Khora has no theme - an author's observation on Warframe's 'Frame conceits

[Azamagon]

So, while I earlier explained why I think she is mainly a metalweaving Spider Queen, I still have to say the following:

You know what I like DE does with Warframes quite often? That they sometimes don't have ONE particular theme or label. It shows openmindedness to me. And moreso, creativity.
Humans tend to want to categorize and label things, to stereotype (I personally do it a lot too, but I'm trying to stop doing it too much). It can tend to make us a rather "coldly scientific" society. With labels, we tend to group ourselves as "us and them", which is closeminded and unhealthy. But in reality, things AREN'T so easily categorized. Most things are better explained to be on various spectrums, things aren't black and white, but rather so a long greyscale.

Khora's many possible themes, to me, makes her feel more like a character, rather than just a tool. Just like any one hypothetical person, if you have to use labels to describe the person, isn't just (for example) an Aspberger, they are also a chess-lover, a great fan of industrial indie music, a swimmer, a Sherlock Holmes fan etc etc. A person is more than just a singular label. We are complex.

Khora, to me, feels like they catered a bit to that humane complexity and variety.

Khora is imo thus best explained as being... Khora.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Azamagon

[Gharsan]

1 hour ago, Azamagon said:

So, while I earlier explained why I think she is mainly a metalweaving Spider Queen, I still have to say the following:

You know what I like DE does with Warframes quite often? That they sometimes don't have ONE particular theme or label. It shows openmindedness to me. And moreso, creativity.
Humans tend to want to categorize and label things, to stereotype (I personally do it a lot too, but I'm trying to stop doing it too much). It can tend to make us a rather "coldly scientific" society. With labels, we tend to group ourselves as "us and them", which is closeminded and unhealthy. But in reality, things AREN'T so easily categorized. Most things are better explained to be on various spectrums, things aren't black and white, but rather so a long greyscale.

Khora's many possible themes, to me, makes her feel more like a character, rather than just a tool. Just like any one hypothetical person, if you have to use labels to describe the person, isn't just (for example) an Aspberger, they are also a chess-lover, a great fan of industrial indie music, a swimmer, a Sherlock Holmes fan etc etc. A person is more than just a singular label. We are complex.

Khora, to me, feels like they catered a bit to that humane complexity and variety.

Khora is imo thus best explained as being... Khora.

Beautifully said. I like Khora's look because she's NOT targeted to one specific stereotype. That means she's open to interpretation and our imagination. Take my case, for example. A lot of people seem to relate Khora's look with European Baroness or Dominatrix, but for me, she reminded me more of a Japanese Oiran mostly due to how her helmet looks: https://imgur.com/a/ApgnP6c.

So I fashion-framed her according to my interpretation, https://imgur.com/a/oFY4jMs, and now she's this badass assassin Geisha ninja wielding iron! And we wouldn't have such wide spectrum of awesome interpretations if it was frame like Ember or Zephyr that we are talking about.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Gharsan

[(PSN)Silverback73]

18 hours ago, Sitchrea said:

I am an author and storyteller. Most of my days are spent at a cafe writing or travelling to conventions to sell my books. Because of this I often notice the storytelling devices developers use in their games to tell the player what they want the player to know. So when I look at a character in a videogame I look for what themes and conceits the creator uses to convey his intent. In Warframe, 'Frame "themes" are more about distinction than moral conveyance, but the process remains the same: each character can be boiled down to a single descriptive word.

Ash? Ninja. Loki? Trickster. Ember? Fire. Nezha? Trap (Just kidding, it's actually just the god "Nezha").

But with Khora... I am at a loss.

What is the theme of Khora? Well, from what I gather, she has no central theme. Each ability has it's own theme, giving Khora no real identity.

