Augment mods should be moldable externally

[RATATOUILLETHETHIRD]

Augments mods should be able to be moded externally with out talking one of the core 8 mods on your Warframe. Most augments mods are quality of life or offer a feature that should have been available on the frame from the start (Rhino needing an augment to recast Roar or Iron skin/ Nidus needing a augment to recast is Larva/ or Lavos needing augment to reduce the cooldown of is abilities). Some Warframes actively feel bad to play with out augment especially Gyre's needing cathode current so her Rotorswell stays active, this augment in particular makes the frame feel so much smoother to play with that gyre not being abel to make use of its effect in her base kit genuinely makes her makes her feel incomplete with out it.

-(Ash needing an augment to have access to the worst armor striping option method in the game in a poste green shard world)

 

Their should be a way to equip augment mod 1 or 2 augment mod on a separate page, or fusing the augments directly into your frame with the helminth, or even an Evolution three that lets you toggle the special effects you want to have like with the incarnon gear because dedicating a full mod sloth for a feature that should have been there from the starts feels frustrating. 

 

The system should probably be limited to only being abel to fuse/evolve/externally moded/ 1 or 2 (maybe just 1 for balance preposes ) a frames innate abilities so if you want to use an augment for a subsumed ability you still need to mod it directly on your main modding page (like shock trooper - especially since the addition of melee influence)

Edited February 12 by RATATOUILLETHETHIRD
make a more accurate post

[MBaldelli]

Hahahahaha....

There comes a point where you should be able to plan it to use the mods and still be able to accomplish more than enough to completely decimate the map still or else the power creep will be complete out of control. 

Case in point, Hydroid Prime.  I use both Pilfering Swarm and Viral Tempest (and take 2 mods that I could use for other things as you're suggesting). With 2 forma (so I can take advantage of Primed Sure Footed), I not only can maintain tentacle swarm for more than 60 seconds and completely cover the map with viral-corrosive rain AND STILL DO more damage than the whole of the squad combined.  Further I never once go down and require a revive from myself or the squad.  

If you can't do this -- this is a you problem and you should re-examine your builds carefully as you're clearly not doing something right.  

[ECCHOSIERRA]

1 hour ago, MBaldelli said:

Hahahahaha....

There comes a point where you should be able to plan it to use the mods and still be able to accomplish more than enough to completely decimate the map still or else the power creep will be complete out of control. 

Case in point, Hydroid Prime.  I use both Pilfering Swarm and Viral Tempest (and take 2 mods that I could use for other things as you're suggesting). With 2 forma (so I can take advantage of Primed Sure Footed), I not only can maintain tentacle swarm for more than 60 seconds and completely cover the map with viral-corrosive rain AND STILL DO more damage than the whole of the squad combined.  Further I never once go down and require a revive from myself or the squad.  

If you can't do this -- this is a you problem and you should re-examine your builds carefully as you're clearly not doing something right.  

Tell me why its fair rhino needs an augment just to be able to recast iron skin when:

1) Iron skin isnt even that good compared to alot of other survivability abilities (like mesmer skin for example) and,

2) most, almost all, survivability abilities can be refreshed without giving up a mod slot.

I can understand arguing against giving every single warframe an "augment slot" or similar idea but, in my humble opinion, there is a list of abilities that "need" an augment just to feel useable and that seems more a matter of certain things just being outdated, than anything else.

[(XBOX)zThulsaDoomz]

What would be a more reasonable request are QoL changes to those abilities.

What you are asking for is even more power creep.  This is just a bad idea imo

[trst]

If you're slotting an augment because you don't want to play without that effect then that's the modding system working as intended. The solution to this "issue" isn't to make augments free but to argue for buffs/QOL for frames and/or buffs to augments you don't think are worth slotting. No reason to ruin a system when it's not the cause of your problem.

 

8 minutes ago, ECCHOSIERRA said:

Tell me why its fair rhino needs an augment just to be able to recast iron skin when:

1) Iron skin isnt even that good compared to alot of other survivability abilities (like mesmer skin for example) and,

2) most, almost all, survivability abilities can be refreshed without giving up a mod slot.

I can understand arguing against giving every single warframe an "augment slot" or similar idea but, in my humble opinion, there is a list of abilities that "need" an augment just to feel useable and that seems more a matter of certain things just being outdated, than anything else.

