Door lockdown. Why is this still a thing? Also XP penalties are not newb-friendly in the least.

[(PSN)Alphonso-Alonso]

NOTE: It appears some fanboys are outright ignoring this detail that's literally in all caps hyperbolically a few lines down but I'm not referring to general alarms or friendship doors (those are fine at racheting up tension) I'm referring to the aspect of the game where the challenge/content/fun comes to a full stop and makes you play a mini game so you can get back to the game you want. 

Additionally here are some great bits of advice from fellow Tenno:

 

-It's realistic, so it's okay if it isn't fun.

-Just don't use 90% of the frames or weapons in this game that you probably started playing in order to try for yourself.

-Git Gud!!!

 

Anyone else got any helpful contributions? Let us know below!

----------

So I took a 8 month break with Warframe, Eidolon and the annual summer gaming drought brought me back into it. I'm having a good time overall, mostly spending it by buying a prime access and power leveling items. So then I go into a mission and-

"THE DOORS HAVE BEEN LOCKED DOWN, TIME TO HACK" The Lotus says...

 

...and immediately I let out a long, dull, spiteful groan until the air in my lungs is spent and I am greeted by the reminder that I have to play an annoying mini-game to get back to the game I actually wanted to play... and I'm gonna have to do it at least 3 times per mission if I want to go guns ablazing.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy stealth, I like bows, Banshee is a beast in sortie stealth missions without completely breaking the game.

But lockdown is by far the worst mechanic I've ever encountered in this game.

NOTE: Let's assume I don't want to waste resources as a bugfix, nor do I want to go out of my way to find a console to hack- but I'll still at least have to do that >_<.

In fact, I'd rank them in the same category as Nullifiers, since Nullifiers basically take a game that hooks you on the promise of power and then immediately takes power away from you to invent artificial difficulty. If you don't use a caster frame and play this game in the way that Nullfiers and "git-gude" players say you should (like any other shooter on the market devoid of creativity) then you can shoot your way around them or knife them, because COD. However if you do use a Caster Frame, LUL, your stacking of buffs is gonna have to be eaten because the game decided you were enjoying it too much. The game pretty much slaps your hand and says "NO- BAD!!! F*** YOU FOR USING ALL OF THESE POWERS WE GAVE YOU!"

Lockdown, on the other hand, affects every Warframe that makes noise- which is going to be the vast majority of new players who don't quite have a handle on the stealth mechanics of this game. Hell, I've played this game for almost 3 years and it wasn't until early last year that I realized how to completely ghost a mission and how much fun that could be. There's no tutorial for that, it's just sort of there waiting for you to figure out the various phases of enemy attentiveness. (1. Unalert, 2. What's that? 0.5 chance they hit the alarm. 3. Searching- okay hit the alarm because it's realistic and that makes for a fun minigame. 4. Okay guess it was nothing- F*** it let's hit the alarm because we love the sound it makes XD) 

Sure, it's petty and trivial to nitpick this one small and AMAZINGLY forgettable detail about the game. But it's when I'm playing other games and wishing that they had to the knee-jerk twitch controls and the mobile reaction that Warframe has that I forget just how game-breaking and infuriating "lockdown" really is. 

It effectively instructs players in a bipolar fashion "Come play Warframe! We're running on walls and shooting things in the head! Look at these stances and how fast you can sword-fight these enemies- holy crap look at that bastard with the fire-sword! How about that chick who literally just shrank and is flying around like a jet- WHOA WHOA WHOA WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING SO FAST?! NO! NOOOOOO!!!! STAHP IT NOW. PLAY THIS MINIGAME AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID! That'll teach you."

Also, has lockdown ever worked for any enemy faction? Does that enhance the fun of the game for anyone who doesn't start their posts with "Actually I am all over any decision the Dev's make because I know them personally and also Trinity should get a nerf as a healing frame she's too good at healing! It's why I broke my own kneecaps because I wasn't using my arms enough!" I mean, why? Is it because people were speedrunning back in 2013 and there was no other way to make them slow down through the few earnest tile-sets Digital Extremes was churning out with the budget they had at the time? Wasn't that a byproduct of there not having a wide enough array of mission types or activities to do so people felt inclined to just speed through content while waiting for more content? People complain that in 2017 Warframe doesn't have anything to do but compared to 2013 this is like a game that's 5 times as big at least.

