Suggestion: Temporary Potato (Catalyst)

[Silphy]

Would it be possible to have a temporary orokin catalyst that would work for a few days instead of forever?

 

Guns with a orokin catalysts in them are fun. They grow more quickly at 2 energy per level, you get to put mods in them sooner and feel them rise in power. Sometimes you might regret a potato in your gun though. Or you notice that leveling a gun to level 30 for mastery (that you're not considering equipping with a catalyst) would be waaaay more fun with a potato in it.

 

So why not make temp-tatoes? Catalysts that break after a certain amount of time? 

With them you could

 

- Test out a weapon before deciding if it deserves a real catalyst.

- Incentivize players to buy real potatoes since they get a taste of what their weapon is really capable of.

- Make leveling weapons only crafted for mastery points way more fun.

- Serve as a guide for new Tenno on how catalysts/reactors work, by giving them a few after completing the tutorial (idea by: Kyte)

 

After a (few) day(s) they break and your mods get reset exactly like the forma process does, perhaps with a prompt warning you beforehand. They could be limited to 3 per weapon so people don't use them as cheaper/grindable replacements of the real thing. Or they could cost platinum, but you'd get several for the price of 1 normal catalyst. 

 

However implemented, thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Silphy

[Scandroid]

you can always sell few mods and buy a catalyst

[Silphy]

There's over 100 weapons in the game, it'd be hard to do that with all of them, wouldn't you rather use those mods for credits or fusion? And do you really want to spend potatoes on weapons you're leveling for mastery and are going to sell to clear up slots anyway?

Edited November 24, 2013 by Silphy

[Scandroid]

why potato a weapon if your leveling it for mastery?

[Silphy]

Because it's more fun. Catalyst weapons are stronger, so you're able to take it to higher level areas sooner and level it faster. Instead of say, gluing it on your back while other tenno level it for you with bleed-off affinity, or taking it to mercury to fight level 1 enemies the first 10-12 levels before it can fit a serration/hornet strike.

 

You don't do it now because it's wasting an extremely limited resource; blue potatoes. So my suggestion: temporary catalysts that aren't as expensive as the real thing or could even drop from enemies, but don't last forever.

[Eraiez]

I like this idea, but somehow needs more limiting. A bit more of, n^ per weapon and n^ use per day. So somehow people won't buy this thing in bags and just keep on trying different weapons everyday. about 2 for the price of 1 real tater. 3's a crowd, always.

[Kyte]

A temptato that gave 1.5 mod energy per level (rounded up) would be an interesting sampler to tempt people into buying a full-fledged potato.

 

Make'em buyable with credits, need no blueprint. The idea's to use'em as a "gateway drug" kinda deal. Get'em hooked in the additional power a potato gives, then tell'em the real thing is even BETTER. Of course, someone could just keep buying temptatoes, but that's why it's only 1.5x level rather than 2x.

 

Maybe cost 50k credits or so. Give a free set (1 reactor and 1 catalyst) when completing the tutorial. Get'em hooked.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Kyte

[theammostore]

you can always sell few mods and buy a catalyst

You can only buy a potato with plat. Not credits.

[WhisperByte]

You can only buy a potato with plat. Not credits.

He meant spending days upon days spamming WTS in the trade chat trying to sell mods that everyone already has and won't buy ever even for 1 plat

[Silphy]

-snip-

 

Maybe cost 50k credits or so. Give a free set (1 reactor and 1 catalyst) when completing the tutorial. Get'em hooked.

 

That's a great idea. It could be part of the tutorial too, teaching new Tenno about how orokin upgrades work. Besides warframe/weapon slots, they'd know that a catalyst or reactor might also be a wise investment with their free 50 plat.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Silphy