Of Mods And Gameplay- My 2 Cents

[Shadowcrusnik]

Congrats on the game! So far it is wonderful, and for a game of grind it is among the best and most interesting. The only quarrel I have with it is the Mod system, and how it interacts with game play.

 

Cent 1: What are mods and what is their purpose? (for dummies)

 

Mods are random pickups/rewards that are continuously acquired throughout the game. These mods are most often upgrades to a stat on a specific weapon or warframe. These mods can be fused together with other mods or a special mod type called a "fusion core" to upgrade the mod to a greater effect. Mods also come in the form of abilities for the games various warframes, such as Frost's Avalanche, Mag's pull, or miscellaneous things such as faster recovery or explosive "on-death" arrows for the Paris. Mods, however, cannot just be equipped willy nilly, the equipment you are outfitting must have enough "Mod Capacity" (and, of course, enough space!) to support the mod, this is shown in the form "slots", a meter shown above the mod space UI that details how many Modification levels your piece of equipment can handle. Warframe ability mods also take up Mod Capacity! Mod capacity is generally limited to 1 slot increase per weapon mastery level, which stops at 30, but can be doubled using Orokin reactors and catalysts to "super-charge" your equipment, and increase the viability of equipping large numbers of mods. All mods come with a unique "polarity" or "type", this polarity determines the mods role (Offensive, Defensive, Utility, Ability), and what it can be equipped to (Rifles, Shotguns, Pistols, Melee weapons, and warframes), the 8 mod openings/slots every equip comes with can be polarized using forma to fit a mods role polarity, mods of the same polarity that are equipped to these slots take up half the mod capacity they normally would. These mods and their various polarities can be grouped together to achieve the best performance in your warframes and weapons, and is essentially the name of the game.

 

Cent 2: The problem

 

The problem with this is that mods are the only way to gain power, and take an exorbitant amount of time to get to a relatively high level, at which point you are so over-powered compared to the game's NPCs that you are unstoppable. Meaning that it takes an incredibly long time of the same regurgitated missions and enemies over and over again to get to a point where you can further kill these same enemies and complete these same missions at almost no difficulty whatsoever. Do not misunderstand me, this is a game genre I call "grind games"/Borderlands 2, and for most people this is perfectly fine, and the feeling of accomplishment many gamers get upon reaching "God Tier" is substantial enough that an entire game is centered around it. But the main problem is that at the current moment that is bout 70-80% of what this game has to offer. I do not like that. I understand that the game is currently in beta and will be getting much more content in the coming months, or maybe even years. I just wanted to clarify that the game is currently a simple "do this to get this so you can do this again, but this time its not challenging at all" type of game.

 

Cent 3!?!?!?!?: An important (but not very likely) solution

 

In my very honest opinion, a sure-fire way to improve the games replay-ability and general quality would be to add custom-made maps by offering players the games level creation editor (As i understand this is a planned feature, good job!), thus allowing for fan created lore. But that will only keep the game afloat, and won't make it an "Amazing" /"Perfect" game. And although a random level generator is a great way to take off a load of work on level creation, if they made the level generator a single form of game play, such as very common alerts that appear within an area that would provide the bulk of the games play, like it does now, and another, more Lore/Storyline gameplay where levels are created and designed by hand, with announcement triggers, explosions, epic boss fights, and all the trimmings of PvE gameplay presented in almost every game would feed my need for Really embedding myself in the world's story, who the Tenno are and why they were woken up, in addition to a custom level generator, Clan vs Clan PvP Raids, and the PvE "Enemy forces management" alert system that pops up around planets and planetoids that you've beaten the story missions in would give the game an incredible amount of play-ability, Depth, and truly make it the best game in existence as far as I am concerned.

 

Or in other words, the gameplay of Warframe is extremely stale, and mods are a poor way of giving the endless grind a reason, when in all reality the game needs new things.

 

Again, this is ALL my opinion, and in no way am I "demanding" changes, think of it as "Food for Thought" or a mere suggestion.

 

P.S. I "love" Quotation marks.

 

Edit 1, 7/1/2013: Added an After-statement to clarify the point of writing this thread.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Shadowcrusnik

[http404error]

I... um...

