Zenurik 1.0+2.0 Idea and Energy Economy Discussion

[(PSN)Croewe]

So Warframe is a game with a diverse set of frames and weapons with many different methods for everything. Many method though requires energy.

Look the community is divided one side says that we don't properly manage our abilities and energy and the other side says the game doesn't have enough energy, which all of this goes back to the issue of Zenurik. From what I can see both sides are right... and wrong. I'll go over this in my thread while trying to be as objective as possible.

 

Let's start this topic by reviewing what can give energy.

1-Energy Orbs- This is the most common source of energy and it has many issues but it solves many things we'll go through what it does and doesn't do correctly.

Pros- Reward for killing, the more enemies you kill the more you get. 

Equal in energy to your unmoddified first ability. 

A great way to use more abilities.

Available in all missions regardless of frame/Loadout.

Can give frames that are channeling abilities energy.

 

Cons- Random drop from enemies so it's not a reliable source of energy.

Need four to use your unmoddified fourth ability which goes back to my previous point.

Outside of endless missions this will only drop a few times meaning ability use is limited.

 

 

2-Frames- There are a few Warframes that can give energy which is a good thing... and a bad thing I'll list the general pros and cons before going into each individual frame.

 

Pros- A more reliable source of energy outside of energy orbs.

Give a pretty decent amount of energy.

 

Cons- Some missions (such as sorties) require some of these frames. 

If you pick a frame only because of the energy regen then you are limiting your squad options.

 

Trinity- The be all end all when it comes to energy and healing. 

 

Pros- The undisputed support frame.

Can fill anyone's energy bar within seconds.

Cons- Promotes ability spam and lazy use of energy economy.

Uses a squad spot.

Cannot give energy to frames that are using channeled abilities.

 

Harrow- The only contestant to Trinity in the support category.

Pros- Requires ability management.

Gives Trinity levels of healing/energy.

 

Cons- Requires kills which is not always possible.

Cannot give as much energy as easily as Trinity.

Cannot give energy to frames channeling abilities.

 

Limbo- Not someone you think of when thinking of energy management. 

Pros- Gives a steady 2 energy a second.

Can heal with an augment which gives some support capability.

Can give near invincibility while regaining energy by pausing enemies or not having enemies in the rift with you.

Can give frames that are channeling powers the 2 energy a second.

 

Cons- Requires you to be in the rift to gain energy.

While in the rift you cannot kill enemies outside of the rift (with various exceptions I'm not going through in this thread).

Well... nobody likes limbo... poor guy.

 

Octavia- The musical frame. Can give allies buffs provided they can skillfully squat and shoot. But everyone just t-bags the ground.

Pros- A steady 1 energy a second buff as long as she uses abilities once every thirty seconds (which will happen more likely than not). 

You can get 30 energy for using 25(or lower depending on your mods). 

Provides great crowd control and utility.

The Cantina song from star wars sounds great on her.

 

Cons- Does not give energy through channeled abilities. 

Does not give as much energy as other frames.

Ear rape music comes from most people who play this game.

 

Nekros/Hydroid/Atlas/Ivara- I'm lumping these two together because they provide the same utility which is energy through more loot.

Pros- Refer to Energy Orb discussion above as well as this.

Can both provide support type skills through various augments(not including Atlas and ivara).

Can provide energy orbs which give energy even through channeled abilities.

 

Cons-Refer to energy orb discussion above as well as this.

Still random chance as to when you get the orbs.

Requires augments to get extra loot/energy (not including nekros and ivara) 

 

 

3-Syndicate procs- If you don't know how these work please check the wiki on what procs give energy and how they work.

 

Pros- At higher levels these can proceed nearly instantly after the cooldown.

Provides a steady source of energy.

 

Cons- Has a ten second cooldown between each proc. 

At lower levels the process takes awhile to build up. 

Limits Loadout.

 

 

4-Void Traps- Triggering a void trap can give you energy. While I list many cons I think it's a start to something more. I'll explain later.

Pros- Free energy.

Works great in no endless missions.

Cons-Only available in void tile set.

One time use. 

Only gives energy to primed frames.

 

 

5-Smeeta kavat- Can refund all energy used for 10 seconds with the charm ability. I only listed this ability to be thorough with making sure every source of energy is listed, so despite what is listed below I feel the smeeta's buff is fine.(There's so much writing :'(  )

Pros- Gives basically unlimited energy for a short time. 

Great for spamming abilities.

Cons- Leads to poor energy economy.

RNG dependent.

Does not regen energy lost through channeling, only the initial cost.

Limits companion Loadout.

 

7-Energy Siphon- This little guy is what many base their arguments around.

Pros- Gives a stable source of energy.

'Can' teach energy management.

Cons-Takes 42 second to give you a single unmoddified first ability or 167 seconds(or 2.7 minutes) for your unmoddified fourth ability.

Energy Restores- These pizzas give energy for every pulse.

Pros- Gives large amounts of energy every 7 seconds.

Cons-Leads to bad energy economy and spamming of abilities.

Takes resources to build.

 

9-Operator-Finally onto the last source of power. We have two ways through the zenurik skill tree.

A) Energy pulse- Passive that gives X(I won't put a hard number here because most people will never hit the max) amount of extra energy per energy orb pickup over the course of X seconds.

Pros-Gives extra energy per energy orb picked up, more energy is good.

Passive ability that is always on.

Cons-Requires MASSIVE investment.

Limits Loadout.

A low amount of energy added on.

Does not give extra energy (not including the orb itself) while channeling abilities.

B) Energizing Dash- Creates an energy bubble for X seconds for regen of X energy for X seconds.

Pros- Gives a high amount of energy for little effort.

Stable reliable source of energy regen.

Cons- Busy work that requires no skill and takes you out of the action.

Requires MASSIVE investment.

Does not give energy through channeled abilities.

 

 

 

 

 

I believe that is every source is energy available in the game and while I did not go into extreme detail about the pros and cons (no one would read that wall of text.) Here's a puppy for getting through that!

 

So now that we have talked about that let's talk about the problems with the current system.

There is always a single way to restore energy outside everything else and that is energy orbs. I think these are... insufficient to say the least. They are rng dependant and not something to balance the energy economy on. So let's fix that while also giving more incentive to move around, be skilled, and fix other systems while also adding into other systems. I'll list things I think could be a potential fix.

 

1) Energy orb unreliability- One thing I think we all have a love and hate relationship with is rng. So lets take the rng out of energy orbs. Every tenth enemy killed will drop am energy orb. This can be higher or lower but it is a good placeholder for the moment.

2) Frames giving too much energy- I personally think it'll balanced with the system in proposing.

3- Skill based combat- Let's give this a whirl. So every weapon in the game has different purposes so let's give energy through skilled gunplay (which is just as big of a focus in Warframe as abilities) we can give energy through skilled play I'll list examples down below(all numbers are subject to change note are they all the things that could grant energy). Also these will not limited to certain gun classes. All guns can get energy from any kind is skill shot and this is not shut off during channeling.

A) Getting 4 headshots kills in a row will grant 50 energy.

B) Killing 5 enemies with a single shot will grant 25 energy.

C) Hitting 30 shots without missing will grant 20 energy.

Things like these will give more diverse gameplay and have more people think about how they'll kill groups or singular enemies. 

4) Give a passive regen. This is the only power based game I can think of that doesn't have built in passive regen for abilities. Let's change that. Every frame has a passive 2.0 energy per second etch is shut off during channeling. This will be enough to give frames extra energy while not breaking how much they're given.

 

 

For now this is all. Please feel free to fix any mistakes I've made and please keep the discussion civil and DON'T focus on zenurik please.