Universal Vacuum, and a New Passive for Mag

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, (NSW)Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the playerbase; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magrail
When Mag moves while crouching, she scrapes her "bidents" along the ground to draw magnetic shapes with various effects that can be used by her and allies.^💬
(3/20/2024)

Those two-pronged forks attached to Mag's elbows have been begging to be used for years now; it's time. Basically the passive would let Mag draw shapes on the ground while she's crouched. Each Mag in the Squad can only draw one shape at a time, but it (and the effects) last until a new shape is drawn. The effects would be determined by the shape:

• Line
  • Calculated by starting/ending point (imperfections won't increase length)
  • Running along this line increases movement speed by 10% for each meter traversed
  • Effect can be cancelled by running back over the line perpendicularly
• Square
  • Calculated by jumping over area covered by square
  • Jumping over the square without touching the ground adds 5% Parkour Velocity for each meter traveled (TIP: A corner-to-corner jump will get more distance)
  • Effect can be cancelled if you actually step or land inside the square
• Arc
  • Calculated by the "chord length" of the arc; must have a certain radius proportionate to chord length for it to not be considered a line
  • Rolling through the arc from the concave side restores shields
  • Accidentally rolling through the arc from the convex side instantly eliminates all of your shields
• Circle
  • Calculated by diameter
  • Dancing or playing other emojis inside the circle regenerates energy
  • Energy rate is 1 Energy/Second per meter diameter, but imperfections in the circle reduce the rate (TIP: use Magnetize and trace the bubble)

Using these four shapes strategically will greatly benefit both Mag and the team. It also gives a role for crouch-walking to play, as well as a survivability option for Mag even when she's out of energy (or within missions that don't allow energy).

I'd also be very thrilled to see a squad all dancing inside a drawn circle.

Only four shapes are listed so that it would take a full Squad of all Mags to get every shape existing at the same time.

Lastly, I know people might think: This would give someone the ability to draw a MASSIVE line or square and get completely broken amounts of movement/parkour speed. And that's true, but I think we've seen in Duviri how ridiculous speeds aren't game breaking. And if anything it would be annoying at a certain level. Going so fast you can't really navigate well would be a pain, and players would cancel the effect and reapply it with a more rational amount. The line and square are both set up to allow for scaling within a pre-drawn shape's limitations. You don't have to run the entire length of a line, and you could "cut corners" on the square to get less of an effect if you want.

Edited March 20 by (NSW)Probably_Asleep

[AsffluffyZ]

On 2024-03-20 at 8:10 AM, (NSW)Probably_Asleep said:

Those two-pronged forks attached to Mag's elbows have been begging to be used for years now; it's time. Basically the passive would let Mag draw shapes on the ground while she's crouched. Each Mag in the Squad can only draw one shape at a time, but it (and the effects) last until a new shape is drawn. The effects would be determined by the shape:

• Line
  • Calculated by starting/ending point (imperfections won't increase length)
  • Running along this line increases movement speed by 10% for each meter traversed
  • Effect can be cancelled by running back over the line perpendicularly
• Square
  • Calculated by jumping over area covered by square
  • Jumping over the square without touching the ground adds 5% Parkour Velocity for each meter traveled (TIP: A corner-to-corner jump will get more distance)
  • Effect can be cancelled if you actually step or land inside the square
• Arc
  • Calculated by the "chord length" of the arc; must have a certain radius proportionate to chord length for it to not be considered a line
  • Rolling through the arc from the concave side restores shields
  • Accidentally rolling through the arc from the convex side instantly eliminates all of your shields
• Circle
  • Calculated by diameter
  • Dancing or playing other emojis inside the circle regenerates energy
  • Energy rate is 1 Energy/Second per meter diameter, but imperfections in the circle reduce the rate (TIP: use Magnetize and trace the bubble)

Using these four shapes strategically will greatly benefit both Mag and the team. It also gives a role for crouch-walking to play, as well as a survivability option for Mag even when she's out of energy (or within missions that don't allow energy).

I'd also be very thrilled to see a squad all dancing inside a drawn circle.

Only four shapes are listed so that it would take a full Squad of all Mags to get every shape existing at the same time.

Lastly, I know people might think: This would give someone the ability to draw a MASSIVE line or square and get completely broken amounts of movement/parkour speed. And that's true, but I think we've seen in Duviri how ridiculous speeds aren't game breaking. And if anything it would be annoying at a certain level. Going so fast you can't really navigate well would be a pain, and players would cancel the effect and reapply it with a more rational amount. The line and square are both set up to allow for scaling within a pre-drawn shape's limitations. You don't have to run the entire length of a line, and you could "cut corners" on the square to get less of an effect if you want.

The prongs don't exist on all mag skins

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2024-03-22 at 9:54 AM, AsffluffyZ said:

The prongs don't exist on all mag skins

Good callout! I've thought about that, believe it or not.

But the way I see it, Mag canonically has the bidents, so if those skins look a little weird then that's the designer sacrificing tradition for artistic vision. Mag's two most iconic features are the domed face-shield, and the bidents running parallel to the coils up the forearm. (Third-place would obviously go to the torturously-tight jumpsuit)

With Aoi's reveal, the bidents/coils became even more significant because her face-shield had to go (although her little teal-bangs are probably meant to pay homage to it, and I'd be disappointed if she doesn't wear a motorcycle helmet at some point). Her tight jumpsuit has been abandoned in the new look, and true to my earlier theories it's evident that her body would like to be far more buxom than her classic outfit will allow.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the playerbase; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Hysteresis
Mag's state lags behind environment by a few seconds, making it so that status effects do not start affecting Mag until 2 seconds into their duration.^💬
(3/27/2024)

This would give Mag more passive survivability as well as fit her magnetic themed kit. The way it would work would be that for the first two seconds of a debuff, the icon is gray and no effects take place. After those two seconds, the effect kicks in and the icon regains its color for the remainder of the duration.

It would sync well with Mag's shield-centric defense style, because it would be possible to build for shield recharge delay reduction and make Mag highly resistant to DoT status types. It would also give Mag a moment to respond to attacks that might otherwise be a one-two punch (like a heavy attack that clear's the shields and would deal slash damage a second later; Mag would have time to use her #3 or #4 and regain shields before the slash does damage to her health).

