Nova, Op Or Just Right? The Furture Of Aoe Frames.

[DAWGUNITALPHA]

Nova's good and I think she's balanced. Because she's extremely frail, even with a decent levelled redirection she has lower shields than some frames do by default and she has next to no health if your shields go down. While she can kill swaths of dudes, once she starts taking punishment its easy to go down or you have to take cover to recover because she has no defensive abilities. Pairing her up with someone like rhino or trinity (or both) makes for a very good combo.

[Gaslightingway]

I think the biggest problem is people are assuming that all Warframes fill the same role, which anyone that has been playing for a while will know is false. Nova is amazing since she brings great DPS to high level content and is extremely helpful in clearing large packs of mobs. It seems to me that some players may not understand that the Warframes are set into 3 different categories: Tank, DPS, and Support. Because of this, a Rhino, which is a tank, will not out DPS a DPS specific Warframe like Nova, at least it would make sense. The reason the "Nova is OP" issue comes up is because all the other DPS, or at least AOE DPS, Warframes have been nerfed into the ground and aren't all that special anymore due to the inability to truly hold their weight, or the people I have seen playing them are garbage. Nova is powerful, as a DPS Warframe should be, but is incredibly squishy compared to a lot of other Warframes which, in my opinion, offsets the amount of DPS it puts out. If a Nova is attempting to tank and run into the middle of mob packs like an action hero, that player is playing it completely wrong and it will get destroyed. When you have Rhino being a top DPS Warframe even though its a tank, something is very wrong. If the devs actually decided to balance out the Warframes so they fit more into their specialized roles, it would be a lot more apparent that most of the hate on frames like Nova is people making a mountain out of a molehill.

And to answer OP's questions:

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?
I believe Nova is where all the other AOE Warframes need to be. It is meant to be a DPS frame so it should out perform all the other non DPS frames.

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

All AOE Warframes buffed up to the same level as Nova. Most of the Warframes can be used as DPS even though they are not designed to. I would definitely say Rhino Stomp's effect needs to last longer, but the damage is a little much for a Tank, Vauban's Vortex needs a hefty damage reduction with a boost to range and length, Banshee needs a massive buff all the way around, but mainly a boost to Sonar so the weak spots are easier to see, Frost's Avalanche needs damage reduction with boost to range as well as change the mechanic to any enemies not killed by the power should be frozen for several seconds giving it more CC capability. Finally, I might be wrong, but I believe Nova's Molecular Prime is bugged and the mechanic needs to be adjusted. Nova gets credit for the kills, but not the damage if Nova doesn't cause the chain reaction. This should be changed to whoever sets off the chain reaction should get the kill and damage credit.

[Yefrign]

Shes a great frame for defense, no questioning it. 

 

to say she's op? I dont think so. in normal missions she's not quite as "effective" Antimatter Drop is slow and can be difficult to aim at times, and you are required to shoot at it with your available weapons for it to deal good damage.

 

Molecular Prime is what gotten people to scream "SHE NEEDS A NERF"

 

its by far one of the best defense abilities. but unless you are getting swarmed in a normal mission shes not as effective as she could be.

 

not to mention she is really squishy (everyone seems to forget that)

 

 

so to answer;

 

1) GREAT for defense, average to ok in normal missions

 

2) for some frames like Volt I'd probably say damage, but honestly I still prefer some ult's over Nova, Rhino Stomp for one....

 

3) I'd probably say Nyx... she would MC the people we come to contact in and we would have a free meal and free tickets! =P

Edited July 21, 2013 by Fartbake

[Steemship]

I've asked the question before and it pertains to this (and is directed at DE, but the principle can be seen by all)

What is going to be the ceiling for Warframes and their abilities?

[Jezches]

1. OP compared to some frames, about as good as others. In general, just right.

2. None. All frames are deadly if you know how to use them.

3. Saryn. With nova, if you touch her, matter + antimatter= bad.

volt?

[TunaMayo]

volt?

 

Electric Shield. It's Roar but more effective against corpus and you don't get shot. If you have a good gun, makes you lethal and better than any ultimate on high level enemies (not really against infested).

 

Speed. With max rush you aren't going to get shot unless you run headlong into people. Also if you like melee, whack on fang and use speed it's jokes.

 

Shock and Overload still need more tweaking but electric shield is enough to make volt worth using, IF you have good weapons and can aim.

