March 13Th: Community Hot Topics!

[Azamagon]

My opinion on the things I have something to say about:

 

--- AFK system ---

I haven't had enough experience with this PERSONALLY, but I can see it being a problem here and there. Mostly in this scenario: You need to go to the bathroom, you go back playing after (which is supposed to bring you back to non-AFK-status), but then bugs out and still counts you as being AFK at the end.

 

Bugs are always good to fix. But those kind of bugs have a top priority to being fixed, because they feel like utter bullsh!t when they happen.

 

--- Frost ---

Frost isn't AWEFUL, just very very very unpolished, like every single other Warframe.

 

Freeze - 99% useless. It freezes ONLY on contact, its AoE is not even worth mentioning (both damage and side-effect-wise), and if you DO manage to freeze something, they unfreeze if you sneeze at them. One of the absolute worst #1 abilities in the game.

What it needs: Freezing time should not break early from damage, its AoE should either freeze or cold-proc everything caught in it 100% of the time.

 

Ice Wave - Better than Freeze, but that isn't saying much. The augment should've been baseline, for starters, either that or given pushback (pushing hit enemies backwards). Also consider: 2 casts of Ice Wave is the same energy as Avalanche. Ice Wave will deal SLIGHTLY more damage than Avalanche, but it only hits in a line. Thus; It is almost always a waste of energy compared to Avalanche.

What it needs: Utility, either in the form of the augment being baseline, or by giving it pushback (preferably both). Damage needs to be increased a whole bunch (same as Avalanche), possibly split 50/50 as Puncture/Cold too (and then also given 100% chance to proc Puncture, on top of the Cold proc).

 

Snow Globe - His only ability that is entirely fine as is.

 

Avalanche - His 2nd best ability, but that is not saying much either. It suffers from the same thing as most ultimates: It's a plain old boring non-scaling radial nuke with ZERO utility. It's such a massive shame too, because you can be SO much more creative with this ability's potential utilities (same goes for all the plain nukes, really...)

What it needs: Any form of utility, even something as simple as a cold proc and/or a short freezing duration after it's done (THIS freezing could break early from damage, considering its radial "panic button" nature, but then it should last longer). Also consider giving it minor pushback after the damage is dealt, fitting its name and all (but less pushback than what Ice Wave could have).

 

--- Sniper Rifles ---

They suck, simply because of Warframe's pacing; It is a "hordeslayer" game with generally short range battles.

Either the game has to be changed for the sake of Sniper Rifles (which is highly unlikely), or the Sniper Rifles need buffs in ways that make them fit the pace of the game (far more likely)

And, on top of that, they don't even do their intended role well (killing heavy units)! Why? Since they don't have reliable critical hits!

 

Before anything should be done to Sniper Rifles, compare them to their closest "sidegrades", the bows and battlerifles (the Latron family):

 

- Bows -

* Heavy hitters, reliably so, due to being able to be modded for 100% (or more) on critical hits

* Innate punchthrough (on charged attacks)

* Further hordekilling potentials with their "ragdoll" effects

* Low zoom, which is better for midrange battles, better fitting Warframe's pacing

* Quick to use; 1 shot at a time, but with VERY quick reloads (Even Vectis doesn't do this right, with its weird aftershot delay)

* Only true WEAKNESS in contrast - They are not hitscan (but the ragdoll death more than compensates for that, imo)

 

- Latrons -

* While not reliable in critical hits (they are similar in values with Sniper Rifles) they have WAY higher rate of fire, making them better/equal heavy hitters than Sniper Rifles. Generally better, imo, since you can swap between targets faster too (due to the higher rate of fire)

* Relatively big magazine size + high rate of fire = Not bad against hordes of enemies, and missed shots are not punished nearly as much as they are on Snipers

* Low zoom, which is better for midrange battles, better fitting Warframe's pacing

* Kind of long reload speeds, similar to (but generally quicker than) Sniper Rifles, but due to their higher magsizes, its a lesser issue (although, still an annoyance, anything above 2 seconds is just plain dull. Only place where reloadtimes above 2 seconds fit are on weapons with huge magazines, such as Soma/Gorgon/Supra).

* Only true WEAKNESS in contrast - They don't hit as hard as Snipers do, thus have less immediate burstdamage on newly acquired targets. However, their harder hits can be compensated for with the Latrons by shooting more bullets in the same timespan (which the Latrons can, with their higher rates of fire) AND the Snipers' superior damage are often just overkill on smallfry anyway.

