Why I Think Kubrows Are A Huge Let Down

[EvilGoat]

Beware, this is not a rant but it may come out as one if you love Kubrows! If you are hyper sensitive and love your space canine, get out and have a nice day playing with it!

...Ok? Are we alone now, Kubrow-disliking Tenno? Good!

First of all just a personal taste thing: We are some kind of ancient race made of energy able to get into suits made of the best stuff in the universe and obliterate millions of enemies over one lifetime. What is more appropriate for a Tenno then: a) a mechanized robotic sentinel or b) an organic dog? I suppose sentinels fit the theme of Tenno better so I see no reason to abandon them over Kubrows.

With that out of the way, I dislike the whole way we get the eggs. The quest is cool and showcases what can be done with the questing system, but damn eggs take a hell of a time to get and the whole thing feels wrong. Genocide of feral Kubrows to domesticate just one? No, just no!

Incubator Core cost is high, period! Especially for an item you rebuild for each egg!
Genetic Code Template cost is reasonably high but I can live with it honestly!
DNA Stabilizers are unreasonably expensive too (more about this further down)!

Hatching the egg takes 48 hours and maturing takes from 24 hours and a minute to 48 hours as the wiki states. So anywhere between 72 and 96 hours to get a pet. Oh and do not forget the time it takes for the core prior to that, so we get something between 80 and 104 hours for the Kubrow to mature. Average is around 90 hours or almost 4 days. Using the same money I spend for it and that time I can buy 2 sentinels and get them to full rank.

Random fur patterns are a bad choice to be bought with plat, I would opt for an item that is craftable and costs a ton for every build instead. Or both!?

Stasis cooldowns and stuff, more time spent in things I do not know cause I have not used myself yet, but I see people say it takes 3 hours to get it un-stasis-ized and 1,5 hours to make an imprint. I do not want to waste time without a loyal companion by my side, so...

They are melee for god's sake, MELEE! They need to approach enemies to hit them. Sentinels can hit everything from some distance, even carrier can shoot reasonably far, so why would I replace that with a melee? Slashing stuff to death yourself is awesome because it's fun to do, but having a melee pet over a ranged one sounds like putting yourself in a bad place.

Sentinels are bound to you and your movement, Kubrows at the moment are borderline idiotic. I played a void mission with lasers going up and down to reach a spot and the Kubrows just waited for the laser to come down and ran straight into it. Well's that's unfortunate. No, not really, just a bit stupid! If fixed, this could not be an issue!

As I have seen most people play Defenses, Surival and the occasional Run-A-Million-Other-Keys-Marathon and also Alerts for free stuff and Interceptions to resupply with keys. So in most scenarios, people prefer Carrier over any other sentinel just to be more carefree. Why would anyone replace a reasonably reliable sentinel like the Carrier even with its counterpart, when the counterpart is prone to dying more? And why replace it with any other dog anyhow? I see point in changing the Carrier for a sentinel with more range or something else but a Kubrow? Not me at least!

A dying sentinel requires no maintenance whatsoever, but a Kubrow requires DNA stabilizers and they cost you! And as far as I have seen them, they tend to die more, so you will spend unreasonable amounts of money. Loyalty is also buggy right now I have heard, it will probably get fixed though, so no worries! By the way, Kubrow DNA degrades over time so if you forget to stasis it, it will die? So if something happens to me in real life and I am away my most loyal companion will be dead and I will have to start over instead? Well the sentinels will never leave your side.

You can't switch Kubrows on the fly like you can switch sentinels... because Stasis is a cool concept, right?

Overall, I hope my points do not come off as a rant but more like constructive criticism and critical thinking as to why I dislike this new content over sentinels and see no reason in using it. By the way I am unsure of the specifics of its mechanics as of how mastery works and stuff, so if anyone can fill me in, I would love to know!

Edited July 21, 2014 by SilverBones
Edited to remove derogatory term

[TheStag]

Whoa, hold on. Cores are a one time use? Kubrows are a larger credit sink than I previously thought.

I also think Kubrows are a let down, and a massive waste of resources, however; after several weeks of updates, I believe the Kubrows may be changed in multiple ways, for the better. There is an overwhelming amount of feedback about the dislike of Kubrows and their extreme costs. DE must have taking some notes already.

