My Take On Light Traps And Arc Traps

[neeyal]

I think the entire issue around light traps and arc traps isn't the difficulty it adds - challenges are good and rewarding in and of themselves (ok, I'm being a little tongue in cheek here from the survey results...).  I think the basic dynamic added by the traps is the challenge that damage could happen anywhere at any time.

 

I believe, however, that ultimately, the presence of random arc traps actually makes the game less challenging.  That might sound contradictory, but please hear me out.

 

I felt this phenomenon happening to myself in my own selection method.  Prior to the traps (and the light traps were at least logical and something you could be reasonably careful about, arc traps are worse for their complete randomness), I was confident enough to tackle difficulties where it was only my personal FPS skill that gave me enough of an edge to clear the level.  This was extremely exciting, and when I failed, I knew I bit off more than I could chew, or I could otherwise identify a mistake that I had made in my progression through the level.  Often this lead to me barely winning fights, and over all, it was quite a rush.

 

Enter traps (especially arc traps, see above).

 

Now, I know that if I enter a map where the levels are high enough to give me a significant challenge, I am likely to die to that one random trap I didn't notice while fighting it out.  So the solution is to reduce the challenge.  I'll equip the level 30 warframe and two level 30 weapons, and only use one weapon that needs work.  This way I won't die to something that feels like it is beyond my control.  

 

This is also why I prefer light traps to arc traps.  Arc traps can be spotted, yes, if you happen to approach at the right angle.  But the light traps, while delivering 100% of their damage was harsh, were at least logical (if not exactly predictable) in their placement, and you could devote a reasonable amount of energy to detecting and disabling or avoiding them.  

 

I don't mind the theory of the traps themselves.  In my ideal world, they would go back to being light traps but have the damage-over-time aspect of the arc traps, instead of damage-all-at-once of the original light trap.

 

TL;DR: arc traps are too random and concealed to be reasonably accounted for, so they encourage (me) players to tackle maps under less challenging and therefore less exciting conditions.

[ntyd1s]

Broken lights -

appliance that deliberately try to kill Tenno, deadly damage, good visibility when not spawned in wall, prevent rushing

 

Arc traps -

randomly placed Grineer's trap that also kill Tenno unconditionally, continuous minor damage, bad visibility or completely concealed, encourage rushing

 

 

Both have same problem or spawning in inaccessible/blind spot and cannot be destroyed by AoE damage. (impossible with Castanas)

Edited March 23, 2014 by ntyd1s

[neeyal]

I think the biggest point I wanted to make, though I failed to really emphasize it, is the fact that the the relatively uncontrollable danger variable (from either incarnation) causes me to amp up the variables I can control in a way that makes the game less challenging and less exciting, as a way to guard against frustration.

 

It's not that I made the choice overtly either, but rather than I sat down to analyze what had changed about the game for me.

[eksby]

I wish they'd just get rid of these traps. There's already the energy doors, no need for more randomly spawned traps that are honestly more annoying than challenging. 

[ZachPrime]

I wish they'd just get rid of these traps. There's already the energy doors, no need for more randomly spawned traps that are honestly more annoying than challenging. 

 

^ This. If anything, they should spawn only near doors (like the energy traps) so that you at least eventually learn to look for them, or get punished in the process.

 

Also, if I were the one who worked really hard to try to perfect that random spawn code, I'd be sad to see all my work removed, so I kind of understand why they haven't yet acquiesced to the community's general dislike of them.

[XRAY0128]

On my first foray into the void, i noticed they have preplaced, easy to spot, buf situation altering traps. Why can ones like these be implemented in other tile sets?