Excalibur - Merging Abilities 1 And 2, 3 And 4

[cedekane]

My position is and has been that RB is Excalibur's finest utility.  In the interest of balance with other frames, if anything, Excalibur's 2nd and 4th skills should be adjusted to be as useful as other frame's skills.

 

However, having played Warframe for a while, I'm not hopeful.  I'm going to give another suggestion to achieve a compromise. 

 

If memory serves, once upon a time, Rhino had a 3rd ability called ground pound (or something).  It functioned just like the damage aspect of rhino stomp, an "insta-kill" and it's animation was the same as when heavies knock you down in close combat.  His 4th ability was some stomp like thing that could float guys in the air for like 30 seconds, it was awesome.  Wanting balance between these, DE nerfed the damage of the pound, nerfed the stun time of stomp and merged the 2 abilites.  *Boom we have Rhino Stomp.  Although hesitant at first, I actually have come to enjoy it.

 

On to Excalibur and today.  We have Blind, which apparently is on the chopping block.  We have Radial Javelin which is another "insta-kill" ultimate, one that is under par(considering other ultimates) and underused.  So lets say they are insistent on this physics/logic stuff (a guideline which has been contradicted by the coptering decision, among others...Nevertheless).  

 

Radial Blind post nerf doesn't go through obstructions.  And Radial Javelin doesn't hit that many dudes, the ones it does it doesn't do too much damage to.  So lets merge RB & RJ.  You get Blinding Javelins of Light.  They hit the dudes they come in contact with, knocking them back.  They attach to walls and obstruction and different positions.  They blind from the position they land.  And so you can have 10 different blinds going off at different points across the room.  There, skill 3 is more expensive, and slightly less effective(equaling less spam).  Skill 4 gains a utility, isn't just another insta-kill, and puts it more on the level of the other frames(equaling more spam).  Excal finally has a powerful feeling ultimate, just like everyone else.

 

While we are reviewing Excal, we may as well tackle Jump.  I've used this once...ever.  Like the cover system, it just seems to slow down game play and it just doesn't come up often.  My approach would be a kind of skill synergy, rather than a merge.  Slash Dash works normally, as does Super Jump, they still retain their 1 & 2 skill spots.  However, when you use slash dash directly after Super Jump, Excal "ground pounds" the area.  Bowling Grin's sky high like Jat Kittag.  

 

Both of these would give the frame more complexity making him funner to play (and I'd wager you'd see more balance in which skills were used as well).

 

Of course, this leaves the 3rd slot left open.  Suggestions are welcome on what this could be.

 

EDIT some things.

Edited September 12, 2014 by cedekane

[Dawn11715]

merging 3 and 4 sounds interesting

[CombatPastor]

I always thought Jump and Slash Dash could be merged by allowing you to Slash Dash in any direction you were looking, even up.

[Guest Tehnoobshow]

"Rhino and Loki are balanced"

Immediately discredited, regardless of what you have to say afterwards.

[ClockworkSpectre]

I don't really like the Idea of merging Slash Dash and Super Jump, but merging Radial Blind and Javelin and giving Excalibur a new #3 ability does sound like a reasonable idea. 

 

Also give it a day, the change to Radial blind was not intentional, in another post it was referred to as an experiment in the Dev build of the game and was not intended to be pushed to the current build we all play. 

Edited September 11, 2014 by ClockworkSpectre

[cedekane]

"Rhino and Loki are balanced"

Immediately discredited, regardless of what you have to say afterwards.

Of course I'm not going to force you to read.  Ideas are a dime a dozen.

 

Yes.  In my experience I use every ability on Rhino.  And every ability on Loki.  This complexity makes them the funnest frames to play (for me)

 

Are they balanced with other frames?  No, that's why I'm saying this should be the bar.  

 

*EDIT:  Removed the line, thanks for the feedback.

Edited September 11, 2014 by cedekane

[Syntax_Terror]

Merging Radial Blind with anything would go against the theme of Excalibur though.

Arthur blinded his enemies when he first drew the blade, that's what's so cool (to me) about Excalibur; the theme of it. 

Even Super Jump is linked to Arthurian lore, as the blade was engraved with the phrases "Take me up" and "Cast me away" on opposite sides.

 

 

They just need to revert RB to the way it was, and figure out some way to balance the other 3 skills.

[cedekane]

Merging Radial Blind with anything would go against the theme of Excalibur though.

Arthur blinded his enemies when he first drew the blade, that's what's so cool (to me) about Excalibur; the theme of it. 

Even Super Jump is linked to Arthurian lore, as the blade was engraved with the phrases "Take me up" and "Cast me away" on opposite sides.

 

 

They just need to revert RB to the way it was, and figure out some way to balance the other 3 skills.

Wouldn't Radial Javelin itself go against this theme as well?  If it were called Radial Swords?  

 

I agree with your second statement.

[Syntax_Terror]

Wouldn't Radial Javelin itself go against this theme as well?  If it were called Radial Swords?  

 

I agree with your second statement.

Actually, Radial Javelin isn't too much of a deviation as Arthur also used a spear (Rhongomyniad or Ron depending on the work it appears in.)

[cedekane]

...Alright smart guy, I'm going to take your word for it.  Learn something new everyday.

 

Still not a bad start...of course i would say that since it my idea:)