The problem with the whole Rhino argument is that making augments free =/= recastable Iron Skin. Just go pester DE for Iron Skin to be recastable especially as the augment has an effect beyond just recasting Iron Skin.

Also the whole "abilities need augments" thing is just outright wrong. No ability requires an augment; only playstyles/goals require certain augments. For instance Iron Skin does not require Iron Shrapnel to feel usable when one can just build/play Rhino in a way that doesn't need Iron Skin to never be down. Or the infamous example of Energy Transfer not being mandatory when one can just build for only one of the abilities or just plan to restack them between casts.

[Berzerkules]

I know it will never happen and I hate it when people suggest WF implement things from other games but I kind of wish every ability had several "augments" and you could toggle on what variation of the ability you wanted. 

Like breach surge would have the option to choose between base radiation damage or choose any of the other combined elements of viral, corrosive, magnetic, gas or blast.

More weird builds would be fun even though it's totally unnecessary.

[SDGDen]

at that point, why not just.... integrate all of the augments into their base abilities? that definitely can't go wrong and won't result in powercreep! 

[Birdframe_Prime]

Eh-heh... oh man...

Forum Bingo!

So, the reason why the answer is 'Hahahahahah... No.' Is because that's DE's answer.

They've said it over and over, and even doubled down on making sure that Augments take up mod slots, even if they're just the Exilus.

DE want Augments to take up mod slots. They don't want you having a full regular build and also the Augment's effects.

Do you know what they did instead?

They came up with the Archon Shard system, where you can use the Shards to get back a certain amount of what you might lose by putting an Augment on. Like Health, or Energy Max, or Casting Speed, or even a little bit of Strength or Duration.

So you can, for example, choose to min-max a build for the base abilities, even for a Helminth swap, or you can build with Augments for a not-so-min-maxed build that does something different.

That's been their actual response to this question being asked before. Every time. The Shards are newer, but before that the answer was always that they want the opposite of what you want.

You want to buff the Augments so they're more fair to the frame? Sure. DE will do that. DE has buffed Augments before and will do again. But the reason they buff Augments is because they want them to be a genuine trade-off for the regular mods that they're replacing. Something you have to choose and weigh the cost of.

[Merkranire]

No idea what core 8 you’re talking about, but I can equip several augments or all of them at once

[MBaldelli]

10 hours ago, ECCHOSIERRA said:

Tell me why its fair rhino needs an augment just to be able to recast iron skin when:

the problem you failing to pay attention to is this part of the augment:

* Iron Skin Augment: Recasting Iron Skin will cause it to detonate, dealing 100% of its remaining Health as Puncture Damage, and knocking down enemies.

While the blast radius is small, it sufficient if you're surrounded to stagger enemies.    Also your problem is that there are many warframes that have a similar mechanic.  Namely even Nezha's Warding Halo.  

The problem is that Pablo has brought up that there's a laundry list of things he wants to improve.  As he didn't post his laundry list -- coupled with the fact that hotfixes are currently on pause -- you're going to have to wait to see if this is addressed as part of his laundry list.  

10 hours ago, ECCHOSIERRA said:

I can understand arguing against giving every single warframe an "augment slot" or similar idea but, in my humble opinion, there is a list of abilities that "need" an augment just to feel useable and that seems more a matter of certain things just being outdated, than anything else.

Huge problem with this...  And it's based on this saying, if you give an inch, expect the demands to pull a mile.  Suffice it to say how long before someone says, "it's not enough -- we need more." 

Edited February 11 by MBaldelli

[Ksape9901]

So on an ability by ability basis, you're right.  There's certain augments that should definitely be reworked and put into their specific abilities as baseline.

BUT, there are many more that should remain mods (looking at you Hydroid, love you).

But for Rhino... you're already one of the top weapon platforms in the game, with easy lvl cap putting 0 mods towards your iron skin, and have some of the most insane buffs for your weapons.  No, non of his mods should come standard.  The iron skin augment is purely there for Index and as a noob trap.

 

Quick edit to provide examples of what should be baseline:

Energy Transfer for Equinox

Edited February 11 by Ksape9901

[TARINunit9]

15 hours ago, ECCHOSIERRA said:

Tell me why its fair rhino needs an augment just to be able to recast iron skin when:

1) Iron skin isnt even that good compared to alot of other survivability abilities (like mesmer skin for example) and,

2) most, almost all, survivability abilities can be refreshed without giving up a mod slot.

