Do Invasions Need A Revamp In Playstyle Or Rewards?

[4MostlyHarmless2]

What do you think, guys? I've seen one too many invasions sit at 49.8% or something like that for more than a week or two because nobody bothers to run them for anything other than G3/ Harvester mark farming.  Yet when the rare potato invasion alert comes up there are suddenly 150+ squads all going for it, and the node falls within mere hours.

It seems a lot like the motivating factor for doing an invasion (or any mission now, for that matter) is the reward; so should that reward table be revised? Or should the experience and gameplay of the invasion missions change so that people actually play them? 

 

[Personwithhat]

Most of the time I only run them when i need crafting materials for dojo stuff. there are just no useful rewards, a orokin cell you can get after doing 1 mission instantly not 5 and a wait, same goes for all the other 1 resource stuff. the dojo materials are the only ones that save time + credits + other resources, and then its only if you REALLY need it.

i mean you only need like 4 on average for most weps, 7 for the best, and the 7 is fieldrons and they sometimes drop in packs of 3 in invasions.

 

so yeah, buffing, preferably with rare materials like in packs of 5 or so to make it any worth at all, maybe more than 5.

 

resources, potatoes, syndicate points?

[Orbister]

well, yes dark sectors made them obsolete regarding credit rewards, about resources rewards maybe they could lower the count to 3 missions instead of 5, although i can blaze through invasions without challenge, i find it quite boring to run all 5, so i usually don't.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Orbister

[Guest]

Mere hours? You mean mere minutes. Potato invasions never reach the hour mark.

 

And I do run invasions from time to time, because I like the chaos of faction warfare and the unique tiles.

[Lqn8r]

They need to give better rewards in some cases. Especially the ones where it is 30k creds to 25k creds or just an orokin cell. Also running exterminate 5 times is extremely boring. Most people just try to rush them and the bad enemy spawns cause the missions to take even longer. Rewards needed to be revamped and we need a mission rework as well. I personally would like to see an archwing invasion from one ship to another. Or an invasion where you boost down on archwing to a planet avoiding gunfire. Invasions lack the feel of real invasions, they are just re-tiled and re-skinned exterminates. I would like to see large scale battle in warframe.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Lqn8r

[Hypernaut1]

As much as i love grinding, Invasions feel TEDIOUS! I dont want to run the same exact mission 5x in a row. 

 

IMO, Invasions should be a mini campaign encompassing 3-5 nodes in increasing difficulty with a mini-boss or something special at the end- or do something/ anything so that we are not simply repeating the same mission over and over. I think its bad design. I rarely do them anymore because it can make me feel burnt out. And thats saying a lot for a game like this.

 

I also hope that DE plans on adding some unique trait/feature to differentiate between regular nodes, alerts and syndicate alerts. It doesnt need to be completely new mission types, but there has to be something they can do to make one Survival alert mission feel different from a Syndicate Survival Alert.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Hypernaut1

[ArcariusAero]

I agree with most of your statements: People rarely doing invasions except for rewards.

I personally just do invasions to keep the planet under control if its faction. I remember the horrifying days when (idiotic) players would try to "rebel" against DE by supporting the Corpus on Ceres, preventing people from getting the Hek keys.

[God_is_a_Cat_Girl]

One issue is that the rewards aren't that worthy, most of the time that is so. Like, 25k~35k? You get that in 2 runs from high tier def/surv or void, it's only good for newbs that didn't reach those places. Orokin Cell? Only one? Faster to kill some boss for it. If there isn't any other rewards, those tend to get stuck.

 

Phorid also need a Corpus tileset. And wouldn't mind the Phorid being something else than a stronger Charger.

 

So, yeah, Honestly, they should rework invasions a little. Review the rewards, add new elements (like a Grineer/Corpus unit serving as the boss, or mini boss for regular nodes and an actual boss on boss nodes), new tilesets, etc.

