A list of improvements that could improve the flow and function of Operator mode

[PeggleFrank]

I just finished The War Within and had some ideas for enhancing operator movement, combat, and feel. I think big improvements can be made from small changes with the addition of new animations and changes to existing systems.

 

Quick TL;DR:

1. Operators need more movement options

2. Operator abilities need changes

3. Warframes should be invulnerable during transference

 

Nitpicky ones:

4. Ledge grabbing should occur more

5. Need more transitional animations to support the idle animation

6. Operator voice lines during standard missions need to be redone or scrapped

7. Transference transitions could be shorter

 

I've elaborated all those points below. I think there are other issues with operators to be addressed, but these are some of the core ones. I think operator mode is on the brink of being fun and interesting to use, it just needs to work at its core. If it's fun to use, people will find ways to use it, even if it's not always required or not always the most effective solution to a problem.

 

1. Operator movement is unnatural, slow, and limited. When you play as a warframe, you know your movement skillset: you can run, jump, slide, walljump, bullet jump, roll, bullet glide, and many more things. These things are all very fast and fuel your momentum through missions. As an operator, you can run and jump. Your skillset is limited, and what you do have is slow. Being able to slide or run on walls (similar to parkour 1.0 if you remember that) would be a step in the right direction, but it could go further than that. Warframes have momentum, but operators should at least be agile.

 

2. The operator's abilities have the potential to be useful, but they have issues in their current form. Let's cover each one individually:

 

• Void Beam doesn't reach very far and is very precise, making it difficult to aim. It doesn't help that it drains energy quickly, though operators aren't exactly killing machines, so maybe it's for the best this ability is ill suited for mass murdering enemies.

• Void Blast doesn't have a lot of "oomph" to it. Its animation is almost instant, it deals little damage, and has poor range. If it reached further, was slower to use, and had more force behind it, it'd be a satisfying ability to send enemies flying off their feet. I think it'd feel better too if the sound effect had lower frequencies and the energy blast had more forward motion to it.

• Void Dash is one of the best abilities in my opinion, but has two problems. The first is that your energy reserves are low and replenish slowly enough that you can't cover long distances in a flash of chained teleports. That would be really fun. The second is that when you die, you teleport back to your warframe. I'm glad that your warframe teleports to you if you manually leave transference, but dying and being teleported back to your warframe feels awful. Your warframe should teleport to you no matter what so you're never punished for exploring as your operator. I also think this ability would be easier to aim if it only activated upon releasing spacebar, and had a targeting reticule that shows where you'll teleport to. If you're familiar with the blink power from Dishonored, exactly like that. Pressing a key such as your weapon swap key would cancel the teleport.

• Void Mode just uses too much energy and doesn't last long enough to be useful. In the time you can stay stealthed, you can cross maybe halfway across a room before running out of energy and being detected. The applications of this ability are limited, so it should be less draining on your energy reserves. I also don't like how this ability is tied to Void Dash, because if Void Dash were to only teleport upon releasing spacebar, the energy drain of this ability would encourage you not to hesitate. This ability would also conflict with sliding animations. Perhaps it should be implemented differently, such as a toggled ability on a different key? I also don't like how this ability stops you in place, but I really like its reduced gravity and maybe it could be made even more potent to give this ability some function in jumping long distances.

 

3. Warframes should really be invulnerable while in operator mode, because currently you're discouraged from using operator mode as it just leaves them vulnerable. Some have suggested making the warframes act like specters and fight alongside you. While this would offer interesting gameplay, I think it would clash with the stealth mode of the operator and still wouldn't solve the problem of your warframes taking damage while you're not controlling them.

 

Moving into the more nitpicky things that don't don't define gameplay as much (but are still important!):

 

4. Grabbing ledges doesn't happen often enough. The moment you reach a ledge, you should be able to grab it, even if you're already moving upwards. This would make movement feel a little more natural when jumping up short ledges. If this seems like an odd suggestion, remember that warframes have lots of momentum, and it feels normal for this to not happen because it interrupts your movement. Operators don't have this momentum, so grabbing ledges immediately (assuming you're moving towards them) actually improves their mobility quite a bit.

 

5. The idle animation feels a little unnatural, especially transitioning into it after stopping movement. An animation for stopping after running could go a long way. The animations that play while idling feel fine, it's just you transition from other animations into the default pose with nothing but a simple blend. Additionally, an animation for quickly turning around when running would be nice too. I never knew how agile that type of animation was until I played Grand Theft Auto V and The Witcher 3, where it breathed a lot of life into movement.

 

6. The operator's voice lines during missions aren't very fitting. I think they should be scrapped and redone to be more interesting. Sadly I can't think of anything interesting for them to say. Maybe them talking during missions just isn't a great idea?

 

7. Transitioning into and out of operator mode has a short delay. While this is a reasonable delay, I think acrobatically switching to and fro operator mode to make use of its unique abilities would be more appealing if the transition was shorter. Being able to quickly switch to operator mode, chain teleport across a gap, blast a group of enemies down, and quickly switch back into your warframe to finish them off is a lot of fun, but it feels a little stilted and forced when you become inert while you transition into/out of your operator. Less delay when toggling transference allows for using the power of the operator and the power of the warframe more organically, and encourages players to try and use them both to the best of their ability. I think that's a really great possibility with the operator that's hampered slightly by the length of this delay.

[Kalvorax]

well Operators are getting a "Warrior Mode" come Plains of Eidilon, check the latest devsteams...and focus is getting a full rework to address this new update.

[13QZXXTTX]

I don't like Operator being able to "Thief" around only.

Maybe SPECIFIC to their "Path"(s), but yeah, so DE MIGHT be working Operator to be like sort of "Ninjas" but who knows.

o.o Speaking of "Warrior Mode" like Kalvorax said, it is true. Still DE can PRODUCE many from such few word.

Good Luck to DE!  

[low1991]

20 hours ago, PeggleFrank said:

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In regards to the operator ability suggestion.

Why does operator whom suppose to channel void energy to the frame has weaker and lower energy pool?

As the main source of void energy of the frame, shouldn't they have like 'unlimited'? With the frame being their safety limits?

Give them unlimited energy, and all operator' ability are solved. And i think this will create another lay of game play. Stealth with a loud/tank frame.

[(XBOX)ShadowBlood89]

points 1 an 2 will be changed with tenno warrior mode

3. your suggesting something that would just make players have other members of a squad make themselves into shields to protect or block off a area.

6. DE would need to record more voice lines for the four different voices the operators have.

7. it is short enough, you just not patient enough with the 3 seconds of being able to move around as operator