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Dev Workshop Part 2: ...& more Warframe Changes.


[DE]Rebecca
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Hello Tenno!

 

Welcome to Dev Workshop Part 2 where we cover Mirage, Valkyr & Excalibur. Please take a moment to read it thoroughly if these Warframes and their Ultimates interest you.

 

The following changes address Abilities which are commonly used to trivialize large amounts of Warframe missions. Please remember that the information listed is subject to change and that we will continue to monitor these Abilities to ensure that they are fun and fair to use. We will continue tweaking and testing throughout the humid Canadian evening. The 18.13 Update notes will have the final information, but the following post will outline the spirit and intent behind the coming changes. These are targeted changes that we were able to make with the goal of releasing a cohesive Update 18.13 that addresses as many Warframe power concerns as possible

Part One of this Dev Workshop series can be found here:

 

Part One has information on a full Passive roster, and complete rework information on Volt and Mag, and more.

Part Two (this post here!) includes information on some powers that have one or more aspects that requires adjustment based on their ability to completely nullify core combat mechanics.

You may recall that yesterday we mentioned that "we [will] move on to bigger Warframe reviews – this includes a detailed look at things that trivializes all content to an extreme". With that in mind, we'll get right to the results of this review:

Mirage:

Sleight of Hand: We have increased the damage and detonation range of all objects that can be booby trapped.

Prism: Prism’s Blind effect is now affected by the enemy's Line-of-Sight (LoS) to the Prism. Prism’s damage has been buffed slightly to compensate for this change. We found that Prism was able to lock down maps with little recourse, and we feel that these changes will make it a more targeted ability while also increasing its tactical usage.

Valkyr:

Hysteria is Valkyr's Rage Mode - we teased and released her as a Berserker frame and we've iterated on Hysteria a couple of times since release. We are returning to this power to reign in its issues but still thematically invoke her ultimate rage.

The relationship between time spent in Hysteria and energy & incoming damage has changed in two ways.

Firstly, the longer you stay in Hysteria, the more Energy it'll cost you. (but the energy drain ramp up is capped).

Secondly, while in Hysteria you are still invulnerable - the current Hysteria indicator on the UI tells you how much incoming damage you've absorbed and mitigated. The longer you stay in Hysteria, the less effective the mitigation of incoming damage is on the 'End Hysteria' phase. Ending your Hysteria session should be done with care - ensuring no enemies are in the range of Valkyrs Hysteria Aura (20 meters max, they have to be able to see you), or you will take the damage. How you choose to dispose of these enemies is up to you - either kill them, or get a safe distance away to deactivate Hysteria.

Excalibur:

Excalibur's rework made him an indisputable lethal force - a role he will continue to shine in, but now with more reasonable parameters on his Exalted Blade waves.

Exalted Blade’s damage will now diminish according to distance traveled and enemies punctured, and Exalted Blade’s built-in Radial Blind on spin will now cost ½ the Energy of a regular Radial Blind. Although Exalted Blade is a lot of fun, we feel that it completely overshadows all of Excalibur’s other abilities at little cost. The powerful range on Exalted Blade turned Excalibur into more of a turret than a swordsman. This change means that Exalted Blade is more effective when used in close range and using Radial Blind is now a calculated choice. The ability will simply become more engaging in all encounters.

Also under review:

Trinity's Blessing & Ash's Bladestorm are both under review as well. If we determine a course of action for either of these powers, we will let you know here. Feel free to link us threads on either of these with your thoughts!

*May 27th Addition:

Trinity Changes
Blessing:
Blessing now heals Allies within the shared Tenno Affinity aura range. This Tenno Affinity aura range is a new UI feature available to all players beside the Shield Stat. This range is 50 meters from Trinity. 
Blessing still instantly heals all Allies (Tenno,Companions, etc) in range. 
Blessing's Damage Resistance is now calculated by the following formula: 
Damage Resistance % = 100 - Square (Average(Tenno Health%)).

Thank you for your patience, Tenno! Please note that we are hyper-conscious of everyone's investment (including our own) into these Warframes. We only aim to apply balance where needed to increase our tactics and engagement with the gear we have collected.

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The EB nerf is honestly, alot more reasonable than i thought. Damage fall off with distance and puncture.

However causing the spin blind to take energy makes little senses as

  1. It has lower range than normal blind
  2. Doesn't get that sweet strealth multiplier

But not so bad changes, well done.

