Volt makes no sense as a Warframe

[Rekkou]

24 minutes ago, (PS4)CaptainIMalik said:

It's not about what he is or isn't. But it's about what he should be. What he does now is good but he doesn't fully capture that potential as a "lightning" based frame, as a frame that harnesses "electricity". If he is truly a frame that harnesses electricity than he should be at maximum potential. Lightning or electricity isn't just crowd control but also deadly so logically, he should be one of the most deadly frames.

Even Volt does get a buff. What will you lose? He would still be a crowd control frame but he does it better and with his own charm as a lightning frame. He'll still be a crowd control frame with versatility in damage. Plus it would be more fun if you could play him as Palpatine. It's a game so fun is where it should be. Just let it happen, it's not like you will lose Volt or make him worse but more fun. 

Except that you're not the one who gets to decide what Volt should be. Every developers creators can decide what kind of characters their character should be, if it doesn't suits you, then find other games that suits you. Play battlefront if you like palpatine that much but don't expect him in warframe.

And "nobody loses" is the worst excuse. Game needs limits, balance, and rule. If you like to kick a basketball then do it yourself, but don't expect the official game to change just for you.

17 minutes ago, Tesseract7777 said:

It's like you didn't even read the thread at all. There are many reasons given beyond "feel", you just chose to dismiss them instead of addressing them because it doesn't fit with your worldview. Please go back and re-read. The technical reasons why Volt doesn't make sense and isn't cohesive are written out in multiple different ways by different people. 

It seems you are the one choosing to decide that he simply "feels right" based on your opinion. 

It's about cohesion. Volt is an alternative to gunplay, except he's not because Discharge has damage cap and he really does most of his damage from augmenting his weapons with Speed or Electric Shield. He's the gotta go fast frame... except to survive in high level he basically needs to turtle and not actually move. Oh but we gave him a riot shield! But it only protects face forward and drains hella energy so it really isn't that useful in actual reality, in sortie play, in levels where the game is somewhat of a challenge. 

 

It's always the same thing. The nature of his design is to offer limited variety. So of course his abilities will be weaker when compared to many other warframes abilities, of course the abilities will be limited in synergy due to their different function and purpose. People just pointing out the obviously intended balance as flaws to justify what they want.

[(PSN)CaptainIMalik]

1 minute ago, Rekkou said:

Except that you're not the one who gets to decide what Volt should be. Every developers creators can decide what kind of characters their character should be, if it doesn't suits you, then find other games that suits you. Play battlefront if you like palpatine that much but don't expect him in warframe.

And "nobody loses" is the worst excuse. Game needs limits, balance, and rule. If you like to kick a basketball then do it yourself, but don't expect the official game to change just for you.

It's always the same thing. The nature of his design is to offer limited variety. So of course his abilities will be weaker when compared to many other warframes abilities, of course the abilities will be limited in synergy due to their different function and purpose. People just pointing out the obviously intended balance as flaws to justify what they want.

 

True but the developers advertised in a certain way so he should be in a  certain way. Plus it's not about what the devs want but also the fans. I think it would be a good chunk of fun plus it's only an option. Being able to be Palpatine mode sounds quite fun. 

About the nobody loses. The way I see it, he is still virtually the same but with some tweaks. So I don't think it's changing much except he just has a damage buff. So what? Volt has a big energy pool so there is ways to balance out the "damage" part that he could give if DE ever implements another rework. 

[Tesseract7777]

11 minutes ago, Rekkou said:

It's always the same thing. The nature of his design is to offer limited variety. So of course his abilities will be weaker when compared to many other warframes abilities, of course the abilities will be limited in synergy due to their different function and purpose. People just pointing out the obviously intended balance as flaws to justify what they want.

The intention behind his design... that is your opinion. Personally I think my position is stronger in terms of feeling he doesn't live up to what he has been advertised as, since he has been advertised since the beginning as "an alternative to gunplay" and he has always been anything but. He has simply never really fit that description at all, and many people have long wanted him to actually do so. Originally he really was a strong damage dealer long ago in damage 1.0. He has changed slowly over time... I think it is hard to say for certain what DE's intentions are at this point. Most of there reworks, even the Volt one, aren't really that in depth, or address any major issues most of the time. 