• Whipclaw's theme is that it's a whip. In Warframe, weapons can be entire class themes - see Excalibur, Mesa, and Ivara. Khora is not one of those Warframes, as it is only when using this ability the whip is ever seen. Ensnare uses her whip for a brief moment, but the description of Ensnare does not describe it as such ( I'll save this for my next point). I take it the intent for Whipclaw was to give the player the "wrangling" part of being a Beastmaster, of whipping cattle or animals in the field to make them do what you want. This would work, however as there is no synergy on using the whip with the player's actual pets, the players uses it much more as a weapon than a tool. I suspect this is also the reason most players still expect an Exalted Whip, as it follows the same visual language as Excalibur, Mesa, and Ivara whose abilities revolve around their weapon themes. However, since Khora does not follow this visual language, it leads to players being even more confused about what exactly they are experiencing while playing her.
• Ensnare talks about "Living Metal." If Khora is supposed to be a Beastmaster, I do not see any connection to this and the concept of living metal. Perhaps the intent is to say that Venari is summoned out of the living metal of the Warframe, but there are several lore issues in saying that (Aren't Warframes more biological than inorganic? How can Venari survive on its own as told in the Ghoul Fragments if it requires living metal from Khora?). Ultimately this theme does not add anything to the Warframe.
• Venari is a summoned Kavat. Simple, effective conveyance of theme. This is the only ability which lends itself to Khora's promise to the player of being a Beastmaster.
• Strangledome is chains and/or barbed wire. While it says "living metal" in the description, the visual and sound effects present the idea of chains or barbed wire more than living metal. One could argue the thematic inclusion of Strangledome was to give the idea that the player is creating a pen or cage one in which one might keep an animal, but then most animal cages don't string up and eviscerate the animals kept inside. At least the cages I've seen don't do that.

In all I've observed, Khora has a set of abilities that were designed for a Warframe who wasn't supposed to have those abilities. As we know, the only ability that survived from her previous - and better - iteration is Venari. However, due to Kavat AI having far too many shortcomings, the ability fails to give the ideal of a "Beastmaster" as players only use Venari as a mobile healing station. The idea of "Beastmaster" is lost to three other abilities which simply do not fit.

Edit 1: Relevant Addition

  3 minutes ago, GinKenshin said:

iirc the designer and artist who came up with her drew inspiration from a 'spider queen'. you can kinda see it in her default helm and her default syndana 

 

having said that, frames can have multiple themes, in fact most frames have 2 themes, 1 for their abilities and the other for their appearance. for example, hydroid is a water theme for his abilities and pirate theme for his looks. chroma is a dragon theme in his appearance and elemental theme for his abilities....sometimes the theme can combine in the abilities/appearance like chroma and his 1 and 4 

See my previous reply.

As for 'Frames having more than one theme - absolutely agree with that. But notice: those themes go well together. Dragons are understood to be elemental creatures in most Fantasy. Pirates and water are assumed to go together. 

Yet so far in this thread alone we have had the themes of Spider, Whip, Dominatrix, and Beastmaster all put into one. Some of those go well together, but not all four. This is why  the execution is flawed - Khora's theme, whatever it was intended to be, does not translate well through her visual, textual, and gameplay implementation.

Edit 2: Because someone doubted my credentials, here is a link to my work through my publisher: http://papersteelpress.com

 

To sum up what you are saying:

Most successful Warframes have a theme represented by archetype, legend, or mythical representation (both modern/pop  culture and historical) that is prominent in the social consciousness of the player base.

The artistic look/brand and powers then firmly ground the Warframe in the Tennoverse.

At first glance, Khora is seemingly a confusing mishmash of hastily assembled, disparate parts and her powers (visually and what they do) seem to be further evidence.

Even the name...It invokes Avatar.

Widow Spider? Witch with Cat? Dominatrix with Whip? Iron Maiden?  Jungle Gym builder?  Harrow’s little sister?

I have a feeling the new side project that took a lot of resources and fell through is being felt...Steve and DE realized we still want WAAAY more from the Tennoverse and there is a scramble to make up for lost time and the ensuing quality hit.

Oh and deft play there at the end.  Good show.