So there's that. That's annoying. It's antiquated. And not fun. 

Also, this is just a side note but I'm formaing a Frame and took it through a mission only to die at the end of it and actually lose a level I just gained O_o.  

Because that is going to incentivize me to go back to that mission and play it more??????? I'd hate to invoke the name "Draco" but it's shenanigans like that which make people turn to power leveling more than actually leveling in the solar system. They stand to not only level at a pitifully slower pace, but you're actively taking XP away from them while they're following the advice of the threads to "git gude". 

I mean, it's no problem for me. I can go power level! But I'm just saying... When I tried to go to a mission to play 'correctly' I actually was punished and my impression is to never do that again. Ever. Power level on the side, THEN go play normal missions. 

Edited August 12, 2017 by (PS4)El__Lobo_Loco

[Troll_Logic]

6 minutes ago, (PS4)El__Lobo_Loco said:

"THE DOORS HAVE BEEN LOCKED DOWN, TIME TO HACK" The Lotus says...

 

...and immediately I let out a long, dull, spiteful groan until the air in my lungs is spent and I am greeted by the reminder that I have to play an annoying mini-game to get back to the game I actually wanted to play... and I'm gonna have to do it at least 3 times per mission if I want to go guns ablazing.

Well, stop going guns ablazing and stop setting off alarms.

[KirukaChan]

Door lockdowns don't really bother me. I'm not trapped in here with them, they're trapped in here with me.

And sometimes on the Corpus ship tileset, I'll lock the door on purpose, like if I'm about to do a Spy vault and I don't want anyone else going through that door.

[SenorClipClop]

It's a tactic the enemy uses when they realize you're too big a threat to them. Become more efficient and you curb their ability to react to the Tenno threat in this way.

[Ferah_Frithu]

1 hour ago, Troll_Logic said:

Well, stop going guns ablazing and stop setting off alarms.

You honour your name, kind sir.

Seriously though, I agree to some extent with OP. This whole artificial slowdown imposed on us players is just far too ancient of a system to still be part of the game. If at all, it should block the main passages for you, still leaving open some "hidden" ways to get around the blocked doorway (like air vents), instead of having to go through countless of repetitive mini games.

It truly feels like a leftover mechanic.

[Troll_Logic]

7 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

You honour your name, kind sir.

Whatever.  

8 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

Seriously though, I agree to some extent with OP.

If a player doesn't want to set off the alarm, then don't set off the alarm.  It's that simple.  Just pay attention while going through the mission.  What the OP wants to do is run full speed around the map while shooting 100% of the time.  That's fine.  Sometimes doing that will set off an alarm.  To me, that makes sense.  It's logical there are alarms in the game.

If he hates the "minigames" as much as I do, use a cipher.  I have over 2100 of them built and ready for missions.

[Ferah_Frithu]

1 hour ago, Troll_Logic said:

If a player doesn't want to set off the alarm, then don't set off the alarm.  It's that simple.  Just pay attention while going through the mission.  What the OP wants to do is run full speed around the map while shooting 100% of the time.  That's fine.  Sometimes doing that will set off an alarm.  To me, that makes sense.  It's logical there are alarms in the game.

What does the general alarm have to do with the lockdown mechanic? Nobody questions the alarm at all. It's about the lockdown that is randomly imposed on players, whenever RNGesus has chosen a random enemy to go run for the panel and do it. It doesn't even make sense, logically. If I were to think a Warframe attacked me, I'd lock the place down instantaneously and repeatedly, and not whenever I feel like it or whenever I see my comrades getting shred to pieces.

Trying to excuse a cumbersome and outdated mechanic by saying "just craft this and stop complaining" is like trying to mask symptoms, but ignoring the problem altogether. Not helpful.

Also, telling someone to play differently, just because he's seeing a problem with a general game mechanic, is like saying "go play something else then" - Again, not helpful. I don't know why you bother posting.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Ferah_Frithu

[moose2142]

8 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

whenever RNGesus has chosen a random enemy to go run for the panel and do it.

I don't think its too random. It is usually an enemy that has seen you, and if you are watching that enemy wont fire a single shot, just turns and runs. I guess I've instinctively learned to prioritize that target alongside sappers and nullifiers in  threat value. You could also use air support charges, they auto open it up for you.