Rhino absolutely should be able to recast Iron Skin. The augment is supposed to turn Iron Skin into a damaging attack, that's why it takes up a mod slot, so the recastability part should just be moved to the base ability

[Skoomaseller]

said it before will say again

as long as augments like iron shrapnel, biting frost, sonic fracture, seeking shuriken/fatal teleport etc exist, i support having an augment slot. 

i will support having an augment slot as long as there are plenty of useless abilities that actually need their augment to even be worth using. 

don't try to justify to me the existence of useless base abilities, I will not be swayed. as long as DE is not working on changing how they work at base, again, i will be in favour of having a special slot for our augments. 

Edited February 12 by Skoomaseller

[(PSN)Sentiel]

1 hour ago, Skoomaseller said:

said it before will say again

as long as augments like iron shrapnel, biting frost, sonic fracture, seeking shuriken/fatal teleport etc exist, i support having an augment slot. 

i will support having an augment slot as long as there are plenty of useless abilities that actually need their augment to even be worth using. 

don't try to justify to me the existence of useless base abilities, I will not be swayed. as long as DE is not working on changing how they work at base, again, i will be in favour of having a special slot for our augments. 

I tried using Absorb without the Augment. Absolutely worthless and useless. You can't even jump out with your Operator while it's in use (which you can with Assimilate lol).

Abilities like these need to have their augments added to the base ability or a dedicated slot, as you wrote. We shouldn't be forced to waste a mod slot in order to make a otherwise junk ability usable.

[Aerikx]

Hot Take:

I am and have always been against augments. 

I feel it is bad design to essentially punish players by making the fix to many abilities require the player sacrifice something. 

Example:

All of Frost's augments, Fatal Teleport, Reactive Storm, Prowl.

The majority of Augments in the game have features that should just have been built in. 

However...

One of my old ideas for how Augments should work was in away used by DE to make incarnons. (IE: Talent Trees/Focus but for Warframes)

IMPO, Augments should stay as customization choices in the Game, it's been years they are a part of the game. But like Incarnons they should be nodes that Players have to select after sacrificing the Augment mod and/or completing some challenges. 

This retains the "Choice" and Sacrifice aspect while giving the illusion of progression. 

That said, it's probably easier to just add an Augment Slot. For the sake and sanity of DE's wallet.......an 'Exilus Augment Adapter' to sell for Plat. (We did get Melee Exilus so it can and is long overdue as a form of progression.)

[0_The_F00l]

I had similar opinions to OP before they introduced the archon shard system.

And while they don't exactly bake an augment into the frame , it does the next best thing , free up a slot (sometimes) to accomodate the augment.

This still doesn't help every frame , and i do feel it would be better to rework some of the augments to be innate to the frame instead of a seperate mod. 

So I prefer to discuss individual frames/abilities as part of a rework now.

I am still open to some means to attach augments without taking a mod slot , but not without some downsides as a balancing mechanism.

Edited February 12 by 0_The_F00l
Merging correction

[RATATOUILLETHETHIRD]

so you took the most recently reworked Warframe as a counter example i don't know if you own more then 1 frame or your just a disingenuous person who happened to be bored that day but a very significant amount of frames have very lackluster abilities with out their augment. If your trying to pretend like ash's shuriken isn't a waste an ability and an sloth  on any thing past level 6 with out its augment and that dedicating a full mod sloth for the worst armor striping option in the game especially since the inclusion of green shards would be to op then you should to re-examine your logic you're clearly not doing something right

On 2024-02-10 at 10:31 PM, MBaldelli said:

Hahahahaha....

There comes a point where you should be able to plan it to use the mods and still be able to accomplish more than enough to completely decimate the map still or else the power creep will be complete out of control. 

Case in point, Hydroid Prime.  I use both Pilfering Swarm and Viral Tempest (and take 2 mods that I could use for other things as you're suggesting). With 2 forma (so I can take advantage of Primed Sure Footed), I not only can maintain tentacle swarm for more than 60 seconds and completely cover the map with viral-corrosive rain AND STILL DO more damage than the whole of the squad combined.  Further I never once go down and require a revive from myself or the squad.  

If you can't do this -- this is a you problem and you should re-examine your builds carefully as you're clearly not doing something right.  

