Proposal for Conclave Revamped

[Brandr_]

Ok, as we all know conclave in Warframe is currently one of, if not the least used system in Warframe. As it stands a simple rework is not going to resolve conclave the gamemode DE or the broader community envision it to be, and there's is a simple reason for this: Warframe is not a PVP game.

Well that much is obvious, but why doesn't it work? It's a threefold answer:

1: Warframe is predominately a PVE centric game, and is both balanced and updated as that; a Game where You the player fight NPCs. Most players treat Warframe like that, a game where it's Us vs NPCs, and not as a traditional PVP game

2: Targeting Player characters is hard. With the sheer amount of movement capabilities each frame is equipped with by default just keeping a moderately skilled Player in your crosshairs is exceptionally difficult, and keeping a player in sight long enough to kill them with the rebalanced conclave weapons is either beyond most players, or is too little reward for too much effort.

3: Expectations. For the uninitiated Warframe did not start out with a PVP gamemode, and it was only after a vocal minority within the community made themselves known  that DE added the first conclave to the game. It was rather bare bones, you were dropped into an arena and told to PVP. No power scaling, or any sort of protections. Just you vs their maxed out Ogris. Not great, then DE reworked conclave into what it is, but it still misses the mark. Why? Because DE isn't understanding the "why" behind the desire for conclave. They heard the PVP community say "We want PVP" but what they want wasn't this, it wasn't Destiny or Call of Duty Deathmatch, capture the flag, or any of the sort. What the PVP community wanted was Player VS Player gameplay, but with a Warframe Twist. Well what does that look like?

Warframe is, first and foremost; a PVE game, so I believe PVP should reflect that. Rather than continue to push Players VS Players, DE should take a page out of their competitor Destiny 2's book, and try PVEVP, or Player VS NPC VS PLAYER, or more simply: Score Attack.

Most Warframe players probably do not want Direct PVP combat, I sure don't. I like gameplay where I can find a predictable problem, and craft a solution. I don't like  games where xXJohnny2x4Xx can 360 no scope me from across the map. I tried Conclave revamped when it first came out and i didn't like it. Why? I don't like PVP, simple as that, and I'm sure many players feel the same way, but this doesn't mean we should remove any variation of Player VS Player gameplay.

Enter Destiny 2.  Destiny 2, for the unaware, has a PVP gamemode called "Gambit" where you, in a team of 4, compete against another team to kill enemies as fast as you can to accumulate points (motes) that you then deposit into a part of the map to summon a big bad that you kill to win the game. From the outset it's a pretty interesting Gamemode, although it does have a few issues. For instance, as you accumulate points, you can "invade" the enemy teams map, and try to kill them to set back their progress, regen their Bosses HP, or just troll them. Cool in concept, but not all weapons are made equal, one that comes to mind is a weapon called "Eyes of Tomorrow" which can lock onto 4 players, and then one shot them. So long as they're in your cone of view you can oneshot an entire team with Eyes of Tomorrow. Still not great, but we're on the right track.

My proposal for a Conclave rework is something close to Gambit; a Score Attack gamemode. Remove the direct Player VS Player combat and create a "Conclave Mission Roster." Every week, at rollover, just as Archon Sorties reset, have the Conclave roster generate a new random mission. Survival, Def, Capture, doesn't matter. The Goal of the mission is to accumulate as many points as possible. Headshot? +points, Short completion time? +Points, Long duration in Surv or Def? +Points, player deaths? -Points. From there add these scores to the weekly Conclave scoreboard, if your score is above a certain percentile for the week you get a reward of endo, conclave standing, maybe a built forma or two if you're in the top 1%.

The point is to create a rotating mission where players can compete against eachother as a Score Attack Gamemode, just like games like Genshin Impact, or Honkai Star Rail that have a mission type that wipes progress at the end of the month, and players who complete that mission faster get more rewards, Warframe can as well.

But what about powerful frames like Saryn or Mesa who can break the game and max out kills? DE has already made a solution; Duviri. Every week, just as we generate a new mission to Score Attack, we generate a list of Warframes and Weapons to draw from. Just to further our new little Gamemode, treat it like Elite Archemedia as well and allow teams to undertake debuffs in exchange for a better score multiplier.

