Warframe's Biggest Failure, (A Starting Point For Success)

[LightstealKnight]

This is officially my first post in the forums and I do not intend for it to be negative.  This is a great game, and I have had a lot of fun with it, and the mechanics shine and make the game-play fun.

 

However, the maps and levels are lacking.  The only variation are the bosses.

 

I'm not saying to redo the levels, or change them, but if you are to add new levels and new content please change it up.

 

The game has all of the best components that one could expect from a great game and although a lot of thought has gone into the game modes themselves, copying and pasting the same game mode over and over again is not a very good tactic.

 

The game only needs:

1 early, 1 mid and 1 end game version of each of the game modes for each faction.  

And keep the random route and placement within it so that it can be repeated.

Even if you wanted to keep different planets, there is no reason to have more than one of these modes per planet.

And nightmare mode is great too.

 

 

Beyond this perhaps actual hand crafted missions could take place.  Even a quest chain where the story develops over several missions.  And perhaps even a climactic end mission.  

Who doesn't like a good plot twist?  Or even some thread of story to give the player context?

 

You will lose many players because they lack context for the mission and a general purpose in doing the mission other than experiencing your great mechanics and attempting to get items for crafting and upgrading.

 

Will it take work? yes, but it will be worth it.

 

Also, I know you want to allow for solo play, however, this will limit the group element of the game.  Perhaps include missions where more than 1 person is required.  

 

For example, 1 person needs to defend an objective while the other needs to go and do another objective simultaneously.

Or

A lever control system for one person to help his team open doors through a maze.

 

And limiting parties to 4 players per mission is great, but what about massive raids where 6 or 8 people can be included?

 

I am including all of this in order to stress the creative direction that this game can go and be improved upon.  

 

Even if you include 1 new mission chain per update, even if the chain is only 3 missions long, over time this will increase the scope of the game.

 

Again, I'm not complaining, this is a great game, but the industry and players have certain standards today.  Old games like breakout and galaxy had only 1 mission type with varying difficulties and no context.  The mechanics were the game, and this game feels similar in scope.

And every review that I have looked at so far seems to state the same thing, just so you know that I am not alone.

 

"So, these sleek, awesome warframe-ninjas you play as? They fight mean aliens. 

That’s about as deep as the story dives, unfortunately." - IGN

 

"Warframe tips the scales too far in one direction.

The core gameplay, including the variety of suits and weapons, is terrific,

and it’s reason enough to play this sci-fi shooter.

But the boring story, too-similar missions, and aggressive payment model

hold it back from what it could be.

Still, if you plan to pick it up, it’s worth dropping $60

and pretend there’s nothing else to it." - IGN

 

 

I strongly disagree with the payment method comment however, everything that cannot be attained in game is surprisingly cheap.  That is why I was happy to drop $60 on the game.

 

 

Please, everyone, watch extra credits if you haven't already.

 

This is why a good story is important:

(This was done very well in Warframe but not followed up upon)

 

This is a video on the current state of warframe:

(which is a great starting point for the developers to include a story)

 

This is one of the original episodes on introducing story to games

 

And this here are 2 episodes on the goal of a story in a game.

 

  (part 1)

 

  (part 2)

 

 

Please watch them and I hope this game lives up to its potential.

 

​Edit: Embedded video

Edited December 18, 2013 by Enemy1

[ThePeasant]

I agree, warframe needs to invest more time on its overall delivery, character development, and narrative.  I am a big fan of story through play, I think that story should be delivered within the missions themselves.  We should learn more about the factions and the plot by uncovering it within the missions.

 

And yes, perhaps more NPCs in missions other than just Lotus, handcrafted missions will be difficult to randomize for repeatability, however should add depth to the game that is currently lacking.

 

Have the missions uncover history, plans and views.  So far there is no black, white or grey areas in the story.  What is the motivation for the factions, how are their views at odds with each other, and why does it contradict the Tenno and force the player to fight them.  What is the Tenno fighting for? and what differences can they make in the solar system?  