Plus, I think you are confused here by what some people are saying. Don't get my wrong, you are free to not think volt has any major issues -- that is your opinion, and I know you have your reasons for thinking so. However, saying this is about balance is completely confusing the issue. These things that some of us think are flaws... if DE keeps those things around it isn't to "balance" anything, it is because they want him to be more of an all arounder like Oberon and don't want him to have a more focused role. It wouldn't be to arbitrarily make him weaker. DE wouldn't give a frame poor ability synergy to weaken them, they would do so because they specifically want the frame to be more of a swiss army knife. 

Edited December 29, 2016 by Tesseract7777

[Rekkou]

14 minutes ago, Tesseract7777 said:

The intention behind his design... that is your opinion. Personally I think my position is stronger in terms of feeling he doesn't live up to what he has been advertised as, since he has been advertised since the beginning as "an alternative to gunplay" and he has always been anything but. He has simply never really fit that description at all, and many people have long wanted him to actually do so. Originally he really was a strong damage dealer long ago in damage 1.0. He has changed slowly over time... I think it is hard to say for certain what DE's intentions are at this point. Most of there reworks, even the Volt one, aren't really that in depth, or address any major issues most of the time. 

Plus, I think you are confused here by what some people are saying. Don't get my wrong, you are free to not think volt has any major issues -- that is your opinion, and I know you have your reasons for thinking so. However, saying this is about balance is completely confusing the issue. These things that some of us think are flaws... if DE keeps those things around it isn't to "balance" anything, it is because they want him to be more of an all arounder like Oberon and don't want him to have a more focused role. It wouldn't be to arbitrarily make him weaker. DE wouldn't give a frame poor ability synergy to weaken them, they would do so because they specifically want the frame to be more of a swiss army knife. 

And it's clear that it's the description that needs to be changed. Like you said, people never actually experience Volt as "alternative to gunplay". So there is actually no proof that this is how Volt should be. People even keep deducting this means he should be a caster while the description itself only says high damage that can refer to anything and alternative to gunplay can still refer to melee. So demanding him to change because "Volt is not the alternative to gunplay" It's just another black sheep for people to demand the Volt they want. 

Sorry but your english confuses me more. Sounds like you're disagreeing, but your point is actually agreeing with me.

[Tesseract7777]

13 minutes ago, Rekkou said:

And it's clear that it's the description that needs to be changed. Like you said, people never actually experience Volt as "alternative to gunplay". So there is actually no proof that this is how Volt should be. People even keep deducting this means he should be a caster while the description itself only says high damage that can refer to anything and alternative to gunplay can still refer to melee. So demanding him to change because "Volt is not the alternative to gunplay" It's just another black sheep for people to demand the Volt they want. 

Sorry but your english confuses me more. Sounds like you're disagreeing, but your point is actually agreeing with me.

I'll put it another way: The whole thing is academic because DE is not going to drastically change a frame like Volt anymore besides what they did in terms of changes, which were, let's face it, mostly balance changes/quality of life tweaks. It is the same reason why Ash didn't really change in his "rework", they just kind of added another step to casting Bladestorm. Saryn is still probably the most drastic change of an older frame. Even with Limbo, Scott is trying to change without changing as much as he can -- still keeping him as similar as possible. 

The reason is that even if a frame perhaps isn't the most cohesive, synergistic, fits what makes most sense, etc, etc. Once a frame has been around a long time, and has a lot of fans, those people are going to be very resistant to anything truly major in terms of changes. They have become attached to that frame. They have become attached to the feel of that frame and the strategy specific to their playstyle that they have come up with using those very specific abilities. Scott doesn't want to drastically alter frames and ruin people's enjoyment of a concept. 