[(PSN)Silverback73]

2 hours ago, Azamagon said:

So, while I earlier explained why I think she is mainly a metalweaving Spider Queen, I still have to say the following:

You know what I like DE does with Warframes quite often? That they sometimes don't have ONE particular theme or label. It shows openmindedness to me. And moreso, creativity.
Humans tend to want to categorize and label things, to stereotype (I personally do it a lot too, but I'm trying to stop doing it too much). It can tend to make us a rather "coldly scientific" society. With labels, we tend to group ourselves as "us and them", which is closeminded and unhealthy. But in reality, things AREN'T so easily categorized. Most things are better explained to be on various spectrums, things aren't black and white, but rather so a long greyscale.

Khora's many possible themes, to me, makes her feel more like a character, rather than just a tool. Just like any one hypothetical person, if you have to use labels to describe the person, isn't just (for example) an Aspberger, they are also a chess-lover, a great fan of industrial indie music, a swimmer, a Sherlock Holmes fan etc etc. A person is more than just a singular label. We are complex.

Khora, to me, feels like they catered a bit to that humane complexity and variety.

Khora is imo thus best explained as being... Khora.

Too many disparate parts IMO.

[SneakyErvin]

18 hours ago, Sitchrea said:

I'm actually a fluffy pink elephant who lives in a rainbow.

But no really, if you want my credentials, here is a link to my work through my publisher: http://papersteelpress.com

Even if that may be a link to your credentials it is still just a link on the net with no real ID info or anything. Hence why I tend to ignore peoples claims to what they are and never let it be a part to validate their points in a discussion.

Anyways, regarding the whole thing here with Khora. This has gone from something of a discussion about her theme to people having an opinion about her skills and their usefulness. This all just comes down to people having absolutley no clue how to play her.

Fine, you decide to compare her skills to Larva or Bastille. Yes on a 1:1 comparison Larva or Bastille may be better, but what people fail to realize is that the frames arent balanced on a skill:skill bases. It is about total kit composition where simply Khora blows both Nidus (not by much) and Vauban (by a longshot) out of the water. 

Larva is a once-cast skill that requires you to blow up the enemies either with your #1, an augmented #2 or a weapon before you can gather up another batch of victims. Entangle doesnt have that issue, you simply use it as much as you like as needed. With a proper build it rounds up a large area aswell as keeping the mobs standing and not in a lump of bodies like Larva for lowered headshot/punch through chance. Larva vs heavy mobs like Nox is a pain in the hiney due to the ragdoll. With entangle you simply cast it on Nox and then do a headshot.

When it comes to Vauban and Bastille vs Khora and Strangledome the Bastille may look better on paper, but it isnt. Strangeldome far outshines it due to the shared damage within it. Strangledome with a good AoE range weapon or a melee with decent reach makes quick work of anything, something Vauban cant do with Bastille. Vauban also lacks any form of damage through his kit while Khora has her whip that synergizes well with #2 and #4.

The whip that some people here claim do little damage? Uh what? Sounds like people havent played Khora at all. It deals alot more damage than both Gara's and Nidus' #1. Nidus gets close to it after several stacks while Gara never really comes close. The whip can also target the ground in order to hit more stuff in an area instead of aiming straight ahead. It is also able to 1HK anything up to and including sortie 3 missions and things higher than that aswell. Few #1 skills come close to Khora's when it comes to being self sufficient damage dealers.

[Xgomme]

Il y a 19 heures, Sitchrea a dit :

I'm actually a fluffy pink elephant who lives in a rainbow.

But no really, if you want my credentials, here is a link to my work through my publisher: http://papersteelpress.com

NO.... The point was that you don't need to start with "I am a blablabla".... It won't give any credit to what you will say after, in your case it's even the opposite.

We don't give a clem about your job, we give a clem about what you're trying to say after that. And the result is : IT'S A METAL FRAME, ok ?

Edited May 1, 2018 by Xgomme

[(PSN)WeeMalk5]

Yes, must admit I was thinking to myself whats her basis, whats her thing. I get the beastmaster thing because she has a pet, but the whip makes it more of a ringmaster vibe then the snare and dome seems more akin to a trapper role. Yeah, bit of a few different things going on. 

If it wasnt living metal and something like poison ivy or thorn bush or some similar thing instead, would be easier to label as some type of force of nature / wilderness type frame I suppose.

[Sitchrea]

17 hours ago, glisteningray said:

"Most of my days are spent at a cafe writing"

Stop right there. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkUj4i-F6w

This is more true than you'd think. 