 

[Eda.Mone]

On 2024-02-10 at 10:52 PM, trst said:

If you're slotting an augment because you don't want to play without that effect then that's the modding system working as intended. The solution to this "issue" isn't to make augments free but to argue for buffs/QOL for frames and/or buffs to augments you don't think are worth slotting. No reason to ruin a system when it's not the cause of your problem.

 

The problem with the whole Rhino argument is that making augments free =/= recastable Iron Skin. Just go pester DE for Iron Skin to be recastable especially as the augment has an effect beyond just recasting Iron Skin.

Also the whole "abilities need augments" thing is just outright wrong. No ability requires an augment; only playstyles/goals require certain augments. For instance Iron Skin does not require Iron Shrapnel to feel usable when one can just build/play Rhino in a way that doesn't need Iron Skin to never be down. Or the infamous example of Energy Transfer not being mandatory when one can just build for only one of the abilities or just plan to restack them between casts.

Some abilities / frames need augments to be playable lol.

[RATATOUILLETHETHIRD]

3 hours ago, 0_The_F00l said:

I had similar opinions to OP before they introduced the archon shard system.

And while they don't exactly bake an augment into the frame , it does the next best thing , free up a slot (sometimes) to accomodate the augment.

This still doesn't help every frame , and i do feel it would be better to rework some of the augments to be innate to the frame instead of a seperate mod. 

So I prefer to discuss individual frames/abilities as part of a rework now.

I am still open to some means to attach augments without taking a mod slot , but not without some downsides as a balancing mechanism.

having ha helminth segment that lets you (infuse/add the augments effect directly to your frame) or a separate mode page like with the rail jack would be an easier option for DE to implement then reworking every single ability that is wonky or awkward or bad with out its augment.

in a perfect world every ability should be great with out an augment but practically speaking it would be faster and people wouldn't have to wait for their particular frames ability to gets reworked

[Aruquae]

3 hours ago, 0_The_F00l said:

This still doesn't help every frame , and i do feel it would be better to rework some of the augments to be innate to the frame instead of a seperate mod. 

This is true. Caliban is completely unplayable without all of his OP augments. I make to to put all 6 augments into his kit because he’s so satisfying to use with them. 
Oh… sorry I had too much copium

[UnstarPrime]

Being constrained by mod space is the whole point of the modding system.  Limitations are what allow players to make meaningful decisions.  Having a limited number of mod slots means that players can't get everything they want, which means they will need to choose between different possibilities.  This is an important part of what makes creating a build for a frame so challenging and compelling, because you have to whittle down all the potential possibilities into a singular collection of choices that best fits your desires.

And Augments are a wonderful part of this system, as these are choices that often contain some of the most meaningful ramifications.  As an example, let's look at this mod:

This mod provides a lot of power.  And make no mistake, it's no band-aid; without this mod, Crush is already well-worth using.  It provides temporary CC, outputs damage, and caps my entire squad's overshields (including my pet).

And with this one mod, Crush gets even stronger, gaining:

• a cast speed buff
• a powerful armor strip
• a snare

I can only put 8 normal mods in my Warframe build, and out of the hundreds of mods that were competing for this slot, this Augment made the cut.  That means I deemed it one of the best 8 mods to use in the build I wanted to make.  Its slot in my build is well-earned.

But even though it's powerful, there are plenty of Mag players who aren't using this mod.  They want different things than I do, and because of that they made different choices.  And that's fantastic and interesting!  That indicates a system with depth!  This increases build variety in a very meaningful way, and it makes me think about what might be possible if I made different modding choices.  Maybe I'll even try them myself sometime!  But even if I don't, it's so cool to have decided on a build that fits me, and to see others deciding on different builds that fit them.  All of which is to say, removing Augments from this mod slot competition would remove so much of what makes modding a worthwhile system in the first place.

And to be clear, Fracturing Crush isn't an outlier; there are plenty of Augments that do a great job of earning their mod slots.  I'm sure we can all think of Augments that don't, but that's a problem with the balance of those specific mods, not the overall system.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Simply giving me more mod slots without giving me new choices to make with them isn't just needless power creep; it also serves to reduce the number of compelling choices I'm encouraged to make as a player, and reduces the value and impact of the choices that players make.'

No thank you.

