A Better Fissure Mission

[BlackCoMerc]

Pretty much no one actually enjoys picking up Reactant. Even those who arent necessarily against the necessity of it seem to just sigh and say, "Its not really that bad." 

But its not really fun or enjoyable or even necessary, either.

Likewise...if 10 Reactant close the Fissure...why do Fissures continue spawning throughout the mission? If this is "Enough to close the Fissure" (to loosely quote the Lotus) then come on...lets actually close the Fissure.

Here are a couple of ideas on how to:

1. Make Fissure missions more enjoyable, and

2. Make Fissure missions make more sense

 

======================

Reactant - No More Pickups

=====================

Fissures are now something that actually need to be closed. Reactant does not need to be picked up. When it drops, it simply charges our Warframe with that much Void energy and vanishes, upping our Reactant count by 1 as now. No retrieval required.

Once we have 10 charges (10 reactants) (now shared across the squad; individual counts just enable trolling and foster frustration from late joiners) we actually have to close the Fissure.

This part is key: Once 10 Collective Reactants are gathered - however long that takes; make em more scarce if need be - all enemies within two tiles of the player are wiped out by a sudden blast of Void Energy. If this is an Exterminate mission, those dont add to the completion. No new enemies will spawn anywhere for the next 120 seconds or so, unless the players move to a new tile, at which point, spawns are resumed immediately, as the players have begun to progress toward an objective.

The reason this happens: Players now have a decision to make: immediately go close the Fissure, or finish the main objective first. Players deserve time to discuss this choice of objectives. Lets give it to them. 

 

==================

Closing the Fissure

==================

Once we have the charges, its time to close the Fissure. A map marker will highlight the location on the map of the actual Fissure. The main rip in reality. We have to go there.

Orokin enemies will not want us to go there. So getting there might entail getting past a few groups of Orokin enemies standing in our path. One way or another.

We then have to activate the Fissure. Once we do that...it goes away. And we mop up left over Orokin enemies, who now begin losing their Corrupted buffs slowly and returning to their normal, uncorrupted forms over time. (The further from the Fissure they are, the quicker they lose Corrupted buffs once the main source of Fissure energy goes away). 

Sometimes, on closing, the Fissure may do something a little...different. Such as:

Need to be defended for a minute or two while it completes the closing process, with Orokin enemies trying to take you down before the Fissure closes.

Spit out a Relic

Drop Void Traces

Drop Argon Crystals

Spit out an Orokin Mini Boss. This is a Corrupted version of a truly Elite unit that was caught in the Void. Maybe a Proxy Unit or Grineer Boss unit. With a level appropriate Corrupted Buff.

Recharge Shields and Warframe Energy

Just plain Explode after a few seconds...seriously, once you start closing, back away, it could be a last gasp trap

Launch one final, all Eximus, wave of Orokin Baddies a short distance from players

Summon an Acolyte or Stalker somewhere on the map, who will begin moving to you

 

Mind you, all of these extra events would be random, and fairly scarce. Most times the Fissure would just...close. That's it; you did the job. 

 

===========

Why do This

===========

Do you like picking up Reactant? And I mean like it.  Not tolerate. Not put up with. Not sigh and say, Well, its part of the mission. Does it genuinely enhance game play for you? Because if it doesnt...it really has no place in the game. Its unnecessary, time consuming and often tedious (seriously, try getting Reactant stuck in the ceiling with Titania's Lantern - oops). 

Secondly, because right now, we dont actually close the Fissure. We are told we need to. We are told we have enough reactant to do so. But we dont actually do the job. Thematically, lore wise...thats an issue. But worse still is the impact the situation has on game play: We are stuck with the same list of Void enemies throughout the entire mission. Every. Single. Time. 

Who honestly isnt sick of looking at Corrupted Ancients, Bombard and Yellow Bubble Men by now? On. Every. Fissure. Mission.

So let us close the Fissure. Sometimes this will be easy. Sometimes it will mean going way off the beaten path and will be harder. Sometimes, people might honestly want to finish the normal mission first, in case weird stuff happens when the Fissure closes. And that's okay. Variety is good. 

 

So...what say you, the community, to this idea of actually closing the Fissure, and resuming the normal mission, against the non corrupted, faction specific enemies the map belongs to, thereafter?

 

Edited August 28, 2016 by BlackCoMerc

[Omnipower]

8 minutes ago, BlackCoMerc said:

Pretty much no one actually enjoys picking up Reactant. Even those who arent necessarily against the necessity of it seem to just sigh and say, "Its not really that bad." 

But its not really fun or enjoyable or even necessary, either.

Likewise...if 10 Reactant close the Fissure...why do Fissures continue spawning throughout the mission? If this is "Enough to close the Fissure" (to loosely quote the Lotus) then come on...lets actually close the Fissure.

