Mod Balancing

[the_returned]

Ok, obviously there are some balance changes that are needed, some more drastic than the others... The mod system in its current state is usable, but certain mods (I'm looking at you, 'Redirection') are somewhat broken... 

 

Hear me out... 

General problems/suggestions with the Mod System (not in order):

1. Installed mods not always visible

When fusing mods, apparently installed mods will not be listed unless you click on 'Mods' from within the relevant context (No mods installed on Warframe will be listed unless you go into the warframe's mod editing screen and then click on 'Mods') - At least this is how it seems to work for me.

 

I say a starter solution would be to just always list all mods? Not sure why that wasn't originally done, I'm going to presume 'technical' difficulties...

 

2. Mods MUST be fused in sequence of rating

Basically, if you have 2 similar mods, but of different ratings, you'll get the proper bump in 'xp' for that mod ONLY if you select the highest rated mod and then fuse it with the lower rating mods... Using a low rating mod to fuse with a higher rating mod yields lesser 'xp' for said mod... Weird...

 

Solution would be to just flatten the mod ranking, regardless of the sequence in which the mods are added... So selecting either, lower or higher rating mod will yield the same resulting mod 'xp' upon fusion

 

3. Different mod, same name

Some mods share names, but are completely different (Sentinel's 'Vitality' and Warframe's 'Vitality')... I understand its a simple matter of renaming either one, but it can become very frustrating when you have hundreds of mods, and you have to filter to them based on name, because, well...

 

4. No filtering of Duplicate Mods

The game KNOWS there're duplicate mods in your arsenal... I'm sure the game even knows which ones, but it won't tell you... It'll watch you filter the mods based on item and then manually sift through them with a name sorting or something... 

 

Life could get easier if we had an iTunes (off of the top of my head) like 'Show Duplicates' option...

 

5. Mods with high levels are ridiculous to level up

My 'Redirection' and 'Vitality' mods have stagnated around half way through their rank (200%-240%), because leveling them up is downright ridiculous after a certain point... As it stands, all mods start at rank 0... Getting to rank 1 needs just 1 copy, getting to rank 2 needs 2 copies, but this is where it starts to spiral out of control... Rank 3 needs 4, Rank 4 needs 8, and so on... Basically, 2^(r-1) where 'r' = intended rank of mod... So to get 'Vitality' to Rank 10 (highest rank I presume), you'd need 2^9 mods... That's 512 mods... 

 

My math might be WRONG. Don't slam me for it, but I've tried throwing 49 fusion cores of varying ranks (from 5 to 1) at 'Redirection', at an astronomical cost of 43,500cr, all it got me was from Rank 4 to Rank 6... That's just an uphill battle man... 

 

6. Some mods are too weak/strong

This bit probably needs the most testing to find the ideal values, but certain mods like 'Staggering force' or 'Stopping Power' have paltry scaling - they start at 2.5% stun, and increase by 2.5% each level... At a max level of 5, that's 15% stun chance... Great for Afuris I suppose, but if that's the case...

 

... Then why do we have other mods that give FAR greater benefits - 'Serration' starts at 15%, and maxes out at 165% damage at Rank 10...

 

I understand that the numbers are they way they are to give gameplay balance (Who knows, 15% stun might be just nice for a relatable gaming experience... I ain't no dev).

 

7. Mods are worthless (economically)

Common mods sell for 300cr, uncommon ones for 600cr, and rares for 900cr... I think... In any case, duplicate mod sales are not a sustainable career choice for simple minded Tenno... I mean, as is, mods have their value diluted when fusing the higher up the rank you go, I'd only think it apt to be able to sell a rare mod for 3,000cr, and perhaps a common for 500cr or even 1,000cr... Considering the sentinel BP is 100,000cr, some weapons sit at 50,000cr, and warframes are (surprisingly) 25,000cr - 35,000cr...

 

What do you guys think?

Edited May 9, 2013 by the_returned