Neglected Game Modes - What Do We Do With Them?

[FrostDragoon]

5 minutes ago, xXDeadsinxX said:

I see what you mean, but I still disagree. It’s an interesting and cool mission type that doesn’t get the attention it deserves because of being unrewarding (and that it’s not on other planets for more variety). It should still be more rewarding as it currently stands even if it’s just a certain amount of Kuva at the very bare minimum.

It's actually one of the most team-oriented mission types in the game. I think that should be promoted and rewarded.

[xXDeadsinxX]

1 minute ago, FrostDragoon said:

It's actually one of the most team-oriented mission types in the game. I think that should be promoted and rewarded.

Team oriented mission types surely are lacking within the game.

[CalamitousPrime]

12 hours ago, FrostDragoon said:

I was reading through a few other threads that mention specific missions and rewards tables, how hard it can be to get squads for some of them, why people don't like them, etc. I've thought about this a bit. What would it take for players to want to do these? Is it purely the mechanics of the mission? Or is it purely that of rewards (or lack of)? I'm sure it's somewhere between the two if we're being realistic.

On a personal note,

  Reveal hidden contents

I hate some of the weirder modes and it seems I'm with the vast majority on that.

• Defection
• Infested Salvage
• Pursuit (Archwing)
• Orphix
• Volatile
• Rush (especially after Itzal nerf)
• Assault (Kuva Fort)

Then there's a couple I like, but nobody plays.

• Hive
• Hijack

 

 

 

What if they separated rotational reward tables based on a new mission classification? Some of them would probably keep existing tier tables, especially among the regular star chart missions. Some would need brand new tables that are more rewarding in various ways. I've sorted them based on a combination of how easy they are to do Solo/Party, popularity, complexity, etc.

Basic:

• Exterminate
• Capture
• Spy/Rescue, regular tile sets
• Defense
• Survival
• Sabotage
• Mobile Defense
• Skirmish
• Excavation

Intermediate:

• Interception
• Pursuit
• Spy/Rescue Kuva
• Rush
• Pursuit
• Volatile
• Hijack
• Hive

Advanced:

• Assault
• Defection
• Orphix
• Disruption
• Infested Salvage
• Spy/Rescue, LUA

Assassination works independently, so it wouldn't fall into these. Same with Elite/Sanctuary Onslaught and Arbitration.

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As for rewards...

Basic: Largely unchanged. They are mostly fine how they are. However, some of the specific frame parts that come from some of these missions probably could be adjusted a little more favorably.

Intermediate: Add rare resources (Riven Slivers, Universal Medallions, Mutagen Mass, Fieldron, Det. Injectors, basic lenses, etc) and increase the quality/quantity of some of the resources we might find in Basic missions; bump Endo rotation rewards up to 600 or so, add chunky Kuva (maybe 1000) and remove credits from the pool.

Advanced: Again, bump up the base rotation rewards of Endo (800) and Kuva (1250), drop Ayatan Sculptures, advanced lenses, rare chance for Forma and potato blueprints, Nitain Extract, etc.

On a side note, I think Assault should be given special consideration too. I would include the hidden caches in this mission and put various arcanes at various drop chances on the 3rd cache in addition to other possibilities.

These rewards are only suggestions which are very open for discussion. However, these need to be good enough that players will want to run these missions when they could otherwise run stuff like Arbitrations or Steel Path. The carrot needs to be appealing.

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I'm fully aware that there's plenty of discussion to be had about reworking some of these mission types entirely, but for the purposes of this topic, I want to assume we don't do that, and if you think this approach might do something to encourage more engagement of less played modes. Do you agree with the ordering of these modes or would you move some of them around a bit? What kinds of rewards would bring you into some of these mission types?

🍻

 

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[DemonHoundRider]

Start by adding Hive and Hijack to relic rotation.

Assault is fine. I have no problems running it if its up when cracking requiem relics.

As for the others, Pursuit and Rush are Archwing missions and I believe a big part of the problem with archwing is that there are only 4. Meanwhile there are almost 12 times the numbers of warframes to choice from to suit a player's play style. Add in the helminth system for even more customization vs. 4 archwings. Similar issue with the weapons and its not hard to see why archwing is just not fun for most.

Orphix is archwing but worst since there are only 2 mechs to choice from. Also the verticality of the tileset can make it hard to traverse which in a timed mode is not good design. The basic design of the mission I like, and if they adapted it so we could use our warframes instead, I'm in.

Volatile is a great design since it requires player agency. You have to time when to vent heat, your moving around to different vents all well dealing with adds and having to worry about and prioritize taking out the engineers when they spawn. The issue I have is it a railjack mission(same with Orphix) and the rewards for the time spent aren't....rewarding.

Defection I have no problem with. I've never encountered any major pathing issues with the crew that others have said. The only major issue was once on one map where one of the crew from group b spawned into guard rails with no way to free them. So that run we just saved 8 sets, failed to get the systems and extracted. 

 

 

[FrostDragoon]

55 minutes ago, DemonHoundRider said:

Start by adding Hive and Hijack to relic rotation.

While I do think this would get them played a bit more, I think it would also piss off a lot of players who don't like these modes and would feel forced into them with this kind of change.

