The Poor Quest Marker System And The Cost

[securitywyrm]

I found out a friend of my in a dungeons and dragons game is also playing Warframe, so we get together to play. He's new so I'm teaching him about the game, how mods work, we have a skype call going, I go get a new warframe and 3 new weapons so that we're on equal footing, it's shaping up to be a very good evening.

 

We run a Grineer rescue mission, everything went fun. We took our time, explored the map, had some chatter and it was that MMO experience that I love of a shared activity.

Then we run an infested sabotage mission, we get all four machines just fine... and then we can find the extraction zone. The waypoint marker says "Go that way." It points to an empty area of the map. We spent literally TEN MINUTES searching for how to get over there. We ran the entire map hugging one wall trying to find the one exit we missed. In the end, I had to apologize and quit because I was so stressed out that I had ceased to have any fun. It was particularly vexing because my friend was very excited about the mods he had found, including his first fusion core.

 

Now I will admit, being 'lost' is a major issue for me, above and beyond how much of an issue it is for other people. I have some traumatic experiences involving my military service and being lost, and certain events bring those experiences up. That said, what sold me on purchasing Skyrim was a gameplay video where they showed off the Clairvoyance spell, an ability that puts a line on the ground of the path towards the quest objective. Not just a 'it's that way' but a "this is the way you take to reach it." Without that ability, I would have given Skyrim a B- instead of A+ rating because of how often I would have spent turned around and lost in a dungeon or area. In Bioshock Infinite, the 'show me the way to the next objective' key even pointed out skylines that need to be taken. If it just pointed 'go that way' it would have been next to useless.

 

I really like Warframe, and I recommend it to my friends who are looking for a game to play. However, I almost uninstalled and didn't look back in my first two hours of play because I got lost twice, unable to find the way to the exit. It was only because I was in a team that was able to get there and trigger the 1 minute countdown that I didn't have to quit those missions. 

 

I would like to put forward that a new quest objective direction system should be a high priority improvement, as it is integral to the new user experience. 

[Calayne]

Happened to me on a particularly large Grineer map, once. It was so big, and the directions weren't accurate other than just "in that direction". While under heavy fire, I had to navigate for quite a while before I could understand what it meant: It's not necessarily a linear path, you have to explore many other rooms, which may head in that general direction. Granted, it was pretty exciting, but it was also a little frustrating, since I've gotten used to the spoon-fed directions. 

Since then, I've taken the directions on the map with a pinch of salt, but I definitely agree with the highlighted points. Some extra direction would be pretty sweet in some maps.

[Inez]

I agree that the marker system still needs some serious work.  Hopefully they're working on it.

[Tetsmeha]

Some of the Grineer maps are actually designed after MC Escher's impossible dimensions architecture.

 

[Ryanshow]

Its a bug not intended design. Usually it works just fine, but I have had this experience before too. I actually had some fun dungeoneering my way to the exit.

[Foofmonger]

It's just a bug. The games in beta, it happens. Its annoying, sure, but its life.

 

Regardless after reading your post where you said that Skyrim wouldn't have been an A game without clair because you "get lost too much", I can't help but laugh at your post. It's just emblematic of kids and games these days where you need your hand held and a big arrow always telling you to go because you refuse to explore and learn things for yourself. You should be glad you weren't gaming 10-20 years ago when you actually had to figure out by yourself where to go in most games.

 

I for one, miss the challenge, not saying its a good model for warframe (RNG maps + no marker isn't the best idea), but still, your QQ about how other top games (skyrim/bioshock) wouldn't have been as good if they didn't hold your hand like a baby is laughable.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Foofmonger

[securitywyrm]

It's just a bug. The games in beta, it happens. Its annoying, sure, but its life.

 

Regardless after reading your post where you said that Skyrim wouldn't have been an A game without clair because you "get lost too much", I can't help but laugh at your post. It's just emblematic of kids and games these days where you need your hand held and a big arrow always telling you to go because you refuse to explore and learn things for yourself. You should be glad you weren't gaming 10-20 years ago when you actually had to figure out by yourself where to go in most games.

 

I for one, miss the challenge, not saying its a good model for warframe (RNG maps + no marker isn't the best idea), but still, your QQ about how other top games (skyrim/bioshock) wouldn't have been as good if they didn't hold your hand like a baby is laughable.

 

Translation: "This does not benefit me, so I am against it."

 

Pardon me for thinking that a game is about 'having fun.' If you want to obsess about what you perceive as 'challenge', why are you playing this? Go play Dark Souls.

Ah, I think I understand your logic.

"Anyone who wants an aspect to be easier than what I want is a noob who doesn't deserve to enjoy the game as much as I do."

"Anyone who wants an aspect more difficult than what I want is some no-life hardcore idiot who doesn't understand what a game is."