[Sitchrea]

4 hours ago, (PS4)Silverback73 said:

 

To sum up what you are saying:

Most successful Warframes have a theme represented by archetype, legend, or mythical representation (both modern/pop  culture and historical) that is prominent in the social consciousness of the player base.

The artistic look/brand and powers then firmly ground the Warframe in the Tennoverse.

At first glance, Khora is seemingly a confusing mishmash of hastily assembled, disparate parts and her powers (visually and what they do) seem to be further evidence.

Even the name...It invokes Avatar.

Widow Spider? Witch with Cat? Dominatrix with Whip? Iron Maiden?  Jungle Gym builder?  Harrow’s little sister?

I have a feeling the new side project that took a lot of resources and fell through is being felt...Steve and DE realized we still want WAAAY more from the Tennoverse and there is a scramble to make up for lost time and the ensuing quality hit.

Oh and deft play there at the end.  Good show.

Cheers on the summary, mate.

[Ventura_Highway]

At this point in time I'd consider her Metalframe, which is an element in Taoism, actually.

[Bao]

@Sitchrea Perhaps for me, and while I can't claim any credentials or say I'm an author, I feel like Khora would be more fitting of a prison warden or an executioner of sorts. What kind is left up to interpretation but I find it much easier to imagine her as much than what you've mentioned in your OP. 

 

Just a random Tenno's thoughts. 

 

[SaferSaviour]

Khora uses metal, but so does every Warframe.

Whips, snares, and cages are all tools of a Beastmaster. Throw in the cat and you've got a perfect little Liontamer. Even her pinched in waist and tailed jacket resembles one you might see on a Ringmaster.

Perhaps if the IPS switching had been kept, her living metal would feel like a bigger part, but at present, it all seems to fit into a nice little circus-y package. Her cage, her cat, her show.

She still needs a few more buffs.

[(PSN)xxav1xl6ivax]

On 2018-04-30 at 9:15 AM, Sitchrea said:

I am an author and storyteller. Most of my days are spent at a cafe writing or travelling to conventions to sell my books. Because of this I often notice the storytelling devices developers use in their games to tell the player what they want the player to know. So when I look at a character in a videogame I look for what themes and conceits the creator uses to convey his intent. In Warframe, 'Frame "themes" are more about distinction than moral conveyance, but the process remains the same: each character can be boiled down to a single descriptive word.

Ash? Ninja. Loki? Trickster. Ember? Fire. Nezha? Trap (Just kidding, it's actually just the god "Nezha").

But with Khora... I am at a loss.

What is the theme of Khora? Well, from what I gather, she has no central theme. Each ability has it's own theme, giving Khora no real identity.

• Whipclaw's theme is that it's a whip. In Warframe, weapons can be entire class themes - see Excalibur, Mesa, and Ivara. Khora is not one of those Warframes, as it is only when using this ability the whip is ever seen. Ensnare uses her whip for a brief moment, but the description of Ensnare does not describe it as such ( I'll save this for my next point). I take it the intent for Whipclaw was to give the player the "wrangling" part of being a Beastmaster, of whipping cattle or animals in the field to make them do what you want. This would work, however as there is no synergy on using the whip with the player's actual pets, the players uses it much more as a weapon than a tool. I suspect this is also the reason most players still expect an Exalted Whip, as it follows the same visual language as Excalibur, Mesa, and Ivara whose abilities revolve around their weapon themes. However, since Khora does not follow this visual language, it leads to players being even more confused about what exactly they are experiencing while playing her.
• Ensnare talks about "Living Metal." If Khora is supposed to be a Beastmaster, I do not see any connection to this and the concept of living metal. Perhaps the intent is to say that Venari is summoned out of the living metal of the Warframe, but there are several lore issues in saying that (Aren't Warframes more biological than inorganic? How can Venari survive on its own as told in the Ghoul Fragments if it requires living metal from Khora?). Ultimately this theme does not add anything to the Warframe.
• Venari is a summoned Kavat. Simple, effective conveyance of theme. This is the only ability which lends itself to Khora's promise to the player of being a Beastmaster.
• Strangledome is chains and/or barbed wire. While it says "living metal" in the description, the visual and sound effects present the idea of chains or barbed wire more than living metal. One could argue the thematic inclusion of Strangledome was to give the idea that the player is creating a pen or cage one in which one might keep an animal, but then most animal cages don't string up and eviscerate the animals kept inside. At least the cages I've seen don't do that.

