Devstream 30: An Unexpectedly Large Blow To My Hopes For The Game

[HurpadurpusRex]

I did not say that Atlas Shrugged was obscure. I said that it was contextually obscure, which you cannot honestly deny. It is a 1,000+ page book that is far from edge-of-your-seat interesting, and you're quoting from it on a community forum where most people are in the habit of saying "tl;dr." You're quoting from a source that most of your readers are unlikely to have read, so you essentially crippled the effectiveness of your analogy before even writing it. I'm concerned about your education because you seem to believe that quoting from literary texts is somehow an indicator of intelligence, or that it supports your accusations of our incompetence, considering you seem to be completely incapable of backing yourself up on your own. 

 

You justify it by none of us being offered a job? Do you even understand how hiring works? What makes you think DE is pulling in enough of a profit that they can afford to pay larger numbers of employees? Why would they hire us for pay when we're willing to do the work for free? I haven't read up on DE's hiring policies, because frankly, I'm not that interested in working there, but do you think the fact that some community members live in other countries might factor into their ability to be hired at all? That must be an excellent measure of the worth of someone's ideas concerning the game. Have you been offered a job at DE?

 

"Wearing the corpse of help as a deranged hat." Wow. It's very fair and reasonable of you to look at what is ultimately an emotional statement of concern as a definitive portrait of the sort of feedback I provide. /sarcasm. This thread, in its entirety, is expressing dismay at learning that all of the well-intentioned and constructive feedback some of us have been providing faithfully over the past year is not being heard the way we thought it was. Nowhere in my OP did I pull a  James Taggart and attempt to override DE's authority. The culmination of what I had to say was "DE, you need to start making some choices. I think choices a and b are bad ones, but if you're going to insist on going with those please make it clear that you are." If you missed that, you might want to consider the possibility that you are less cultured and sophisticated than you think you are. 

 

So no, I'm really not trying to help you. At all. I'm calling you out on behaving like a jerk because you didn't have the guts to call me incompetent in a manner other people were likely to understand. What upsets me, though, isn't that you've insulted me without actually pointing out the perceived flaws with what I had to say. It's that you've insulted almost every person who has participated in this thread, and attacking people without giving them the chance to defend themselves is the mark of a coward. For that, you have my undying contempt. 

Then we must agree to disagree on the book. The book is publicly available for free via google, and a synopsis of the characters can be found on wiki.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Taggart_(Atlas_Shrugged)#James_Taggart   .

Their flow is fairly simple and agreed upon. I don't believe atlas shrugged to be a marker of intelligence or education. I don't know why you even brought up education.

I have the guts to call you incompetent, I just don't believe it to be true as a blanket statement. Furthermore i don't believe name calling to be a good measure of guts, a trait we clearly don't share.

 

Ideas are the base of how moneys made and money itself. logistics have very limited bearing on receiving compensation. I did not post any criticisms about Warframe, so they have no grounds to hire me.

 

Didn't miss it, we share very different views of how your goals compare to the motives of James Taggart. 

 

I believe you when you say your not trying to help me.

I don't accept responsibility for your feelings. I did not mean to insult anyone. I had hoped that comparative reflection would drive a few to behave as Renegade343 does in their own way.

[Yaerion]

DiabolusUrsus/ HurpadurpusRex:
stop the little war of opinions.
You think differently, that's not a reason to fight.

To everyone: focus on the topic of the thread.
Stay constructive and kind to each other.

In general:
Keep in mind that DE members don't have much time, it's a gulf of time to read such threads.
Centralize your ideas. Be concise. Think of an easy way to submit them a summary of the brilliant ideas without ruining their day(s).
Some of them have probably read the OP (and it's already a huge thing!), but follow the whole thread is almost impossible.

I'm sure they'd appreciate a lot such an initiative.

[MechaKnight]

Keep in mind that DE members don't have much time, it's a gulf of time to read such threads.

Centralize your ideas. Be concise. Think of an easy way to submit them a summary of the brilliant ideas without ruining their day(s).

Some of them have probably read the OP (and it's already a huge thing!), but follow the whole thread is almost impossible.

I'm sure they'd appreciate a lot such an initiative.

Concise? One of our community members did a pretty good job in this week's Hot Topics thread. I'll repost it here, but all credit goes to them. (link to their post)

 

How about https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/242366-devstream-30-an-unexpectedly-large-blow-to-my-hopes-for-the-game/?