 

So, with that in mind, this is what Snipers could use to fit better in this game:

* Bigger magazines (nothing smaller than an 8-round magazine, bar Vectis ofc)

* Quicker reloads (around 2 seconds sounds good. Seriously, 3-ish second reloads -and- tiny magazines? No wonder they suffer! And Vectis needs to have its reload-delay removed btw)

* Innate punchthrough of 1 meter minimum (should vary ofc, for weapon strength/weakness varieties)

* Critical hit values that allows for guaranteed crits with modding (so, 40% or more at base)

* To give their higher zooming scopes (which is otherwise mostly detrimental) an actual value, give them, say, X-ray capabilities (function similar to Scanners), which lets you take better advantage of the innate punchthrough too!

* And seriously, you mention ammo drops like if that was one of their main issues? Pfft, that's a MUCH lesser concern, but I guess something that still could need a second look ofc. The ammo system needs a general overhaul anyway, so I think that is actually a topic in itself.

 

Note: I think the Sybaris and Grinlok, weapons that are categorizeable as Battle Rifles, but in reality act much closer to Sniper Rifles, suffer a similar fate - they are generally aweful against the hordes of enemies, although less so than the Sniper Rifles. A buff to both of their magazine capacities (to 16-ish for Sybaris and 10-ish for Grinlok) would also help these weapons a lot. Giving Sybaris a duplex-trigger would also be awesome!

 

If people think that this would make Snipers superior to Bows, don't worry, it really wouldn't. Bows have other strengths; Ragdoll death, lower zoom, very quick reloads, non-charged shots for even more rapid firing, and are also innately silent. With my suggestions Snipers would become better SIDEGRADES, rather than remain as inferior bows/battle rifles.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Azamagon

[HandsomeSorcerer]

Buff the supra while you are at it.

 

All sniper rifles need to be revisited. They need to do more damage when headshoting, have purely one type of damage, IE pure puncture or pure slash or pure impact.

[I-JUST-EAT-YOU]

Frost is just pathetic in this state :c you should buff his freeze with a timer of 10 seconds and then he unfreezes and avalanche needs to do more damage and have more range and ice proc when the damage is dealt. also give him some more armor or health like 300 armor or 450 health and please improve Frost prime he should be better than normal Frost really.

Edited March 14, 2015 by I-JUST-EAT-YOU

[Magnar21]

Commented once, going to comment again. I am afraid of false positives in regards to AFK systems. I've gotten stuck in walls. I've fallen through the floor forever (although that does have me continuously falling). I've been with friends doing a long run and went AFK for a short time with their permission. I dislike any system that forces players to always play, if they are "playing" or risk loosing rewards that they may have already contributed to or earned. If the players who are still in the mission (besides the AFK person OFC) choose to vote to put some kind of punishment on the AFK player, that's fine and dandy, provided the system has already flagged the offending player as being AFK. Just don't inflict consequences automatically.

 

Looking at the comments in this thread (and some others), I see that a large portion of the playerbase that favors an AFK system is trying to combat leechers, those who jump in a mission then don't do anything until the objective has been reached, at which they claim the reward, leave group, and repeat ad nausium. But what about groups among friends?
 

If TennoFred (creating a random name here, not referring to an existing Tenno AFAIK), with the full knowledge and consent of his cell, goes AFK, should he be punished? No one in his group minded, so why should the system?

 

The system should be there to support the playerbase, not the other way around. If the system is going to indiscriminately flag players as AFK, without any actual regard to the circumstances (particularly if the system is prone to false positives in endless missions), then the system shouldn't be in place.

 

As it is, why should you restrict the energy of players who are AFK anyway? They sure wouldn't care, at least if the are legitimately AFK. No, this isn't an anti-AFK system; rather, it is an anti-grind system. This system is put in place to reduce the effectiveness of high-yield optimization. DE is either being Digital Extremes again, or they are lying to their players. Only the "AFK players don't get rewards" system will punish AFK players, the other won't affect them at all.

 

The energy choice is more likely to only punish optimized groups that are coordinated.

 

 

 

TL:DR

 

The effective choice is to let the system flag players as being AFK, but to not do anything past that. Instead, quietly, without alerting players, open an option in the menu  allowing that player to be ineligible for rewards or kicked.

 

While there may be other choices, I strongly believe that the systems currently in place are not going to solve the problem. Other games (talking mainly about MMOs, honestly) have some kind of a kick system, that prevents it from being used if the player in question has been active (AKA, in combat) recently. The kick system isn't automatically triggered, unless the account has been inactive for well over 15 minutes (timer depends on the game). Warframe isn't an MMO, but can still learn some lessons from what others have learned or perfected.