However, we really don't have an electricity caster frame because Volt is at best a hybrid of one, the way Nezha is a hybrid fire elemental (but half something else, I guess half Rhino? xD). And a lot of us would really like an electricity caster frame that is good performing a role in a squad similar to an Ember. 

But we don't need to ruin people's current enjoyment of Volt to get there. I believe I did mention in the first post I made in the thread that I would be okay with them just making another electricity based frame that is more of a full on damage caster. I think that is also a possibility down the road. That one could even end up being female based on the order, who knows? 

Edited December 29, 2016 by Tesseract7777

[(XBOX)bigsnake84]

Good stuff. Idk about him gliding and doing a divebomb, thats Zephyr's thing, but then again Zephyr could use some work too. Btw, that first gif has me hype. Id love for Volt to be that badass

[(PSN)CaptainIMalik]

21 minutes ago, (Xbox One)bigsnake84 said:

Good stuff. Idk about him gliding and doing a divebomb, thats Zephyr's thing, but then again Zephyr could use some work too. Btw, that first gif has me hype. Id love for Volt to be that badass

it will probably... maybe... not happen

one can hope

 

Also if the Devs are listening. They will change it if there is enough fan requests. It's our game as much as theirs.

I've even heard DE say Oberon is a Paladin even though people say he is a druid. So I guess it's completely to us if there is enough request for it. 

Edited December 29, 2016 by (PS4)CaptainIMalik

[(PSN)CaptainIMalik]

41 minutes ago, Tesseract7777 said:

 

Yes. I too would love to see a true electricity caster frame

And if it goes bad, they can always change it back. 

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

7 hours ago, Xaxma said:

And everyone else disappointed with his "rework," yes.

I don't think lightning stands still, but it's a rather fast natural phenomena, so shouldn't his powers reflect that? It makes no sense.

It's like if Ember suddenly applies cold procs with her abilities, or Frost now gains 2.00 movement speed when all of his abilities relate to him tanking and hunkering down. It's thematically bad.

And it's my thread, so I can think whatever the hell I want. Your animosity isn't appreciated.

Lightning in it's natural form is a static discharge that takes a REALLY long time to even build up, by discharging burns the air before it runs dead in the ground.

It does not stand still? Guess again.

 

[LascarCapable]

Volt is not supposed to be the "gotta go fast speedrunner" frame : he's just supposed to be a versatile support frame. If you want to rush a lot, Nezha fits the task much better. One of Volt's powers allows him to boost the team's mobility, but this is far from being his main task. He's not outshined either when it comes about supporting. There's very few Frames in the game able to bring on the table as much support possibilities than Volt does.

Overlooking Electric Shield is by far the biggest error you can make as a Volt user : you can get a huge +200% critical damage bonus from it (and the smaller electric damage bonus is also stackable with the number of shields you laid down ; that's a bit less useful but still good to know). As long as you pack a crit based weapon with you, you can dish out an insane amount of damage, and if you don't want to pack a crit weapon you can still pack an Adarza Kavat and earn a 10 seconds additive +60% crit bonus every 20 seconds (basically making every single weapon in the game crit viable). And the best thing is that the enemy will not be able to fight back since your shield blocks most of damage sources with basically infinite health (unlike snowglobe).

There's still a few mechanics that are borderline useless, like the shield + shock combo, but overall he's in a very good shape. I can totally see a Volt rocking in Sorties.

[JustSneaky]

Volt is great as melee frame. Use 2, grab shield, use 3, grab attack speed build Nikana-proceed to obliterate everything around..like a speed demon with plower.

I always play this, while im playing him. 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by JustSneaky

[LuckySh0t501]

One problem, Volt isn't meant to be a speed demon. He's the electricity frame. And IMO he's in a great place. He's one of the fastest frames (you have to build his base sprint speed +power. Put a rush on and see what I mean). Has CC on demand with his 1 (It saved me countless of times, when you get spooked by a gunner w8ing behind the corner) and 4. His 4 deals fine dmg, up to a point and is a mass stun for about 8 seconds). And his shield is PERFECT. It blocks not only bullets but AOE dmg also. +the buff to weapons. You encountered a crowd? Just place the shield down and mow them down with a soma.... 

