|| Z e p h y r || - Warframe's gateway into a new generation of combat through synergy

[skRose]

G'day to everyone's beloved DE team and fellow Tenno ~!

My wish to the stars that you all get a little bit of a break this weekend after shipping such a massive update!
Anyhow, past the unhealthy amount of salt and chaotic feedback from other members - I hope my feedback will help alleviate some stress from this discourse.

Below is an account from my personal experience through testing, as well as suggestions assist in fine tuning the most recent introduced mechanics.
It is in my hope for this response to be well received and taken in for consideration.
Please do take your time in reading, and thank you for your time.

I will be updating this post with in regards to the other frames who've been shipped in the recent update when I get time.
To those at DE who would wish to contact me to discuss in further detail, do feel free to send me a message at your leisure. I will do my best to respond promptly and with clarity.
Also do understand, to those others reading on that I will go in structured depth and detail which each frame I go over.

(Can't wait to break down Ember/Chroma for the lot of you )

Edit: I've originally composed this post on the Update 22.12.0. on page 7 however, as per suggestion from @RikerWatts I'm making this a separate thread.

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[Personal comments in bracketed format on updates below]

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Zephyr Changes and Fixes:
As mentioned in Update 22.12.0, we prefaced Zephyr’s new Air Burst ability with a note that it may be tweaked after feedback - and here we are! To retain her aerodynamic synergy, we’ve tweaked the following:

• Energy cost of Zephyr’s Air Burst is now halved while in air. [ Much appreciated. This won't be as much of an issue with her 4th ability without an augment anymore - however with is still an issue. The condition applicable while air born does help strengthen her identity in the way she is meant to function, so +1 in that regard.]
• Increased the speed of Zephyr’s Air Burst projectile. [<- This is welcomed, however a further increase is encouraged. This is the wind we're talking about here. Pressurized wind.]
• Increased the speed of Zephyr’s Tornado tracking to move quicker to your aim point. 
• Removed Zephyr’s Turbulence loop sound and lowered hover loop volume.
• Fixed a crash when killing a Volatile Runner (or enemy that exploded on death) trapped inside Zephyr's Tornado by shooting the Tornado.
• Fixed Zephyr’s Air Burst not increasing the size of your Tornado as a Client.

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| |  Z e p h y r  | |

She's been taken in the right direction. I'm absolutely enthralled in using her as a caster, personally! Certainly much more elegant in design in terms of skill interaction in addition to a more interactive experience with regards to synergistic team play. To me, the concept of Zephyr leads me to believe in a frame that is free in movement and is one to lull the battlefield into a methodical madness to her favour. She is as trade winds are; so undeniable and full of resolve. 

A foreword to those in charge of Zephyr's management, please establish her identity and her purpose as neither are truly distinguished to the general player base as to how she is to serve a team or coordinate through standard gameplay. She can serve as an incredible caster, though arguably she could be intended as a pseudo tank/support. However it is in my opinion, that Zephyr deserves to have a gameplay experience that is both liberating and free in feeling at the very least. [Please allow me the pleasure of presenting a solution for it all through the following.]

[ ..but that 15 armor :') .. pseudo - "tank" ].

**(A model + alter. helm update for her if this can find a way into the schedule would be wonderful. The art/model/design team has improved & grown since her release. Please consider blessing her with the full treatment in her rework not just mechanics, but baseline aesthetics as well.)
**(As a synergistic caster frame, please consider raising her current max energy pool to a fair 200 at level 30, thank you.)
*(There's also currently a bug that doesn't let you switch to operator form while flying in Tail Wind for a while.)

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[~ If you've ever poked your head out of a car window running at 140km/hr [87*mph], or have experienced the thrill of an extremely steep running roller coaster drop - you'll understand the feeling of having so much air pushed down your throat & lungs accompanied by the resulting difficulty in being able to breathe through it. In that, I would like you to keep that feeling close to your heart as you read on. ~]

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Zephyr's Ability Breakdown/Feedback  

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1. || Tail Wind || - The hovering is an extremely attractive feature, in my opinion. The ability itself past that feels clunky as most have already voiced out (from action to action. The animations are quite polished and well done.). Allow me to explain. The charge mechanic (& the new charge wheel looks great by the way), while it leaves the impression of dynamic take off, moves her up to a static position where she then hovers.
   Her options now are: a) Tail wind the heck somewhere else - or b) stay hovering for the remainder of the duration.
   
   If choice a) The player is catapulted into the direction of their choosing.
   If choice b) C'est la vie.
   
   Tail wind in design has beautiful potential, however the current shipment of said skill leaves one feeling extremely out of control in regards to her movement due to the lack of player control from point a -> hover -> point b -> panic jump -> point c. 
   Or something along those lines.
   Even her current passive sort of leaves her stranded mid-air while she floats her way down, and certainly does no good to the lack of control one feels when piloting her. It does leave much to be desired.
   
   Zephyr should be able to move through the battlefield with grace regardless of whether it is an open or closed space. She should dance among the corpses of her enemies and make it look as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Much like petrichor, a refreshing and breathtaking ode to dwell in its' wonder.
   As I mentioned before, the hovering I find is extremely attractive. If the team could find a way to incorporate the idea of this concept into her design, it would do her some justice. Maybe allow her for more free movement in hovering?
   
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   That aside, her augment for this ability is rewarding - however, it has proven difficult to utilize well due to the lack of control in the aforementioned. 
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   Proposition for ability change + passive addition: **Allow Zephyr to double jump/bullet jump out of her 'hover' state. [Please adjust the animation accordingly to better suit a more fast paced toggle play style in activating and deactivating said state of floatiness] 
   
   * Tie that 'hover' portion as an after effect for maybe 5 seconds after the instance her guard/aiming down sights by the player is released whilst midair(affected by aim glide/wall latch mods) which will allow her to sustain her Tail Wind augment much better. --- From a game play standpoint this would create a situation where the player would just have to tap the RMB (alt fire) to trigger it. To opt out of hover, simply jump/bullet jump/Tail Wind nose dive/crouch/roll out of it. To illustrate, imagine a wall latch mid air, but with a floating animation and code that places her current state as in the air yet still allows for her to perform parkour movements in practicality such as double/bullet jumping/aim gliding from her suspended state. (<-- this is important. Keep this in mind.)
   [As implied, this grants her freedom in movement as she may bullet jump in between 'hover' states. To what length? As much as players wish to do so. Do not put a limitation on this.]
   
   * If you could code it in so that when she nosedives while holding her guard/aiming down sights it would allow her to trigger her 'hover' state should she reach 1m (Adjust the trigger distance for a little extra allowance as there may be issues with regards to clipping, latency, etc.) from the ground. This will allow her to benefit fairly from her Tail Wind augment Target Fixation. In addition, a very rewarding opportunity is created should the player have the skill to sustain the damage accumulation from said augment as the current preservation of the augment benefits is neigh impossible to maintain. To that end, this proves also beneficial as it gives the user player choice in exactly how they wish to utilize these benefits and further advocates against the lack of control that users currently suffer while playing as Zephyr.
   