[LazyKnight]

Nova isn't OP. Saryn, Ember, Frost, Vauban, and Banshee all can get ridiculous amounts of kills with their skills just like Nova does.

Exactly what difference does it make if people would just use a Banshee or Saryn to do the same thing? Anyway I do not care if Nova hits crazy number Saryn nukes everything anyway so I fail to have an outrage at the new frame hitting for insane numbers. I'll try mine in a few days when it done but it didn't seem THAT op when I was in a few parties with one.

[KaoKill123]

now i have a question...

what is the ranking of warframe with max redirection/vitaility for survival?

shield+health+ability w/o weapon included against a squad of enemies firing at you.

[AnonCat]

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

I think she is a wonderful combination of utility and dmg. Pairs well with Saryn, MP+Miasma=delicious face melting.

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

To tired to give it serious thought. The DE devs are payed to do this.

3. If you'd go out for dinner and a movie with any warframe which would it be?

Definitely Mag. She's bi-polar and adorable. I like crazy and cute. :3

[Doozy84]

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

 

I'm liking her a lot, but I feel like its kind of overkill for her ulti to grant a damage buff in addition to bombing the whole room. If anything pushes Nova over the edge, its that the damage buff makes her life a little too easy. She's easily a grakata or a dual viper crit queen like Banshee.

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

First things first, all the frames need to stop having rooted animations. That is horrible and it needs to stop. You shouldn't have to stop walking to cast anything. Ember has some problems with her WOF ticks and the limit on the number of enemies that can be ticking simultaneously, it may have made sense when she was released but now its just an asinine limit compared to what the other AOE frames can do. Saryn's abilities also need bug fixes due to her incredibly clumsy enemy tracking and 'in the air' bugs on her abilities, but aside from that she's pretty much golden. I don't see Saryn getting shelved for any of the other AOE frames for a long time, if you want something dead, Miasma is still at the top of the class, and unless you're an Overheat queen with the correct mods equipped on Ember, Saryn is the toughest too. If anything, contagion needs work. The other AOE frames don't actually need much balancing. Maybe some damage tweaking on Ember to catch up with how the enemies scale, but mostly they just need bug fixes.

And I play Ember, Saryn, and now Nova, and I've potatoed and formed them all, so I've seen pretty much the best of what each of them can do. The only other problem is that Ember is greedy, and she wants more rare cards to get her where she needs to be than Saryn and Nova do, they're more efficient.


3. If you'd go out for dinner and a movie with any warframe which would it be? (optional to answer. lol)

All of the ladies are beautiful in their own way, but I have to go with Ember, because she would want barbecue, and barbecue is win.

[Doozy84]

now i have a question...

what is the ranking of warframe with max redirection/vitaility for survival?

shield+health+ability w/o weapon included against a squad of enemies firing at you.

In general, or for the AOE girls?

For the AOE girls its Ember and Saryn leading the pack.

Ember gets up to 90% damage reduction with fully modded overheat, which basically means her shields and HP are pointless. She's actually the toughest frame in the game after Rhino skinning and Trinity leeching.

Saryn has the most HP and armor of the AOE girls, but her real survivability is in Molt, which will keep her from getting shot in the first place.

[KaoKill123]

In general, or for the AOE girls?

For the AOE girls its Ember and Saryn leading the pack.

Ember gets up to 90% damage reduction with fully modded overheat, which basically means her shields and HP are pointless. She's actually the toughest frame in the game after Rhino skinning and Trinity leeching.

Saryn has the most HP and armor of the AOE girls, but her real survivability is in Molt, which will keep her from getting shot in the first place.

i mean for all of the warframes.

from top to bottom the survival rate of them, with maxed skill+maxed redirection+maxed vitality-all weapons+ environment advantages

 

sry for the off-topic, someone says nova is squishy. unless someone list the survival rate of all warframe in PvE excluding stalker, i say loki is the weakest.

Edited July 22, 2013 by KaoKill123

[AlvaroXDM]

Before i laid down a single word about nova.....i just wanna say...

This is NOT a troll thread about nova.

I'm not advocating a Nova nerf...

This is just an exercise i'd like to share with the community, about nova and her current state of power, what this means for other AOE frames...and what changes, if any...could be conceivable in the future.

Now for my opinion of the frame....and this is just my opinion.....

