially feasible due to Prime Vault sales then standard/current radiant relics will do. No new rewards unless they are not "one and done" offerings. Throw in Kuva, 3x Steel Essence packs or Riven Slivers in there instead of Endo as well.

- Unique change: The WF and weapon bonus is given to 10 different items: 4 WF's, 2 Primaries, 2 Secondaries, and 2 Archguns in order to encourage experimentation.

- Unique change: While an Acolyte is alive, a damage type or damage resistance Sortie modifier is applied to other enemies, including Arbitration drones (If any). This gives Acolytes and Arbitration drones distinctive roles as enemy offence and enemy defense respectively.

- Unique change: 4 mission types active within the single hour rotation instead of just 1, each with their own frame/weapon bonusses. If you start one and have to leave early or fail, you can still choose the other 3 before the rotation ends.

The point of Steel Path Arbitrations would be to function as a stepping stone or test playground towards making content aimed at the power levels and playstyle of those who have completed TSP while throwing a curve ball in the form of Arbitration rules so you can't just Khora your way around with little to no opposition because Arbitration rules are a lot more challenging than TSP enemy levels. A mix of both reduces player complacency because cheese strategies are countered by the Acolytes, the Arbitration Drones, or both at once if players are not careful.

In addition, the revised reward pool offering Radiant Relics, Kuva, Riven Slivers, Vitus Essence and Steel Essence at once would make this an ideal place to incentivize late-game players to participate by virtue of being able to obtain several highly-valued consumables at once on top of being more appropriately-challenge for the level of their gear. This is a lot more sustainable than just a new mod that will lose value for yourself if you get a second copy you can't sell.

Plus, this would be pretty much recycled content, which would mean that it would not need too many development resources other than for the small unique changes.

Thanks.

[Famecans]

I support, missions fissure/arbitrations/plains makes these maps popular

[Kaggelos]

#*!%. YES!

Where do I sign!?

[Xikto]

As you are on it, also add SP fissures, SP kuva siphons/floods, SP kuva lich missions and also make it so all Daily SP Incursions have guranteed accolyte spawn with increased difficulty.

also mix as many of the different variations of a mission together as possible. having Invasions/fissures/SP/lich missions and such all separated and on their own islands is heartbreaking.

[(NSW)Gamma83]

acolyte + permanent death (if solo) combo seems a bit harsh but hey why not , i mean it could make them an actual threat.

Because currently even if one's would die to them in regular SP, they would say "meh i can still revive 6 time".
Now players might actually try to fight them differently than simply face tank them as you have to avoid death at all cost in arbitration, especially solo.

[(PSN)thegarada]

While would be nice, I do not think this is doable, specifically cuz of rewards. It needs good rewards, but that would not work for DE. Good rewards equal less grind.

[Devil_Zeldris]

And review Steel Path's rewards. 
3 x Relics or 3 x Radiant Relics every 1 round on Disruption/Inteception/Defense/Survival
I think, need to increase drop by 3x 
Example: Tamu (Kuva Fortress): A rot = 300 kuva, B rot = 750 kuva, C rot = 1200 kuva or 3 x Universal Medallions. 
Or Excavation on Hieracon: 1200 Endo instead of 400 Endo with 25% chance

[fo3nixz]

ps: not meant as hijack but when steelpath fissures

[RenzorTheRed]

Steel Path Arbi would be neat.

 

Wouldn't Steel Path Relic missions be cool too? What if everyone going into a Steel Path Relic mission could choose two relics, so that there were double the choices when the mission turned over?

[CrimsonSpawn]

What if the drones gave you a buff, when you destroyed them, like increased reload speed, life steal, CC, affinity, etc.

Creds to @Wawus for giving the idea

[Wawus]

I like the idea, although I have my few "buts":

1. Arbitration limit to 1 per hour forces commitment to the mission and discourages people who would usually go for usual 5 waves per public matchmaking.

If we leave 3 options available it would be important to consider longer cooldowns for refreshing missions, between 2-4h Mark to keep consistency with player engagement and properly balance risk-reward ratio.

2. The random damage for weapon buff is standing directly against purpose of Steel Path. Instead of straight damage buff I would reconsider adding unusual buff system per weapon category (vide +multishot, +lifesteal etc) but to tie it directly with a gameplay it could be an unlockable bonus vide @CrimsonSpawnidea, where displayed bonuses would be unlocked and refreshed upon destroying an arbitration drone. This accomplishes requirement of player engagement as well as encourages heavier involvement and promotes local, in-squad competition to unlock these bonuses.

3. Offering Radiant Relics, Kuva, Riven Slivers, Vitus Essence and Steel Essence would very likely need additional implementation of proper resource sinks for said resources. As of today, we still don't have reliable system to utilise large amounts of Riven Slivers and both SE and VE would need some sort of evergreen rewards that are beyond casual rotation available at vendors.

