Will Archwings Get Some Gameplay Update When U17 And Sharkwing Arives?

[Guest khk6]

AW needs some more content. More weapons, wings, mods, and maps. We didnt have much of these for a long long time (only 2 weapons and 1 wing since release if I remember correctly). And while I believe U17 will finally have those, Im wondering if it will also have some gameplay improvements to it. Namely:

 

-3D minimap. IMO this is a must. 2D map with arrows is just not enough.

 

-Unocked axis for camera. We should be able to freely move our camera in a 3D environment. DE mentioned they didnt do it because their test players were getting motion sickness, but it should be a toggleable option. 

 

-Loot pickups. Please do something about it. AW maps are HUGE, and loots are tiny. Increasing the pickup radius by a bit werent enough. Someone might argue that you could just bring in Itzal and spam 4, but loots should not have a specific Archwings be mandatory to acquire it, especially if we're going to have more wings in the future.

 

-Tiny enemies. Again AW maps are huge, but the enemies are small. It feels like youre doing some target shooting with mosquitoes. Ogmas on the other hand was a pleasure to fight. They were large AND unique with its destroyable arms. We need more enemies like that. 

 

-Reduce the grind a bit. Affinity gains are slow and tedious, and the RNG walls for the weapon parts and Elytron parts are steep. There are even people being sick doing the quest to get the first AW. I believe its one of the reason its turning away alot of people from playing it. 

 

-The silent, instakill, swarms of missiles. While I dont know if its coming for the underwater map, its still a problem in the interception map. They already do a tons of burst damage with high chance of blast proc, and requires your attention to either dodge it, or take time to shoot down those swarm with small hit boxes. Some kind of a warning on screen, and/or making them louder would surely cut down the frustration, while retaining its threat.

 

New contents are nice, but if the minimap and cameras were still awkward, loot pickup are stressful, enemies are boring, and RNG to access the said new content is very grindy, then its going to make me not want to play it. 

 

(This post may sounded like a full of complaint, but im posting this because AW does have potential. I was very hyped back when I saw the trailer, but it didnt get much update since released.)

Edited July 25, 2015 by khk6

[vasRayya]

hardly anyone plays it because it isn't relevant to any other content in the game

that and the grind for xp is insane, more so from normal gameplay

make it easier to level S#&$ up, and make it intertwine more with standard gameplay and they'll be taking steps in the right direction

[Cyborg-Rox]

If I were to choose a #1 priority for Archwing, it would be more endless mission types, in different tilesets. Hopefully Sharkwing will give us that.

[(PSN)iProdigy99]

Eh man im already seeing a slight increase in the Archwing "player base" thanks to the Ogma Elite Alert thats just came many people that only did the Archwing for Limbo or just to try it out have said they are going to start playing it more and more.

[Lost_Cartographer]

Eh man im already seeing a slight increase in the Archwing "player base" thanks to the Ogma Elite Alert thats just came many people that only did the Archwing for Limbo or just to try it out have said they are going to start playing it more and more.

Ogmas and Gox's are right where Archwing enemies probably SHOULD be.  The right size for the distances involved in the mode.

 

Archwing needs a lot of work though.  I think a lot of people imagined something much more faster paced, even fighter-like as opposed to floaty.  Certainly, with the right tweaks, Archwing can accomodate both styles, Elytron definitely favors floaty while Itzal players probably would prefer a more "fighter plane" style approach with high speed maneuvers.  Odonata would be naturally capable of both roles (it's #1 makes pivot combat very viable, while it's no slouch in the speed department.)

 

Problems:

 

Some systems need refinement.  Sliding is really limited.  It's super slick when facing the direction the Tenno is sliding, but looking to the side applies some serious drag, and looking in the opposite direction is akin to applying the breaks.  For good high speed combat to work, the slide's drag needs to be equal in all facings.  The side-facing drag as it is now is probably the most balanced.  There can be room for an archwing maglev mod then.  I suspect Itzal players will get much more default slide distance overall, supporting the high mobility play style, but that mod would still be sweet to have.

 

Another problem with the slide is that the Archwing model tends to obscure the cross hairs, blocking the player's view.  This is partly because the camera pulls away from the Tenno and centers him/her a bit during a slide.  This shouldn't happen, and maybe some consideration to the direction the Archwing points during a slide should be taken.  At no point should the player model block their view of targets - we can't rely on spider silk thin red triangle lines to point out our enemies.  It's weak and anything but exciting.

