Why DE has lost the support of a 3 year player

[ADirtyMonk]

With this latest debacle with vacuum DE's lead devs has proven to me once and for all that they do not understand what makes Warframe fun for their players and that they cannot overcome a hilarious bullheadedness I usually associate with immature children (and the odd adult).

I have played since the Informant event in 2013 with over 1500hrs on the in game clock and well over $600 spent between Prime Access/Accessory packs and regular platinum purchases. Since then, the Dev team and the playerbase have butted heads several times with the devs only bending and giving concessions when it is apparent that an enormous portion of the population is extremely dissatisfied. From this latest debacle alone it is apparent that they have a very specific, yet unclear, vision of how this game is supposed to be played (Warframe's movements and abilities allow us to be fast, yet we have to slow down and precisely maneuver to collect that which allows progression in the game?) and they will do everything they can to enforce that vision using the least amount of effort possible.

Just off the top of my head I can recall the debacle that was Vivergate and the Trinity/Mag/Excalibur line of sight nerfs. For the sake of destroying a popular affinity farming node at the time, instead of making other game mods more enticing and worth playing, DE's leads opted to hit these frames and the node with nerf after nerf under the flimsy guise of "rebalancing" and "that the abilities are now working as intended". Enemy reactions to stealth kills were ignored until DE realized that players were farming affinity "too fast". Instead of rebalancing abilities and crowd control durations, DE instead opted to introduce the nullifier, a common unit that not only grants immunity to abilities and counters gunfire, it rendered snipers, bows, shotguns, and many semi-auto weapons virtually useless. Instead of creating interesting and fair bosses and enemies to fight, we instead have enemies that can rapidly empty your entire squad's energy pool with no other clear indication of their presence, enemies which can turn off abilities potentially costing over 100 energy without any warning, enemies that can displace and stun a player without any hint of counterplay, invincible bosses with erratic movements that occasionally reveal a small weak spot for brief periods of time, damage gating, etc. Does anyone else remember when shock eximi were made to become walking AOE magnetic procs? A decision like that should never have even gotten through the design phase, much less the actual game.

Rather than fix enemy AI, a broken and clunky UI, weapon/cape/warframe clipping, mandatory mods, rebalance the plethora of underused and weak weapons/mods, make non survival/interception/defense modes worth playing regularly, or flesh out previously introduced systems, the DE leads have opted to introduce more and more mediocre weapons that are quickly eclipsed and forgotten by the latest powercreeped prime and yet even MORE systems, most of which will be left forgotten and untouched by the dev team a few weeks after their release. Take a good close look at the Anku, Atterax, Cronus, Dakra prime, Ether Reapr, Bronco, Amprex, Burston Prime, Convectrix, Dex Sybaris, Hind, Ignis (list continued at bottom). Look at what is acceptable to the Warframe devs: Hands loosely gripping/half gripping/gripping air or clipping through hilts/trigger guards/grips/the weapon itself and awkardly positioned limbs (do you usually hold a staff with a 90 degree bend in your wrist?). Distillers were released and never touched again. Remember the amazing fixes and second look the Focus system got? Oh that's right, its been untouched for the past 10 months. The heralded endgame of Warframe was released in and still is in a sad, broken, and imbalanced state. What about Limbo? Released in 2014 and left as a buggy, clunky heap of a Warframe, his fix is still "pending" and he is hardly the only Warframe in need of a second pass. And Simaris? Once an incredible and regular source of lore which gave an actual purpose to scanning, now forgotten in a corner and while we get brand new and shiny "cephalon fragments". Channeling and charge attacks are still utterly useless except for niche situations. Melee combos are still nothing more than mashing the melee button with slightly varied timing while holding down either the block/forward/back button. I cannot remember the last time the Clan Dojo got additional decorations, or rooms, or even functionality. Does DE realize how painful and tedious it is to decorate a dojo or liset? Somehow, rather than fixing these issues or polishing DE decides to invest in things like a "Music" frame when we already have frame whose theme is "sound". Or worse, things like Conclave and Lunaro. Modes which logic states are completely incompatible with the lack of dedicated servers Warframe has yet somehow not only get developed, but get continuously balanced and unique and potentially useful mods that are limited to ONLY this game mode which the vast majority of the player base will play a few times, then never again.

I am certain that I can recognize more if I took the time to go through the entirely of the wiki's archived update notes but to me, the pattern is clear. Time and again polish has been sacrificed for bloat. What many players find to be fun and what could have potentially been incredibly fun (ex. Volt riot shield) has been ignored in favor of pushing a flawed vision of the game in an attempt to force players to play in a certain way or impose arbitrary limits (Ex. the implementation of an energy/distance cost on riot shield, the blind cost on exalted blade). The fact that this game has such a passionate player base is especially painful. I have read through so many incredible suggestions players have posted both in the general forums and in design council regarding the inclusion/exclusion/modification of existing systems which have gone completely ignored by the Dev team in favor of something mediocre.

