A Use For "useless" Mods

[Temperance000]

I'm sure we've all realized by now that there is simply no place for certain mods in a "maximized" Warframe or weapon build.  Although a fair portion of mods fit into this category, the ones that spring immediately to mind are damage mitigation mods like Diamond Skin and Warm Coat.  No one uses them for anything except fusion, because the resistance they provide is minimal, even at max rank, and we simply do not encounter elemental damage often enough to make them worthwhile.

 

To me, this seems an atrocious waste.  These mods clutter the drop tables and sit unused in our inventories, thrown away to power up more "useful" mods or sold for credits in a pinch rather than serving their proper function.

 

In order to give these neglected mods a purpose again, and to help diversify the range of viable Warframe builds, I offer the following suggestions.

 

1)  Add a new set of Mod slots to Warframes.  This would be a separate block of about....say, 4 slots, dedicated solely to utility mods.  "Utility" meaning any mods that do not directly affect a Warframe's health, armor, shields, energy pool, or powers.  This block would have a separate pool of mod energy, scaling with rank and expandable by the addition of an Orokin Reactor, maxing out at 40 points with one installed.  These slots would act just like any other mod slot on the frame, accepting Forma and polarity swaps, and drawing a separate bonus from the Aura slot's energy increase.  

 

2) Pursuant to the implementation of Suggestion 1 above, further instances of elemental damage should be added to enemy factions.  Grineer Seekers could take up a Nukor; Corpus Crewmen grab a Glaxion.  Volatile Runners or Nauseous Crawlers could have a chance to inflict the Viral proc as they disgorge a cloud of Technocyte spores.  This would serve the double purpose of making fights more challenging, and increasing the importance of using resistance mods.

 

3) If both of the above are found to be sound, resistance mods could be added for base damage types, e.g. "Thick Skin:  +60% resistance to Slash damage."  Naturally, this effect would have to be toned down for PvP.

 

The hope here is to diversify Warframe builds and allow for greater impact of customization on gameplay, by the simple expedient of providing a use for "useless" mods.

 

Please feel free to offer your own opinions and suggestions below; just remember to keep it polite and constructive.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Temperance000

[SquirmyBurrito]

I've never used Warm Coat but I have used Diamond Skin (back when it resisted Laser Damage rather than Radiation).

[VoidPunch]

I'm a fan of having more enemies with elemental weapons. I think Leaders should also have elemental damages applied to their weapons respectively.

[Ruby_Rose_]

This is just something I typed up awhile ago about this specific situation, bit of a culmination between myself and clannies.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mngA5OV7VCln6yMqWOgVtdL26PGsR1RGfzUlISyAIKw/edit?usp=sharing

 

Basically, my thoughts of a couples way the Mod system could be approached to allow for better customization, one of the ideas is pretty much exactly what you thought, kinda.

[Arabaxus]

2) Pursuant to the implementation of Suggestion 1 above, further instances of elemental damage should be added to enemy factions.  Grineer Seekers could take up a Nukor; Corpus Crewmen grab a Glaxion.  Volatile Runners or Nauseous Crawlers could have a chance to inflict the Viral proc as they disgorge a cloud of Technocyte spores.  This would serve the double purpose of making fights more challenging, and increasing the importance of using resistance mods.

 

All sounds great short of this, which is a good idea, but based on track record, I have worries about this. Radiation should not invoke any change in player controllability and Glaxion should not freeze to the point where you are immobilized, since mechanics that remove player control are not fun and are frankly just cheap.

[Temperance000]

All sounds great short of this, which is a good idea, but based on track record, I have worries about this. Radiation should not invoke any change in player controllability and Glaxion should not freeze to the point where you are immobilized, since mechanics that remove player control are not fun and are frankly just cheap.

 

I'm sure there are those who are of mixed opinion about that, but I do agree that it is never fun to have control taken away from you.  I was not suggesting that the weapons work exactly as they do for us, merely that our enemies should have access to the full range of elemental damage to make resistance mods meaningful again.

 

Frankly, I have no idea how a Radiation proc would work on a player, but the Cold proc should function like the cryogenic floor tiles in the Void.  Maybe Radiation could induce HUD scramble, while Magnetic only drains energy and shields?

