The Second Stream Podcast: Episode 2

[Necrius]

On 5 - while I'm fine with scanning plants, I dislike several things about them as well:

1) They'll be useless after the quest.

2) For some reason DE replaced extract beakers with actual plants. I don't like this because it makes even less sense than getting extract from "taking a photo" of a plant.

[Me.KayOh]

only here to explain 6 cuz i selected Other.

What I expect:

I think Umbras would be a new line of variant Warframes as well as they would introduce a new game mechanic that we dont know about yet. Something similar to how the sentients can become immune to certain damage types etc. Also the coming quest has alot of work to do in order to make Umbra work in the current warframe lore and world. And I expect that if Umbra is coming, a clear definition of what Umbra frames are will be made. However, for this to happen a clear definition of what our current prime frames and normal frames are will also need to be made. Umbra frames have been hyped up to be "darker" versions of the primes and it seems like a lot of folks are expecting more sinister frames with even different powers. I dont expect different powers at all. Instead, maybe some statistical advantage over normal frames, but different to primes. and perhaps that new game mechanic or whatever to separate them from the primes.

[WhiteCopain]

PLEASE don't make Umbra just a stronger Warframe. It's kind of lame how Prime are just buffs to old frames rendering them only mastery fodder for anyone who really cares about stats. I don't mind Umbra being better, but please do something fun with it. Maybe Umbra works slightly differently, like Excal Umbra has two swords and attacks faster with them but won't auto parry or something. Something slightly better, also balanced out by a slight downgrade. Even if it is just a boring stat change, maybe more shields but then less HP or something to compensate, not a straight buff.

[CandyDragon]

Honestly I find umbra as a concept silly and hope they are relegated to being skins.  To be honest the only thing that sold the majority of the forums on umbra was the Nearly prime looking excalibur, and the anime scarf. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see players with the ability to obtain both excal prime and the umbra look. But I don't think adding yet another upgrade/sidegrade of existing frames is going to do much good for the game.

I'd rather see new warframes, new cosmetics, than reskins and slight flavor changes of existing warframes. 

On that note, I'd love to see umbra treated as part of the story, doing specific things to unlock the right to use that skin in game.  No plat/cash shop boosting, something that reflects in game personal effort.  Please do not shove this behind a raid attempt, or Archwing. Not till archwing is somehow made fun. 

Alternatively:

Have it go from this: Base warframe, Obtain prime parts, infuse existing warframe to upgrade to prime, treat the umbra system in the same fashion, allow it to be something that is chosen between.  Skin selection being something like : Base, Prime, Umbra. Etc.

[gluih]

Nullifiers: What I heard from the podcast is that a lot of the guys accepted nullifiers as a mechanic and found their ways to work around them. That's really how I look at them aswell. Bringing a fast firing weapon to a mission where they can show up is just part of preparing for the mission.
I actually don't think them spawning in fissures a problem anymore. It was a big problem when we had to close a fissure.
Snipers being able to ignore the bubble sounds like a really good idea.
The one problem I have with them, is how punishing they are to frames that rely on buffs. Specifically equinox and chroma come to mind, because they lose all their stacks when they enter the bubble. Imo they should be changed so they only suppress the buff for as long as the frame is in the bubble.
I also have to agree that the comba and scrambus units are much more annoying, because they don't really give us a way to react.

Raids: I was talking to friend about trying to start running raids and he had the idea to add a weapon to the rewards, so players have a reason to start raiding. Arcanes aren't really needed to play the game and having a reason to try out the raids at least a few times would be nice.
I would also like to see raid-like missions that don't require a full group.

[Combustionsquirrel]

For the second Trials question, who should they be geared toward, I think they should be accessible to everyone if they have the gear for it, and I think limiting it to a % of the population is a step in the wrong direction. I dunno if you meant it like how i'm interpreting it, where only the hardest of hardcore players get to do it, or if you meant players past a certain point with their gear.

