An Alternative Solution For Serration

[psyanide]

I have been mulling over this issue in my head since it was mentioned in one of the Live Streams. Here is what I propose:

 

 

Band Aid idea -

-For now, make Serration and Hornet Strike fit into something similar to Aura Slots, like on a WarFrame.

 

Reasoning : The mods would still be mandatory, yes, but at least it would be less obtrusive on player builds. It does NOT have to give us extra mod points to use on our guns, as we are potentially getting 14 by not having to have it in there. Just have a slot, off to the side, that does not affect the point pool.

 

For Melee, the same thing could be done for Pressure Point and Killing Blow. Just have two slots on the side, as opposed to 1. This system has the benefit of not causing players that have maxed these Mods not feel like they have wasted a lot of time and effort on nothing. Secondly, it would help with leveling new or newly Forma'd equipment, as the weapon would not be completely terrible at level 0 - hopefully this encourages people to Forma more equipment overall!

 

 

Expanding in another Direction : 

 

Turn it into an affinity system - the damage can be leveled up by ranking up more rifles/shotguns/sidearms, akin to player Rank.

 

As an alternative, have affinity build up for a specific class of weapon whenever kills are made with it, which would help with that somehow hollow feeling of killing enemies with your level 30 weapon. As above, it would also help diversify where you can go and what you can do when levelling new or Forma'd equipment, especially if you are doing it Solo.

 

i.e. A new player starts their WarFrame experience with 0 Rifle, Shotgun, Specialized, Sidearm and Melee affinity.

 

I am just going by ammo type, here. Specialized weapons would be Sniper Rifles and Bows, and SHOULD include weapons like the Penta and Ogris, when they eventually get their ammo pool re-assigned to the more appropriate Sniper-type (which ought to then just have its name changed to 'Specialized' instead of 'Sniper', but that's another story).

 

Rough Example (for Rifles)

As the new player uses their Braton MK-1, killing 2000exp worth of enemies with it gives them their first Rifle Affinity point, increasing total damage for all rifles used henceforth by a given percentage (say 15%, as this is the current). Alternatively the ranks could increase by getting levels on weapons of the relevant type, or (my favorite) killing enemies with weapons of the relevant type.

 

Affinity Ranks will take more and more exp to get the the subsequent level. Once it hits 165%, the soft cap is hit, and further ranks will only increase the damage by 1-2% per rank, hard capping at a slightly higher level (say like 180% or 185%, for rifles). Hitting the soft cap alone should take as much time/effort as maxing out a Serration Mod, and the hard cap should take about double that. 

 

Ooof, OK. sort of lost my train of thought here, but any ideas, people?

 

EDIT : Those who already have maxed Serration would automatically be placed at the soft cap and start working from there. Similarly, anyone that currently has ranks in Serration will be given the appropriate Ranks.

Edited February 17, 2014 by psyanide

[jmthebigman]

we already got aura's like that...

the other part im not getting hot or cold about it.

[psyanide]

I realize that we have Auras like that, but the first idea is to merely to get Serration out of the build without doing away with it completely...

Edited February 17, 2014 by psyanide

[Wolfstein]

 A sort of affinity/mastery system tied to weapon type sounds fine to me (the more rifles you master, the better you become at using ANY rifle), though I don't know if it should replace serration all together. The first part I don't really agree with - I like serration as a mod, but it does kind of lock out others, and making it cost next to nothing doesn't fix that. Not sure how the best fix would come about, but I think the weapon affinity is a good start.

[jmthebigman]

I realize that we have Auras like that, but the first idea is to merely to get Serration out of the build without doing away with it completely...

you'd make a problem; making those aura's useless.

[psyanide]

you'd make a problem; making those aura's useless.

 

You are confusing me... Could you explain your theory in a little more detail? I cannot see how an Aura that affects your entire squad would be made useless by giving Serration and Hornet Strike their own slot, which affects only you...

[JohnProdman]

Also... they admitted in Livestream 22 that removing Serration and Hornet Strike was a joke and isn't going to happen.

 

Not trying to be a buzzkill, sorry :(

 

But yeah... they aren't going anywhere. (Although they should)

Edited February 17, 2014 by Dominus_Tenno

[psyanide]

Also... they admitted in Livestream 22 that removing Serration and Hornet Strike was a joke and isn't going to happen.

 

Not trying to be a buzzkill, sorry :(

 

But yeah... they aren't going anywhere. (Although they should)

 

Oh... Damn I guess I should stop putting off watching LS 22, lol! 

 

That... is kind of a buzzkill, but not at all your fault :)

 

Thanks for the info!

[jmthebigman]

You are confusing me... Could you explain your theory in a little more detail? I cannot see how an Aura that affects your entire squad would be made useless by giving Serration and Hornet Strike their own slot, which affects only you...

Because if you already got something boosting your dmg why should you take another booster on top and not something to boost something else?

[psyanide]

Because if you already got something boosting your dmg why should you take another booster on top and not something to boost something else?

 

Are you asking me why I would go for more straight damage instead of utility? Ummm, I dunno, personal preference? Some people prefer to deal with certain situations using raw weapon damage, others do not. What is wrong with it being a choice left up to the players?

 

I have had a squad stacking 4 Rifle Amps and it was glorious! The fact that I had a maxed Serration made things better, in my mind, not worse. We wanted to kill things using our Primaries in order to level them, and we did.

