Gatecrash Review And Feedback

[merryfistmas]

I've decided to give this review of Warframe's latest event because I have a warped perspective on how valuable my opinion is. Also, I'm general very negative on these forums and think DE should receive praise when they do something right, rather than just the tidal wave of criticism whenever I, or anyone else, has a problem with this game.

 

First, I'd like to say that the gatecrash event addressed several big issues I had with Warframe and has made me far more optimistic of this game's future. Interesting bosses, reasons to actually explore the map and dynamic tile sets were just a few things I loved about the event.

 

The bosses in Warframe have become exponentially better than when I first started playing, and while invincibility stages can still make for some annoying fights, they're a lot more interesting than recolored, generic enemies with 5 or 6 digit health pools. I enjoyed the bosses (or minibosses or whatever you feel like calling them) in gatecrash events because they allowed players to utilize multiple strategies to defeat them. You could lure Sprag (hammer) behind an obstacle in order to avoid the shots from Van'kra Tel (sniper) and dispose of them one at a time or you could sprint around the map while taking pot-shots at Van'kra Tel while avoiding Sprag and then stunlock Sprag if you had a weapon appropriate for doing so. The weak point on the back meant there was more to the fight than hosing a fat grineer with a Soma. I also really like the janky way that Sprag careens around the map. The weak points also encourage cooperation among players, having one player stunlock Sprag while the rest killed killed her and hunted down Van'kra Tel was a very common strategy I saw.

 

The Grineer caches was a really nice touch as well. I've always like the maps in Warframe but there was simply no reason to explore them before this event. Farming defense, survival, and mobile defense has always been a more effective way of acquiring XP, credits, and resources, and feeling like I had a reason to wallrun to some of the more obscure parts of the map was a really nice change. I like exploration, and this event did a very good job of encouraging it.

 

Something that really made this event stand out from the others was how it combined several game types and tile sets in a way that kept the mission from being clunky and slow. By that, I mean you didn't have to spend too long on any one thing, the mobile defense portion was actually my favorite mobile defense set up for reasons I will explain later and DE did a great job of showing off their (in my opinion) best tile sets. The atmosphere of the jungle, desert, and shipyard tiles are so dramatically different from each other that the three stages of the event all felt very different.

 

Suggestions/Feedback

Implement enemies like the bosses in this event. Enemies with only one spot (or more as long as the whole dude isn't vulnerable) that takes damage, corpus and grineer with extremely high mobility, and most importantly, enemies that coordinate with each other (I'm not sure if the sisters did but it felt like there was at least some improvement in the AI).

 

Caches in some form in every level, at least one. If there was a cache in every single level then every level would have a reason to be explored. They don't need to contain huge amounts of resources or credits, just something to make exploration a somewhat viable alternative to farming defense. For example, having the caches hold a few of that planets rare resource, some oxium, or credits (with amounts varying by level).

 

So the mobile defense part of the event... I like that it was a huge open room with multiple lanes of attack and two factions coming from both sides. It was obviously incredibly easy but the concept was good. Add a few catwalks above the main floor and a few more entrances for enemies to swarm through and this would be a great mobile defense map.

 

The differences in the three grineer tile sets in the event made me think that thematic enemies would be a welcome addition to Warframe. Enemies unique to certain tile sets that emphasize the atmosphere and have abilities that fit their location, essentially, enemies that remind you where you are.

 

Criticisms

The Orokin derelict became incredibly monotonous after the first five missions. This is more of an issue with the tile set than how often it was used. Don't get me wrong, the tile set is fun and there are a ton of places to explore, but every room looks pretty much the same (in terms of style and colors, not layout) and it's, for lack of a better word, draining to play on. Infested have vibrant colors and wacky looking enemies that are a combination of grineer, corpus, and space AIDS, their tile sets should reflect that. The depressing color palette and overgrown corridors that often become clogged with infested really take away from the grandeur that makes the Orokin void so interesting to look at.

Edited October 1, 2014 by merryfistmas

[(PSN)IIIDevoidIII]

Moved to a more appropriate section.

[HolidayPi3]

+ 1 and great feedback.

One thing that I'd also like to add on to your point about multiple game types & methods of approach is that Gatecrash did a wonderful job melding the two most conflicting playstyles together. I'll give an example.

My friend likes to stop by every room and secret room and gather resources. I like to blaze through the mission and kill everything in my path (I wouldn't say I rush as I don't skip enemies... I just play at a very very fast pace).

Since we duo'd a fair amount of the event, I would activate the gates and "assassinate" the bosses solo, while my friend "explored" and found all of the caches. It was a win-win for both sides, and really fun to see who could complete their self-imposed objective first.

Very well done and I agree that this has been a huge step up from other events.

[aoguro]

i was reading and thinking about this feedbacks

 

if i would be DE i would start to implement all this different events/missiontypes as rotations in all planets, means the missiontypes of the last events moves inbetween 24 hours/after 24 hours from one planet to the other

 

how many useful new events was since i play my half year ? 3 ? am i right, so we would have continously 3 planets with new missions, i would be more then happy with :-)

 

and please, DE, dont remove anything what we have now ...

it would be great if this can become reality because i dont know about the technical background which is needed :)

i have only seen the movie about the programm you use for creating warframe 8:}