My 13.8 Feedback

[Xylia]

So, after playing enough of 13.8 to get my 49 points, I thought I'd offer my feedback on this update:

 

1). I love the new tileset. My friend isn't such a huge fan of it (because he's constantly getting lost lol), but I love it. You can tell that these are corpus ships that are heavily infested, they look much better than the old infestation maps used to look (take a basic ship and throw some pods here and there throughout the place). I love the "outdoor" parts, especially when a hive appears in an "outdoor" area, it creates this "hurry!" element because you're slowly suffocating (though I'm not sure why with the tech that is present in Warframe, they don't make the Warframes able to function in space properly). There's some odd glitches here and there, but those usually get fixed.

 

2). The new game mode, Hive, is enjoyable too. It isn't yet another boring endless zombiefest like Defense or Survival, there's no Instant Fail conditions (unlike Survival and Defense), and there are multiple objectives (20 in each map) to find, and the minimap doesn't point out 15 of them so you have to actually search for them which is a cool touch. The randomness of which "debuffs" you get also adds some variety to each mission, though some of them I found myself not really caring about (the gas clouds and magnetic spheres are easy to avoid for example), while the Lasers are awesome because you find yourself needing to dodge those, which adds a small little "skill" element to your gameplay.

 

3). The event was masterfully done. The ONLY complaint I have about the event, is that the scoring system could have been more transparent so we the players would understand what exactly is happening with our score. There's some RNG (which hives you get) but yet the game guarantees that you will eventually get the points if you keep at it. Here's a small glimmer of hope that DE understands the idea of Diminishing RNG where enough tries will eventually guarantee results (because eventually your chance becomes 100%), rather than throwing Gambler's Fallacy in our faces. Otherwise, the event is perfect. If you get lucky, you could get it in <10 runs. If you're not so lucky, it could take 20 or so runs. Given you've got 5 days to complete it, that's not so bad. The clan trophies... eh. I've pretty much given up on the idea of ever getting one of those, so I won't even complain about that.

 

4). The weapon... could we stop putting 3-Day Research times on new weapons? Could we make the research an hour instead of 3 days? The build time itself still takes 24 hours, AND that's not counting what getting the materials is going to take; it will certainly take a forma and probably mutagen samples, which takes time to assemble assuming you don't have a stockpile. Three Day wait time is a bit over-the-top; it'd be nice to know if we Knew what materials to start building up in preparation for it.

 

5). The Armor. I've seen someone wearing it and it looks kinda cool. I mistakenly thought it looked like wings (blah, maybe someday we'll get them), but I thought they still looked kinda cool.

 

6). The Syandana, I haven't seen it yet so I can't say much of it.

 

So......TL;DR:

 

Overall Score for 13.8: 8.5.

Event, Gameplay (the Hive Mode itself): 9.0

Event, Scoring: 7.0 (deductions for clan scoring, and it not being very transparent)

The Tileset: 8.5

The Weapon:  7.0 (tentative, because of the minimum 4-day wait)

The Armor: 8.5

The Syandana: N/A

 

Far, far better than 13.7.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Xylia

[Kthal]

With regards to points 5 and 6, if you check the costs of the armour/syandana, they cost 220pl (set includes syandana) for a purely cosmetic set, which is far too steep. If you consider, a syandana typically costs 50pl and an armour set costs 100, a price of 150 minimum, up to 170 for all the parts would be reasonable.

[Maou]

As for the research thing, I don't really mind it.

I heard that we could create our own special foundry when the new tenno upgradable ships hits which will craft things faster than our current foundry.

 

The Iliac armor set makes you look like Godzilla with a hint of tadpole in it.

(though the price is too much imo) I guess its pricey because it wiggles like a tadpole.

 

I find the tileset simply amazing, though some areas are relatively clean, de should splash it with some infested dirt or something just to take away that clean and untouched feeling.

 

Some part of the tileset drops fps quite low, though I hope this could be fixed in the future. 

Edited June 20, 2014 by Xuimma

[Sunfaiz]

With regards to points 5 and 6, if you check the costs of the armour/syandana, they cost 220pl (set includes syandana) for a purely cosmetic set, which is far too steep. If you consider, a syandana typically costs 50pl and an armour set costs 100, a price of 150 minimum, up to 170 for all the parts would be reasonable.

Agreed but we can purchase the parts seperately if we HAVE to get it.

[Xylia]

With regards to points 5 and 6, if you check the costs of the armour/syandana, they cost 220pl (set includes syandana) for a purely cosmetic set, which is far too steep. If you consider, a syandana typically costs 50pl and an armour set costs 100, a price of 150 minimum, up to 170 for all the parts would be reasonable.

 

The armor/syandana are much more detailed/difficult to make, which justifies the higher price.

 

They are cosmetic items and are purely optional, thus not required.

 

So I don't really care that they're priced a little higher. Don't like the price? Don't buy it.

[Taikaponi]

The armor/syandana are much more detailed/difficult to make, which justifies the higher price.

 

They are cosmetic items and are purely optional, thus not required.

 

So I don't really care that they're priced a little higher. Don't like the price? Don't buy it.

 

People from poor countries might not even have money for the cheapest of the cosmetics. If DE keep increasing the prices even more, nobody will be buying them anymore.

[Xylia]

People from poor countries might not even have money for the cheapest of the cosmetics. If DE keep increasing the prices even more, nobody will be buying them anymore.

 

They are cosmetics; they are not required.

 

And judging from the number of people who show up in the newest Prime frames as soon as the patch comes out, I'm willing to bet that there's a healthy number of players who don't mind spending some plat here-and-there on cosmetics if there are people willing to shell out $100+ for the newest primes on Patch Day, especially when such packs come with 1k+ platinum.

