The Problem(S) With Forma

[AlphaHorseman]

The issue with Forma themselves comes from the mentality behind them of "oh gosh I need to forma this weapon again and level it up to make it better". It doesn't promote plat sales, it detracts them from wanting to forma the weapon because the mechanics of it makes them wary and unwanting of even more grind.

 

Remedying this issue comes in different forms that can be both agreeable and profitable to DE, and to the Player Base:

 

I am sure this has been mentioned before but here goes.

 

Two of the main problems with Warframe are the amount of grinding required, and how Mastery Rank (MR) doesn't seem that important after rank 8.  I think there is a good solution to this.  Two birds with one stone and all that.

 

When you first get a weapon it should start at rank zero, and you should rank it up to 30 like normal.  However when you forma it, it should reset, not to zero, but to the same rank as your Mastery Rank.  Therefore, if you are MR-10, a newly formaed weapon will be rank 10. If you are MR-17 then a newly formaed weapon would reset to rank 17 instead of zero.

 

Thoughts? Please, +1 if you agree.  If you don't please post why.

 

Credit goes to (PS4)DesecratedFlame for this idea.

 

Do you see how this would solve a lot of issues with Forma?

 

The stigma to players behind it is that they'll have to build a forma (yet again stuck behind another Wait Wall and Grind Wall) and then reform a weapon in order to just level it up again (yet another Grind Wall for them to vault over). Players become wary of reforming weapons and buying plat because theyʻll have to re-level a weapon to make it viable in higher content.

 

With this solution, it not only alleviates the issues surrounding forma and re-leveling, but it also makes Mastery more attractive to the players. It allows Mastery to carry more weight than it does now. With Mastery being tied to how many weapons and WarFrame a player uses (in many cases how many weapon slots they can buy with plat and weapons as well (plat sales DE!)), gaining a higher Mastery Rank now means they'll not have to level content as much as they had to before, and can actually enjoy these weapons at their optimum potential far faster than before. They become incentivized to use forma and thus, sales of Forma have the potential to increase.

 

Consequentially, players are more incentivized to try out more weapons and WarFrames than before because they aren't so sequestered behind wait walls and grind walls, and are tied to Mastery. The higher your Mastery, the more adept you are at reforming weapons, of which makes sense and helps players to continue progressing through the game. Thus players are more allured to actually buying more slots for weapons and WarFrames, and even buying these weapons and WarFrames as well.

 

From an immersive stand point, this makes sense, from a business stand point, this increases sales, from a players stand point, we don't have to slog through the repetitive grind as much.

 

DE and the Player Base win in this scenario.

 

The problem with Forma is also that it shouldn't even be a reward in higher tiered Void missions in the first place. If I begin at Tower I and receive some forma and rewards of that nature, I wouldn't feel as swindled as when I go into the highest level of Void content and find myself finding the exact same rewards and chances I did in Tower I missions that I do in Tower IV. There literally is no sense of progression, we don't go there to get forma, we go there to get the parts that we need to build the frames that we want. As I stated in the previous Community Hot Topics about Greedy Pull and it being a symptom of the problem, the Forma blueprint issue is, essentially, an example of the core issue that must be dealt with. Remove them from higher tiered Void missions, and lower their drop rates in lower tiered Void missions.

 

That core issue is the grind walls that is placed against players. Outletting that grind through making these Forma worth Ducats isn't going to solve the issue. It is telling players to farm more for the same old thing to get ducats for items that are only available once every two weeks (a wait wall) and are absurdly priced (a grind wall and an RNG Wall in one). Not only that, but players waiting for the Void Trader have no idea what he's going to bring and if it's going to be beneficial to their gaming experience.

 

The Void Trader is literally the incarnation of the Weighted RNG placed against players. We thought that he would be a token system to allow players to trade in their prime parts for coins to use to get items that they actually would want. But the Void Traders offerings nothing that we farm for in the Void. In fact, the Void Trader's offerings more things that we need to farm and grind for. The Primed Mods represent even more grind that players must slog themselves through to try and get the best bang for their Void buck. And even then, the trade value of our items to the Void Trader isn't always near what players can get for those parts in the trade market. Hmm let's see, 20 Ducats for this Prime Blueprint or 20 Plat for this prime part? Guess what the player is going to choose, 20 plat over 20 ducats.

 

Do you know why? Because the Void Traders' offerings are almost always over 400 Ducats worth of items that a player needs to try and Grind for. Not only that, but the acquisition of those 400 Ducats worth of parts is stuck behind the Weighted Grind Walls and Weight Walls of the Void that players must fight against simply to go up against the Wait Walls and RNG Walls of the Void Trader. It's double the grind for a reward that isn't even guaranteed. Everyone whose played the Void knows how this feels.

 

Because of this, players are going to trade in those parts for plat and then trade that plat for the Void Trader's Primed Mods. That's a far better trade to them than 20 Prime parts for 1 Primed Mod that they'll, yet again, have to grind the living daylights out of to make it powerful enough for end-game. A handful of parts to trade for plat is far more attractive than TWENTY or TWENTY FIVE prime parts to trade for Ducats in order to trade for that Primed Mod/Cosmetic/Prisma item. And yet, what was the solution to this? Putting a Trade Tax of 1,000,000 credits on these Primed Mods. Yet another grind component into these mods when most thought they were already overpriced.

 

Did this stop players from trading these items? No. We can see them being traded every day on Trade Chat. Does that mean Trade Chat needs to go? No. It means the Ducat prices on both these Primed or Prisma items need to come down in both trade value and taxes. If not, you will always see players resorting to those Greedy Pull tactics or those WarFrame Combos like Mesa/Trinity/Frost that some despise so much and decide to Nerf. Hurting the players only detracts from the experience and makes them want to stop playing more so than increase plat purchases.