I like the idea that shields help with getting one shot, but what we really need to have a talk about it armor. Armor scaling is ridiculous, as i'm sure most people know. I have two solutions to the armor dilemma, either change it to be more like a shield that has it's own health and then breaks after taking x amount of damage, or (and this is the one I like more) change it so that armor gets less effective as the unit takes damage. This is based on the logic that if armor has a bunch of holes in it, than it is not as effective at protecting as armor that doesn't have holes in it.

[thedarkknightdieded]

6. Umbra i just want the mechanic to be different, maybe have different powers? because having same frames with the same powers are useless or maybe they have a different feature so they stand out rather than being eclipsed by primes, if they have some other feature so they dont ecplise primes but are different.

[p3z1]

5. Titania's quest brings back an old mechanic with scanning plants. Are you happy to see it return?

Would be fine, if Helios' Investigator worked well.

Or a new mechanic/quest that integrates the Synthesis scanner to weapons while aiming...

[Homer87]

1) I'd rather get my hands on it first.

2) Yes. This should have already been in game.

3) For the most part, yes.

4) Misread the question, so actual vote - about 50% of the base. The player should be here gong enough to through the Starchart, but shouldn't need min maxed gear to do it. Should be somewhere between that.

5) Meh

6) I'm going to take the unpopular opinion on this one - I don't care for Umbra, so I have no expectations on it.

[(PSN)A_SimpleName]

1. When the new Endo "Artifacts/Treasures" are release, do you think you'll mostly trade them or keep them?

• Keep 1 copy for myself (collector) and trade/convert duplicates

2. Do you like the core concept of Shields helping to negate 1-shot kills on your Warframe?

• Yes, but details have to be iron out to make it not exploitable
• Addition: On second thought, how about having a cooldown for shield gate? 10-15 seconds cooldown
• A cooldown will not be exploitable with shield pads or trinity or arcane enhancements. 
• Add a utility mod to decrease that cool down period. It'll be a good trade-off. 

3. Trials Q1: Are trials restrictive to entry for most players?

• Trials are not very restrictive in the sense that anyone can recruit and run them.
• They are restrictive in the sense that Trials require 4 members to start.
  • I like to be able to solo Trials

4. Trials Q2: What percentage of the player base do you think Trials should be geared towards?

• Top Tier: top 25-30%
• Mid Tier: 50-70%
• Low Tier: 30%-50%

5. Titania's quest brings back an old mechanic with scanning plants. Are you happy to see it return?

• N/A
• Need to wait till console release for better input

6. What are your expectations for Umbra?

• I am hoping it to be an Excal variant with "slightly" different abilities.
• Same theme, different abilities (think augments)

Edited September 10, 2016 by (PS4)A_SimpleName

[Danjal777]

5- scanning plants is a pain, it would be nice if we could just walk over and pick them up off of the ground.

[ConciliarPath6]

Umbra warframes would kill this game.

It's like spitting right in the faces of the founders.

[(PSN)ZammnZaddy]

On Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 2:59 PM, ConciliarPath6 said:

Umbra warframes would kill this game.

It's like spitting right in the faces of the founders.

Founders got what they paid for Excal Umbra doesn't spit in their face

[FrostedMike]

Endo Artifacts:
I think I'll mostly keep them. I feel like I'm getting enough endo to max out everything I have and more. I'll trade them if I'll be in desparate need for endo.

Shield:
I voted "not enough information", I I'll say what I think about it just from the little I got:
It will help a lot in the end game where enemies are bullet-sponges rather than enemies and they, as the question suggest, 1 shot you to death. I think that fixing the enemy scaling should be your first move.
Another thing about Shield while we're at it, we don't really have a resone to have a large amount of shield. Health and Armor are getting more attention as they're working together (more Armor and Health = less damage taken), Shield and Overshield are nice to have if you want to recover a bit in the corver and die less quickly (Shield = an extra layer of protection), but I think they're missing something that will make it better and I think that negating 1 shot hits is not what will make it viable to use shield capacity mods. Something that works similar to Armor reducing the amount of damage taken to Health.

Scanning plants:
I like it that these plants have a purpose now, but I would really like if the Helios sentinel could scan them even after completing thier codex scanning. The same goes for kavats. Maybe with only 70% of the regualr scanning speed.

