The Death Of Mastery Locking

[MagPrime]

Like many have said, the MR system is to give the players a reason to bother with the other weapons, Warframes and Sentinels.  Once someone has found their comfort zone, not many are going to go exploring outside of it if they absolutely don't have to.  The MR system is supposed to be the push to get them to do that. 

 

Yes, it can be done better but sadly, DE responds to the loudest threads before they take notice and not enough people are making a stink about how bad the MR system is. Instead, the community is focusing on OMG 4SH PRIM3!!11! or the Founders pack, or Greedy Pull and Mesa combos, or Draco, or any other flavor of the hour issue that interferes with immediate gratification, etc.

 

Until DE can put together a better system, you're friend will either have to tough it out and rank up or stop playing.  /shrug.

[VoidNomade]

You need carrot-on-stick mechanism in such game like wf. You can dislike that - nontheless it´s important to have mechanics that make the player long for progress.

Also it´s maxed at mr8. So no biggy here.

Edited June 13, 2015 by VoidNomade

[HalcyonH66]

If you want something you will grind mastery for it. Back in the day I was about MR 4-5 and the Nikana and Dragon Nikana came out. Katanas are my favourite weapons in any given game so I ground day and night during a two week holiday to get to MR8. I ground to the point that I got burnt out on the game BUT the point is if you actually want something you'll go get it regardless of mastery locks.

[Swailwort]

It's supposed to give you something to progress towards.

It adds a degree of 'tiers' to weapons, so that high MR weapons can justifiably be stronger than low ranking ones, and add a sense of progression to weapons, rather than sidegrade after...

*Stares at Supra* *Cries*

[TheBrsrkr]

Dude, to get to MR2 all you have to do is max your starting gear. MR3 is 2 or 3 weapons after that. I agree mastery needs work to be effective, but in your situation, some 'git gud' is nessescary.

[(PSN)SKRIMP-N-GRITZ]

You can anyway date her without blaming mastery rank system.

+1

Lol jk but seriously I don't see an issue with MR locks. If anything I think there should be more of it.

[Zarozian]

I recently got my friend back into the game. She's still mastery rank 0, still figuring out things. I gifted her Valkyr and some other things (she really likes cats), and so I decide to complete everything by also gifting her the Venka.

 

Except I can't. They're mastery locked. I explain mastery locks (and the mastery system itself) a little bit to her, and she simply replies with a bit of a disinterested "Oh". What purpose does this system serve, other than to dissuade newer players? Mastery locking itself is poorly explained, and based upon yet another poorly explained system (mastery, in general). If they see an item they're interested in, they're forced to level several other weapons they aren't interested in at all, just to get to that one item, and by the time they reach it, they might not even care anymore.

 

Don't even get me started on how I can't trade or gift whatever I might want with people who have been on my friends list for months.

You shouldn't just hand things to them!

 

You have to make them learn the game and love the game for what it is on their own!

 

The same way how you did! It's the experience! The feeling that made you feel awesome!

 

It's the story line! 

 

Help her but don't spoil her! Teach her explain things to her provide her only with knowledge but leave the rest to her!

 

You has to play the game and learn to love it through playing it on her own, the same way we all did as newbies! 

 

By gifting her free stuff and handing her things, she will quickly grow disinterested!

[Zarozian]

IF SHE WANTS SOMETHING SHE MUST EARN IT!

 

AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT VALUABLE! THAT'S WHAT BINDS YOU TO THE GAME! BECAUSE YOU INVEST SO MUCH EFFORT AND TIME INTO EARNING SOMETHING WELL DESERVED!

 

I hope you all understand that. o -o

 

One cannot appreciate something that's simply handed to them.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Zarozian

[JJBooklord42]

Okay, the MR requirements are so few that its really not that big a deal. I also disagree with it takes months to get to high mastery ranks.

You can easily get to 8 with all the standard gear in the market with blueprints. And if your friends need help leveling it, drag them into a void defence where they passively absorb enough exp to get from 0-15 in a single mission.

[(PSN)SKRIMP-N-GRITZ]

I agree with others about handing people things. In the years I've noticed new players I give rhino and boltor to usually leave soon. They were probably gonna leave anyway, but I took 2 goals they could have had and flushed them down the toilet.

Also, when you explained the MR lock you said your friend responded "oh." It seems like it upsets you more than her. That's really strange lol

[(XBOX)ShapelessHorr0r]

Mastery locking makes no sense really. The locked weapons and frames are usually subpar and are few and far between.

Agreed.