In all I've observed, Khora has a set of abilities that were designed for a Warframe who wasn't supposed to have those abilities. As we know, the only ability that survived from her previous - and better - iteration is Venari. However, due to Kavat AI having far too many shortcomings, the ability fails to give the ideal of a "Beastmaster" as players only use Venari as a mobile healing station. The idea of "Beastmaster" is lost to three other abilities which simply do not fit.

Edit 1: Relevant Addition

  3 minutes ago, GinKenshin said:

iirc the designer and artist who came up with her drew inspiration from a 'spider queen'. you can kinda see it in her default helm and her default syndana 

 

having said that, frames can have multiple themes, in fact most frames have 2 themes, 1 for their abilities and the other for their appearance. for example, hydroid is a water theme for his abilities and pirate theme for his looks. chroma is a dragon theme in his appearance and elemental theme for his abilities....sometimes the theme can combine in the abilities/appearance like chroma and his 1 and 4 

See my previous reply.

As for 'Frames having more than one theme - absolutely agree with that. But notice: those themes go well together. Dragons are understood to be elemental creatures in most Fantasy. Pirates and water are assumed to go together. 

Yet so far in this thread alone we have had the themes of Spider, Whip, Dominatrix, and Beastmaster all put into one. Some of those go well together, but not all four. This is why  the execution is flawed - Khora's theme, whatever it was intended to be, does not translate well through her visual, textual, and gameplay implementation.

Edit 2: Because someone doubted my credentials, here is a link to my work through my publisher: http://papersteelpress.com

 

To begin, let me say that I feel that all of the observations have a strength and merit to them. There is perhaps some conjecture which could stand reconsideration if a few points were clarified, or certain methodological concepts were re-framed.

It may, perhaps, be better to regard each of the Warframes not as having a theme, but rather drawing upon key themes as constituents of an Archetype. In every instance, the thematic abstractions are drawn from the mythologies, folklore, myths, legends, and the imaginative, factionalized, not-so stories and accounts of history and science. Mag, Volt, Ember, are archetypes which do not draw upon the science of how such forces and phenomena present in nature, or physics, but rather in alchemy and the ever simplistic ways such primordial forces have been believed to work and exist reaching back into ancient history. In the games context, such forces are called “elemental,” even though they do not correlate with the periodic table or the forms of matter which elements comprise.

The standard method has been to draw together an archetypal characterization/personification surrounding an intersecting trinity of things which are inseparable from humanity’s understanding of the individuals understanding of nature’s - archetypes arise from the intersection of our science, our mythology, our being.

Khora WAS perhaps one of the most daring and sophisticated efforts yet made within the Warframe context, to draw together an archetype which is undeniably prevalent throughout histories and cultures spanning millennia. An archetype which was galvanized into the contemporary mass awareness by an effort at scientifically characterizing types of human personalities by means which made alchemy seem like quantum physics. And like most pseudo science/philosophy/philosophasty of the era, was rooted in the metaphysics and emergent ethics which Nietzsche so persuasively questioned, namely the fundamental primacy of opposites. 

The archetypes were illustrated in a work which is itself better known by title than content, Psychopathia Sexualis, which sought to characterize two personality types by using traits, predominantly drawn from works of fiction, by two authors who’s writings delved into fictional and fantastic (or exaggerated at the very least) stories which hinged upon themes of what became named “Sadism,” and “Masochism,” by the (name now forgotten) author of that tome, which introduced the words into the English language. 

This should have been safe territory for DE to try to probe into. Nonetheless, given the rather inescapable expungement of any content, thematic, narrative or visual, which even in passing makes any direct connection with coitus, sexual reproduction or the organs, skin, touch, relationships (beyond the vague and inferred parent-child relationship) is off-limits. Which is fine ... but difficult.  A universe of dynamic and diverse expressions of gender, where actual sex and the sexes (by necessecary extension) just do not exist.

