[Suggestions] Weapon/mod/stealth Ideas; Tl:dr Warning

[Zarrii]

Hey there, I don't talk much on the forums. I mainly just lurk around and read, think about the game and talk to my friends about things relating to Warframe. I have some ideas that some of you may like.

 

 

/////////// Weapon ideas ///////////

 

1) Weapon synergy

 

There are some weapons in the game that are elemental weapons, the Heat sword/dagger, the Amphis, the Mire and so on. Thinking about the way Warframes work, they can create fire, poison, ice and lightning, why could they not power up weapons that are already harnessing the element that they use? 

 

What I'm trying to suggest is, elemental Warframes should get bonus with weapons of there element. Volt could do more damage or even make the electric effects arc between enemies. Ember, when using heat weapons, could cause more furious burning DoT (damage over time) effects on enemies that are hit. 

 

The Mire could react well with Saryn, causing poison to spread with each strike so that enemies all around are taking more damage as whole. Perhaps even Excalibur can get bonuses with the Skana or Duel Skana, Rhino with the Power hammer and so on. 

 

I'm not really sure who would synergize well with what, other than the elemental frames.

 

2) Fighting "styles"

 

Some people like to use only there melee weapon, some like to use there pistol and a sword. 

 

I'm suggesting, if people want to play a certain way then why not make it look cooler and give them a bonus, at the cost of a primary or secondary weapon? 

 

Hayden Tenno would use the Glaive and the Pistol at the same time, after all. I could see some people wanting to just run around with the Hammer, hitting a bit harder and/or faster or using a Dark Sword and a Kraken in conjuction for some fancy kills and swinging quicker with there sword at the cost of reloading a bit slower.

 

This of course would be an optional setting or something that could be learned/bought with Platinum, so people could still play normally. Its just a cool idea for people that really love to use certain weapon combos. Another reason I suggest this is because our Tenno must get real tired of constantly pulling there melee off there back, lol. 

 

3) Rifle butt

 

I've had things in my face and been unable to move, a quick shove could be cool.

 

4) Animation variation

 

Not sure what to do with this one or how they'd be acquired, but you could learn different animation sets for melee weapons, a lot of variation could be found by looking at old swordsman styles. Just a customization idea.

 

/////////// Mod ideas ///////////

 

 

1) Power mods

 

Instead of making a bunch of powers for each Warframe, it might be easier and more useful to just add power mods to the game which would change how powers work. Its a simple concept, really.  

 

Examples:

 

Lightning - Volt mod - Transforms Volts "Shock" power into a more damaging bolt at the cost of not electrocuting enemies around the struck target.

 

Caltrops - Ash mod - Transforms Ashs "Shuriken" power into a layable set of caltrops, which could damage enemies and cause them to fall over.

 

Powerfist - Rhino mod - Transforms Rhinos "Rhino Charge" abillity into a direct, powerful smack that knocks a target over as well.

 

Pollute - Saryn mod - Transforms Saryns "Contagion" abillity into one that affects firearms instead of melee weapons. 

 

Nova - Ember mod - Transforms Embers "World on Fire" abillity into an instant damage AoE blast that does high damage, but does not do DoT damage.

 

And so on.

 

2) Sacrifice mods

 

I got this idea from my friends playing certain ways, basically they would be mods that would give a greater boost to certain stats but also lower other stats. 

 

This could be used for Ash players who want to go even faster or have even more stamina at the cost of armor. Rhino could lose HP and gain more shields. 

 

Caster frames could lower there speed/armor to do more power damage. Basic idea, although I'm unsure of how people would react to it.

 

This could also be used for weapons as well, the Boltor firing larger bolts but slower, smaller bolts but a higher RoF. Shotguns firing slugs.

 

 

/////////// Stealth ideas ///////////

 

1) Dynamic lighting

 

Its an idea, although perhaps not an entirely plausible one for some computers. This idea mainly comes from the Thief game series. Tenno could hide in the shadows and they could clearly see how visible they were to enemies. This would make it so that to do stealth, you don't have to neccessarily be Ash or Loki.

 

2) Clinging to surfaces. 

 

You can already -kind- of do this. But, running up a wall and magnetically clinging to a surface would be a good way to avoid getting detected when cornered. Although, it would be dependant on Stamina or perhaps even Energy, depending on how a Tenno would cling to a wall.

 

3) Ashs smoke bomb affecting others

 

This would make it so that if the team was next to Ash when he used his smoke bomb, they would recieve the cloaking effect as well so that the team could move together, temporarily stealthed. I think this would give Ash a more team role in stealth missions.

 

4) Light interference

 

Smashing lights, hacking panels and turning lights off in an area, using Volts zap abilities to cause the lights to malfunction. However its done, it would go well with the first idea. It could be used to set up ambushes for enemies that are moving in certain paths. 

