Mechanical Dissertations By Drasiel

[Drasiel]

Hello internets. I wanted a nice little corner of the forums to set up shop, so to speak, for the essays (or threadnaughts as my husband calls them) I occasionally write about warframe's game mechanics. Just a nice place to collect them and keep track of what topics I have covered and keep a running list of things I plan to cover. So without further ado, stuff:

Currently in Progress Topics:

• Defenses: Warframe and Enemies, a comparison, contrast and exploration

 

Future Topics:

• Damage 2.0 and how it has fallen into the same pitfalls as damage 1.0
• Melee weapons: The features responsible for their lack of viability compared to guns.
• Resource distribution and use: Uncommon Resources
• Resource distribution and use: Common Resources
• Layered RNG and why it adds more frustration than benefit

Posted Topics:

• Invasion missions: an essay on effort expended versus the reward given
• Resource distribution and use: Rare Resources
• Stamina system conversion to a noise system <archived>
• UI Breakdown 15.16.2

 

These kinds of write ups take a fair bit of time and thought on my part to construct, so don't expect new topics to show up overnight. I do this out of my love for the game; I want to see systems grow and improve and shine like a piece of metal that has been polished by the spit and tears of a medieval squire. So please don't take my write ups as angry complaints or demands to see change, all them are made in the hopes of improving the game.

 

Do you have a specific topic you would like me to delve into? Leave it below and If it piques my interest I'll do a write up on it.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Drasiel

[(XBOX)Grihaly]

How it's completely and utterly impossible to solo syndicate missions past rank 3....Please.

[MechaTails]

Whats your problem with melee? I melee constantly with Banshee and do just fine.

I read somewhere that you want to get rid of blocking, WHAT?

Melee needs spicing up, but getting rid of the only thing keeping us alive as we dart from enemy to enemy makes zero sense. Plus we lose badass counter attacks, like Sheev hooking into their noses and ripping their faces off.

Edited December 6, 2014 by DarkTails

[Drasiel]

How it's completely and utterly impossible to solo syndicate missions past rank 3....Please.

 

It's not impossible, but it does showcase an issue with enemy scaling in defence, damage and accuracy as well as the sudden decrease in warframe defence effectiveness and the reliance on offence to make up for our defensive losses. It's also somewhat compounded by the decreased max level of enemies on the star chart that results in larger jumps in power from one enemy level to the next increasing spikes in the difficulty curve.

 

Overall an interesting topic to get into if only for the dismantling of the difficulty curve.

 

Whats your problem with melee? I melee constantly with Banshee and do just fine.

I read somewhere that you want to get rid of blocking, WHAT?

Melee needs spicing up, but getting rid of the only thing keeping us alive as we dart from enemy to enemy makes zero sense. Plus we lose badass counter attacks, like Sheev hooking into their noses and ripping their faces off.

 

I think you have me confused with someone else on the blocking thing, I've never said (as far as I can remember, unless was I was being sarcastic or facetious) I want to get rid of blocking, I have said I would  like it to be slightly more useful than it currently is, but honestly that's more an issue with stamina than it is with blocking.

 

Melee as it stands now is straight up just not as viable as gunplay, there is exactly one weapon that will perform just below where guns are capable of reaching. At low to mid level play where it is easier to get and level melee mods, melee will equal or even occasionally surpass guns. At high level play melee starts to drop off dramatically in effectiveness.

[TheErebus.]

Melee as it stands now is straight up just not as viable as gunplay, there is exactly one weapon that will perform just below where guns are capable of reaching. At low to mid level play where it is easier to get and level melee mods, melee will equal or even occasionally surpass guns. At high level play melee starts to drop off dramatically in effectiveness.

I call BS on this. Melee is extremely powerful, and is on-par with firearms in terms of damage and raw power. The only issue with them is the fact that the bridge between the player and the target is far too long. There needs to be a system where you can close that bridge very quickly.

[Drasiel]

I call BS on this. Melee is extremely powerful, and is on-par with firearms in terms of damage and raw power. The only issue with them is the fact that the bridge between the player and the target is far too long. There needs to be a system where you can close that bridge very quickly.

 

you can call bs all you want but the only melee's that come close in terms of damage are the freshly modified heavy weapons, bo prime and dragon nikanna (there may be a couple more but I am out of town and do not have easy access to my damage comparison table). As far as raw power I am not sure what you exactly mean by that. Are you talking about utility? status effects? what?

