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Guest Blog: The Metabusters: Knowledge is Freedom


aidan890
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Hey All!

We are back again with another installment of the Warframe Guest Blog series. This time, French Warframe Partner VVhite Angel has shared his thoughts about expanding your variety of play and straying from the coveted "meta." 

https://www.warframe.com/news/the-metabusters-knowledge-is-freedom

Please check out this blog entry and let us know what your favorite "non-meta" build to run in Warframe is!

I'll go first: I love running Nova with maxed duration and an Amprex. I make sure I get as many enemies covered by Molecular Prime as possible and then I start a glorious electrified chain reaction shooting through helpless enemies. Sparks fly!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts! Remember to use the link above to check out VVhite Angel's content, especially if you are a French-speaking Tenno!

Thanks Tenno!

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At DE....You do realise that players often 'rely' on meta builds to compensate for poor game design decisions such as slow focus gain, excessive grind etc right.... fix the reason we need to 'meta' and well we wouldn't likely be using it as much.

Not to mention some weapons are just nowhere near 'balanced' enough to be used versus others... just look at dual daggers versus single daggers or even machetes which we all know are pretty useless.

 

edit: had a proper read of the article and had to lol at some of the bits covered... (had 1 upvote and 2 applause prior to this edit)

Use rivens to buff weaker weapons...yeah don't really need to comment on that one do I, pretty sure everyone knows how much people love them...

Try using something other than frost for defence... we did, it was called gara, ember, banshee, volt and they all got nerfed....

 

Edited by LSG501
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Well, I do i bunch of stuff, like have an Atlas Specter, now that they consistently cast Rumblers gives me an additional two melee distractors that can draw fire and add whatever amount of damage they can deal.

Then I typically keep Radiation and Toxic on my weapons even against Infested, as Confusion procs can clear away Ancient auras.

As for Weapons and Warframes, I use weapons like the Ninkondi or Hirudo often recently and use Inaros in a lot of content.

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My favorite, since my beginnings in Warframe, is a very simple and adventurous:
Loki
Paris
AkLex
Kestrel

Loki in my eyes is fast, cunning, not defensively sturdy so there's challenge in evasion, visually appealing (i love the asymmetry of his form)
and also: his ability set doesn't need much for modules. His abilities are all about self survival and manipulation of the enemy (hence the name Loki) and I've been able to use him in many different modular ways. All similar, but still different ways.

Paris is a standard bow. In the earlier stages of Warframe, Puncture was an All-Rounder damage type for me, and i stick to it. Firing an arrow through a structure, or through multiple enemies, or just lifting one enemy up and watching them fly is quite a feature. I choose the Paris for comfort and handling, and very much appearance.

AkLex are powerful sidearms, for when you need to dish out a steady stream of bullets to chew a small group of targets. The pistol is heavy on recoil, but is also hitscan and can be considered a "pocket sniper" if you like that. Although i use Steady Hands module on it, the recoil is necessary for me to have (i play with controller, recoil helps with my aiming). Among the sound, simple design, recoil, I also enjoy it as a 2nd Puncture weapon and i base all my "short" reload times off of this model. To which AkLex has 3.0sec reload. Anything longer is "long". I also enjoy the "no trigger" mechanism where you have a Ring that holds the trigger finger, but no actual trigger to pull on XD

(Note to DE: Why are there NO AkLex skins? There's a conclave skin for Lex, one for Lato . .. . . one for AkLato . . . . NOT AkLex T__T)

Kestrel ties the entire loadout together. The key feature being that you Knockdown enemies hit by the Throw attack, which is great for making opportunities. I enjoy throwing Kestrel out there, and then either firing 2-3 arrows or firing/reloading my AkLex. Excellent combat synergy. The slam attack also has Magnetic properties, which can be weird to handle, but if you need to chew some shields down then that's an option. The weapon is elegant and swift and i love it.


I know that Disc Melee weapons & Single 2ndary weapons can be used together, but i still prefer having Dual 2ndary weapons and balancing the switching between the two weapon states.

Enjoy ^__^

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Quote

 However, the addition of Riven Mods from “The War Within” in Update 19 has altered this dynamic. Now, all weapons have the potential to be great, which means that with the right Riven, you might be able to dust off an old favorite and end some Corpus lives!