[GridBurn]

I like your ideas. I've thought that Serration and it's equivalents should be taken out for a while now. My idea was that the base damage of a weapon should increase with it's level as though serration (etc) were built in and gained a rank along with proportionate weapon ranks. So a Max level rifle would function without mods as though a max level serration was equipped.

I realise that a lot of people have put a lot of effort, credits and cores into their serrations and hornet strikes and it would hurt like hell to loose them but in the long run it will benefit the builds much more... Perhaps DE can turn them into Epic level 20 fusion cores that can be used to rank up steel charge XD.

If you think about it, take mods out of the equation and a max level frame has better stats than an unranked one, why shouldn't the same be true for weapons.

 

I do also think that your "Aura" idea is a great compromise. People keep their mods and more points open up. But really it's a band-aid on the problem. Base global damage mods should be replaced by level based damage scaling.

[stolenname]

The last thing we need is another buff to separate ourselves even further from the enemy. Surely you can see that?

 

Removing the requirement for serration to take up a slot in a build and so subsequently allowing for another 90% elemental per se would drastically increase this difference, making killing any enemy much easier than it already is. The enemies already badly need a buff, so why increase this distance further. Well that is my humble opinion anyway.

Edited February 17, 2014 by stolenname

[Liverslices]

I have been mulling over this issue in my head since it was mentioned in one of the Live Streams. Here is what I propose:

 

 

Band Aid idea -

-For now, make Serration and Hornet Strike fit into something similar to Aura Slots, like on a WarFrame.

 

Reasoning : The mods would still be mandatory, yes, but at least it would be less obtrusive on player builds. It does NOT have to give us extra mod points to use on our guns, as we are potentially getting 14 by not having to have it in there. Just have a slot, off to the side, that does not affect the point pool.

 

For Melee, the same thing could be done for Pressure Point and Killing Blow. Just have two slots on the side, as opposed to 1. This system has the benefit of not causing players that have maxed these Mods not feel like they have wasted a lot of time and effort on nothing. Secondly, it would help with leveling new or newly Forma'd equipment, as the weapon would not be completely terrible at level 0 - hopefully this encourages people to Forma more equipment overall!

 

 

Expanding in another Direction : 

 

Turn it into an affinity system - the damage can be leveled up by ranking up more rifles/shotguns/sidearms, akin to player Rank.

 

As an alternative, have affinity build up for a specific class of weapon whenever kills are made with it, which would help with that somehow hollow feeling of killing enemies with your level 30 weapon. As above, it would also help diversify where you can go and what you can do when levelling new or Forma'd equipment, especially if you are doing it Solo.

 

i.e. A new player starts their WarFrame experience with 0 Rifle, Shotgun, Specialized, Sidearm and Melee affinity.

 

I am just going by ammo type, here. Specialized weapons would be Sniper Rifles and Bows, and SHOULD include weapons like the Penta and Ogris, when they eventually get their ammo pool re-assigned to the more appropriate Sniper-type (which ought to then just have its name changed to 'Specialized' instead of 'Sniper', but that's another story).

 

Rough Example (for Rifles)

As the new player uses their Braton MK-1, killing 2000exp worth of enemies with it gives them their first Rifle Affinity point, increasing total damage for all rifles used henceforth by a given percentage (say 15%, as this is the current). Alternatively the ranks could increase by getting levels on weapons of the relevant type, or (my favorite) killing enemies with weapons of the relevant type.

 

Affinity Ranks will take more and more exp to get the the subsequent level. Once it hits 165%, the soft cap is hit, and further ranks will only increase the damage by 1-2% per rank, hard capping at a slightly higher level (say like 180% or 185%, for rifles). Hitting the soft cap alone should take as much time/effort as maxing out a Serration Mod, and the hard cap should take about double that. 

 

Ooof, OK. sort of lost my train of thought here, but any ideas, people?

 

EDIT : Those who already have maxed Serration would automatically be placed at the soft cap and start working from there. Similarly, anyone that currently has ranks in Serration will be given the appropriate Ranks.

I have to say no to this, for one major reason: What is the very first mod you put on a rifle? Serration. Why? So you dont have to go killing level 1 grineer to get the thing to a higher level. But if DE uses your idea, i have to wait till level 20ish before i can even consider using it on any mid level missions. 

[psyanide]

I have to say no to this, for one major reason: What is the very first mod you put on a rifle? Serration. Why? So you dont have to go killing level 1 grineer to get the thing to a higher level. But if DE uses your idea, i have to wait till level 20ish before i can even consider using it on any mid level missions. 

 

I think you may have misunderstood - my idea is meant to facilitate the Searration/Hornet Strike damage buff remains CONSTANT on your weapons, no matter what level they are at. By either method, you would be able to start leveling your gun at much higher stages to begin with. 

 

 

The last thing we need is another buff to separate ourselves even further from the enemy. Surely you can see that?

 

Removing the requirement for serration to take up a slot in a build and so subsequently allowing for another 90% elemental per se would drastically increase this difference, making killing any enemy much easier than it already is. The enemies already badly need a buff, so why increase this distance further. Well that is my humble opinion anyway.

 

You do realize that the Badlands are coming, right? Once Solar Rails are implemented? More difficult content is on the way. In the face of this, a single extra mod card is not going to break the game, dude. Keep in mind that hardly anyone that has been playing for less than 4 months has a maxed Serration. End game players with all maximum level mods should be the equivalent of WALKING GODS among the enemies of the normal Star Chart, that is just progression. The lowbies, the new guys, this would be to help them, more than anyone.

 

Again, new, more difficult content is on the way.