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/244916-you-know-de-we-seriously-need-to-talk/?

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/244946-are-you-happy-with-the-direction-warframe-is-currently-going/?

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/239420-why-are-we-getting-new-space-ships-when-core-gameplay-is-still-broken/?

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/242680-still-feel-like-de-has-the-wrong-priorities/

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/236973-some-suggestions-to-make-gameplay-more-engagingrewarding-edit-15-toxic-damage-rework/

Edit: added some more threads.

I and many other community members would really appreciate it if the developers at DE read the opening post of each of the threads in that user's post. It would be a dream if the threads were read entirely, but just the opening posts from those threads would do incredible things if any of the current problems mentioned within are remedied. That's about as concise as it can get.

Edited June 18, 2014 by MechaKnight

[Yaerion]

Thanks, MechaKnight.
I suggested in the moderation section a project to allow us (moderators) to hightlight some of these important threads of the community there, to attract the attention of Megan, Rebecca and/or Drew.

If the project is approved, i'll highlight all the threads mentioned by CBAROG (we have to check them before), this one included.
And the highlight process will continue further.

I'm not sure if it will work, though. Maybe it will cause too much internal problems to proceed as I suggested.

Maybe a "Community edition" of the hot topics will be in order (done by moderators/Community members only).

I will do all my possible to support these projects and make them come true.

I will discuss with all the team and inform you all if something good comes out.

[Renegade343]

Thanks, MechaKnight.

I suggested in the moderation section a project to allow us (moderators) to hightlight some of these important threads of the community there, to attract the attention of Megan, Rebecca and/or Drew.

If the project is approved, i'll highlight all the threads mentioned by CBAROG (we have to check them before), this one included.

And the highlight process will continue further.

I'm not sure if it will work, though. Maybe it will cause too much internal problems to proceed as I suggested.

Maybe a "Community edition" of the hot topics will be in order (done by moderators/Community members only).

I will do all my possible to support these projects and make them come true.

I will discuss with all the team and inform you all if something good comes out.

It should work, if there is enough manpower to sustain it and comb through all of the created threads to see if it is important. 

 

Then again, who am I to give my opinion in such a project, as I am not a moderator? Just saying. 

[VDeorsum]

completly agree with OP, +1

[notlamprey]

Thanks, MechaKnight.

I suggested in the moderation section a project to allow us (moderators) to hightlight some of these important threads of the community there, to attract the attention of Megan, Rebecca and/or Drew.

If the project is approved, i'll highlight all the threads mentioned by CBAROG (we have to check them before), this one included.

And the highlight process will continue further.

I'm not sure if it will work, though. Maybe it will cause too much internal problems to proceed as I suggested.

Maybe a "Community edition" of the hot topics will be in order (done by moderators/Community members only).

I will do all my possible to support these projects and make them come true.

I will discuss with all the team and inform you all if something good comes out.

 

I'd welcome the chance to have something like this for our community. There are a fair number of tenacious and prolific contributors to these forums, all with ideas that "stand out" to some degree as especially interesting or fertile.

 

There seems to be a common perception that a good deal of useful feedback is lost in the greater channel of "all feedback." Any attempt to distill the most promising, pressing or insightful stuff is a worthy endeavor to me.

 

I think the staffers at DE and the veterans among us can agree that a more efficient and effective communication channel is worth pursuing.

[Azamagon]

...

Centralize your ideas. Be concise. Think of an easy way to submit them a summary of the brilliant ideas without ruining their day(s).

...

We ARE concise! The problem is: There are just so frikkin many things that need improving that, even when concise, the texts become massive walls of texts...

 

Ironically, even when we have been thorough and still listened to, you STILL don't get the point of what we are saying! (Referring to notionphil's thread about better dumb enemies, which devstream 30 did NOT cover well enough). So telling us to be concise feels to be even MORE pointless than being thorough, since how will you get the point of concise stuff if you don't even understand our THOROUGH feedback and suggestions?!

[Yaerion]

I am a player/member like you all. I am not a DE staff member. Like you all, i want them to review the best feedbacks out there.

I am just telling that the longer a thread is, the more difficult it will be for DE + community moderators to follow (tbh, it's almost impossible).

They can read the OP, but i doubt that they can read carefully the 20 pages of this one, for example. Even for us, modos, it's hard if we weren't there from the start.

