"Exilus" Utility mods? - Damage 3.0 Idea

[drakegt]

I was disappointed when DE said in the devstream that they weren't thinking about removing the "necessary" damage mods any more. I personally think that mandatory mods shouldn't be a thing, but that's not the point of this thread. 

The point of damage 3.0 should be to encourage variable gameplay. Removing the necessary damage mods wont accomplish that. Ya know what will get used instead? A different damage mod. So much of warframe is about maxing damage, it almost feels like utility mods have no place because damage is almost always greater than utility. For instance, rift strike is a really cool mod, but is it really that useful? Its fun yeah, but is doesn't compare to anything that straight increases dps. But that fun factor should be what damage 3.0 should really strive for. 

So, I got to thinking if there was any system like this in warframe that promoted utility. And there is! Exilus mods! On warframes, exilus mods allow users to add a flare of customization to their warframe by using mods are are usually straight utility. Primed flow and continuity can't be used on them, so those spots can't be used for min/maxing (to an extent). 

What if all weapons had an exilus slot on them, and those utlity mods could be put in them? Mods like thunderbolt, riftstrike, ammo mutations, eagle eye, etc. Now weapons actually benefit from having a utility mod on them and players can fine tune their playstyle even more. And if a player wants more customization, they can still use exilus mods on regular mod slots. 

So what do you guys think? Is this a good direction for weapon modding? Or is there some negative to this system?

[(PSN)theelix]

Exilus mod slots are a bad example, because that's not how they work. With the introduction of Earth's Moon, Lua, and the Seven Halls of Ascension the mod became used for nothing but min-maxing. 

I'm not exactly with the term "utility" in gaming as it betrays the actual meaning of the word, but humor me momentarily. How many Exilus mods do you use, that don't give you a direct boost to your fundamental abilities(like ability usage, survivability, and movement)? Such mods as: Intruder, Thief's Wit, Warm Coat, Shock Absorbers, Retribution, Master Thief, Heavy Impact and Enemy Sense. 

The problem is that "utility" is not the name of this game and so many of said utility mods only have a place in low level missions.

 

With the idea as a whole, however, I do agree. There should be an exilus mod slot of sorts on weapons, because that's where more of said "utility" mods can be used. Ammo mutation mods, variable zoom fine-tuning mods, special effect mods and the like have no place in most weapon builds because damage takes priority so much that you can't make room for said quality of life mods that are arguably more useful than most of the Warframe "utility" mods that I've labeled above. 

 

[taiiat]

Mod Slots dedicated to non Damage Mods doesn't really solve anything, then you're still using 8 Damage Mods.

the only way you can combat that, is for Damage and situational/Utility Mods to actually compete with each other. that means Damage Mods can't be so extreme, and more types of non Damage Mods or atleast situational Mods existing. if you have enough, you'll hit something that is worth opting into for different Players.

if you don't actually force any choices, it's not any different than it is now. instead, the same as now - homogenizing the game - once again - of FURTHER incentivizing using as many Damage Mods as possible, because then you get all of your Damage Mods AND other things at the same time.

[drakegt]

On 1/12/2017 at 4:05 PM, (PS4)theelix said:

Exilus mod slots are a bad example, because that's not how they work. With the introduction of Earth's Moon, Lua, and the Seven Halls of Ascension the mod became used for nothing but min-maxing. 

That's very true.  All of my exilus mods that I use came from Lua. Of course my point was to have an exilus mod slot without any min maxing mods. I'm glad you like the idea! 

On 1/12/2017 at 4:16 PM, taiiat said:

Mod Slots dedicated to non Damage Mods doesn't really solve anything, then you're still using 8 Damage Mods.

the only way you can combat that, is for Damage and situational/Utility Mods to actually compete with each other. that means Damage Mods can't be so extreme, and more types of non Damage Mods or atleast situational Mods existing. if you have enough, you'll hit something that is worth opting into for different Players.

if you don't actually force any choices, it's not any different than it is now. instead, the same as now - homogenizing the game - once again - of FURTHER incentivizing using as many Damage Mods as possible, because then you get all of your Damage Mods AND other things at the same time.

True, this doesn't solve people using mods that do not increase dps. But, because of how the game is setup,  I believe that damage mods will always be chosen of non dps. The only way to do that is to lower how much damage you get out of a mod, which is something Steve has said isn't going to change.

The point isn't to stop people from building damage, it's to encourage people to experiment. If players have a mod slot that cannot be used for dps, they have nothing to lose! 

I think that this will lead to more diverse builds because now a player can make a build around a sniping pistol and there's no fear of min maxing. Is it the best possible design in the world?  No, but without a massive overhaul, this should make a big change with little effort. Damage mods can't be restructured without the entire game needing rebalancing. 

More mods also doesn't solve the problem. While I'm not against more mods, the only one's that will get used are dps based ones. Utility cannot compete with dps, So let's not have them compete.  Rather, let utility mods compete with itself.  Damage already has a lot of competition because there are so many ways to increase dps. 

[taiiat]

11 hours ago, drakegt said:

Utility cannot compete with dps

they absolutely can - but everyone is too afraid of losing their precious Arsenal Stats to allow the game to give anything other than +Damage the capability of being useful.

[drakegt]

On 1/14/2017 at 8:14 PM, taiiat said:

they absolutely can - but everyone is too afraid of losing their precious Arsenal Stats to allow the game to give anything other than +Damage the capability of being useful.

Do you have an example? I really can't think of a utility mod that is better than increasing dps at high level. Low level utility can be useful because damage isn't as important. Whats a mod you would run in a sortie that isn't damage/dps based?

[Omega_DarkPotato]

1 hour ago, drakegt said:

Do you have an example? I really can't think of a utility mod that is better than increasing dps at high level. Low level utility can be useful because damage isn't as important. Whats a mod you would run in a sortie that isn't damage/dps based?

Ice Spring, even though that's for a frame instead of a weapon. I use it on Frost for three reasons:

1. It can severely slow all enemies if I bullet jump nearby them, which is great for CC or in danger

2. It helps my bullet jump velocity and aim glide time, so I can go further, faster.

3. It's Frost. Ice Spring goes great with his theme.

 

and a bonus reason:

You can freeze terrain and make things look weird with frozen objects and ice spikes from where you bullet jump.