Is there any reason why not many people play Protea?

[AzureScion]

Okay.. kinda bad timing since someone just posted a "Why does no one play X frame" recently, but Protea, in my opinion, is a god tier frame.

Not gonna discuss her a lot here, she's been here for quite a while, but her turrets deal a hecking ton of damage, and you can deploy them three times. She has insane survivability with her 4 as your cheat death ability, dispenser as constant health orb generator (also ammo and energy!) and her 1 gives a crapton of shield, alongside great cc and respectable damage. I'm basically cruising through steel path with her right now, with the exception of a few missions like Excavation. 

Why don't I see her often? Is it because she can't spawn a clone that does all your job for you or turn into a cloud that moves faster than Razorwing Blitz Titania? 

Okay just kidding there, but really, people should play Protea more, she's amazing at pretty much everything: CC, damage, support, survivability.

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

Theres 46 frames. Theres literally not enough time in the day to play them all.

[SpiritTeA]

In my situation I not play her because I didn’t bother with granum farm (and not planning too), and I don’t want buy her with platinum for now.

[AzureScion]

1 minute ago, (PSN)Madurai-Prime said:

Theres 46 frames. Theres literally not enough time in the day to play them all.

Well, there's enough time to play a couple of them instead of picking Wukong all the time.

[Firedtm]

Protea is on my list of regularly play warframes but there are more than a few better warframes to play.

 

[AzureScion]

1 minute ago, SpiritTeA said:

In my situation I not play her because I didn’t bother with granum farm (and not planning too), and I don’t want buy her with platinum for now.

Well, that kinda makes sense. Farming her is a tad bit tedious I admit, but it won't take too long (if RNG is on your side that is) and it's pretty easy once you have someone like Mesa that can clear rooms in seconds. 

[AzureScion]

2 minutes ago, Firedtm said:

Protea is on my list of regularly play warframes but there are more than a few better warframes to play.

 

Of course I won't deny that, Sometimes it's better to bring a dedicated frames like Wisp for support, Saryn for DPS, or maybe Nidus/Rhino for survivability but Protea is just so versatile and easy I wonder why she's not as common as I expected her to be. 

[kyori]

I think it's because her turret on her back is blocking the view. lol jk

I guess 1 of the problem is because of the subsume ability. For example, if wukong's cloudwalker is the subsume-able, I bet not many will play him, or more will use cloudwalker on their more preferred frames etc.

[Jarriaga]

I don't play her for the same reason I don't play Harrow or 25 other frames: Not my style.

[chaotea]

17 minutes ago, AzureScion said:

Okay.. kinda bad timing since someone just posted a "Why does no one play X frame" recently, but Protea, in my opinion, is a god tier frame.

Yes, it was you asking why no one played Harrow.

[AzureScion]

7 minutes ago, kyori said:

I think it's because her turret on her back is blocking the view. lol jk

I guess 1 of the problem is because of the subsume ability. For example, if wukong's cloudwalker is the subsume-able, I bet not many will play him, or more will use cloudwalker on their more preferred frames etc.

Which ability is her subsumed one? Oh god please don't tell me it's the turret. I'd have to farm 10 more Proteas to slap her turret into every other frames I like.

[AzureScion]

1 minute ago, chaotea said:

Yes, it was you asking why no one played Harrow.

I was in fact one of the commenter down in the thread on why I don't play Harrow. Because I don't have him due to his annoying and RNG heavy farm.

Maybe people don't play Protea because of that?

[(XBOX)ScooterLaroo]

From what I can gather, and how I basically use her, she has a lot of damage output and has decent survivability with her 4th ability. However, the issue with her 4th ability and being able to survive death is that you get knocked flat on your butt every time you take fatal damage. So you are basically stunned for a few seconds, meaning in higher difficulty missions, steel path, or just long endurance runs, you aren't going to survive for very long. So the only other thing in her kit that can pick up that weight is her 1st ability, which deploys shields. But shields aren't that good when Toxin, gas, and other shield-bypassing damage types in higher difficulties are an issue, meaning anything Infested is downright horrid to play against.

