Simulacrum Improvements

[(PSN)Crixus044]

 

Going over some simulacrum videos I had before, I came across an idea that I thought may help improve the simulacrum just a little.

• Remove Level Cap
• Increase Spawn Limit
• Teleportation Pads For Long Distance Tests
• Map Holes
• Specifying Eximus Types

So about the level cap, as much as I agree with everyone that Mastery needs a level of importance, having it limit the level of enemies you can spawn in a sandbox tool just doesn't seem logical. What is the relation? How does gating sandbox levels improve mastery gains? The difference between a level 120 and level 145 enemy in testing is not an incentive to jump from MR 20 to MR 24. Capacity points, MR requirement weapons, and rivens fill this role much better.

Some mechanics in the game just cannot be tested on enemies from the simulacrum, such as recreating the damage of MoT enemies, whose damage is 300% that of the enemies spawned in the simulacrum. Sometimes, we like to push our skills to their limits and given that we have the time to burn, we'll go on an endurance run. Most of the time, we have a goal to reach a certain level. Given this, it would be nice to be able to test mechanics in our sandbox to know how they'll function at these high levels, rather than waiting 5-6 hours to find out. From this, I think removing the level cap really helps improve the importance of the simulacrum while not affecting anything in the real game.

The 20 enemy spawn limit is pretty ok, but I've noticed that there are many instances, especially in PoE were it feels like I'm surrounded by more than 20 enemies. For this, I've like to have a higher spawn limit to be able to test hypotheticals and feel comfortable about the loadouts I'm bringing. Also, when it comes to snipers and melee weapons, combo counters play a huge role. Having 20 enemies available at once doesn't cut it when it comes to building up a combo counter, and this really hurts testing parameters, especially since this is what the simulacrum is there for. Increasing the enemy limit to a higher amount, like 50, would be beneficial for players looking for fun in the sandbox, and testing gameplay that requires sequencing and a certain build-up.

With the rework of snipers, long distance gameplay has made a resurgence, and along with it, Plains of Eidolon has made sniper gameplay a standard for warframe. Int the Simulacrum, there are platforms on the outer bands of the stage that players can stand on to get long distance shots. It's extremely difficult to get to these areas, having to rely on warframes such as Wukong, Titania, or Zephyr, or using extreme parkour skill. The farthest ledge sits at roughly 250m away from the standard enemy spawning grounding. It would be nice to include a teleportation pad, much like the dojo or moon drift mod challenges, to utilize these ledges or other ledges, since they help learn sniper sway, bow and throwing weapon arc, projectile travel time, and power range for long range testing. The Plains of course is the obvious alternative and much simpler, but I figured, if these ledges exist, why not use them?

When it comes to crowd control, sometimes the simulacrum just angers you. You're ragdolling an enemy with your jat kittag, you try to follow up with some ground finishers, but the dude has said sayonara and falls off the map. It's one of those annoying things that make you miss the old simulacrum with the soap bar colored floor, but it did have a solid floor design. Another thing is that you're testing your tanking abilities, and an eximus throws up a fire blast knocking you off the edge. Now when you're teleported back up, your powers are gone, you're standing up like an old man with polio, and you get clipped by a bombard rocket 3 miles away killing you off. Both these issues need fixing. It's taxing on my patience when the sandbox seems a little more like a 3d chess board.

I have been wanting to test how arctic eximus slow effects work on warframes, as well as test how arctic eximus snowglobe health scales, but there's no way to reliably pick out eximus units. It's a gamble for grineer between arctic, arson, or leach. We need a reliable way to pick out which eximus we want to spawn.

These are my ideas for how DE can improve the simulacrum. Some are simple knob turning, while others are mechanical additions, which may take some time. I would like to see these added to the game as it really improves the quality and testability of the game, and gives more incentive to use and grind for the simulacrum sandbox. Let me know what you think.