Just try to figure out what it would be to read every post of every topic of every section. Even if we lock everything now and begin, several months could be necessary.

Just reading all the OP everywhere is as hard as hell.

I understand your frustration, i can feel it myself from time to time, but consider the position of someone who has to collect and sort all the feedback.

I was just giving advices: centralize everything in your 1st posts, try to be as concise as possible.

 

From my part, I will try to help the community to have more accurate inputs in the Hot Topics.

I will try to help the team to be more efficient at scanning/detecting the interesting topics which deserve to be reviewed.

Just be aware it is a huge work.

[notionphil]

I am a player/member like you all. I am not a DE staff member. Like you all, i want them to review the best feedbacks out there.

I am just telling that the longer a thread is, the more difficult it will be for DE + community moderators to follow (tbh, it's almost impossible).

They can read the OP, but i doubt that they can read carefully the 20 pages of this one, for example. Even for us, modos, it's hard if we weren't there from the start.

Just try to figure out what it would be to read every post of every topic of every section. Even if we lock everything now and begin, several months could be necessary.

Just reading all the OP everywhere is as hard as hell.

I understand your frustration, i can feel it myself from time to time, but consider the position of someone who has to collect and sort all the feedback.

I was just giving advices: centralize everything in your 1st posts, try to be as concise as possible.

 

From my part, I will try to help the community to have more accurate inputs in the Hot Topics.

I will try to help the team to be more efficient at scanning/detecting the interesting topics which deserve to be reviewed.

Just be aware it is a huge work.

 

One suggestion a DE dev gave me was to spoiler the most important feedback from the thread into the OP itself.

 

Thus they can get a sense of how others feel about the topic as a whole.

 

An example of that is at the bottom of the  Forget Better Ai - We Need Better Dumb Enemies OP.

 

However...

 

 

Ironically, even when we have been thorough and still listened to, you STILL don't get the point of what we are saying! (Referring to notionphil's thread about better dumb enemies, which devstream 30 did NOT cover well enough). So telling us to be concise feels to be even MORE pointless than being thorough, since how will you get the point of concise stuff if you don't even understand our THOROUGH feedback and suggestions?!

 

The problem of devstream 30 vs notionphil et al was a problem of one sided communication.

 

Step 1) We, the community, rallied around a simple, clear proposal.

 

Step 2) The Devs responded to the proposal without making a clear resolution or roadmap forward

 

Step 3) There is no step 3, because we have no way of responding to their reply

 

Aaaaand, that's where we go off the rails. The devs then go back to exactly what they were doing before like making hoverboarding bosses and kubrows - because in their mind the conversation is over, even though the issue wasn't resolved. Acknowledging a thread does not fix a problem.

 

In reality Step 3 was me taking it to PMs and reaching a better consensus point, but that was 1) not public and 2) not a DE-wide understanding of the issue. It's me and one dev having a convo. Not the same.

 

So, yes, a mod-run place for "key threads" is great. Organizing those threads to make them parseable is even better. But until there is an actual two way conversation between DE and someone representing the playerbas (that continues until understanding is reached), nothing will change.

 

 

 

There seems to be a common perception that a good deal of useful feedback is lost in the greater channel of "all feedback." Any attempt to distill the most promising, pressing or insightful stuff is a worthy endeavor to me.

 

I think the staffers at DE and the veterans among us can agree that a more efficient and effective communication channel is worth pursuing.

 

This.

Edited June 18, 2014 by notionphil

[unsiezer]

I agree with the points you make, but I also Agree with how DE is trying to handle it. the games design fundamentally makes it very difficult to change player behavior. its much like FPS's many fps try implementing mechanics to change player behavior but ultimately it stays the same regardless. because if they want the game to be playable by a solo player  the solution needs to be something one player by them self can obtain, but that means as soon as you have 4 players every one of them is just going to ignore that and hope one other player handles it, that's just how online gaming is. as well the fact that the game doesnt hold your hand is GREAT! I like most PC gamers am a HARDCORE GAMER I WANT STEEP LEARNING CURVES AND TRIAL AND ERROR. other-words I'd just play this game for few weeks and be done. look at Demon souls and its predecessors  they are games that are hell bent on you dealing with things with a very narrow freedom of choice, huge amounts of trial and error, steep learning curves, and some times impassable objectives, and yet all 3 of those games are so rewarding to play, so popular, and so much fun, i and many others simply cant get enough of them. So you saying these things are bad is a bit ridiculous.