[MechaTails]

Found the blocking talk, it was in the stamina thread, that's what happens when I read at 2AM lel

 

However, for once I'll agree with Ereb and also call BS on melee not being as effective/viable as guns. I'm fighting level 50 - 60 Grineer with Venka and Furax and Dual Cleavers and Lecta/Atterax and they're plenty lethal. It's hard as hek to rack up the combo meter and stay alive, because those enemies like to run away and Banshee uses duct tape as armor, but it's gotta be easier with other warfarmes, there's no excuse why you guys can't do better than me. My comfort zone for melee is fighting level 45ish enemies, after that it's nerve-racking, but doable.

 

Melee is backflipping, face-crunching, visceral, rampaging fun, at least when I'm not getting machine-gunned by a sniper, or OHKOd by poison, or insta-gibbed by tar, or stunlocked by volatile runners, or instantly dragged into a mob to my doom by Scorpions/Ancients, or OHKOd by Stalker/G3, or how I still get knocked out of the air as I try to dropkick a Heavy Grineer even though they're punching the ground... lol.

 

This game is not melee-friendly, and every update seems to make it harder to like melee, but it's still plenty effective, provided the game doesn't cheese you into submission, like it often likes to do.

 

I'd definitely like some way to dart between enemies quicker while using melee. Like, if the enemy is within 5 meters, you do a fast cartwheel/backflip/sommersault in their direction, drastically reducing damage taken while in that animation, and land within striking distance.

Edited December 6, 2014 by DarkTails

[Drasiel]

Found the blocking talk, it was in the stamina thread, that's what happens when I read at 2AM lel

 

However, for once I'll agree with Ereb and also call BS on melee not being as effective/viable as guns. I'm fighting level 50 - 60 Grineer with Venka and Furax and Dual Cleavers and Lecta/Atterax and they're plenty lethal. It's hard as hek to rack up the combo meter and stay alive, because those enemies like to run away and Banshee uses duct tape as armor, but it's gotta be easier with other warfarmes, there's no excuse why you guys can't do better than me. My comfort zone for melee is fighting level 45ish enemies, after that it's nerve-racking, but doable.

 

Melee is backflipping, face-crunching, visceral, rampaging fun, at least when I'm not getting machine-gunned by a sniper, or OHKOd by poison, or insta-gibbed by tar, or stunlocked by volatile runners, or instantly dragged into a mob to my doom by Scorpions/Ancients, or OHKOd by Stalker/G3, or how I still get knocked out of the air as I try to dropkick a Heavy Grineer even though they're punching the ground... lol.

 

This game is not melee-friendly, and every update seems to make it harder to like melee, but it's still plenty effective, provided the game doesn't cheese you into submission, like it often likes to do.

 

I'd definitely like some way to dart between enemies quicker while using melee. Like, if the enemy is within 5 meters, you do a fast cartwheel/backflip/sommersault in their direction, drastically reducing damage taken while in that animation, and land within striking distance.

 

I'm not saying melee isn't fun, nor am I saying that it is impossible to use at high levels, I'm saying melee isn't as viable as guns. You take your very best melee weapon geared towards taking down the specific enemy you are fighting and then take a gun: selected, modded and formaed to meet the same specifications as the melee weapon. The gun will be more effective, making guns the more viable choice.

 

T_T I'm currently working on getting the UI post put together so if you guys are going to give me hell about the information I plan to put forward on melee mechanics can you at least wait until I get it typed up for you and laid out in the most informative manner?

[MechaTails]

But I might forget about this topic and not be able to disagree later on, so I've gotta do my disagreeing now!

 

:p

[Drasiel]

But I might forget about this topic and not be able to disagree later on, so I've gotta do my disagreeing now!

 

:p

 

well I guess I can't argue about that lol, but tails the follow button is your friend XD

[Drasiel]

Blargle ARgle *facedesk* The UI topic took me far too long mostly due to encountering burnout and wandering off to play skyrim for recovery. I managed to cover anything except the Clan/Alliance UI. I may at some point return to finish that section when thinking about User Interfaces doesn't make my eyes bleed :)

 

anyway: UI Feedback 15.16.2 https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/268583-u14-ui-feedback/page-31#entry4609796

 

edit:

How it's completely and utterly impossible to solo syndicate missions past rank 3....Please.

 

 

This has been addressed by DE so it has been removed from topic list

Edited March 12, 2015 by Drasiel