Her turrets are kinda meh at targeting. If there is a large group of enemies, having out 3 turrets will still make it rather difficult since they all have to gain damage from firing repeatedly at an enemy, but they are constantly switching from one enemy to another, so they don't gain as much damage as they can before they run out. (I've gone through this issue many times in steel path)

Her dispenser is rather slow in more fast-paced missions. Endurance is a no-go since it cycles through the three objects it can give you. To get double that you need around 300% strength (which is not viable on a frame that needs durability and range for her other abilities, like, all of them). So you'd be sitting there, holding off enemies hoping none of them get a lucky shot off. Grineer just do truck loads of damage with a few shots, Corpus will drown you out with faster firing weapons, and the infested will be more than happy to just swarm your location. So waiting isn't much an option unless it's a quick wait and you have the ability to survive a bit longer, but since that is really the only way she can heal AND gain energy without extensive modding and relying on other weapons, she won't last long. Barely if you have quick enough reflexes and the enemy AI turned itself off.

Overall, she's a good frame, but in the current meta (even after the "balance" of the Parvos Update, which just switched melee and primaries around in terms of damage and power), she doesn't entirely fit the bill for survivability on her own. She rather lacks a good CC ability, her one barely does any damage and iirc doesn't scale with enemy leveling.

This is just what I've seen and what I think the reason why she isn't played as often.

Single target damage and decent survivability, yeah, go for it, she can dish out and take a lot of punishment. But when levels get a bit too high or Steel Path is enabled and you have hundreds of high-level enemies with a lot of health, shields, or both, then you will more than likely get cut down in a matter of seconds unless you play the Best TF2 in your life.

[AzureScion]

6 minutes ago, Jarriaga said:

I don't play her for the same reason I don't play Harrow or 25 other frames: Not my style.

So if I may ask, what is your style? Just curious. 

 

[Quimoth]

I see plenty of protea players, but since you can subsume what is probably her best/most versatile ability she isn't played as much as she would be without dispensary being subsumable.

[(XBOX)ScooterLaroo]

4 minutes ago, chaotea said:

Yes, it was you asking why no one played Harrow.

I believe the main issue with Harrow the Arrow is that he has to constantly fight his team for basically anything, from buffs to healing to energy, his entire kit requires that the enemies either attack him or he attacks them. But since most people run CC frames that can nuke levels faster than most players can blink his kit is basically useless.

Alone however, his kit can very much shine. All his buffs, shields, energy, damage reduction and crit chance, they all basically show how powerful they are. I say this because I completed Sedna's Steel Path mission with a no forma Harrow and general purpose build, got a lot of shields, health, energy, and a lot of crit chance because I was the one taking the brunt of the damage, like he was apparently meant to be played.

[Jarriaga]

Just now, AzureScion said:

So if I may ask, what is your style? Just curious. 

Close and personal melee-focused frames and/or tanks, with 2* exceptions.

- Umbra.

- Valkyr.

- Garuda.

- Gauss.

- Wukong.

- Ash.

- Baruuk.

- Gara.

- Khora.

- Mirage* (Thanks to cold Elemental Ward).

- Ember*.

- Lavos (Full Gladiator build since I don't have to worry about energy or duration).

[Artekkor]

IMHO people are already attached to older frames who can do same thing.

Basically, its the same situation as Steam vs Origin/EpicStore/etc or McDonalds vs other fast food chains.
The one who got in first and built a loyal base is the one who becomes the most successful.

New warframes are not exactly "new". They do same things as older frames, just in different combinations and different aesthetic flavours. Sometimes they have maybe 1 unique ability.
Its like... What's the difference between Sevagoth's spooky ghost form and Excalibur's exalted blade? Realistically speaking - only aesthetics. They serve same purpose: deal damage in a cool looking form. The rest is details.

Same probably happened to Protea. What's her deal?
People generally consider her ultimate worthless (probably because they don't know how to use it) so she's a frame of 3 abilities (and no, i don't consider helminth).
She has cute turrets that live for like 5 seconds. Wukong has a constant coop buddy. So does the cat-frame, forgot what's her name.
She has that fountain that gives energy and health... But Trinity exists. Magus Repair exists. Pizza restores and that one arcane exist. So...

Basically there are frames that do what Protea does equally or better, or people simply got used to them. Why swap to a new frame and forma it 5 times when you have an older one that already has 4 normal formas and 3 umbras installed it. Oh, and its a prime one too, while protea is only to get hers in a year or so.

I'm a Rhino main. On a soul level. Every time i use any other frames i suffer from an impostor syndrome. It just doesn't feel right. So no matter how many new frames DE puts out - i have exactly 0 incentives to switch to them. I grind them, get to rank 30, maybe even put a reactor in there if i think this particular warframe is either fun or useful for specific goals and then it collects dust unless i have a riven challenge that only this frame can complete.