 

If the prices for these items were more fair, you'd see players actually wanting to play the game more, actually enjoying the experiences more because they aren't plagued by the thought of "Oh gosh this is so grindy" in their minds when playing. They become happier in the experience and actually want to play more, the grind isnʻt oppresive to them as it is a background noise to the experience. Players enjoy the experience and they have fun doing it as well! The more enjoyment they find, the more inclined they are to support the game, meaning they are more inclined to buy items because of this.

[Kamael.Prime]

I've been thinking about forma mechanics recently and i believe it shouldn't reset level. Instead it should require fixed amount of affinity to activate polarised slot. Just an idea ;)

[AlphaHorseman]

I've been thinking about forma mechanics recently and i believe it shouldn't reset level. Instead it should require fixed amount of affinity to activate polarised slot. Just an idea ;)

I'm going to need you to go into a little bit more detail, as I may be unclear of your point.

[KuroShiranui]

Knowing DE, I think it would probably half the mastery rank, so MR10 would be starting at lvl5, MR20 starts at lvl10, and odd numbers would be rounded down so MR15 is lvl7.

Oh yeah, that 'technically' makes sense, because forma halves the mod energy for a slot. Great, now we have a system that revolves around halves.

ps: goddamnit, new frame is also half-half.

[The_Raall]

didn't read too long but i read first part about forma and MR and it seems good idea but rather hard to make true... and what about when you are  MR30? there you can sink all weapon with 200+ formas... and if it would become capped then it would be again the same thing with nobody caring about MR

[Nishida]

I really hope this would become a thing

[Xico.xide]

I'm going to need you to go into a little bit more detail, as I may be unclear of your point.

here it is in a nutshell

• apply forma to a slot
  
• "polarization 0%"
  
• go into mission
  
• earn affinity AKA xp
  
• *finished exterminate mission*
  
• "39% polarization"
  
• rinse repeat a few more times until 100%
  
• "100% polarization, polarization complete"
  
• "here's that polarity you wanted in that slot have a nice day"
  

Edited July 28, 2015 by Xicio

[Ninja-Kid]

-1

For creating a new thread despite OP acknowledging the old tread is still active.

[Kamael.Prime]

I'm going to need you to go into a little bit more detail, as I may be unclear of your point.

what Xicio said ;)

[-dicht.Amducias-]

I disagree, doesnt matter if u do 1 round Draco for ur weap to get from 19-30 or 2 rounds to get it from 0-30

[-dicht.Amducias-]

<p>

here it is in a nutshell

• apply forma to a slot
• "polarization 0%"
• go into mission
• earn affinity AKA xp
• *finished exterminate mission*
• "39% polarization"
• rinse repeat a few more times until 100%
• "100% polarization, polarization complete"
• "here's that polarity you wanted in that slot have a nice day"

Almost the same as leveling from beginning, just that u can use mods in the weapon while leveling

[Kamael.Prime]

Almost the same as leveling from beginning, just that u can use mods in the weapon while leveling

Exactly! But this would actually encourage me to polarise weapons more often. It is just my personal opinion, i imagine many people can disagree and I'm not going to argue about it ;)

[seniledark]

I wish I could just make more than one at the same time in the foundry.

[(PSN)LeEllieGator]

They're on every mission.. Even at wave 20 (or 20 minutes). please make formas appear in rotation A only... If at all

[AlphaHorseman]

I disagree, doesnt matter if u do 1 round Draco for ur weap to get from 19-30 or 2 rounds to get it from 0-30

This solution is about playing the game, not farming Draco.

[Temfist]

I've been thinking about forma mechanics recently and i believe it shouldn't reset level. Instead it should require fixed amount of affinity to activate polarised slot. Just an idea ;)

that was actually my sentiment exactly.

 

The slot you forma becomes locked until it acquires a certain amount of affinity.

 

If DE really wanted, they could have it so that Forma Slots are Further Upgradable to become full, free rotation if you forma the same slot 4 times. (thus, you could forma a slot 2 times to be able to switch it back and forth between two polarities, and eventually max it out at 4, with 4 formas in one slot to be able to switch to any polarity in that slot you desire. That way you can forma any weapon up too a total of 40 times, having the weapon at that point essentially be able to switch polarities at will.)

 

Honestly, I think the best way to do this system, would be to have multi-forma'd slots give polarization to their respectives simultaniously, thus, a max level 4 slot would be polarized to all mods at all times.

 

I do much prefer this idea over the current system, though it might need to be further evaluated.

[AlphaHorseman]

that was actually my sentiment exactly.

 

The slot you forma becomes locked until it acquires a certain amount of affinity.

 

If DE really wanted, they could have it so that Forma Slots are Further Upgradable to become full, free rotation if you forma the same slot 4 times. (thus, you could forma a slot 2 times to be able to switch it back and forth between two polarities, and eventually max it out at 4, with 4 formas in one slot to be able to switch to any polarity in that slot you desire. That way you can forma any weapon up too a total of 40 times, having the weapon at that point essentially be able to switch polarities at will.)

 

Honestly, I think the best way to do this system, would be to have multi-forma'd slots give polarization to their respectives simultaniously, thus, a max level 4 slot would be polarized to all mods at all times.

 

I do much prefer this idea over the current system, though it might need to be further evaluated.

This seems like an extremely good solution to a long time problem of reforming one slot and Frame flexibility.