The most affected statuses would be Magnetic and Radiation, which would effectively have their duration's cut in half. This fits well logically because Mag should be completely immune to Magnetic anyway, and magnetism is a shield against radiation for the home we call Earth.

You might also realize that this would synergize with Rapid Resilience to grant Mag full status immunity, but I'll argue that it isn't going to be a game breaking advantage for Mag. Using up a Mod Slot for status immunity isn't always worth it. Direct weapon damage is far more likely to kill you than DoT attacks, and there are only niche circumstances like Sorties and Magnetic Doorways where this would be particularly useful. Running something like Adaptation instead would both reduce the DoT and the base weapon damage that caused the status. It would be different if players could get "stacks" of statuses like we deal to enemies, but only one Debuff stack is present at any given time on a Warframe, making it a lot less of a threat than the hundreds of bullets flying at you constantly.

Edited March 27 by Probably_Asleep

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the playerbase; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Faraday Break
Opening Lockers releases a pulse that unlocks locked lockers, breaks containers, and increases Shield Capacity by 100 within Affinity Range.^💬
(4/1/2024)

We don't really have many mechanics around Lockers, do we? (I can't think of any aside from Mods that open locked lockers, but I may be wrong) So I thought it could be interesting to have a passive that encourages opening lockers. This would work well with Mag's Shield-centric survival strategy, and give her a way to support the squad somewhat. While probably more of an early game ritual (which fits), the team could follow Mag to hunt for lockers near the start of a mission. 11 lockers could even get teammates with Grendel to max Shield Gate capacity without Mods.

Shields still aren't that great in End Game content so I wouldn't see this being used much later on, but I do think there would still be some niche uses. For instance, using Parasitic Armor could get to over 99% damage reduction if you Mod a certain way and have a high enough shield capacity (by my math, 100 lockers could get you over the threshold if you've got 300% Ability Strength). And if you had a max Arcane Aegis, you only need 627 Shield Capacity for the regen to balance out with Shield Gating. Also for normal Star Chart missions, Equipping Fast Deflection, Vigilante Vigor, and Fortitude would make you practically invincible at high shield capacity. As long as they only hit you at or below 4 times per second, then every locker would be an extra 70 DPS the enemy would need to reach to do more damage than what your shields can recover. Combined with Adaptation, 100 lockers would even handle a lot of the Steel Path. (Although who's actually going to go around looking for 100 lockers?)

The crate breaking pulse would make looting easier because you wouldn't need to worry about what equipment/companion you had with you. Just focus on the lockers in a room and the crates would open as well. And as a final note, unlocking locked lockers seems only fair given how useful an extra locker would be for Mag in this case. I know Master Thief comes at a really high Mod Capacity cost for only a 40% chance of success, but I think that's a relic of a bygone era. It was introduced in May of 2013 after all; I don't think lockers have the same significance as they did 11 years ago.

[Vazumongr]

I just skimmed through this thread but I don't think anyone pointed out the worst part of Mag's passive. It doesn't work. It's supposed to pull pickups to her, but it doesn't. It's been broken for a long time :P

[Vazumongr]

52 minutes ago, Probably_Asleep said:

We don't really have many mechanics around Lockers, do we? (I can't think of any aside from Mods that open locked lockers, but I may be wrong)

Mirage's Sleight of Hand turns lockers into booby traps that do True damage equal to the max health of the enemy that interacts with it. Instakills anything that touches the locker :P

[Probably_Asleep]

17 minutes ago, Vazumongr said:

I just skimmed through this thread but I don't think anyone pointed out the worst part of Mag's passive. It doesn't work. It's supposed to pull pickups to her, but it doesn't. It's been broken for a long time :P

I've noticed this too. It was especially frustrating when companions could die because vacuum would go out and I'd be thinking: "I'm in the one frame that shouldn't be seeing this happen."

15 minutes ago, Vazumongr said:

Mirage's Sleight of Hand turns lockers into booby traps that do True damage equal to the max health of the enemy that interacts with it. Instakills anything that touches the locker :P

Oh really!? I tried doing a Wiki search for lockers but couldn't find anything. That's pretty cool! (Although it seems like it would be difficult to use in practice; do the enemies at least want to go touch the lockers?)

I wouldn't want Mag's new passive to interfere with Mirage's though; it would stink if squad members started arguing over who gets to open lockers. I'd be okay with Mag's effect triggering from just touching an open locker. Then it doesn't matter who opens it and both could potentially benefit.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the player-base; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Lorentz Reinforcement
Every enemy killed with Magnetic damage while Sliding increases Ability Range by 1%.
(4/4/2024)

There's almost always good things for Mag the more Ability Range you give her. As such, having a passive that can build that stat would strongly enhance her kit. This also is a nod to one of Nightwave's challenges, which is something new players will will want to get used to doing.

The only thing I can think of where range isn't good for Mag is when Nullifiers are around. The Void Relic reward that doubles range can make Mag's death bubble enormous, but it gets popped frequently due to those insufferable Nullifiers. But I think that's an uncommon enough problem that no one will mind, and having the stack only grow with Magnetic Slide Kills makes it very easy to not grow this stat on missions where it's a problem.

I guess another use for low-range Mag would be her #4 bug. She can permanently cripple enemies if they fail to finish the Crush animation, which is relatively easy to achieve with a low range build and Aero Vantage. You just bullet jump over enemies and use your 4 while gliding. This bug is really nice for things like Duviri Circuit Defense on solo runs, because you can cripple the last enemy to prevent the next wave from happening, and go look for Decree Fragments at your leisure. You can also potentially cripple the enemy cap and make a mission enemy-free, but there's not much use for that considering the kill economy is a large part of completing most missions. With all that said though, it is a bug so I of course don't think it should be considered in what passive Mag should receive.