[Pepz]

I like i have to wait for it to mature and see it grow, jeez, what the rush with some people?, if you want it right now just ruh it with plat, is not that expensive to rush all stages

[Alex9-3-9]

and still i would love if we could take our sentinels and kubrows at the same time. what a bummer.

[tatcher]

I couldn't agree more, Kubrows are too much of a hassle for a fast paced game like this, we should be able to switch Kubrows whenever we want.

[Orbister]

yea well, i really didnt like killing lots and lots of wild animals just to steal their eggs for my selfish purposes, its just a detail... but as in real life i love and respect animals i didnt really enjoy the process of finding an egg, off course, it's just a video game but kubrow do in fact sound, act and look like animals when you kill them, regarding game mechanics i agree that kubrows don't seem like very smart deal in comparison to cero-maintenance sentinels... i guess that we can choose between tools or pets... i guess that some people might enjoy the whole high maintenance process as a side game or mini game inside warframe. 

For now i'll stick to my Carrier for regular play and might take my kubrow out in particular occasions.

[Orbister]

I like i have to wait for it to mature and see it grow, jeez, what the rush with some people?, if you want it right now just ruh it with plat, is not that expensive to rush all stages

You can't rush it to mature, i don't mind waiting though, but for the record you can't you can only rush the hatching part.

[EvilGoat]

I like i have to wait for it to mature and see it grow, jeez, what the rush with some people?, if you want it right now just ruh it with plat, is not that expensive to rush all stages

Don't get me wrong, I am used to waiting some time (you wait 72 hours for a frame and 12-24 hours for weapons), but the time is unreasonably high for the Kubrows!

 

and still i would love if we could take our sentinels and kubrows at the same time. what a bummer.

Me too, that is the only thing I see making them worthwhile to me actually!

[Orbister]

and still i would love if we could take our sentinels and kubrows at the same time. what a bummer.

That would make sense... one is definitely a pet companion and the other is definitely a support tool, it doesnt make sense that one replaces the other, they are different things. 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Orbister

[EvilGoat]

That would make sense... one is definitely a pet companion and the other is definitely a support tool, it doesnt make sense that one replaces the other, they are different things. 

There is an argument to be made though that having both if modded properly may make you too powerful. Balance can be a big issue with this, so I can see DE's point in terms of only allowing one or the other!

[Orbister]

There is an argument to be made though that having both if modded properly may make you too powerful. Balance can be a big issue with this, so I can see DE's point in terms of only allowing one or the other!

Yes, balance is probably the main restriction in this case.

[Etsoree]

First of all just a personal taste thing: We are some kind of ancient race made of energy able to get into suits made of the best stuff in the universe and obliterate millions of enemies over one lifetime. What is more appropriate for a Tenno then: a) a mechanized robotic sentinel or b) an organic dog? I suppose sentinels fit the theme of Tenno better so I see no reason to abandon them over Kubrows.

 

TL;DR. Stopped after I read this.

 

1 : Source, please.

2 : The Djinn Sentinel isn't mechanical. 

3 : Kubrow are not dogs. I believe somewhere Rebecca said they're closer to hyenas.

[varto]

agree the waiting time on kurbo is to long i whas so happy to hatch my egg ( rushed for 15 plat) than i bounce againt a wall and now i need to wait till it mature no option for rushing maturing no timer for how long or when and from what i read in all the post of kubros i feel like i get the need of just trowing the kubro away becous it sound weak and a pain to maintain so plz fix this ow and random scramble is bad aswell i prefure to buy my coller and patren DNA in the market not by random

[KemarRaijin]

First let me say i love the kubrows, but i did read this because i wanted to see what you had to say.

 

1st: Stasis. You can only have one kubrow active. The rest must sit in stasis. So if you want to get a new egg, you must place your mature kubrow in stasis. Then spend the 72-96 hours getting your next fully mature kubrow. And if you decide that you want to take the kubrow that stealths you on a rescue mission, you have to be ok with waiting 3 hours for it to come out of stasis.