Khora was diving directly toward a rich wellspring of mythology and the triple intersection, with an obvious conceptual target to aim through, the characterization of the cruel mistress, alluring but cold cat, the irresistible goddess figure to which men would be drawn into surrendering their freedom, and even lives, for the permission of servitude (as was the portrayal of Severin in the fictional context of Venus in Furs, only just barely escaping with his life from the impossible attraction to that which direct contact is ever denied, and suffering becomes inverted to rapture).

The greatest failure of Khora is that she was never permitted the revelation of an identity by any means. Yet it seems pay nstakingly apparent that such a revelation had been devised. The only significant reward for taking on the often grinding task of periodic Ghoul Purges, has been the piecing together of an encrypted Journal, with far more pieces to be retrieved for assembly within the codex than there are throughout the rest of the Plains combined (1000 year old fish and Onkko’s Gara Quest, “Saya’s Vigil,” glass key journals).

That’s a lot of work, and it certainly is not worth the Face-Value rewards of a little background about Ghouls with some comic book illustrations. It assembles what is arguably the most sophisticated, nuanced, and for lack of a better word, “mature” narrative yet introduced into the cannon of Warframe’s storytelling. And the entirety of it is “SET-UP.” 

It is dominantly a present history (not “lore”) set-up for introducing Khora, with so many “plants” woven throughout that it makes not firing “Chekhov’s gun” seem like removing all gun type weapons from Warframe without changing a word of what is found in the codex, narrative, dialogue and promotional media for the game. But that is what became of it.

The set-up was so involved, and led so directly toward an emenant, present tense PAY-OFF, that it is just incomprehensible that there was never any pay-off at all intended.

The allusions to Venus In Furs itself are so prevalent that one might never even suspect that they are, (being that they are so overt) while the narrative does not present as an analogue in any sense (that’s craft, well done, truly).  

But where it aims is just unmissably targeted. It puts your finger right on the trigger of “Chekhov’s Gun,” and then doesn’t even provide the anticlimax of an unloaded click. It just vanishes, literally into virtual “thin air.” 

 

 

 

It presents, along with a notable delay in release, (which hardly seems justified by the excuses of planned changes to game mechanics which were intended to be ushered in by Khora’s introduction not maturing as projected in their development) as just a blatant purge. Sure, this is territory that is EDGY to say the least. Yet surely navigated through to ensure that DE’s hard (“explicit” content) taboos would not be compromised. By the same token, the archetype of the Cruel Mistress, Alluring and Dangerous Cat Woman, Sensualized Super Anti-Heroine, Spider Spinning a Web of Peril by which hapless, yet deserving victims are ensnared, trapped, and bound into a tortured death wish to have the promise of the Black Widow archetype visited upon them, the “Dominatrix Without Mercy,” was an introduction of subject matter which, it would seem, was too close to taboos, while not violating any which DE has laid down as off-limits, for the sensitivity and sensibilities of whomever resides in the position of Thamuth over deciding for or against to come to terms with. 

The character of the Khora Warframe was eviscerated, cleansed, sterilized, and was ultimately just NOT INTRODUCED into the context at all. Rebranded as “this shattered Warframe,” (um ... didn’t they just do a quest story, with codex entries and lore galore about a literally “shattered Warframe,” and build the tasking of resurrecting it into the rewards pool for the first three levels of bounties across the Eidolon Plains which she introduced?), entirely reversing the resolution of the set-up, which had found Khora “fused, but in tact,” and smuggled from VENUS to Cetus/PoE, and leaving her blueprint bits floating around in Simaris’ (rather painfully nonsensical if not downright unhinged) Sanctuary Onslaught arcade (going so far in his rabid enthusiasms as to directly equivocate conflict with efficiency).

