Weapon Leveling = Wrong Direction?

[Grandarex]

Played the game for a decent chunk of time, and so far, I love it. But I'm a bit irked by this weapon leveling system that we have right now. Hear me out.

 

As it stands, with the upgrade-tree system removed, we now have to use our weapons and scavenge for Affinity Orbs in order to "level" them.

More level means more "slot" for us to use for our mods.

But as all of us are aware, you need to have 10+ levels in your weapon in order to be able to use 2~3 common/uncommon mods. 

 

This directly forces every player to pick a single weapon you want (for each type) and continuously stick with it until the end of your gaming career. 

 

If you ever decide to switch weapon to try out, say, Burston, you'll end up with an excruciatingly under-leveled weapon with no room for any mods until you grind for levels just so you can see its potential. 

 

I don't know about all of you, but joy of shooter games comes from being able to use all sorts of different weapons for different situations. Right now, we have a very large (and growing!) selection of weapons to choose from. But this leveling mechanic keeps many of us from buying whatever weapon looks and sounds awesome because we fully understand the sheer amount of time that we'll have to put into said weapon in order to use some modules you have prepared.

 

Summary so far:

Weapons right now are heavily level dependent and therefore, excruciatingly time consuming. This keeps us from trying out many different weapons this game offers. 

 

My suggestions to fix this issue:

- Set the weapon level caps at 5 or 10. This will allow us to bring the weapon up to our level reasonably quick if we're high level veterans trying out new weapons. 

 

- Instead of making each level unlocking Mod capacity, allow us to purchase Mod capacity with in-game credits. This will allow us to bring a new weapon up to speed and fit it with our modules (that we worked really hard on fusing!) instead of dreading over the grind time.

 

 

 

That's my thought on this topic so far.

I'm not sure if someone else expressed this feeling before, but here it is. 

 

Please let me know what you, as a community, think about it.

If you agree with me, share some of your ideas for a fix.

If you disagree, share why you believe this idea is wrong. 

Constructive comments please!

 

Much Thanks,

- Gran.

[Argoms]

Every upgrade at the moment is currently a straight upgrade (arguably fire rate isn't, but you get what I mean), and doesn't change the handling of the weapon in any major way. Because of this, you can get the feel for a weapon at early levels by playing lower levels. Bringing a level 2 boltor for example into mercury will show you how the weapon feels, and if you like it, you can spend some time to level it.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Argoms

[DSMK2]

I can't say yes or no; it's why we start from Mercury and then into the higher level places. However I'm not really interested in revisiting Mercury to kick start my newly acquired weapons, so in a sense, I'm screwing myself by trying to level my weapons in later maps.

 

However, I often find myself using shared XP from online sessions to start my weapon off and support it's growth.

 

---

 

To me the problem with trying out new weapons is the current method of acquiring slots, players need to pay real money that they may or may not have available. If a guy spent x amount of credits just to try out a new gun, then it turns out it doesn't fit him, he is going to have to sell it for less credits to free the slot. 

[Argoms]

One thing I forgot to mention is that weapon exp is shared across the group. Since primary/secondary/melee are meant to be equally effective (and arguably secondaries are better than primaries half the time), you could sacrifice usage of one slot and still contribute to a higher-levelled team (while gaining faster experience too).

[Cakes]

One thing I forgot to mention is that weapon exp is shared across the group. Since primary/secondary/melee are meant to be equally effective (and arguably secondaries are better than primaries half the time), you could sacrifice usage of one slot and still contribute to a higher-levelled team (while gaining faster experience too).

^this.

 

I've leveled some of the "crappier" melee weapons without using them once via this method. Of course I was providing "cover fire".

[Grandarex]

 Bringing a level 2 boltor for example into mercury will show you how the weapon feels, and if you like it, you can spend some time to level it.

 

Yes, but that's the thing. The entire idea of "spend some time to level it" turns off many people from trying other weapons besides their Level 20+ gun that they had since Mercury. 

 

The moment you tell yourself that you'll level a weapon, you also have to consider that you'll have to spend as much time you spent on your main weapon on your new weapon in order to keep up with it. 

 

I can't say yes or no; it's why we start from Mercury and then into the higher level places. However I'm not really interested in revisiting Mercury to kick start my newly acquired weapons, so in a sense, I'm screwing myself by trying to level my weapons in later maps.

 

However, I often find myself using shared XP from online sessions to start my weapon off and support it's growth.

 

---

 

To me the problem with trying out new weapons is the current method of acquiring slots, players need to pay real money that they may or may not have available. If a guy spent x amount of credits just to try out a new gun, then it turns out it doesn't fit him, he is going to have to sell it for less credits to free the slot. 

 

Yeah. You know there's something wrong when you have to bust out your credit card to circumvent a problem.

I'm hoping that we can come up with a solution where we don't have to use Platinum to solve an issue.

[ZefiruShrike]

It's incredibly easy to level weapons even a little ways in.  Just drop in with one leveled weapon and one non-leveled weapon.  Use the levelled one for about 5 missions and you'll be fine.

[Grandarex]

It looks like there are lots of suck-it-up and it's-not-that-bad mentality going on.

 

Of course, as beta testers and players, we're given the opportunity and privilege to steer this game into the right direction. 

 

Even if there is a slight discomfort in this game mechanic and has room for improvement, it is our job to bring it to attention and discuss a new and better way for everyone to enjoy. 

 

So let's do it!

 

Even if there was a single moment where you've said to yourself with a sigh,

"Well, it looks like I'm gonna have to level this weapon for awhile..."

then contribute to this thread! Think of a neat idea or concept that can make this game better. 

[Argoms]

The thing is, if you remove weapon leveling, you must by extension remove enemy leveling too (or at least drastically reduce it, since you really can't beat high level bosses with a level 5 gun, you just run out of ammo). Increasing numbers on both sides is a much easier way to create more "content", and can be used in a good way to space out the introduction of new content.  Using credits to level up weapons could work, I suppose. I just don't feel like it's a needed change.

 

This, being a pve game, can't rely on players providing their own entertainment as much as a high skill ceiling pvp game can, so it needs to space out the access to content more. I think at the moment, the pacing for progression is quite good, especially for a free to play game.

[Davoodoo]

Think of lvling other weapon/frames the same as lvling alts cause that how it works. If you level mage dont expect to tank while lvling warrior wont let you cast spells. If you want to be prepared for everything you must have at least few options to choose.