Warframe Ability Mod Drops Should Instead Be Fusion Cores

[S5alad]

Given the fact that all ability mods for a warframe are provided whether that frame is crafted or bought, why do they drop?  The only purpose they serve is fusing to the skill mods for that frame, or into skill mods from another frame(at a much lower value towards advancement).  So, they serve as things to fuse other things to, except they clutter up the drops and as a result, everyone gets an inventory full of skill mods that are useless to them.

 

Why not instead, eliminate entirely warframe specific abilty skill module drops, and up the rate at which fusion cores drop?

 

This also plays into the platinum market, where mod packs fall prey the the same problem.  Except here, DE proposes to charge the customer for packs that more often than not yield warframe specific ability mods.  This dysfunction is especially realized for those that purchased the Dragon mod pack, where, "one rare is guaranteed."  That rare will turn out to be a warframe ability module, making it a waste of 90 plat, or over $5.  If the only mods in those packs were useful ones, say for rares you have thunderbolt, handspring, flow, etc, then that would be worth $5 to some people.  However, paying that much just to get slighted by an ability mod gets the customer nowhere in terms of return on investment, nor does it serve DE as it frustrates players into shying away from the platinum market.

 

At this point, the only saving grace that let me continue playing this game(a money generating consumer), was the account reset.  After buying quite a few dragon mod packs, I realized that not only are they expensive as F***, but they're worthless, running a defense mission to wave 10 is the save value as a $5 mod pack.  This wouldn't be the issue if warframe ability mods never dropped at all, it might even be halfway worth it then.

 

Just a proposal for you, DE.  Thanks for reading!

 

Excellent post by jrkong on page 3 of this topic:

 

 

Look at the math on the wiki:

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Fusion

You DO NOT need more then 1 copy of the ability mod to max an ability mod. It costs 6 duplicates to max ability mods since they all cap out at rank 3 and 12 cores or 12 random ability mods of the same rarity to max an ability mod. Here's the kicker: If you were to use ability mods as fusion cores for ANY other types of mods it would cost you 24 ability mods of the same rarity rather then 12 because they are different in polarity. Remember the energy required to reach the next level doubles for each rank (defined by the relation 2^r). 

 

It goes without saying the ability mods in the mod pool is taking a huge hit on our wallets, fingers and time. Doing the math it's obvious which is the better option. The more efficient and balanced fusion core or the "busted" fusion core (ability mods).

 

 

Come on DE.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Swaggermeistress

[Marximus1]

I have to Say i have to agree with this post. It seems that the only real reason for the other abilities that aren't for mine serve no purpose and only serve as an Annoyance. Also even though they are fuse able to other mods they barely contribute to the next level of that mod. Even though i have not bought any mod packs as stated of the problem above, I can understand the frustration of spending REAL, Hard earned cash to get those mods that everyone wants and getting an Excalibur slash dash instead is both a disadvantage to the player AND DE, as it will drive away the player market.

 

I think that though maybe if the Drops are eliminated maybe also to up the power of some abilities. As a Mag player i think some abilities even upgraded are a bit under powered or under the player expectancy.

 

So if any DE representatives read this thread, take these into consideration.  

[SpiritofVengeance]

I totally agree with what Swagger said. There is no fun in getting 10 or 15 warframe ability mods in a row. What are they for in the first place? To level warframe abilities? Aren't fusion cores there for a reason? Or do you classify fusion cores as a supplement to the fusion process? We already have a whole ton of mods of different kind dropping but many mods seem to be warframe ability ones. I would hope that this would somehow be changed.

 

Now that we have more and more mods coming into the game with each major update, it will eventually come to a point where you could go through a whole lot of waves in a defense mission and not get a single mod that is not warframe ability one. If your system is based on RNG, then why is it that different mods have different drop rates? Couldn't you just make them as follows: Common (something like 15%-20% drop rate), Uncommon (5%-10% drop rate), and Rare (1%-4% drop rate). 

 

Now, these things might already be in place at this point but what i want to see is these mods all share the same percentage drop rate, depending on it's category. We have rare mods that drop 0.15% of the time, and we have rare ones that drop almost 4% of the time? Why such a huge difference?

 

In any case, I just hope that something gets done about warframe ability mods. 

[S5alad]

 

Now, these things might already be in place at this point but what i want to see is these mods all share the same percentage drop rate, depending on it's category. We have rare mods that drop 0.15% of the time, and we have rare ones that drop almost 4% of the time? Why such a huge difference?

 

In any case, I just hope that something gets done about warframe ability mods. 

Awesome suggestion!  Totally agree!

[Nahsek]

Agreed!

[Fsac]

Honestly, at this point in my gameplay, almost all ability mod drops are exactly that... quasi-fusion cores.  Fusion Core - Common Rank 1.  Not only do I have every ability for my 5 Warframes maxed out, but I've also gone ahead and maxed out every ability for every Warframe I am even remotely interested in.  And I did it all with the obscene amounts of Mind Control, Slash Dash, Well of Life and other superfluous ability mods I've received over the last month or so.

