Seeker Thread, Discussion Of Improvements And Balancing

[FreakyChakra]

Hey there Tenno, I think at this point many of us are aware of the very controversial issue of 'Seekers' that were recently implimented into the game. Many of us have also been guilty of turning this subject into all out flame-wars between us. I created this thread to try and put this into a very civil and thought out discussion on the topic that will make it much easier for the Devs to read through and consider.

I understand many of you think there is nothing wrong with it. If that is the case, let's just agree to disagree okay? Definitely feel free to voice your opinion but try and do it in a way that we can easily guage the number of for/against opinions. In other words, try to avoid having 2 pages of you and some other guy arguing about how much the other one is a terrible player.

NOTE: We are speaking of the Online seekers that throw Nervos(The electrical balls), not the Single Player ones that throw Latchers.

So on to business, here are the suggestions put forth so far:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Shortened stun/snare duration (1 Vote)

2. Make them more visible/larger, or larger hit boxes (2 Votes)

3. Remove the stun/snare, keep the shield drain

4. Button mash to remove (1 Vote)

5. Make it self-destruct once shields have drained (3 Votes)

6. Make it 'hackable' much like control panels, which would also promote the use of cyphers

7. Allow shooting during the duration of the disable

8. Make them drain a percentage of your shield, and only stun when multiple Nervos are attached

9. Remove Seekers/Nervos from low-level areas (1 Vote)

10. Use a portion of your energy to remove them (2 Votes)

11. Nervos have an animation/noise that alert prior to attacking (1 Vote)

12. Make the Nervos behave more like unit entities that may charge at you, like a face hugger in Aliens vs. Predator (1 Vote)

13. Only one Nervo may be deployed at one time, with a cooldown before the next one (2 Votes)

14. Remove them completely

15. Fine as is

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

That pretty much covers all of the suggestions I have seen thus far, let me know if I have missed any. To further help organize this thread, if you agree with any of these solutions go ahead and say something along the lines of "1,2,7 and 9" or "everything but 5 and 14". This could also help to seperate our votes from our discussion. I may end up tallying everything up and putting them next to each category as we go along. I will also clear out the options that have 1 or 0 votes later on.

REMEMBER, THIS THREAD WAS SPECIFICALLY CREATED FOR CIVIL DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT

Ok....GO!

Edited February 26, 2013 by FreakyChakra

[FedorHooch]

Make the Nervos detachable by melee hits from teammates. Make them explode the moment your shields hit 0. Limit Seekers to 1 deployed Nervo with a cooldown between deployments. Absolutely no Nervos while solo.

On related note - make sticky mines emit a sound before exploding. Sometimes they stick to the front of the frame and are impossible to notice.

[Dr-Jelly]

Okay, agree to some points but I'm wondering about some:

2. How large exactly?

3. You mean it becomes a latcher that drains shields.

5. How much damage should the self-destruct give?

7. So you can shoot but can't move, is that what you're saying?

8. But what if there's only one seeker?

10. How much exactly? What about when you have no energy.

[FreakyChakra]

Okay, agree to some points but I'm wondering about some:

2. How large exactly?

3. You mean it becomes a latcher that drains shields.

5. How much damage should the self-destruct give?

7. So you can shoot but can't move, is that what you're saying?

8. But what if there's only one seeker?

10. How much exactly? What about when you have no energy.

Most of these are solutions I collected and simply centralized for the devs. I did not specifically come up with these. I don't think the numbers and specifics are as important, just the concepts that were put forth. But by all means, feel free to throw out any specifics you come up with :)

Edited February 26, 2013 by FreakyChakra

[Aggh]

In theory, the idea of a mob whose attack only your team mates can save you from is a great way to introduce some team work. In practice though, it's very frustrating because team mates are pretty dumb. At the very least it needs to put up a prompt notifying team mates that you need help. Its functionality should incentiveze your team mates to get it off you; saving a team mate isn't enough of an incentive for some people it would seem, so maybe it should do deal damage to your team mates after it has drained your shields completely, the damage being equivalent to a percentage of the shield it drained. Or instead, you could have it always drop affinity/mods/resources when removed.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Aggh

[CheeseHasLeafs]

How do I vote?