[GunDownGrace]

i fully support DE's efforts against the infestation...i mean AFK people

 

when there is something that is diseased,you have to cut it out

 

same with people who think it`s "normal" to go afk whenever they feel like it,even in pubs or with people they dont know well

 

and in the case of pre arranged groups?the preponderance of those + mitigant situations such as random knock at the door,etc. is quite in the minority compared to the amount of people who will look at the support of "afking" by various persons (not naming names here) and thinks its normal or ok to do so anywhere

 

and vote kick is not,was never,and will never be a solution..every single mmo this has popped up on,the system is abused for griefing...this cannot and will not be allowed,as the porportion of people who would abuse this for there own trolling purposes is far larger than the people who would use it in good faith

 

in the words of the immortal spock "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

 

that is to say,the draconian measures are entirely needed and justified due to how much bigger in population size the trolls and greifers are than the good faith people

Edited March 14, 2015 by GunDownGrace

[HAYABU5A]

return the freeze duration that was removed from avalanche in 12.4

 

that is what players want (the play style) from frost 

 

can guarantee this would solve all frost problems without breaking anything 

[PenutReaper]

The primary reason I avoid snipers is the inclusion of the scopes.

Take bows for example, the balancing mechanics would be arrow drop and charging shots. Rifles have reloads and less than perfect accuracy. Snipers get large potions of the screen obscured in a game that can be fairly constantly throwing enemies at you.

[JeffPutsTheLotionOnTheSkin]

1. I think the time restrain for AFK should be somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes. More often than not the people who I see are AFK let our team know what was going on. Sometime things just happen. And that time shouldn't be a blanket. Each mission type needs a different time constraint.

2. as for energy/reward restriction I think ether of those would be fairly decent. There are some people who join missions and don't do anything just to get experience/rewards. For players like that, there should be a stiffer penalty to encourage them to participate.

3. As for Frost's powers, I think all but Snowglobe need a rework. I'm happy that the new globe absorbs the previous one's health. It needed a buff. As for the other powers, they've been left out in the cold, pardon the pun. I've not used Freeze since I actually started leveling Frost the first time. It's just not a very viable power right now. It's got little CC capability and does very little damage. As for Ice Wave, it's a decent ability but it needs a little bit of love. Sure it doesn't do a lot of damage and it's decent at CC, but it's still lacking in how you can use it. Finally, Avalance is an ability I barely use more than Freeze. It does very little damage and barely stops enemies for a second. As a defense frame, Frost needs a buff

4. As for how satisfied I am with Frost, he needs some love. Before Limbo he was one of the go-to frames for highly level defense, now with the introduction of Limbo, I haven't used frost for high level defense since Limbo came out.

5. I've not played Capture the Crphalon so I can't comment.

6. Snipers are very under-loved in this game. Sadly this game isn't exactly friendly towards them. A majority of semi-auto secondaries out dps most of the snipers in game. They are strong but don't have the utility that other weapon types do.

7. I like the Vectis, but I only ever use it for fun and never for serious missions. I would use it more if I felt it was more viable as a weapon.

8. I would honestly like more types of snipers in game. I like the idea that not everyone uses the same type of weapon

[AngriestOwl]

Huh no opinion on pvp, i dont really like it. Sniper rifles need some buff but i'm not sure about them.
And frost...ugh i love this frame but he is yhhh...as him being heavy defensive frame he have too low armor when compare to his health/speed,
Freeze is useles it should affect multiple enemy with timer, i like ice wave, but snow globe is death trap and avalanche need some changes like status chance,slow,anything will be nice.

Regarding AFK, i dont like the idea that i need to turn into a monkey on def missions in order to maintain my energy.

[KirukaChan]

Going to talk about sniper rifles, since they're my go-to gun in most FPS/TPS games. To the point where I had put a potato and three Formas on the Vulkar even before it got buffed (i.e. back when it had a magazine of 4 and a 4 second reload time). Going to spoiler things for the sake of post size.

 

My biggest problem with snipers right now is the lack of diversity. There are currently a pathetic 3 sniper rifles available for players. The Snipetron doesn't count since it's no longer available and I wasn't around when it was. I don't give feedback on things I haven't experienced.

