Difficulty Slider + Mutators

[MJ12]

Games without a difficulty slider have huge problems. They need to allow people to see most of the content... And have to cater to people who want a challenge. Lots of gamers aren't very good at games. Other gamers just want to faceroll some stuff with friends. Others play Hell or Hell Dante Must Die Legendary Dark Knight mode without Devil Trigger or revives.

To cater to everyone difficulty levels are necessary. Bayonetta is a good example of a game with a really good difficulty level array. You had everything from "can play this game one-handed" to "will get wrecked 500 times straight".

Warframe needs something like this. Difficulty levels shouldn't have more than a minor impact on your rewards (maybe more credits and affinity) because you don't want to create the situation where people who aren't very good get ostracized. However, the reward of higher difficulty itself is great. It'd allow people to get the challenge they want from the game, and since this isn't PvP there's no reason not to do it.

But what if you want to spice things up? Well, I have an answer for you. Mutators. Like in UT2k4 or Unreal Championship 2, mutators would affect the level. Ideally you'd select them and vote on them at game start, or have the choice of selecting which ones you must have on/can't have on for a game. You could even make some of them cost platinum and do things like give Grineer silly hats. Some could make the game harder,

Examples of Mutators would include:

"Hostis Humanis Generis" (Enemy of all mankind): At least one additional enemy faction will spawn. Enemy factions will be allied.

"Glass Jaw": All melee attacks stagger. Yours and the enemy's.

"Glass Helmet": All enemy melee attacks stagger. Have fun with Infested.

"Cryo Malfunction": Half shields. You can now choose to use them.

"Teflon Coated:" Half armor.

"Like bunnies on crack:" Enemies have boosted speed.

"Bulls**t time:" All dead enemies, dropped items, and debris moves in slow motion.

"Power underwhelming:" Increased power cost.

"Guns for show, knives for a pro:" Weapon max ammo is set to 0 for the mission.

And so on. This would let people play the Warframe THEY want and adjust the difficulty to what they feel is right. And that, I think, means everyone wins.

[CigWF]

Games without a difficulty slider have huge problems. They need to allow people to see most of the content... And have to cater to people who want a challenge. Lots of gamers aren't very good at games. Other gamers just want to faceroll some stuff with friends. Others play Hell or Hell Dante Must Die Legendary Dark Knight mode without Devil Trigger or revives.

To cater to everyone difficulty levels are necessary. Bayonetta is a good example of a game with a really good difficulty level array. You had everything from "can play this game one-handed" to "will get wrecked 500 times straight".

Warframe needs something like this. Difficulty levels shouldn't have more than a minor impact on your rewards (maybe more credits and affinity) because you don't want to create the situation where people who aren't very good get ostracized. However, the reward of higher difficulty itself is great. It'd allow people to get the challenge they want from the game, and since this isn't PvP there's no reason not to do it.

But what if you want to spice things up? Well, I have an answer for you. Mutators. Like in UT2k4 or Unreal Championship 2, mutators would affect the level. Ideally you'd select them and vote on them at game start, or have the choice of selecting which ones you must have on/can't have on for a game. You could even make some of them cost platinum and do things like give Grineer silly hats. Some could make the game harder,

Examples of Mutators would include:

"Hostis Humanis Generis" (Enemy of all mankind): At least one additional enemy faction will spawn. Enemy factions will be allied.

"Glass Jaw": All melee attacks stagger. Yours and the enemy's.

"Glass Helmet": All enemy melee attacks stagger. Have fun with Infested.

"Cryo Malfunction": Half shields. You can now choose to use them.

"Teflon Coated:" Half armor.

"Like bunnies on crack:" Enemies have boosted speed.

"Bulls**t time:" All dead enemies, dropped items, and debris moves in slow motion.

"Power underwhelming:" Increased power cost.

"Guns for show, knives for a pro:" Weapon max ammo is set to 0 for the mission.

And so on. This would let people play the Warframe THEY want and adjust the difficulty to what they feel is right. And that, I think, means everyone wins.

Seems like a relatively good idea, and would give some people a way to make the game harder.

Only issue I can see, is most people, as a whole, tend to take the most optimal way, if given a choice. I'll agree if you give added gains from upping the difficulty, or adding this additional challenges, people that can't complete them would cry for days. But at the same time, why would someone bother to play on "You're screwed" difficulty, if they can get the same rewards from "sneeze on the enemies and they'll die" mode?

[MJ12]

Seems like a relatively good idea, and would give some people a way to make the game harder.

Only issue I can see, is most people, as a whole, tend to take the most optimal way, if given a choice. I'll agree if you give added gains from upping the difficulty, or adding this additional challenges, people that can't complete them would cry for days. But at the same time, why would someone bother to play on "You're screwed" difficulty, if they can get the same rewards from "sneeze on the enemies and they'll die" mode?

You could give funky badges. People love funky badges. Or something. A Warframe T-Shirt? "I beat the hardest difficulty and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt"? I figure that people would play for the challenge alone and bragging rights rewards.

[SkyllianBlitz]

Seems like a relatively good idea, and would give some people a way to make the game harder.

Only issue I can see, is most people, as a whole, tend to take the most optimal way, if given a choice. I'll agree if you give added gains from upping the difficulty, or adding this additional challenges, people that can't complete them would cry for days. But at the same time, why would someone bother to play on "You're screwed" difficulty, if they can get the same rewards from "sneeze on the enemies and they'll die" mode?

I think the key here is to differentiate between the types of players and what they want out of the game. The type that goes for reward optimisation you don't really need to worry too much about for beyond adding new content over time. They'll just keep on finding that path of least resistance for maximum rewards. There's also the difficulty group that just loves challenges and that's their reward. They play for bragging rights so give them stuff that shows that off (cosmetic stuff mostly since it's easy to churn out and no-one complains too much about it, titles, paint jobs, etc). Then there's the more casual group that enjoys moderately difficult but completable missions and steady progress. And then there's those who like trying out different quirks for the sake of it so all those niche mutator swould work right there.

Where the problem is with the mutator system is how do we get those types together? Rather than have a casual playing with a difficulty guy, a quirks guy with the optimiser guy. That's something I don't think we can truly test yet since the player base isn't that huge yet and segmenting everyone means more solo, less co-op. Though that's more something on the match-making/lobby side.

[neKroMancer]

I like this idea. Catering everyone with same vanilla flavor isn't going to work. Some of us like chocolate, dark, you know.

[G3rman]

Private matches only.

Mainstream online mode shouldn't have 'skulls' or 'mutators'. Difficulty slider is iffy, better to just adjust difficulty by zone like they have it.

Edited February 8, 2013 by G3rman

[CY13ERPUNK]

+1 OP

some good suggestions in there

of course DE already has the ice/fire levels and the additional mission objectives

so i think they're already all over this, but im sure they always want more input =]