Potential Mastery Rank Reward System

[DiabolusUrsus]

So there's been a lot of talk about getting rewards for achieving higher mastery ranks, aside from unlocking access to new weapons. I'm not super-hyped-up for the advent of such rewards, but it isn't as though I am opposed to them. Rewards are nice.

However, I think that simply getting rewarded with something you could earn otherwise cheapens the merit of the reward. It's no longer 'work your butt off to obtain awesome status symbol x,' it's 'reach this milestone... good, here's some candy.' I don't know about you, but while candy tastes good and nobody really objects to it, it gets drab and boring after a while.

Thus, allow me to suggest a *slightly* lore-oriented, yet most likely impracticable suggestion for a system of Mastery rewards:

Rather than presenting players with some credits, blueprints, mods or weapons that they will eventually grow tired of and stop using, Give players fancier sets of animations, new wall-running maneuvers, and insignificant yet novel bonuses to gameplay.

My reasoning behind this is that Mastery rank implies a level of 'mastery' over Warframes and gear; how comfortable the player character is with utilizing the vast amounts of power at their disposal. As such it would make sense that as a player grows more 'masterful,' they are able to push the limits of what their Warframe is capable of.

For example, the player gets fancier blocking animations as their mastery increases, and at some point starts actually deflecting projectiles back at the enemy for 1 damage or so. Nothing that makes any real impact on gameplay, just something that makes the player feel good. (Of course, in anticipation of a more useful blocking system.) This could be expanded into fancier melee animations, charge attack sequences, etc.

At higher mastery ranks, expand the types of wall-runs the player can execute. Perhaps something that allows them to run diagonally up one wall, onto the adjoining ceiling, and diagonally down the opposite wall. Stuff that is in no way superbly practical, yet at the same time supremely awesome. Perhaps if it is well executed and nicely received, there will be room for expanding the usefulness of such maneuvers.

At the very least, some mastery-exclusive weapon skins for various guns and melee weapons.

I'm pretty tired at the moment, so I'm sure I'm either missing something, or could word my suggestion a bit more skillfully, but the bare bones of the idea are nonetheless there. Criticism and alternative suggestions are always welcome, this is more than a brainstorming thread than anything else. I am just of the opinion that giving players exclusive novelties that cannot be obtained by other means and have no especially significant impact on gameplay will keep them content without creating an exaggerated negative response to the idea that veteranized players have some sort of unfair advantage.

Mind you, I am less on-board with the idea of awarding Warframe/Weapon slots for Mastery ranks. Perhaps one full set TOTAL, (1 Warframe Slote, 2 Weapon slots) at Rank 3 or so. I think Platinum-only purchases like inventory space and color schemes should stay as such. DE already bends over backwards to ensure that even impatient players have reasonable access to new Warframes and weapons through the Foundry. It shouldn't be too much to ask that players throw a little money in their direction for the privilege of keeping all the cool things they get their hands on.

[Kracken]

DE have in plans implementing one 

[Oizen]

How about.

 

Mastery slots.

 

 

Level 2 - 1 free WF slot

Level 3 - 1 free Weapon slot

 

ect.

[DiabolusUrsus]

How about.

 

Mastery slots.

 

 

Level 2 - 1 free WF slot

Level 3 - 1 free Weapon slot

 

ect.

You know, I discussed this... I'm not totally adverse to the idea of free slots with Mastery, but I don't like it all that much either. I think things that are platinum-exclusive should stay platinum exclusive. You're either willing to pay for them or you aren't. The devs need at least a partially reliable source of platinum income from their more frugal players. Most of the people I know only spend platinum on things you can't earn in game through simple investment of time and effort. Not everyone is able to shell out large amounts of money for Warframes and Weapons, either. Anything that makes the paying playerbase wider is good.

Giving out slots with Mastery strikes me as very monotone and boring. It's something that will get old very quickly, and I can guarantee you that players will lose appreciation for exactly what they have been giving and start asking for more very quickly. Whereas giving them something unique, something that can't be obtained otherwise, as well as something interesting will assign a lot more worth to ranking up mastery than simple inventory space expansions.

[Netami]

I know if I didn't buy plat I'd quit the game soon enough exactly because of that... being limited to what is it 2 frames ? That's just ridiculous not to mention weapon slots I cannot imagine how people cope with that... it's absurd to say the least actually there's quite a number of things thats absurd in this game but I'm saving this for a big post of my own. I think SOME slot rewards are in place I mean seriously if someone without paying for anything reaches mastery rank 5 should be rewarded with some extra spots as I find it extremely ridiculous having to sell stuff I leveled. It would be only a decent thing to reward such players for example 1 WF slot and 2 Weapons slots at rank 5 and additional at rank 10 not that easy to obtain but some nice incentive to play and reach higher ranks. Of course that's all just an example whatever the execution doesn't really matter the point is it would be fair to give such rewards as I find the whole idea of cash shop exclusives extremely hideous. Isn't the founder pack exclusives enough already ?

[DiabolusUrsus]

I know if I didn't buy plat I'd quit the game soon enough exactly because of that... being limited to what is it 2 frames ? That's just ridiculous not to mention weapon slots I cannot imagine how people cope with that... it's absurd to say the least actually there's quite a number of things thats absurd in this game but I'm saving this for a big post of my own. I think SOME slot rewards are in place I mean seriously if someone without paying for anything reaches mastery rank 5 should be rewarded with some extra spots as I find it extremely ridiculous having to sell stuff I leveled. It would be only a decent thing to reward such players for example 1 WF slot and 2 Weapons slots at rank 5 and additional at rank 10 not that easy to obtain but some nice incentive to play and reach higher ranks. Of course that's all just an example whatever the execution doesn't really matter the point is it would be fair to give such rewards as I find the whole idea of cash shop exclusives extremely hideous. Isn't the founder pack exclusives enough already ?

 

One set of slots every five mastery ranks is much more reasonable. As I said, I'm not entirely averse to the idea of giving out a few slots. However, Mastery shouldn't be a substitute for buying slots. Which is precisely why I presented a suggestion and requested that people start thinking of other possible rewards, aside from inventory slots, which could be implemented as Mastery rewards instead. Unfortunately, people seem more contented to focus on whether or not slots as rewards are a good idea.

Lastly, the Founder pack exclusives are completely irrelevant here. To begin with, they are a one-time purchase that a relatively select portion of the game community have or chosen to indulge in. I am not one of those people, so needless to say my intent in saying that platinum-exclusive features should remain as such is not so that I can continue to flaunt my money-gotten status symbols. Next, the Founder's packages are not enough in the sense that they provide monetary income to DE. It's not as though the cost of the game is static, something to be worked towards covering. Simply keeping servers up for people to play on costs money, and will continue to do so. The point being that it is foolish to think "They've made a bunch of money already, they can afford to give a bit more to the community.

Don't get me wrong, it is important for developers, especially for Free-to-Play games to give to their respective communities, be it in the form of trivial freebies, feedback consideration or anything else that comes to mind. However, the Warframe community seems to not fully appreciate how much DE actually gives to us. There aren't many games out there where you can truly earn everything aside from aesthetic expansions without monetary investment. Most games have a plethora of cash-only items, and the cooler things that are possible to earn are on the other end of a hopelessly long grinding journey. Warframe features a bit of a grind, yeah, but it's also one of the fastest grinds relative to other games of its type out there. You can actually see a tangible return on your time investment very quickly, and that's something that the developers don't get enough credit for.