I've been hearing alot of noise about Nova being very OP, and personally i was on the fence about it.

So recently i participated in a Tier 3 defense void and watched some one else use Nova that was very skilled with it, fully leveled mods, and had a orikin reactor installed, the works.

Thought it would be a good measurement to see if all the OP talk of Nova had any merit.

We won the mission, and not to brag but i'm used to being the top scoring killer in all my missions. This time wasn't the case. Here was the kill difference between, my fully leveled and modded Rhino(Yay rhino <3) and the Nova.

My Kills...... 316

Nova kills.... 380

Bravo Nova, bravo. You're a truly capable frame, but OP?? In my opinion.....no (waits for the community rage to come crashing down).... lol

I think it's a very good frame, and at this moment the strongest AOE frame thus far (Remember, just my opinion, i wanna stress that! lol)

....but if thats the case...what does this mean for the others?? Frames like Ember, Frost, Saryn, and others that have AOE like powers? Let chat about it, i'm interested in listening. How about we ask.....

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

3. If you'd go out for dinner and a movie with any warframe which would it be? (optional to answer. lol)

And just throw in any thoughts you got on this topic, hope to hear from you all soon. ^_^

 

Well, I think that each AoE frame should have it's advantages and disadvantages.

Let's take for instance Ember - her moving AoE was a distinct mechanic from Saryn's AoE. Both worked nice, and had their good and bad things: Saryn is almost an insta-kill, since it ignores armor, making it good against all factions. Yet, on a non-defense mision, it is extremely situational. When to cast it, when to save it. Ember's AoE mainly hits infested, other factions may die too, but it's not that brutal damage - yet, it lasts for a while AND moves with her, making it kinda balanced for both.

Nova's ulti has 3 main points: 1) doubles damage - I think this alone wouldn't be enough for an ulti, even though it's a really nice effect. 2) the explosion - this explosion is brutal, extreme range AND DPS, this is the OP part, if you take out the double damage, and leave only the explosions, it would be in the "level" of Saryn's and Ember's ultimates. Yet, the explosions benefit from the x2 damage...another OP trait. 3) Range...it's range is brutal, Saryn and Ember can't compete against that range.

So, all in all - it feels, at least for me - quite OP.

 

How I'd like it to be? To preserve the multi-use of Nova, let Nova deal high DPS blasts on long range, of normal damage, so no damage multiplayers are used.

Make Saryn deal armor piercing damage (Making it Grineer efficient) Volt use electric damage (Corpus) Ember deal fire damage (Infested) - and that way, you have a "good against all factions" AoE frame, and best against a certain faction frame. All of them could be strong in their own way without one being OP over the other :).

[Lers]

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

 

I like it. She can blow hordes into oblivion, while being rather squishy, with almost no crowd control abilities. The single best thing i like about her is the requirement for additional input from the player to achieve the big numbers. Most of the other frames only need to push a single button, which mostly locks down the mobs in the area before blowing them to smithereens. Nova on the other hand is quite vulnerable both during Antimatter Drop and M.Prime, and both needs at least a few seconds to set up or trigger.

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

 

Not sure about this one. Mag needs to make up her mind about Crush being a damage or utlity ability. Ember is fine with all that tankiness. Rhino is like Mag, only torn between the tank/utlity and tank/damage roles. Volt needs a lot of tweeking on both 1 and 4 (or just straight up damage). Saryn is in a good place i guess.

3. If you'd go out for dinner and a movie with any warframe which would it be?

 

Nova for sure. I like the contrast between her leg warmers and explosive personality.

[NexionSE]

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

1) well nova in a group with low dmg will not be as good unless you have a very good weapon loaded also. anti-mater drop very nice skill and all but on a laggy game near impossible to use, wormhole a big like, nullstar nice but reminds me of a weaker WoF from ember but still nice and all,

and the ulti well very good aoe but saryn and ember still works as good and in combo with them is over kill on all points.

 

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

2) well more then 1-2 more targets on WoF there isnt realy much to add maybe change saryns ulti to put down a gas area after use instead of applying to just all targets hit. and id like that mags ulti did more dmg the more armor a target have

and as someone mentioned frost ulti also froze target after hit for a few secs for more cc if not killed. i dont realy like all frames to behave the same. that would remove the reason to have more then one

Edited July 22, 2013 by NexionSE

[KaoKill123]

 i dont realy like all frames to behave the same. that would remove the reason to have more then one

which is why there are currently 14 kinds of warframe.

