Why Rebalancing is Necessary (and it is)

[WARLOCKE]

25 minutes ago, kkinnison said:

 

It is not an excuse but reality

 

It is not a release candidate, and it isn't going gold.  And the fact it is STILL in beta means we can have major changes like Second dream and Star Chart 3.0.. bugs and all

I actually have to agree with blackmerc here. Eternal Beta is a known method of dodging criticism. The moment warframe opened its cash shop is the moment its beta ended. We are not alone on thinking this either. Its been brought up by TB and Jim Sterling.

[BlackCoMerc]

7 hours ago, kkinnison said:

 

It is not an excuse but reality

 

It is not a release candidate, and it isn't going gold.  And the fact it is STILL in beta means we can have major changes like Second dream and Star Chart 3.0.. bugs and all

Except...for more than a year...there was NOTHING about the game being in Beta. Not anywhere. Not on Warframe's own site. Not on Steam.

Then, of a sudden, when criticism surfaced in YouTube videos and on their own forums over the game's gradual progression toward its borderline Pay-to-Progress system, and the gradual increase in the grind...all of a sudden, the game is magically back in Beta.

No. Sorry. That doesnt fly.

You are selling items for cash. Items with stats and expected levels of performance. You are NOT in Beta.

6 hours ago, WARLOCKE said:

I actually have to agree with blackmerc here. Eternal Beta is a known method of dodging criticism. The moment warframe opened its cash shop is the moment its beta ended. We are not alone on thinking this either. Its been brought up by TB and Jim Sterling.

Thank you for the well reasoned supporting statement. Much appreciated.

I am going to step away awhile now, clear my head, and resign myself to new expectations for Warframe. Its not the game I began playing quite some time ago. I dont much care for a lot of the new decisions or new directions. 

This summer's changes might well change my mind. So I think I shall hold off on further thoughts and feedback until we see where the whole Spectres of the Rail and other related updates take us.

[Omnimorph]

I've never really understood why people think rebalancing is necessary (obviously apart from grossly out-of-whack things).  For the average beginner to intermediate player, not modded up to the eyeballs, the game is plenty challenging going through the planets.  For the average fully-modded player, there's enough challenge with higher level Void stuff and Sorties, and things like Rathuum. 

Often these sorts of complaints are just humblebrags (not saying that specifically about the OP, but that's the feel one often gets from these discussions), but you've got to bear in mind that devs have to design the game for all sorts of players, from klutzes to super-twitch expert gamers.  As I see it, there's enough to keep both ends of the spectrum happy.

Half of the game's charm is grinding to min-max to that final increment of perfection, and the other half of the game's USP is killing with style.  You're supposed to feel somewhat superhero-like, even god-like, that's how the game differs from most other games on the market, where they dole out the abilities gingerly, and upgrades are namby-pamby, all for the sake of some rigid concept of "challenge".  Plus also if you didn't have some powerful effect from all that grinding-to-min-max, there would be no point to it - you can hardly complain that you're god-like if most of your efforts go towards pumping up your mods, builds, etc., to the maximum capability possible.

The game is exuberant, unlike most other games of its kind.  If DE lost that, they'd probably lose a noticeable chunk of their players.

If I want challenge I play something like XCOM, if I want to feel like a god of murder, I play Warframe.