A much-needed Quality of Life update to Polarisation

[TheLexiConArtist]

I figured I'd toss this up here as well, maybe it'll get more attention than over in Feedback.

So let's look at our old jigsaw pieces and what they do for us.

 

Modding through the ages

As we begin, at a point in the past, the biggest mod drainers are a handful of Corrupted (for warframes) and 10-ranked and mandatory mods. Serration/Split Chamber. Vitality/Redirection/Steel Fiber. Polarising was a way to squeeze in that one extra mod here and there, or fit in a particularly awkward build; minmaxing a Warframe into a dumpstat could realistically take several expensive 10-rank mods.

We had ability mods, then. Some, like Vauban, frequently polarised away a Zenurik slot because an ability (e.g. Bounce at the time) was worthless to them.

 

We lost ability mods and gained two new universal slots.

We gained Exilus slots for Warframes, adding even more potential drain to the same 60-74-78 capacity.

The mod drain is getting tighter and tighter, more mods have to be in polarised slots to fit everything in. More polarised slots means less flexibility to try out new things because it even drains more for cross-polarity modding. Good luck with that, unless you have a cheap drainer in there which barely makes a difference.

 

We gained Primed Mods, pushing existing 5-rank and lower mods to a new 10-rank drain. Still working the same capacity.

By definition, primed mods are just better. But they drain an extra 5... unless they're in a polarised slot. It's realistic to have three Primed mods in a single weapon, or two in a Warframe. People like their Continuity and their Flow, and those go along with those fatty Corrupted mods when making a refined build.

 

We gained Riven Mods, which not only have a large drain level, but feature randomised polarity.

And here's where we are now.

 

The Problem with Polarities

We have three more slots on warframes, 10-15 more net drain from Primed mods, and unknown-polarity, heavily draining Riven mods in Rifles and eventually rolled out to other weapon types.

Eventually, we're seeing a rework to mods to solve the mandatory nature of mods like Serration - mods we probably polarised for because they're still some of the biggest drains. What then? We'll have Madurai slots with less certainty that we have something worth filling them with.

The need for polarised slots has increased to the point where they make builds less flexible, not more.

Spoiler

I have an assembly line for daily building of Forma I'm not even using.

Forma is less desirable than it should be. Players with all the best options, maximally fused are often disinclined to polarise or disinclined to experiment. Polarising all the slots can squeeze in 15% more Power Strength by giving you enough room for that Drift mod in your Exilus... but then cripple your options in building for another aspect, because they put a heavy load on another polarity, and cross-polarised slots push that even higher.

 

So what do we do?

 

The Solution for Better Polarisation: Hey Forma, can you alter to this shape for me now I need it? Thanks.

Quote

Forma: This shape-altering component is fundamental to Orokin construction.

Let's bring back the shape-altering nature of Forma and polarise the items, not the slots.

 

In this mockup we can see:

• This Warframe has two optional Aura slot polarities - Madurai and Naramon - with the polarity currently in use (Naramon) highlighted.
• This Warframe has one optional Exilus slot polarity - Naramon - which is not in use, allowing an Exilus mod of Madurai polarity to be used without penalty.
• This Warframe has a bank of polarity options for regular slots, still kept separate from 'special' mod slots:
  • One Madurai polarity - currently in use, allowing Primed Continuity to be reduced in drain.
  • One Naramon polarity - in use, for Constitution.
  • One Vazarin polarity - in use for Redirection.
  • One Zenurik polarity - not in use because the build in use has no Zenurik mods, retaining the 'unpolarised' slot for free normal-draining use by a mod of any other polarity.
  • Zero Unairu polarities - no Warframe mods are currently in the Unairu school, but this would be an option for future mod releases.
• (Ignoring the stars of the old Forma indication), this Ivara has had four Forma installed - unlocking, in addition to its native Naramon Aura and Regular slot polarity and native Vazarin Regular-slot polarity: the extra Aura polarity, the Exilus polarity, one (used) Madurai polarity, and one (unused) Zenurik polarity.

 

Altering the current polarities in use would simply use the 'Swap Polarities' screen with a slight enhancement to account for the new elements.

