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Zephyr Rework


Yiix
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I don't know if this has been discussed often, as I have been gone from Warframe, but I recently tried Zephyr, and subsequently her prime variant, and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. Let's go through her kit. Keep in mind, these suggestions are what I would like to see in game, but they are also reasonable. I don't want DE to make Zephyr a god, or make Turbulence negate ALL damage, I just want to fix some flaws that I believe should be fixed, within reason. 

1: Tailwind, I like this ability. It is great for travel (especially in Plains of Eidolon) where I need to travel long distances fast, but when I need to travel short distances, it overshoots, since I have my mods arranged for a lot of duration. Otherwise, it is very useful, and divebomb is okay, decent CC at lower levels. The hover ability, however, is awful. I don't use it at all.

2: Airburst: At higher level content, this ability isn't very useful. On single enemies/a small group, it can be used for okay CC. 

3: Turbulence: Theoretically, this ability should be good, but I have a few complaints, even though this is my favorite ability. It is stated that all projectiles will be redirected, however, I will be mid flight and get hit... Which doesn't make sense? Since everything that hits me (that isn't a melee) should be negated, right? Because of this, I will get hit occasionally, and die at higher level content. I like Turbulence in theory, but it doesn't work like it sounds. Regardless, without this ability, Zephyr would be nothing.

4: Tornado: No complaints. I don't want it to be OP. Works as okay CC, fine with me. 

I know that many people complained that Zephyr, as a bird/flight Warframe, should have the capacity to fly, or hover. Taking this into consideration, here is my proposed kit.

1: Flight: Zephyr flies into the air, similar to the movement of the Dargyns in the Plains of Eidolon (the flying Grineer things that can shoot.) This is a channeled ability. 

2: Tailwind: Same as before, minus the hover. 

3: Turbulence: Blocks ALL incoming projectiles, melee passes through.

4: Tornado: Same as before. 

Passive: Zephyr takes 25% less damage while airborne. Current passive can be removed, not a huge fan, as it isn't very useful. 

I'm probably wrong about a lot of this, I haven't played Zephyr much, but I really like her playstyle and her abilities, I just believe they can be better, within reason. 

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@Caelward is right, rework was done with very little actual input from the fans being included in it. Despite years of input being given.

But, one thing, and one thing always pops up, and I will always be against it.

Flight is a stupid gimmick in this game and doesn't work for warframes unless they have a specific kit designed to bypass the limitations of the gimmick. I hold up Titania as the exact example of why it's a gimmick and why it wouldn't work for Zephyr.

Flight in Warframe, as a mechanic, uses the Archwing system. Using this completely prevents interaction with the base mechanics of the game. You can't use your pets, you can't use a Loot vacuum, you can't use any object that requires you to 'press X', meaning you can't open doors, carry a power/coolant cell or the Datamass, you can't revive a player, you can't pick up an ayatan star, you can't hack a console, you can't retrieve your weapon from a Drahk Master, you can't even stand on a pressure plate.

It actively means you have to stay close to the ground in order to pick up energy orbs, and it also means that you can't use any Melee stances, and that you'll often be out of range using any weapon that has a fall-off. I mean, goodbye Atomos and Amprex, just completely unable to use them from flying if you're actually using that. This is why Titania gets her own specific flying-mode weapons, and why they're better than the base weapons, because it prevents you from using her flying mode to get right up close to a grineer with one of the high-power shotguns and firing every pellet into its face for massive crits.

Flying is also only really possible on the Plains or the new Venus version, because everywhere that's not those places (99% of the rest of the game) has small corridors, small doorways, impaired sight lines, and so on. Unless you, just like Titania, shrink down, there is no space to fly.

And finally, why-oh-why would you want to nerf Zephyr with a Drain ability?

I mean... with respect to you because you suggesting it means you don't know... the 'channelled' or Drain abilities are designed to be a nerf, a limitation, on frame abilities. They are designed for when an ability is too good to be a Duration, so they put the Drain on to make sure you can't stay in that mode, or that you have to actively hunt down Energy Orbs to stay there (and if you're flying, guess how hard that is?). Because you can't use energy plates, you can't use regen, you can't use Zenurik, and you can't use Harrow or Trinity to restore your energy, only Orbs and the Rage mechanic (which you won't be using because of Turbulence).

What Tailwind needs is the actual ability to be modded for what you do with it, not be stuck as a Duration scaled cast that flings you into walls with so much momentum that even if you leave the map and respawn you still have enough momentum to be flung off the map again.

What Zephyr, as a Warframe, definitely does not need is a gimmick like flying. It does nothing to help her as a frame, anything a flying Zephyr could do a non-flying one could do better, and you'd run into the exact same problems as Titania, plus the problems that Titania doesn't have because of her size shrinking and Ability Weapons.

Just to round up;

Airburst is more useful at high level, because CC is universal while damage caps out. We argued for so long to get an ability that actually does something to the enemy on 2 that isn't Dive Bomb, and we finally got something, just that specific something that gave us close-range CC to clear out melee units, and you want to remove it? That's down to confusion on your part as to what the actual function of the ability is for.

Turbulence does deflect all projectiles and hit-scan, this was updated to work correctly back in about May 2017 and more recently because seeking projectiles from the Comba/Scrambus Detron weapon was overriding the deflection, if you're travelling at high speed and get hit it's one of three things Area-of-effect, like explosions, Flame Throwers (which are particle weapons, not projectile) or a problem that every video game has, which is that you're travelling faster than the game running on your machine can react to the new projectiles and they're being deflected into your path rather than out of it. Not a Turbulence problem, but your own computer's ability to process the data.

You're absolutely right about the Hover, but don't get rid of it, make it better. Use what they give us and make it better so that it stops being awful. That's always the preferred method for dealing with Warframe reworks, especially when you're requesting updates to recent reworks ^^

But I will always be there to say No to a flying Zephyr. There are so many ways you can improve Tailwind and Flight is just a giant nerf to how this frame works.

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