Test-Drive Warframes/weapons

[lswest]

I know this topic has been touched on regarding weapons a few times before.  However, it doesn't seem like the idea of test-driving a Warframe has appeared recently.

 

My idea is as follows:  Offer a button inside the market that spawns a level similar to the mastery rank tests, but supplies you with your chosen warframe with all 4 abilities, or an empty excalibur frame and the weapon of your choosing.  You can then test the warframe (or weapon) for either a set period of time, or indefinitely.  Naturally, no affinity or actual progress could be made with said warframe or weapon.

 

Why I think it could be useful:  I was recently in the position where I had 2 of the required 4 blueprints (chassis, system, helmet, final market blueprint) for both the Ash warframe and the Banshee warframe.  I read up on both on the wiki and checked out a couple of youtube videos, but in the end I still felt like I basically flipped a coin and decided on the Ash warframe.

 

There have also been a number of posts asking for more free warframe/weapon slots.  Originally, my gut reaction was along those same lines, but thinking on it further, I realized my issue wasn't with the 2 starter slots, it was rather the inherent risk of filling my second slot with something I didn't like.  Sure, I could have sold the new warframe and gotten to work on another, but you're then essentially doubling the build time to just under a week.  This, of course, applies to those with purchased slots as well.  I don't have any issues with spending real money for another slot to build a third or fourth warframe, but I would like to be more confident in my decision of which warframe to essentially spend that money, time and effort on.

 

Further pros:  Could lead to people purchasing platinum for more slots in order to build both warframes, could lead to more platinum-based purchases of warframes, could appease those users who feel unsatisfied with their number of slots (or who won't sell warframes on the off-chance that they like the old one more than the new), and increase overall satisfaction from weapon/warframe purchases (and open up purchasing of more cosmetic items).  In the case of weapons, it may also help people decide which weapons to delete from their inventory.

 

Possible cons: It could cut down on overall purchases of slots/warframes/weapons.  I can't think of anything else that may follow as a negative result.

 

I'd be interested in hearing what others think of this suggestion, as (to me) it seems like a fairly good trade-off in risk vs reward (for the developers, where reward is overall satisfaction of their user base).  I also think that most of the required code would be in place for this sort of test area.

Edited June 5, 2013 by lswest