[Troll_Logic]

12 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

Also, telling someone to play differently, just because he's seeing a problem with a general game mechanic, is like saying "go play something else then" - Again, not helpful. I don't know why you bother posting.

No it isn't.  I'm not saying "go play something else then."  Not even close.  If you want to read "pay attention while you play" as "go play something else then" then you go ahead.  But keep it to yourself because that's not what I said or meant.

 

All a player has to do is pay attention during a game to not set off the alarm 95% of the time.  That's it.

AGAIN, if he doesn't like unlocking the alarm, use a cipher.  Easy fix.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Troll_Logic

[DatDarkOne]

13 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

It's about the lockdown that is randomly imposed on players, whenever RNGesus has chosen a random enemy to go run for the panel and do it.

The Lockdown isn't random at all.  It happens when you do something that breaks the Glass.  It's quite easy and simple to avoid all together.  When you enter a Room that has those Glass Windows don't shoot the windows, explode the canisters, or cause your Synd Weapon to do it's Synd Proc.  The Synd Proc one can be done by just looking at the Synd Proc icon status gauge to see if it will Proc with the next kill.. 

Edited August 11, 2017 by DatDarkOne

[13QZXXTTX]

Q.Q :look at your Post:

:See you take non-Stealth Frame into Spy mission:

You want the PLAINS of EIDOLON?          We all are here waiting you know. (PC going to get it and get hit with all the bugs).

Eh you have other Games to play, keep busy, Thanks for stopping by.

 

Lockdown is what you get with when you are not Welcomed. Like GTA in a way. 

Edited August 11, 2017 by DesFrSpace

[Ferah_Frithu]

1 hour ago, DatDarkOne said:

The Lockdown isn't random at all.  It happens when you do something that breaks the Glass.  It's quite easy and simple to avoid all together.  When you enter a Room that has those Glass Windows don't shoot the windows, explode the canisters, or cause your Synd Weapon to do it's Synd Proc.  The Synd Proc one can be done by just looking at the Synd Proc icon status gauge to see if it will Proc with the next kill.. 

No no, I'm not talking about the air lock thing, which makes a lot of sense. I'm talking about the lockdown which can happen on literally any tileset.

1 hour ago, Troll_Logic said:

No it isn't.  I'm not saying "go play something else then."  Not even close.  If you want to read "pay attention while you play" as "go play something else then" then you go ahead.  But keep it to yourself because that's not what I said or meant.

Excuse me, but you're the one who has literally said "do not play the way you want if you don't want it happen to you", which is synonymous to "don't like it? Play something else." - Don't go the condescending route if you constantly miss the point and talk your way around it.

 

1 hour ago, moose2142 said:

I don't think its too random. It is usually an enemy that has seen you, and if you are watching that enemy wont fire a single shot, just turns and runs. I guess I've instinctively learned to prioritize that target alongside sappers and nullifiers in  threat value. You could also use air support charges, they auto open it up for you.

The issue is, that it also happens with enemis you can't even see, because of "collective alertness", the fact that enemies not having a line of sight with you, still know that you are there, and they know exactly where you are at that point in time. That's why I call it rather random, because I know what kind of enemy to look out for and kill fast. It's just that most of the time you (or rather I) can't see those enemies, as they are still in another room.

[Xzorn]

The Lockdown mechanic used to be punishment when caught because you couldn't turn alarms off.

Now it's more or less busy work because of overly aggressive enemy awareness due to the Focus farming nerfs.

What's funny these days is the less you try to stealth the more effective you'll be in avoiding an alarm.

[Troll_Logic]

1 minute ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

Excuse me, but you're the one who has literally said "do not play the way you want if you don't want it happen to you", which is synonymous to "don't like it? Play something else." - Don't go the condescending route if you constantly miss the point and talk your way around it.

Dude, I'm going to reply one more time then I'm done with you.

We can agree there are different warframes in the game, right?

Those different warframes are conducive to different playing styles right?

After all, Loki is built for stealth, Limbo is built for rift, Rhino is built for power, and so on.

Players have different playing styles as well, yes?

The OP wants to play "power leveling" & "guns ablazing."  Playing that way has a high chance of setting off alarms, he doesn't like alarms, & he doesn't like turning off the alarms.

 

So he has three choices

1)  He can keep playing exactly like he is and just accept it.