 

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Thanks guys for keeping at it! These are just the tip of the iceberg for balance changes to come I feel, and they are looking fantastic so far.

Keep sharing the development process with us, all the bits and pieces and the really juicy stuff. It is very much appreciated!

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Oh, I thought you meant reviewing Warframe as the game overall, not Warframes that trivialise. (Expected certain weapons to have changes here, too.)

Still, reducing MLG pro Swish-Swish gameplay and There-Is-No-Opposition Blinding is a good step forward.

 

I have to express concern about Trinity's Blessing being under scrutiny - that issue is as much thanks to the incoming damage and missing-health scaling as anything else.

If Blessing is changed, it must be made more user-friendly. With enemy damage at such outrageous levels and no gating to give the Trinity player any time to react in the intended manner, there's no wonder that players felt the need to find a proactive way of accessing the main draw of the skill.

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5 minutes ago, xlraistlx said:

Any chance you could increase the base range of spin blind and excal? A 2.5 increase (making it half the base of radial blind) seems reasonable. 

 

7 minutes ago, Evanescent said:

I can understand the EB wave balancing but I also feel that the energy cost on the spin blind is uncalled for. It's range and duration are already short enough as a balance feature.

Will bring this to the table to see what adjustments can be made, if any. Thanks for adding thoughts!

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None of this is very surprising (though LoR nightmare in a pug may become a lot more irritating - the tram part's already pretty unforgiving, and my blinding has been the only thing that got it through successfully plenty of times), except for the slide blind costing energy.  

One of the biggest problems with EB is there is no incentive to do anything other than spam circle/E, with the sole exception of use of the slide blind.  While I totally understand the energy management part, and don't feel it's really going to hurt him too much, I do hope you all continue to look at the EB stance.  I personally would be completely fine with a pretty heavy (relatively) nerf to the base attack combo, if the other attacks did more than slowed me down via animation lock.  This, to me, goes in the opposite direction.  I'll get more damage and incentive out of using actual RB, then spamming waves at the stuff I just blinded, than doing 3 or 4 slide attacks to take out the entire group.  Slide attacks, as a whole, deal heavy damage, and if I'm being charged energy for that, ok fine, but if it's just being charged for the blind I may or may not need... I like the concept behind the changes, and have zero issue with wave dropoff, but that part kind of irks me.

Edit:

"Exalted Blade is more effective when used in close range and using Radial Blind is now a calculated choice".  If the slide blind is used in pretty much anything short of a max range blinding build, it's only effective in close range, like, lemme get that Elemental Ward buff close range.  This results in a playstyle of slide blind into a pile and hack your way out.  I really, really, don't see why a nerf (via additional energy cost) to this is necessary, as this is NOT turret play, and is in fact the exact kind of gameplay you say you are trying to promote, but are in fact penalizing.  I will admit to having a bit of an axe to grind, as this is my personal preferred playstyle, on what, about a month ago, became my surprisingly most used frame.

Edited by (PS4)Cwellann
Additional thoughts not necessitating additional post
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Just now, [DE]Rebecca said:

Will bring this to the table to see what adjustments can be made, if any. Thanks for adding thoughts!

Regarding the waves, was it tested to have the waves as they are for damage/punchthrough, but only project when channeling melee and therefore incurring an extra energy cost per swing, as meleeing while in Ivara's Prowl does?

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1 minute ago, [DE]Rebecca said:

 

Will bring this to the table to see what adjustments can be made, if any. Thanks for adding thoughts!

If not boosting the range and duration, I'd personally vote for having the EB Radial Blind open up enemies to finishers (if it does not do so already).

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11 minutes ago, Buzkyl said:

The EB nerf is honestly, alot more reasonable than i thought. Damage fall off with distance and puncture.

However causing the spin blind to take energy makes little senses as

  1. It has lower range than normal blind
  2. Doesn't get that sweet strealth multiplier

But not so bad changes, well done.

 

It actually does get stealth multipliers, from my experience. Just that it doesn't prompt a finisher.

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Overall good changes. Glad blind Mirage is getting LoS. Not really fun when she can turn off the game. I'll admit my guilt in doing this far more than is healthy. 

Not sure what to say for Valkyr and Excal. Both seem reasonable.

My concern is more on Chroma. I have a thread here and really hope he isn't forgotten:

I also have something for Ash as well I presented a while ago

thanks again for being transparent with us. It's highly appreciated.

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