[DiabolusUrsus]

I agree with the points you make, but I also Agree with how DE is trying to handle it. the games design fundamentally makes it very difficult to change player behavior. its much like FPS's many fps try implementing mechanics to change player behavior but ultimately it stays the same regardless. because if they want the game to be playable by a solo player  the solution needs to be something one player by them self can obtain, but that means as soon as you have 4 players every one of them is just going to ignore that and hope one other player handles it, that's just how online gaming is. as well the fact that the game doesnt hold your hand is GREAT! I like most PC gamers am a HARDCORE GAMER I WANT STEEP LEARNING CURVES AND TRIAL AND ERROR. other-words I'd just play this game for few weeks and be done. look at Demon souls and its predecessors  they are games that are hell bent on you dealing with things with a very narrow freedom of choice, huge amounts of trial and error, steep learning curves, and some times impassable objectives, and yet all 3 of those games are so rewarding to play, so popular, and so much fun, i and many others simply cant get enough of them. So you saying these things are bad is a bit ridiculous.

 

I can sympathize with where you're coming from, but introducing enemies that require players to behave differently should not be all that difficult. The Arctic Eximus is actually very close to a good example of this - players need to either wait for the shield to go down or jump inside of it. I say "very close" because there are still ways to just ignore the shield and nuke the Eximus. If it was given a few power resistances it'd be a very well-designed enemy. 

 

You make a good point about players just ignoring solo-able tasks, but doesn't Solo Mode already have different spawn and drop rates? Would it be all that difficult to have simplified enemy behaviors for enemy leaders and minibosses when Solo Mode is enabled? That way they could be implemented in such a way that they would challenge teams to work together but be slightly more manageable for lone Tenno. 

 

Lastly, I'm not asking for any hand-holding here. Just that DE stop designing new/revamped bosses that completely invalidate a core part of combat gameplay, specifically melee. I'm not saying "make the game easier." I'm saying "design it so that you don't continually exclude people who are interested in content that you just introduced." I haven't played Demon's Souls, but Dark Souls 1 and 2 have very wide freedom of choice. There is never only one way to defeat any particular enemy. There are never any absolutely impossible challenges. Extreme difficulty is not something I have any issues with. Absolute, helpless impossibility is never a good idea, though. It falls into the same vein as games that allow players to be permanently stunlocked. Not a good choice. 

 

So don't worry, your ability to feel hardcore should not be affected in the least by what I am suggesting here. 

[trams87]

To be honest this is what Lunskee and I have been trying to say in our last posts that kind of got 100% shot down even by a forum mod. So yeah I thumbs up this post I hope it gets more good feedback.

[cyril1204]

For the content to be worthwhile, you have to give them more time to develop. Maybe 2 weeks per update so they have more time to test and adjust things that come together with the update. In 2 weeks they should have enough time to add well-thought lore to the new stuffs as well as the core lore.

 

I understand that you shouldn't be limited to a single method to kill a boss or an enemy. A solution for that problem is - the devs can test and make sure that there are at least 2 methods to kill anything, either with melee or ranged weapons. However, you must understand that not all bosses are manageable alone. In other online game, there is always a team/party doing boss hunt. Nobody stops you from doing solo boss hunt, but it has to be difficult (next to impossible if that's what it takes to get a good gear); And why should you do solo boss since the rewards are shared, nobody taking anything from you. I know newbie players joining the run will ruin the experience but that is something else to be taken care of. 

Edited June 18, 2014 by cyril1204

[DiabolusUrsus]

For the content to be worthwhile, you have to give them more time to develop. Maybe 2 weeks per update so they have more time to test and adjust things that come together with the update. In 2 weeks they should have enough time to add well-thought lore to the new stuffs as well as the core lore.

 

They can test different methods to kill a boss, either with melee or ranged weapon. However you must understand that not all bosses are manageable alone. In other online game, there is always a team/party doing boss hunt. Nobody stops you from doing solo boss hunt, but it has to be difficult (next to impossible if that's what it takes to get a good gear); And why should you do solo boss since the rewards are shared, nobody taking anything from you. I know newbie players joining the run will ruin the experience but that is something else to be taken care of. 