   * If possible nest this coding under aim glide/wall latch in addition to whichever code ties a Warframe's condition as not standing on the ground so that Zephyr may benefit from the Aviator mod fairly while in 'hover'. (side note: please do the same for poor Titania in her Razorwing mode as well || Add a visual indicator that lets the player know the mod is currently in effect, thank you.)
   
   * I suggest keeping her 'hover' state as a feature in her Tail Wind ability - with her being able to enter her 'hover' state mid-animation of Tail Wind under the condition that she begins the charge while holding down the RMB (alt fire) and will activate on the alt fire's release. This will allow the player to freely choose how far they'd like to reach before suspending themselves up in the air.
   
   *Projectiles shot (not hit-scan) from her charged 'hover' state suspended through Tail Wind gain bonus damage based on the time spent charging. This provides players with an incentive to not only spend time charging Tail Wind, but also a reason to stay in the suspended state.
   
   * Keep her passive as is with 'hover' mechanic as an additional feature. 
   
   * Remove the animation lock
   
   * Add a visual indicator for her nose dive.
   
   * For Tail Wind, a wonderful addition for Zephyr would be to further inherit the benefits from bullet jump mods in increasing Tail Wind's damage, distance, and elemental type which would also highlight as well as encourage more usage in her 'hover' state
   
   * For the charge mechanic of Tail Wind, tie in an incremental increase in range with a up to a 3 times damage bonus increase - if done while in her 'hover' state, it will proc a cold effect on a nose dive only to enemies in the affected area as well an [insert base damage multiplier value here]. If done with her Tail Wind augment Target Fixation while charging from her 'hover' state, a charged Tail Wind upwards (extra brownie points if an fx is added akin to a smokey energy trail) which will then pull enemies towards the center point of the launch to combo enemies for a hard hitting nose dive as an ode to the old nose dive augment - this would be befitting in name to her Target Fixation augment as well (explained in the following). This will reward players who've skillfully collected that damage increase from her augment and will reward them should they choose to give up the accumulated damage on landing in a nose dive fashion. I would also like to add on withholding any energy tax on charging as a player placing themselves in a static position is a deadly place to be in as is. Second per second action, time is a lethal risk factor especially in regards to movement. This is a risk v.s. reward style of game play should indeed be rewarded accordingly. 
   To make things more exciting and to illustrate my point further, add aggro attention come the midpoint mark of the charge circle.
   
   ---
   In regards to Zephyr's passive & 1st ability Tail Wind;
    

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   || ~ This implementation would truly create a dynamic space for Zephyr to function in as she would then have the ability to freely dominate with masterful control the space above head level through what could possibly be summarized as a very simple & intuitive mechanic in triggering the release of her alt fire while mid-air. This 'hover' will label Zephyr with the characteristic & identity that she is not bound to normal ground based conventions, and further strengthens the notion that she is the frame you will want to choose if you wish to partake in an experience with mobility, zeal & fervor. She will become the very definition for freedom of movement in Warframe's current era of parkour 2.0. all while capitalizing on the very core of its' mechanics. ~ ||

   
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   Alternative idea from @ObviousLee (and what I personally believe to be an easier iteration & implementation for Tail Wind ) in regards to movement control while making use of current mechanics & animations in place which also includes the 'hovering'. I feel as though it'd also be quite easy to pick up! 
    

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   i actually have a workaround for the tight confined spaces issue. It's a two fold fix that only part of which has been implemented in the past a few times, but the latter has yet to be but I believe effectively could be.

   So, first off, give an extra meter or two width to tileset hallways, and that halfway remedies the inherent issue of constant flight. This has been done in the past, most notably in U12 when zephyr was introduced. Secondly, is a two part solution in tandem with changing tailwind to a persistent flight mode: remove the duration attachment to tailwind and make it strength scaling for lets say burst speed. You then tie stock flight speed to sprint speed, and your sprint key now makes you do the burst speed that we're used to seeing in current tailwind use. So, if it's set up like this I imagine a lot of issues being fixed, but that's up for discussion.

   So, here's what I'm thinking. Tailwind distance and speed set for power strength, and the quick burst we all use is set to the pressing of 1. Now, for the actual flight mechanic, we utilize the charge function. Now as for hover we can use either the aim function to engage the hover as to make mapping easier for controller users, or the jump feature. Either way (personally I'm partial to the aim function to allow for the use of the hover but that's just me).

   So what this winds up doing is the use of all the currently existing mechanics OF tailwind, but in a more controlled and cohesive function without having to min/max your tailwind versus the rest of your kit for nearly universal application.  Hover can still be used frequently, and tactically, tailwind now has much greater control, the tilesets can now accomodate the use of the skill better, and we can now actually focus on building for travel speed effectively while bolstering the rest of her kit at the same time. And ultimately, this gives answer to my burning desire to see Zephyr put on par as a viable option to Titania as opposed to one being subjectively better in terms of mechanics. It ALSO allows for one to effectively build around and for her new tailwind augment instead of it being useless as it currently is.

   
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2. || Air Burst || - Casting animation feels fluid, looks great!  [And I cannot explain how incredibly satisfying to land a head shot!] The damage however is sub-par, and the projectile speed is rather slow. I'm also not lowkey saying that you should totally go out of your way to make some sort of Avatar the Last Airbender dance with consecutive casts because it'd be the coolest thing ever.
   
   Synergistic with abilities? Before moving on to her Tornadoes, a further increase (as per update hotfix 22.12.3.) in projectile speed whilst in her Tail Wind hovering state - or with Turbulence active. Maybe even in general. 
   With that out of the way ~> It has an interaction with the Tornado's to double in size (though enemy retention and pull range feel rather small still). This is really cool! With her Tornado augment (creating 8 smaller 'nados) you can expect that I was constantly casting her Air Burst to no end. It's been incredibly fun! (and taxing on her energy pool of course.)
   
   The ability issues?
   My excessive casting was only partly due to my enjoyment of this lovely ability. Half of the time unfortunately the projectiles would detonate on terrain however, whilst the other half of the time a tornado would block another 'nado from getting bigger.
   
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   A caster styled game play based off of Air Burst's interactions with her Tornado's has proven to be enjoyable, and would be a good idea to extend for it to see some play in her other abilities as well! The crowd control is fair, but given the utility and high usage (partial to my play style) energy management is an issue.
   
   * It would be ideal for a reduced energy cost (on subsequent casts perhaps while she's doing a reallyreaLLY COOL AIR BENDING DANCE!!) 
   
   * A way to reliably increase its' output damage and scaling would be wondrous as well. (hello exaulted airbender dance scaling with melee multiplier plsdonttakethislastoneseriouslyI'mjustkiddingmaybenotthough) Benefits in casting while in 'hover' or while targeting Tornadoes (refer to point 4. down below for further elaboration.)
   