 

The Lanka:

Functions more like a bow with its projectile travel time, charge mechanic, innate silence and punch through. I like the Lanka as a weapon, but it doesn't handle like a sniper rifle that I'm used to using in most games. I use it for mowing down rows of cannon fodder, the same way I'd use a bow. If I had a choice, I'd probably remove the scope from it, since the travel times makes REALLY long range shots (i.e., ones that a scope would be helpful for) pretty tricky to do, at least in one shot. It's not worth narrowing my field of vision.

 

The Vulkar:

This thing is one of my go-to weapons whenever I'm not ranking up some other primary (I'm usually either rolling with it, Grinlok, or Sybaris). Forget DPS or the "meta", I love the way Vulkar handles and looks. Manageable recoil makes follow-up shots easy. It has also recently gotten two new mods available for it that are a boon: Lasting Purity (extra damage, radial Corrosive explosion to help keep enemies back, and a bit of health recovery to improve your self-sufficiency) and Primed Fast Hands (which addresses one of the Vulkar's main weaknesses in its reload speed, bringing it down to a respectable ~2 seconds at max rank). While some speak against the scope's amount of zoom, I quite like it. What I don't like is the actual look of the scope. I much prefer Vectis'.

 

The Vectis:

While I consider it easier to use from the point of view of a typical Warframe player, I still prefer the Vulkar for my own use. Vectis' one-shot magazine forces the player to repeatedly hit Reload after every shot in order to fire at an optimal rate. There's a huge difference between doing this and not, just give it a go if you haven't already. Doing that is awkward as hell for me, since I use the same finger for strafing right as I do for reloading, which limits my mobility while shooting. My other issue with Vectis is knowing that Primed Chamber exists, that it was practically made for the Vectis, and that I don't have any practical way of getting myself a copy. Between that and the recoil (it's not horrible, but it's more than Vulkar, and Vulkar is my comfort zone), I don't get as much use out of it as I would like to. I mainly take it when I want to snipe but don't want to be using a weapon with a Syndicate proc (mainly on the Corpus ship tileset, since I don't want to deal with Corrosive explosions locking me in a room).

 

Regarding snipers' applications against the specific enemy factions:

 

Grineer:

All of their units are easy to headshot, at the very least from the side or front, and a lot of them think they're safe from my eyes behind cover (they're not). However, the Grineer as a faction don't have any one unit that makes them really dangerous. Rather, they have many dangerous units: Bombards, Napalms, Ballistas, and Seekers. They also have units that aren't really dangerous on their own but still pose a problem when surrounded by allies, such as Rollers and Drahk Masters. In short: snipers work well against them, but they're not a game-changer.

 

Corpus:

They're about average in terms of headshot ease (Ospreys are a problem), but have fewer dangerous units than the Grineer. They do, however, have a VIP in the form of the Nullifier. EVERYONE wants those guys dead immediately, which should be the sniper's role: taking down the dangerous enemies. The problem is the way Nullifiers' shields are set up. I remember seeing a video demonstrating an unranked Braton taking one down faster than a potatoed, 2 Forma Vaykor Marelok, demonstrating an obvious advantage on the part of high fire rate guns. Nullifiers aside, a lot of Corpus units (namely their robotics) are a lot more aggressive than Grineer, so your targets may end up choosing themselves.

 

Infested:

I used to think that this faction was the one I'd be least likely to bring a sniper to, but now it's completely the opposite. The Infested have changed a lot since I first started playing (sometime in the midst of update 9 point something). They used to simply be a hoard of critters that aggro'd the players non-stop, and the most important aspect to fighting them was to not be overwhelmed. The best way to manage them was through a bullet hose or explosive that could take out a bunch at once. But with the way the Ancients work now, the key to managing the Infested's numbers is to take down those Ancient Healers immediately, no ifs, ands or buts. If I have someone else with me to deal with the trash mobs, I grab my Vulkar and make it my job to take down the Healers. Tar MOAs are also problematic if left alone too long, and are great to shoot if there are no Ancients around.

 

Corrupted:

Basically a mix of Grineer and Corpus in terms of sniper viability. Nullifiers are present but tricky to deal with as a sniper, but Bombards are dangerous in their own right and make good targets.

 

I know sniper rifles overall aren't popular in this game. One of those reasons is shared with shotguns' lack of popularity; they're both intended for taking down tough opponents, but one at a time (albeit from different ranges). With Warframe having become a cannon fodder horde killing game, and the most popular mission types for grinding being the ones that take the hoards to their maximum (Defense/Survival/Interception) it's no surprise that the most popular weapons are bullet hoses. The other main reason is that the tilesets are mostly small. Very rarely do I run into an enemy that's too far to accurately headshot with a Latron Wraith. I can occasionally find a good sniping spot (in the Void/Derelict, Corpus Outpost, Earth, Jupiter or Europa), but most of the time I end up having to move on from that spot.

