Ideas For New Game Modes : )

[Sobezilla]

With the exception of endless defence, a lot of the game modes feel same-ish (not that this is a bad thing since the gameplay is enjoyable) especially in a full squad it boils down to blast everything, complete a task, get to extraction. I don't know if it has been suggested before (so I apologise if this is redundant) but here are a few of my ideas:

 

1.) Simultaneous objectives 

So a split objective currently is when one task is completed another comes up (Rescue turns into a raid or something along those lines). A twist on this would be having to complete two  objectives simultaneously under a time constraint which would force player squads to split up, removing the whole safety in numbers thing. An example of this would be players would have defend a point (like in mobile defence) for a 3 minute window of time while also having to, let us say,  plant some datamass packets while that point is being defended (I.e. the second team/player would have to complete planting the packet before the 3 minutes of defending the point completes). Alternatively a simultaneous objective could be done with a total mission timer alone [i.e the cell/squad has 15 minutes at the start of the match] wherein they must rescue a hostage and retrieve an artefact and get to extraction within that period of time. This would make the most logical and strategic way to achieve the goal splitting into two teams, though not forcing it. Granted there would have to be some logistics to figure out what would happen if other players from the match were disconnected. If suddenly one player well left by themselves it would switch to a single objective and other players would be locked out from joining (similar to how players can not join a defence match after the fifth wave is completed).  

2.) King of the hill

This would be dissimilar to any game mode currently available in warframe. In this mode there would be a few designated locations on a map where points for the opposing force and player force would be awarded for occupying that zone. The amount of points the infested/corpus/grineer would gain would be dictated by the amount of units they have present on the "hill"/designated zone. The fact that there are 4 only a maximum of players available to the tenno side would involve some kind of point scaling (I.E. 10 enemies units in the zone would = the amount of points from one player in the same zone) of course this would have to be fine tuned through trial and error I suppose. The match would either be consisted of a point limit to achieve victory or run on a timer and the side with the most points at the end would win. Having 5 to 6 small zones would force players to run between them, clear them out and maintain a constant rotation and not allow for camping OR having 2-3 Much larger areas would allow for one player to remain in each area allowing two to kind of float in-between. Again there would be some issues about what happens if a team of 4 has some players leaving or being disconnected mid way through a match. If lets say the game starts with one player, there would be one or two captures zones and as another player enters the amount of zones would increase by one. Conversely, If a player were to leave before match completion a zone would be removed.

3.) Capture The Flag

This may not be very logical in regards to  the infested, but with corpus and grineer there could be a game mode where each team has a flag of sorts (an artefact or datamass packet). At opposite ends of a map there a base/spawn point for either the players or their opposition. Located within that point would be the flag (whatever it may be). So straight forward, get into enemy lines get the flag, get back to base and get a point. Now there are two variants of how this could work, simply bringing the enemy flag back to your own base would score a point OR to score both flags would have to be present (I.e. you have the enemy flag  and are the point where your teams flag should be located however it is enemy possession and you can not get the point until your flag is returned). Also their can be variability in what happens when the flag carrier has been killed. Either the flag can automatically be returned to its initial location OR it can remain with the body of downed carrier (for the enemies, the flag remaining with a downed tenno who can be revived seems a little too easy. If a tenno is downed the flag is returned, if an enemy is downed the flag remains and their allies can pick it up from that spot). The final variable would be if there was a point cap (i.e. first team to get 10 captures) or a time cap (i.e. team to have the most points by the end of 10 minutes).

There would have to stipulations to make this a challenge:

1. Loki/Ash/Sentinel granted invisibility is rendered ineffective when in possession of the flag. Before you whine about this, think about it.
2. The flag carriers would attract extreme amounts of agro. Individuals who posses then enemy flag will become priority targets, maybe cause some heavier units to spawn and chase them down (like grineer heavy gunners or like 5 corpus techs with 10 shockwave moa trying to trip you up with their stomps). Opposite of that an enemy in posession of the tenno flag would have backup/security detail. 
3.The fact that the enemy Virtual intelligence can't think lateraly like human players means that they would have to be given far greater numbers than normal to make it a challenge. There also should be some form of minimum amount of  total active enemies. Such as there being 100 enemies in their base at all times, when one dies, one spawns. Also the enemies raiding the player base would have to be siege warfare numbers to counteract the fact that a crafty vauban would plant teslas here there and probably everywhere, also there would have to be multiple avenues from which a player flag could be reached. Either a mass amount of enemies so that some would be tesla fodder so others could reach it OR disallow teslas from being actively planted on the flag or within a certain radius of it.

Well that is it for now, It's late so I hope this wasn't riddled with too many grammatical errors. I'd love to hear your feedback on my ideas and ideas of your own guys and gals. 

Edited June 15, 2013 by Sobezilla

[Sobezilla]

Another few thoughts come to mind for capture the flag:

1. Switch teleport should not be able to work on the flag bearer of either team (exploitable by players)
2. If going for the set up where the player/enemy flag has to be within their respective base in order to achieve a score/gain a point where there is a time limit there should a system in place not allowing the flag to be carried for enlongated period of time. This would be highly exploitable in the scenario where the player team scores, enemy team is at 0 and a player just runs around with enemy flag preventing them from being able to score. It would be more simplistic for a score being able to happen regardless if both flags are present in the same base but I feel that would detract from the challenge.