Is DE occasionally capable of amazing things? Yes. The artwork in this game is unique and  beautiful. The Frost rework, the Excalibur rework and Parkour 2.0 were spectacular. New Warframes are generally at least somewhat fun try and the new Starmap provides some level of direction for new players. The Second Dream, most lore quests, and events are enjoyable, if brief experiences. But the number of good things and new things do not outweigh the bad or the old, unpolished, and ignored and it absolutely does not make up for the depressing trend that DE has set. And they have only themselves to blame.

Having watched this game develop over the past three years and having gone through several ups and downs and upheavals has made me come to the conclusion that DE simply is incapable of understanding what makes their own game fun, incapable of collecting themselves to solidify and strengthen core aspects of this game, and ultimately incapable of moving Warframe in an overall positive direction. There is a very good reason why "one step forward and two steps back" is a joke associated with many updates and revisions. While they have not lost me as a player (I will continue to log in for the daily and do my sorties for the foreseeable future), they have absolutely lost someone who has regularly contributed significant amounts of money to their game and I am certain I am not the only one to have done this. Perhaps in the future if the lead Dev's show they can manage to pull their heads out of their collective asses I will once again contribute large amounts of my hard earned money to this game but for now, this is where I stand and why.

 

*Broken-War, Dark Split Sword, Dark Sword, Dual Cleaver, Dual Ether, Dual Kamas Prime, Fang Prime, Galatine Prime, Hate, Heat Sword, Heliocor, Jaw Sword, Kama, Lacera, Lecta, Mios, Mire, Nami Solo, Nikana Prime, Orthos Prime, Pangolin Sword, Plasma Sword, Reaper Prime, Redeemer, Sarpa, Scoliac, Silva & Aegis, Skana, Skana Prime, Prisma Skana, Synoid Heliocor, Tonbo, War, Aksomati, Akstiletto Prime, AkVasto, Akzani, Angstrum, Ballistica, Brakk, Detron, Dual Toxocyst, Furis, Lex, Mara Detron, Mk 1 Furis, Nukor, Rakta Ballistica, Secura Dual Cestra, Twin Grakata, Twin Vipers, Vasto, Vasto Prime, Viper, Twin Wraith Viper, Boar Prime, Braton Prime, Gorgon +wraith +prisma, Grakata +primsa, Grinlok, Hek +Vaykor, Karak + Wraith, Latron + wraith, Strun +wraith +MK1, Opticor, Panthera, Penta +secura, Phage, Sobek, Soma Prime, Sybaris, Tiberon, Tigris +prime, Vulkar +wraith

Edited October 6, 2016 by ADirtyMonk

[NeithanDiniem]

If all that was keeping you here was 6m range of vacuum, why did you stay at all? That is what broke the camel's back? Why did you even bother?

Edited October 6, 2016 by NeithanDiniem

[OvAeons]

6 minutes ago, ADirtyMonk said:

and well over $600 spent

a shame that is pretty much what the game has come to now.

[NeithanDiniem]

Just now, OvAeons said:

a shame that is pretty much what the game has come to now.

No one forced them to spend their money.

[MagPrime]

19 minutes ago, ADirtyMonk said:

-Snip-

Please, don't start that nonsense.  Nothing gets a topic shut down faster than whipping out that tired insult.

You have valid points, and it sucks that you don't enjoy the game as much as you used to, but there is no need to start a fight that will devalue your input as well as cause your topic to be locked.

[notlamprey]

I feel really bad about the current state of play in Warframe, because my highly specialized looting build is busted all to heck. I'm just sitting in my Liset, unable to muster any desire to play a mission because this vacuum change makes it feel as though we have no vacuum at all.

I feel your pain, but I think it's important to wait and see how DE responds to the community input on these latest changes before we attempt to form any conclusions about "where the game is headed."

 

 

[OvAeons]

2 minutes ago, NeithanDiniem said:

No one forced them to spend their money.

oh i know, only reason warframe is around is cause of people who spent money on it, and ways to spend more get added :P business over game remember

[(PSN)WINDMILEYNO]

I like it.

You shouldnt leave, stay and make the world a better place.

They infact made shock eximi magetic draining enemies twice :).

And nervos. Iv found that on the wiki and it was horrifying. Didnt have to experience it thought, thankfully.

Pizzas are wrong.

Syndicates are wrong.

Focus schools are wrong.

Cc>dps is wrong.

Aoe for everything is wrong.

Everything is wrong.

[DiabolusUrsus]

It's amusing that so many people don't actually bother to read more than the title and assume the OP is quitting. There's a lot of good feedback there, and painfully valid points made.