 

On the plus side, the addition of Eximus units to Warframe has given snipers an extra job to do (especially those nasty Venomous Eximuses that the Infested use). Ammo has never really been an issue for me with them. I never had enough to waste, but always had enough to get the job done, and that's where weapons should be in terms of their ammo economy. They deal good base damage as-is, although there's a good chance that their damage will get buffed again (DE's solution to weapon-ease-of-use problems seems to be buffing their damage, see also Rakta Ballistica and Velocitus). How would I fix snipers? Let's see.

 

1) Give more players a reason to use them. I don't mean flip the game upside down and make EVERYONE use them by cutting spawns in half, quadrupling enemy HP and making them take 4 times as much damage from headshots as they do now. Simply put: make them a welcome addition to a party. As it stands, I feel as though I'm doing an important job when I'm sniping against the Infested. Sniping is a support role, and by taking down key targets (Healers, Eximus units etc.), I'm enabling my team to do their jobs much easier. To that end, we need more large areas/rooms, especially in Defense, Mobile Defense and Excavation, possibly Interception (big enough to make snipers handy, but not so big that it takes too long to get to each radio tower). The number of enemies one typically faces will allow for mid/short-range combatants to not be cast aside.

 

2) Sniper rifles will still be able to crit (although red crits will not be possible with the proposed new mechanics here), but they will do so differently, and a crit build will be one that rewards careful shooting and patience rather than luck. A sniper rifle's base crit chance now extends the area of the enemy that can be hit for a headshot, without actually going outside the enemy's model (i.e. you still have to physically hit them, but a hit in the neck could count as a headshot with enough crit chance). Crit chance mods can be used to supplement this. The sniper's base crit damage is now their headshot multiplier and can benefit from crit damage mods. Sniper headshot damage bonuses are calculated the same way crits are on other weapons, in addition to the standard headshot bonus that all weapons get. The standard headshot bonus is calculated separately from this "crit" damage.

 

3) Even not counting crits, one thing that sort of gimps snipers is that RNG can screw them a lot more than automatics thanks to an unlucky Split Chamber roll. To this end, do away with multishot here. We're replacing it with Dead Aim like on the Lasting Purity mod. 90% Dead Aim, 5-rank rare mod with a drain of 15 at max rank. Split Chamber will now be unique to assault rifles. Same paper DPS but with more consistency, and rewarding players for using the damn scope.

(While we're at it, do the same for bows, give them a Dead Aim mod instead of Split Chamber. They don't need un-aimed multishot, they have red crits.)

 

4) Allow them to hit Nullifiers through their shield to an extent. When firing at a Nullifier with a sniper rifle, the Nullifier will take a percentage of the damage they would have taken equal to the amount of their shield that is currently lost. For example, if your shot is enough to reduce the shield's size by 24%, the Nullifier takes 24% of the original damage they would have taken unshielded (assuming your shot would have hit the Nullifier himself and not just the shield). A second shot from the same gun will deal 48% of its original damage, assuming the Nullifier's shield had no time to regenerate between shots.

 

5) Give all snipers some degree of innate punch through. The same amount as the standard Snipetron has would be fine. They still won't be as effective at handling groups as assault rifles or bows or launchers or shotguns, but they will have at least some viability there.

 

That's all I've got.

Edited March 14, 2015 by KirukaChan

[Ailith]

AFK

I only have big one concern with this system: I don't want it to punish my friend or me if we're playing together and one of us suddenly needs to leave the computer for a few minutes. Sh!t happens and I don't want it to ruin our experience just because some people are chronic leechers. I very strongly recommend that the system pardons players who are on your friends list and/or in your clan.

 

As for all other instances, 2 minutes seems like a very short afk timer, it should be longer. And, hindering a player's rewards seems pretty harsh, though maybe it's an okay punishment if the afk period is long enough, ie: most of a mission's duration. Draining energy is a better "slap on the wrist" sort of deal, but I don't know how effective that would even be considering they could just pop an energy restore. Of course, the entire system is based on assumptions and arbitrary factors, so I really can't support it in any fashion. Afk players suck, but getting unfairly punished because a robot deemed you problematic is just as bad.

