Understanding The "monster Hunting" Craft

[TheAceOfSkulls]

Technically, I'm going to talk about Gods Eater Burst, a Monster Hunter clone, but you'll get the idea.

 

This is all about the idea of crafting in Warframe and how it could be improved by learning from other games of similar genres.

 

To begin out with, the idea of using platinum for the materials in the store is fine, but it doesn't accomplish one of the objectives of the "hunting" genre Warframe touches on. This is that your progress through missions in never a waste when it comes to working towards crafting items that are then used to help hunt better.

 

Taking a look over at GEB, there are systems involved to make certain that you don't have to return to low levels to get things you need, even if that's for lower level items. As you progressed in that game, you had the option to both use materials that you were currently getting along with large quantities of your money in exchange for those lower level items (or vice versa to allow those older materials just sitting around in your storage to be useful towards items you were currently making), as well as buying a couple of them from the store, though at a cost to you.

 

WF however is different than most other hunting genres in that it has a rather small pool of resources, so even allowing buying of common minerals with credits and allowing an exchange for better resources with this could end up being rather messy.

 

However, I would still advocate looking into something with this system, as the whole idea of this system is that you always feel like you're making progress.

 

Currently, credits are something that just keep amassing and amassing without ever really seeming to stop. On occasion, I'll run through a huge amount of them when I begin crafting, but I never have to worry about them like I have to worry about everything else in the game. To go back to GEB, everything from crafting and upgrading, which I did far more frequently, to picking up or exchanging a couple of minerals could easily wipe out my mission rewards for 2-3 missions at a time.

 

This encouraged me to stick with higher level missions that would continue to challenge me, which required me to use money to stay alive in by maintaining my equipment. It would cost me more time to go back and find "brittle titanium" due to fact that it was only found in lower level areas with smaller rewards than to simply grab "titanium" along with 3 times the reward money (and spend a third of it converting it down, still resulting in double the cash).

 

One key thing of note was that certain materials could never be obtained the "easy" way in GEB (either mission rewards, converting, or buying from the store), so you would be forced to go to where those items were found.

 

I'm not advocating that all minerals be availible for purchase with credits, or that the platinum route shouldn't help save time, but that the credit system as it stands doesn't provide the sort of advancement it should, given that it is always the reward for missions, and thus should signify that by completing the mission you have made some sort of progress.

 

 

The second thing I want to talk about is something that Warframe is so close to yet keeps missing the mark on: building items from bosses.

 

While I still do want to see blueprint drops from boss, one of the things the hunting genre always provides is this ability to create items with some sort of relation to the enemies you face. Basically, if you're hunting a giant dragon, you'll end up with a wing or tail for a blade or its scales for armor.

 

It gives this sense of accomplishment to having hunted the creature for long enough, as well as provides you with a new item.

 

Warframe does this for two enemies, despite the fact that it also has weapons based off of your enemies' and bosses that drop rare items. Noteably, the Stalker is farmed for this exact reason, so it's rather interesting that we don't see more of this around. Vor was also the boss to go to for an early game sword.

 

I'm not advocating it on a huge scale either, such as railguns from Moas or grappling hooks from Scorpions, but with the changes in the bosses coming that have started to give each a distinctive look and fighting style, it couldn't hurt to allow for certain drops from them that would allow you to build item around them. Or perhaps another blueprint from them, built of materials found solely in that planetoid (like the items found in the void that build their bps). These particular materials could be placed in ways to get Tenno to explore the full maps, even the dead ends. Alternatively they could work with the new Nightmare mode to give further incentive to reexplore old nodes.

 

 

Finally, I'd also be interested in seeing something of a main hub for players, beyond the general chat or guild hall.

 

Similar to villages of Monster Hunter or the Fenrir Branch for GEB, you could create instanced zones of interaction for small groups, with their own chat filter. Particularly for planetoids, this might help team matching, as well as give those with smaller guild halls (or no guild at all) ways to see other players outside of missions. Maybe this would allow for specialized crafting, akin to guild weapons, as well in these locations.

 

This is probably the least important of the three options, but might help the community grow. General chat is often crowded, clans are often isolated among themselves, and teams often feel random with no real commitment at times (though I will admit that I like the system screen with a full team, as it looks like an actual mission briefing.

 

 

The reason I'm offering up these suggestions is because I actually dropped off of Warframe (even logging in daily for the rewards) when I got sucked into Gods Eater Burst. I know this game has the potential to grow past a PSP game that stopped updating for the US a long time ago, so I'm hoping you guys can pick up on what worked and make it into your own thing.