Suggestion: Tweak The Warframe Blueprint Acquisition Process

[Winterbraid]

Was kind of unsure where to post it because it kinda belongs in Warframe Feedback but also kinda in Map & Level Feedback so just gonna post it in Gameplay since it seems like the most active forum.

 

So with the recent increase of difficulty of Lech Kril and many other bosses, the revamp of Vor, and the expected revamp of other boss enemies, I have come to two conclusions.

 

- Tough, gimmicky, multi-stage bosses are good because they provide a challenge, break the monotony of the game, and are satisfying to defeat.

 

- However. Tough, gimmicky, multi-stage bosses are also bad because with the current state of the game, you are expected to defeat a boss many, many times - hundreds of times for some people - in order to be able to craft the Warframe armor that is dropped by the boss.

 

A lose-lose scenario? Not necessarily. I've come up with a simple idea that will allow for elaborate, unforgiving, resilient etc. bosses without ruining the life of people who just want to make a new frame.

 

 

 

The idea:

 

1. Remove all the main Warframe blueprints from the Market (sans Vauban, Banshee, and any future non-boss frames) and cause them to drop from the respective boss instead.

 

2. Remove the sets of three Warframe Component blueprints from bosses and make them rare drops from lockers in any mission on the respective planet. (EDIT: Or even drop them from special 'Rare Lockers' that are visually distinct and have a chance to appear in secret rooms/dead end rooms. So you avoid the boredom of opening every single locker and just keep an eye out for the super lockers.)

 

 

 

Example:

 

The Frost Warframe blueprint cannot be purchased for credits anymore. It is now a drop from Lech Kril, with roughly the same probability as he previously had of dropping any of the three Component Blueprints. The Component Blueprints will now rarely drop from lockers on any Ceres mission, with the drop rate calculated to present a comparable time vs. reward ratio to the original Lech Kril farm.

 

Long story short, the boss just drops one thing while the rest drops from the planet's missions.

 

 

 

Benefits:

 

- Doesn't invalidate boss farming because you still need them for the main blueprint. However, you can now make bosses as difficult and time-consuming as you want and people still won't get too frustrated because they only need to get lucky with the drop once, not three times. And players who want challenge can still run the bosses for the challenge, or to help others get the blueprint.

 

- Doesn't have to make warframes easier/faster to get, you just need to adjust the drop rates so it takes roughly as long to get the Components from normal missions as it used to take to get them from the boss. But Warframe crafting is no longer an "endurance run" of just a single mission, where the supposedly ultimate enemy gradually loses all of your respect and becomes a mere annoyance.

 

- Breathes some life into non-boss, non-Defense mission types. Nightmare mode was a step in the right direction but we also need something that will affect and engage all players, not only the ones who want a hardcore challenge. (Could in fact get the best of both worlds, two of the Components drop from normal missions while the third drops from Nightmare missions, and only extremely rarely from normal missions. Extra incentive to run Nightmare while keeping things varied.)

 

- Gives you an opportunity to play your favorite type of mission instead of just boss, boss, boss, boss...

 

- Caters both to rushers and explorers, you rush the bosses (if you want) but explore the normal missions. Currently there is not much point in exploring unless you want non-Rare materials. (Might not be valid anymore with the new drop rates, but the point still stands.) Also gives you a serious incentive to find all those hidden lockers and secret rooms in the levels - could even scale the probability of a Component drop based on the locker location, so it really pays off to hunt for secrets.

 

- Makes sense from the progression point of view. You search the entire planet for parts but go to the final challenge (the boss) for the main thing.

 

- Un-clutters the market somewhat.

 

 

Downsides:

 

- ???

Edited July 14, 2013 by Winterbraid

[Pandaslayer]

Opening every single possible container in the mission? Dont you think it's gonna be a little bit boring?

[Lukap99]

This could work. BUMP +1 vote

[Phaenur]

Opening every single possible container in the mission? Dont you think it's gonna be a little bit boring?

 

Well, DE has definitely been trying to encourage mid-mission exploration and use of the non-Defense maps (see the Grineer Drone Event and Nightmare Mode), so the developer consensus is a fairly resounding "no."  You're free to disagree, of course, but between my own personal preferences and the fact that the game is based around its combat system I'd say that seeing everything and killing everyone on each stage is more of a plus - doubly so when you have the Vampire effect from Nightmare Mode.

 

As for me, I think this is a very solid idea.  Not only does it, as you laid out for us, offer numerous benefits (at least from DE's perspective judging from recent events) but it also follows systems already laid out in-game.  We can see a model for the part drop chance in the Prime gear from Tower missions - reasonable chances at two drops but a very low chance for the third, boosted at least slightly through harder missions.  As much as people rage about not being able to get the LPrime Reciever/RPrime Handle/whatever, I'd imagine quite a few would at least more seriously consider paying into the game to get immediate satisfaction.

 

On top of that, the existence of 'frame parts outside of the boss battles will make the game at least that little bit more accessible to new players in the aftermath of U9.  There have been a lot of threads flying around about how long it takes to get to 'frames new players can use (Earth at the absolute earliest, unless they took the level lock off of Rhino while I wasn't looking) and how hard it is to get components like Orokin Cells (Saturn, now late-game) and Control Modules (Neptune and Europa, even later-game).  This might exacerbate the component problems but at least it'll give players an incentive and make it a bit easier for them to find 'frames they're genuinely interested in because they can stay at the low-level fringes of a map and only go deeper to duck Nightmare Mode missions.  Or if they want the challenge, they can plunge right in!  There's no reason to dictate playstyle here!

 

So yes, this idea has my support.

[Winterbraid]

Opening every single possible container in the mission? Dont you think it's gonna be a little bit boring?

 

Less boring than killing the same dude/chick 100 times. Besides, you'll get tons of ferrite/salvage/whatever at the same time (assuming they haven't broken the drop rates), so it's win/win.

 

Could make it so certain lockers have a higher chance to drop the parts (like the ones in dead end rooms/secret rooms). So you don't have to open the boring containers, just the "off the beaten path" containers.

 

Hell, they could even make it so you can tell before even opening the locker, for example by giving it a visible purple glow. Almost every dungeon crawler out there has tiered chests, I don't get why Warframe doesn't.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Winterbraid

[Rei_Ikari]

Solid idea u have there, gives me a good reason to actually spend time checking out lockers/crates over just running to the boss. Props to u. 

[yatin_117]

I really don't like the idea of having to find warframe bps

[Winterbraid]

I really don't like the idea of having to find warframe bps

 

Well, I like the concept of frame components itself because it's more interesting than just having a single thing to drop with the combined improbability of every part. But dropping them all from just a single source kind of defeats the purpose...