There’s more than just a theme missing now that Khora has been ... INSTALLED (I think is a better term for her addition than “Introduced”), the whole payoff to a very arduous investment, by players and creative developers alike (in my view, which could be inaccurate, or just plain wrong), there’s a piece of the soul taken out, an archetype that intersects our mythology, our science, our being, made empty, and denied.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by (PS4)xxav1xl6ivax
Syntax, grammar, typo, format errors.

[rune_me]

Whoa, all that text managed to bring this post back from the dead.

[Ragnarok160]

she controls metal, simple as that

[Arniox]

On 2018-05-01 at 4:24 AM, Nitro747 said:

Problem is that they brutally murdered Khora's concept after they noticed they weren't able to come up with any way to make Khora's Impact and Puncture modes any useful. That was supposed to be her theme. Just take a look at ther signature pistol.

Instead of releasing her that way anyways and just accept that most of time people will use her in the Slash mode, they decided to turn her into the most generic warframe ever with some boring abilities.

Also, they didn't even bother giving her a quest. Not even a damn little quest even after months of delays.

It is kinda sad. I remember being excited for her (but mostly worried about the damage 2.0), but when they said they where disconnecting her with the damage system, I was genuinely confused... Why? 

The damage system works right now. Alot of new players complain about it because it's 'too easy', and sure the bosses could do with more health, but that's the point of warframe. You're meant to carve and chop your way easily though the swarms of enemies, so why couldn't khora just stay with the damage system and the damage system remain as is? It would have been perfect....

[(PSN)vl_Monarch_lv]

Khora's theme is Development rush.

Pretty stronk.

[(PSN)xxav1xl6ivax]

2 hours ago, Arniox said:

It is kinda sad. I remember being excited for her (but mostly worried about the damage 2.0), but when they said they where disconnecting her with the damage system, I was genuinely confused... Why? 

The damage system works right now. Alot of new players complain about it because it's 'too easy', and sure the bosses could do with more health, but that's the point of warframe. You're meant to carve and chop your way easily though the swarms of enemies, so why couldn't khora just stay with the damage system and the damage system remain as is? It would have been perfect....

Well, as matters STILL stand, the projected revision of the damage system to what was so exciting to DE that they just couldn’t help but talk about it coming, Damage 3.0, was somehow envisioned as being something which could be implemented in the early part of 2018.  It seems, however, that at least as early as when the revision to the Focus system was announced at surprisingly short notice (actually, forget “revision,” the official term that was in full swing when the word dropped was taking a “sledgehammer” to the focus system) DE just plain stopped wanting to talk about Damage 3.0 altogether. It went from hot topic to hot potato in the blink of an eye.

Looking back at when damage 3.0 got dropped from discussion, and looking at just how much it has (not) re-emerged since then up to the present, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that DE had figured out back then that a future damage 3.0 would be an unforseeably long ways away from being anything to talk about. So right there any ideas of Khora coinciding with Damage 3.0 should have been immediately and easily dropped. It’s development was clearly far too conceptual then, unlike Khora. So really the notion that all the delay and revision was over disentangling her from Damage 3.0 just does not hold up. It’s not as though they were building her abilities onto the Damage 3.0 system, because it had not been sufficiently developed enough yet to try to build anything on. 

The matter of reconceptualizing her abilities should merely have been a matter of bringing them into alignment with thematic characteristics of her Warframe and its story, and building them within the parameters of the (STILL) running damage system. Basically, knowing that Damage 3.0 just plain had to be dropped from the picture for Khora’s introduction should have only helped to accelerate it. Whatever occupied so much time and effort to cut Khora away from, delaying her release, and severing the continuity between the long hard Khora set-up story, and the Khora release no-story (coenciding with the surprise Sanctuary Onslaught arcade opening ... because DE felt like people were getting tired of just having more content on the Plains dominating everything), it just seems too far fetched to believe that it was game mechanics content and not thematic content.

I love the other bit of hacked in ad hoc, continuity skewing promo descriptive they threw in with her release, “Two bodies, one will,” (just because it’s good for an ironic chuckle when the Operator drops the occasional self affirmation of resolve during a mission, “My Warframe is the hand. I am the will.” immediately recalling the now useless journal speculation of Sigor Savah, “I think that’s why VK-7 brought me the hand.”)