Ability Augmentation (Devstream #39)

[Gilaros]

As we know all frames will lose their 4 ability mod slots (abilities will be default finally) and gain 2 extra slots, so we will have a total of 8 mod slots (+1 aura) to customize our builds. This is a good change, a step in the right direction. However there are bunch of new mods coming, some of them are called Abiltiy Augmentation mods which change the way our skills work (an example was Ash's smokescreen being shared among teammates). This in itself is great, albeit a bit limiting. It will either force people to empower at max 2 skills or none at all. I think a lot better solution would be to use these Ability Augmentations for the Focus System. How I picture it?

 

1) Every skill gets one augmentation slot. You can decide the way you want to alter all your skills. However to make the system interesting let's add some augmentations with trade offs.

 

2) Add normal augmentations which simply benefits your abilites (for example Rhino's iron skin has 10% chance to reflect projectiles) and corrupted ones (Rhino's Iron skin's strength is reduced by 50%, but shared among teammates). This will let people to truly customize their builds. 

 

3) You can earn this through quests, syndicate, bosses, random drops, you name it. 

 

Focus system should allow people to alter the roles of their frames. The purpose of their abilites. There is so much potential in a system like this. Imagine a moving Snow Globe, or a Switch Teleport that heals friendly target or anything really.   This is something that the current mods (with a few exceptions) can't do. Ability Augmentation is a great thing, but I can't see it working very well if we limit it to mod slots. What are your thoughts about this? 

Edited October 17, 2014 by Gilaros

[xkillo32]

random drops?

nope

i dont want more rng

[CelsiusPrime]

yeah I was kind of getting the feeling that augmentations would be a perfect fit for focus because the more you use a frame the more power you should unlock out of it.

 

focus would just make so much sense if it was augmentations

[Gilaros]

I'd even go as far (though it is a bit off topic) that the Focus System could have cosmetic upgrades/alternatives for skills. These could be the real affinity sinks while Ability Augmentations are moderate so it doesn't take a long time to get your dream build or test out different combinations