Do you also get confused with polarity names?

[NeverToReturn]

Ey! Well the title is self explanatory, and it was going to be "Polarity naming nitpick", but i felt it was in good line to use a less inflammatory one.

Simply asking, does the name of polarities confuse you as well? Here's what I mean, and lets see if you relate to it. Keep in mind, this isn't a "WE SHOULD CHANGE THE NAME OF POLARITIES" warcry or anything like that, I don't want to be that kind of person.

So the polarity names are Madurai, Vazarin, Naramon, Zenurik and Unairu. Simple classics we've grown used to over the years. But then comes the symbol related to said names and here's where my brain breaks.

Madurai is a V
Vazarin is a D
Naramon is a - which kinda makes sense
Zenurik is a " so it fits having a weird name
And Unairu nobody remembers.

Do you happen to get confused when trying to, lets say, build a modular companion and end up misbuying the part you wish to use because Madurai makes you think of the D polarity shape and Vazarin sounds like the name of the V polarity would have? Just asking if that happens to you a lot, wishing to see if anybody goes through it. Not complaining or anything, it just feels odd.

[Zakkhar]

Nobody uses names of the polarities, we simply say V, D, Dash..

[trst]

Everyone I know just refers to them as V, D, and Dash polarities and don't use the actual names. While the rest aren't common enough to really need to have a name for them.

As for just wanting to remember the name I've had ten years to sort it out so I can't say I get tripped up by their names anymore. Hek I even get to drop the name Penjaga whenever someone is asking me about pet mods.

[UnstarPrime]

As far as I can recall, there is no situation in the game where the player is expected to know the names.  The name is flavor, and in all modding related contexts the icon is shown.  Unless I'm mistaken?  I've made and upgraded multiple of all modular pets, and I don't recall ever needing to know the name that the symbol is called by.

[NeverToReturn]

12 minutes ago, UnstarPrime said:

As far as I can recall, there is no situation in the game where the player is expected to know the names.  The name is flavor, and in all modding related contexts the icon is shown.  Unless I'm mistaken?  I've made and upgraded multiple of all modular pets, and I don't recall ever needing to know the name that the symbol is called by.

Oh no I never meant the names having any gameplay impact or anything of that sort. It just makes me trip every now and then when I go build a companion, since the parts description says it gives a certain polarity innate to the pet. Problem is, they don't show the symbol by the name in any instance, making me think "Oh okay this'll give me the V polarity" when in reality it gives the D polarity since my brain connects Varazin to the V, rather than the D polarity.

[UnstarPrime]

31 minutes ago, NeverToReturn said:

Oh no I never meant the names having any gameplay impact or anything of that sort. It just makes me trip every now and then when I go build a companion, since the parts description says it gives a certain polarity innate to the pet. Problem is, they don't show the symbol by the name in any instance, making me think "Oh okay this'll give me the V polarity" when in reality it gives the D polarity since my brain connects Varazin to the V, rather than the D polarity.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that there are certain points where you have to make decisions about which polarity to choose for a pet, and it shows the name but not the symbol?  That's what I was talking about, so if you've found a situation where that's the case, then I was mistaken.  Because yeah, in that case you'd have to translate from the name to the symbol in order to have an understanding of the game system benefit you're getting...and that's not great!  I'd honestly recommend putting that in the Feedback forums, along with the specific parts that have this problem.

[Birdframe_Prime]

I never get confused with them because I was around before they had names.

Polarities only got names after The Second Dream where it turned out that DE had forgotten to explain them to us and that's where the Focus School names were from.

[TARINunit9]

17 minutes ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

I never get confused with them because I was around before they had names.

Polarities only got names after The Second Dream where it turned out that DE had forgotten to explain them to us and that's where the Focus School names were from.

I am 99% sure this is wrong and the Arsenal's sort function always had the names in its mouseover text, but I don't have any way to go back in time nine years and actually check

[UnstarPrime]

1 hour ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

Polarities only got names after The Second Dream where it turned out that DE had forgotten to explain them to us and that's where the Focus School names were from.

Not sure if it's the first time, but on Devstream 55 in June of 2015 the devs showed a Star Chart prototype and mentioned that each sector was named after a Tenno school and that these corresponded to polarities.  That was half a year before the Second Dream was released.

Here's the link of the specific timestamp if you want to hear Steve mention that these names correspond to polarities: https://youtu.be/6mE63WI5byg?t=3053

Edited February 12 by UnstarPrime
realized it was more appropriate to quote Birdframe for this

[Merkranire]

I do kind of wish that I could understand the thinking behind the naming a bit clearer. I think that would help with remembering them

Like, okay, defensive mods are D. But not always? Like status? And cold? Is cold or status defensive? I guess cold slows things down, but is that really the thinking or is my idea of “Defensive mods” even accurate interpretation and what’s really meant is something that would make both Vitality and Cold sharing the same polarity make sense? I thought Unairu was defense?

Edited February 12 by Merkranire

[trst]

12 minutes ago, Merkranire said:

I do kind of wish that I could understand the thinking behind the naming a bit clearer. I think that would help with remembering them

Like, okay, defensive mods are D. But not always? Like status? And cold? Is cold or status defensive? I guess cold slows things down, but is that really the thinking or is my idea of “Defensive mods” even accurate interpretation and what’s really meant is something that would make both Vitality and Cold sharing the same polarity make sense? I thought Unairu was defense?

