Operator Melee?

[GrimR3APER]

This post, of course, is about the Operators. If you don't know what that means don't read this for spoiler's sake.

 

I'm sure the idea of operator melee has been thrown around at DE and I think it may have been mentioned in a devstream some time ago (don't quote me on that). I was just wondering what everyone would think of operator melee, what it would be like, how we come across it, etc. I know there are people who hate the operator in its entirety, but I enjoy them and think they are great as a story mechanic and fun as a gameplay one.

 

I personally think operator melee should be added to round out the gameplay of them. I choose naramon when we first met the operators and there are too many times where I feel like my void mode could be used better if I could melee things next to me. With the perk that increases crit chance while in void mode, I think being able to come out of it and utilize the bonus directly instead of switching back to your frame would be awesome. The chance depletes over time so getting the full effect is harder after the time it takes to switch. Along with the operator's current lack of melee ability, you're forced to enter your frame to actually use the ability. I think melee would compliment all of the schools of focus, but this is just a personal example of how I think it'd benefit me.

 

The way I'd personally like to see operator melee done is through their void energy being directed through the amp. I enjoy the idea of the operator only needing the amp to focus their raw power into other forms instead of them needing to get a new weapon or tool for different things. Onkko could maybe give us some new upgrade that lets the amp focus our energy into a melee form. Having an arm blade of pure void energy would look really awesome, and it'd be nice to be able to choose different melee forms based on the different schools (but not tied to your chosen school). Each form would mostly be only cosmetic in function with different animations(dealing roughly the same damage), as I'd prefer it to play the same role across the board for all schools/melee styles.

Some ideas for different types of melee forms:

Naramon- Either a dagger or dual short swords.

Madurai- A forearm mounted sword.

Vazarin-  A staff or scepter type weapon.

Unairu- A two-handed axe/hammer or perhaps a hand-held sword that is wide (giving off the shield and defense vibe).

Zenurik- Maybe some energy gauntlets(full forearm ones) with sum spikes :D

The color of the energy weapons would be customizable and all of the options would be available for personal choice. I like the difference between each school's use, but not everyone would like their school's weapon type if it were tied to it.

 

Those are just my ideas on the topic. I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.

[Guest]

Why not just let the operator grow up a bit and use the Warframe melee weapons...

[GrimR3APER]

Just now, Datam4ss said:

Why not just let the operator grow up a bit and use the Warframe melee weapons...

Because part of the operator's charm is that they are filled with raw, unbridled void energy. We were given tools (amps) to focus that immense power, so why have the operators "grow up" and ruin their story importance along with their gameplay ones? They are different from warframes, that's my short answer. It would be redundant to have them just take the place of a warframe.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, GrimR3APER said:

Because part of the operator's charm is that they are filled with raw, unbridled void energy. We were given tools (amps) to focus that immense power, so why have the operators "grow up" and ruin their story importance along with their gameplay ones? They are different from warframes, that's my short answer. It would be redundant to have them just take the place of a warframe.

You wouldn't be replacing the Warframe as your operator is still doing what the operator does. For all I care, it can be the kid swinging the sword around. It is just that proper melee would be a nice thing to have so you can do finishers and melee combos. Also, it would give a nice weapon that isn't tied to void energy so it would be useful in a pinch when your Amp needs to recharge or you need to ham a nearby enemy.

The older operator thing is basically to prevent clipping and such with long weapons as they will be taller. I do want an older operator, but that is not relevant to the discussion here.

[GrimR3APER]

Just now, Datam4ss said:

You wouldn't be replacing the Warframe as your operator is still doing what the operator does. For all I care, it can be the kid swinging the sword around. It is just that proper melee would be a nice thing to have so you can do finishers and melee combos. Also, it would give a nice weapon that isn't tied to void energy so it would be useful in a pinch when your Amp needs to recharge or you need to ham a nearby enemy.

The older operator thing is basically to prevent clipping and such with long weapons as they will be taller. I do want an older operator, but that is not relevant to the discussion here.

True, but I personally think having a void weapon would fit better than a physical one just for the sake of the character. I think it would be good to have the melee separate from the normal energy used, not taking any resources to use it would make the most sense. When I was thinking of it, having a full range of melee abilities (finishers, combos, etc.) would, of course, be necessary so they find some actual use with focus abilities. Ex. naramon has a skill that opens enemies up to a finisher with void dash, but then requires you to switch to the frame and travel the full dash distance back to the target to get the execution.

[Guest]

Now that you mention melee mechanics with the Operator, I was wondering if Operator melee would have channeling. Which brings us to how the weapons could be used. I of course still stand behind the idea of Operators using the melee weapon they brought with their Warframe, which avoids the need for whole new stances and animations.