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   * Players in general are rather unappreciative of rag-dolling mechanics (regardless of how they may provide momentary amusement in its' physics.) Enemies have a tendency to recover far too fast for this to be of use, all the while the mechanic is far too buggy, disruptive, and takes away from what could potentially be immaculate in combat. I needn't mention how bad it looks from my perspective, as I personally wish for Warframe's combat to function in a smooth and seamless manner. [The sonicor is the only exception to this.]
   In rag-dolling, the player essentially self-inflicts confusion on themselves and their team. Time aiming is wasted, everyone is disoriented, and while in most cases by the time one figures out where the enemy they've tossed is located - a bombard rocket happily meets the back of their head as the tusk unit recovered 1.5 seconds ago. Infuriating is me putting it kindly. Please have some respect for this game and understand such things, while "useful" in Warframe's current state will take away from immersion in the long run. 
   
   * Remove the rag-dolling and in turn those caught in Air Burst will be knocked/staggered back slightly and inflicted with a % slow that will diminish over a set duration of seconds. (please note: % slow, not ice proc. I am deliberately stating & emphasizing this point to assist in future proofing her ability kit in regards to the unknown state of the next damage system iteration.)
   
   * Alternatively, retain rag-dolling mechanics on the condition that Air Burst detonates within' a certain radius of Zephyr and will see a change in properties by then afflicting enemies past that range with the point made above (^^^^^), in addition to the inclusion of a slight stagger (like the Quick Thinking mod stagger.) [As if she took their breath away, and they need a moment to catch their breath.]
   This concept draws inspiration closely to the way the gun-blades Sarpa & Redeemer function, in that they will inflict a blast proc at enemies who are in close range - as well as the changing of projectile properties as per the Zaw specific Exodia Contagion which increase its' damage by a % once it's passed a certain range.
   
   * Reduce time in between casts. (Having 12 Tornadoes on the field to 'buff' up to size with her augment is meticulous work, especially given the projectile speed yet alone this issue. Strengthen her identity in Zephyr's ability to control the flow of wind. Will the battle be blessed with gentle winds, or gusts foreshadowing the coming of a storm?)
   
   * Allow Air Burst to travel through Tornados or allow the latter to be affected by its' explosion as energy costs still draw far too high to see casts absorbed by another resulting in an even higher synergistic energy tax.
   
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3. || Turbulence || - Virtually unchanged. Visually changed heyhihello .
   * While the visuals and audio changes are well received, one handed casting with uninterrupted movement would help assist in establishing the free flowing frame that Zephyr should be.
   * Her augment for this has been a little weak (though fun) - it services your team for too little of a duration if one runs it in pubs, playing tag with your own team mates who may not even care for the buff is active on them or not can be a bit more trouble than it is truly worth.
   * Recastability would also be very welcomed. 
   
   
   Proposition for ability change:
   
   * Incorporate her current augment Jet Stream for Turbulance into her base ability. It is a rather minor feature that can become a much appreciated Quality of Life buff to her kit.
   
   The suggested change for the augment replacement is to then change it so that any allies who are in range for a moment will extend Zephyr's 'hover' mechanic to use for 2/3rd of its' max duration and will refresh on re entering her Turbulance's range (it should be recast-able, hence the stated duration) & will also add the shared benefits of equipped bullet jump mods on allies. Perhaps only the damage portion as due to the uncertainty [to my knowledge] in how additive bullet jump momentum percentages scale. Or tentative values kept as is with the shared bullet jumps bonus applying only on the condition if launched while in the 'hover' state.
   Another possible implementation, and less extreme is for most exilus (looking at Aviator, bullet jump, slide - but not drift) mods to be shared by those affected with diminishing returns based on the amount of players so movement values don't get too extreme and with something like Aviator damage reduction stacking. Values should however reward the upkeep in keeping allies affected with the augment as this style of team play relies on skilled, and perceptive coordination through the access of a new and spirited movement system native to Zephyr where the extended benefits to allies are only applicable whilst in the air.
   
   In which the likelihood of benefiting fully from this new augment in public play is incredibly low (hence higher values may prove to be more fair in the long run). It would however encourage the use of bullet jump mods for a small niche in an incredible experience based off of the parkour 2.0 system currently in place. Highlighting the latter is fundamentally important in Zephyr's identity in the Warframe roster. Please take this into consideration.
   [In my experience] the current augment Jet Stream is hard enough to tag moving team mates while on the ground, this would be worlds apart in difficulty and should be honoured appropriately for the efforts involved.
   
   This would be nice to incorporate, especially if her Tail Wind could also benefit further from such shared usage. It would also promote very active team play on Zephyr's part as there's a fair incentive to share the magic whether it would be for selfish or selfless reasons (dependent on the player of course).  
   [ ~ o f f   t o   n e v e r l a n d ~  ]
   
      
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4. || Tornado || - Agreeable improvements around the board here. 
   
   With it now being recastable in addition to allowing allied fire into the tornadoes to affect enemies caught up in it is a HUGE benefit to her kit. You've mine, and many others thanks on that no doubt.
   
   One thing that's been prevalent throughout Tornado's identity is in its' ability to make a player wonder "where did that one enemy go"? I'm not just referring to its' ability to deadlift 40 Grineer Nox units without breaking a sweat, and tossing them around like a bad meatspin prank on your younger sibling - n-no, I'm referring to its' ability to obstruct my vision to the point where I'm questioning if I'm even on my own side anymore.Like it's neat that a player can look over in the corner of a room and say 'hey look, that's a tornado' - but it's also sort of akin to shouting at the clouds to show you what the sun's been hiding. 
   I'm so deep I can't even see myself anymore  h o l y   s h i- really though. I just want to know, is there an enemy behind my own tornados? Can I even trust the wind whirlies that I summoned with my own energy???
   Paranoia's a bit-
   
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   Proposition for ability change:
   
   * To translate that last bit, it's hard to see through the Tornadoes [Replacing/or masking the current tornado models with whatever is used for the stealth clocking mechanic as a relatively easy fix. Maybe something that looks as wispy as Limbo's Catacylism but not so definitive looking as a semi-circle].
   * The bullet distribution to enemies there is not much to make note of as it seemingly works well enough (though a hit or miss fairly often), despite how questionable the pull & retention mechanics may be. It is also a bit difficult to distinguish sometimes as to the mortality status of those in the vicinity of the wind whirlies. As many have mentioned before, they are rather slow (Understandably due to their disruptive nature in ragdolling enemies would prove to be frustrating to some other players) though a more reliable method in directing their movements would be preferable. Perhaps even a command feature (look to whatever upcoming pet functions you have in development) and implement it here for rough testing for the aforementioned and Khora with her personal Kavat. The current alt fire method may work fine for the companions in essence, but this case in directing the flow of summoned units for Zephyr would be a negative. 
   * Suggestion in directing Tornadoes - while currently active, have them (as in all summoned units) relocate based off of where Zephyr executes a nose dive through Tail Wind. Keep current method of alt fire in directing a singular unit. 
   