 

Agreed. I'd be fine with them doing bi-weekly content updates, or even monthly content updates, if it meant they could devote more time to fixing the core game mechanics. Once those are put in order, they can go back to content updates as frequently as they want to do them. 

 

The only reason solo players need to be considered so carefully is that some players can only do Solo. They don't have a choice, because of poor internet connections, weaker computers, or Strict NAT issues. Normally, I'd be with everyone else who says "okay, so you can't run the game. Deal with it." That'd be like me demanding to be able to play Crysis 3 on my old Dell Inspiron 1000, predating even Intel HD Graphics. It's simply not practical. However... DE has explicitly stated that the game should be possible to play Solo, they continue to support a Solo option, and they have expressed an interest in accommodating lower-end machines. I'm not saying that they can't or shouldn't include supplementary raid-styled bosses, but nothing mandatory should ever by structured in a way that completely prohibits solo play. 

[Nagisawa]

You make a good point about players just ignoring solo-able tasks, but doesn't Solo Mode already have different spawn and drop rates?

No it doesn't.  As a primarily solo player, you will typically face over 300 mobs on an average 30-45 minute run (assuming you take the time to kill every threat, as necessary, some you can avoid, but most unless you're an expert, you'll take a lot of damage trying to avoid rather than destroy) if you don't have a Loki or Volt (for the speed boost) on any non-Exterminate run.  Even on Mercury.

 

I run a Rhino/Rhino Prime and because I don't use the Vanguard Arcane hat,. I'm not as fast as most other suits.  I've done low level solo MD's and gotten nearly 1k kills, both in a group or solo (By low I mean Earth or lower.)

[dashashou]

For the content to be worthwhile, you have to give them more time to develop. 

 

 

How about over a year , i remember them talking back in update 7  they where going  to fix defenses , by making the rewards additive  ? 

[Nagisawa]

I have to make a correction.

 

The spawn rate doesn't change when going solo.  But the drop rates and levelling is significantly decreased.  As I'm Rank 6 after 600+ hours in Warframe.

[cyril1204]

As I stated in my comment, they should test the mission runs and make sure they work in different ways. Right now there are things that are next to impossible to destroy without a ranged weapon like traps or drones, either adding a stab or lock on system for those things which will definitely give more access to the current melee systems.

 

For the players who can only do solo runs, I proposed using the scaling system that they implemented for intercept missions which low down the difficulty for solo players to a manageable level (which means more testing on DE side).

 

One thing that pops in my mind as I typing this is: Instead of doing a Prime Time review after the contents are released, why not do it as a preview run test for upcoming contents within a few days or 1-2 weeks prior the release date. They players can then give feedbacks so the release will be less of a mess.

[DiabolusUrsus]

No it doesn't.  As a primarily solo player, you will typically face over 300 mobs on an average 30-45 minute run (assuming you take the time to kill every threat, as necessary, some you can avoid, but most unless you're an expert, you'll take a lot of damage trying to avoid rather than destroy) if you don't have a Loki or Volt (for the speed boost) on any non-Exterminate run.  Even on Mercury.

 

I run a Rhino/Rhino Prime and because I don't use the Vanguard Arcane hat,. I'm not as fast as most other suits.  I've done low level solo MD's and gotten nearly 1k kills, both in a group or solo (By low I mean Earth or lower.)

 

That's really... odd. And unsettling. Because missions often turn into relative ghost towns when I go into Solo Mode. (I play in private most of the time anyways so that my buddies can join if they come online.) Crazy RNG luck on my part, I guess. 

In that case... that really needs to be a thing. Solo Mode should have slightly fewer enemies, higher O2 drop rates during survival and if possible, slightly modified leader behaviors. 

[DiabolusUrsus]

One thing that pops in my mind as I typing this is: Instead of doing a Prime Time review after the contents are released, why not do it as a preview run test for upcoming contents within a few days or 1-2 weeks prior the release date. They players can then give feedbacks so the release will be less of a mess.

 

Yes. So much yes. I really wish they would start treating Warframe as more of the beta it's supposed to be. If they did rudimentary experimental content releases every so often and let players test out new mechanics for a week or two and tweaked things continuously they'd reach much more refined and well-implemented end results. At the very least they should be a little less secretive about the specifics of upcoming changes, and let players discuss potential issues and oversights. 

[cyril1204]

How about over a year , i remember them talking back in update 7  they where going  to fix defenses , by making the rewards additive  ? 

