Dynamic Ability Upgrades

[NeverEatTheLemonsAlone]

Instead of simply increasing the range/damage/duration/etc. of abilities when upgraded, it would be interesting if they got certain other effects. For example, making relatively unused skills valuable again:

 

Decoy:

Lv. 0 - Normal

Lv. 1 - Longer life span

Lv. 2 - Deals small damage with its Lato

Lv. 3 - Explodes when killed

 

 

Or making powerful abilities more powerful, while at the same time balancing them just slightly:

 

Shuriken:

Lv. 0 - Normal

Lv. 1 - More damage

Lv. 2 - Procs slash

Lv. 3 - Procs your primary weapon's proc

(Notice you only throw one now)

 

 

I just feel like it would make abilities in general more fun to use and more practical to level up, and also that it would help get some unused abilities their time in the limelight.

[Acegikmo]

I personally never liked the idea of having generic abilities that all frames could equip. I'd prefer to see existing abilities given different ways to be mutated or have what they do be tweaked in some way. There would be different objectives to unlock one of the several ways you could mutate the mods. Like with shuriken, you could do something like getting so many double kills to allow you the option of changing shuriken to a fan of blades ability. Now instead of throwing 2 shuriken, you throw a dozen in an arc in front of you. Mutating the mod would consume the old one, not allowing you to go back to how it was. So you need to get another shuriken mod if you want to see the other options.

 

If you could do this with mods, there could be 4 ash's in one game and all of them would have different abilities.

[NeverEatTheLemonsAlone]

I personally never liked the idea of having generic abilities that all frames could equip. I'd prefer to see existing abilities given different ways to be mutated or have what they do be tweaked in some way. There would be different objectives to unlock one of the several ways you could mutate the mods. Like with shuriken, you could do something like getting so many double kills to allow you the option of changing shuriken to a fan of blades ability. Now instead of throwing 2 shuriken, you throw a dozen in an arc in front of you. Mutating the mod would consume the old one, not allowing you to go back to how it was. So you need to get another shuriken mod if you want to see the other options.

 

If you could do this with mods, there could be 4 ash's in one game and all of them would have different abilities.

That seems like it would be really fun and enjoyable for a lot of mods. Though, if you were throwing a dozen shuriken, then you would definitely have to dial down the power to keep balance.

 

That said, the problem would be doing it with mods that don't have a lot of variety. For example, Saryn's Contagion. It simply adds toxic damage to your melee weapon, or Volt's Speed. You can't really make only some mods have the upgrade factor and all. If it were using my thought, though, Contagion could possibly leave toxic spores on them like Venom, or Volt's speed could knock aside enemies. Your idea is good and all, but I don't think it covers all the bases.

Edited February 22, 2014 by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone

[Nkomo-Sama]

I think the mod system is quickly losing steam... the problem with mods is that you need mod slots and with those there is a serious limitation when it comes to customization given the current system. I understand the benefits of them but in this case it is a terrible idea (general abilities and mods dictating your play style as indicated in the last livestream with melee 2.0). I think it would be wise to veer away from the mod system although I don't see how they could now since they have invested so much time in the mod card dynamic... There is a very interesting thread that provides  an alternate approach https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/137875-a-complete-rework-of-the-foundation-of-warframe/