The only possible warframe that could change this is a military-themed soldier-type Call-of-Duty wannabe. But DE continuously refuse to go conventional. Sucks to be me, i suppose.

[(XBOX)C11H22O11]

Well her Upcoming Deluxe will definitely bump my "from time to time" to "a lot"

[AzureScion]

24 minutes ago, (XBOX)ScooterLaroo said:

From what I can gather, and how I basically use her, she has a lot of damage output and has decent survivability with her 4th ability. However, the issue with her 4th ability and being able to survive death is that you get knocked flat on your butt every time you take fatal damage. So you are basically stunned for a few seconds, meaning in higher difficulty missions, steel path, or just long endurance runs, you aren't going to survive for very long. So the only other thing in her kit that can pick up that weight is her 1st ability, which deploys shields. But shields aren't that good when Toxin, gas, and other shield-bypassing damage types in higher difficulties are an issue, meaning anything Infested is downright horrid to play against.

Her turrets are kinda meh at targeting. If there is a large group of enemies, having out 3 turrets will still make it rather difficult since they all have to gain damage from firing repeatedly at an enemy, but they are constantly switching from one enemy to another, so they don't gain as much damage as they can before they run out. (I've gone through this issue many times in steel path)

Her dispenser is rather slow in more fast-paced missions. Endurance is a no-go since it cycles through the three objects it can give you. To get double that you need around 300% strength (which is not viable on a frame that needs durability and range for her other abilities, like, all of them). So you'd be sitting there, holding off enemies hoping none of them get a lucky shot off. Grineer just do truck loads of damage with a few shots, Corpus will drown you out with faster firing weapons, and the infested will be more than happy to just swarm your location. So waiting isn't much an option unless it's a quick wait and you have the ability to survive a bit longer, but since that is really the only way she can heal AND gain energy without extensive modding and relying on other weapons, she won't last long. Barely if you have quick enough reflexes and the enemy AI turned itself off.

Overall, she's a good frame, but in the current meta (even after the "balance" of the Parvos Update, which just switched melee and primaries around in terms of damage and power), she doesn't entirely fit the bill for survivability on her own. She rather lacks a good CC ability, her one barely does any damage and iirc doesn't scale with enemy leveling.

This is just what I've seen and what I think the reason why she isn't played as often.

Single target damage and decent survivability, yeah, go for it, she can dish out and take a lot of punishment. But when levels get a bit too high or Steel Path is enabled and you have hundreds of high-level enemies with a lot of health, shields, or both, then you will more than likely get cut down in a matter of seconds unless you play the Best TF2 in your life.

1. Isn't that basically the problem for most other frames out there that aren't built for extreme tankiness? That is why you get mobile, stay on the move and dodge shots instead of taking them head on, if you're standing still of course you're dead meat, no matter which frame you use (except maybe Nidus). Besides, her shield is very spammable and can replenish almost 2k shield within less of a second. When it comes to toxin, again your health dispenser is your main source of healing and you're most likely gonna have a few of that laying about because you barely take damage from any other source. Also, if you notice you're almost dead, just retreat early and you'll get all your health/shields back by the time you reach your safe point in which you trigger your anchor so you can take a breather for a bit. Unless we're talking about level 9999 enemies, but then again what really is the point of balancing around level 9999 content?

2. Her turrets do AOE damage and each enemy hit (or from what I observed so far) increases their multiplier, meaning if there's a hecking ton of enemy in front of them, you can get more than 20x multiplier, which means 2000% increase in AoE damage and that can be very destructive. Plus it deals heat damage and has a pretty high status proc so it can quite reliably hit the heavier units as well. Also you still have your guns to supplement her damage. You can also jacks up her duration to make them maintain their max damage longer, and there's her passive of increasing strength by 100% every 4th ability cast.

3. Again, if you need strength, just cast your dispenser on the 4th cast and if you build even with 150% STR, it really makes a difference in drop frequency.

Also just curious, what are the current meta frames as of now? What do people demand from frames? I notice not many frames can even dent high level enemies with their abilities alone (though Protea surprisingly can), so maybe I'm thinking Khora for her CC but iirc her ensnare is the subsume ability so you can slap that on pretty much everyone else (better yet, for Protea to help up her turret ramp up that damage faster). Do people nowadays consider frames good by their capabilities of dealing with level 9999 enemies?

