Kill/affinity confirmation popup should be removed entirely

[Witchydragon]

Yes, I am aware of the fact that I can disable damage numbers and not have to see these. However, the existence of it is problematic, and I am arguing that the feature, as a whole, should be removed from the game with no way to enable it.

There is no arguing that the flash of numbers painting your screen blue and while is gratifying and addictive. However, that's exactly the problem. It too easily triggers a pleasurable response for an action game. It reduces enemy kills to number pop ups, and compromises the game's immersion. Instead of seeing you and your buddies mow down a group of badass space clones with machine guns and laser pulses, you see blue and white flashes. Instead of using abilities to nuke a room of baddies because you want to nuke a room of baddies with your badass Evangelion avatar, you press 4 to get that sweet, sweet feeling that comes with knowing you just gained a ton of affinity for your frame or Focus. 

Spoiler

While this is an old gif, it illustrates my point as similar room-wiping skills currently exist.

As much as Warframe is a horde shooter and a video game, it also has a lot of great animation, solid gore and strong atmosphere. While I think it could use a push back towards the gritty, FEAR-esque darkness of 2012frame, the visual direction can stand on it's own without having to be validated by +affinity banners popping up everywhere.

The reason that being able to disable this is not enough is because it has a strong psychological effect on the player. I imagine anyone who doesn't particularly want to experience the raw action will have it enabled, and feeds an addiction to effortless affinity gain. While this is only a small part of the mob-grinding monster PvE has largely become, it directly contributes to the overemphasis of numbers and efficiency, and the disregard for imaginative fun.

Removing it entirely would change the feel of the game. Suddenly the things that cause your brain to release the feel-good chemicals aren't just numbers on a screen, but more advanced, and more personal experiences. While new players largely experience this rush from normal gameplay, many veteran players have become conditioned to love the blue spots instead.

The blue spot rewards players for treating the game as a farming simulator, turning the game into a chore.

It's time for the blue spot to go so Warframe can get back on track. I'm not saying that removing the blue spot will fix everything, but it's necessary to ween people from the grind-as-efficiently-as-possible-regardless-of-fun mindset that pervades the game. 

[(PSN)theelix]

No. 

I'd like to know exactly how many enemies I kill and where they were, thank you. And I like to know exactly where the ones who survived are going, thank you. 

[Tsardova]

21 minutes ago, Witchydragon said:

Yes, I am aware of the fact that I can disable damage numbers and not have to see these.

Soon as I read this, I can't be bothered reading the entire post, sorry.

 

You're given the option to turn it off, a fix to your situation is already present where you don't have to shoehorn your preference down everyone else's throat. You're just overly nitpicking at this point.

[AlphaPHENIX]

I mean...you can always turn your hud off if you want't full immersion. The choice is right there, you are just not making it.

[Witchydragon]

52 minutes ago, Tsardova said:

You're given the option to turn it off, a fix to your situation is already present where you don't have to shoehorn your preference down everyone else's throat. You're just overly nitpicking at this point.

 

29 minutes ago, AlphaPHENIX said:

I mean...you can always turn your hud off if you want't full immersion. The choice is right there, you are just not making it.

The point I am trying to make is not that I do not like the blue spots. The point is that the blue spot is harmful to the game. Damage numbers and the blue spot is as much a design choice as how Hydroid looks, how enemies behave, and how weapons feel. The blue spot is a bad design choice as it drives the grind and reduces the importance of all other objects in missions to the point of being negligible. It goes beyond a comfort setting and becomes a driving force.

1 hour ago, (PS4)theelix said:

I'd like to know exactly how many enemies I kill and where they were, thank you. And I like to know exactly where the ones who survived are going, thank you. 

Why is this necessary? It's possible use the minimap to judge how many enemies have been killed and in what range. Information about where and enemy is headed is also not given away by the blue spot, but it is given away by damage numbers if they are affected by some sort of DoT. However, enemies do not move tactically and their positioning is irrelevant in almost all cases due to the ease at which they can currently be killed. If they ever are an exceptional threat, they will almost certainly be within your line of sight. 

[(PSN)theelix]

7 minutes ago, Witchydragon said:

Why is this necessary? It's possible use the minimap to judge how many enemies have been killed and in what range. Information about where and enemy is headed is also not given away by the blue spot, but it is given away by damage numbers if they are affected by some sort of DoT. However, enemies do not move tactically and their positioning is irrelevant in almost all cases due to the ease at which they can currently be killed. If they ever are an exceptional threat, they will almost certainly be within your line of sight. 

Because the minimap sucks. It requires a mod to be able to tell you where enemies are and on top of that, has less range than a large amount of powers. Being able to tell when the coast is clear by looking for proc damage numbers is far more reliable than anything else, as well as good hit confirmation of enemies through walls. The enemies do move somewhat tactically and when the one enemy that survives a power wipe runs towards the alarm console it's nice to be able to follow the trail of numbers like a trail of blood from a limping, dying enemy like a true hunter. 

It's only ruining YOUR immersion and too pleasurable from YOUR standpoint. It doesn't bring me pleasure to see the affinity numbers, but a tactical advantage.

[Tsardova]

1 minute ago, Witchydragon said:

 

The point I am trying to make is not that I do not like the blue spots. The point is that the blue spot is harmful to the game. Damage numbers and the blue spot is as much a design choice as how Hydroid looks, how enemies behave, and how weapons feel. The blue spot is a bad design choice as it drives the grind and reduces the importance of all other objects in missions to the point of being negligible. It goes beyond a comfort setting and becomes a driving force.

Why is this necessary? It's possible use the minimap to judge how many enemies have been killed and in what range. Information about where and enemy is headed is also not given away by the blue spot, but it is given away by damage numbers if they are affected by some sort of DoT. However, enemies do not move tactically and their positioning is irrelevant in almost all cases due to the ease at which they can currently be killed. If they ever are an exceptional threat, they will almost certainly be within your line of sight. 

How and why is it harmful to the game/ a bad design choice? it doesn't break the game in any sort of way aside from deviating from your own preference.... Your overlong argument about it being a driving force isn't even valid since people often just overlook these numbers and abide to the objectives they set off on regardless in my experience. They don't neglect their objectives, they don't neglect the key resources that they are grinding for along the way on the missions and the numbers doesn't affect majority of the player base so far, otherwise we would've seen an overly abundant complaints in the forums.

We don't see such a case because the option to get these numbers off from your screen in entirety being already there for you to choose.

 

I've just tested turning off the affinity/ damage number in my setting and there's no blue spots that you refer to. Again, it's a design choice yes but you've been given the option have it absent from your experience. YOU HAVE the choice to get what you want, your views doesn't reflect others directly so you have no right to shoehorn your ideals/ preference to a forced design that may end up alienating others' of their own preference.

 

It may not be necessary for you nor does it have to have an impact on you if you had made the decision to remove these numbers via the option. You can keep asking people why the numbers are necessary but by the end of the day they can just as well keep asking why removing the damage/ affinity numbers being necessary as well when it doesn't innately break their experience nor will it if you just turn the option off in settings. 

 

You can keep on listing your reasons as to why you want the the numbers/ display gone permanently but even you yourself noted that there is an option to get what you want so essentially you're just chasing your own tail for inexplicable reason.  Again, there are others who do prefer seeing these numbers pop up, more power to them. YOU have the CHOICE to get what you want without imposing your ideals/ preference on everybody else.