Here are a couple of ideas on how to:

1. Make Fissure missions more enjoyable, and

2. Make Fissure missions make more sense

 

======================

Reactant - No More Pickups

=====================

Fissures are now something that actually need to be closed. Reactant does not need to be picked up. When it drops, it simply charges our Warframe with that much Void energy and vanishes, upping our Reactant count by 1 as now. No retrieval required.

Once we have 10 charges (10 reactants) (now shared across the squad; individual counts just enable trolling and foster frustration from late joiners) we actually have to close the Fissure.

This part is key: Once 10 Collective Reactants are gathered - however long that takes; make em more scarce if need be - all enemies within two tiles of the player are wiped out by a sudden blast of Void Energy. If this is an Exterminate mission, those dont add to the completion. No new enemies will spawn anywhere for the next 120 seconds or so, unless the players move to a new tile, at which point, spawns are resumed immediately, as the players have begun to progress toward an objective.

The reason this happens: Players now have a decision to make: immediately go close the Fissure, or finish the main objective first. Players deserve time to discuss this choice of objectives. Lets give it to them. 

 

==================

Closing the Fissure

==================

Once we have the charges, its time to close the Fissure. A map marker will highlight the location on the map of the actual Fissure. The main rip in reality. We have to go there.

Orokin enemies will not want us to go there. So getting there might entail getting past a few groups of Orokin enemies standing in our path. One way or another.

We then have to activate the Fissure. Once we do that...it goes away. And we mop up left over Orokin enemies, who now begin losing their Corrupted buffs slowly and returning to their normal, uncorrupted forms over time. (The further from the Fissure they are, the quicker they lose Corrupted buffs once the main source of Fissure energy goes away). 

Sometimes, on closing, the Fissure may do something a little...different. Such as:

Need to be defended for a minute or two while it completes the closing process, with Orokin enemies trying to take you down before the Fissure closes.

Explode our additional Void traces.

Spit out a Relic

Drop Void Traces

Drop Argon Crystals

Spit out an Orokin Mini Boss. This is a Corrupted version of a truly Elite unit that was caught in the Void. Maybe a Proxy Unit or Grineer Boss unit. With a level appropriate Corrupted Buff.

Recharge Shields and Warframe Energy

Just plain Explode after a few seconds...seriously, once you start closing, back away, it could be a last gasp trap

Launch one final, all Eximus, wave of Orokin Baddies a short distance from players

Summon an Acolyte or Stalker somewhere on the map, who will begin moving to you

 

Mind you, all of these extra events would be random, and fairly scarce. Most times the Fissure would just...close. That's it; you did the job. 

 

===========

Why do This

===========

Do you like picking up Reactant? And I mean like it.  Not tolerate. Not put up with. Not sigh and say, Well, its part of the mission. Does it genuinely enhance game play for you? Because if it doesnt...it really has no place in the game. Its unnecessary, time consuming and often tedious (seriously, try getting Reactant stuck in the ceiling with Titania's Lantern - oops). 

Secondly, because right now, we dont actually close the Fissure. We are told we need to. We are told we have enough reactant to do so. But we dont actually do the job. Thematically, lore wise...thats an issue. But worse still is the impact the situation has on game play: We are stuck with the same list of Void enemies throughout the entire mission. Every. Single. Time. 

Who honestly isnt sick of looking at Corrupted Ancients, Bombard and Yellow Bubble Men by now? On. Every. Fissure. Mission.

So let us close the Fissure. Sometimes this will be easy. Sometimes it will mean going way off the beaten path and will be harder. Sometimes, people might honestly want to finish the normal mission first, in case weird stuff happens when the Fissure closes. And that's okay. Variety is good. 

 

So...what say you, the community, to this idea of actually closing the Fissure, and resuming the normal mission, against the non corrupted, faction specific enemies the map belongs to, thereafter?

 

Ok first as to why the fissure continues popping up its to allow late joiners to pick up reactants if the players dont force exit before they pick up enough. If i enjoy it not necessarily but its fast so yeah i put up with it.

Your idea sounds interesting but it effectively makes the mission longer which imo could cause more hate for the mission now if it can be guaranteed just as fast or faster then the current system while creating "fun" i can get behind your idea. But until then im a big ol'question mark.

[BlackCoMerc]

Just now, Omnipower said:

Ok first as to why the fissure continues popping up its to allow late joiners to pick up reactants if the players dont force exit before they pick up enough. If i enjoy it not necessarily but its fast so yeah i put up with it.

Your idea sounds interesting but it effectively makes the mission longer which imo could cause more hate for the mission now if it can be guaranteed just as fast or faster then the current system while creating "fun" i can get behind your idea. But until then im a big ol'question mark.

Fair points. It could make the mission a little longer. A lot of that would depend on how fast DE would allow us to reach 10 Reactant under this system. And that is something that might require some tweaking along the way.

On the other hand...I have seen complaints about these missions being over and done too quickly. 