Edited February 12 by UnstarPrime
typo

[Aruquae]

4 minutes ago, UnstarPrime said:

Being constrained by mod space is the whole point of the modding system.  Limitations are what allow players to make meaningful decisions.  Having a limited number of mod slots means that players can't get everything they want, which means they will need to choose between different possibilities.  This is an important part of what makes creating a build for a frame so challenging and compelling, because you have to whittle down all the potential possibilities into a singular collection of choices that best fits your desires.

And Augments are a wonderful part of this system, as these are choices that often contain some of the most meaningful ramifications.  As an example, let's look at this mod:

This mod provides a lot of power.  And make no mistake, it's no band-aid; without this mod, Crush is already well-worth using.  It provides temporary CC, outputs damage, and caps my entire squad's overshields (including my pet).

And with this one mod, Crush gets even stronger, gaining:

• a cast speed buff
• a powerful armor strip
• a snare

I can only put 8 normal mods in my Warframe build, and out of the hundreds of mods that were competing for this slot, this Augment made the cut.  That means I deemed it one of the best 8 mods to use in the build I wanted to make.  Its slot in my build is well-earned.

But even though it's powerful, there are plenty of Mag players who aren't using this mod.  They want different things than I do, and because of that they made different choices.  And that's fantastic and interesting!  That indicates a system with depth!  This increases build variety in a very meaningful way, and it makes me think about what might be possible if I made different modding choices.  Maybe I'll even try them myself sometime!  But even if I don't, it's so cool to have decided on a build that fits me, and to see others deciding on different builds that fit them.  All of which is to say, removing Augments from this mod slot competition would remove so much of what makes modding a worthwhile system in the first place.

And to be clear, Fracturing Crush isn't an outlier; there are plenty of Augments that do a great job of earning their mod slots.  I'm sure we can all think of Augments that don't, but that's a problem with the balance of those specific mods, not the overall system.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Simply giving me more mod slots without giving me new choices to make with them isn't just needless power creep; it also serves to reduce the number of compelling choices I'm encouraged to make as a player, and reduces the value and impact of the choices that players make.'

No thank you.

I agree, this mod is the definition of what augments should be. 
But then you got things like Energy Transfer. Some augments should be a part of the kit, others such as this (and Voruna’s augment) are better left as mods. 

[RATATOUILLETHETHIRD]

10 minutes ago, UnstarPrime said:

Being constrained by mod space is the whole point of the modding system.  Limitations are what allow players to make meaningful decisions.  Having a limited number of mod slots means that players can't get everything they want, which means they will need to choose between different possibilities.  This is an important part of what makes creating a build for a frame so challenging and compelling, because you have to whittle down all the potential possibilities into a singular collection of choices that best fits your desires.

And Augments are a wonderful part of this system, as these are choices that often contain some of the most meaningful ramifications.  As an example, let's look at this mod:

This mod provides a lot of power.  And make no mistake, it's no band-aid; without this mod, Crush is already well-worth using.  It provides temporary CC, outputs damage, and caps my entire squad's overshields (including my pet).

And with this one mod, Crush gets even stronger, gaining:

• a cast speed buff
• a powerful armor strip
• a snare

I can only put 8 normal mods in my Warframe build, and out of the hundreds of mods that were competing for this slot, this Augment made the cut.  That means I deemed it one of the best 8 mods to use in the build I wanted to make.  Its slot in my build is well-earned.

But even though it's powerful, there are plenty of Mag players who aren't using this mod.  They want different things than I do, and because of that they made different choices.  And that's fantastic and interesting!  That indicates a system with depth!  This increases build variety in a very meaningful way, and it makes me think about what might be possible if I made different modding choices.  Maybe I'll even try them myself sometime!  But even if I don't, it's so cool to have decided on a build that fits me, and to see others deciding on different builds that fit them.  All of which is to say, removing Augments from this mod slot competition would remove so much of what makes modding a worthwhile system in the first place.

And to be clear, Fracturing Crush isn't an outlier; there are plenty of Augments that do a great job of earning their mod slots.  I'm sure we can all think of Augments that don't, but that's a problem with the balance of those specific mods, not the overall system.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Simply giving me more mod slots without giving me new choices to make with them isn't just needless power creep; it also serves to reduce the number of compelling choices I'm encouraged to make as a player, and reduces the value and impact of the choices that players make.'

No thank you.