[Vargras]

If you want something you will grind mastery for it. Back in the day I was about MR 4-5 and the Nikana and Dragon Nikana came out. Katanas are my favourite weapons in any given game so I ground day and night during a two week holiday to get to MR8. I ground to the point that I got burnt out on the game BUT the point is if you actually want something you'll go get it regardless of mastery locks.

And thus you demonstrate why MR locks aren't a good thing.

 

You shouldn't just hand things to them!

 

You have to make them learn the game and love the game for what it is on their own!

 

The same way how you did! It's the experience! The feeling that made you feel awesome!

 

It's the story line! 

 

Help her but don't spoil her! Teach her explain things to her provide her only with knowledge but leave the rest to her!

 

You has to play the game and learn to love it through playing it on her own, the same way we all did as newbies! 

 

By gifting her free stuff and handing her things, she will quickly grow disinterested!

I'm not handing her a Boltor Prime and a load of Primed stuff. Go somewhere else if you're gonna try and guilt-trip me for helping a friend and treating her to some things.

[NN13]

People are talking about double digit MR, but the fact is you don't need a double digit MR to unlock all weapons. Everything unlocks at MR8. In fact, leave that aside.

 

The case here is that OP's friend is not even MR1, but OP wants her to use things that are of higher MR. If she really liked the game, she would have probably said "Oh, MR. Let me play a bit and unlock the weapon". But if someone is not interested in the game, there is no point in giving them everything at MR0. They won't stay.

 

MR is necessary in Warframe because Warframe doesn't have a good story. Gameplay is repetitive and boring after sometime. The only thing that keeps the player interested is the sense of wanting to have a particular weapon. Its like "Oh, I want that Dragon Nikana. Let me get to MR8."

If D.Nikana was available at MR0, no one would have bothered to use lower tier weapons. Then, people would have burnt themselves out even faster.

That is bad for the game.

 

We need to realize that DE is not doing a charity here. They will not say "Here, take every weapon and frame at MR0, play for 2 weeks and leave the game". That is why there is a system to keep players glued to the game. And by the time we get to MR8 and get access to all the weapons, we become addicted to the game.

This the a very common marketing policy.

So, those who are saying its for progression, it actually isn't. It is just a policy to make players stay.

Edited June 14, 2015 by NN13

[Vargras]

So, those who are saying its for progression, it actually isn't. It is just a policy to make players stay.

And it's a poorly-made one, given that it just contributes to the "grindframe" moniker people like to throw around.

 

For higher MR players, mastery serves no purpose other than letting you have more trades and letting you get a little bit more syndicate rep. It, like stamina, doesn't really do a whole lot for veterans, and instead just impedes newer players. There's nothing fun or enticing about having to level a bunch of unrelated things in order to get to something you want. It is not a carrot-on-a-stick. It's just a poorly-explained wall (seriously, mastery and mastery locks are never explained to players).

Edited June 14, 2015 by Vargras

[NN13]

And it's a poorly-made one, given that it just contributes to the "grindframe" moniker people like to throw around.

 

For higher MR players, mastery serves no purpose other than letting you have more trades and letting you get a little bit more syndicate rep. It, like stamina, doesn't really do a whole lot for veterans, and instead just impedes newer players. There's nothing fun or enticing about having to level a bunch of unrelated things in order to get to something you want. It is not a carrot-on-a-stick. It's just a poorly-explained wall (seriously, mastery and mastery locks are never explained to players).

Actually, it is not a poorly-made one if we see it in terms of what is it supposed to accomplish and what it is able to accomplish.

 

As much as I hate the grind, I also admit that grind is the only reason I am still playing even after 66 days(since ingame time is measured in days now.)

 

If I got everything too easily, I would have taken a long break from Warframe by now.

 

So, MR locking actually accomplish what it is supposed to accomplish. It makes us stay and makes us addicted to the game enough to keep playing.

And I believe majority of the players play atleast one mission everyday. That is what addiction to warframe is. And it is because of MR locking.

 

As for MR in terms of Vets and Newbies, as I said. While DE wants us to think that MR is an aspect of the game, it actually isn't. It was placed as a marketing policy. It really has nothing to do with the game.

MR forces new players to play and grind. Play so much that they become addicted. Then, when they turn Vets, they just keep playing because Warframe became a daily routine for them.

[Vargras]

MR forces new players to play and grind. Play so much that they become addicted.

Pretty sure that's not how that works, but alright.

 

If anything, the grind is responsible for burn out and most players leaving.

[NN13]

Pretty sure that's not how that works, but alright.