Cold and the Status chance mods used to be defensive mods. In Status 1.0 elements applied on every hit and cold being a slowing effect it was the "defensive" element. While the Status Chance mods once were Stun Chance mods that gave you a chance to stagger enemies on hit which then got reworked into Status Chance but kept the polarity.

[Merkranire]

14 minutes ago, trst said:

Cold and the Status chance mods used to be defensive mods. In Status 1.0 elements applied on every hit and cold being a slowing effect it was the "defensive" element. While the Status Chance mods once were Stun Chance mods that gave you a chance to stagger enemies on hit which then got reworked into Status Chance but kept the polarity.

Ooooh, that’s neat to know. Learn something new every day.

Still not sure why Unairu isn’t the defensive polarity; isn’t its whole thing defense and how we manipulate both ours and our enemy’s?

[trst]

11 minutes ago, Merkranire said:

Still not sure why Unairu isn’t the defensive polarity; isn’t its whole thing defense and how we manipulate both ours and our enemy’s?

That one I'd chalk up either to DE's early development cycles where they had to push content out the door as fast as possible or to just a game balance decision. As I doubt DE planned for the other Focus schools (or that they'd exist at all/represent the polarities) and didn't consider Unairu when making such mods. Or DE just didn't want to bog players down with too many different polarities especially as Forma wasn't always in the game.

Otherwise yeah it'd make more sense for things like Armor/resistance mods to have an Unairu polarity instead of Vazarin. And the ship for that change long since sailed with how much of a stink the community would make over polarities being reworked.

[Aldain]

At this point no, it's purely muscle memory for me.

...Though I do sometimes accidentally click one time too many or too few and set the wrong polarity when Forma-ing things.

[Hexerin]

When I was still new to the game, sure. Nowadays it's rote memory.

[Merkranire]

51 minutes ago, trst said:

That one I'd chalk up either to DE's early development cycles where they had to push content out the door as fast as possible or to just a game balance decision. As I doubt DE planned for the other Focus schools (or that they'd exist at all/represent the polarities) and didn't consider Unairu when making such mods. Or DE just didn't want to bog players down with too many different polarities especially as Forma wasn't always in the game.

Otherwise yeah it'd make more sense for things like Armor/resistance mods to have an Unairu polarity instead of Vazarin. And the ship for that change long since sailed with how much of a stink the community would make over polarities being reworked.

That’s fair. I guess an overhaul and rework would be a lot more work than it might seem at first glance; I’ve just gotten used to sort of having a feel for it, but not worrying over specifics because that’s just how such a bolted-together 10-year old game held together with paperclips and bubblegum is going to end up.

I do wish world-building things like understandable polarities were refined to be cohesive, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me (though I can imagine someone new might need some sitting down and explaining to why some aspects of the game make sense and others less-so)

[(PSN)robotwars7]

nope. but then my brain works in weird ways and is somehow amazing at absorbing this type of information while leaving out all the stuff that's actually important.

Madurai = V polarity, typically offense/damage related mods

Naramon = - polarity, typically considered "neutral"

Vazarin = D polarity, typically defense mods, or Cold/Status in the case of weapon mods (never understood why that is, it just is.

Zenurik = = polarity, typically related to Energy in some way.

Unairu - F polarity, or at least the symbol sort of looks like it. aside from a couple  Auras/Stances I don't think it's used anywhere else.

and y'all forgot one.

Penjaga = -I polarity, which is the one you see on Companion Precept mods. it isn't used anywhere else.

when using Forma I always check which mod is in the slot I'm using the Forma on, and I double check before going ahead with it. a couple of seconds doing this can save you a lot of trouble of having to re-level the weapon again to get it right.

[Aldain]

1 minute ago, (PSN)robotwars7 said:

Vazarin = D polarity, typically defense mods, or Cold/Status in the case of weapon mods (never understood why that is, it just is.

Well Ice is often hard, and Armor is hard, so maybe that's why?

...Why it's Status polarity though even I can't BS a reason for that.

[Berzerkules]

Not so much confused by the names of the symbols I just never bothered to remember the names. I already know the polarities of the mods I want to equip by the symbols so the names are useless information. 

[(XBOX)INe Saninus]

V, D, Dash, Umbral, and the occasional Augment/Brief Respite double dash thingy...

 

Only time it's confusing is when making a pet.

...then I got to look it up.

[Raarsi]

Polarities have names?

I mean, I just use whatever thingy matches whatever thingy I need for mod slots cuz words make brain hurty.

[Birdframe_Prime]

22 hours ago, TARINunit9 said:

I am 99% sure this is wrong and the Arsenal's sort function always had the names in its mouseover text, but I don't have any way to go back in time nine years and actually check

21 hours ago, UnstarPrime said:

Not sure if it's the first time, but on Devstream 55 in June of 2015 the devs showed a Star Chart prototype and mentioned that each sector was named after a Tenno school and that these corresponded to polarities.

Yeah, I was exaggerating, the thing is that even DE didn't refer to them as the names before The Second Dream.

The Tenno Schools had names since before the game started. Steve did say that the story up until The New War was something they had the original concepts for, even if they never actually scripted it out until the years they worked on the quests themselves (which is also why the quests had so much scope creep ^^)

The thing is that there was just... no real reference to the connection between the schools and the polarities.

Edited February 13 by Birdframe_Prime