   * If the team could remove the animation lock on the cast, it would further strengthen her identity as a free moving/flowing frame. 
   
   * Some other concerns regarding her interactions with Air Burst and her Tornado augment Funnel Clouds, though. Right now it's partially buggy and unreliable.
   As it stands now Zephyr is still in the rough [so I will withhold on most of my idea pitches for now]; Instead a proposition in that herself, and allied gunfire fire will affect those (enemies caught) in the radius of the tornado as a "gust" of 50% damage of those around it with a % to proc status of whichever element the Tornado currently is afflicted with.
   
   * Her Air Burst on the other hand [which again I am quite smitten to the stars with] will inflict a "gust" with twice the Air Burst power plus a percentage of enemy max hp enemy hp (with some sort of equation -> insert number of enemies in radius here), increased radius and will emit from the base of the targeted Tornado, 100% to proc status based off of which status the Tornado currently is afflicted with and Air Blast's % slow and effect for those affected(as her Tornado augment doesn't pick enemies up unless it's just dead corpses thus would mitigate enemy retaliation for a breather of sorts.) You could also look at potentially blowing up the targeted Tornadoes with her Air Burst to produce a regenerative effect that envelopes allies which restores energy (which can supplement the synergy tax between the two)/health for a set duration for allies caught in the aoe - or perhaps it will bolsters your team with refreshing reduced % damage taken + increased move & cast speed buff. Maybe, just maybe - all of the above in a perfect world (please make the dream happen). This does not have to be an outlier. This could be a toggle for the two features (if a toggle, then omit the damage reduction. have the damage reduction apply only whilst air born.)
   
   * (As a fan of the caster play style, I do enjoy my damages - but I believe the latter two may be more in proportion to her conceptual design. It certainly would help in energy management as the tax for not only summoning her 4 is rather steep, but so is 'buffing' them up to be of size. Synergistic skill usage and energy cost should be reflective of its' nature and so despite a potential adjustment in reduced cost in addition to creating a deadly storm on the battlefront with a lot of damages (which would make me pretty happy), I would still stand on my belief about the latter two suggestions as it may align better in her nature as a frame. Otherwise if there is such a heavy cost for a synergy interaction, the trade off tax in energy should be better worth not only the cost but cast time as well since the player is deliberately making an investment decision for an increase in [???] It only takes a second to mess up and be gone for a while (I wonder when my dad's coming home .. it's been 12 years), after all. Adjust those values accordingly.) 
   
   *One other option for her vanilla Tornado (do consider renaming it sometime) in regards to her interaction with Air Burst is for it to not only double the size but pull enemies in the area as well.
   
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   Alternative Tornado idea from @ObviousLee
    

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   Tornado: Make tornado a single, larger tornado that doesn't follow your cursor, give it an increased draw range and have tornado contain the enemies within the center of the tornado clumped up and helpless, similar to vortex or larva, while maintaining the "shoot to thrill" mechanic of the ult. Make funnel cloud augment function as tornado currently functions. Tornado now being a single cyclone should be cast at the location of the cursor, and should be able to be disengaged at will instead of duration based. Dial down the sound and remove the screen shake, blammo. Done. 

   What this solves: the absolute pain in the neck slower-than-two-snails-boinking-on-an-ice-cube travel speed is now gone, the tornado can be placed where and when it's needed most instead of relying on the tornado to make it's way to where you want it "eventually". This also prevents having to babysit the ability by always being forced to keep the tornadoes between yourself and the enemies. This change also allows you to use the rest of the kit without restricting your movements, and prevents enemies from floating around and being tossed out of the tornado which inherently invalidates the "shoot nado for deeps" mechanic that DE has chosen to implement.

   
   * (Building off of this on my take,) a compromise of the currently shipped iteration & this idea;
   
   From casting point [ include a distinctive small circle (10m in diameter) marker/indicator here ] Tornadoes spawn in Zephyr's general vicinity and work their way inward (with current mechanics, gathering enemies, taking bullet fire, applying double size on Air Blast [which will now not only increase the size, but speed in which they will move]) towards casting point radius and will merge together, growing as they gather in range.
   [ Here at the casting point, a stationary Tornado stands; A harbinger to an omen willed into existence by one . Explained further below ]
   Based on the amount of Tornadoes currently gathered [Again, do include an indicator here of how many] - an Air Blast into the marked casting point will then quickly expand into a large area of effect environment (two-six times the size of the casting point circle.) and will vortex all surviving enemies closer to the center (but not quite as clumped up as Vauban's Vortex. Perhaps more fitting would be a carousel comprised of the affected helpless enemies a la Gara's ability Spectorage in style.) These enemies will suffer Tornado damage strength multiplied by the amount gathered and are subject to Zephyr and her allies fire regardless of aim (think Mag's Magnatize ability) in what should I believe should be called her Eye of the Storm ability.
   
   For a short duration of time in this zone, Zephyr's abilities are augmented in strength, casting speed increased, energy costs are further reduced (perhaps even omit energy cost if used consecutively after a set number of times? Perhaps on the condition that all gathered Tornadoes that have been summoned are 'buffed' by Air Burst ), will ignore 50% of enemy armor and will affect all enemies in said zone. In exchange will impose a small energy drain while the zone is active. [Be fair, as she'll most likely be using her abilities here in high volume.]
   On dissipation allies will gain the Turbulance buff [Refer to point 3. about currently shipped augment Jet Stream being merged into the Tubrulance ability].
   
   This creates incentive in pushing for the currently spawned Tornadoes to move towards the player's designated point of cast and is highlighted in creating a 'zone' through the synergistic trigger effect of Air Burst where Zephyr can truly shine with her abilities. It is here she unleashes the swiftest of deaths, in the wake of a storm. - True to its' nature, it will be gone just as fast as it has appeared - & will leave everything it has touched in ruin.
   
   [You might think of this as a calm before the storm, effect. Maybe in some cases (at least for me), the unforgettable twister scene from The Wizard of Oz.]

Edited March 14, 2018 by skRose
Formatting text

[ObviousLee]

I really dig this. Well put together and highlights the theme she's supposed to represent exceptionally well. Damned good job.

[skRose]

1 hour ago, ObviousLee said:

I really dig this. Well put together and highlights the theme she's supposed to represent exceptionally well. Damned good job.

You've my many thanks for the compliment, and also for your contribution as well~! I've drawn a little bit of an idea and took some inspiration from something you've written up in regards to her Tornado ability, so I've quoted it in the latter part of my section (I hope you don't mind). I understand the proposition may take a bit more work if accepted for development, but I feel it may be also quite fitting to her as a frame.

It is in my hopes that the play base can see some improvement from the [DE] team on Zephyr's current state through many of the available suggestions being voice out on the forums. 

[ObviousLee]

1 minute ago, skRose said:

You've my many thanks for the compliment, and also for your contribution as well~! I've drawn a little bit of an idea and took some inspiration from something you've written up in regards to her Tornado ability, so I've quoted it in the latter part of my section (I hope you don't mind). I understand the proposition may take a bit more work if accepted for development, but I feel it may be also quite fitting to her as a frame.

