WAR, War could use some changes! (Invasions)

[SyberSmoke]

I have been playing this, off and on, for some time.  And seeing the game evolve has been very good to watch.  That said I have something of an opinion: Like many things in the game, Invasions are kind of grindy.  I know there are changes coming in Update 19, but for now I figure I will put form to my thought and get it out of my skull.

 

Invasions: Progression over Grind

Right now Invasions are go in, do the mission, repeat two more times.  Then move to the next so you get the loot.  They do not feel impactful (Feeling are so very amorphous...but just repeating the same task...well immersion it is not) on the going on of the universe.  Like much of the game, they are grindy and really the goal of the player is to go in, get it over with as fast as possible, and get out so we can move on.  And I know the developers are aware of this.

So what I put up is Invasions become more of a multistage thing.  A way to break up the grind where there is a progression to each fight.  An example with a Four stage invasion.

1. Infiltration (archframe): The first stage is to get into the invasion site.  The dropship will not work well and so, we goto the Archframe.  The player would need to fight their way into the invasion site achieving goals as they go.  May be one goal is Extermination, another goal being to destroy static emplacements allowing your ship in, or other goals that can help the immersion.  This is war after all and sometimes that involves clearing a way so you can get to the fight.
2. Spy Mission: You have infiltrated the area and the enemy are not happy.  But you need more information on what is going on.  The player is tasked with a set of mission goals like hacking the main computer core, Aligning a receiver to allow Lotus to hack systems, Or may be targeting key terminals to turn the areas defenses on and against the enemy.
3. Assassination: Kill the squishy thing, these could also be multiple targets like key officers and then the Commander or Boss Infested.
4. Sabotage and Escape: Finishing the entire Invasion the player is tasked with a sabotage mission and then escaping.  Taking out the power core, destroying a data core, what ever the task the enemy should be on him all the way.  After all you just made A LOT of noise and things should get progressively harder as you go.  But this is the final step, do what needs to be done, then run for the ship to escape.

So this is my thought, just a different (not better) of working invasions so that they are not so tedious.  Once done, if a player wants to farm a BP, then they can return to that stage specifically, like say for an assassination drop.  But the idea is to break up the monotony and make sure each invasion is sufficiently different to help the player be immersed in the mission type.  Ok, that is it, got it out of my brain, be nice and discuss.

Edited June 13, 2016 by SyberSmoke

[Undescribable]

I think it's a nice idea, but I also think that people can choose what types of invasions they want to do since you can see what type of mission it's in. For example, Bob here likes to run around with his beam cannon thing and kill everything in an exterminate mission. In the current system Bob can stay away from defense which he doesn't enjoy all too much since Lucy always stands afk with her Ember ult on there. On another note, Lucy likes to watch videos while playing the game, and that becomes much easier to do when you don't have to move around, thus she stays on defense-type missions. Invations offer most of the different game modes and the same rewards (not as regularly maybe).

If people just want to rush through the things four missions might be too much, but maybe it doesn't feel like a chore as much if there's more diversity in it. So it's a pretty good suggestion, but I doubt this version specifically will get put into the game.

[(PSN)JaviOnTheRocks]

Invasions could diferentiate from other missions by being a bit more dynamic through interaction with the allied force and some portrayal of the progress of the invasion in the tiles and enemies.

On an Exterminate invasion, allies could at some point ask for reinforcement at a specific point or against a specific enemy (an eximus unit that's kicking their asses or something), or to hold the enemies in a specific spot while they are doing something else (which would still be an Exterminate mission since there's nothing to defend, only that enemies will storm that area).

As you repeat invasions, tiles could reflect that the invading force has made progress towards important enemy objectives... or that they are falling back if they are losing.

Some immersion would make it feel like you are actually contributing to something, like a mini-campaign of sorts. There could even be some small reports of the invasion status, even if they were somewhat random and irrelevant ("Corpus destroyed Grineer capital ship, Grineer falling back and regrouping", "Grineer broke through enemy defenses, ready to break into the Corpus compound"...).

It would also help if at the beginning of each mission we got a small briefing of the objectives. Not necessarily the specific mission objectives (which would be defined by the mission type) but some explanation of what's the specific intention of whatever is going on in there in relation to the invasion as a whole: disrupting through orbital defenses, getting control of areas of tactical relevance, spearheading into enemy bases...

There could even be an optional final mission(s) where, near the end of the invasion, you'd be asked to participate in the final push against the enemy, and were you'd get to fight a mini-boss.