Warframe Themes, Exalted Weapons & Finishers: A new archtype for using skins and animations

[o.0-]

For sometime, I've been reading various ideas surrounding Exalted Weapons as abilities and as Weapons themselves. Personally, I can see how they can be considered a bit of a waste when comparing different Warframes or not needing to be just another weapon in our arsenal. And I was asking why is that the case?

Honestly, I didn't have any strong opinions, or ideas to share as I'd read through threads and thought on my own experience with them, but with the new skins and changes coming to Warframe I can see a few things come to light:

• That as long as abilities, that use weapons in some form, add something a little extra than just using a standard Primary/Secondary/Melee weapon, then that ability is in a pretty decent place overall. When there is a slight issue in a Warframe's theme, or spots where more character can be added, what's missing?
• That lead me to expand the connection of Exalted Weapons with the theme of the Warframe and how they behave and interact with the enemy (animations).

So, with the recent set of changes and updates in Warframe, I got to thinking on having a new look at Exalted Weaponry and thinking through some concepts relating to how Warframes are brought to life in the game. For starters:

• Have the existing Exalted Weapons become skins for appropriate weapons.
  • For example, Excalibur, being a swordsman, may apply the exalted Skana skin to any weapon that benefits from his Passive.
  • Ash's hidden blade being functionally similar to Venka or the other Fist, even Sparring Weapons, could apply that visual with such Weapons when used together. Same may work nicely for Valkyr's Claws and Atlas' Stone Fists.
  • Mesa having the Peacemaker skin available for any appropriate Secondaries and Ivara with Bows could also add to this and so on.
• Add the ability to further customize animations, such as Finishers.
  • We can choose things like a selection of Nartas as Emotes, to Agile or Noble Animation Sets for Warframes, what I'd like to see is at least one option to choose Finishers as well.
  • For example, as Inaros, allow him to lay his hands on an enemy and turn the enemy into a cloud of dust.
  • Atlas uses his stone fists to Finish an enemy into gibbed mush, or Ash using his Hidden Blades. Or imagine Rhino tearing an enemy in half or like Nidus consuming an enemy with his Infestation.
  • Can still have an option to keep the Default Melee Finishers, but such options can open things up too, like turning an enemy into a bouquet of Flowers!

 

This lead to another idea, with the possibly of evolving abilities to be standalone from specific weapons, where in such a case there would need to be the sort of work to create new animations and visuals, if it would be worth it in the long run for Warframe. Right now we have Exalted Blade, Hysteria and Primal Fury being the big three as they occupy the 4th Slot for their Warframes and basically act as any Melee Weapon would. Mesa or Titania can still keep their distinctions in their 4th abilities as they are still unique compared to having three similar 4th Melee-ish abilities.

What I see that Excal gains is the Void Energy Slashes in his forth, with the ability to block damage so both offensive and defensive boosts that fit well enough. Having the Void energy move from the Sword to directly from Excal's Arms would not change too much in the Energy Waves themselves for example, then the work needed for such a new look, and as such Radial Javelin could see a tweak to instead be a Radial Slash in a similar vein to a renewed take on his particular Visuals.

Valkyr using energy Claws seem functionally similar to using many of the the Sparring/Fist/Claw weapons, but being granted the other benefits of Hysteria is where this one ability stays in a pretty solid place, certainly can find some growth though depending on feedback on how this ability is intended to flow.

Wukong though is rather similar to Exalted Blade, granting offensive and defensive boosts to Wukong. What if he had a sort of Jester Clones of himself, like the hairs of Sun Wukong could do? Would that be too much like other abilities with minions? I ask here as he has room to grow with his abilities, and feel that Excal and other Warframes that have a signature weapon would be in a reasonable place now anyway.

 

To summarize, the idea is to allow for skins and animations to be available for Signature Weapons or features of a Warframe to be highlighted outside of channeled abilities and be available in situations that a player can commonly create during the flow of playing. For example, as Inaros, Excal, Ivara, Equinox can blind/sleep enemies, being able to choose the animations for how to end the enemies in such situations can add to the experience of Warframe, and maybe spark new ideas of how to keep things fresh, like reevaluating how Exalted Weapons can evolve with the game, and not be such a problem area as it currently seems to be.

Thanks for reading!

Edited April 23, 2018 by o.0-
grammer and clarity

[Hyro1]

Inaros doesnt have an exalted weapon, not even a pseudo one 

[o.0-]

Just now, Hyro1 said:

Inaros doesnt have an exalted weapon, not even a pseudo one 

I see you did not understand the point.

 

Inaros' example is there to illustrate an example of a new Finisher Animation, to go along with other Finisher Animations, that can then be available to buy.

As we can have a floating Rhino idle with Titania's Animation set, having say Vauban turn an enemy into a Cloud of Dust can still conceptually be done, as we do that already to Capture targets in a way. That is what I am writing about here. You still need to deal enough damage to kill the enemy as usual.