Other than that, I love the idea and that could be something that might revitalise late game gameplay.

[p_silveira]

While we're at it, could as well add "Steel Path Sorties" with better rewards / drop rates.

[2wentyThre3]

Sounds great. +1

[Joezone619]

And:
-SP Fissures
-SP Railjack
-SP Sorties
-SP Siphons
-SP Syndicates

Seriously, this should be a mode/modifier that can be added to any mission.

[mikakor]

On 2021-02-18 at 10:18 AM, Jarriaga said:

- Arbitration mission objective and rotation length modifiers.

yes to everything, except THAT one. THAT S#&$. because #*!% going to a 10 wave defense before obtaining even just a single reward. the increase length opf the mission in arbitration never felt good. 

[Jarriaga]

48 minutes ago, mikakor said:

yes to everything, except THAT one. THAT S#&$. because #*!% going to a 10 wave defense before obtaining even just a single reward. the increase length opf the mission in arbitration never felt good. 

Any proposal for increasing the chances of a failed mission other than player death?

[mikakor]

12 hours ago, Jarriaga said:

Any proposal for increasing the chances of a failed mission other than player death?

no, it should just be that. the death of a player, and enemies hitting stronger. making the missions go longer doesn't increase the chance of failures. it increase boredom before the next dopamine injection, that's it. steelpath nor arbitration never felt that hard with a good build, so why throttling the reward rate? it's never been a good idea and they shouldn't ever have put this into arbitration. 10 wave defense? 10 minutes survival? all everytime for a single reward? NO. THANK. YOU. 

it was a bad decision. 

[Jarriaga]

17 minutes ago, mikakor said:

no, it should just be that. the death of a player, and enemies hitting stronger. making the missions go longer doesn't increase the chance of failures. it increase boredom before the next dopamine injection, that's it. steelpath nor arbitration never felt that hard with a good build, so why throttling the reward rate? it's never been a good idea and they shouldn't ever have put this into arbitration. 10 wave defense? 10 minutes survival? all everytime for a single reward? NO. THANK. YOU. 

it was a bad decision. 

I don't agree. I am more likely to fail an Arbitration due to mission length/lack of life support than player death because at this stage we are nearly unkillable. "Boredom" due to lack of dopamine is an individual/player problem rather than a design fault in my opinion.

[mikakor]

On 2022-01-27 at 6:31 AM, Jarriaga said:

I don't agree. I am more likely to fail an Arbitration due to mission length/lack of life support than player death because at this stage we are nearly unkillable. "Boredom" due to lack of dopamine is an individual/player problem rather than a design fault in my opinion.

it IS a design fault tho. if you don't make your effort/reward cycle exciting, it's a bad thing. second, mission duration is in no way a way to make failure more possible. you need to "#*!% up" to fail a mission. i never failed an arbitration once yet, at least nothing that comes to mind. when things gets dire, we just evac, and that's it. it's not adding difficulty, it's just making it more boring.  or yet, here's a solution. keep the "possible evacuation checkpoints" at the forma of arbitration, BUT, keep the REWARD rotation of the normal missions. so by the time you get the chance to evac, you still have 2 rewards at it should, one per 5 minutes/defense wave, but the mission can still fail because it has the timer of arbitration. and hey, since it's "STEEL PATH arbitration" , we should have more reward anyway. 

how's that? we both get what we want. more reward for me, more difficulty for you, even if i don't agree that this correlate to a bigger difficulty. happy? ^^ 

[DrivaMain]

Yes to all of that, but NO to meaningful rewards. Steel Path's original intention is that the reward is the higher difficulty gameplay, not the end reward. If it's meaningful, you will pull the challenge-phobic casuals in, and then what happens? They'll whine to make it "easier" and then DE immediately cave in.

[mikakor]

26 minutes ago, DrivaMain said:

Yes to all of that, but NO to meaningful rewards. Steel Path's original intention is that the reward is the higher difficulty gameplay, not the end reward. If it's meaningful, you will pull the challenge-phobic casuals in, and then what happens? They'll whine to make it "easier" and then DE immediately cave in.

we have seen that hard for the sake of hard is not a good idea in warframe. if players have no reasons to do it, then they won't. and it'll be a dead mode. congrats, you ruined a gamemode before it even comes. it serves "NO POINT" , and as such, nobody uses it. you never find anyone to run with. and it's useless. 

nice. 

"the reward is the challenge' applies for a LOT of game. Hollow Knight. Dark souls. DOOM. Warframe is NOT a game for challenge. it's a game for reward, even if you don't like it. it's the case, and it'll always be. making it have good rewards is not a bad thing, it'll motivate the *weaklings* to get better.  but the history of the game has shown time and time again that for a gamemode to be SUCCESSFULL, it needs reward. it's just a reality. it needs reward that people will always need to go back to. formas, endos, kuva, and so on. things that are always in need. like that, the gamemode is populated forever.