It is in my hopes that the play base can see some improvement from the [DE] team on Zephyr's current state through many of the available suggestions being voice out on the forums. 

I've no issues with you using my suggestions. This isn't about me, or anyone else for that matter. It's about fixing what needs to be fixed, so as far I'm concerned if we can get the situation of zephyr's kit fixed, it doesn't really matter to me who makes the suggestion that brings about the necessary change.

[WrathOfKarma]

Quote

This is the Zephyr Thread Warframe deserves.
But not the thread it needs right now, so DE will hunt it.
Because the thread can take it. Because it’s not a hero.
It’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector.
A Dark Zephyr Thread.

For realz though. A+ Thread. It needs all the attention it can get.

[skRose]

31 minutes ago, ObviousLee said:

I've no issues with you using my suggestions. This isn't about me, or anyone else for that matter. It's about fixing what needs to be fixed, so as far I'm concerned if we can get the situation of zephyr's kit fixed, it doesn't really matter to me who makes the suggestion that brings about the necessary change.

I've the same sentiments, heheh. Before making this into a thread, I've done my best in reaching out to the Lead Designer and other employees - but no responses yet. Perhaps it may just have to do in withholding as it might fall under an 'official response' and thus there's more caution, or they're being over flooded by more inquiry's than I can imagine concerning other topics - but one can be hopeful that Zephyr will be seen to in the near future for sure.

Their agenda is plentiful when it comes to future content & updates after all.
 

41 minutes ago, WrathOfKarma said:

For realz though. A+ Thread. It needs all the attention it can get.

Ahahah, thank you both for the support, and for the chuckle ^^ ~  
If only there was a sure fire way to rally for attention ahhHh

[ObviousLee]

1 minute ago, skRose said:

I've the same sentiments, heheh. Before making this into a thread, I've done my best in reaching out to the Lead Designer and other employees - but no responses yet. Perhaps it may just have to do in withholding as it might fall under an 'official response' and thus there's more caution, or they're being over flooded by more inquiry's than I can imagine concerning other topics - but one can be hopeful that Zephyr will be seen to in the near future for sure.

Their agenda is plentiful when it comes to future content & updates after all.
 

 

Yea unfortunately the ability to be responded to is pretty much mitigated by the amount of complaints and statements versus the amount of employees. They DO see our words and our points, but they ARE dealing with literally thousands of posts per day. Hell there were a few times where my own threads were merged into the mega-thread just for ease of viewing for the developers. Kinda irked me to be honest as there was a large grouping of fellow experienced zephyr users had gathered to convene and well....you can guess how that turned out when the thread became muddied with posts from various other topics.

 

Admittedly though, your thread here is much better presented than any of mine, but that's just because I expect letters alone convey the point(which again, you can imagine how well that works).

 

[skRose]

22 hours ago, ObviousLee said:

Yea unfortunately the ability to be responded to is pretty much mitigated by the amount of complaints and statements versus the amount of employees. They DO see our words and our points, but they ARE dealing with literally thousands of posts per day. Hell there were a few times where my own threads were merged into the mega-thread just for ease of viewing for the developers. Kinda irked me to be honest as there was a large grouping of fellow experienced zephyr users had gathered to convene and well....you can guess how that turned out when the thread became muddied with posts from various other topics.

 

Admittedly though, your thread here is much better presented than any of mine, but that's just because I expect letters alone convey the point(which again, you can imagine how well that works).

 

Yeah, those are true to life words considering their line of work. Upcoming content becoming grander in scheme, and despite the team's growth in design/implementation they no doubt have to set their priorities straight in regards to profitable content. Most updates and changes they've been doing it seems are for quality control in regards to player retention for the new & old alike. Difficult to balance around, if you think about it as a whole.

There are some gems of ideas floating around the forums from players (like some you've come up with - and I'm sorry to hear about those merges), which could very much alleviate the tension that comes from updates/changes like these. (I swear, the WF community are like cats who get stressed out if they're placed in a new room ahah.) Quite literally a stress trigger for most.  

---
It would sadden me if full on reworks to updated standards on frames have to be put on the back burner as a result.
With what's been demonstrated by them, is that they are now able to create really cool interactive skill sets for frames - and the day I can look at Frost and think of him as an ice theme'd frame capable of pulling of something like Frozone from the Incredibles with his Freeze and Ice Wave abilities together, instead of thinking of him as his ability Snow Globe  (as most, and I sadly see him as) will be a very pleased Tenno.(<- slippery ice skating rink synergy~!) Like, we understand he can blow up his Snow Globe with his Freeze ability - but how about an exploding blizzard add on (Kinda like Gara's MV break style) to unleash a little bit of a slowing area of effect for a little while? (Almost as if on breaking his little Snow Globe, he's magically vacuumed everything into his chilling world. It gives off that kinda feeling, at least in my imagination. I think I might need a blanket or some Hot Chocolate now, heh.) [Should I have saved this for a separate thread? Perhaps. This is to more or less get a point across.]

Ability interactions like these can do so much to strengthen their identity, and gives player so much more incentive to add on to what I believe to be quite the one dimensional game play as he and many other frames are currently plagued with. He gains mobility in a way that's very much to his nature (+slide, -friction, slippery ice), and usage of his whole kit effectively goes beyond the depth of 4 separate abilities that we're currently presented with.
One would be able to get a little more lost in such immersive combat, with more ways available to define your style of play - creatively, and skillfully so.
---

I do believe that the team is very much capable of establishing that in these frame touch ups. They should be known for their thematic foundations, not for a singular ability (in most cases. Not generalizing here.) I truly believe this. Zephyr would be a fair start (symbolically speaking), with her origins in being a fan made concept and released in lieu of Valentines day, marking a little over a week & four years since release.
- To the [DE] Team, may the winds of the communities love guide your attention to her and see that her design flies as swiftly as the team's staggering growth in development, and success over the years. 

[ObviousLee]

Yenno, you've a beautiful way with words. The way you phrase your comparisons and examples is....well....refreshing, if I had to put a word to it. It's almost got a satirical value to it that I feel anyone could enjoy. Also, making a frost thread for a slight tweak (or possibly augment) to his snow globe would be a good idea. No reason for powers to have only a single augment per ability, and when the next design council suggestion for frost's snow globe comes up I'd be happy to toss it in there in your name if it's gotten enough public support. Might wanna wait for the fires of the forums to die down first though as everyone and their brother is hell bent on current topics of discussion.

[skRose]

1 hour ago, ObviousLee said:

Yenno, you've a beautiful way with words. The way you phrase your comparisons and examples is....well....refreshing, if I had to put a word to it. It's almost got a satirical value to it that I feel anyone could enjoy. Also, making a frost thread for a slight tweak (or possibly augment) to his snow globe would be a good idea. No reason for powers to have only a single augment per ability, and when the next design council suggestion for frost's snow globe comes up I'd be happy to toss it in there in your name if it's gotten enough public support. Might wanna wait for the fires of the forums to die down first though as everyone and their brother is hell bent on current topics of discussion.

