The Mod-Mastery System, Re: Slotting, Needs Refinement.

[Prinsn]

As it stands, the card system is pretty cool. The card graphics are definitely a nice touch, and being able to customize your weapons with slot-ins is a great way to let players experiment and do things their own way. I'm even willing to consider it more proof that the PS2 dev team is only in it for the money and lacks any real direction behind it: The customization with the mods is not a far cry from PS1s certification system.

However, In maxing out my first sets of weapons and having to switch to brand new weapons, and even going from one frame to another, my otherwise positive experience hits a pretty hard wall.

Generally speaking, I love trying out new things, experimenting with builds, being unorthodox and seeing what it is that makes things tick and how I can have fun with them, but the nature of the Mod slotting system necessitates that for me to experiment, and even have a weapon setup that is "competitive" with content, while also having surviability, power usage, or offense modified frame slotting requires that I either get carried through higher content or equip a mixture of high and low level gear and just leech experience without ever using them until they reach a high enough level to equip anything to them at all.

This is actually further compounded by the new passive pool increases with frame level, as, previously, I was running missions with a 180/250 +40% armor Excalibur, and then suddenly it jumps up to a composite damage pool of nearly 700, I stopped having to play safe, and could (much to my enjoyment) play fast and loose like I used to in starter content.

However, going back to a level 0 frame, even overchaged, my survivability dropped like a rock, and readjusting to that requires me to go back to lower level content to avoid the same outcome of being swarmed in higher level conent.

With weapons, this is much more of an issue, as even with a crappy frame, a steady aim and good mods will carry you pretty far, as long as you take it slow. However, a really good frame with crappy weapons is going to have a much harder time due to ammo limitations.

As such, due to the mastery system being the leveling mechanic (which I really think is cool, as it encourages players to actually master the game instead of mere path of least resistance and rerolling), it also forces players to either:

A) Not use the gear they are mastering, through party-carry, or through just equipping the item to gain ambient EXP.

B) Play within a zero-sum game where they can't even equip basic mods to do anything to the weapon.

So, while the mod system is cool, having to get a weapon to level 4 just to get a basic bonus to functionality (10% damage), or 10 to maximize a single mod, you're looking at requiring a weapon or frame to be at least level 15 before the weapon reaches a level of "functional", before the higher mastery weapons (innate armor piercing can be valued as >=10 slots), players continually return to a point of limbo until they can even participate in the Mod system again.

And while there's nothing forcing players to participate in the mastery system, there is currently a requirement for players to have at least Mastery Rank 4 to have access to all the weapons in the game. Presumably, higher ranks will mean something in the future, but, at current, players are being forced to not only grind EXP (which is par for the course, and not really too painful, so no real foul here), but grind through not being able to participate in aspects of the game.

[stealthcl0wn]

However, going back to a level 0 frame, even overchaged, my survivability dropped like a rock, and readjusting to that requires me to go back to lower level content to avoid the same outcome of being swarmed in higher level conent.

THAT'S THE POINT.