IMO he's one of a few frames that's fine.

[(XBOX)bigsnake84]

Hmm now thinking about it, maybe he wasnt supposed to be the speed frame. Just has a speedy ability.

Instead give all the speed to the "light frame". No not Mirage who bends light. Im talking about a new frame who can turn into light. Speed of light and all that junk. But that would be a whole different discussion

Still, It'd be cool if his Speed ability turned his bullet jumps into instant blinks for the duration. MAYBE make it possible to do multiple times in air at the cost of energy.

I say maybe because I feel like Zephyr would envy that

[Loswaith]

Volt is an electricity/lightning frame with a speed power not a speed frame with electrical powers like Flash and Savitar. Your suggestions fit more with the latter not the former.

Sure he could use some tweaks, specifically with Discharge having to be ground based.  He jumps in the air for it, but it is ground only? That just makes no sense (not sure why it needed a name change too, Overlode would still be fitting for it).

While sure it would be nice to have a continuous shock, it would make him less mobile in the process rather than more hit and run, with it.

Sure the shield could use some work, but people wanted him to be able to carry it (an aspect that should have been an augment not the base power).

While his passive is rather a bit of a joke, most of the time you will get a trivial bonus between shots, and it should just need movement not ground movement (sure its an amusing bit of fun for kids shuffling feet across the carpet, but functionally it is poor).  Now if it applied just to shock (or powers) it could be more useful than just on any attacks as it promotes not attacking rather than promoting moving.

[Xaxma]

21 hours ago, Tesseract7777 said:

I'll put it another way: The whole thing is academic because DE is not going to drastically change a frame like Volt anymore besides what they did in terms of changes, which were, let's face it, mostly balance changes/quality of life tweaks. It is the same reason why Ash didn't really change in his "rework", they just kind of added another step to casting Bladestorm. Saryn is still probably the most drastic change of an older frame. Even with Limbo, Scott is trying to change without changing as much as he can -- still keeping him as similar as possible. 

The reason is that even if a frame perhaps isn't the most cohesive, synergistic, fits what makes most sense, etc, etc. Once a frame has been around a long time, and has a lot of fans, those people are going to be very resistant to anything truly major in terms of changes. They have become attached to that frame. They have become attached to the feel of that frame and the strategy specific to their playstyle that they have come up with using those very specific abilities. Scott doesn't want to drastically alter frames and ruin people's enjoyment of a concept. 

However, we really don't have an electricity caster frame because Volt is at best a hybrid of one, the way Nezha is a hybrid fire elemental (but half something else, I guess half Rhino? xD). And a lot of us would really like an electricity caster frame that is good performing a role in a squad similar to an Ember. 

But we don't need to ruin people's current enjoyment of Volt to get there. I believe I did mention in the first post I made in the thread that I would be okay with them just making another electricity based frame that is more of a full on damage caster. I think that is also a possibility down the road. That one could even end up being female based on the order, who knows? 

I would accept a new frame that takes on a lightning/speed based role if DE is adamant about drastically changing Volt.

But DE themselves have proven that they're no stranger to "drastic changes," and the ones they've made came with much higher consequences than possibly upsetting all 12 of the Volt mains out there.

Take, for example, the changes to the Void and Prime system; people were very angered by the fact that the Star Chart was changed and made the Void a rather irrelevant location, and conversely, it removed incentive to stay in endless missions because Relics are opened within 5 minutes/waves. It felt like a massive drop to the skill ceiling involved if people want to improve themselves and learn to efficiently work as a team since Prime parts were formerly on the line, and people didn't want to waste the old Void Keys doing 5 waves/minutes.

Take, for example, the Riven Mod system; people are unhappy with this blatant band-aid patch to the game's inherent imbalance regarding weapons. It didn't even improve the disparity between unpopular, weak weapons and the strong, popular weapons as much as they hoped, but it instead just created an even greater difference in power. The Riven mods created an entirely new economy that severely favors like five weapons (I'm looking at you Dread and Tonkor) and leaves most others in the dust.