2)  He can start to pay a small amount of attention to what he's doing, shoot cameras before being detected, and shoot enemies who are running to set off the alarm.

3)  He can play exactly like he is now and use ciphers to unlock alarms.  I hate the little unlocking mechanism so I have over 2100 ciphers built.  I use them for anything other than a 2 or 3 part corpus puzzle.

 

I haven't said anything close to "go play something else" nor have I been condescending in the least.

Now, I'm done with you and my ignore list is getting a little longer now.

 

[Ferah_Frithu]

You miss the point entirely, again. Seriously, now you must be trolling. But hey, because I think it's important to get the message across, to not have OP misunderstood:

 

Seriously, stop avoiding the subject.

[DatDarkOne]

31 minutes ago, Ferah_Frithu said:

No no, I'm not talking about the air lock thing, which makes a lot of sense. I'm talking about the lockdown which can happen on literally any tileset.

Here's the interesting thing about that.  I've never experienced it or just didn't notice.  Granted I play more solo and only pub in some endless type missions.  

[GrayArchon]

1 hour ago, (PS4)El__Lobo_Loco said:

Is it because people were speedrunning back in 2013 and there was no other way to make them slow down through the few earnest tile-sets Digital Extremes was churning out with the budget they had at the time? Wasn't that a byproduct of there not having a wide enough array of mission types or activities to do so people felt inclined to just speed through content while waiting for more content? People complain that in 2017 Warframe doesn't have anything to do but compared to 2013 this is like a game that's 5 times as big at least.

I mean, people still do speed through rescue/capture/exterminate/any non-endless mission types, and DE still wants them to slow down. I'd say that's why they're still there, like those doors that take two people to open.

Also, I agree with moose2142 regarding just targeting the enemies headed for a panel. I also hate the lockdowns but I've never had an issue with them, since anything that even looks at a panel is dead.

[Misgenesis]

God forbid you have to sometimes stop blazing through missions. Dying has to have some penalty.

[DatDarkOne]

I just went back and reread the original post again.  Thought about it some more and came to one simple conclusion.  Most of the things OP mentioned involve some aspect of using common sense.  I hope that I'm not offending OP with this statement and I could be completely wrong.

The thing with lockdown.  That one just makes sense that the enemies would do this to an invading force.  Actions taken to halt or at least slow them down.

For the ghosting of missions.  The intro lets you chose silent or non-silent weapons from the very start.  Either after or during the tutorial of sneaking and doing a stealth kill.  Common sense would then lead you to believe that you can ghost a mission.  Please note that this isn't taking into account that OP might have started playing before this tutorial was implemented.

Now when you put those two things together, you should start to realize that blazing ahead Leeroy Jenkins style has some consequences.  Consequences that should be considered and be aware of while using this playstyle.  

Troll_Logic actually explained it very well in his post above. 

Again this post is not meant to offend.  Just stating an observation of mine after looking over the whole topic again.  

Edited August 11, 2017 by DatDarkOne

[(PSN)theelix]

TL;DR: Git gud. 

 

I mean, lockdown mechanic = general alarms. They're activated the same way. Enemies aren't in immediate danger, yet close to you and are aware of you they will lock the doors to isolate you, assuming they've been spawned/alive long enough. 

You have the option to... Kill things faster. In almost all the missions I play, if I'm playing fast nothing gets the chance the activate a lockdown. Nothing. I don't play Ember, I just use my Excal with Acrid and Glaive. 

However, the other option is certainly to go even slower. You don't have to stealth an entire mission, but rather just stop them from initiating the first alarm is enough. It's not like alarms are randomly placed or they can activate it from anywhere, it's quite obvious when an (OP Corpus shotgun guy) stops trying to use his (OP) shotgun and run towards this thing at the wall to stare at it even though literal Grim Reapers are standing behind him. 

2 hours ago, (PS4)El__Lobo_Loco said:

Also, this is just a side note but I'm formaing a Frame and took it through a mission only to die at the end of it and actually lose a level I just gained O_o.  

Because that is going to incentivize me to go back to that mission and play it more??????? I'd hate to invoke the name "Draco" but it's shenanigans like that which make people turn to power leveling more than actually leveling in the solar system. They stand to not only level at a pitifully slower pace, but you're actively taking XP away from them while they're following the advice of the threads to "git gude". 