Warframe is an amalgam of half-baked content supported by hype. Nothing gets polished, nothing gets expanded. At least, not to the extent that it needs to be. Worthwhile changes are regularly put on the backburner while priority is given to The Next New Thing (TM). Take The War Within, for example. Another new system. What about all the unfinished systems we're already stuck with?!

There's a difference between quitting Warframe and losing faith in the game's ability to make meaningful progress... and I'm fairly convinced that if players don't fall into the first category they inevitably fall into the second. 

[ADirtyMonk]

8 minutes ago, NeithanDiniem said:

If all that was keeping you here was 6m range of vacuum, why did you stay at all? That is what broke the camel's back? Why did you even bother?

No straw. Vacuum is merely another data point in the trend. I remained hopeful through all the other debacles over the years that DE would pull through and correct themselves...but you know... you can only give someone/thing so many chances or wait so long before you say enough is enough. And I'll still hang around. I'll just be contributing a lot less money to this game than before if anything at all.

Edited October 6, 2016 by ADirtyMonk

[NeithanDiniem]

3 minutes ago, notlamprey said:

I feel really bad about the current state of play in Warframe, because my highly specialized looting build is busted all to heck. I'm just sitting in my Liset, unable to muster any desire to play a mission because this vacuum change makes it feel as though we have no vacuum at all.

I feel your pain, but I think it's important to wait and see how DE responds to the community input on these latest changes before we attempt to form any conclusions about "where the game is headed."

 

 

Yes because 6 meters breaks the bank

[-CM-Machete]

I Kinda agree. It just became like a bloatware at the moment: full of  disjointed modules I don't care about while the core game is still the same it was 3 years ago + bandaid fixes (parkour 2.0, nerfing warframes instead of actually giving themselves to the task of BALANCING the entire game to reduce the NEED of cheesing out end-game content or making farming borderline boring). I'm taking a long break, I come back every now and then but that's all.

You know, they just allowed us to see our mods while we are at the dojo in the last recent patch, a feature that has been being requested for over two years, which just required to mess with the UI a bit in order to get the button to be displayed on the menu when you are at the dojo, but they just didn't, and it took them over 2 years to do it.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2016 by PersonalYisus

[AEP8FlyBoy]

Lots of good feedback here, but most of us wouldn't bother reading it.

I have a statement though, can we honestly say DE hasn't been trying to listen to us? If it wasn't for our outcry about Vacuum they would've never given it to all sentinels, even though it is huge downgrade to what Carrier had originally.
Some would call it a kick in the pants, some think of it as a godsend.

I personally have no opinion on this, I'm tired of sticking up for DE or for people who disagree with their motives.
I'm just going to sit patiently and wait for the next update. And hopefully it draws my attention, if not, I can move it elsewhere.

There's this coffee joint I've always wanted to try.

[MagPrime]

11 minutes ago, Chipputer said:

-Snip-

Yes, it really does.  You totally missed the point of the topic and are engaging in hypocrisy.

You don't like being called a white knight after two words, and yet you are labeling the OP as a quitter without even reading the topic.

If you truly didn't care about this topic, why are you still here?  I know that's snarky and will probably make you want to pick a fight, but seriously.  If this topic is a melodramatic exit post, why keep posting when you've obviously made how you feel known?

[Carnage2K4]

The world is ending, run for your lives

[-CM-Machete]

1 minute ago, AEP8FlyBoy said:

Lots of good feedback here, but most of us wouldn't bother reading it.

I have a statement though, can we honestly say DE hasn't been trying to listen to us? If it wasn't for our outcry about Vacuum they would've never given it to all sentinels, even though it is huge downgrade to what Carrier had originally.
Some would call it a kick in the pants, some think of it as a godsend.

I personally have no opinion on this, I'm tired of sticking up for DE or for people who disagree with their motives.
I'm just going to sit patiently and wait for the next update. And hopefully it draws my attention, if not, I can move it elsewhere.

There's this coffee joint I've always wanted to try.

They just implemented a cheap feature to be able to see mods at the dojo, after 2 years of people asking for it. Yeah, no. They just respond to outcries, without even analyzing stuff to see if the outcry is actually justified, I'm part of the same crowd OP is in: old players who just got tired of "believing" in this game's potential while shaking our heads each time they don't get it right.

[MagPrime]

5 minutes ago, textural_being said:

-Snip-

What are you on about?  I asked the OP to leave out personal attacks because I want their feedback preserved - I happen to agree with parts of it.

[Magnulast]

Just now, textural_being said:

if you would be able to use your brain, sir, its exactly oposite

you few come in here and start HATE on fundamental critics, finally warframe will go down, doesnt matter if its the "cashdevs" which they developed into or its the way the gamingindustry functions ^^)

GL

So your saying the entire post is invalid? and insults are ok?

And then you call someone else insulting another person A-OK?

[NovusNova]

Thread has devolved into Developer bashing posts, players insult each other and trolling. 

Thank you to those that remained respectful and constructive.