Preferably, there wouldn't be a cap to this. If you manage to kill 10,000 enemies with Magnetic Slide attacks, then why shouldn't you reap the rewards of your hard work? I mean, sure, that would give you +400m Radius for her Death Bubble, making it able to damage and CC all enemies in the level simultaneously and break every crate everywhere when it pops. But I've looked into this a little, and I don't think it would be a problem. Based on reviewing long solo survival runs from various content creators, I got... nothing. The Stats page after missions makes no sense. In one video I saw someone run more than 20 hours solo and it said they got more "Melee Kills" than they did "Total Kills." But I'm generally seeing 30 KPM as a normal benchmark for endurance runs, about 1 every 2 seconds. If we use that as the standard, and we consider 50m Radius to be a "room nuke" range, then you'd need to kill 1,150 enemies, which would take about 38 minutes. Considering there are other frames that can nuke a room in less than 1 minute of prep time, I don't think anyone is going to seriously complain about this build being OP.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the playerbase; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Stable Field
Mag is immune to all attacks and effects that drain energy or disable abilities.
(4/9/2024)

After solo'ing Elite Archimedea with Mag (Prime) with all study points active, I've realized how unfair it is to apply handicaps that disable Mag's abilities. Mag is a caster frame. Her fighting style, survival strategy, and mission versatility all hinge on how she applies her carefully balanced abilities. Making a Mag build that doesn't rely on her abilities is possible, but it takes the fun out of things.

That's where this passive suggestion comes in. Mag should be able to ignore mission handicaps and enemy debuffs that prevent her from being Mag:

• Magnetic attacks, as well as attacks from Energy Leech Eximus, Parasitic Eximus, and Ancient Disruptor will still apply damage but no reduce energy.
• Nullifier Crewmen will still block Ability Effects to those inside their bubble, but they won't disable or block Ability Activation from Mag when she's inside.
• Individual Parameters in Deep Archimedea like Powerless, Concussive Drain, and Energy Exhaustion can be selected but will not have any effect on her.
• Risk Variables (currently only including Vampyric Liminus) damage health, but will not drain energy.
• Netracells with the Exhaustion Keyglyph Effect can be selected, but will have no effect.
• The Fragmented One's attacks do not disable Mag's abilities.
• Sorties with the Energy Reduction condition still reduce Mag's maximum energy, but do not inhibit energy regeneration.
• Nightmare Missions with the Energy Drain modifier do not drain Mag's energy.
• (There may be other effects out there, but these are all the ones I can list off the top of my head and I'm sure you get the idea by now)

I do not believe this will be an unfair advantage for Mag. Lavos indirectly has most of these advantages due to his Special Casting passive. That, and there are other interactions unrelated to energy but still similar such as Inaros/Nidus being completely unaffected by the "Lethargic Shields" and "Exposure Curse" Individual Parameters in Deep Archimedea. Basically, some game mechanics just don't apply to same frames, and this passive would promote Mag to be another of those frames.

In addition to her being comparable to existing frames though, Mag already requires a lot of energy to use. Out of the box at full energy she only has 1 cast of her four, 2 casts of her three, 3 casts or her two, OR 7 casts of her one. You need to invest a lot in her to make her a true caster, and for most players that means Platinum purchases to DE to get Forma, an Orokin Reactor, Focus Lenses, and Arcanes/Mods from Trading. And a lot of all this happens early on before players learn to get these things without spending money.

As a final note, this would also fit well with Mag's "Starter Frame" status. Many of the above disadvantages appear early in the game, and Mag is available either on day 1, or as an easy-to-farm character from Phobos (an early planet). It should mean that players will always have at least one option to combat ability related challenges. I would also hope the mere presence of that would discourage the philosophy of: "to make things challenging, we're going to disable core features of Warframe" in future developments.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Universal Vacuum is something everyone wants (everyone being 99% of the player-base; there's always that one person...). But there's one thing in the way of that: Mag's Passive. Solution? Give Mag a new Passive, and give everyone a Universal Vacuum. This thread is to propose what that passive might be. I'll mimic a pinned comment by continually updating the original post.

 

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magnetoreception
Mag begins each mission with a fully explored minimap; collecting resources enhances it.

I've sort of been taking this thread as an opportunity to hunt around for interesting science trivia. I'd heard that animals have magnetite that gives them an internal compass, so I decided to read up a little on it. The general term for biological awareness of magnetic fields is "magnetoreception." Interestingly, we don't actually know how it works. We just have some hypotheses on how it might work. (One being magnetite, another being the behavior of EM fields, among others)

The mechanics of how this would work would be that when you first load into a mission as Mag, every room is registered as explored. As you accumulate resources, the map gains enhancements at a logarithmic scale:

• 1 Resource - Main Objective Rooms
  • Extraction room is indicated
  • Rooms with an Objective are indicated
• 10 Resources - Main Objective Objects
  • Salvage objects
  • Spy/Mobile Defense Consoles
  • etc. (anything that does/will have an objective marker)
• 100 Resources - Side Objective Rooms
  • Orokin Vaults show up on map
  • Orokin Treasure Rooms show up
  • Halls of Ascension on Lua show up
  • Isolation Vault Doors show
  • etc. (rooms with side objectives, long story short)
• 1000 Resources - Side Objective Objects
  • Hidden Caches
  • Mocking/Scathing Whispers
  • Dormant Void Angels
  • Cephalon Melica Consoles
  • etc. (any optional objective you interact with)
• 10000 Resources - Rarities
  • Ayatan Treasures
  • Zarium Accolades
  • Voidplumes
  • Voca
  • Syndicate Medallions
  • Rare Crates
  • Decree Fragments
  • etc. (most things that Golden Instinct would point to)
• 100000 Resources - Sharing
  • Map filled for squad
  • Items displayed on squad maps
  • (Multiple Mags in the same squad contribute to these thresholds together)

My justification for why this makes sense is that as Mag accumulates more materials she's able to strengthen her senses. As a starter frame, this would hopefully encourage new players to loot a lot more. I remember when I started playing I had a habit of looting every room, which turned out to be very helpful later on in the game when I had all the resources I needed to complete blueprints. But I did most of my early playing solo. From what I hear, most new players play in squads and feel pressured to keep up with the carpet bombing veterans. By making a starter frame that incentivizes looting, the hope is that it will combat that peer pressure and teach the important habit of collecting loot.

The other reason why I think this fits is that, between the three starter frames, Mag is the closest to being a loot frame. She'll eventually get Greedy Pull and her (current) passive is vacuum. This would cement her position as the early looter option. But the current passive becomes obsolete very quickly; THIS passive would have more long term value. A common resource deposit yields an average of 225, and there's about a 1 in 5 chance for a storage container to give resources. So a 4-member squad of Mags who all have Resource Boosters would likely be able to reach the 10k resource threshold after about 28 broken crates. This would make for a relatively fast way of marking all Voidplumes and scanning a level for treasures. It would be different from the normal farming bonuses of loot increasing, as this would help with loot finding.