 

off-topic: can a nullstar trigger off the chainreaction from m prime?

[Misgenesis]

Maybe not OP but better than other frames?

I was in Xini wave 30, this Rank 10 Nova killed everything, rendering me as Saryn pretty useless.

We just sat back and watched the immense pink lights that occured.

[Yuripaff]

Nova is super fun and should stay as she is. She is not OP!!!

On a mission solo higher level she can be weak and die with ease at times. Lower levels yes she does own but so do a lot of other frames.

[wfrawn]

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

 

Let me get this straight: Nova is not OP, but is more powerful than other frames?

In livechat it has been revealed that DE follows the game design philosophy that when in the cause of testing a stat needs to be changed, make it a big change so that the effect of the change is obvious.

Warframe is being tested, as it is in beta. And the current Nova is basically an alpha release (1st itteration). So in all likelyhood Nova's powers will be changed, and then probably not be made more powerful.

 

[Helljack84]

1. She's a great example of how scaling powers can work.

AD will almost never disappoint you, shoot it with a braton and it'll kill those lvl 3 grineer, let your squad go nuts on it with snipetrons and it'll still kill anything. 

MP would still be useful even without doing any damage at all because of the increased vulnerability.

 

2. Side effects like the one on MP are great, freezing, stunning, slowing, hampering baddies in any way is a great plus, even when you can't kill everything in sight with one button.

 

3. Ember of course, because she's incredibly hawt!

[Winterbraid]

1. How do you feel about Nova's power potential as of now?

 

Just right. Nukes everything about same as or better than Saryn, but has paper tank and her power actually requires some user input and is also much more hilarious to watch. Suddenly Defense is fun again instead of just sitting behind Bastille poking away at 99% res mobs.

 

2. What kind of buffs would you like to see other frames get to match powers like Nova?

 

First of all, not every frame has to or should have the same potential as Nova. In a game with a class system, some classes HAVE to be better at killing than others, otherwise there's no point in having a class system.

 

Second, the designated "casters" (Ember, Volt, Mag) need a change to their Ultimates so that they aren't completely overshadowed by Saryn, Rhino and Nova on higher levels. Either allow their damage to bypass armor, or (better solution) rethink the whole enemy armor system so that factional elemental weaknesses (Fire vs. Infested, Electric vs. Corpus) remain actual weaknesses, instead of everything boiling down to armor piercing damage.

 

Third, not everyone's Ult needs to be an AoE nuke. Nova and Saryn are the AoE mass destruction queens? Keep them that way, but give the other frames something unique that can make them better against smaller groups. For example...

 

Mag: A single, dead-precise, infinitely puncturing, aimed shot that deals the combined damage that Miasma could deal to an entire room. She's supposed to be the "one vs. one" frame, after all. Takes a while to cast, during which time you can aim but you cannot move and are not invincible.

 

Ember: Similar to above, but instead she fires a continuous, extremely powerful flamethrower that can be aimed. You can aim and move (albeit slowly) while casting, but are not invincible - enemies affected are stunned though.

 

Volt: ??? Somehow I feel like Antimatter Drop should be his ability instead of Nova - a controllable, slow-moving thunderbolt that can be "charged up" with friendly fire.

 

3. If you'd go out for dinner and a movie with any warframe which would it be?

 

Saryn. She's my first and only love in this game.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Winterbraid

[dave021]

I think Nova is fine, I have 6 warframes and I really love the glass canon mechanics she have. My main is Saryn and I can do alot more with her but Nova is also good.

 

I think people say she is OP because of the Vauban-Nova combo right now.

People were also crying about Nyx back then saying her CC was too strong.

They also did with Saryn and her Miasma ability.

 

A glass canon is fine, please DE dont make her more solid, thats the whole point.

[merryfistmas]

1.A dps a frame that is useful late game, that's just perfect.

 

2. Powers that can be stronger based on how you use them (i.e. antimatter drop).

 

3. Ember of course.

[TunaMayo]

PLEASE CHANGE THE TITLE!!!!

 

This misspelling of future is driving me nuts!

[Lakhesys]

1) OP, very OP

2) Mag should get a buff/rework. In general, put all frames on the same lvl

3) Saryn