 

P.S. Dead players shouldn't be counted as afk or punished, that's just dumb. If they were doing something stupid like intentionally dying, then the other players in the squad can all agree to report them.

 

Frost

I haven't played Frost in a good while, maybe since U14, but I didn't enjoy him then and probably wouldn't now. He's very immobile (both his movement and his abilities' areas of affect being static) and has very little use outside of plopping a Globe down on a Defense objective, so he's just not fun to use, in my opinion. As I've seen others suggest, maybe Snow Globe could be tied to Frost (like the Eximus units) instead of being stuck at the cast location, but that still wouldn't make him very interesting.

 

Sniper Rifles

Two problems: 1) very limited ammo accessibility (small ammo pools + low ammo drop rates) and 2) ABSURDLY HIGH ZOOM CAPABILITIES. Honestly, I could completely ignore the ammo problem if scopes weren't hand-held equivalents to the Hubble telescope. Sniper rifles are impractical in 90% of the game's environments simply due to their scopes, so give them a (controllable) variable zoom** and you'll likely see far more players use them. **It would be nice to have an over-the-shoulder zoom as well as a scope (this could work with separating the right-click zoom key bindings, as stated previously by a dev), it's a bit annoying always being forced into scope.

 

Damage-wise, snipers are in an okay spot, though spending half of your mod slots only on crit mods is a bit annoying. Again, as others have suggested, we should be rewarded for having good aim with sniper rifles (and any weapon, really). If we shoot an unarmored part of an enemy, it should be a guaranteed crit, it really sucks having to rely on RNG for dealing large amounts of damage.

 

Other than that, we just need more interesting damage types. Go crazy, make a sniper that shoots an armor-piercing, explosive plasma round or something, but don't just slap pure elemental damage on it and call it a day. Give us something fun and practical to use (nothing like a Buzlok 2.0 please).

Edited March 15, 2015 by Ailith

[Ryjeon]

The AFK poll options don't address my concern that Tenno who fall in battle do not get the reward. We come in to the mission as a team we should be rewarded as a team, whether one person makes it to the end or all four. Dead players already lose out on drops they can't pick up so they shouldn't lose mission rewards too especially if they died while making an effort, likewise for players who don't reach extraction.

 

There is a significant difference between an intentional afk-leecher and a team-member who falls in combat and the AFK system needs to reflect this distinction.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Ryjeon

[BobthePlumber]

I would like to see an assination game mode where you would have to fight your way to a certain point that provided a good sniping position on a target. Another possibility might be a map rework to make sniping a more plausible mode of completing missions. Possibly if there were snipping positions on the map where a person could pick off enemies that were preventing a teammate from completing an objective. You could even work it into stealth objective.

[Ailith]

Somehow quoted my own post. -_-

Edited March 14, 2015 by Ailith

[(PSN)j232000]

The AFK poll options don't address my concern that Tenno who fall in battle do not get the reward. We come in to the mission as a team we should be rewarded as a team, whether one person makes it to the end or all four. Dead players already lose out on drops they can't pick up so they shouldn't lose mission rewards too especially if they died while making an effort, likewise for players who don't reach extraction.

 

There is a significant difference between an intentional afk-leecher and a team-member who falls in combat and the AFK system needs to reflect this distinction.

If they did that people would just bring an Ogris to kill themselves before going afk.

[zilaG]

why not add the option to pause the game? if one of the players need to be AFK few minutes and if other players are agree the game be paused until the player AFK return

[Feyangol]

Sniper Rifles

 

It should feel devestating if you shoot at someone with a sniper, but it doesn't. They are slow, their dmg isn't constant, they have uncomfortable scope-huds, they have high recoil, their dmg isn't even high for the fact that they have so much disadvantages.

 

- Increase the base dmg

- Increase the headshot multipler

- Let us zoom in and out with the sniper scope

- Give them all innate punch through

 

And don't call the Lanka a Sniper Rifle. It is a bow, a bad bow. It has the same mechanics, but you have to reload. Also the stats are worser than the stats of a "real" bow ...

Edited March 14, 2015 by Feyangol

[Monolake]

 AFK detection in itself is done wrong, needing you to move, when the game is designed in a way that some game modes and especially some frames need to stay in the same spot all the time.  

AFK detection shouldn't be based on movement alone.

 

 

Snipers weren't very strong already and got completely killed by nullicancer. Until you change their shield damage gating, snipers will not be viable.