 

5) Delayed panel activation

 

Enemies literally have to look at a panel to set off the alarm, to give people a chance to react they should have a delayed animation to activate the alarm. As if they were typing or finding the alarm button. 

 

6) Less enemies

 

When undetected, there shouldn't be a mass of enemies patrolling around so frequently.

 

7) Other ways to get around

 

This is semi possible in some of the snowy Corpus tile sets, but having vents to crawl through would make stealthing around and transvering a bit easier. 

 

8) Mods to assist stealth gameplay

 

This should probably in the mod section but I feel as if its more pertinent here. Mods that make footsteps silent, make crouching quicker and what not.

 

/////////// Minor ideas ///////////

 

1) Hayden Tenno head for Excalibur

 

Title says it all, his helmet looks really cool in Dark Sector.

 

2) No more rollers

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

3) Thanks for reading - Please give me CONSTRUCTIVE criticsm, not just "dat sux"

 

Edited May 15, 2013 by Zarrii

[Kyrkitao]

Your power mods are the same as giving alternate powers or worse.  Do they occupy another slot on the frame?  That's just worse.  

 

For sacrifice mods, you should actually have to sacrifice something relevant to what you're gaining or heavily sacrifice something irrelevant.  If you get power damage, lose energy (for example).  Given that we can already specialize via mods, the option to hyper-specialize via sacrifice should actually involve sacrifice.  

 

I doubt rollers will be removed.

[Zarrii]

Your power mods are the same as giving alternate powers or worse.  Do they occupy another slot on the frame?  That's just worse.  

 

For sacrifice mods, you should actually have to sacrifice something relevant to what you're gaining or heavily sacrifice something irrelevant.  If you get power damage, lose energy (for example).  Given that we can already specialize via mods, the option to hyper-specialize via sacrifice should actually involve sacrifice.  

 

I doubt rollers will be removed.

 

My bad, I forgot to mention about the power mods slots. In the modding selection for a Warframe there would be four slots below the normal slots and I imagine they would just replicate the cost and level of the power they are modding. They'd just be rare drops. 

 

Specializing in such a way should involve sacrifice, although I didn't make it sound like to much of a con because then there'd be no interest at all. What do you suggest for better sacrifices other than less energy/more damage?

Edited May 14, 2013 by Zarrii

[Un1ted]

I really like all those ideas, obviously some are easier to pull off than others.

[Arch-Eternal]

Like the power mod idea. Instead of item drops they could be variations of a power that are gained via "mastery" of it. For example spamming a skill a certain amount of times, leveling it somehow, or completing challenges for the power. Like you said there could be pure damage shock, or a low damage chain lightning shock, or one that only stuns for a long time. These could be learned through some kind of progression. This way the devs could take a look at the many suggestions for spell reworks and possibly be able to implement some of the popular ideas while keeping the original power in the game as well.

[Zarrii]

Like the power mod idea. Instead of item drops they could be variations of a power that are gained via "mastery" of it. For example spamming a skill a certain amount of times, leveling it somehow, or completing challenges for the power. Like you said there could be pure damage shock, or a low damage chain lightning shock, or one that only stuns for a long time. These could be learned through some kind of progression. This way the devs could take a look at the many suggestions for spell reworks and possibly be able to implement some of the popular ideas while keeping the original power in the game as well.

 

This is also a really good idea, however it is implemented I hope its done my way, your way or a similar way!

[Zarrii]

Bump

[Emotitron]

Some items I would add:

 

1. Some items like Fire and ice shouldn't really be able to work at the same time. I've always hated that games just treat them as a 'stat' and not as two opposing forces. A weapon doing both is silly, but they could be used synergistically - say by making a mob that is either burning or freezing taking more damage when hit by the opposite. I shouldn't be both freezing and setting a mob on fire when hitting them with a single weapon though. Also cold and hot shouldn't really be binary. As a mob gets hit with fire rounds they should slowly increase their temp until they finally combust, or as the get hit with cold it should lower their temp until they finally are frozen and can be shattered. Elements could be so much more interesting than they currently are in games.

 

2. I would like to see certain warframes have an affinity for certain weapons as well. Mass Effect kind of followed that line (though more strictly). Not all frames could have all weapons. An alternative to that would be to add weight to weapons (also how ME finally came to deal with weapons), and grant players more stamina or energy if they chose to not equip everything they can carry. Or possibly even toss the '3 weapon types' hard restriction and allow players to carry what they please in any combination just with scaling penalties to movement and such. Certain warframes could have an affinity for certain types of weapons, which would reduce the weight penalty.

This would help further differentiate the warframes, especially for people who bias toward gunplay and may as well just run a Rhino and nothing else. Combined with the affinity toward certain elements this could add some depth.