I do think you raise on good point, though: Once 10 Reactant are reached, I think its time to close the mission to newcomers. At that point, one of the objectives (get 10 Reactant) has been completed, and thus, no additional Tenno could join the mission beyond that point.

[DeMonkey]

4 minutes ago, Omnipower said:

Ok first as to why the fissure continues popping up its to allow late joiners to pick up reactants if the players dont force exit before they pick up enough. If i enjoy it not necessarily but its fast so yeah i put up with it.

Your idea sounds interesting but it effectively makes the mission longer which imo could cause more hate for the mission now if it can be guaranteed just as fast or faster then the current system while creating "fun" i can get behind your idea. But until then im a big ol'question mark.

Do you really need to quote the entire OP? You're the first poster, we know what post you're referring to. There's no need to have it on screen twice in a row.

3 minutes ago, BlackCoMerc said:

I do think you raise on good point, though: Once 10 Reactant are reached, I think its time to close the mission to newcomers. At that point, one of the objectives (get 10 Reactant) has been completed, and thus, no additional Tenno could join the mission beyond that point.

That still allows the issue to persist, if someone joins when everyone else is at 9 they'll likely only have 1 before everyone else wants to extract. I could however see the objective being completed upon finding the fissure perhaps. That way everyone who's going to be collecting reactant in that particular mission is there from the start.

[Faeduin]

I love it, brings some actual variety to fissure missions and solves the reactant issue which is seriously debilitating public fissure missions.

+1 

[Omnipower]

1 hour ago, DeMonkey said:

Do you really need to quote the entire OP? You're the first poster, we know what post you're referring to. There's no need to have it on screen twice in a row.

That still allows the issue to persist, if someone joins when everyone else is at 9 they'll likely only have 1 before everyone else wants to extract. I could however see the objective being completed upon finding the fissure perhaps. That way everyone who's going to be collecting reactant in that particular mission is there from the start.

Well if you look at my first post on the forums you realise im not used to all of the tendencies of this forum yet and i did that not knowing if i post without quoting if they will see my message so sorry in that regard. 

That is showed even more in exterminate when most of the enemies are already killed too if i had to make an alternative i would say as soon as the first enemy in any fissure mission is killed no one is allowed in not sure if this is possible but its reasonable imo.

[BlackCoMerc]

2 hours ago, DeMonkey said:

Do you really need to quote the entire OP? You're the first poster, we know what post you're referring to. There's no need to have it on screen twice in a row.

That still allows the issue to persist, if someone joins when everyone else is at 9 they'll likely only have 1 before everyone else wants to extract. I could however see the objective being completed upon finding the fissure perhaps. That way everyone who's going to be collecting reactant in that particular mission is there from the start.

Reactant in this system is collective. Its a squad wide count, not individual. Thus, you could join with the count at 9, and when it gets to 10 still get a reward.

[DeMonkey]

Just now, BlackCoMerc said:

Reactant in this system is collective. Its a squad wide count, not individual. Thus, you could join with the count at 9, and when it gets to 10 still get a reward.

Do you really see DE adding that in though? 

I suppose it's no worse than joining an interception at 99%.

[BlackCoMerc]

5 minutes ago, DeMonkey said:

Do you really see DE adding that in though? 

I suppose it's no worse than joining an interception at 99%.

Shared reactant is what they should do. This is supposed to be a coop game. Why are some players getting shafted when others rush to Extraction with their 10? That's just permitting and arguably even encouraging, in game trolling. Shared reactant is the way the system should always have worked.

Now, as to how far along DE wants the Reactant count to be before they cut people off from joining...that's up to them. But shared reactant should absolutely be the way the system works. There's literally no good, justifiable reason for it to be otherwise.

[Lyravain]

I don't agree with everything you've said, but I do agree with the vast majority.

It ticks me off that, there's Fissures opening up to the Material Plane, Corrupted are literally pouring through and even normal people are being turned into Corrupted puppets... and all we do is run around, charging our relics and then flying off.

We're Tenno, darn it!

I liked the older relic system because it felt like I was making a change. Sure, I'd run the same mission ten seconds later, but for that mission, it felt like I did something. I stopped the encroaching of the Void. I held back the tide. I stopped the bad guys. I saved the day.

Is it too bad to want that?

Now; what if the team decides to not close the fissure as fast as possible, also reducing the overall mission difficulty by a lot? Answer; extend the buff that comes with charging up the relic! Make it so that, for every 1/2/5/10/however-many reactants we pick up (and really, they need a better name for that) we get to extend the duration of the buff by a small amount of time. Or, if it's already gone, gather up twice/thrice/quintice(that even a word?) as many reactants to restart it. Dead useful in, say, a survival. Yes, there'll be Corrupted enemies popping up everywhere and ruining your life, but you'll get to keep a powerfull buff going with you to help.