So, to me, changing a frame drastically seems like a low risk for DE if they're looking to improve the depth and quality of their game ... as opposed to changing a system entirely that affects every player, not just the Volt owners out there. With that said, I wouldn't mind if a frame was released that took on the identity of what I just proposed, but it still stands that Volt himself needs further changes that make him more viable. Whether it means making him a speed-demon or "Darth Sideous," it's a strong consensus among players that Volt's "rework" stands as a joke compared to what DE is capable of.

[Insizer]

• How about you don't get rid of his most useful ability, his shield?
• We don't need another ember.
• These ideas don't seem that good, only flashy
• Volt is mostly fine. All that is needed is to get rid of the damage cap on his ult, lower the cost of his riot shield, and give his Shock a combo-casting capability like Landslide.

[(PSN)WINDMILEYNO]

On 12/28/2016 at 10:34 PM, Rekkou said:

Except that you're not the one who gets to decide what Volt should be. Every developers creators can decide what kind of characters their character should be, if it doesn't suits you, then find other games that suits you. Play battlefront if you like palpatine that much but don't expect him in warframe.

And "nobody loses" is the worst excuse. Game needs limits, balance, and rule. If you like to kick a basketball then do it yourself, but don't expect the official game to change just for you.

It's always the same thing. The nature of his design is to offer limited variety. So of course his abilities will be weaker when compared to many other warframes abilities, of course the abilities will be limited in synergy due to their different function and purpose. People just pointing out the obviously intended balance as flaws to justify what they want.

Then lets get a new lightning frame. If volt is for noobs, limited variety and all, then thats cool. Lets get a new one.

Iv been going to different maps, and one thing iv been noticing is that there seems to be some sick obsession with the idea of electricity from someone on the dev team....but they cant apply it to volt. Iv been trying to gather a collage of photos and videos, but its impossible on mobile.

Now maybe i dont have a point, but i feel volt makes electricity very boring, but then maps are designed (pretty much all orokin or grineer maps) that have electrical effects in them that would work perfectly...

Its the game we are playing, forget drawing inspiration from somewhere else. Have you ever whacked a container of circuits and watched as it slowly fell apart while electricity zapped around inside? Or looked at the broken orokin ball of light and awesomeness? Check out lua spy, some cool stuff there. And the kuva fortress... Thats all cool. So someone had time to code this stuff, but volt just has little streams of light tickling enemies in a silly stun animation...

Yeah, lets get a new one.

[Cyphrus]

On 12/28/2016 at 11:34 PM, Rekkou said:

And it's clear that it's the description that needs to be changed. Like you said, people never actually experience Volt as "alternative to gunplay". So there is actually no proof that this is how Volt should be. People even keep deducting this means he should be a caster while the description itself only says high damage that can refer to anything and alternative to gunplay can still refer to melee. So demanding him to change because "Volt is not the alternative to gunplay" It's just another black sheep for people to demand the Volt they want. 

Sorry but your english confuses me more. Sounds like you're disagreeing, but your point is actually agreeing with me.

If I buy an Xbox One that is advertised to play Halo 5 but when I try to do so it only has the specs to play Halo 2 does that mean even though I bought the product based on the description the company published, that I am in the wrong in believing that I should be able to play Halo 5 on my Xbox One? Or that maybe the company should change its product to fit the description? 

It is to late for DE to change the description, many people coming into Warframe have already bought Volt because they TRUSTED DE and the description they published for Volt. So changing the description will do nothing but upset those of us who already bought or obtained him based on his description. I have another analogy for you, if you tried online dating and started talking to someone and they had all these pics of themselves as this good looking fun individual and you meet them and they aren't at all what they advertised themselves to be do you not have the right to be like "wtf is this?" You never "experienced" this person until you met them so the only proof you have as to what they should be would be their profile, in the case of Warframe we are talking about Volts profile. Your logic is extremely flawed. 