Edited September 17, 2014 by Temperance000

[Yirktos]

Frankly, I have no idea how a Radiation proc would work on a player, but the Cold proc should function like the cryogenic floor tiles in the Void.  Maybe Radiation could induce HUD scramble, while Magnetic only drains energy and shields?

Have you never been to a void mission? The laser traps can inflict the radiation proc. It doesn't scramble your hud or wrench control away from you, it just enables friendly fire. That's what it does in the game right now.

[NutritionalValue]

Adding more mod slots for "useless" mods won't change much, other than make gameplay more convenient I suppose (if the radar mods counts as "useless")

 

Also the argument that it will diversify builds is incorrect as people will always find a way to min/max and later on use the same build. (look at weapon builds most of them are the same with slight difference between critical and elemental builds)

[Temperance000]

Adding more mod slots for "useless" mods won't change much, other than make gameplay more convenient I suppose (if the radar mods counts as "useless")

 

Also the argument that it will diversify builds is incorrect as people will always find a way to min/max and later on use the same build. (look at weapon builds most of them are the same with slight difference between critical and elemental builds)

 

I know that most min/max builds are virtually identical.  The idea here was to give players a little more choice with the "extras" in their build.  Essentially, you won't be forced to sacrifice a mod slot that could have been used for power, health, or shields if you want to use a max-stamina or loot-seeking mod set.  I'm not offering a change in the way primary builds work; only options for how we might choose to personalize them.  Perhaps I was unclear on that point in the original post.

 

One last note; when I say "useless mods" I mean mods that rarely, if ever, make an appearance in a min/max build.  This would indeed include the radar mods, which I find to be extremely useful.  Also, this suggestion is not meant to apply to weapons, only to warframes.

 

 

Have you never been to a void mission? The laser traps can inflict the radiation proc. It doesn't scramble your hud or wrench control away from you, it just enables friendly fire. That's what it does in the game right now.

 

I have been to the Void, but I rarely get hit by the lasers.  And when I do, I usually don't fire at my comrades.  That is why I have never observed the effects of this proc.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Temperance000

[Lost_Cartographer]

People will build for power first as long as the game's enemies scale indefinitely in health, and as long as they scale indefinitely in damage, even the "survival" mods like redirection eventually become obsolete.  Ironically, utilities never become obsolete, but they're rarely seen as very helpful either, like hand spring or fast hands.  If it were just the damage though, and AI health capped at, say, 35-38, then maybe people could afford to scale back on pure damage and find room for utility.  If damage capped as well, then players might be able to afford some room in their warframe slots, though "endless" missions would have to ramp up difficulty in another way, like eventually large numbers of all Grineer spawned are heavy gunners, napalms, bombards, eviscerators, and snipers with godly aim (prepare to get wrecked.)

 

But mostly, building for "endless" missions is the bulk of the problem, the usefulness of non-damage mods is a rather minor part.  Mods like rifle aptitude are complete $#!%, fast hands is actually pretty great, magazine warp is so-so but expensive, ammo drum is kind of just delaying the inevitable for weapons where it would be desirable (and damage would only make ammo further efficient,) and absolutely unnecessary for anything with an efficient ammo economy (ammo drum thus, would only really useful if it also increased ammo from pick ups.)  For Ceres non-endless missions for example, no one needs a Boltor Prime decked out in serration, split chamber, and a plethora of elemental mods - it's over kill.  But then... how many people run non-endless missions willingly or would even opt to gimp themselves so that everything they run into doesn't die in one hit?

 

Also, yes, elemental defense mods are kind of unnecessary right now.  They too are also kind of expensive.  A lot of these very situational utility mods are in fact.

 

Basically, I feel the modding system as it is is fine now.  What we see with builds is a symptom of the disease that is infinite scaling.  I however will continue to use an MKI Braton and Lato with sawtooth clip/razor shot (for the gibbing) and only toxic mods at most for elemental damage and plow a path of destruction across the solar system whenever an alert or invasion turns up, because that's how I freaking roll.  I pull out the big guns for stuff really worth winning.

[Temperance000]

Well then.  My best wishes to you, sir.  Have fun out there!