Something That I Regret The Loss Of Since The Update.

[Reede]

I should preface this with the assurance that I am not referring to anything that effects gameplay and that this is entirely something that I felt personally added a great deal to the character and atmosphere of the game universe with regards to creating immersion. So if you're worried that I'm here to cry about changes of anything "important" well, I'm not.

 

I've been playing the game for over two months now and it keeps bringing me back. The smoothness of the action, along with constantly switching up my arsenal to discover new, more potent combinations of weapons and mods as well as finding, building and piloting new frames is addictive to say the least. I can't say I'm massively interested in the new Kubrow content, but it's something else to consider in your search for your preferred playstyle, which is always a plus.

 

The something to which I refer is, on reflection, a very small thing and it's this that gives me a small glimmer of hope that it might be such a small thing that it won't been seen as a barrier to either it's reimplementation or reworking in some way that allows it to return better than before.

 

I refer to the previous navigation screen, or rather, how it made me feel.

 

Warframe is a very fast paced game. The combat tends to be intense, frenetic and deadly which provides you with ample reason to jump around, wall run, copter through swarms of enemies and unleash your Frame's lethal potential, all that good stuff the Tenno are the best in the system at.

 

But every time the mission ended, the Lotus congratulated you on a job well done and you made the jump back to wherever it was you were operating from, you would come to be kneeling above the sun in your own personal planetarium with that incredibly serene ambient music interspersed with the whirrs and beeps of the technology around you. It was a chance to breathe, to plan your next move, to check the alerts, gather your allies, sell your spoils to other Tenno or even, as I did, just contemplate and reflect on your place in the solar system. It helped me feel immersed in the game. It made me feel like I was the guardian of these planets rendered before me, watching over them for the inevitable coming threats.

 

It's gone now. Don't get me wrong, I love my new ship. I like the design, sleek and fast. A perfect ship for infiltration. The small communication station tapped into the local enemy communications adds to this feel of behind enemy lines and waiting for my moment and I very much enjoy the ships passing near enough to see me if they'd look out of the window. Great stuff.

 

But the solace in silence, that feeling of being in meditation, alone with your thoughts before the next charge into battle is gone and I am bereft. Instead I am stuck in a box with a motormouth AI who feels he needs to pipe in with some inane "funny" comment about how he's damaged and insane or he did a basic function of his that I should be thankful for but he's getting angry at how long I'm taking to do my job. Did he say angry? Just kidding, he's not malfunctioning, he's just whacky! I get it, Portal was popular, but I feel like the respect is gone. I'm no longer treated as some near mythical warrior from a bygone era kept at a cool, wary distance by my allies, allowed to make my own decisions as I'm forced into a mercenary role for my own survival, yet still trying to uphold the balance the Tenno are sworn to protect, now you're treated like any given silent protaganist, requiring the constant chittering of a support character in order to make it seem like you aren't just a big slab of meat with guns. Aren't you supposed to be saving the solar system? Hop to it then.

 

This is very much a personal feeling. It was something I relished at the end of each and every engagement and I would like to see it returned. Even as just a small meditation chamber you can enter in your ship that allows you to view your surroundings with my beloved ambience returned and preferably without Ordis sticking his oar in at every given opportunity although if a foundry project completes and he told me, I could forgive it. Lotus would make sense as well since she'd need to let me know about any new alerts but other than that, I would appreciate a return of the feeling of solitude. The image of a Tenno Warframe kneeling in meditative reflection is very striking. It's used for your login screen too so there must be some regard for it.

 

I'm also very much aware that most people wouldn't see the point of this and I can understand that mentality. It serves no purpose other than immersion at that point, while the old screen was a backdrop for how you set your Tenno up and then chose your destination, a neccessary stopgap between engagements. Hell, I imagine some people play without the music. I can see that, but I personally greatly miss it. Even if it was such a small thing.

[Varzy]

I think this sentiment is very valid. Personally, I'd love the ability to just kneel down in front of the windows, have the UI and lights fade out, have Ordis and the radio go silent, and contemplate the vista of space. Much like the observatory in the dojo.

[WingedCrusade]

I did quite like the planet UI with how the nodes worked previously, my best solution in any case is return the solar-map, but within the ship itself. Leave all the new features, but when you sit in the pilot seat, the solar map returns without needing all the buttons everywhere that involved the foundry or market and such, and hell, I'd quite like to see a much more involved Squad setup, say, all the Tenno are gathered in the circle around the system and it rotates to see all the tenno.

[Morphic224]

I cannot honestly disagree with this in any way. I also prefered everything OP said and due to the kubrow bug slightly supressing ordis I have now been made subject to this wave of irritation ordis provides. I do hope that DE would consider the OP's suggestions.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Morphic224

[Liminal]

While I like the new UI I can understand some would prefer the previous one.

However, I agree the AI is annoying. Why did they have to make it "funny"? I would have preferred a more interesting personality (actually insane* or a truly inhuman and hard to relate to AI for example).

 

*most real mental disorders are not funny.

[JHarlequin]

 The simple option of shutting down anything that makes noise would be very nice.  On a few different levels.  I don't know if I ever considered the old system to be a meditation or a contemplation, but I did like that there were no distractions or annoyances in between missions.

 

 Everything is my decision is always a better system to go with when it comes to the players time.  Having Ordis spouting out drivel or complaints about what to do, and having some bad radio communication continue regularly just seems to be pushing me to do something constantly without providing any good suggestions.

[J-Reyno]

I mostly miss the view of the galaxy. I do like the ship and I like that you get a different view depending on your location. It's very striking and they did a wonderful job but I'd like to be able to appreciate it a little more.

 

Your suggestion for meditation sounds great.  Kneel, block out the immediate surroundings and allow the scenery to shift to that of the galaxy.  Even better if you can navigate the map this way like we could before.  It'd almost be like having a telepathic connection to the ship, being able to guide it while in meditation.

[djldot]

I agree, although i love how it looks and everything, trying to navigate it confuses the hell out of me, I liked the simplicity, I could find what i wanted, if it be a boss i needed to fight, a alert that was happening, now there are all these symbols and my bloody extractors bouncing around continuously, im just lost =/ but this update has defiantly reignited my love for the game I lost it with U13