 

What else are they going to use that plat on? 1k platinum can buy every Rank10 mod maxed, and have plenty left over for all the cosmetics that'll be released over the course of each Prime Access pack and STILL have some to spare for the occasional forma.

[DiabolusUrsus]

Thanks for writing this. Now I don't have to, and can focus on other things. The event itself was supremely well-done, and you hit the nail on the head with the only flaw being how difficult it is to figure out the scoring. Destroying a Hive should show a +X points (the way killing the Wardens does in Rescue) and any secondary objectives should do the same (I wasn't even aware that there WERE secondary objectives before reading this.) It would be really nice to have a point-distribution breakdown at the end-mission screen (e.g. Hives Destroyed - X points, Completion Time - Y points, you get the idea.) 

 

I'd argue that the three-day research time doesn't actually stop you from getting the materials you need to build the thing once the research finishes, and reducing the actual research time really only rewards people who have stockpiled resources anyways. What would help is if the blueprint materials would display without needing to complete the research first. Then people could use the research time to collect crafting supplies without needing to consult the wiki. 

 

The new cosmetics sound too pricey, agreed. 

[Taikaponi]

1k platinum can buy every Rank10 mod maxed, and have plenty left over for all the cosmetics that'll be released over the course of each Prime Access pack and STILL have some to spare for the occasional forma.

 

1k won't be enough for that. Those new cosmetics we just got cost 220 platinum in a pack. After that you have 780 plat left for 17 maxed rank-10 mods (including the useless ones).

 

Edited June 20, 2014 by Taikaponi

[Xylia]

1k won't be enough for that. Those new cosmetics we just got cost 220 platinum in a pack. After that you have 780 plat left for 17 maxed rank-10 mods (including the useless ones).

 

 

Most of those mods go for 10-20p (the Commons), some of them you probably don't even care about.

 

So...

 

2 Commons (Vitality, Redirection): 40p tops

2 Uncommons (Serration, Hornet Strike): ~60p

3 Rares (Blind Rage, Magnum Force, Heavy Caliber): ~150p

 

The rest... I doubt hardly anybody cares about. That's 250p.

 

220 for the cosmetic pack, that's 470p. That leaves 530p for the rest of the mods if you did decide "screw it, I'll get the useless ones anyways".

Edited June 20, 2014 by Xylia

[notionphil]

Thanks for writing this. Now I don't have to, and can focus on other things. The event itself was supremely well-done, and you hit the nail on the head with the only flaw being how difficult it is to figure out the scoring.

 

Agreed.

 

Dynamic content that isn't just a mindless set of enemies to kill.  +1000

Event that requires grind but subtly rewards skill. +1000000

Nice new enemy that could def use a better telegraph and visible cloud. But he's CC resistant! Awesome (from what i hear). +500

Awesome atmosphere, sounds and tileset +100

 

Please make skill based scoring much more obvious. incl a breakdown at level end.

Please make mutalist cloud much more obvious and reduce/remove proc chance.

I'm mostly OK with research times and plat costs bc I'm sure they end up working out for you plat-wise. So no big comment there.

 

Overall, kudos for a superbly done release. +1

Edited June 20, 2014 by notionphil

[Taikaponi]

Most of those mods go for 10-20p (the Commons), some of them you probably don't even care about.

 

So...

 

2 Commons (Vitality, Redirection): 40p tops

2 Uncommons (Serration, Hornet Strike): ~60p

3 Rares (Blind Rage, Magnum Force, Heavy Caliber): ~150p

 

The rest... I doubt hardly anybody cares about. That's 250p.

 

220 for the cosmetic pack, that's 470p. That leaves 530p for the rest of the mods if you did decide "screw it, I'll get the useless ones anyways".

 

Maxed Serration and Hornet Strike sell easily for 150p each and the commons sell for 100p each. I have no idea where you are pulling those prices...

[Xylia]

Maxed Serration and Hornet Strike sell easily for 150p each and the commons sell for 100p each. I have no idea where you are pulling those prices...

 

Prices must fluctuate then, because I've seen Serration/HS going for 30-50 each. *shrugs* But then that was awhile ago; maybe people are hitting the Greedy Milk worse than DE ever did (not saying DE hits the Greedy Milk, but some players accuse them of doing that).

 

But damn, if that's all you gotta do to get 100p, then why are you complaining about the Syandanas rather than running T4 for the bundles and bundles of R5 cores? lol

Edited June 20, 2014 by Xylia

[Taikaponi]

Prices must fluctuate then, because I've seen Serration/HS going for 30-50 each. *shrugs* But then that was awhile ago; maybe people are hitting the Greedy Milk worse than DE ever did (not saying DE hits the Greedy Milk, but some players accuse them of doing that).

 

But damn, if that's all you gotta do to get 100p, then why are you complaining about the Syandanas rather than running T4 for the bundles and bundles of R5 cores? lol

 

T4 keys and R5 cores are sooooo easy to get. I have always got one T4 key per one Interception missions, and getting more than 20 R5 cores per survival missions is more than likely (assuming you're going at least 40 mins).

[Xylia]

T4 keys and R5 cores are sooooo easy to get. I have always got one T4 key per one Interception missions, and getting more than 20 R5 cores per survival missions is more than likely (assuming you're going at least 40 mins).

 

Can't tell if Serious or Sarcasm....

 

If serious: Then stop complaining about the prices, go do T4, max a few mods out and get your Armor/Syandana on somebody else's $$$.

If sarcasm: Dude, T4 keys are not THAT hard to get, and the cores are given out like candy.