2 weeks between each update. With a longer deadline, they must be able to pack more fixes and contents.

 

Someone in some devstreams ago said that they won't change the way defense works - take it or risk it. Not sure if they gonna have a change of heart after more feedback. I like the idea of stack-able rewards too tbh

[cyril1204]

Yes. So much yes. I really wish they would start treating Warframe as more of the beta it's supposed to be. If they did rudimentary experimental content releases every so often and let players test out new mechanics for a week or two and tweaked things continuously they'd reach much more refined and well-implemented end results. At the very least they should be a little less secretive about the specifics of upcoming changes, and let players discuss potential issues and oversights. 

There are some content that should be kept secret like Prime Gears, so that will be kept as secretive as it is now. Other mechanics, like the upcoming  Dark Sector, or frames' abilities change should be shown to be public before release, a few days with constructive feedbacks is enough to fix all the issues

[MechaKnight]

One suggestion a DE dev gave me was to spoiler the most important feedback from the thread into the OP itself.

 

Thus they can get a sense of how others feel about the topic as a whole.

 

An example of that is at the bottom of the  Forget Better Ai - We Need Better Dumb Enemies OP.

 

However...

 

 

 

The problem of devstream 30 vs notionphil et al was a problem of one sided communication.

 

Step 1) We, the community, rallied around a simple, clear proposal.

 

Step 2) The Devs responded to the proposal without making a clear resolution or roadmap forward

 

Step 3) There is no step 3, because we have no way of responding to their reply

 

Aaaaand, that's where we go off the rails. The devs then go back to exactly what they were doing before like making hoverboarding bosses and kubrows - because in their mind the conversation is over, even though the issue wasn't resolved. Acknowledging a thread does not fix a problem.

 

In reality Step 3 was me taking it to PMs and reaching a better consensus point, but that was 1) not public and 2) not a DE-wide understanding of the issue. It's me and one dev having a convo. Not the same.

 

So, yes, a mod-run place for "key threads" is great. Organizing those threads to make them parseable is even better. But until there is an actual two way conversation between DE and someone representing the playerbas (that continues until understanding is reached), nothing will change.

Yes, this is the problem in a nutshell, hence why I said the development team should read the popular hot topics. Not one staff member who represents the community, but the actual developers. Sometimes Rebecca and Megan do bring one of the developers onto the scene to talk about community hot topics, but even they are ignored when the developer goes on a tangent with their new content ideas. Drew makes (generally) weekly threads, but who knows how much attention the development team gives them. There is a lack of coherence between the various branches at DE, so having a section of back-and-forth feedback would be worthwhile.

 

However, an issue stands where there is a possibility that DE may be overwhelmed, and our representatives in the discussion may not be ideal. There may have to be a selection of who gets in. I'd nominate (at the very least) notionphil, DiabolusUrsus, Xylia. There are more excellent community members out there who deserve to be selected, but not many people in the Design Council would stand for the community for the most pressing matters of the game for every player in Warframe, and some of our best contributors aren't even founders. That said, selection isn't easy, but may be necessary.

 

I would like a back-and-forth discussion between a bunch of DE members on the couch/office webcams/plain text real-time chat, and team of the most reliable moderators, contributing users, and the community staff of Drew, Megan, and Rebecca. We can't take everyone, and we can't take every topic. We really need to be thorough, yet concise.

Edited June 18, 2014 by MechaKnight

[notionphil]

No it doesn't.  As a primarily solo player, you will typically face over 300 mobs on an average 30-45 minute run (assuming you take the time to kill every threat, as necessary, some you can avoid, but most unless you're an expert, you'll take a lot of damage trying to avoid rather than destroy) if you don't have a Loki or Volt (for the speed boost) on any non-Exterminate run.  Even on Mercury.

 

I run a Rhino/Rhino Prime and because I don't use the Vanguard Arcane hat,. I'm not as fast as most other suits.  I've done low level solo MD's and gotten nearly 1k kills, both in a group or solo (By low I mean Earth or lower.)

 

It was confirmed to me via PM's that solo has different spawn rates and density, and spawn rates vary based on the number in your group.

 

I personally don't solo all that frequently, and when I do, I feel like I'm overwhelmed unless I'm constantly ult spamming. So, you need to make this problem even more visible bc solo is currently "working as intended" to DE.