Heheh, thank you for saying so~! I don't receive compliments very often, so I am very happy to hear that ^^. Constructive, yet light hearted propositions & follow up discussions I think are a great place to be in for cultivating and elaborating on ideas between others! Keeps things civil, not too stiff - and leaves the grounds in good enough spirits to keep things productive without falling too far out of line on key subjects I find. 
For those such as yourself who actually do manage to weather through the walls of text I somehow manage to write up, I feel as though I could only hope for that enjoyability at best. I've written so much I can't say it would be a surprise for most who've given it a peak had looked at it all in dismissal because there's no concise "tl;dr". :p

For when the time comes for the next design council suggestions, that'd be great for sure!

---

Tell me about it though. Everyone's so heated up about Ember, it wouldn't be too far off my imagination for her World on Fire to be replaced by a compilation link of all the crying that's going on about it, heh.  Pay no attention to the special snowflake Chroma players out there melting & mending together into a ubiquitous salty puddle over his changes as well - but I'll hold my tongue on that (and how poor Mirage's Eclipse w/ her augment has definitely not been completely usurped. This is our current and most recently released prime frame too c': *cough*)

There is good feedback out there of course, but in all honestly I can empathize with the irritation coming from them on the lack on transparency that the [DE] team lets on in regards to their current state and planning. Have been feeling that way on some changes myself (for other frames, but in the same context more or less.)
In the meanwhile, all we can do is our best in not letting ideas sink into the abyss under the weight of other threads constantly being pushed up and forward. ^^; Cheers to that, I guess. 

[Zephyr ahoy [DE] team ~! Have at youuuu]

Edited February 14, 2018 by skRose
Grammar

[ObviousLee]

45 minutes ago, skRose said:

Heheh, thank you for saying so~! I don't receive compliments very often, so I am very happy to hear that ^^. Constructive, yet light hearted propositions & follow up discussions I think are a great place to be in for cultivating and elaborating on ideas between others! Keeps things civil, not too stiff - and leaves the grounds in good enough spirits to keep things productive without falling too far out of line on key subjects I find. 
For those such as yourself who actually do manage to weather through the walls of text I somehow manage to write up, I feel as though I could only hope for that enjoyability at best. I've written so much I can't say it would be a surprise for most who've given it a peak had looked at it all in dismissal because there's no concise "tl;dr". :p

For when the time comes for the next design council suggestions, that'd be great for sure!

---

Tell me about it though. Everyone's so heated up about Ember, it wouldn't be too far off my imagination for her World on Fire to be replaced by a compilation link of all the crying that's going on about it, heh.  Pay no attention to the special snowflake Chroma players out there melting & mending together into a ubiquitous salty puddle over his changes as well - but I'll hold my tongue on that (and how poor Mirage's Eclipse w/ her augment has definitely not been completely usurped. This is our current and most recently released prime frame too c': *cough*)

There is good feedback out there of course, but in all honestly I can empathize with the irritation coming from them on the lack on transparency that the [DE] team lets on in regards to their current state and planning. Have been feeling that way on some changes myself (for other frames, but in the same context more or less.)
In the meanwhile, all we can do is our best in not letting ideas sink into the abyss under the weight of other threads constantly being pushed up and forward. ^^; Cheers to that, I guess. 

[Zephyr ahoy [DE] team ~! Have at youuuu]

The best outcome is when we get rid of egotism and observe what the best possible outcome should be with what we have. Unfortunately most don't agree with a Lotta decisions DE makes and sometimes I fall into that category as well. Only time will tell how this will all pan out, hopefully for the best. I also sent you a friend request in game, hope you'll add me as I like to do a Lotta real time discussion. 

[AweMuse]

Anyone else have something to add to this? It covers like everything, and more

[ObviousLee]

21 minutes ago, AweMuse said:

Anyone else have something to add to this? It covers like everything, and more

This is one of those fundamentally "perfect" presentations. Op included information from experienced players with expertise on the frame, drummed up some solid ideas on their own, and gave a clear presentation that's easy to digest. All in all I'd say this should be a pinned thread if for no other reason than the op demonstrates fantastic writing and feedback skills. 

Edited February 15, 2018 by ObviousLee

[(XBOX)Grife7]

Thank you for putting so much work into this. I absolutely loved a good portion of these changes. I especially like the idea for air burst knocking down and slowing rather than ragdolling. It could be as if the pressurized ball explodes into pressurized fields around each enemy. I would also love to see your continuous flight idea make it into the game. 

[(XBOX)EntrTheLight]

I have to say I like this idea.  Zephyr has been my favorite frame for awhile, and I'm glad she got some love... but still needs some more work.

(my personal addition):     I think, for a second augment of Turbulence, that you should be able to cast Turbulence on an enemy to act like a bullet-attracting ability. (Bullets that go with-in the range of a targeted enemy, the turbulence would then use those bullets to inflict greater damage to effected enemy).  

Edited March 14, 2018 by (XB1)SAOxSonicKirito

[BigPapiPimp]

Nice to see a nice thread. Great work and ideas guys! 

On 2/13/2018 at 9:41 PM, skRose said:

Heheh, thank you for saying so~! I don't receive compliments very often, so I am very happy to hear that ^^. Constructive, yet light hearted propositions & follow up discussions I think are a great place to be in for cultivating and elaborating on ideas between others! Keeps things civil, not too stiff - and leaves the grounds in good enough spirits to keep things productive without falling too far out of line on key subjects I find. 
For those such as yourself who actually do manage to weather through the walls of text I somehow manage to write up, I feel as though I could only hope for that enjoyability at best. I've written so much I can't say it would be a surprise for most who've given it a peak had looked at it all in dismissal because there's no concise "tl;dr". :p

For when the time comes for the next design council suggestions, that'd be great for sure!

---

Tell me about it though. Everyone's so heated up about Ember, it wouldn't be too far off my imagination for her World on Fire to be replaced by a compilation link of all the crying that's going on about it, heh.  Pay no attention to the special snowflake Chroma players out there melting & mending together into a ubiquitous salty puddle over his changes as well - but I'll hold my tongue on that (and how poor Mirage's Eclipse w/ her augment has definitely not been completely usurped. This is our current and most recently released prime frame too c': *cough*)

As some who regularly spams those threads, I’m triggered, and will revoke all +1’s given in this OP’s thread (if I didn’t agree and feel bad for my part in it lol).

i don’t really play zephyr unless I want to snipe with my shotgubns or pew pew faster with my Supra, so I don’t have much to add besides “fly gooder”.

That and thanks again for the effort you put into this thread and everyone else for keeping it civil and forward thinking.

Edited March 14, 2018 by BigPapiPimp

[BBaw]

So many words...I had to dig around to find some information but I think I got it!

I like some of the ideas about hovering,  I would love to see this....