And as final commentary, I'm sure some people might think "I don't want players going around collecting loot. I want them to quietly follow me and get to extraction as soon as possible." To that I would say two things. First, we need to be nice to new players, they keep Warframe alive and increase the investment DE wins from its parent company. Secondly, there are times when this passive would save time (albeit rare). If for some reason the squad really wants to get all the Hidden Caches for example (like for Nightwave), then this passive would make that a lot easier. Also if you're ready to leave but suddenly the new guy does reach 10k resources and tells the squad that there's an Ayatan Sculpture or Rare Storage Container, I don't think anyone would mind (and the new guy would probably feel really happy to have contributed).

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magnetic Recording
Mag records her experiences onto her equipment, scaling with Ability Strength.
(4/15/2024)

This is another starter-frame perk that I think the early game could benefit from, though there's almost always a benefit to having affinity bonuses in every stage of the game what with new equipment and Forma installations.

The way it works would go like this:

• A copy of Mag's Affinity gain gets recorded onto each equipment category:
  • Category 1: Weapons (Primary, Secondary, Melee, and Atmospheric)
  • Category 2: Companions (Companion, Companion Weapon)
  • Category 3: Archwings (Archwing, Arch-Gun, Arch-Melee)
  • Category 4: Necramechs (Necramech, Necramech Arch-Gun, Necramech Exalted Weapon)
  • Category 5: Special (Parazon, Amp)
• Affinity is distributed, so equipping less in that category will increase the gain on other members of that category
• Scales with Ability Strength, so if for example Mag receives 100 Affinity, but has 200% Ability Strength, then 200 Affinity would be put into each category
• If however a category only has Max Rank equipment and no Focus Lenses, then that Affinity gets recycled back into Mag as additional Ability Strength on next cast
  • Each category represents 1/5th, so each "full" category will add +20% Ability Strength to next cast
  • Only stacks once, so killing multiple enemies in a single attack or obtaining multiple Affinity Orbs doesn't build up infinite Strength boosts
  • Affinity gain must be at least 100 for recycling to take effect
  • Every slot must be equipped in a category for it to recycle

The intent is to help ease the grind that new players have when leveling up their equipment. Some weapons are a pain to level up due to their low damage output or the unpopular mission types you have to enter to use them. This would allow even Solo players to apply affinity to low quality weapons while still playing the game content they enjoy. In addition, this would give an option for leveling equipment faster for if/when Charm gets nerfed.

Boosting Strength would make this a viable end-game passive. Players who finish all their Focus Schools (and get all the Represent merch they want out of each school) could destroy their Focus Lenses and see boosts in Ability Strength for better combat performance. A fully leveled arsenal would grant an almost consistent +100% Ability Strength, so Mag would be a playable character that rewards progress.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Flux Compression
When crouched, Mag's Ability Strength doubles and her abilities can penetrate CC-Immunity.
(4/19/2024)

With recent changes being what they are, I think DE could start revitalizing CC with added mechanics. Essentially, enemies have evolved to counter a good percentage of Tenno abilities, so now it's the Tenno's turn to evolve to counter that counter.

This would play on the principle of Explosive Magnetic Flux Compression, which is a phenomenon I recommend any nerd look up right away. In Mag's case though, it would work by "compressing" her. The closest thing I could see for that would be her crouching.

In terms of value, I think this could make for a more engaging experience. Having a different precursor to boost power or overcome certain enemy defenses would mean the player has to be more observant and in tune with their abilities. I'm on the fence about whether sliding would count as a crouch. On the one hand I think it would be more fun to be able to exercise this ability with the fluidity of sliding, but on the other hand she's not all that compressed in that position.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Geometrical Frustration
Mag can apply Disrupt status to enemies with Overguard. Distrupt statuses near Mag apply damage bonus to Overguard and Health.

This would be a damage support that Mag could offer to squadmates within Affinity Range. Magnetic Procs (Disruption) would work against Overguard as if it were a shield instead. Additionally, it would behave identical to Viral when Overguard/Shields are depleted.

I believe this would have an interesting affect on the community and perhaps segue into a new form of build discussions around squad rather than just arsenal. It would mean that as long as you had a Mag in your party then you could substitute Magnetic for Viral in your builds, which might open up more weapon and mod options. Currently Magnetic damage doesn't really do anything worth mentioning and is almost entirely obsolete next to Toxic. But rather than doing any kind of rework for Magnetic, this one passive would be strong enough that virtually no one would argue about the potential viability of Magnetic Damage. The conversation would go like:

"Why is Magnetic Damage so terrible? Most enemies don't have shields, and the ones that do can be killed quicker with Toxic!"
"Have you tried using it with Mag or while a teammate is using Mag?"
"No..."
"It's objectively better than Viral if you have a Mag in your team."

And if this became successful, it would set a precedent that niche use cases are a reasonable compromise when reworks aren't feasible. In my opinion this wouldn't be especially overpowered either. For one thing, most people believe Mag is B-Tier anyway, so it's not like she's popular enough to change the landscape. Additionally though, this would only be slightly better than Viral. Shields just aren't that big of a deal even if you don't build with Magnetic or Toxic. Overguard isn't that bad when it comes to getting rid of it, the big issue it presents is just that it makes enemies CC immune, but Magnetic Procs don't have any CC effect. So all this would do would make Overguard enemies a little quicker to deal with. Finally, some enemies are specifically granted Viral immunity/resistance, so this would provide a high-damage option that behaves separately from the typical Elemental Weakness paradigm.

As a side note, Geometrical Frustration is a condition of certain atomic structures what makes the material less stable in either a atomic or quantum sense. It normally only happens at ridiculously cool temperatures, but if there were a fantasy being capable of manifesting this effect strongly and at room temperature, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that biological processes and structural integrity could be compromised. I'm taking some artistic liberty here because as far as I can tell we don't actually know what would happen, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that forcing this effect would cause a breakdown (or at least an interference) in the electromagnetic bonds responsible for both living organisms and metallic alloys. (And besides, "Viral" working on machinery makes even less sense)

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Extended Visible Spectrum
Mag's face can see all wavelengths of the EM spectrum. When aiming, crouch to see through walls and identify various objects and enemies.