 

There already exists a bit of voice over from lotus when an area is completed, but this is not what we should expect or accept (according to today's standards) from a game.

 

I love the game, and hope that it continues to improve and polish off these areas that are lacking.

[dukelego]

Don't forget the enemy AI! It sucks!

[MDRLOz]

WoooOooOOoo!

 

Loved Extra credits ever since it started back on the escapist!

 

Though I agree Maps need work and Lore does. 

 

I am looking forward to this weeks live stream see if we get any info on game mode updates... 

Edited December 11, 2013 by MDRLOz

[CaucasianAsianX]

I agree.  My friend and I come back to warframe after updates or we get board with the current game we were playing.  But we always come back to warframe. Its been about 8 months now, which shows that it has tons of potential.  A lot of cool ideas have surfaced on the forums (Cells and Overhaul) which would be pretty cool if they were added.  

I still don't know if it was a good idea that DE added the PS4 platform because it takes away resources that could be towards the overall game. Still awesome that they did add it though.

 

I would love a mission where it was a 6 - 8 people but split up into 2-3 teams.  The whole mission is dependable on each team to do what they have to do.  If one team fails, it doesn't end the mission, it just makes the boss/room that much harder. 

Maybe like two teams of two that have to hack different sections of a space station to unlock said boss/room.  Create a new hacking system which is fairly difficult but fun for team member 1 to do while the member 2 defends him/her. All meet up to the room to fight the boss.  Failing to successfully hack will cause the room to have turrets, boss have shields, reinforcements, less ammo drops.  Could even be a giant meeting of all the Grineer or Corpus bosses or even an alliance meeting to fight against us.  

[Polarthief]

Just yes to this entire thread, ESPECIALLY the part about having 1 of each Early, Mid, and Late (can even add "early-mid and late-mid") of each faction for each mission type.

 

Also a storyline mission sequence would be kinda cool. The repetition we go through is droning quite a bit.

[LightstealKnight]

Don't forget the enemy AI! It sucks!

 

The AI has little to do with context and story, however, I did not find it that horrible.

 

The infested AI is fine, I would not expect them to act any different, and similar with the corpus,

 

The Grineer actually have decent AI and more than not, will run for cover.  Other than standing in the open sometimes.

 

This is considered micro AI, which is for individual soldiers.  They do not have any Macro AI, where the entire team coordinates together.  

 

This actually belongs in a separate post, but as soon as a soldier encounters an enemy, he is trained to fire at that enemy while he runs for cover.  And a teammate will only move if teammates will cover them and add suppressing fire.

 

Also two separate squads should act in coordination, they should cover each other and try to flank the warframes.  But considering the warframes have nuking abilities, I would not know how to coordinate a team of Grineer to best fight against them.  But definitely not group up to close together, stay spread out so that AOEs are less effective.  Maybe add a few new tactical maneuvers to their repertoire.

 

• Flanking maneuver
• Pincer movement
• Charge
• Combined arms
• Decision cycle
• OODA Loop
• Defeat in detail
• Blitzkrieg

 

And some weapons do not require Line of Sight, such as grenades.

 

Although this is not a plot to give context, it is still an example of character portrayal through mechanics.  The heavy organization of the Grineer should say something about that faction just as the chaotic zerging of the infested.

[tmtke]

Maybe like two teams of two that have to hack different sections of a space station to unlock said boss/room.  Create a new hacking system which is fairly difficult but fun for team member 1 to do while the member 2 defends him/her. All meet up to the room to fight the boss.  Failing to successfully hack will cause the room to have turrets, boss have shields, reinforcements, less ammo drops.  Could even be a giant meeting of all the Grineer or Corpus bosses or even an alliance meeting to fight against us. 

 

I love this idea, maybe this could be implemented if a small 'operator' room (the size of the rounded object on Grineer defense maps) present. One player moves in, starting to hack, and the room locks. The other players are defending the operator room from outside. If more than one enters (possible exploit :)), the room locks the same way, fewer players defending, but if the room is breached, the mission fails.