 

2nd: Kubrow vs Sentinel. Kurbows may be melee, but they have MUCH higher stats. The link mods add a percent of your FRAME's health, armor and or shields on top of the kubrows own base stats. All three go over 100% of your stats. Not to mention the +330% melee damage, the Kubrows have alot of damage and tanking potential. However~ they walk to their death ALL THE TIME. Any trap they will go and stand in. Laser pits, gas clouds, turrets, are murder. And once they die, they lose loyalty and recieve a damage reduction. Compaired to sentinels who dodge traps when you do, no penalty on death, much faster and easier swapping Sentinels have a lot of advantages. but the issues can be fixed...somewhat.

 

3rd: Awwww: Yes i wanted a puppy. Yes i slaughter thousands to find that egg, and hundreds of thousands to get the mods for that puppy. i feel awful about it, and its just......bleh.

 

4th: Death Potentail: So what happens when you potatoe, forma x10 times, and randomize the skin of your kubrow to get the best look.....and then it dies? For some that is a ton of plat, gone, wasted, forever. Worth it?

 

Like i said i love the kubrows. The puppy as so cute. But i am not blind to its flaws. Do i want them removed? Hell no! but some changes would be nice.

[EvilGoat]

Like i said i love the kubrows. The puppy as so cute. But i am not blind to its flaws. Do i want them removed? Hell no! but some changes would be nice.

I agree with your whole post except the part that talks about damage, mainly because I have not tested it myself to see if it is worthwhile but I do not disagree on the exact same ground (so just neutral on that), and I am grateful that someone who likes Kubrows posted here with a properly formed opinion on their problems. Now removal was never an option, tweaking was and I hope that people like you who use them will provide the proper feedback that I will not because I will get tired of the flaws too soon! :)

[EvilGoat]

TL;DR. Stopped after I read this.

 

1 : Source, please.

2 : The Djinn Sentinel isn't mechanical. 

3 : Kubrow are not dogs. I believe somewhere Rebecca said they're closer to hyenas.

1. Prologue, wiki, lore, get your facts straight!

2. True, this was an oversight but it is an infested sentinel and as far as I know the Infested have Ancients in their ranks, so yeah it looks like it could live longer than a puppy.

3. Ok sure, but still they are less deadly than robots, like any animal, genetically mutated or not, would be!

Edited July 21, 2014 by EvilGoat

[Nemo1776]

sentinels>kubrows any time,kubrows now is total crap from any way you see it

[OrokinNoob]

Considering how much is "wrong" with the Kubrows, I'm not even sure why people are so concerned with a comparison. I thought the Kubrows were always presented as an alternative companion, not a sentinel replacement.

 

It seems to many people have wanted them to be Sentinels on four legs and are surprised by the amount of wait and grind that comes with them. I also don't get the argument of it can't replace carrier when most people use carrier cause as the OP said, they are carefree.

 

There was also no mention of the Link mods, upgrading the damage and survivability of Kurbows, so I'm wondering how many people actually don't have kubrows, but yet are making threads addressing things that well...we know need to be fixed.

 

For a friendly NPC, I wasn't expecting much, not more than Shadows of the Dead clones or Chaos influenced enemies to derp around really. 

[Arkezuli]

That would make sense... one is definitely a pet companion and the other is definitely a support tool, it doesnt make sense that one replaces the other, they are different things. 

 

^ This

[Chuckinator]

Honestly, I'm fine with Kubrows, but 100,000 credits... so I don't lose something I farmed hours for? What's next, Weapon Durability? I've got a puppy, and whilst I think it's adorable, I put it right in stasis. I would have loved to bring my Kubrow out with me, because I'm a HUGE animal lover. But, 3 hours to come out of stasis, and I play 1-2 hours at a time... My Kubrow is more likely a very expensive decoration on my ship, for the rare occasion I'll choose to wait 3 hours to pull it out of Stasis. When those Gene Stabilization vials are craftable, and simple to make, and I don't have to worry about my Kubrow blowing up because I didn't freeze it like left-over Chinese Food, I will use it. For now, I hope DE will realize they've just provided a huge credit sink that nobody can afford... even the older players who have a few million Credits.