From a programmatic point of view, this would just be a matter of turning off certain layers in the simplest case. But it would be cool to have a special "Mag Vision" that turned level contours into wireframe, show enemies as heatmaps that highlight their vulnerable areas, and show loot/interactables. From a lore point of view, I mean her entire face is an iris, right? Am I the only one that thinks that?

This passive would be fun to play with and help especially in the early game when stealth and spatial awareness are more important. It would have some late game perks as well though for the ability to suss out weakpoints on new enemies, and find hidden caches faster in Sabotage missions.

I'm also thinking abilities could target enemies behind walls (like Pull and Magnetize) when looking through Mag Vision. This would synergize really well with Punch Through weapons, which already work well with Mag.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Kyuveebee Sinomega
Every Mag in Affinity Range lowers Enemy Accuracy by 20%. Mag is immune to projectiles while in contact with any Mag's Magnetize bubble.

This is a phonetical mnemonic of the equation for calculating magnetic force, represented by: F=qvBsinθ

The point being made here is that Magnetic force has relationships to both speed and angle, and because Mag can manifest a magnetic interaction to even "non-magnetic" materials (no to mention energy itself), she should be able to naturally influence high velocity projectiles approaching perpendicularly to her body. With multiple Mags in one place, this should be amplified, and when strengthened with her energy-fueled magnetic field, she should be able to prevent physical damage altogether.

In practice, this would add a new survivability option for Mag. She would have a passive 20% damage reduction that is independent of Armor, Mod, and Shield options; because it would only be getting hit 4 out of 5 times. With a 4-Mag Squad though, this would go down to only 1 of 5 shots landing. It wouldn't help with Melee units, but it would help with most of the units that pose the greatest threat to Mag.

Also, this would produce a QoL for Mag's main ability: Magnetize. Projectiles very often hit Mag while she's standing inside her bubble, limiting the areas she can stand and her movement options. That bubble though should be her domain. She should have to worry about a stray bullet hitting her inside an area she has control over. This would simply make it so that, while standing inside hers (or another Mag's) bubble, projectiles pass right through her. (Though from a lore perspective they'd be being bent around her, but that doesn't have to be animated) This would help to compensate for the recent nerf to the Counter Pulse augment that used to keep Mag safe from projectiles.

Finally, this would help give more use to her Magnetize (Held) ability. Right now it doesn't work very well. AoE attacks and certain statuses leak through making it useless in higher levels. (And at lower levels it's too clunky and excessive to use, so it's just useless everywhere) With this passive, Mag would only be damageable from Melee while using her #2 in Protective mode. This would also include shots from behind and from the sides, the directionality of the ability would only be for the offensive application. This could be used as a way to accumulate aggro and defend targets when she doesn't have the option of pulling an enemy into place to create a bubble around it.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
FLHR
Mag's casting speed scales with current energy (minimum 50).

FLHR is short for Fleming's Left Hand Rule, which is a guiding principle behind the engineering of rail guns. I went with the acronym instead of the name for the sake of brevity (and because "Fleming" doesn't really have that "space ninja" feel to it).

In practice, this would decrease Mag's casting speed when she falls below 100 Energy, but increase it above that. Currently Mag (Prime) could get a maximum Energy Capacity of 1,223 if she was equipped with Primed Flow, Endurance Drift, 5 Tauforged Azure Archon Shards, and was under the Entropy buff. (1,298 if you actually have an Arcane Helmet)  This means it would be possible to see over 12x casting speed when at full energy. Entropy isn't very easy to keep active though, Mag Prime isn't always available, Endurance Drift takes up a valuable Mod slot, and Primed Flow may not be available to new players. So for new players who just have a Mag with Flow, it would give them 3.8x Casting Speed on their first cast from full energy. Still, the disparity between 12.2x and 3.8x means that as a player progresses to end-game, they could see over triple the gains from this passive.

What I'd also like to point out is that this would be an answer to the age-old conundrum that DE struggles with: How can we get players to waste more Mod Slots? Typically, you can handle Mag's energy needs in any combination of 3 ways:

1. Capacity
2. Efficiency
3. Regeneration

(There's technically the fourth option of "Free Cast," but I don't see a lot of people jumping to build around that concept)

DE seems to like motivating players to use Mod Slots though (looking at you, Augments and Catalyzing Shields), so a passive like this would fit well with DE's goals. With a passive like this, players would want to have all three options if possible. A Mag Prime with Primed Flow could be consistently casting at 7.55x speed, but only if she also had high Efficiency and constant Regeneration. Otherwise, she's be losing 1x Casting Speed with every use of Crush. On the other hand, if she had Zenurik, Energy Nexus, Fleeting Expertise, and Boreal's Hatred, then she'd only be losing 0.25x speed per cast, and would be gaining 0.08x speed per second. (Meaning you could effectively be using Crush every three seconds at maximum speed, which would really synergize well with Shield Gating) And in addition to Mod Slots, this would also encourage more use out of the Azure shards.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Transcranial Stimulation
Headshots create mind altering pulses that affect enemy behavior for 10 seconds; affected by Ability Duration. Behavioral change depends on enemy.

Removed "Magnetic" from the phrase because it would be redundant. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a technology that uses magnetic waves to induce electrical current inside the brain to forcefully activate a region. It's typically used to alter mood and help with mood disorders, though I actually saw a special once where they used it to neutralize someone's Occipital Lobe temporarily to prove that the region was responsible for helping blind people read Braille. Given the phenomenon is already used in current technology, and coupled with the admission that we don't fully understand why it works on the brain, I'd say it's perfect for sci-fi application!