You notice Operator Energy is always visible even in Warframe mode. So why doesn't channeling (in WF mode) draw from this pool?

TBH if we are going to have void melee with new animations, why stick with just lame weapon types already in play? Also, if the melee isn't tied to the chosen school, it can have different stats and playstyles. Make new stuff that's more mystical! For example:

Naramon - six daggers of light that float. As you attack, they swing inwards to hit the enemy, and the attacks will include grabbing them to do teleport strikes.

Madurai - Sparring style weapons with more ground slams that release explosive shockwaves, and perhaps explosive punches like Atlas' landslide. Fast movement and attacks. Unrefined.

Zenurik - actually the most ideal for sword based moves, could have a lot of swirling attacks and be the closest to traditional WF style melee other than occasional Exalted Blade like waves.

Unairu - probably sword and shield makes the most sense. Or mace and shield. Would probs have damage reduction during attacks, and be slow but powerful, dealing more damage if it connects. The Silva Aegis Prime kind of thing.

Vazarin - tough nut to crack. Energy Whip with huge area maybe? Ties in to the school nicely that way. I was thinking floaty balls that you launch at enemies like a Deconstructor though.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Guest

[NinthAria]

I've said this before, but I would spend a gratuitous sum of money to have some sort of Protoss-style Void armblade for my Operator.

[Suncake]

How about something like a zaw-amp? Built the same way as the normal amp, with multiple variants to play around - prism would define the type of the weapon, scaffold would set the stance and brace would add some effects to it.

[GrimR3APER]

14 minutes ago, Datam4ss said:

-snip-

 

Now those are some awesome ideas! See I was just thinking simple, trying to keep everything unison and keep from exploding out into a full-blown new system. I personally don't really want to worry about modding another weapon or farming stance mods. I was thinking each of the different weapon types would have a single preset combo set, but not nearly as long as the frame melee ones. I wanted everything to be really simple and small, more of a quality of life improvement to aid a slightly unwhole gameplay experience.

That train of thinking kept me too simple, however, making each style of melee much more unique would totally fit the bill so much better!

As far as channeling and different stats go, I don't think operators would need that mechanic (it's pretty bad IMO) and again I'd prefer it to be more of a universal thing. Not having it tied to the school you are in, but still having extreme variations of stats would lead to one being better than another, which would make the system too complicated. Having the styles such as teleport attacks and enhanced explosive ground pounds would be a cool thing to keep, as long as it doesn't make one style inherently better than another, allowing people to choose one based on personal taste instead of which is best.

Edited March 20, 2018 by GrimR3APER

[Guest]

Basically I think with the Horde Shooter kind of mindset. So melee should have high mobility or some extended ranged attacks to keep up striking enemies.

The current melee we have in Warframe, in fact, works more for cutting down single enemies than multi enemies. Newer stances have more 360 hits, lunges and dashes, which allow for more enemies hit. This I believe is the way to go for any kind of melee.

Since the Operator is quite fragile, having a high mobility/CC based melee is nice.

[NoSpax]

I agree with the idea, as long there are operator only or specifically chosen melee weapons. 

F. E Skana or any non-elemental Dagger. Galatine on Operator, lol no. 

Would be fun to walk to your frame, press X and get the melee, too. But where does the Void Thing on E go? Hum. No idea. 

How about a amp which can do both, being toggled "Melee active" as a player can decide to use it or not. Preexisting Amp get a slot, where the melee is mounted free to choose from inventory (using rules though). When using those in battle, they appear as a voided weapon - similar to Excalibur 4 skana. 

Sometimes I really want to stealth kill an enemy. Really. DE could/can slap some operator only mods into it, having 4 slots only not to overpower Operator. 

Edited March 21, 2018 by NoSpax

[Megasupremeprime]

On 2018-03-20 at 4:32 AM, Datam4ss said:

Why not just let the operator grow up a bit and use the Warframe melee weapons...

This would not fit with the lore of how the operators work, if they aged it would take away at how the void made them un-aging. But it would still be cool to have the ability to train your Operator to become just a bit stronger and be able to build an AMP to focus the void energy into the shape of a sword like how the normal AMP focuses the Operators energy into a beam.

[(XBOX)THANOTOS OMEGA]

TBH i would love a quest where Ordin teaches you how to use melee cambat even if it's not nearly as good as a warframe and more for self imposed challenges and duels, with us getting Operator sized versions of the core tenno weapons like Skana, Nikana, Bo, ect

[GrimR3APER]

Having a melee less powerful than the warframe's, but much quicker and shorter special to the operator. I think having most of the functionality of regular melee (finishers/stealth attacks, short combos, quick attack/melee only mode) would fit best while leaving the more complex things (stances, mods, actually having a weapon equipped) to the warframes.