[Dalimir]

An idea that just recently popped into my head is basically, invasions could be progressive instances.  First mission could be to exterminate the enemy to gain ground, second would be a defense to hold said ground from an enemy push, third could be capture some data (Mobile Defense), fourth would be another defense, (or something along those lines, it could variate) but the last mission would be a mix of exterminate and assassination. You're making the final push for the faction you've sided with, and when all "enemies" are eliminated, you are directed to an area where enemy presence is high, and walk in to find a random boss (or boss-like enemy) mopping the floor with your guys, and you have to save their skins by taking the boss out. Archwings could also be implemented, say damage to the hull is severe and the faction's commander is ordering you to take out their cannons so they can make quick repairs and move in.  One thing I am MOST definitely looking for would be that the Lotus only makes the intro quotes, then the commander (like a Grineer Commander unit or a Corpus Tech) takes over the transmissions, similar to Gradivus, or that when we enter, it's more we dock with the ship of the side we're fighting for, instead of infiltrating them and hoping they've been told we're coming to their aid.

[CorrTerek]

Phorid dropping Argon certainly helped his nodes move faster. Too bad they changed that. 

 

But yeah, the rewards are definitely the problem with the current system. One could stand running the same mission five times if one were to gain 150k credits, or packs of ten rare resources, or something like that. 

[NN13]

While buffing some of the ridiculous rewards(like one Orokin cell or 25k credits),DE needs to remake the mission structure. I am sure 90% of us don't like to repeat a mission 3 times(for infested),let alone 5 times for grineer/corpus.

 

I have seen that each exterminate mission for Grineer/Corpus have about 150-200 enemies. Instead of doing that,how about combine 2-3 missions in one single mission....Like doing a Deception mission(carrying Datamass to a location/Computer) while having 500 enemies to kill on the way,then once we have used the Datamass,a reactor opens up in another location in the map where we have to reach and destroy it in a given time limit and extract.

Basically,what I am trying to say is combine Deception,Exterminate and Sabotage in a single mission,instead of making us do 5 boring Exterminate.

 

As for Infested missions,I don't have any idea as of now....

[ROXXXY]

1 mission, which is usually kill 100+ enemies for five times, means killing 500+ enemies just for 35000 credit, WHAT A RIP OFF. You could just do 2 Tower 3-4 exterminate missions.

[Xeo_Nespydonum]

Invasions as they are are rather grindy and boring to play.  I'd love to see improvement upon the mechanic to make invasions less of a chore and more of an enjoyable gamemode.

[Guest khk6]

Having a unique gamemode for invasion would be nice and all, but Id say make the rewards better first.

Grinding for 5 runs just for 25,000 creds or a single cell is a joke.

Reduce the required runs to 2 or 3, multiply the resource and credit rewards by 5, and make invasions last alittle shorter so it can be treated like an alternative type of alert missions.

[Evanescent]

I keep waiting for phorid to take over Tethys....

[Archeyef]

Maybe some Archwing integration...? Would make it more interesting for me, at least.

[Ziegrif]

Yes.

I've not done one since I don't even remember.

They are just that boring.

 

Either drop the required missions to 2 or triple the reward.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Ziegrif

[Xeo_Nespydonum]

Maybe some Archwing integration...? Would make it more interesting for me, at least.

An optional Archwing assault would be interesting- but it should remain optional as new players should be able to partake in invasions- especially new players.  They need access to Infested, high rare unit spawns, and of course research resources more than any veterans do for certain.

[Archeyef]

An optional Archwing assault would be interesting- but it should remain optional as new players should be able to partake in invasions- especially new players.  They need access to Infested, high rare unit spawns, and of course research resources more than any veterans do for certain.

 

Good point. Maybe it could function similar to nightmare mode, and you can choose to do the archwing invasion or the regular invasion. And archwing invasions won't unlock unless you've aquired an archwing.

[Paradoxbomb]

More varied rewards would be nice as well. I could've sworn when they first introduced invasions there was a plethora of stuff valuable (even Vauban bps on rare occasions) but now it's just credits, 2 or 3 resources, clantech components, and a potato/forma now and then. Even if the rewards aren't necessarily better just having a less limited range would be nice.

 

 

As much as i love grinding, Invasions feel TEDIOUS! I dont want to run the same exact mission 5x in a row. 

 

IMO, Invasions should be a mini campaign encompassing 3-5 nodes in increasing difficulty with a mini-boss or something special at the end- or do something/ anything so that we are not simply repeating the same mission over and over.