Excalibur Umbra:
Oroginally I thought it will be a new variant of Excalibur and the start of a new line of warframes, but now that the option "a new game mechaninc" is in the list, I think DE is actaully hiding something (dah). I think it will work more like the Focus system rather than a new line of warframes to get.

Edited September 17, 2016 by CommanderSpawn
Added shileds negate 1 shot kills.

[(PSN)ShadowSeraph13]

5)  I dont mind the scanning but as of now its  pointless. If an alchemy aspect was to be created that would make it useful. Like being able to create elemental coatings for melee weapons or making molotovs, cryo grenades, or some kind of grenade that coats enemies in a sticky nectar and slows them. That would make me go flower picking more.

6) I dont like the idea of umbra its another prime and if an umbra variation is better than the prime ill toss the prime. I dont keep the original when there is a prime there is no point. I say do excalibur umbra and stop. I may not even bother with umbra variants unless they are cool to look at. At that point however just make it his deluxe skin and be done with it.

[Koldraxon-732]

In short: I look forward to War Within, which makes me find current content meaningless. Sorties aren't awarding enough for the effort required by those who come correctly armed.

Spoiler

 

1. When the new Endo "Artifacts/Treasures" are release, do you think you'll mostly trade them or keep them?
I'd do both, but it would be nice to be able to donate these to a Clan for decorative intentions, or perhaps even wear them on the shoulders of a Warframe.

2. Do you like the core concept of Shields helping to negate 1-shot kills on your Warframe? 
This concept should only become apparent on completion of the Second Dream, since Lotus mentions that 'Transference is stronger' in the Orbiter. Edit: Now that I come to think of it. how will it work? Would it act as an anti-crit/status that procs from blocking? In relation to it, perhaps the more armour a Warframe has, the less chance for slash/crit damage procs to occur, and a similar case (but status-oriented) for shields?

3. Trials Q1: Are trials restrictive to entry for most players?
I personally have never played them, but I would like to see Trials/Raids that cater to the casuals; those who expect a series of bosses, each uniquely challenging by introducing something unexpected each time, like a Corpus Raid where you fight a Jackal and a Lynx, then three Raptors and Bursas (one of each type), then a Razorback with a Sargent with a Silva/Aegis mounted on it in a mech suit.

4. Trials Q2: What percentage of the player base do you think Trials should be geared towards?
There should be versions of these Raids that cater to the groups.

5. Titania's quest brings back an old mechanic with scanning plants. Are you happy to see it return?
Scanning plants was quite unexpected, but had entertaining moments. I would like to see more peculiar elements such as this, but I also want to have potted plants in the Dojo and on my Orbiter, if I don't use them to craft antitoxins or drinks for myself.

6. What are your expectations for Umbra?
Umbra itself marks the unwritten age of the Orokin Empire; the dark side of the Tenno. The Grineer and the Corpus call us Betrayers, there must be a reason. I feel that it may be a number of things, including: New thing we unexpected, a line of Shadow-frames and Shadow-weapons which are built ontop of their standard variants (Primes do not do this), and the first Shadow will be Excalibur, as Stalker is a heavily augmented variation of this Warframe, commanded by the Oro of a low-rate Orokin Guardian as his Orokin form has likely decayed or died from Transference effects. Now, Stalker is bound against his will to Hunhow's own.

Basically: Another Excalibur that is not what we think it is, bringing unforseen elements to the Solar System.

Edit: There is mention of a System. So I expect Excalibur Umbra to come with a Quest which requires you to take your existing Excalibur with you (Excal Ps need not apply). You do something and be in awe of a new truth, while returning home with Excalibur, Braton/Paris, Lato/Kunai, Skana/Bo Umbra. I theorize that these Umbra variants would have unique effects, perhaps even a simple 'Void damage' type along with the normal damage types used which are effective against Sentients and Stalker? Perhaps Umbrta could simply be the 'Anti-Stalker' we've all been looking for? Or even looking to become?

Would Excal Umbra have a Stalker helmet variant, or one that resembles it? 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Koldraxon-732
New thoughts included.