Rajko Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 @Mythblaze: I don't think raiding content should really be the focus of a small squad fast paced action game. I'm still convinced that Cells or something close is just right for Warframe's mix of casual and hardcore gameplay. Putting the emphasis on the squad is what makes Warframe in general, and Cells specifically, so great. Going through a series of connected scenarios with a team of 4 players is, to me, what Warframe can do better than WoW or FFXIV, and the best evolution I've yet heard. Aping the endgame raid systems of other games would be a terrible mistake.
Phaenur Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 @Rajko: Agreed. Still, the ability to sync up multiple cells (lower-case "c," meaning the squad) to allow clans to conduct some sort of cooperative gameplay is one of the big breakthroughs I'm hoping for out of the teased PvP mode from the last devstream. If they can get two cells running even reasonably smoothly in that environment with hostile AI dashing all over the place, they could probably integrate some sort of large-group operation. That could still fit nicely into the Cells concept, of course - spawn the teams in different places with parallel courses, and have their activities shape the course the other group has. Remotely opening doors, sounding alarms like in Survival to lure away heavy spawns, sending each other supply caches...there are a lot of possibilities. Still, it would probably work fairly well just to have some dialogue whenever such events happen that makes it "clear" there's another cell or two running alongside you, helping with the mission, or that there's a major push going on that's mobilizing several teams. Kind of like the "reinforcements" in Defense or the "agent" in Survival, rewritten for the Cell in question. Storytelling can make a lot of difference, especially if there's some sort of audio/visual events going on offscreen to indicate your virtual allies are doing their jobs too. But yeah, straight-up ten/sixteen/twenty-five/forty-man raid content really doesn't fit the mechanics, gameplay model, or abysmal netcode Warframe is built around, which is why Cells has so much support as an alternative.
notionphil Posted June 4, 2014 Author Posted June 4, 2014 @Phaenur You just blew my mind. Yep. Imagine X teams, all running interweaving Cells with each depending on eachother for needed supplies, air, alarm resets, door unlocks, etc... mind blown.
Katakuna Posted June 9, 2014 Posted June 9, 2014 Damn, it's already been almost a year since this was posted. Where's our Cells, already?
notionphil Posted June 9, 2014 Author Posted June 9, 2014 huh... it seems i've aready +1'd this... Yep, nearly everyone has :D Damn, it's already been almost a year since this was posted. Where's our Cells, already? The devs were pretty aware of the Cells concept, so hopefully we'll see key elements of it in the Proxy Wars system. Specifically I hope to see multi-missions, permadeath, pre-announced conditions and 'challenges' for completing it with specific gear/in specific ways.
Phaenur Posted June 9, 2014 Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) Honestly, I'd be satisfied with multi-missions (with ammo and health staying constant between one stage and the next), conditions, and much better ground-level storytelling. Whether that's done through the objectives, boss/Lotus chatter, or just the scenery. My biggest complaint about Gradivus was that there wasn't any adequate exploration of what the two factions look like when we're not on a warship, space station, or treasure galleon. That made it really easy to side with Sargus over Alad, since we could empathize with the lab-rat Tenno much more than we could with the Grineer subjects and slaves - and by all accounts the Corpus aren't much better on that front. Anyway, well-constructed Cells would help alleviate that. We can explore surface conditions and the behaviors of both factions - imagine, say, an encounter directed at exploring (seriously, mostly just exploring, finding out what they're like so we can bomb them later) the Indoctrination Temples of Neptune, or smuggling weapons and taking out hard targets to facilitate a Grineer slave rebellion in the Phobos colonies. We'd get new reasons to hate, pity, or maybe even support the mostly faceless empires, and a little randomization could help underscore how vast everything really is. You run the same Cell fifty times and every time after the first your contact tells you it's the same place, just a different part of it. As long as the graphics back that up enough for players to accept, it would really help immersion, and immersion tends to lead to much greater retention. So, yeah. +1. Again. *First edit for formatting. Second edit because it's "empathize," not "emphasize." Edited June 9, 2014 by Phaenur
Rajko Posted June 9, 2014 Posted June 9, 2014 When my workload eases I'm planning to come back to this thread, read it all over again, and maybe contribute something meaningful. Until then, I just want to communicate how much respect I have for all of the amazing contributions, and my fervent hope that these ideas help to drive the direction that Warframe takes.