 

Ooh, I quite like the sound of this. Invasion definitely need some kind of unique charm rather than just being a glorified exterminate mission that requires multiple runs.

[4MostlyHarmless2]

Ooh, I quite like the sound of this. Invasion definitely need some kind of unique charm rather than just being a glorified exterminate mission that requires multiple runs.

 

I really agree with the unique charm thing: I had a couple of ideas in an old thread (https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/280675-suggestions-for-invasions-yep-another-one-because-they-do-need-love/) that involved integrating the normal mission types into a single run so that it makes it seem like we're actually fulfilling a special role and not just becoming another grunt in the army. 

 

The way I see it, though, DE can only work on so much at a time in improving their old systems in Warframe. So if they had to work on something first, revamping the entire mission structure of Invasions may be more difficult to achieve as compared to fixing the reward table. However it would be really nice if they changed the gameplay of Invasions so that it's actually fun and replayable, rather than it being another grind-to-gain part of a game that is vulnerable to (and seems to encourage) excessive grinding.

 

[holdenagincourt]

The rewards are utterly terrible. The most common one is 25k for doing FIVE very tedious exterminates, i.e. the mission type that can't be rushed, i.e. the mission type most plagued by bugs making it impossible to complete. Sometimes both sides offer the same risible 25k credits. Good luck getting that node to move anywhere, lel.

 

35k credits or a single Orokin Cell are only slightly more worth it, but really only in the context of how bad 25k credits is.

 

So really there are two issues, which were both covered in the OP and identified by others above me. The first is that most of the rewards are just not worth. 50k should be like the minimum credit level even considered for invasions, and 100k or more should be possibilities. Instead of one Orokin Cell or Neural Sensors, make it three to ten, with higher numbers occurring less often. Needless to say, special rewards that can't be ground elsewhere or that are very difficult to grind should come up regularly. Think short duration boosters. Think former event weapons (perhaps even in parts and BP). Think mods that everyone wants to get but are nightmarish to farm like Rubedo-Lined Barrel.

 

The second is that the gameplay needs to be more dynamic, and really the mission just needs to not last as long as it does now. More types of missions, different types of missions in the same chain. Maybe make assassin likelihood much higher in invasions. Maybe increase the number of marks you get against you based on how quickly you finished the mission chain or how many you've done in a week, so a sort of stacking mechanic.

[victor_victory]

Add random encounters and more special tileset for invasion to increase the incentive for players to play invasion.

The currently invasion is grindy, boring and uninspiring. Noone really wants to play it unless there are good reward.

[Jinryusai]

At least Infested has you doing different missions.

 

It's time Archwing got in on Invasion.

 

How about flying to the other ship cutting down the enemy along the way or flying through a ship to get to the other part or another ship?

 

How about adding more missions?

 

And how about better rewards for 5 missions? people can get more than 1 cell in 5 boss runs in only a fraction of the time it takes to exterminate 500+ Grineer, etc. 

 

Why slay 500 Grineer to get one cell when you can kick Ruks &#! 5 times and get more. You don't even have to kill anyone else, only Ruk. So that's 5 kills for more Cells VS 500+ for one Cell.

 

How much thought process must go into this to figure out the proper amount?

 

7 Cells should be the correct about. Lucky 7. And 75000 Credits reward. 5 Feldron, etc.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Jinryusai

[Jinryusai]

As much as i love grinding, Invasions feel TEDIOUS! I dont want to run the same exact mission 5x in a row. 

 

IMO, Invasions should be a mini campaign encompassing 3-5 nodes in increasing difficulty with a mini-boss or something special at the end- or do something/ anything so that we are not simply repeating the same mission over and over. I think its bad design. I rarely do them anymore because it can make me feel burnt out. And thats saying a lot for a game like this.

 

I also hope that DE plans on adding some unique trait/feature to differentiate between regular nodes, alerts and syndicate alerts. It doesnt need to be completely new mission types, but there has to be something they can do to make one Survival alert mission feel different from a Syndicate Survival Alert.

As long as Defense or some endless mission shows up in the middle of a run n gun missions unless they allow people to complete the node even after it expires after starting it.