I mean, it's no problem for me. I can go power level! But I'm just saying... When I tried to go to a mission to play 'correctly' I actually was punished and my impression is to never do that again. Ever. Power level on the side, THEN go play normal missions. 

I mean, you were clearly not playing the mission "correctly." 

If you weren't able to take on said content on your unmodded, sub-leveled Warframe you clearly were not meant to be in that mission at that time. It's to dissuade you from trying to speedrun everything on low leveled equipment while encouraging that you use stealth to go through safer and level faster. It's a logical punishment for those who forma and think it's ok to run my T3 Defense as a lump of useless bread who goes down every five seconds when their invincibility grace phase is over, and die when I refuse to revive them for being unprepared. 

 

 

[Lost_Cartographer]

The responses are what I meant in the "daily tribute" thread about people only seeing things from their immediate perspective and whether or not it's a concern for them.

The OP brings up a valid point.  

What good does the lock down mechanic provide to game play?  

It doesn't slow players down in any meaningful way.  The entire map is locked down, no one is catching up to anyone else when they're all locked in their own rooms.  It doesn't ramp up the danger level any - enemies stop spawning in locked rooms.  The only justifiable reason this mechanic exists is to give the player(s) a chance to clear the room they're locked in and maybe catch a breather if they're overwhelmed, except that's not why the AI's doing it in the first place.  They're just doing it to be annoying, really.  It would make more sense if they locked the room, cut off all life support, and warped in some kind of kill team or demanded the player somehow survive a battalion of reinforcements for 2-3 minutes.  Except they don't, they just lock the room.  It's a pointless stumbling block that accomplishes nothing except in sheer coincidence.

It's not that it's a difficult mechanic to deal with or even prevent, but it WILL inevitably keep happening to every single one of us, so the only question that needs answering is "why does this even exist?"  So we can have this topic and give people an opportunity to openly or subtly tell the OP to "git gud?"

Edited August 11, 2017 by Littleman88

[DatDarkOne]

11 minutes ago, Littleman88 said:

so the only question that needs answering is "why does this even exist?"

Do you mean in a gameplay sense, Lore, logical, or some other?  I can think of answers in the first three and possibly the fourth.  I just need a little more context to properly answer this question.  :D

[Lost_Cartographer]

12 minutes ago, DatDarkOne said:

Do you mean in a gameplay sense, Lore, logical, or some other?  I can think of answers in the first three and possibly the fourth.  I just need a little more context to properly answer this question.  :D

Game play sense.  

Lore/logical is irrelevant next to game play.  If we were going on lore/logic we wouldn't have levels behind our enemies, and our weapons wouldn't hit over twice as hard just because we made the bullets serrated. 

Yes, enemies would want to lock down the room the Tenno is in, but you'd think word would get around pretty quick their security systems accomplish jack all, and they'd do more than put them in a little cage without having something trained and equipped to murder Tenno forming up to meet them when they do open, or sucking out all of the oxygen hoping the lizard would suffocate to death.

In good game design practice, you make a mechanic that works and serves a purpose, THEN you fabricate in-universe reasons for why this mechanic is a thing, if that knowledge is relevant at all.  See: enemy levels, or why only the doors between our infiltration point, the objective, and extraction are powered, or how 4 lisets can be parked such that their Warframe receptacles are less than ~6 feet from each other.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Littleman88

[VirtualViolet]

It's not random. Lockdowns occur when an enemy uses a terminal while the alarms are already active or when you blow out a window in a corpus ship. If you act quickly and kill the enemies before they reach the terminals, you can not only prevent lockdowns most of the time, but even prevent the alarms from going off at all.

It's part of the challenge of the game. If you don't like it, there are ciphers which can be built rather cheaply and used in any mission other than sorties or nightmare mode LoR. Alternatively, if you use the Liset as your landing craft, you can also craft and use Air Support charges to have Ordis hack the security for you.

[DatDarkOne]

2 minutes ago, Littleman88 said:

Game play sense.  

OK.  I would have provided the answer myself, but VirtualViolent pretty much did it for me:

3 minutes ago, VirtualViolet said:

It's not random. Lockdowns occur when an enemy uses a terminal while the alarms are already active or when you blow out a window in a corpus ship. If you act quickly and kill the enemies before they reach the terminals, you can not only prevent lockdowns most of the time, but even prevent the alarms from going off at all.

It's part of the challenge of the game.