[AzureScion]

8 minutes ago, Jarriaga said:

Close and personal melee-focused frames and/or tanks, with 2* exceptions.

- Umbra.

- Valkyr.

- Garuda.

- Gauss.

- Wukong.

- Ash.

- Baruuk.

- Gara.

- Khora.

- Mirage* (Thanks to cold Elemental Ward).

- Ember*.

- Lavos (Full Gladiator build since I don't have to worry about energy or duration).

I do enjoy melee frames from time to time as well. Hack and slashing enemies from up close is indeed very satisfying. And though I am currently in love with Protea, Garuda is still my "main" frame. I also like to play Wukong based on his Primal Fury with tons of power strength (sorry Kuva Bramma/Nukor wielding clone Wukong players!).

And oh boy Gauss is super fun to play as well.

[AzureScion]

7 minutes ago, (XBOX)C11H22O11 said:

Well her Upcoming Deluxe will definitely bump my "from time to time" to "a lot"

She's gonna have a deluxe? Oh boy where can I see it?!

[Quimoth]

I played one week of protea when i had 100% duration invigoration on her. Really funny to see turrets reach above the 70x multipliers.

[AzureScion]

8 minutes ago, Artekkor said:

IMHO people are already attached to older frames who can do same thing.

Basically, its the same situation as Steam vs Origin/EpicStore/etc or McDonalds vs other fast food chains.
The one who got in first and built a loyal base is the one who becomes the most successful.

New warframes are not exactly "new". They do same things as older frames, just in different combinations and different aesthetic flavours. Sometimes they have maybe 1 unique ability.
Its like... What's the difference between Sevagoth's spooky ghost form and Excalibur's exalted blade? Realistically speaking - only aesthetics. They serve same purpose: deal damage in a cool looking form. The rest is details.

Same probably happened to Protea. What's her deal?
People generally consider her ultimate worthless (probably because they don't know how to use it) so she's a frame of 3 abilities (and no, i don't consider helminth).
She has cute turrets that live for like 5 seconds. Wukong has a constant coop buddy. So does the cat-frame, forgot what's her name.
She has that fountain that gives energy and health... But Trinity exists. Magus Repair exists. Pizza restores and that one arcane exist. So...

Basically there are frames that do what Protea does equally or better, or people simply got used to them. Why swap to a new frame and forma it 5 times when you have an older one that already has 4 normal formas and 3 umbras installed it. Oh, and its a prime one too, while protea is only to get hers in a year or so.

I'm a Rhino main. On a soul level. Every time i use any other frames i suffer from an impostor syndrome. It just doesn't feel right. So no matter how many new frames DE puts out - i have exactly 0 incentives to switch to them. I grind them, get to rank 30, maybe even put a reactor in there if i think this particular warframe is either fun or useful for specific goals and then it collects dust unless i have a riven challenge that only this frame can complete.

The only possible warframe that could change this is a military-themed soldier-type Call-of-Duty wannabe. But DE continuously refuse to go conventional. Sucks to be me, i suppose.

I like this explanation. Interesting. Well Protea while not the best at each thing she does she puts them all in one very versatile pacakge that is easy to use. I wish more people would give her a chance cause damn having even 2 Proteas really can change the game instead of constantly being a team with 3 Wukong Primes. I personally love branching out to new frames, since I get bored pretty quickly by constantly playing only one frame. I'm so far also enjoying Sevagoth (but still can't use him properly yet because I can't afford the 2500 formas needed to build him!), Lavos, and heck even Yareli, but so far I find Protea the most fun "new" frame to play.

Oh and a CoD frame maybe with the classic sprint or grenade ability plus an added armor skin like Rhino would be a blast to play. Such a staple.

[Yamazuki]

She came out halfway through last year, and had decent usage rates regardless. Not really sure what you mean by not many people using her, unless you mean why there isn't one every single mission.

Also, one reason people have for using her can be put on any Warframe. Her 4th ability is one that also had received a fair bit of complaints/criticism, and for most people, it isn't useful for most mission types.  Other than shield generation, she just has damage, and there's already options for Warframes that do damage and has utility. It then becomes a matter of what method of dealing damage do people enjoy, or is effective for the given relevant content. Her not being speed oriented also limits how often she would be used.