 

 

Edited March 14, 2015 by Monolake

[Moasiac]

The "AFK issue" is confounded by two separate instances:

 

One is players being AFK at the end of a mission and being stripped of rewards if they were AFK. This is mostly fine, as there's not much reason to be stationary at the end of a mission. If anything, that timer could be shorter or even be "sticky" once the objective has been completed (being marked as AFK after the objective has been completed will strip all rewards regardless if the AFKer decided to wiggle around as the rest of the team is extracting).

 

The other is players being marked as AFK and being punished for just not moving, yet they are still performing active functions. There is little reason to penalize these players as they are actually contributing to the team.

[Al3x]

The problem is not the time it takes to be considered AFK.

The problem with AFK is how it is determined, and NOT displayed to the player.

 

IF AFK stays like this Frost, Mesa, Banshee ( and  Greedy Pull, Total Eclipse ) etc. need a rework.

You need another way to prevent Macro use, the AFK system is not the solution.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Al3x

[Antharis]

The lenght of the AFK timeout is not a problem. The problem is that the system only considers movement to be an action. You can be the top damage dealer with the most kills, but if you don't move a fair distance every now and then, the system will still consider you to be AFK.

This is a huge problem when fighting infested, as in order to counter their ridiculous crowd control you simply NEED to stay away from them, preferably on a high ground - otherwise Mutalist Ospreys will give you a lesson about the ways of the German showers in the early 40s', while ancients will constantly keep dragging you through the floor. Not to mention the Mutalist Moas and their magical glue that somehow slows down your fire rate and casting speed even though it only touches your feet.  And the bees.

This also adversely affects Banshee and Mesa. With maximum power efficiency (capped at 75%) and maxed Flow/Primed Flow they can channel their skills for longer than the afk timer lasts, especially if a Greedy Mag is pulling energy orbs to them. Sure, a Banshee player can go completely AFK while channeling while the Mesa player can lock his fire key down with something and do the same, but still the fact remains that they will contribute to their teams by doing so. On the other hand, if someone takes unranked gear to the mission and simply keeps running around while doing pretty much nothing, the system will consider this to be perfectly fine and will actually reward it.

 

The problem can be nailed down to: current AFK countermeasures more often than not consider active players to be AFK and are completely ineffective at countering leeching. If someone keeps jumping around while not helping their team, it's fine in the eyes of the current system. But if the team's MVP doesn't jump around for 2 minutes because doing so will get them killed, this person will still be unfairly marked as AFK.

 

If firing weapons and using abilities counted as actions then one of the problems - unfair AFK punishments - would be fixed. Still, the fact remains that the current anti-AFK system simply fails at it job. It's to easy to circumvent while at the same time being easy to accidentally trigger.

 

It would be nice if we at least got a warning/timer 30 seconds before being marked as AFK.

 

Concerning the poll - energy should not be restricted under any circumstances because the current system is faulty. Rewards should only be restricted if the total AFK duration exceeded half of the 5 waves on Defences, half of the 5 minute reward timer on Survivals, or 50% of the timer on Interceptions.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Antharis

[Racercowboy]

More topics on the grill.

 

AFK System

 

I personally have not felt the effects of this system, mainly because I move around a lot, even when defending something. I could forsee, however, energy hindering someone who had something unexpectedly come up who was gone for longer than the allotted time. Maybe it could hinder things at an interval: Hinder rewards first, then later hinder energy. This way, if it goes only a short time over, they are not punished for something that was out of their control. If they need to stay away that long, then I'm sure they won't care about either thing anyway.

 

Frost (No Ember still? T_T)

 

Freeze is bad. There really isn't much to say here. It needs a buff, but this is also a good chance for ability synergy! Why not have Freeze's frozen effect have or cause bonus effects for his other abilities? It would make him more interesting to play and buff Freeze into a better skill in one swoop. Win-win in my book.

 

Icewave is fine. It does what it's supposed to do, and does it well. Augment makes it crazy good. No more to say here.

 

Snowglobe is fine. Only thing most people use anyway. They don't play Frost, they play Snowglobe.

 

Avalance is yet another aoe nuke in aoenukeframe. The problem is that all it does is damage and nothing else. The rest of Frosts kit, including the terrible Freeze, assists Frost in his tanking in some way. Avalanche does not, it tries to do something that someone else that Frost is protecting and/or buying time for. With that said, I do not agree with it being an aoe freeze, because then that would render his 1 and 2 useless and it would also make it a Rhino Stomp Clone. With that said, why not make it an offensive area effect? He's already got Snowglobe for a defensive are effect, let's give him an offensive one. Something like enemies take 500(just throwing out a number here) cold damage every time they are hit with something and have their cold resistance reduced by 100%(so an enemy with 75% cold resistance would now have -25%) while inside the area. Something like this would be interesting.