56 minutes ago, DemonHoundRider said:

Assault is fine. I have no problems running it if its up when cracking requiem relics.

Assault is the furthest thing from fine. Seriously, look up its reward table and you'll see in 2 seconds flat why nobody runs it, which is a shame because it has potential.

I can more or less agree with the rest of your post, except one more point--Railjack is actually pretty rewarding, or would be if they didn't force normal missions into the nodes. This is where the reward/time issue you're talking about comes up. I would separate these from Railjack content entirely since people who like RJ (like me) go to those modes to play RJ--not taxi to a 20m Survival.

[Aldain]

For Defection I say we go the route of Old Yeller...bring it out behind the barn and shoot it.

[MqToasty]

Personally, I can understand why DE locks unique items behind all game modes.  Players need some sort of incentive to at least try each game mode several times and give it a fair shake.  At the same time, I can understand how some game modes will simply be more popular than the others.  But the problem with DE's strategy right now is that, as soon as I'm done farming for that unique item, I stop playing that game mode.  I don't have any incentive to go back, unless I totally enjoyed it.

So my suggestion is that, instead of hard-coding each mode into a tier and adjust the rewards that way, why not make it dynamic?  Perhaps each week DE can compile the previous week's play data and add modifiers to the neglected game modes?  The modifiers should probably not apply to any of the unique items, since players farming for those are already locked-in, but by boosting Affinity, Credits and Resources gained, certain game modes could get a boost as they become more profitable.

[FrostDragoon]

14 minutes ago, MqToasty said:

Personally, I can understand why DE locks unique items behind all game modes.  Players need some sort of incentive to at least try each game mode several times and give it a fair shake.  At the same time, I can understand how some game modes will simply be more popular than the others.  But the problem with DE's strategy right now is that, as soon as I'm done farming for that unique item, I stop playing that game mode.  I don't have any incentive to go back, unless I totally enjoyed it.

So my suggestion is that, instead of hard-coding each mode into a tier and adjust the rewards that way, why not make it dynamic?  Perhaps each week DE can compile the previous week's play data and add modifiers to the neglected game modes?  The modifiers should probably not apply to any of the unique items, since players farming for those are already locked-in, but by boosting Affinity, Credits and Resources gained, certain game modes could get a boost as they become more profitable.

The rewards would have to be incredible for this system to work but I think we would still see the same modes in this new rotation every week.

[(PSN)AyinDygra]

Just a personal experience: I don't like modes like Interception or Disruption so much that even the exclusive, time-limited events going on now, one rewarding 3 weapon slots, for a disruption mission, is not enough to get me to play it. Interception is just a pain solo or with pugs (any mode that can go on indefinitely is a pain with pugs, IMO... on PS4, it's not like chat is common between members... I'm certainly not taking the time to controller-chat my plans to leave immediately at the first opportunity, for instance.)  For Disruption, I play with the game muted (to not disrupt others in my household), so the beeping doesn't help me. The almost indiscernable blinking light of their icon is easily mistaken among the other red icons, such as the red pedestal or key, and the Demolyst is usually surrounded by so many other enemies, that my non-meta builds generally aren't good enough to take them out solo, 100% of the time, even just in the highest tier star chart missions, let alone Steel Path.

 

IF (and only IF) my friends who play Warframe are also online, and want to do the same thing, will I even think of participating in those types of game modes. (and since they both left for Destiny2, and I HATE Destiny2 with a passion... I never get to play online with friends, so there go those game modes, for me.) Given DE aren't likely to add better rewards than weapon slots to a mission's rotation rewards... I don't think there's anything reward-wise that would get me to play mission types I don't like.

 

[FrostDragoon]

6 hours ago, (PSN)AyinDygra said:

Spoiler

Just a personal experience: I don't like modes like Interception or Disruption so much that even the exclusive, time-limited events going on now, one rewarding 3 weapon slots, for a disruption mission, is not enough to get me to play it. Interception is just a pain solo or with pugs (any mode that can go on indefinitely is a pain with pugs, IMO... on PS4, it's not like chat is common between members... I'm certainly not taking the time to controller-chat my plans to leave immediately at the first opportunity, for instance.)  For Disruption, I play with the game muted (to not disrupt others in my household), so the beeping doesn't help me. The almost indiscernable blinking light of their icon is easily mistaken among the other red icons, such as the red pedestal or key, and the Demolyst is usually surrounded by so many other enemies, that my non-meta builds generally aren't good enough to take them out solo, 100% of the time, even just in the highest tier star chart missions, let alone Steel Path.

 

IF (and only IF) my friends who play Warframe are also online, and want to do the same thing, will I even think of participating in those types of game modes. (and since they both left for Destiny2, and I HATE Destiny2 with a passion... I never get to play online with friends, so there go those game modes, for me.) Given DE aren't likely to add better rewards than weapon slots to a mission's rotation rewards... I don't think there's anything reward-wise that would get me to play mission types I don't like.

 

I played on PS4 for quite awhile too. My advice for you would be to use a mic and make more friends. One thing PS4/Xbox has over PC for this game in particular is the culture of using mics this way. It was very easy for me to find people to play with in public games that would eventually become regular friends to run content with. It doesn't change the issues various modes have, but it does alleviate the annoyance some of them pose.