In practice, this passive would grant CC effects to enemies hit at their weakpoints. And I'd recommend that because the skill level is higher to land a headshot, and because the nature of this technology is "noninvasive," typically CC-Immune enemies are not immune to these effects. The effects would be things like this:

• Ranged Units
  • First Shot: Enemy looses the ability to aim. They will fire in the last direction they were facing regardless of what is in that direction until effect expires.
  • Second Shot: Enemy believes they're supposed to protect treasure. Enemy will aim toward the nearest Cache, Rare Crate, Ayatan Sculpture, Medallion, etc.
  • Third Shot: Enemy is numb and will stop firing. Enemy will still point towards nearest treasure and believe they are still firing.
• Melee Units
  • First Shot: Enemy looses their vision. Will still strike if you approach, but otherwise will stand around until effect expires
  • Second Shot: Enemy believes the Tenno have escaped. Enemy will point towards extraction signaling comrades to chase after Tenno.
  • Third Shot: Enemy is numb and open to stealth finishers.
• Non-Humanoid Units
  • First Shot: Enemy looses their thinking ability. They will stand/float in place until the effect expires.
  • Second Shot: Enemy believes Tenno are allies. The enemy will start attacking nearest strongest enemy such as Eximus; leading you to them.
  • Third Shot: Enemy is numb and will drop their loot even before death. (Does not affect corpse looting like Nekros' Desecrate)
• Additional Shots: Adds another 10 seconds to effect duration, maximum 120 seconds. (Base and Max Duration affected by Ability Duration)

So it's different per enemy, but you can see a pattern here. The first shot is generally meant to keep the enemy still. By itself they is helpful because landing headshots on moving targets is a pain. The second shot alters the enemy to work for you in some way. The theme is always to help you gather information, like nearby treasures, extraction, or Eximus units. From the third shot and onward is a maintenance mode to keep the enemy in that state for as long as you want to.

This would provide several new concepts to Warframe in general that I'd like to see implemented generally. The first of course is that CC should be a viable option even against Eximus, just as the cost of individual attention and increase skill. I get the CC is usually an AoE panacea for all mobs, which can make it too powerful if done incorrectly. This though would give you your CC option for the enemies you want to be strong, without weakening those enemies to indiscriminate attacks. You'd still need to aim and handle that strong enemy by itself.

Secondly, this would introduce the idea of "interrogation" to Warframe. The fact that you could get useful information out of an enemy before you kill them would change the way we think about enemies. If you see a ranged enemy, and you're playing as Mag, then you'd think: "Oh, before I kill them I should see if they'll tell me where the nearest valuable loot is." Likewise if you're playing something like Survival or Mobile Defense and you want to get a head start on making it to extraction, then you'd find a melee enemy to point you in the right direction. Finally, if you're hunting Eximus and you're not entirely sure where they're at (Lotus just told you there's a heavy unit somewhere), they you can tame a Corpus Drone or Infested to lead you there. (Unfortunately there's no option for Grineer, but most other factions have an option) This concept of recognizing enemies as useful in different ways (I believe) has a lot of potential as a concept.

Lastly, this would synergize well with Mag's kit. Mag can already turn ranged enemies into melee enemies, so this would allow her to activate finishers at a steady rate, which could in turn activate things like Arcane Trickery or Parazon Mods.

[Ntrophy]

Akshually 🤓☝️ everyone already has a universal vacuum, its just a 2 meter radius so its hard to notice

fr tho, mag’s change doesn't have to be drastic, just have her pull radius stack with vacuum.  They should also consider making her immune or at least resistant to magnetic status, it just makes sense.

|
I personally think all associated frames should have this passive, full immunity would make most sense but i get that might be too strong, so i would say 90% resist at least.

what im saying is, frost shouldn't be slowed down by cold, ember shouldn’t burn from heat procs(or overheat in general, thats a different topic..)

nidus>radiation

saryn>toxin

Volt>electric

etc.

however, the devs have been asked this very question before and have esentially said, “lol no” so i just wasted your time :)

 

also, iirc mags passive doesn't function period rn and is bugged

Edited May 8 by Ntrophy

[Probably_Asleep]

3 hours ago, Ntrophy said:

Akshually 🤓☝️ everyone already has a universal vacuum, its just a 2 meter radius so its hard to notice
fr tho, mag’s change doesn't have to be drastic, just have her pull radius stack with vacuum.  They should also consider making her immune or at least resistant to magnetic status, it just makes sense.
I personally think all associated frames should have this passive, full immunity would make most sense but i get that might be too strong, so i would say 90% resist at least.
what im saying is, frost shouldn't be slowed down by cold, ember shouldn’t burn from heat procs(or overheat in general, thats a different topic..)
nidus>radiation
saryn>toxin
Volt>electric
etc.
however, the devs have been asked this very question before and have esentially said, “lol no” so i just wasted your time :)
also, iirc mags passive doesn't function period rn and is bugged

I do think a stacking vacuum would both be the easiest and most sensible. The same thing happened with Hildryn. Her shield gating was so popular they decided to make it a universal feature, but they gave her more as a consolation.

And YES! It makes zero sense why elemental frames get damage from the element that courses through their very veins. I refuse to believe there's any game-breaking risk in doing this. Plenty of frames have far better survival options than if they gave a frame immunity to a single element.

The main reason I'm regularly updating this thread is because I enjoy working out my brainstorming abilities, but I also think passives has started getting more advance and I figure Mag deserves a space on that bandwagon. Mag is really getting assaulted with new creative decisions with the recent nerf to her Polarize Augment, the upcoming (relative) nerf to Armor Stripping, and the new "end game" challenges that disable things like shields/abilities/operator. Not to mention that Mag's Pull is bugged to not work (at least on the Switch) half the time. So between bugs and nerfs, I think it's fair to say Mag could do for a nice passive.

This is not to say Mag needs more attention than other frames. I know there are frames that really need better passives and general reworks. I just think DE still believes Mag is going just fine and they haven't realized that a lot of their changes are negatively affecting Mag. (And I guess to be fair Mag is still doing okay. Her #2 is just that powerful that all these nerfs still can't pull her down; but it displeases me that the rest of her kit is getting butchered)

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Today's Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Spin Stabilized Levitation
Playing emotes will regenerate energy, increase Mag's mobility, and add electric damage to her attacks; effect depends on time charged.

Thought about calling this Levitron, but given the history I think it's best to leave that alone. The concept here is that Mag can use her body to naturally and passively enhance her performance and catalyze natural phenomenon. There are three effects:

1. While playing an emote, Mag generates 10 energy per second. (Stacks with other generation sources)
2. While playing an emote, Mag's mobility increases every second:
   • +0.15% Sprint Speed up to a maximum of +1.5%
   • +10% Jump Height up to a maximum of +100%
   • +5% Parkour Velocity up to a maximum of 50%
   • +3 seconds effects duration with no maximum
3. While playing an emote, Mag builds an electric charge that applies electric damage to her attacks
   • +1% Electric Damage / Status Chance per level, with an additional 1% per Forma installed (maximum 50%)
   • Applies to Abilities cast, Shots (or Battery points) fired from Primary/Secondary, Melee strikes, and Parkour attacks
   • Builds one charge per second with no maximum

For starters, I can't think of anything that actually incorporates Emotes into practical gameplay. (Except maybe if you count earning equipment through Nightwave, or preventing knockdown while playing emotes) So this would pioneer new ground of making emotes serve an in-mission purpose. This also introduces the idea of using Forma count as a means to level up more than just your Mod space.