 

What are you saying should change about Mods again?

[Shadowcrusnik]

The thread is of Mods and gameplay, it is simply a very long way of saying that mods are a poorly designed attempt at giving the games grind a reason. Sorry i did not clarify that point.

[Guest]

(...) the same regurgitated missions and enemies over and over again (...)

 

Hahahaha! Oh god, my sides!

[Shadowcrusnik]

@Mokunen

 

Sarcasm or truth? hard to tell with text.

 

Anyhow, yes, that is my honest opinion.

[Shadowcrusnik]

Bump! I wrote this for the people! LET THE PEOPLE SEE IT!

[BadAimbot]

The thread is of Mods and gameplay, it is simply a very long way of saying that mods are a poorly designed attempt at giving the games grind a reason. Sorry i did not clarify that point.

 

How else are we supposed to become stronger as we progress through the game? And your answer has to not be a grind itself.

[Shadowcrusnik]

How else are we supposed to become stronger as we progress through the game? And your answer has to not be a grind itself.

 

 

1. One concurrent problem in grind games is the endgame, whats left to do? grind some more. And that's fine, but at the current moment the only suggested reason TO grind is to gain power so grinding is easier, nothing more, nothing less.

 

2. The unlikely solution i posted is simply my attempt at giving the games grind a reason greater than "just for the sake of grinding", similar to how WoW was so easily replayable by many. There were PvP "battles" that alone gave the game its longevity. But just imagine, if Warframe had Random grind missions, as it does now, PvP "Clan Raids", Story missions with selectable difficulties, AND a custom mission creator that let people go wild with the games level creation engine.

 

3. In answer to your question, i was not saying that the mod system is bad way to progress, it is, in fact, a very good way that requires time and dedication; I was saying that it shouldn't be the ONLY damn reason to play!

[Guest]

@Mokunen

 

Sarcasm or truth? hard to tell with text.

 

Anyhow, yes, that is my honest opinion.

 

It's all truth, honest! It's just that your choice of words was so unique, unexpected, and fitting, that it actually made me laugh out loud :D

 

In all seriousness, now that I allow myself to re-read your OP after getting some very much needed sleep, I agree with what you said. In fact, I believe the problem of endgame and re-playability arrives long before one gets to max a single mod. I mean, none of my mods are above level 5 and I already own every boss I've tried so far with ease. Solo. Without any truly advanced tactics beyond "shoot, sponge bullets, cover to reload shields".

In any case, we have yet to see what the future brings. Missions are pretty much static/linear for now, we don't know just how much customization player-made maps allow.

[BadAimbot]

1. One concurrent problem in grind games is the endgame, whats left to do? grind some more. And that's fine, but at the current moment the only suggested reason TO grind is to gain power so grinding is easier, nothing more, nothing less.

 

2. The unlikely solution i posted is simply my attempt at giving the games grind a reason greater than "just for the sake of grinding", similar to how WoW was so easily replayable by many. There were PvP "battles" that alone gave the game its longevity. But just imagine, if Warframe had Random grind missions, as it does now, PvP "Clan Raids", Story missions with selectable difficulties, AND a custom mission creator that let people go wild with the games level creation engine.

 

3. In answer to your question, i was not saying that the mod system is bad way to progress, it is, in fact, a very good way that requires time and dedication; I was saying that it shouldn't be the ONLY damn reason to play!

 

Well I think you'll find that pretty much everyone wants harder content. Personally I think the mod system should be revamped so that obtaining mods are easier and leveling them is harder, but harder content gives out better Fusion Cores. But right now, there's not much point to even level up the mods that much unless you want to use non-Armor Ignoring weapons against some of the harder enemies.

[LordLimberjackManslayer]

Yeah, grindy as hell. I like your suggestions, but I feel like there needs to be more. If they added everything you said, it still doesn't change the fundamental gameplay, which atm is run around as a space ninja shooting stuff, occasionally using under-powered melee, and sometimes use parkour to avoid what few traps there are.

 

EDIT: Also defense and mobile defense, how'd I forget those?

Edited July 3, 2013 by Bazlebib