And I think i figured out why the devs introduced them. I reckon they thought we'd start complaining about them so much that we'd forget about the Grinders.

[FreakyChakra]

How do I vote?

And I think i figured out why the devs introduced them. I reckon they thought we'd start complaining about them so much that we'd forget about the Grinders.

Tell me and I'll tally them up. There's no option for Polls lol maybe I will use a third party website later on. I don't mind though.

For the record I already tallied mine.

1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13

Edited February 26, 2013 by FreakyChakra

[Valandras]

I had a few ideas for seekers, mostly about making them easier to spot and remove.

The concept of seekers is a good one IMO, it adds a co-op function different to the old "you need 2 people to open this door" gimmick.

But I dont think that they should stick to a Tenno's body like they currently do; its far too easy for one to glitch onto the inside of a players thigh, or armpit, or other nearly impossible to hit areas.

So why not have them either always latch onto the chest, or hover just in front of a player whilst electrocuting them, something like this (please excuse the poor quality pic, its just Halo even got the pose right):

*edit: Thats odd, I cant post pictures. Heres the URL instead:

http://www.halopedia.org/images/5/5d/H4-AutoSentry-Deployment.jpg

Edited February 26, 2013 by Valandras

[FreakyChakra]

I had a few ideas for seekers.....

I'm going to put this as a vote for category 2 (make them more visible)

Edited February 26, 2013 by FreakyChakra

[Jezex]

5 No qualms with the Nervo if they explode on sheild drain.

6 An additional minigame akin to cyphers to remove them would be pretty interesting...

13 Overall, their frequency is a bit much if you don't find the Seeker in time.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Jezex

[Oktalz]

Option 2 is the only solid one imho. Adding more to the factor that the player has to be preemptive and skillfull. If you are caught you are caught, point is to not get in that situation.

Peace

Edited March 14, 2013 by Oktalz

[Wesgile]

2, 11, 12, 13.

any combination from any of those (primarily number 2) gets my vote.

[Azure_Kytia]

I think making them any larger would cause people to mistake them for Grinders until they latch onto you and stun you. I am all for increasing their red glow and checking to see if another team mate shot in the general vicinity of the latched Nervo, and making the Nervo take damage.

So an alteration of 2.

[Mak_Gohae]

2. Make them more visible/larger, or larger hit boxes (2 Votes)

How more visible can they be when they even have waypoints on them?

And anyone with a shotgun or a big swip weapon can take them off without even aiming.

3. Remove the stun/snare, keep the shield drain

Maybe walk slowly cause if you can run away it defeats the purpose of the device.

They are not there to take your shields away.

5. Make it self-destruct once shields have drained (3 Votes)

That's what actually happens. It's a bug that they continue on.

6. Make it 'hackable' much like control panels, which would also promote the use of cyphers

More people out of battle?

7. Allow shooting during the duration of the disable

Only guns and your aim shakes like mad.

]8. Make them drain a percentage of your shield, and only stun when multiple Nervos are attached

Nooooo. They shoot enough balls as it is.

9. Remove Seekers/Nervos from low-level areas (1 Vote)

They hardly appear and if anything it's only one dude per stage.

11. Nervos have an animation/noise that alert prior to attacking (1 Vote)

The little glowing ball leaving a dust trail as they come at you isnt enough?

12. Make the Nervos behave more like unit entities that may charge at you, like a face hugger in Aliens vs. Predator (1 Vote)

The little glowing ball leaving a dust trail as they come at you isnt enough?

13. Only one Nervo may be deployed at one time, with a cooldown before the next one (2 Votes)

This the only problem i actually have. They drop these things like mad with no pause and can actually juggle you with their continuous dropping of balls.

So 13.

[zyraconne]

2 and 13

The ball can really get on the weird places of your body, making it very difficult to destroy.