Tile Heat and Scaled Thought (A solution to the nullifier problem)

[Danjal777]

Hello all, before anything else, let me define why I am writing this, I put it in a spoiler box for those who aren't interested in the "why' of it.

 

Spoiler

There are generally speaking two types of players in Warframe or some gradient of them both...but generally speaking there are only two playstyles.

1. Skill based play.  These players prefer to move and engage the enemies with whatever they have at their disposal, using the environment, movement, and deft gunplay.  These players often perform far outside of what the developers initially planned for.

2. Rule based play. .These players are more interested in using the game's rules against itself in order to overcome insane obstacles, such as the enemy scaling into the 1000's of levels.

Neither playstyle is wrong.  But the game developers have had to try and counter them both at the same time and we end up with joykilling anti exploiters.  For example: why are there so many knockdowns in this game?  To slow down skill players.  Why are there so many Nullifiers?  To counter rule players. Why are they both thrown in at the same time?  because there is no way to tell them apart.

The problem is that the game throws both at the player in a massive scale at the same time which often undermines the whole purpose of them in the first place.  This is the developers attempt to inject difficulty and challenge into Warframe.  What you end up with instead of a scaling difficulty is a cliff that you either overcome with little issue or you die.  The Trials are a good example of this in practice, if you don't exploit the game mechanics in the LOR, you will lose.

So below are two ideas that hit me as I was playing and I believe they may help remedy this "Nullifier" issue: Tile Heat and Scaled Thought.

Tile Heat- this is a gauge that determines player presence in a given tile and amps up counter measures based on time spent in a tile.  It also determines how little time is spent in tiles and sends in different counter measures to slow them down.  (this is a metaphorical heat not actual fire)

How this works:

The tiles that players are in slowly build up heat when they are present and cool down when they leave.  In a cold room, enemies will more often spawn things like Scorpions and Shockwave Moas.  In a hot room, it will spawn more Nullifiers and Scorches.  What is ridiculous is that currently Nullifiers will often spawn 10 or more in one tile, they are so congested that they only nullify the enjoyment of the game.  A skill based player will scoff at some Nullifiers as they are a few spin attacks away from being decimated..  A group that is working in one tile to string together certain powers to be infinitely effective, however are seriously threatened by just a few Nullifiers.

So essentially this is a way for the developers to actually counter the players fairly without turning the entire tile into Nullifier bubbles and Sapper Osprey bombs.  Or an endless cycle of Scorches and Scorpions pulling you around a tile while being burned alive.  We have all been there and as the enemies scale, you either have them crowd controlled into inaction are are OHKO'ed.  There has to be some middle ground.

Caveats: This would not apply to missions where you are stuck in one tile, like Defense and Interception.

Additional features: Use of the hacking consoles can reduce the heat on a tile, thus adding more functionality to hacking.  Place a cooldown on each terminal and now you even have a use for tiles with multiple terminals.

Scaled Thought- this is the idea that the enemies will change their behavior as they go up in levels performing mode sophisticated tasks at higher levels.

How this works:

Grineer Blunts are a great example of this, they are rarely a threat and enemies seem to have nodes that they consistently place these things.  What would happen if level 40+ Lancers placed them in front of doors to keep you form escaping.  There are countless ways to implement this with different enemies.  Another example is Shield Lancers, what if level 30+ Shield Lancers would place themselves in front of nearby Heavy Gunners or Bombards?  The threat of this pair rises.  What is at level 60+ they formed shield walls in doors and hallways where other Grineer will rally behind.  This creates high threat regions using the same enemies, but different priorities in their AI as their levels increase. 

This could be a tool for the developers to breathe life into lackluster enemy types and provide an actual challenge and difficulty increase within the game as the enemies get stronger.

More examples:

Spoiler

Corpus Crewman L20+ (Firing Line) the Crewman will move to a choke point and call nearby Moas, he takes a knee behind them and increases their rate fire until he is killed. 
Shockwave Moa L25+ (Blast Shields) any time the Shockwave Moa is not moving it reduces blast damage for all allies within 5m. (this includes inside of a Firing Line)
Corpus Crewman L50+ (Turret Lockdown) the Crewman is capable of building turrets (similar to ceiling mounted versions) around doors in an effort to stop players from using these exits.
Corpus  Tech L30+ (Supra Shields) the Tech gains a luminous shield attached to his Supra (see image below) that stops all any incoming fire that hits it.

 

Corpus Tech L60+ (Repulsor) the Tech gains the ability to discharge his Supra Shield in a 5m pulse in front of him, players his by this will be ragdolled.  The shield will reform after 10 secs.
Railgun Moa L35+ (Superconductor) the Moa opens it's core and becomes immobile.  During this period, it's railgun becomes more like an Opticor blast.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2017 by Danjal777

[Syvarin]

I like it.  Though I'd suggest that "hot" rooms should spread their "heat" to nearby rooms as well (at a lower rate) and tiles should gain "heat" faster than usual if a tile next to them is at a higher level. That way the players would need to move a few tiles away in order to reduce the enemy response, and if they only move one tile away the enemies would quickly realize that's where they are now and continue mobilizing a strong response in the new tile.

[Danjal777]

I like that!  

[Danjal777]

@[DE]Steve I know you are busy, but something like this may help your bourbon list.