 

3. Add mod slots separate from the general mods being used. The mod system is a bit bland and everyone kind of settles out with very similar builds. Adding deus ex like mods slots to warframes would be nice on top of the general mods. Slots for eyes, ears, arms, legs, batteries, skin, reactor etc as components of the warframe that could be modified would be far more visceral than the generic mods currently in play. The current mods could remain, as general modifications - but more specific mods would be far more interesting when it comes to specializing. Weapons could also have specific slots as well, such as grip, trigger, ammo, attachments, blade edge material, matte coatings (for stealth), and on and on.

This would add complexity, but with a well designed UI it would add way more fun than frustration and would open the doors for future upgrades in much more interesting ways than generic mods.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Emotitron

[Zarrii]

Some items I would add:

 

1. Some items like Fire and ice shouldn't really be able to work at the same time. I've always hated that games just treat them as a 'stat' and not as two opposing forces. A weapon doing both is silly, but they could be used synergistically - say by making a mob that is either burning or freezing taking more damage when hit by the opposite. I shouldn't be both freezing and setting a mob on fire when hitting them with a single weapon though. Also cold and hot shouldn't really be binary. As a mob gets hit with fire rounds they should slowly increase their temp until they finally combust, or as the get hit with cold it should lower their temp until they finally are frozen and can be shattered. Elements could be so much more interesting than they currently are in games.

 

2. I would like to see certain warframes have an affinity for certain weapons as well. Mass Effect kind of followed that line (though more strictly). Not all frames could have all weapons. An alternative to that would be to add weight to weapons (also how ME finally came to deal with weapons), and grant players more stamina or energy if they chose to not equip everything they can carry. Or possibly even toss the '3 weapon types' hard restriction and allow players to carry what they please in any combination just with scaling penalties to movement and such. Certain warframes could have an affinity for certain types of weapons, which would reduce the weight penalty.

This would help further differentiate the warframes, especially for people who bias toward gunplay and may as well just run a Rhino and nothing else. Combined with the affinity toward certain elements this could add some depth.

 

3. Add mod slots separate from the general mods being used. The mod system is a bit bland and everyone kind of settles out with very similar builds. Adding deus ex like mods slots to warframes would be nice on top of the general mods. Slots for eyes, ears, arms, legs, batteries, skin, reactor etc as components of the warframe that could be modified would be far more visceral than the generic mods currently in play. The current mods could remain, as general modifications - but more specific mods would be far more interesting when it comes to specializing. Weapons could also have specific slots as well, such as grip, trigger, ammo, attachments, blade edge material, matte coatings (for stealth), and on and on.

This would add complexity, but with a well designed UI it would add way more fun than frustration and would open the doors for future upgrades in much more interesting ways than generic mods.

 

I agree on most of your points, I really don't think that every element should be allowed to work together because thats a bit silly in my opinion. It also makes it so its very easy to make a weapon do lots and lots of damage with no effort at all. 

 

I think a weight system could be good actually, the more I think about it the better it sounds to me. It would allow people that want to be fast go fast and just use the weapons they want. Although it may be a bit imbalanced if speed is affected because Warframes like Frost and Rhino already go really slow even with Rush mods. There would probably have to be some stat chasing for it to be even and fair.

 

Although a Gorgon could easily be a Rhino affinity. I think that, that would be really cool if there was a sense of specialization with weapons and Warframes.

[Emotitron]

I agree on most of your points, I really don't think that every element should be allowed to work together because thats a bit silly in my opinion. It also makes it so its very easy to make a weapon do lots and lots of damage with no effort at all. 

 

I think a weight system could be good actually, the more I think about it the better it sounds to me. It would allow people that want to be fast go fast and just use the weapons they want. Although it may be a bit imbalanced if speed is affected because Warframes like Frost and Rhino already go really slow even with Rush mods. There would probably have to be some stat chasing for it to be even and fair.

 

Although a Gorgon could easily be a Rhino affinity. I think that, that would be really cool if there was a sense of specialization with weapons and Warframes.

 

The rushing ahead problem needs to be fixed anyway, though it really is only a problem in pickup games. If they just remove the penalty for not being at the finish line on time (you get full credit if the game finishes and you haven't made it yet), then the speed thing would be less of an issue.

Ideally future content would discourage people from running ahead like that, as the enemies should be tough enough all the way to the end that leaving your teammates behind reduces your chances of survival. I don't think that flaw in the game design should drive how weapon loadouts would work or how warframe speeds in general work.

Also, speed shouldn't be the only thing affected, each weapon could affect some other stats - such as power regen, shield capacity, shield regen, melee damage, melee charge rates etc. In fact every weapon could have its own stats of what penalties if gives.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Emotitron