 

Finally, "sprinting" in Archwing is just as wonky as sliding.  Moving forward or backward sprinting is fine, but side movement is incredibly broken.  As in, it's not faster than simply hovering towards the left or right.  This needs to be addressed so that sprinting is consistently fast in all directions.

 

Finally, yes, maybe players should be able to disable the vertical axis lock.  Point being, if a player wants to perform an evasive loop, they should be able to with natural ease.

 

 

Game play suggestions:

 

The core problems I have with Archwing clarified, I want to get into mission types and how I feel they should be approached.

 

There are two types of maps in Archwing, Free Space (current Grineer asteroid field) and Trench Run (current Corpus ship.)  Certain modes work better in one over the other.   Exterminate for example is horrible in a free space setting.  I'm just wandering from cluster to cluster hunting things to shoot until I meet the quota.  There's really nothing dynamic about this.  I don't feel like the level is a character in the mission.  Trench Run maps are perfect for exterminates and sabotage maps however.  For endless modes, Free Space is perfect.

 

Free Space modes:

 

Escort - an endless defense where each "wave" is finished by successfully protecting a craft across a map to an exfiltration point.

 

Pursuit - a variation of the capture map: Tenno must pursue a target around the map until they bring it down, all the while being pursued by the targets own escort.  A player can opt to directly chase the target or attempt to cut them off.  Naturally, the target will slow down if it gains too much distance.  We want to avoid making Itzal the go to wing, Elytron should be able to apply its own bag of tricks to bring the target down.

 

Warzone - Archwing variant of invasions or crossfire.  Two large opposing forces (naturally, Corpus and Grineer) are battling it out on the surface or upper atmosphere of a planet.  Victory is earned (invasion) by destroying so many enemy forces before too many friendly forces are obliterated.  Alternatively, invasions can be a cross-mode mission, where a Tenno might go from, say, fighting against the Grineer on a Corpus ship, heading out via Archwing, beating back the Grineer, and taking the fight to their base on the ground/in their ship.  The mode should probably involve the first two parts being exterminates, with the last stage being a sabotage.

 

 

 

Trench Run missions are pretty straight forward:  Exterminate = kill all the dudes.  Sabotage = destroy the objective.  I haven't conceived other modes.

 

 

Enemies for the shrunk variation of Archwing should include tanks with capability to shoot into the air, hovercraft (Dargryn, Dregs, Raptors, etc.) and actual fighter craft that follow hit and run tactics.  Enemies for the non shrunk variation, maybe in places such as Mars' desert canyons (Phobos tileset) standard Warframe enemies will do nicely.

 

I know this mode can be fun.  It can flow well with the Warframe portion of the game, just well it can also be fun on its own.  It just needs work.  While Exterminate and Sabotage can work in the same way classic Warframe does, I think the endless modes and other mission types should be adjusted to feel natural in Archwing play.  It's a good thing DE has the tech in place to set down a standard empty expanse and then fill it randomly with objects to give it variable terrain.  That will go a long way with even free space maps with a planet setting.  Every time an escort or pursuit mission is started, it's would be like a new map every single time.

Edited July 26, 2015 by Littleman88

[(XBOX)LordPuck]

Littleman88, Id like to add 1 thing about slide you missed and disagree about your Open maps.

 

1) The Slide needs to allow for direction steering. Id like to be able to slide down if iI look down, or slide up if Im looking up. I use slide to help save stamina atm and to provide a stable firing platform while flying. Stamina will be removed but sliding directly into the top of a tunnel wall, because I am locked to a horizontal axis, is frustrating. Remove the directional lock for slides please DE. Its weird sliding on the floor when there is no floor.

 

 

2) I think open maps are excellent for exterminate. We simply need more and larger enemies and hazardous terrain/environment. Like random out of control mining lasers, junk yards filled with radioactive debris from omega isotopes and more asteroids with zepplins and turrets waiting behind them.

Pandora, Erpo, Caelus are very nice but barely filled. Push the terrain to the edge of the map. Archwing open maps are 3/4 empty. 

Edited July 26, 2015 by (XB1)LordPuck

[(PSN)obsidiancurse]

Scott did mention that sharkwing has perfected the transition from walking to flying, so that aspect will filter back to archwing, giving us missions featuring both.

I've said this in other threads but I feel the mode could benefit from some more fast paced, on rails type gameplay, think of games such as Star Fox and Space Harrier.

And yes, affinity gains need to drastically increase, I want to forma my elytron but it's painful to even contemplate with the current rewards.