Loki Review

[Zoris]

I founnd Loki to be the optimal of the three intial choices. His nimbility, stealth and skills are all extremely valuable.

 

I define Loki as a clutch character in groups as he's able to relocate so quickly and address a downed mate.

 

Loki's downfall's are getting knocked down and thats pretty much it...

 

Great character with amazing stats and not tied to any specific juvenile elemental fixtures.

 

Additional Skills that would be welcomed...

 

Mischief : Ability to activate traps set forth throughout the level with higher damage

 

( Manipulate barrels to explode with more intensity...laser traps likewise would work on mutants/humans )

 

Corrupt : Cause a unit to damage cameras and security lockdowns to render them useless. Does not affect stealth.

 

Just my 2cents!

 

 

 

 

 

[Kiteless]

I consider Loki to be one of the better designed frames, but I don't think he's suitable as a starter frame. He's one of the few frames with a decently high skill requirement to play well, and you end up with a lot of bad Loki's being sub-par party filler at the best.

 

As good as he is, I'd have no qualms with making him a non-starter frame, simply because of what he demands.

 

Ideally, I think Excalibur, Ember, and Rhino would make for a much more well-rounded selection of starter frames.

 

Making Mag a starter frame is just cruel. She's awful, and new players shouldn't be made to deal with her.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Kiteless

[Easymac]

Mag's crush is great for the starter levels.
But I think Excal, ember, and rhino sound good.

[Kiteless]

Mag's Crush is all she has though. And it's not even exceptional compared to other ultimates.

 

Rhino's gameplay is incredibly one-dimensional, but unlike Mag, his tanky nature promotes a stronger focus on learning the basics of gunplay while still being effective. Mag is just bad at everything, let alone getting into the basics of the game.

[X3Evanescence]

Mag's Crush is all she has though. And it's not even exceptional compared to other ultimates.

 

Rhino's gameplay is incredibly one-dimensional, but unlike Mag, his tanky nature promotes a stronger focus on learning the basics of gunplay while still being effective. Mag is just bad at everything, let alone getting into the basics of the game.

 

This is so true :D

[PachTrick]

I think Radical Disarm and Switch Teleport need improving.
Although they're already quite useful, I rarely use them.

In my opinion, using Radical disarm is not efficient.
Enemies are unharmed and they can still attack you, you still waste same amount of bullets or do same amount of swings to kill them, so why don't use Decoy to attract them and kill them? You can also use Invisibility to kill them all unharmed, right?
Even if you use Decoy and Invisibility together or use Decoy for twice or even thrice, you still spend less energy.

My idea is that Radical Disarm should deal some damage and have more special effects.
Against Corpus: Same effect to Osprey plus causing weapons to have short circuit, dealing medium electrical damage and stunning the wielder.
Against Grineer: Causes weapons to bomb bore, dealing medium piercing damage and knock them down.

Switch Teleport is a useful skill too but for a reason I believe its one of the least used skills in the game(except used for fun).
Loki runs so fast and the terrain isn't so complicated so players won't use it for getting through the map or to get close to enemies very often.
I suggest to make it stun the enemies around where you and your target land(small radius), so that it could be more useful during a fight.

Edited May 29, 2013 by PachTrick

[neKroMancer]

Honestly, out of his four powers, the only one that I find lackluster is switch teleport. There is almost no reason to use it if you can do wallrunning. It lost tactical aspect with this feature. If we can switch teleport into a group of mobs and stun them briefly in the process it would be more useful. Chain it with invisibility would be quite devastating.

Radial disarm is already cool for 2/3 of the game. I don't really see the point changing this power. It has been a tool to victory in many Grineer mobile defense mission, turning the table to our favor within second. Uselessness against Infest is the weakness that I come to accept.

We all know how awesome his other two powers are.

Loki should be removed from starter roster. He's definitely not friendly to new players who expect a game filled with carnage and power ride.

[Expiation]

Hi guys,

 

I love Loki too and I have to admit he has 2 really amazing skills and 2 lackluster skills.