[Rekkou]

1 hour ago, Cyphrus said:

-snip-

If that's me, i will ask them why they lied instead of just being selfishly disappointed and demand selfish change. If on xbox case the lies turned out to be mistakes coming from advertisement department. It's illogical to just demand the whole technical department to change the whole machine to meet the mistaken standard. In online dating case, if the girl turned out to be ugly introvert shy girl who lied just to make friends. I'd still try to get to know the real her and i won't just selfishly judge her and demand her to change because i feel her profile is "better" than the real her.  In Volt's case it's far from lies meant to deceive people, and the truth is better than the lies.

And again there is no evidence that "alternative to gunplay" volt is the "right" or "better" Volt. Nobody ever know how's that going to play, people just assume that will be better, because they are disappointed with Volt they got. You are comparing unfulfilled expectation to reality, of course in your mind anything on your expectation will be better. But no guarantee at all the change will actually pleases those people, what will guarantee is that it will disappointed people who have come to accept Volt for what he really is.

My logic maybe flawed but at least it's not based on selfishness

Edited December 31, 2016 by Rekkou

[ZDoppelganger]

On 30/12/2016 at 4:38 PM, Insizer said:

• How about you don't get rid of his most useful ability, his shield?
• We don't need another ember.
• These ideas don't seem that good, only flashy
• Volt is mostly fine. All that is needed is to get rid of the damage cap on his ult, lower the cost of his riot shield, and give his Shock a combo-casting capability like Landslide.

Sir, you said exactly what he needs!

DE should just remove the dmg cap on his ult!

And if I may say my opinion, change the shield barrier effect, I found it a little bit strange carrying that shield around, I would considered more cool have some sort of glowing effect in front of the frame...

I really hope DE consider some sort of rework or don't know, because from my experience I rarely meet some Volts... 

[Xaxma]

On 12/30/2016 at 10:38 AM, Insizer said:

• How about you don't get rid of his most useful ability, his shield?
• We don't need another ember.
• These ideas don't seem that good, only flashy
• Volt is mostly fine. All that is needed is to get rid of the damage cap on his ult, lower the cost of his riot shield, and give his Shock a combo-casting capability like Landslide.

He won't need the puny shield if he can simply dodge, outrun, and passively evade enemies with my OP's toggle.

He's more like Ember now than from OP. 

But lightning is pretty flashy. 

I like your idea for 1, but I don't think his 3 and 4 should stay; maybe relocated to a different frame.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Xaxma

[Warlord1400]

I really like your suggestions, the only problems I have is no more shield and his 4 is restricted to airborne-cast.

Can you make it so he jumps a little if you cast it on the ground, but it's still stronger the higher you are?

BTW I really really like your Distortion idea, it truly makes his lightning, dashing past people like they're not there.

I don't really mind you taking Electric Shield away for Distortion.

8.5/10 and a +1 from me, pal

[Insizer]

3 hours ago, Xaxma said:

He won't need the puny shield if he can simply dodge, outrun, and passively evade enemies with my OP's toggle.

He's more like Ember now than from OP. 

But lightning is pretty flashy. 

I like your idea for 1, but I don't think his 3 and 4 should stay; maybe relocated to a different frame.

I'm glad that you like the combo-casting idea. Frankly, I think other mage frames with similar firsts (like Ember and Frost) should have similar mechanics. Heck, Wukong would be a great frame to have it as well.

But, with respect to Electric Shield:

• That "puny shield" is actually Volt's best ability and gives him actual utility and more purpose than someone running around the field throwing stuns everywhere.
• It is far from "dinky" once you know how to use it. Even before it had its size increase (which came way before his rework) it was useful and saved my rear many a times, along with those of my teammates. 
• You say that it doesn't fit Volt's theme, but to me it fits perfectly. Not only does it make more sense in terms of his electrical theme than "exciting his molecules to phase through damage" (as someone with a physics degree, the connection between electricity and a simple plasma window is much more clear than exciting materials to phase through other materials on a molecular level), but it fits his gameplay theme as well. Volt is a utility frame and has been for the longest time, it is one of the things that sets him apart from other frames, the fact that he can perform multiple roles with relative effectiveness. Without E.shield you throw Volt into a completely different category and throws out his teamplay.
• A deployable shield is infinitely more helpful on a teamplay level than an individual buff to Evasion and such that only partially mitigates damages for a frame that doesn't have the defensive stats to soak up what isn't mitigated. If Volt had any armor to speak of then he could fully fulfill the role of a "caster-berserker", but he has none, which forces him to keep some distance between him and enemies.
• Distortion will not involve "dodging" in any way, as most enemy fire cannot be dodged because their shots are either hitscan or travel too fast. Distortion will only be Volt gambling whether the shots (that will hit him unless he hides behind cover) will do damage. I don't know about others, but I don't like gambling, especially if it involves the sole thing keeping me alive when things go wrong. It is better to avoid enemy fire in the first place, which is what E.Shield effectively does.
• Distortion being a toggle ability that also requires power strength means that Volt's sole survival ability will require 3 stats to be effective. And it will have a drain that can easily eat through energy pools and prevents Volt from passively regenerating energy, which is bad for a high energy intensive frame like Volt. Even Mesa's shatter shield is better as it doesn't rely on "flipping a coin" for evasion and is a duration ability which means that only duration and power strength are needed (and only a minor increase in power strength is needed) and you can still regen energy while it is active.
• Furthermore, what is with the obsession with climbing walls? There are basically no tilesets that have significant vertical portions, if any at all. What purpose would it serve?

I'm not saying E.shield is perfect but I can't find Distortion being superior to Electric Shield in any significant way other than his capability to copy The Flash. Not only are you getting rid of critical teamplay capability but you replacing it with something that is less effective and prevents Volt from passively regenerating energy. If I were you, I'd be arguing for a better Riot Shield function that doesn't cripple your movement, doesn't have a movement drain, and has a lower cost in general.

Also, I didn't address your ult idea, so here it is: I do think that becoming a lightning bolt would be interesting to say the least. Back when DE was reworking Volt I was arguing for his ult to be a "Super Volt" mode toggle ability which would buff some of his ability stats (especially power strength) and such. I could see the "lightning bolt form" in part being tied into this.

Again, I'm not trying to sound like I'm out to get you, but Volt (Prime) is my main, and has been for the longest time, so I'm highly opinionated and biased on threads which involve suggested changes to him. I also have a bit of a hard time conveying my actual emotions/intentions in text so I hope you can understand if what I'm saying comes out bad.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Insizer
corrected some formating

[Roadle32111]

Also, his description reads "an alternative to gunplay". Why in the hell does the current volt have a shield that buffs gunshots and a stun?

[Insizer]

27 minutes ago, Roadle32111 said:

Also, his description reads "an alternative to gunplay". Why in the hell does the current volt have a shield that buffs gunshots and a stun?

First off, the stun has nothing to do with it. With that out of the way, lets move on to the main point. The reason is because its an old description that he's had since the game basically began (at least that's how I understand it). I've only been around since the start of open Beta, but I can tell you that since then until Volt's rework that his description was a typo. It should have read "buff to gunplay" rather than "alternative to gunplay". But the devs never did anything about this for at least 2 years, and caused a massive amount of confusion with people expecting a long sword but getting a Swiss Army knife. I too fell victim to this, I was expecting a damage caster only to find that he did little damage. Though soon I fell in love with how versatile his kit was.

Frankly, the span of his abilities was/is not the problem. It was just his description. Actually, not even his description, just one stupid word.

On another note. As others have said, the vagueness of Volt's description along with the versatility and breadth of his kit led to many "types" of Volt users, each with their own ideal Volts. This confusion over function led to a lot of disagreement when Volt rework was announced. Some wanted Zeus cosplaying as Emperor Palpatine, some wanted The Flash, some wanted a speed and shield based melee brawler, and some (including myself) wanted a roll of duct tape. I believe this confusion ultimately led to the meh-ish rework Volt received. 

Edited January 2, 2017 by Insizer