Lol... Unfortunately this actually can't be said for all weapons (with the most prominent being some beam weapons due to continuous trigger mechanics). 

It would actually help a ton if damage/chance-related Riven stats were additions to base stats instead of being like normal mods that gives multiplicative stats. There's a huge difference between: 

> +100% multiplicative status chance to a 10% base status weapon (=20% status, 44% with the 4 dual elemental mods)  

>and +10% additive status chance to a 10% base status weapon (=20% base status, 68% with the 4 dual elemental mods)

The only real mods that do this are punch through and maiming strike's %critical chance on slide... And you know how well that goes. Look at all the "god riven" sales and massive amounts of plat going around.

Quote

I was getting tired of always missing Buzlock shots, until I rolled a Riven with -112% Recoil Reduction. Now the scope hardly sways at all!

You're missing with a homing rifle. Stop spamming scoped shots.

Quote

Atlas: Using the Tectonic Fracture Augment for Atlas’ Tectonics ability, you can construct additional rock walls that will block incoming bullets and projectiles, and also stop enemies in their tracks. While those witless Grineer are dumbfounded you can throw a few granite-hard haymakers their way and send them flying.

Except Tectonics doesn't last that long in an endless even with armor and strength mods on level 30+ enemies. Using it as a marker point to fling explosives at, however, is a pretty good use... though you could just aim at the floor too and forgo the requirement of giving up a mod slot for the augment. With Petrify being what it is now, it might even be better at stopping enemies than Tectonics...

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Mag: Careful and creative placement of Mag’s Magnetize bubbles can create magnetic bullet traps that block projectiles from reaching the cryopod, while also creating kill-zones for enemies to stumble into and get shredded.

Pull forces a ragdoll and in normal situations where most of your enemies are not immune to CC, so it is generally the better option. Don't need to be pinpoint accurate on your magnetize or have to deal with the potential problem of not being able to shoot at enemies behind the bubble. Your squadmates won't be happy if the real threat is what's behind it.

 

In my opinion the author's intent to get players to stop chasing the meta and play freely on non-sortie-bring-your-strongest-stuff missions isn't coming through well enough with holes like these. If you want to remind people how effective some things when damage isn't the priority, talk about things with unique mechanics like Amprex chaining, any weapon-specific augments (especially the "explode on death" mods: combustion beam, vulcan blitz, thermagnetic shells, acid shells), or even the many alt fire modes like Quanta's. Some were touched on in the entry, but not enough. 

Edited by HyokaChan
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17 hours ago, [DE]Aidan said:

Please check out this blog entry and let us know what your favorite "non-meta" build to run in Warframe is!

So you can nerf them? Please. That's what's been happening nowadays. Nerf the meta. Non-metas turn to meta, then get nerfed.
Examples: Chroma, Ember, Caustacyst, and Ivara. Don't call it "unintended" or "rebalance" if it's an obvious nerf.

Quote

a player is still left with over 18,000,000 different possible loadout combinations with which they can inflict maximum pain on their enemies across the Origin System.

Nope, because most players would end up with efficient loadouts for weapons. Warframes sometimes can be built for niches, and that's nice.

Quote

Now, all weapons have the potential to be great, which means that with the right Riven, you might be able to dust off an old favorite and end some Corpus lives!

Level 30, most likely. Level 50, to some extent. Level 80-100, meta or FEW weapons with the proper rivens.

Spoiler

Obviously, this is partially dependent on luck and knowing how to play to your weapons’ strengths.

Approximately 20% knowing your weapons' strengths and 80% luck, not partially. Correct me if I am wrong.

Spoiler

I was getting tired of always missing Buzlock shots, until I rolled a Riven with -112% Recoil Reduction. Now the scope hardly sways at all!

Someone wasn't using the alt-fire...Buzlok never misses unless either the enemy is well hidden (bullet tracking mechanism finds the fastest route, even though there are obstacles) or you really missed the tracking beacon. Scope sway is never a problem unless fighting from a distant place.