 

I love switch teleport because it is a fun mechanic and in some niche situation it can be very useful (save low mobility allies) nevertheless it is rendered a bit useless by 2 factors. The loki's speed and the spells range make it usualy faster to ninja hop your way to the desired location. The second problem, I have when I finally find a use to it, are targeting issues. Mainly when I want to save an ally from a bad positionning he is usualy swarmed by enemies and since I should be as far as possible to get the best use of the spell I more often than not end up switching an enemy who got in my line of sight. In the end I screw up my own positionning but do not relieve my ally. This is why I really loved the idea of a mini aoe crown control attached to it. Not only it will help saving your ally if you miss aim the switch teleport on your ally as long as you aim close enough, but also it will prevent abusing it to troll people by switching them in a group of enemies since they will have a second to react and escape while the enemies are CCed. Alternatively if an aoe CC is too strong in itself it could be an aoe buff to your allies. I think either giving a temporary shield, reducing incoming dmg, recharging energy, giving increased movement speed or even stealthing your allies would all be acceptable options. The ability is nice, actualy some slower warframes would kill to get it. In my opinion it mainly has usability issues and lacks a bit in synergy with the Loki as a whole but it could become really useful with just a small tweak if it is a senseful one.
 

Now concerning the UBER it is much harder to fix, basicaly the Loki shouldn't have any damage ability nor really any team buff. He is all about manipulating the battlefield so you can't catch him nor his allies while he safely deals constant damage with regular weapons. I think as it is now the UBER is just bad an should be changed all together.
I have been trying to think on a few direction that would be interesting gameplay wise. I am running a bit out of time to expose it all now so I will come back soon to share it here. But I have time for one idea.

Let's think about it this way, what are the scenari in which the Loki's kit do not allow him to change the flow of battle to his favor?

Obvious one would be dealing with huge swarms and/or tough ennemies which is usualy the moment you want to use your UBER. Basicaly if you meet a very large group of enemies or just a pack with a few tough enemies you don't have too many tools to deal with them. Since Loki do not have any dmg ability he is stuck spamming decoys and killing enemies one by one. It is not game breaking but I truly feel there is room for improvement. For me it is an issue because it is the only way to deal with those situations but it is also how you deal with regular situations, it is typicaly a "one size fits all" scenario but this time it is more boring because it takes extended time to kill everyone. The main idea is that you shouldn't have to use 4 times 25 energy to decoy instead of using once 100 to deal with it. With that in light I think the Sonar ability of the banshee would fit extremely well to solve this situation, because you get the added damage to deal with the increased number while not doing any direct ability damage and creating this utility aspect for you and your team which is the Loki core concept. I am not saying give the Sonar to the Loki, I am just mentionning as an example of ability that would fit the requirements. Now I don't have a fix at the moment and I have more ideas to share but I think it is a good way to tackle the issue and focus the brain storming.

What do you guys think of this?

I will be back later for more. Have a good one.

[PositronicSpleen]

Decoy and Invisibility are both pretty good where they are, I wouldn't change them.

 

Switch Teleport has a bit of a problem: enemies tend to be in groups, so switching with one tends to put the low-defense Loki in a bad situation, unless he uses Invisibility right away. Plus it moves an enemy farther away, and you'll probably want to deal with him eventually, it's mildly annoying. Plus there's the fact that it can be used to irritate teammates, is buggy as heck, and has limited tactical application.

 

Radial Disarm has kind of the opposite issue: dudes with guns tend to be at a distance, but Radial Disarm only affects nearby targets. Plus it doesn't really incapacitate them in any way, they can still hit you. It was mentioned in the livestream that they had no idea people thought this was weak, but I mean, any of the damaging 100 energy skills accomplish a whole lot more than this.

 

 

In keeping with the theme of distraction/redirection, I propose these changes:

 

 

Switch Teleport:

 

Option A) Stun/Disorient enemies near the location Loki appears at.

 

Option B) Does damage to the thing Loki switches with, so you may not have to hunt that one guy down again.

 

Option C) Make it create frickin portals! Those switch and teleport after all. Cast to create a portal at some location, and another where Loki stands (or something like that), and entering one makes you appear at the other. Vauban gets to make Quake jump pads, might as well go the next logical step. Probably limited to being cast on floors, with a use limit so, for example, one could not simply funnel Grineer into some deathtrap forever.

 

 

Radial Disarm:

 

Option A) Let the AOE be targetable at range. Thus, enemies with guns shooting at things from far away can be affected. It also fills a different niche than the other 100 energy damage AOEs.

 

Option B) Give it a really, really, REALLY big radius. But that's boring.

 

Option C) Change the basic mechanic, but preserve the theme. One idea is swap this with a theoretical ability we could call Shadow Field, where all the allies and enemies in the AOE are invisible, but enemies are confused (like Switch Teleport) and take extra damage (from invisibility; possibly also guns). No direct damage, a ranged defensive component, but also grants an obvious offensive edge.

 

 

Needless to say, from both sets, I prefer option C.

Edited May 30, 2013 by PositronicSpleen