Hovering turned into effectively a mid-air wall latch, able to be affected by the Patagium mods and any other wall latch enhancing mod.  I would like to see its characteristics remain similar to a wall latch in that the player can perform parkour from hover to hover.  This doesn't give Zephyr flight but would definitely allow her to stay airborne for as long as her energy can be maintained.  Which is a very birdie thing to do. Yea?  Functional, Practical, very few button presses.   Retain the ability to melee/wall jump out of it, bullet jump out of it, Dive Bomb out of it, Tail wind out of it.  Keep a casting cost,  half the cost of Tail Wind.

I would also like to see the functionality of Targeting Fixation changed.  Allow the damage bonus to be applied from ANY source of damage while Zephyr is airborne, as it is very impractical to try to use a Tail Wind in its current state and then Dive Bomb a target with that damage bonus in tact.  I kinda get the feeling the guy that wrote this down on paper never envisioned himself in the driver seat.   Because, I've tested it on the PoE and its literally impossible to perform this efficiently.   The damage bonus needs to come from some other source than Tail Winding through an enemy.   Put a cap on the damage bonus, that is perfectly fine, but make it feasible to acquire and use. 

I'd make the guy that envisioned this mod try to sit there and get a decent bonus and actually hammer a target with it for an hour before he had to rebuild it, no breaks! No breaks...

[Ernestasx]

Nice thread, very informative and interesting.

The things i wanted for Zephyr were these:

* Unlock her 1's animation, so you could use bullet jumps while zooming through the sky. Make divebomb activate when it hits a terrain, as a result stopping you at that terrain. This would give her a lot of control in closed spaces. The hover charge of her 1 should be 2x as fast and would give you an option to bullet jump, more more freely, just like you said.

* Make her 2 faster in general and make it have more speed and range if it is cast during your Turbulence.

* Give her 3 invulnerability frames during that extra 0.5 second they added to the animations.

* Make her ult 1 huge tornado. It's been suggested before, but i do think this would be the best for her.

These are my ideas i had for quite a while, what do you think?

[BigPapiPimp]

35 minutes ago, Ernestasx said:

Unlock her 1's animation, so you could use bullet jumps while zooming through the sky. Make divebomb activate when it hits a terrain, as a result stopping you at that terrain. This would give her a lot of control in closed spaces. The hover charge of her 1 should be 2x as fast and would give you an option to bullet jump, more more freely, just like you said.

You know the momentum zephyr gets after a high duration tailwind? What if she just got some ability to aim glide up or sidewise with it, instead of only being able to control a descent?

Give her a few seconds of “flight” after she rockets off. That combined with the ability to end the ability early might give her some neat aerial acrobatics.

After she might even float as described by op.

Also, typing this out made me wish zephyr could aim glide indefinitely, bog standard, as a part of her passive.

Edited March 14, 2018 by BigPapiPimp

[EchoesOfRain]

With Zephyr Prime officially on the way, it's time for these kinds of threads to be getting some spotlight

 

Hover is a wonderful idea tied to a horrible charging mechanic. Any way to activate Hover more freely is totally welcome

 

May I make a video suggestion as to how Tailwind could work?

See how Jet Kirby works pretty similarly to how Tailwind works? You can fly in a direction, and you can charge it up. However Jet Kirby can hold his charge once maxed and can walk around after charging it. He can even cancel his momentum and release a damaging projectile (Imagine a damaging wind cyclone flying out forward)! While maybe not the best solutions for Zephyr, it could solve some issues with being stationary and momentum being too strong without control.

 

[AweMuse]

8 hours ago, BBaw said:

So many words...I had to dig around to find some information but I think I got it!

I like some of the ideas about hovering,  I would love to see this....

Hovering turned into effectively a mid-air wall latch, able to be affected by the Patagium mods and any other wall latch enhancing mod.  I would like to see its characteristics remain similar to a wall latch in that the player can perform parkour from hover to hover.  This doesn't give Zephyr flight but would definitely allow her to stay airborne for as long as her energy can be maintained.  Which is a very birdie thing to do. Yea?  Functional, Practical, very few button presses.   Retain the ability to melee/wall jump out of it, bullet jump out of it, Dive Bomb out of it, Tail wind out of it.  Keep a casting cost,  half the cost of Tail Wind.

 

8 hours ago, BigPapiPimp said:

After she might even float as described by op.

Also, typing this out made me wish zephyr could aim glide indefinitely, bog standard, as a part of her passive.

@BBaw summarized it pretty well! 

@BigPapiPimp basically through this, she kind of is able to as the aim glide would be able to reset after each hover!

[skRose]

11 hours ago, (XB1)SAOxSonicKirito said:

I have to say I like this idea.  Zephyr has been my favorite frame for awhile, and I'm glad she got some love... but still needs some more work.

(my personal addition):     I think, for a second augment of Turbulence, that you should be able to cast Turbulence on an enemy to act like a bullet-attracting ability. (Bullets that go with-in the range of a targeted enemy, the turbulence would then use those bullets to inflict greater damage to effected enemy).  

Ahah, thank you! And I do agree, she's almost in a good place. Just need to nudge DE to make a little bit of tweaks here and there and she'll be as golden as the primed birdie we're lookin' forward to ^^

As for that augment suggestion, while I feel it'd be interesting - it would essentially turn it into the vanilla version of Mag's Magnatize ability, no? (While working off this idea as to not completely steal part of Mag's kit to) instead have enemies who touch the radius of her Zephyr's Turbulance be affected by the bullet attractor where it would last a fleeting moment & while bonus damage from the bullet attractor would diminish until it expires. 
It's sorta like the current Jet Stream augment in it's period of length, affecting those who are in range - but still stays true to the concept of how air & wind generally is, y'know?
Tell me what'chu think! It definitely has the potential be a cool augment for sure!

10 hours ago, BigPapiPimp said:

Nice to see a nice thread. Great work and ideas guys! 

As some who regularly spams those threads, I’m triggered, and will revoke all +1’s given in this OP’s thread (if I didn’t agree and feel bad for my part in it lol).

i don’t really play zephyr unless I want to snipe with my shotgubns or pew pew faster with my Supra, so I don’t have much to add besides “fly gooder”.

That and thanks again for the effort you put into this thread and everyone else for keeping it civil and forward thinking.

Many thanks for taking the time to read it over & for your support! Nothing wrong with loving & playing her for what only she's capable of bringing to the table lol. I certainly love her for that too! :p

9 hours ago, BBaw said:

So many words...I had to dig around to find some information but I think I got it!

I like some of the ideas about hovering,  I would love to see this....

Hovering turned into effectively a mid-air wall latch, able to be affected by the Patagium mods and any other wall latch enhancing mod.  I would like to see its characteristics remain similar to a wall latch in that the player can perform parkour from hover to hover.  This doesn't give Zephyr flight but would definitely allow her to stay airborne for as long as her energy can be maintained.  Which is a very birdie thing to do. Yea?  Functional, Practical, very few button presses.   Retain the ability to melee/wall jump out of it, bullet jump out of it, Dive Bomb out of it, Tail wind out of it.  Keep a casting cost,  half the cost of Tail Wind.