Not every frame as such a worth while augment as mag's fracturing crush and even fewer frame have a kits as fun as mag's fair bit of them feel awkward or clunky with out their augment.

Plus having one more extra mod sloth to work with on mag would give you more build possibility's not less. Its not like if you could select your augment's like a talent three or put them directly on your frame that every single mag player would use the same build

[Birdframe_Prime]

4 hours ago, Aerikx said:

One of my old ideas for how Augments should work was in away used by DE to make incarnons. (IE: Talent Trees/Focus but for Warframes)

Funny you should mention that, because this actually came up on a thread a couple of months ago and a few people hashed out some thoughts on the topic.

The idea was that an Augment should be this mod that affects a specific Ability, has no Polarity so it can't be cost-reduced, and you complete challenges to unlock the potential of it just like an Incarnon effect.

So the base level on installing the mod is that it has a specific effect on the Ability that increases a relevant stat. For example, if you just want to put an additional 50% Range on the Ability, you don't have to do anything else, it's just a straight upgrade to the Ability, and can be used to counter some min-maxing on the other Abilities.

After completing some challenge, going to the Syndicate to rank up the Augment, you unlock a further stat adjustment, with an actual choice between three, like Efficiency, or Strength. or maybe a cap increase (like for... Yareli's 1, you can now cast 20 instead of 15 bubble traps).

After completing the final challenge and ranking it up with the Syndicate, you now have access to the change to the Ability, one that you can actually choose to have or choose another Stat increase. For example, you could choose to have Hildryn's Blazing Pillage to give you Shields from enemies that already have their defenses stripped, but if you've put a Helminth ability over her 3, you could instead choose to have an additional increase to... the time you stay status immune. This would also make it more fair for frames that put Pillage onto another frame, because they can't use Blazing Pillage, but they could use this other form of Augment.

Running 4 Augments could then, in theory, completely replace modding for the overall frame. You could now use the Augmented stats of each Ability, with only 4 basic mods, and have better overall results than the normal modding would give any one or two of them.

With the cost not able to be reduced by polarisation, this would then have a 4 Augment build running 36 points of the build for just those, which is nearly half the available points on anything not running something like Steel Charge. This means you'd need to ensure that your other mods averaged out the same, so using un-polarised Umbral mods wouldn't be ideal in that case, however there's plenty that could be done there. And that's just for the extreme case of 4 Augments, for frames that currently only have one or two, that would be way easier to work around.

Heck, I personally would love having mods that could specifically increase the Duration on my Turbulence and Tornado, without affecting the Duration of Tailwind, or counter for the added Efficiency of a Fleeting Expertise.

The whole idea would be that, just like Incarnon Adapters, they would be bespoke to each Ability on each frame, and have all the stats adjustable for when you Helminth those abilities over to another frame, too. You'd have to grind, and in some cases complete some silly challenges with them to get that level of power, but once you earned the power you'd have it, and an adjustment to the Ability that made it do something different.

(Also, I'm still as confused as one of the other players that asked what in the heck you're on about with the 'core 8' mods? I barely run the same 3 mods on all my frames because of the different ways of modding them.)

[UnstarPrime]

7 minutes ago, RATATOUILLETHETHIRD said:

Not every frame as such a worth while augment as mag's fracturing crush

But many of them do, and that's an important aspect to consider when trying to solve the design issue you're concerned about.  Because giving separate mod slots or whatever doesn't solve the core problem and perpetuates this disparity.  Right now you don't want to spend one of your limited mod slots on a weak band-aid augment, and I agree with you there.  But regardless of what new kind of slots you add to frames, you'll still be spending a "slot" on a weak band-aid augment.  For example, if every frame gets a slot that's only for Augments, frames with Fracturing Crush tier augments get a strong boost because they can put an amazing augment in that slot.  But if you use that same slot to enable Rhino to recast Iron Skin, you'll be wasting your slot on something weak.  And it won't be long before that starts to feel bad.  You'll find that you're in the same exact situation, where you are allocating some of your Warframe's possibility space to get something weak while others are getting something strong.

The only way to truly solve this disparity is to buff (and possibly rework) augments that are weak.  And if the devs decide to, those buffs can accompany incorporating certain convenience features like being able to recast Iron Skin into the frame's core ability design (which would necessitate an augment adjustment, hence why all solutions to this issue require that weak augments be buffed).