A potential objection I could see to this passive would be that it encourages standing in place. But that already exists with Zenurk's Wellspring and Wisp's Motes (to name the two that come immediately to mind). Much like those two however, this shouldn't be seen as an AFK advocate. Players use stationary boost stations to increase the resources they use to play on. It's not a camping mechanism; it's a recharge provision.

Mag could really use energy regeneration, especially early game. There are also precious little sources of speed early game, so being able to spend 10 seconds to get 30 seconds of 2.5 Sprint Speed would be very welcome from the start. There's also no way to add elemental damage to Warframe abilities, which is sad considering the new Archon Mods that were introduced last year.

Late game though would also see many uses for this. Mag is usually tied to the Zenurik school, but this would free her to use other options. Not to mention, freeing up Mod space from Mobility Mods will help always. Finally, the Electric Damage could help extend the lifespan of some of her abilities into later stages of the game, and will always be a welcome addition to normal weapons damage.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magna Carta
Mag reports bugs to DE.

This is a very different kind of passive and one that I'm personally on the fence about. On the one side, it would stink to waste a passive on something that has zero gameplay value. On the other side, this could really move the development of Warframe forward.

How would this work? Well, simply put: Mag triggers diagnostic checks and metric transmissions. (Maybe that's not "simply put...") In other words, Mag tells the game to monitor for things not working as intended, and tells DE when there's a bug. Mag would then become the "eyes and ears" of DE. For a more practical explanation, I'll explain it this way: Known issues will be translated into intermittent checks that only run when there's a Mag in the squad (frequency determined by platform). Hotfixes upload new known issues to gather data on. Additionally, obvious bugs will always be monitored like crashes, freezes, host migrations, squad members getting stuck behind walls, bosses disappearing or becoming invulnerable, etc. Mag will always automatically report certain persistent bugs and generally undeniable signs of the game failing to perform correctly.

Also, Mag players can submit bug reports from chat. Simply set a waypoint, open chat, and type "/bug whatever..." The /bug opener will tell the system to report it to DE, and whatever you write after that will be included with the report along with information about your mission and the object/location your waypoint is set at. Preventing abuse would be a crude but effective method of simply providing zero feedback to the player. No "bug report sent!" message will be displayed, so there won't be any real way of knowing if it actually sent or if anyone will read it. You could also put a hard cap on how many bug reports any player can make in a single day.

The reason I'm calling it "Magna Carta" is because this would be a system of ensuring the "rights" of players. (Read your history) Of course the other reason is the "Mag" pun. Generally, it would make Mag the character in this game that is responsible for helping players have a pleasant and smooth experience. If people detect a bug, they could even replay as Mag or request a friend to join as Mag so they could send exact data directly to DE about it. As to the possible objection I could see people making of: "Why not give this to EVERY character?" The answer to that is simple: Mag is a generally unpopular character who is played at a medium pace. She's just perfect for the job! We don't want more metrics streaming from all devices all the time hogging bandwidth and slowing framerate. So this lets the players choose when to send that data, and it lets the Mag-mains act as guardians for the broader player base.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magnetosphere
Mag absorbs Magnetic damage, gaining health and energy. She also is immune to Radiation Status, and will disrupt CC-Immunity within 5 meters x Ability Range.

This plays on the magnetosphere that protects Earth from Solar Radiation. The magnetic field surrounding the earth redirects and disrupts much of the ionizing radiation coming off the sun, making the Earth a uniquely habitable environment for organisms with intricate molecules like DNA and proteins. So by extension, the master of Magnetism should be able to blow away Radiation no problem. Jumping off of that concept, her Magnetosphere could be strengthened by external sources of Magnetism, and disrupt/disable fields generated by electromagnetic radiation. I believe "Overguard" is a form of em-radiation because it behaves exactly like shields but does not regenerate. I think shields are a constantly powered field designed to rebuild after taking damage, whereas overguard is more like a static field that does not need to be continuously powered but also disappears completely when the charge is depleted. Sort of like the difference between a power supply and a static electric charge. Mag's passive wouldn't want to deal with shields because she'd be competing with a power supply and that would drain her energy. But for a static structure like an already-charged field, she could pop that effortlessly, simply changing the rules of that it was attached to so that the field destabilizes and dissipates.

That's the theory, in practice it would behave like this:

• When Mag gets damaged with Magnetic attacks, she takes the damage but gains that same amount of damage in Energy
• When Mag would get a Magnetic status, she is immune to it and instead regains 50% of her health
• When Mag is hit with Radiation attacks, she takes the damage but will never receive the status effect
• When Mag is within 5 Meters of an enemy with Overguard, her CC abilities will damage their Overguard by 50% per cast
  • Pull, Polarize (when Augmented), and Crush will take half of the Overguard off of enemies
  • Pull and Crush do not work on Nullifier Crewmen's bubbles, but Polarize when Augmented pops it instantly
  • 5 Meters is affected by Ability Range, but the percentage is not affected by Ability Strength
  • Polarize with Augment can affect bosses (disabling Robotic and jamming weapons), but at half duration

And as is becoming my custom, I'll make an argument for why I don't think this is overpowered. First as regards the elemental interactions, there are very few enemies/hazards that use Magnetic or Radiation. Radiation would still deal damage, it just wouldn't cause confusion. And Magnetic would also still deal damage, but if it procs a debuff then Mag will instead gain health. This will make Mag "unkillable" to Magnetic damage only if an enemy is using solely Magnetic and only of the attack itself does less than 50% damage to her health. Magnetic attacks that have low status chance would still be a danger, and powerful attacks would also still be a risk.