 

I agree 100% with OP on this one.  In the very beginning, this is exactly what I used all of my Cores for.  I never would have imagined that I would be staring at such a giant wall of practically useless mods.

 

Even if that is all they would ever amount to... Fusion Core--Common 1... I feel like that would still be infinitely better than having to wade through my entire Warframe Mods tabs searching for dupes.

[Tetragen]

I completely agree with Swaggermeistress in this. I've already maxed all of the warframe abilities I have, and the greater number of mods I own seem to be warframe skill mods. Great for upgrading abilities, not much else, especially when you already have them maxed.

[2401]

Upvoting this and throwing in my approval. Several weeks ago I went in and sold every ability mod I've accumulated and made nearly 100,000 credits selling off the lot of them.

 

I made a comment to a clan mate of mine similar to this a while ago; at the very least we shouldn't get ability mods for warframes we don't have. If I had a dollar for every time RNG gave me Mind Control or Venom, I could have bought out Digital Extremes at least twice over.

[Unibot]

I agree. Ability mods are useless once you've leveled your abilities to max. Cores are on the other hand are always usefull.

They could also change how much ability mod contribute to same polarity mod for fusion without changing drop tables, but that would ruin fusion core usefulness, so OP gets my approvement and upvote

[TheJiggliestPoo]

I also agree, ability mods upgrade very quickly by themselves so at the moment all they are useful for is selling for some quick cash

[Demonspell]

can't agree with this enough. If only I don't have to waste RNG on ability mods that I already maxed/don't have/don't care I'd probably be a lot better off than I am now.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Demonspell

[Versal]

Frankly if they took those mods out of the pool, the chances of rare mod drops would increase. So yeah, I'm all for it.

[Kellervo]

I'm all for it. Once you've maxed out your Warframe's abilities, they're pointless - they become nothing more then a bunch of Common Rank 1 Fusion cores which are even less cost efficient then said Fusion cores.

[Hastet]

+1. Way too many ability mods without any practical use. Good if we had some way to "fuse" ability mods into fusion cores, but no - they're just glorified cash drops

[Darkvirusvx]

there is always the hope that they raise the level cap of abilities or better make more for each frame.

[S5alad]

there is always the hope that they raise the level cap of abilities or better make more for each frame.

This would be fantastic!  Truly!  However, even if they do, we'd have the same issue eventually.  Clutter everywhere, it's stressful and time consuming to deal with all that!  Fusion cores are so much easier to look at and use.

[BurningVanities]

I have to agree with the original poster, the only thing that kept me playing was the reset after I found out what a waste the dragon packs were to spend plat on.

[Zovc]

I agree with this sentiment.

 

I also agree with either giving frames more abilities, or adding universal abilities that could be used regarldess of the warframe you're playing as. Perhaps even abilities that use less than 25 energy so you can use awkward amounts of energy you sometimes end up with?

Edited June 7, 2013 by Zovc

[NonFat]

I think that the system should simply be tweeked

 

IMO there should be about a 5% (maybe even less, 2 or 3%) chance for an ability mod to drop, and you can only get an ability for the warframe you are currently using.

 

That way Devs can introduce new abilities into the system, and they can drop, but right now, seriously, what do I need with 30+ venom mods dropping PER DAY?!

[Niyaze]

agree stop the ability drops!!

[GoldSaw]

agreed, they dont even have to be good cores, just like commons 1-3-5 would be fine

[shinydunsparce]

The whole drop system is like something 1 person put together in 5 minutes before their lead made them put it in the game.

[carbondragon]

I wouldn't say to remove them, but maybe make it so that the only drops you get are ones for Frames you own or are currently playing?

 

When I get a new Frame, I'm totally okay with picking up several copies of that Frame's abilities to fuse into the ones that come with the Frame, but getting 15 copies of Pull just after I've finished maxing out my Mag is aggravating and pointless. They could also make ability pickups polarity-neural so that they actually would work as Fusion Core (common 1) replacements. They would still level items of the same name just as easily, but would provide more fusion points to other mods as well. Leave the copies of the mods that Frames come with as polarity-d and any other copies come without one. Save 'em up and toss them all into the freebie that comes with the Frame.

 

In a related note, since Sentinels, at least according to the Player Stats page, are considered to be the same thing as Frames, it seems their mods drop exceedingly often as well. I don't even own a Wyrm and yet I could have a nearly maxed out Crowd Dispersion tonight.

[Kurou]

I totally agree with this and for market maybe if they make especific packs like, primary weapon pack mod, secundary weapon pack mod, etc

[fatpig84]

Hell yeah, make all the new ability drops fusion cores !