 

What does this solve?

Forma no longer locks out a build option in any scenario. This futureproofs completely for potential balance changes and new mods with differing polarities than current popular options (Hi, Primed Cryo Rounds). The decision to apply Forma is restricted only by availability, not by the possible cost in options to refine a particular build.

DE are much more free to use varied polarities for new mods. No more Madurai-and-Naramon-heavy releases (Acolyte mods were only these two polarities, not a single Vazarin or Zenurik). Maybe Unairu mods other than stances will be introduced.

Isn't this power creep?

No power creep whatsoever with this rework. The upper limit - 8 polarised regular slots, plus polarised stance/exilus/aura slots, is the exact same as currently available. The only difference is promoting build flexibility and diversity.

Couldn't you just remove cross-polarity penalties for the same outcome?

Not exactly - without cross-polarity penalties, there are still a hard-set selection of polarities in your slots. Under this system, you could polarise for 8 available slots of every polarity. Make your eight Vazarin mod build dream a reality! Your Madurai polarities are still banked for when you want them again.

It takes extra Forma to do so, but no Forma is ever a waste.

Doesn't this involve lots of extra data per item per player? DE will never do this!

There is no argument that there will be more data per item per player, because the 'current loadout' is still saved in much the same manner as it will be now. However, under aggressive optimisation, the additional data for polarity banks as proposed can fit into only a handful of bytes: Using upper and lower groups of 4 bits separately, two polarity banks up to 15 available can be stored per byte. Adding one byte per special slot with a bitmask where each bit corresponds to an unlocked polarity, this allows no more than 5 bytes for an item:

[Madurai | Naramon] [Vazarin | Zenurik] [Unairu | Precept] [Aura/Stance] [Exilus]

Accounting for precept 'polarity' does mean that native item polarities must be optional, but let's be honest, they are meant to be bonuses to begin with. (looking at you, three-Madurai Nova Prime...)

Some people have duplicates of their favoured equipment just to allow this build flexibility due to the current restrictions from Polarising. That's extra data load that would be unnecessary under this proposal, too.

 

 

 

Maybe people will mind that Sortie Forma less if it's more useful!

[(PSN)Elvenbane]

I agree that flexibility is a problem, but I think it would be less confusing if instead of a "bank" of polarity options, it was just per-slot, i.e. each slot has a mask of the polarities it can half the capacity cost of. So adding a forma to a slot basically works like it does now, it's just additive...and each slot can show the range of supported polarities in the slot background when there is more than 1.

[TheLexiConArtist]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Elvenbane said:

I agree that flexibility is a problem, but I think it would be less confusing if instead of a "bank" of polarity options, it was just per-slot, i.e. each slot has a mask of the polarities it can half the capacity cost of. So adding a forma to a slot basically works like it does now, it's just additive...and each slot can show the range of supported polarities in the slot background when there is more than 1.

That's kind of the same idea but presented differently. Considering the need (with weapons) to swap polarities for things like elemental combination purposes, we're already half a step away from specific-slot polarisation. I just want to finish taking that step while co-opting that existing UI to present the improved range of options in an understandable way.

 

I don't know. It'll vary per person, but (obviously) I thought mine was perfectly clear. "You have this many polarities in use out of a total of that many" visible at a glance (no need to go into each slot in any way to see what you have/haven't unlocked) with the 'swap polarity' screen simply presenting "here's your slots, put polarities where you want them".

 

There is one difference, though - in your method, you're still polarising a slot, so it's still restricting the freedom a little in edge cases. It doesn't matter as much with few polarities (less than one per slot), but there's a point where you have a relevant decision to make for which polarities you're adding to.

For example, assuming all slots are filled with 4 Madurai and 4 Naramon, and you want to pu a Vazarin polarity in, you're choosing to limit either the Madurai or Naramon to 3 used polarities while you're using that Vazarin - depending on whether you give a Naramon slot or a Madurai slot the option of being Vazarin. With the bank, you just added one Vazarin option, completely independent of whatever other polarities are present in whatever numbers.