First 2 Hours - Impressions, Reactions, Ideas

[Omegafish]

As the title states, I'm giving personal feedback after the first 2 hours of play (2 Sessions). I am biased and near sighted on many things, and all of what I'm about to tell you is just stream-of-consciousness, so please take it at that.

 

Things that I enjoyed:

 

Living up to the hype, there's a lot of action, guns swords etc. Melee and ranged combat seem to sit on an equal footing, which is a very commendable accomplishment.

 

The graphic engine itself is fairly legible, and with only a few exceptions it's easy to distinguish friend or foe. The color scheme has good enough contrast in most cases, but perhaps a bit muted. Graphic performance seems strong. 

 

Rate of growth (level and equipment gain commensurate with play time) seem appropriate, or competitive with other MMO style games. With perhaps the only caveat being half a dozen or more experience bars strewn about in different places.

 

Things that I didn't enjoy:

 

Part of the marketing of this game I believe depends strongly on its cooperative aspects. Unfortunately, I feel that Warframe is lacking somewhat in a cooperative emphasis. Sure, there are the dual switches, large enemies, and the need for mutual revivals, but these are basic, mechanical, requisite. There's very little flavor of a "cooperative" atmosphere. I guess what I'm responding to is the sense that every player in the game seems to be out for themselves. My interaction with other players was touch and go, in and out.

 

Everyone always rushes strait ahead towards the objective. The slightest delay in my movements had me several steps behind the group. After I catch up, the group has cleared every room in front of me. I've had several rounds where my experience was reduced to running around for 10 or 20 minutes with a handful of kills. On the note of kills, there's always one player possessing a hugely disproportionate number of them at the end of the match, say 60 or 80% or more.

 

Conceptual Development:

 

Negative criticism is more helpful than positive, so...

 

What I came to realize after running one of the levels on a solo setup, was that the gameplay in Warframe can be perfectly scaled to the number and skill level of players. Given more or fewer enemies, one player can accomplish the same set of tasks as a group of four. This is bad for a cooperatively oriented game. There need to be at least some goals that can only be accomplished by a group of players.

Scenarios like this might involve a situation where one or two players may need to defend the other two for an extended period of time, or where a flank needs to be covered. Depending on the objective, certain players may need to sacrifice their Defense or DPS. 

I hate to say the word "auras", but it would be good to have something that synergizes different player's abilities. Perhaps different player's abilities could interact with one another in some way. Maybe this kind of mechanic exists in the game somewhere, if so then I just haven't seen it yet. 

 

Lastly, the best coop experiences I've had involve an element of surprise. I'm sorry, but there is very little surprise or suspense in Warframe. From gaming experience and pacing, I can tell when there's an enemy around the next corner. Creating very sudden and challenging situations is necessary to bond the mutual experiences of players. 

 

From all this it may sound like I'm being overly negative. In fact I like the game, I'm just speaking my mind, and like I said before, negative criticism is healthier than positive. I'll get my friends involved.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Omegafish

[rhoenix]

I agree with some of your points, but I feel necessary to include a few points as a rebuttal.

 

- Solo play, especially if you set the game mode to Private instead of Solo, is a great challenge and helps me to increase my skills at various aspects of the game, which helps me to be a better player when my friends are around, and we go stomping through planets.  Completing missions this way is of course much slower than doing so with a group, but as I said, it's a greater challenge.  Moreover, during those times I can freely explore levels and terrain, admiring the artwork, and seeing just how out of reach certain places really are, something I can't really do often in a group.

 

- The group player goal aspects are a good idea to add to the game, but because of my point about allowing for solo play as well, those aspects either should be just dropped or made easier if one plays a mission alone.  For instance, multiple data modules solo is still doable solo.

 

- As for surprise... I think the devs are already ahead of you.  One of the newer aspects of the game is that you can see multiple factions on a given mission now, and since none of them get along, you might get to see some Grineer on Corpus crime.  That's funny enough as it is, but I'm also taking that to mean that multiple factions won't be the only random surprise you can get playing a mission (other than the Stalker trying to hit on you at random, but he's another story entirely).

 

- Now, as to the idea of "auras" - there is a similar idea at work here, though in a different form, which are complementary abilities.  The Frost can throw up a Snow Globe the party can hide behind and shoot from, and the Volt can do similar with an Electric Barrier.  The Loki and Saryn can throw up a Decoy/Moult to distract enemies and draw their attention in a direction that doesn't have Tenno.  The Mag can Pull enemies into hazards, down from high places, and off cliffs, and can setup Bullet Attractor on an enemy the Tenno party really doesn't like, while the Nyx can turn a swarm of enemies into a sitcom missing a laugh track.

 

There are ways in which frames can very easily work together, the problem is that most people in public games just... don't.  They simply want to get to the end as fast as they possibly can - which, don't get me wrong, is great for a money standpoint, since as long as you can keep up you can get stuff fairly quickly.  However, if you can coordinate with friends instead, Warframe takes on a whole new dimension of gleeful mayhem.  Trust me, once you do, you'll get a very good idea of why the Grineer, Corpus, and even Infested throw up in their mouths about the idea of a Tenno squad running loose on their ships.

 

To me, that more loosely-defined gameplay works more flexibly than forcing more coop play honestly, especially because the game also has to account for solo play.  However, having random champion enemies appear who have different abilities (like, a stronger Grineer Commander who has Pull as well as Switch Teleport?  Heh.), different missions appear, and giving the entire squad bonuses for certain things completed (5 revives, 50 pistol kills, 5 terminals hacked, etc.) would also offer coop objectives, just through a different way.

 

Give Solo play a try - it really is a different experience, and it offers unparalleled ways to get to know the various maps, and their secrets.  Look up the secret locations in warframe video on youtube - that should give you an excellent idea of what I mean.  Running around and exploring doesn't just give you extra loot, it also gives you a better idea of how the maps connect procedurally - thus, though because Warframe uses procedural map generation for a new map every time (something which I really, really am thankful), there are still certain commonalities in maps that are helpful to know.  It also gives you a good look at the amazing amount of work the developers are putting into this game.  This really is a labor of love for them, making this game just because they love it, and it truly shows in all the little details.