Gameplay Longevity Concerns/suggestions

[Demographics]

Alright, so I've been playing Warframe for a while and, while it's definitely not perfect, it's fun. More importantly, the core mechanics are pretty solid and fun in their own right, so the foundations are alright.

What worries me, though, is that "Enter area, kill badguys while completing objective X, find exit to area" is an EXTREMELY simplistic formula relative to the amount of selectable areas there are in Warframe and the amount you can currently improve your character through leveling and the mod system.

Plus, without spending much platinum, you don't really get that many new slots for additional frames and weapons; and, even if you did, grinding the requisite credits (and rubedo) again brings us back to the original issue: longevity.

I don't have all the answers on how to extend the life of this game. And if you just began playing it, chances are you like it a lot and could play it extensively on end; but my guess is that some veterans of the beta so far are beginning to see that every play session really starts to run together except on the most challenging and differentiated missions.

I do have a few suggestions, though. They may not be popular, but these would improve the game, no question, although there would have to be some adaptations to it:

1. Area design:

Needs to be more diverse, and I don't mean different rooms. We have sprawling dungeons; why not introduce more concentrated areas that are relatively smaller, but more complex to navigate, with respawning enemy patrols? The kind of level design you can get away with in this game would be crazy; why not take advantage of it some more? A few of the "outdoor" areas were a step in the right direction, but you defend a cryopod in the most progressive one, which doesn't really let you explore unless you love failure.

2. Skills and Energy

Four skills and limited mana with pickups is alright, but something more exciting would be a slightly larger array of skills per warframe and an energy pool that regenerates. More creative skills that keep you alive longer during protracted battles (this would allow you to have more of those) might be the kind of flavor that interrupts just killing 50 things with your rifle while crouching behind stuff and occasionally cloaking or using your "ultimate". I realize some frames have more skills than others, but when you've got a fully upgraded rifle, a big melee weapon, and invisibility, what skills do you really use most often? And when does energy cost not dictate that you only use your most valuable skill when you really most need to use it, which is, again, probably either cloaking (if you have it) or your ultimate.

More fun and creative battles and scenarious would come out of spammable skills. Increase cost of the ultimate or give certain skills a cooldown if you are afraid of abuse; we don't need massive cooldowns, even a few seconds for light skills and a chunk of/a minute for the ultimate would be fine.

3. The Four Player Thing

It works sometimes, it sometimes it doesn't. On very large defense missions in big places, it's a lot of fun. Same for assassinations. But sometimes it's absolute overkill, where four people are emptying their magazines into the same Moa hoping that at least one of their bullets gets to do a little damage.

Encouraging players to split up into groups sometimes would be fun; instead of objectives being in stages, why not introduce simultaneous objectives that players could split into teams to accomplish? We have a chat, just agree who goes where and then get to it. Differently colored markers removes any aesthetic confusion. If you're running the mission solo, then the player can run to one, then back to the other. Maybe you would need to have areas generated that were less expansive than the current ones to limit running over the same turf too much, but that's feasible.

If you read all that, thanks. I just love the idea for this game and I'd hate to see people get tired of it after a while. So please, if you feel you've got ideas that could extend the gameplay life of the game, feel free to share, and maybe someone will read them. Remember devs: the longer it lives, the more money you squeeze out of it!

Personally, I've picked up some other games recently that I felt had similar ideas or concepts but a bit more complexity, to scratch the itches that Warframe can't; E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy is one of them, lots of neat ideas, some of which I feel would work well with Warframe.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Demographics

[Nidz]

I am a new warframe player so I really do not yet understand every aspect of the game perfectly, but from what I read in your post, there is 1 point that stand out for me and my friends.

I started to play with 4-5 of my friends around a week ago and we all agree that the game is great, but the 4 player experience is not always the best. We all prefer the 2 player approach. It seems so much more immersive with the 2 men squads. When we are 4, we see it more as a "farming session", but when we play 2 by 2, it seems like we NEED to work as a team and it feels more rewarding.

That is why I really like your idea of creating some kind of "dual objectives" of forcing the frames to split during some missions. It would still let you play with your other 3 friends at the same time, but would bring the idea of team work where you work with 1 partner and you cannot just faceroll everything by brute force.

While I'm at it, I could comment on the area design too. I really love to wall run, to back flip, to "fly kick" or to shoot while leaping, but it seems like the levels rarely allow full use of these features, especially wall run. I never seem to find a spot where it could really be useful. It might be me and I might need more imagination on where to use these acrobatic moves, but it would be great if the level designs would allow more "exploration" on these features.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Nidz

[sgtarpin]

+1

[Venarge]

"Plus, without spending much platinum, you don't really get that many new slots for additional frames and weapons"

It seems you forgot about the start plat that gives you 4 additional slots. More than enough.....

[Tozeas]

I really like the ideas that you listed. I love this game, I played Dark Sector a ton and this game is just amazing. I really hope they expand on this a bit, perhaps add some benefits to taking stealthy approaches to the game, I like the idea of splitting into 2 teams of 2 for objectives. Stealth with 4 ppl is impossible.