I would also like to see the functionality of Targeting Fixation changed.  Allow the damage bonus to be applied from ANY source of damage while Zephyr is airborne, as it is very impractical to try to use a Tail Wind in its current state and then Dive Bomb a target with that damage bonus in tact.  I kinda get the feeling the guy that wrote this down on paper never envisioned himself in the driver seat.   Because, I've tested it on the PoE and its literally impossible to perform this efficiently.   The damage bonus needs to come from some other source than Tail Winding through an enemy.   Put a cap on the damage bonus, that is perfectly fine, but make it feasible to acquire and use. 

I'd make the guy that envisioned this mod try to sit there and get a decent bonus and actually hammer a target with it for an hour before he had to rebuild it, no breaks! No breaks...

Thiiiiis. Yup, you summarized my proposal accurately to a T. 

As for Targeting Fixation, it needs adjustment for sure. My pitch was made in mind to make use of it without having to change it directly, but honestly there's a slew of issues in utilizing it well outside of a crowded hallway (in which the damage is still negligibly weak when faced against higher leveled units.) 
It's not only in accumulating the bonus, but maintaining is also gfa;ngerngr;. Like, it's just not feasible to capitalize on it in most cases simple due to the impractical nature of how her kit currently handles it. :c 
Seriously, by all means bring on that damage cap - so long as it changes the way the ability is intended to be used, is fair in execution, and works! 
I'm really happy to see that there's so many different types practical propositions to these sort of things. This would work well, and I'd be 100% okay with it.
---
Also lol.

8 hours ago, EchoesOfRain said:

With Zephyr Prime officially on the way, it's time for these kinds of threads to be getting some spotlight

 

Hover is a wonderful idea tied to a horrible charging mechanic. Any way to activate Hover more freely is totally welcome

 

May I make a video suggestion as to how Tailwind could work?

See how Jet Kirby works pretty similarly to how Tailwind works? You can fly in a direction, and you can charge it up. However Jet Kirby can hold his charge once maxed and can walk around after charging it. He can even cancel his momentum and release a damaging projectile (Imagine a damaging wind cyclone flying out forward)! While maybe not the best solutions for Zephyr, it could solve some issues with being stationary and momentum being too strong without control.

 

*Tear rolls down my eye*
I didn't think this thread would ever again see the light of day, but ahHHHh - yesss I am really happy! 
Heheh, I'm with you on that one. I'd love for her to feel more free in movement - and adding breaks onto a race car I think is pretty important lmfao. Especially when you need to turn a corner.

Uh, hi. Yes. Being able to move while charging Tail Wind? Hell yes. Yes. Hi. Thank you for bringing this to the table, holy. 

[skRose]

10 hours ago, Ernestasx said:

Nice thread, very informative and interesting.

The things i wanted for Zephyr were these:

* Unlock her 1's animation, so you could use bullet jumps while zooming through the sky. Make divebomb activate when it hits a terrain, as a result stopping you at that terrain. This would give her a lot of control in closed spaces. The hover charge of her 1 should be 2x as fast and would give you an option to bullet jump, more more freely, just like you said.

* Make her 2 faster in general and make it have more speed and range if it is cast during your Turbulence.

* Give her 3 invulnerability frames during that extra 0.5 second they added to the animations.

* Make her ult 1 huge tornado. It's been suggested before, but i do think this would be the best for her.

These are my ideas i had for quite a while, what do you think?

1. She needs some breaks, I feel it's 100% needed. Yeah, you can count me in on being behind this first point. She needs to be able to break out of that animation, otherwise you'll be the drill to pierce the tile set [<- Gurran Lagann reference]. High duration is hardly usable as a result (more in close quarters combat/small tilesets) - the Dive Bomb portion hitting the terrain would be a simple & easy fix especially since they've the design assets already in game to work with, hence it'd just require a little bit of work unlike a proposition for a full on ability change.
2. Yupyup. There's so many Tornadoes to buff up - and the animation cast (as cool as it is) is rather slow. Same with the projectiles speed [Never mind the fact that they tend to blow up on terrain more often than they'll actually buff up the Tornadoes themselves, in my experience. So much wasted energy.]
3. If they're not going to allow Turbulance the recast-ability feature - then this would be very much welcomed. 
4. As for the 1 big tornado - my very very very last point was a compromise between that, and the existing mechanics of "wandering tornadoes", being able to buff them up to size (but will also increase their speed) where they will merge together into a larger one at the targeted casting point. 
   
   Overall, those are very fair and incredibly simply adjustments that the DE team should see no trouble in implementing to her kit. Solves much of her issues to that regard. 
   The more we can push for bringing this to light, the better chance we have at grabbing their attention - hopefully they'll take some, if not at least a few of these great ideas to update her skill kit. It'd be a huge QoL for her game play to feel that much better!

Edited March 14, 2018 by skRose

[EchoesOfRain]

2 hours ago, skRose said:

Uh, hi. Yes. Being able to move while charging Tail Wind? Hell yes. Yes. Hi. Thank you for bringing this to the table, holy. 

May I also note something that I just realized? Ember has the exact same charging mechanic on her 1, but she has full movement while she's charging...wtf. 

 

So here's my 10 suggestions For Tailwind

1. Severely cut down the momentum on base Tailwind to make the skill more controllable. 

2. Charging Tailwind will increase the range, damage, and duration of Tailwind, making it a powerful rushdown skill or a strong mobility skill in the plains. 

3. Hitting a surface creates a Divebomb explosion, but with better damage than it is now

4. Tailwind can now "pick up" enemies that are within Zephyr's flight path. Charging Tailwind increases the pickup range. 

5. Target Fixation does more damage with more enemies hit by the Divebomb explosion. 

6. Pressing 1 while still in Tailwind's animation will stop the Zephyr's movement almost instantly. Picked up enemies are carried on a gust of wind for the remaining distance. Zephyr will be put in a Hovering state once she stops

7. If Zephyr Tailwind's through a Tornado, it temporarily gains increased attack speed, status chance, and movement speed

8. Hover is now a hold-to-cast skill while in the air, keeping its max possible duration as its base duration. Keeping the skill held after the animation or during a Hover will begin to charge Tailwind, but with a much faster charge.

9. While Hovering, Zephyr can move freely as if she was walking, but the Hover's height will begin to decline while she's moving

10. Hover completely resets all parkour skills, and parkour skills reset Hover. This harmony would allow Zephyr to indefinitely stay in the air by re-positioning herself

[Caelward]

7 hours ago, skRose said:

Uh, hi. Yes. Being able to move while charging Tail Wind? Hell yes. Yes. Hi. Thank you for bringing this to the table, holy. 

This was already on the table. DE has just flat out ignored it thus far.

 

At this point I'm expecting them to find a way to double down on the aspects of Zephyr that I don't like.