Suggestion: 'frozen' Levels Negatively Impact Enemies As Well

[TinyLesbianRobot]

As a solo player, I don't like the 'frozen' random event.

Unlike the 'fire damage' random event, instead of just making things dicier (and more interesting) it knocks a chunk off your total defense with no chance or possibility of evasion, forcing you to suffer through the mission at half shields.  At lower levels, this can make things interesting, but at higher levels, where a single Corpus pulse blast can knock out between 25 and 40 shields, this is a major fun-killer.  At this point, if I start a mission at Pluto or Eris and I hear '...your shields will take a hit from the cold' I just quit and restart.

 

One thing that's always struck me about the frozen event is that the enemies don't seem affected at all.  If the ship's cryogenics core is busted, then they're left 'out in the cold' (har har) as much as the Tenno are.  I believe a way to make the frozen event interesting at higher levels, and less punishing for punishment's sake, would be to change this.  Leave shielded enemies with half shields, like the Tenno, and perhaps dock unshielded enemies ~10% health, or pin them all with a very slight slowing effect.

Any suggestions on how this could be balanced?

inb4 people tell me to quit crying.  I love a challenge - what I'm trying to do is help balance this game in a way that makes it more fun and less frustrating.

[CY13ERPUNK]

+1 OP

i personally love the idea of random crazy S#&$ happening to liven up the maps, and it's better if the environment makes sense in that it affects everyone

i also want ALL windows to be breakable, not just the two rooms we have right now

maybe have an infected map with toxic spores that reduce our armor effectiveness..

i mean you can just think up all kind of neat ideas

[Countess_Hapmuhr]

As a solo player, I don't like the 'frozen' random event.

Unlike the 'fire damage' random event, instead of just making things dicier (and more interesting) it knocks a chunk off your total defense with no chance or possibility of evasion, forcing you to suffer through the mission at half shields.  At lower levels, this can make things interesting, but at higher levels, where a single Corpus pulse blast can knock out between 25 and 40 shields, this is a major fun-killer.  At this point, if I start a mission at Pluto or Eris and I hear '...your shields will take a hit from the cold' I just quit and restart.

 

One thing that's always struck me about the frozen event is that the enemies don't seem affected at all.  If the ship's cryogenics core is busted, then they're left 'out in the cold' (har har) as much as the Tenno are.  I believe a way to make the frozen event interesting at higher levels, and less punishing for punishment's sake, would be to change this.  Leave shielded enemies with half shields, like the Tenno, and perhaps dock unshielded enemies ~10% health, or pin them all with a very slight slowing effect.

Any suggestions on how this could be balanced?

inb4 people tell me to quit crying.  I love a challenge - what I'm trying to do is help balance this game in a way that makes it more fun and less frustrating.

 

You make a most excellent point here. IMO though, the freeze event is OK as is, I think having the enemies shields take a corresponding hit would be fair in terms of lore too. But docking health is definitely unfair as our health doesn't get docked. But then again, maybe they should implement that too >:D

 

However, I think the ice event should happen *while you're doing the mission* and kick your shields down to half when it actually occurs. (along with blaring sirens and flashing lights) That way it would be more of a "oh %¤#"" rather than "oh no, not another forced event". Also, quitting because you get an ice event isn't making you a better player you know? Try and tough it out, it will make for some awesome self-improvement once you get the hang of it.

[KageNoShini]

You make a most excellent point here. IMO though, the freeze event is OK as is, I think having the enemies shields take a corresponding hit would be fair in terms of lore too. But docking health is definitely unfair as our health doesn't get docked. But then again, maybe they should implement that too >:D

 

However, I think the ice event should happen *while you're doing the mission* and kick your shields down to half when it actually occurs. (along with blaring sirens and flashing lights) That way it would be more of a "oh %¤#"" rather than "oh no, not another forced event". Also, quitting because you get an ice event isn't making you a better player you know? Try and tough it out, it will make for some awesome self-improvement once you get the hang of it.

I like your suggestion for ice, be nice for the fire too, unless tenno are boss enough to jump into a ship that's already on fire, 

[Countess_Hapmuhr]

I like your suggestion for ice, be nice for the fire too, unless tenno are boss enough to jump into a ship that's already on fire, 

 

That should already be the case when the reactor starts going critical. Explosions everywhere, lots of poured "lava" on the floor. Oh yes, that would be awesome to say the least.

[Quetzhal]

I actually wrote a topic on hazards in general here, but I'll quote the relevant section and make modifications to it since I'm not up to rewording everything right now, heh.

Don't make ice a per mission hazard. Make it a per tile hazard, or maybe per a set of tiles. Maybe the heater in a room is malfunctioning or something, I don't know. The point is that this opens up opportunities for intelligent gameplay, as well as a greater variety of mobs. Up against someone with a ridiculous amount of shields and a quick recharge? You can either waste your ammunition on them, or draw them back to the freezer tile to halve their shields. Sure, you're a little more fragile, but so are they.

Once in the freezer tile, you could go stealth mode (this would require a stealth improvement, of course) so that you could sap away their shields a bit at a time while they try to find you. Or you could get your tanking, well-shielded teammate with a Warm Coat mod to draw the enemy into the room while you open fire from the outside. Or you could use a stun ability to lock them in place inside the freezer tile. Heck, give us a way to trigger a lockdown so that they'd freeze over time in the room, giving us a melee buff against them or something once unlocked. Conversely, enemies could lock you down inside it, and you have to hurry before you freeze up entirely.

As for fire? Maybe change it so that it encompasses greater swathes of the ship, and maybe requires parkour to get past. Hazards should be a danger to players that can also be turned against the enemies. Of course, I'm not saying the enemies should all just run after you and die in a flaming pit of death; that would be silly. Maybe just one of them. :p But it'd be a good way to temporarily separate yourself from a group of enemies chasing after you, perhaps until one of them turns on the ship's sprinkler systems to put the fire out, or something.

If you break a window, perhaps the vacuum should cause all enemies that need air to gasp for breath instead of shooting you and pretending nothing is wrong. Maybe the Grineer could snap on their masks after a moment or two, so breaking the window stuns them temporarily, but it's a calculated risk because your shields will drain quickly and you need to take them out before they recover. Something like that.

Basically, I think it'd be cool if hazards were gameplay changers as opposed to flat modifiers to everything.

[TinyLesbianRobot]

You make a most excellent point here. IMO though, the freeze event is OK as is, I think having the enemies shields take a corresponding hit would be fair in terms of lore too. But docking health is definitely unfair as our health doesn't get docked. But then again, maybe they should implement that too >:D

 

However, I think the ice event should happen *while you're doing the mission* and kick your shields down to half when it actually occurs. (along with blaring sirens and flashing lights) That way it would be more of a "oh %¤#"" rather than "oh no, not another forced event". Also, quitting because you get an ice event isn't making you a better player you know? Try and tough it out, it will make for some awesome self-improvement once you get the hang of it.

Trust me, I do tough it out when I can.  After putting ~350 hours into the game I've gotten pretty good at estimating when I can handle something and when it's just a waste of revives, and soloing a Pluto mission in a rank 30 Vauban with half shields is a waste of revives.