Not only will a Score Attack gammemode help revitalize Warframes Conclave, but it'll also allow DE to breath life into content that isn't touched very often. Remember Infested Salvage? How many people actually play it now that Nidus Prime can be gotten with far less hassle? I sure don't, add it to the conclave roster. Jade's elevator mission? No one is gonna play that when Jade Prime comes out, let's be honest. Conclave roster.

Plus plus; with the addition of this newly made Conclave DE would have an easier time of identifying and resolving weapons and Warframes that may not be working as intended, simply keeping a chart of what frames are used more often and how many kills/assist they achieve in a mission, and compare it with their total score. Higher Kills and score? Maybe not working as intended.

Furthermore this newly made conclave will open the door to further build theory crafting, and player engagement. Limbo and Banshee might not be seeing tremendous use, but if a team of 4 wants to reach 1% on a week that is Def, maybe they'll consider them?

"But won't this cause the community to seek out people who have specific frames so they can score higher easier?"
Well, yes, but the solution is simple; make everybody see the same frames. Either give the community a handful of loadouts to make the best of, or allow players to bring in their own frames, but leave these "Rental Frames" as an option, but have them gain more score than personally owned Frames.

This fix also has another positive; it allows new players to try and experiment with frames before they're too deep in the game.
Warframe is a big game, and its learning curve is almost an overhang, so many new players have trouble getting in. I did, I dropped Warframe at the start because it was too hard, and the character I had (loki) was stupid. A friend had to help me along to the point where Serration dropped for me to really get a grasp on the game.

Enter Conclave revamped; allow new players to participate in our new little gamemode, and let them progress through it. Remember how Duviri gives new players access to some older frames? Same story; let new players experiment with frames that are new to them through this Conclave rental program, and then let them buy components from the conclave shop as they accumulate points.

This change would encourage new and old players to engage with this new content. I would have LOVED to be able to pick up Excalibur back in the day before pluto. Through Conclave Revamped new players can, while being helped along by older memebers.

"But won't it make it really easy for new players to get Frames they may not be able to understand?"
Simple; put certain frames further in the rank system. Excalibur should be available early on, but Khora, whose farm is particularly rough, can go to rank 4 or 5

"What about ever green awards? What's there for older players?"
Conclave skins, mods, and much like Nightwave; Kuva, Cells, Catalysts, and maybe even Forma.

Most of my proposal doesn't even require new code, it's all already there. Many of you may not know this, but some missions have a score board that's tallied at the end of the month, and DE used to give out badges for people who had a certain amount of kills. The code already exists, no new mission types, no massive intricate system like Archwing. Just a thing that converts player action to points, counts points, and gives out rewards based on points. The rewards are already in the conclave shop. All DE needs to do is grab a random mission every week/month, count the points, hand out the rewards.

With evergreen rewards + Conclave skins in the conclave shops old players will be encouraged to use the system, plus the added benefit of not participating in traditional pvp. New players will be attracted since it allows them to experience parts of the game through a more experimental lens, and provides them with rewards that will help them progress through warframe. And PVP players will be attracted as the scoreboard will (Hopefully) give them the sense of competition they've been seeking in warframe

[Brandr_]

TLDR

Add a Score attack gamemode using already made assets that allow players to compete on a leaderboard for conclave standing and base game rewards

[Quest]

nice

[BiancaRoughfin]

[(XBOX)elementXGHILLIE]

I'm not gonna read this simply due to the fact that it seems like DE will never touch conclave, and will never let these rewards be more accessible.
I've read, made, and commented on post after post about conclave. At this point, I just don't think DE will ever touch it again, and that sucks to say.

It feels like they both don't wanna make the rewards accessible via PvE, and also don't wanna invest in PvP. So we are just stuck in limbo.

[Quest]

4 minutes ago, (XBOX)elementXGHILLIE said:

So we are just stuck in limbo.

who is now banned from conclave by the way

my idea to revamp it is to delete it and put its mods at teshin for steel essence

Edited 1 hour ago by Quest
typo

[BiancaRoughfin]

18 minutes ago, Quest said:

My idea to revamp it is to delete it and put its mods at teshin for steel essence

Not just the mods, the Skins too.

I really think the Nightwave challenges that involve killing X enemies, with X weapon type or with X Element should be daily challenges given by Teshin to earn standing with him and with it buy these items.

[Quest]

1 hour ago, BiancaRoughfin said:

Not just the mods, the Skins too.

I really think the Nightwave challenges that involve killing X enemies, with X weapon type or with X Element should be daily challenges given by Teshin to earn standing with him and with it buy these items.

yep