 

If anything, the grind is responsible for burn out and most players leaving.

Actually, if you look closely, grind is not why people leave. A  few might leave due to grind, but majority don't. People complain about grind, but do they leave because of it? Probably no. Because if that was the case, DE would have taken measures to preserve its playerbase.

People leave when there is nothing else left for them to do.

 

An easy example is me - I complained about grind, yet I played so many missions to get Primes and all in the past. Now, I have almost everything that is obtainable, except just Vermillion Storm. Every mod, every frame, every prime. Now, I have reduced my playing intensity a lot. I just log in, do Normal and NM raid and log out. I play a bit more again when new contents are released.

 

And I believe I am not the only one who follow this trend.

Edited June 14, 2015 by NN13

[Vargras]

Actually, if you look closely, grind is not why people leave. A  few might leave due to grind, but majority don't. People complain about grind, but do they leave because of it? Probably no. Because if that was the case, DE would have taken measures to preserve its playerbase.

People leave when there is nothing else left for them to do.

And yet the chief complaints with the game are grinding and RNG.

 

It's not a "lack of things to do", believe me.

[NN13]

And yet the chief complaints with the game are grinding and RNG.

 

It's not a "lack of things to do", believe me.

I don't no. My common sense says that if players left due to grind, DE would have reduced the grind to retain players, instead of adding new things every week(or almost every week).

 

But the fact that they keep adding new things indicates that players stay in the game for the new things and leave due to lack of new things. I am a pretty good example myself. Most of my ingame friends feel the same. Same goes for my cousin.

 

And if I look at it from the marketing perspective, it makes perfect sense to me.

 

But,due to lack of statistical data, neither of us can prove which is the case. So, I will leave it at this.

[Omnimorph]

MR is necessary in Warframe because Warframe doesn't have a good story. Gameplay is repetitive and boring after sometime.

 

All gameplay is repetitive and boring after some time, WF has some of the best, most kinetic combat of any game around, far better than most other similar games.

 

Story is also not a good idea.  There has to be some story, but story content is quickly digested by players and labour-intensive to make, so it's not the solution.  Story has been the death of MMOs.

 

Grind is also a temporary stopgap - it works up to a point, and of course contrary to the whining, most people enjoy some grind sometimes; but it has its limits.

 

The real solution is to make these games more social in various ways, it's a well-known fact that what keep people playing these types of games is the community aspect, the friends they take in and the friends they make in-game.  It's the "alive" interaction of real people that makes a game live, not the "dead" interaction between people and AIs (at least, at the present level of sophistication of AI).  Some element of PvP is also important to a game (although that's debatable to some extent, I think it's true).

 

Raids are a step in the right direction, because making high-end gameplay more requiring of co-operative action makes the gameplay more challenging and interesting.

 

The (potential) death of this game is actually coptering.  Keeping it in was the worst, most awful decision DE have made, because it splits the newbie playerbase into those who learn a special movement skill (that isn't explained to the newbie in-game) and those who don't.  Therefore it "stretches" teams, therefore it stops the early PUG-ing experience being a team experience.

 

The best thing they could do for WF would be to tether peoples' running speeds more closely so that newbies don't have the experience of being left behind.

 

Then the game would set off on the right foot for new players - as a team game, as a social game.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Omnimorph

[(PSN)Skyfir51]

The grind is ok and the grind for mastery rank is ok.. the major issue I think though is that mastery rating lacks both relation and importance to the game beyond locking you from weapons and mechanics. By only doing just that, it sort of just.. kills interest to it.

I do believe that mastery rank can work.. it just needs a bit of love from DE.

Edited June 14, 2015 by (PS4)Skyfir51

[Eldnacpeek]

It's not meant to dissuade new players, it's supposed to give you a goal.

 

If she's not willing to work towards her desires then she's not interested in the game or its mechanics.

Edited July 15, 2015 by LazerSkink

[(PSN)Griffin-745]

Has this come about because something is locked behind mastery rank of 3? It has been said before but leveling the STARTER gear gets you to about rank 2. Level that and a few other bits. And rank 3 is pretty quick.

I personally quite like it. I can't think of a system that prevents new people straight up buying the best gear at the start and then complaining when it starts to level out and they don't quite understand everything else. It works. People just hate being told they can't have something yet.

[Djangofett]

In what game, are you able to get any weapon you want without little to no effort at all? Elaborate why you think warframe should be an exception.

[FishNeedles]

There needs to be MORE mastery locking, not less.  It's one of the only real reasons to rank up.