Spoiler

The added functionality of a hook mechanic can incapacitate heavily armored enemies, nullifying their damage dealing potential while you whittle away at their health.

Why resort to "incapacitating heavily armored enemies" and "whittling away their health" if you can just blast them in one or 2 shots? While you "whittle away at their health" your other enemies are also whittling your health away.

Spoiler

If you take away anything from reading my thoughts on this topic, it’s that diversity of play is very important to my own personal enjoyment of Warframe.

Sadly diversity is not a thing for the harder missions, which most players seem to run. Examples are teralysts. These are heavily sought for by players due to their arcane drops, and no one in their right mind would bring a Hydroid, Atlas, Mag, Ash, Vauban, or a Nidus for it (among others). There are plenty of game modes, yes, so there's diversity in that part, but most missions with failable objectives (e.g. defense), no one would bring a non-meta frame, unless the team agrees to a non-meta run or the rest of the team are meta-frames.

Spoiler

Especially when farming lower-level enemies

When would this happen? Usually resource farming, and that means efficient runs. I know, not everyone does the "efficiency" method, just because they wanna enjoy the game. I have nothing against it. But, it's stated there, FARMING LOWER LEVEL ENEMIES. That means you're farming for something else AND NOT enjoying the game.

Spoiler

Additionally, knowing how to play to any weapon’s strengths, learn its mechanics, and master it in a true sense can be a liberating experience.

Play any weapon's strengths means either modding for status or crit. Gimmicks can only go so far (e.g. paracyst and harpak). Learn its mechanics means finding out ways to make a weapon REALLY shine, then probably get nerfed later on (e.g. Simulor [no, I hate this gun]). Mastering a weapon is a different thing altogether, because not every weapon is subject to this. An example is Buzlok. What else is there to master once you know 2 of its main uses, one is focused takedown of a singular target, and the other being able to suppress a whole corridor of enemies. Also, that "liberating experience" really is just a temporary form of euphoria. So what if you DO master the use of a certain weapon? Sure its fun mastering weapons, but in the end, efficiency is where it's at.

Main point, Warframe is a farming game. You farm for stuff. You use said stuff to farm for more stuff. You sell farmed stuff for platinum, then go fashionframe, then what? We then wait for possible changes on a weapon or warframe, things that turn them from your baby to a paperweight. Ether swords in U8 is an example, going from a great weapon to garbage tier, replaced by better long/swords like broken war. Launcher changes (self damage) turned the once-loved Ogris into a minor-population weapon (I hate launchers anyways). Simulor was the go-to turned to a shadow of its former self. Blade and whips, with a minor change, lost a chunk of DPS, now being outclassed by Zaws. Zaws also replaced a LOT of melee weapons (well, for me that is, not sure for the majority). These changes make our progress, our effort, into nothing. We get no refunds when a weapon or warframe we use a lot gets changed.

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Uh, non-meta is my favourite gameplay style.

Probably the most peculiar configuration I use is Valkyr full Strength and Range with Eternal Warcry + Prolonged Paralysis and Prisma Obex.
Obex's augment explosion chains if the explosion kills a knocked down enemy.

Once I tried to make Spectra viable. The result are in the video below:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited by TonnoTuna
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On 16.02.2018 at 8:49 PM, LSG501 said:

At DE....You do realise that players often 'rely' on meta builds to compensate for poor game design decisions such as slow focus gain, excessive grind etc right.... fix the reason we need to 'meta' and well we wouldn't likely be using it as much.

Yeah but aside from focus farming and *MAYBE* those cancerous sortie elemental/physical upgrade conditions there is literally no meta required anywhere else. People who still pick chroma/volt/trinity/harrow when they go on eidolon capture are wasting more time trying to gather a good team than they actually save while hunting. 

When it comes to endo farming on vodyanoi, you don't need to pick 3x Nekros and 1x Nidus. In fact, the only frame that would really be required out there would be Nidus.

 

Edited by CaptainZgred
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1 hour ago, CaptainZgred said:

Yeah but aside from focus farming and *MAYBE* those cancerous sortie elemental/physical upgrade conditions there is literally no meta required anywhere else. People who still pick chroma/volt/trinity/harrow when they go on eidolon capture are wasting more time trying to gather a good team than they actually save while hunting. 