 

Sniper Rifles

 

Ah, sniper rifles. I have a lot to say here, but I'll try to keep it short. I like snipers, but really, they just aren't practical. No, this is not about map size, zoom, large crowds, or anything. It's simply this: Other rifles, and even some pistols, can snipe just as well AND wipe crowds with ease AND are more consistent AND keep a truckload of ammo AND restore said truckload of ammo in a flash FOR LESS EFFORT. I'm sorry, but you can't cut corners ignore, or deny it. The facts are there. Weapons are so unbalanced, and Sniper's problems are merely a product of that. What would I like to see for snipers personally?

 

- More consistency. Please, this is a marksman weapon. Marksmen have no time to mess around rolling dice. Either always crit or nice damage without crits. Leave that to our bullet hose brethren. I'd prefer always status too, but depending on what happens this could be too much.

- Variable zoom would be nice.

- Customizable scopes and reticles(this would be nice for other weapons too).

- Codex Scanner-like ability to see targets through walls when scoped in only.

- An actual buff, not just another damage increase. Their damage was never the issue.

 

I would love to see more snipers, but only if they were fixed. Otherwise, I'll just keep hug- I mean, holding on to my Lanka.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Racercowboy

[HardcoreSalmon]

AFK System:

I think an afk system should be in the game it's just the way it can punish people who aren't leeching. If I'm in a private game and my friend needs to go away for a second he shouldn't lose out on a reward. I feel like 3 minutes would be a fair amount of time because then people who legitimately have to go do something will have time to come back.

 

Frost:

Honestly frost isn't the warframe most in need of help buff wise. The only problem I really have with him is with freeze but that is because of the pin point power targeting required to use it and it only hits one enemy. I think you should be to target enemies with powers if you aim near them and the same for allies.

 

Saryn:

I think saryn is in much more need of help than frost, primarily with venom and contagion. Venom requires pinpoint targeting and requires you to shoot the ball of venom in order for them to spread. The problem with this is targets will normally die before you have a chance to shoot the balls, same as how energy vampire use to be. I think what needs to happen is if you kill the target with venom on it then it will still chain to other enemies. And I think contagion is the most useless power in the game because it forces me into melee, which I basically don't ever use. Instead contagion should give toxin damage to every weapon to not force you into melee.

 

Limbo:

If you're going to buff anyone, buff limbo. The only purpose he has right now is to run through regular star chart missions and he needs more team synergy. It also doesn't help that nullifier's bubbles are undamageable in cataclysm actually helping the enemy in t3 and t4.

 

Sniper Rifles:

They are inferior to bows in every way, the buffs they should get imo are:

-Higher crit chance allowing the chance for red crits.

-Innate punch through just like bows.

-Scopes that can see through walls like the codex scanner.

-Fix the Nullifier damage cap.

And we definitely need more sniper rifles, I wish you guys would let us have the snipetron vandal again as well.

 

PVP:

The new mode looks good even though I don't like pvp. It looks so much more balanced than how conclave is now.

Edited March 14, 2015 by HardcoreSalmon

[JonathanJupiter]

I dream of the day, when my Frost Prime can be distinguished from a regular Frost, without having his prime helmet equipped.

 

A man can dream.

[armedpoop]

That you would ask questions 1 and 2 is frankly terrifying.

 

Where can those questions go except down? These forums blow up with people claiming the game is ruined and the sky is falling whenever we see patch notes moving us away from those... "playstyles". 

 

Any vote by the forums is going to look exactly what this one looks like already. Then DE is in the terrible position of either "not listening" or having to compromise with botters and farm/grinders who want to do one node over and over and over using the easiest and most boring strategy possible to get rewards ASAP.

 

That Q just shouldn't be asked publicly IMO. It's like asking how hard you should try to stop cheaters or if you should remove exploiters from leaderboards or not. You guys should define AFK and work out these systems internally, then present them to the player base as a constant so we all know where you stand. Involving the community in things like this invites both nonconstructive arguments and defensive entitled responses when people get hit with penalties they didn't understand or didn't know had changed.

This whole post is ironic. 

 

You seem to be confusing many words in this post, and are very hostile to a rather large portion of the playerbase.