Secondly as regards the CC-Immunity, I think this is a completely fair counter. An Overguard enemy is only a danger to CC-Dependent frames. Frames that deal massive amounts of raw damage simply blow away the Overguard, so it behaves like nothing more than an additional health bar in that case. Because we have frames that can now deal such staggering amounts of damage that the Overguard itself is no more than a drop in the bucket, then the power ceiling already sits high above what CC frames can output. With future promises to cap armor, this also makes the power disparity even larger. So any talk of CC frames being overpowered these days is mathematically inaccurate.

Additionally (still talking to CC-Immunity), with a system like this, it doesn't change the principle behind Overguard. Overguard was supposed to make Eximus units into mini-field-bosses; enemies that required individual attention. With a limited range, this would require Mag to still deliver that individual attention. Even a 300% Range build would only give Mag the ability to manage a small room, and it would still require her to cast two abilities to deplete Overgaurd, effectively tripling her energy cost. Overguard enemies would therefore still be formidable and still require special consideration. Contrast this to a nuke frame that can destroy mobs and Eximus alike without having to care what's actually in range, and it's clear which frame is violating the underlying principle of Overguard.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Magnetar Heart
Mag's emotional state affects her abilities and performance.

Generally speaking, Mag is a chill lady; she'd rather think through her problems than brute force it. But when she does lose her composure, expect an immediate resolution. Magnetars are neutron stars with a mysteriously intense magnetic field. Physicists are still trying to figure out how they form, as well as what exactly happens with magnetic fields that intense, but the current understanding is that it will dissolve normal matter down to its subatomic particles. The concept behind this passive would be that Mag's "heart" (emotions, not necessarily the core of her circulatory system since we don't know exactly how Warframe anatomy works) regulates the intensity of her electromagnetic power.

As far as how to quantify her emotional state, Warframe doesn't have an engine for monitoring that, so it would have to be linked to other factors. As a relatively simple "two-axis" system, I'd recommend calm/agitated on the X-axis, and negative/positive on the Y-axis. So:

• Calm-Positive: Relaxed 😴
  • Increased:
    • Ability Efficiency
    • Weapon Accuracy
    • Combo Duration
  • Decreased:
    • Ability Strength
    • Weapon Fire Rate
    • Combo Count Chance
• Calm-Negative: Sad ☹️
  • Increased:
    • Ability Duration
    • Headshot Multiplier
    • Critical Damage
  • Decreased:
    • Ability Range
    • Base Damage
    • Critical Chance
• Agitated-Positive: Excited 😁
  • Increased:
    • Ability Range
    • Weapon Fire Rate
    • Melee Attack Speed
  • Decreased:
    • Ability Efficiency
    • Weapon Accuracy
    • Weapon Follow-Through
• Agitated-Negative: Angry 😠
  • Increased:
    • Ability Strength
    • Weapon Damage
    • Faction Damage
  • Decreased:
    • Ability Duration
    • Ability Efficiency
    • Max-HP

This is just a rough draft to showcase how it could work, but I'm sure you get the idea. Essentially her emotional state would grant bonuses and drawbacks in proportion to the intensity of her emotions. As far as what causes those emotions, that would be based on events:

• Calm Increase (Agitation Decrease)
  • Full Health/Shields for X seconds
  • No alerted enemies nearby for X seconds
  • Picking up loot
• Agitation Increase (Calm Decrease)
  • Taking damage
  • Alarms being triggered
  • Assassination Target taunts / Lotus issuing warnings
• Positivity Increase (Negativity Decrease)
  • Playing / Seeing Emotes
  • Companion making noises
  • Landing Headshots / Stealth Finishers
• Negativity Increase (Positivity Decrease)
  • Companion taking damage
  • Allies getting downed
  • Getting knockdown / ragdoll / tethered

These are just some examples, but again I'm sure you get the idea. In principle, calm/agitation points would be from relief/stress events, while positive/negative points would be from funny/insulting events. There would be limits to how intense her emotions could get based on the bonuses/drawbacks. Finally in terms of mechanics, the emotions themselves would gradually go back neutral in the absence of stimulating events.

I know this seems like a complicated system, but it really wouldn't be in both programming and practice. In programming, you'd just need to assign points to each event and use the running total to determine her current emotional profile. In practice, you could have one of four emotion icons in the buffs bar with a number showing how intense it is. When pausing and hovering over it, you could see exactly how much the stats are getting boosted/reduced.

There's a lot of potential in this system, but even as the one suggesting it I can't give you any specifics yet. It would depend on what triggers and stats are affected, and I'm not proposing that my list be the final draft. That said, I'd suggest that it be set up in a way that helps based on how you play. So if you're doing a stealth run, it would make sense that she's more accurate and can cast more abilities, but if you're in the heat of battle then it would make more sense for your strength to increase to scale with the enemy intensity. I'd be excited though to see how the system might get manipulated by the player base once they learn the triggers and develop a play style to reliably keep those triggers up.

[Probably_Asleep]

On 2023-02-23 at 12:13 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

Featured Passive Replacement for Mag:
Current Opposition
Gain 1 energy per second per Electric status on enemies and allies within Affinity Range

This is inspired by the new Magnetic changes being made in the Jade Shadows update. If Magnetic Damage causes Electric status after Overguard/Shields are broken, then this would synergize with that effect and give Mag energy for it. Essentially the more Electric stacks there are on enemies and allies, the more Mag generates energy. She could either just use her abilities to break shields/overguard, or she could build for Electric damage. With enough stacks, Mag should be able to keep up her energy even in game modes like E/DA where it's being drained constantly. Energy Exhaustion for instance drains 2 energy per second for each nearby enemy. This could be compensated though by making sure 3 or more Electric status stacks are on each enemy at all times. Even Vampyric Liminus, while draining 25 energy per second (or do they both do that separately? It is 50 per second for solo players?), they might still be contended with if you build for something like a high status duration with low damage for your secondary. Electric status has no limit to the amount of stacks, so as long as you're not wiping out enemies before having them work for you in generating energy, then you'll be able to compete with energy drain debuffs regardless of how harsh they are.

The science(ish) concept for this is that Electric currents produce Magnetic fields that themselves could generate more electrical currents. A lightning bolt for instance could short circuit a generator like the alternator in your car even without actually touching your car. So Mag being in the proximity of Electrical current should allow how to manipulate that to generate energy, and the more current there is, the more energy she's be able to generate. This would be so native to the way she operates that it would act as a passive; something she does like breathing and blinking where no thought is required. (Ironically though Mag has no eyes or mouth...)