When it comes to endo farming on vodyanoi, you don't need to pick 3x Nekros and 1x Nidus. In fact, the only frame that would really be required out there would be Nidus.

 

While I wouldn't spend all day getting a meta squad for eidolon hunting a 'good' squad can make a huge difference to the speed in which it gets completed and as such how many you can do in a night period.

As to endo... I don't think I've ever had a need to specifically farm endo...

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Hey All,

Just a friendly reminder that these blog posts are fun community exercises with the focus of sharing, generating positive discussion and hearing individual snippets of information from players, purely for the joy of sharing. I also want to remind you all that this writing are the thoughts of one author, an opinion piece, that you are welcome to agree or disagree with, but please do either respectfully. To those of you that have shared your loadouts, thanks! It will give me something new to try out as I keep searching for what playstyle I like best in Warframe. :)

Have a great day!

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Le 16/02/2018 à 20:49, LSG501 a dit :

Use rivens to buff weaker weapons...yeah don't really need to comment on that one do I, pretty sure everyone knows how much people love them...

Gotta love how "use riven" is an excuse nowaday. As if we all had the chance to loot that specific riven for the weapon we want AND THEN get the proper stats.

Or yeah I could spend a ridiculously high amount of plat to buy that riven.

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1 hour ago, [DE]Aidan said:

Hey All,

Just a friendly reminder that these blog posts are fun community exercises with the focus of sharing, generating positive discussion and hearing individual snippets of information from players, purely for the joy of sharing. I also want to remind you all that this writing are the thoughts of one author, an opinion piece, that you are welcome to agree or disagree with, but please do either respectfully. To those of you that have shared your loadouts, thanks! It will give me something new to try out as I keep searching for what playstyle I like best in Warframe. :)

Have a great day!

To be honest, I was just pointing out at the way "Buzlock" was spelt in the article. :clem:

May the RNG be with y- I mean, good day to you too, sir.

Edited by Redeye
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6 hours ago, [DE]Aidan said:

Hey All,

Just a friendly reminder that these blog posts are fun community exercises with the focus of sharing, generating positive discussion and hearing individual snippets of information from players, purely for the joy of sharing. I also want to remind you all that this writing are the thoughts of one author, an opinion piece, that you are welcome to agree or disagree with, but please do either respectfully. To those of you that have shared your loadouts, thanks! It will give me something new to try out as I keep searching for what playstyle I like best in Warframe. :)

Have a great day!

Sorry but the riven argument and missing shots on a homing rifle made the post lose all credibility for me... 

Rivens because they are impractical, and then the author's words themselves lost credibility when talking about missing with a homing rifle. Scope sway should not matter if you only need a single tag shot and all subsequent bullets fly to that tag. A much better argument, in Buzlok's case, would be flight speed of bullets in longer ranged engagements.

 

If you want to off-meta a Buzlok and find yourself missing enemies because they hide behind things, either turn on Jet Stream Turbulance and/or equip flight speed mods.

Edited by HyokaChan
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I'm sure Harpak is a beast now with the recent changes.

Panthera is awesome against Teralyst, the secondary especially shreds the kneecaps.

I guess this is kinda generic, borderline meta, but whatevs:

Vaykor Sydon is great with Condition Overload using Electric/Gas/Heat (status that spreads around). You can use almost any Warframe, squishy frames need QT/Rage, but armored frames can just plow through anything.

Edited by MechaTails
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  • 2 weeks later...

The meta is the meta, lol. You can't change it much without overhauling some granular things. Just like each Warframe has its own strengths and weaknesses, so does each weapon and faction, and damage type, thematically. That said, I always preferred to solo Orokin Defense (back when it was T3 even before T4) using my trusted Nyx and a Torid modded for Radiation damage. Between Chaos for mass confusion, Radiation to catch stragglers who missed the initial cast, and mind controlling a Corrupted Ancient for heals to myself and the pod, I'd easily solo to 40 waves. Keep in mind, this is pre-Eximus, pre-Corrupted Nullifier, and pre-Corrupted Bombard. I didn't always have a dedicated squad to go into these with, so I'd make due with what was at hand.

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