Rhekinos Posted July 12, 2014 Posted July 12, 2014 How about locking players to specific gear? Like Prime only for a Void Cell or a Corpus only (including Vandals) for a Corpus Cell?
grillv20 Posted July 14, 2014 Posted July 14, 2014 I really really like the idea of all of this content OP. There are only 2 things that bother me though. 1. Waiting several days to play content that is obviously this awesome could really put a damper on people. I think that this sort of gameplay should be more...common. What we have now and what that system could be, OP's content could easier over-shadow other gameplay modes and make people dread the older gameplay modes more. Thats just my opinion. Thats how I would feel. I would feel like they put allllll this effort into these "proxy wars" and sort of left some of the other core content off to the side. Plus it would be painful waiting for these dossier items you speak of to complete just to actually go and do enjoyable content. ugh. Still waiting on that stealth system. 2. With how unreliable connections can be with players and going between matches. I wonder just how possible this system could be. Not to knock what you have laid out at all, its just how the game itself works in general. Lobbies are so herp derp most of the time and all.
5Billion Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 AND HERE WE ARE, more than a year later with excellent ideas like this barely being implemented and only ONE ENDGAME PROJECT being released, that being the sloppy, soon-to-be-part-PVP Bark Sectors. 880 upvotes DE, saw this on the Community Hot Topics, read through it, and I'm like "What, Proxy Wars are coming with U14?!?! NICE!" Then I see the post date, 11th of June, 2013. Oh.
notionphil Posted July 15, 2014 Author Posted July 15, 2014 AND HERE WE ARE, more than a year later with excellent ideas like this barely being implemented and only ONE ENDGAME PROJECT being released, that being the sloppy, soon-to-be-part-PVP Bark Sectors. 880 upvotes DE, saw this on the Community Hot Topics, read through it, and I'm like "What, Proxy Wars are coming with U14?!?! NICE!" Then I see the post date, 11th of June, 2013. Oh. Yep. Cells recently celebrated its one-year birthday by popping open a vintage carton of Greedy Milk and hoping for Proxy Wars to have borrowed heavily from some of its key mechanics, namely: -be a multi mission run with a set squad -be able to run at different difficulty levels (apparently this is in) -include permadeath to add risk/reward -include pre-set, pre announced mission parameters (eg: all enemies deal 2x melee damage and move 50% faster) -incorporate lore and 'communications' into the missions -include quasi-scripted "impasses" that require tactics to overcome (eg: snipers nests, choke points, impromptu defenses?) Cheers!
5Billion Posted July 15, 2014 Posted July 15, 2014 Yep. Cells recently celebrated its one-year birthday by popping open a vintage carton of Greedy Milk and hoping for Proxy Wars to have borrowed heavily from some of its key mechanics, namely: -be a multi mission run with a set squad -be able to run at different difficulty levels (apparently this is in) -include permadeath to add risk/reward -include pre-set, pre announced mission parameters (eg: all enemies deal 2x melee damage and move 50% faster) -incorporate lore and 'communications' into the missions -include quasi-scripted "impasses" that require tactics to overcome (eg: snipers nests, choke points, impromptu defenses?) Cheers! Lol.. notionphil you are everywhere, and most of your points on Warframe I happen to agree strongly with. Just to throw this out there, yes DE is a business, and yes they need to make money, but if they don't put in work in the right areas, then people will complain. Personal story, when I was looking up this game in January, I saw ratings with an average of 7/10, and the biggest complaints from players and companies were stupidly overpriced micro-transactions and repetitive gameplay/no lore. And these still haven't been fixed. I liked the game so much that even when I read reviews I still downloaded the game, but after only 5 months I'm burned out. Time to play real-life again.
voltocitygel Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 as a recommendation~ cells could work like the solar rail conflicts. if you go in with level 30 weapons / warframe, all of their mods are "deactivated" so to speak, until you gain the EXP to level them, slowly bringing them online. That way, it could still be a challenge. They will all be restored to their rank, unless their rank exceeds what it originally was upon entering the mission. EX: bringing a level 3 ash, and having it rank up to 7 by the end of the cell.
angrykenji Posted July 20, 2014 Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) bump because as a player who's 'done it all', my endgame currently consists of running mind-numbing missions/survivals for the chance of a drop only to sell for plat. there needs to be a proper endgame that uses its lore, mechanics and environment to the fullest and WF can definitely do. Edited September 22, 2014 by Letter13 Locking because a two-month necro bump is not the way to do things!
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