Nightmare Mode Must Evolve

[MDG3ist]

TL/DR: Change nightmare mode into a series of pre-planned daily challenges that reward players with buffs that increase drop rate/rarity of mods and mats or increase affinity gain.

 

I like nightmare mode, but it's hampered by two things:

 

1)forcing all players who don't want to quit energy vampire mode to use the same build for all their runs, hugely limiting warframe diversity.

2) No more reason to do them if you've got all the nightmare mods you want (especially after this weekend's event).

 

If this game concept is to survive long term (and it should, as it has the potential to offer loads of enjoyment), it needs to evolve into structured, non-random missions offering rewards that are useful to everyone.  My suggestion is daily challenge missions, maps available on 24 hour alerts that, upon completion, awards a 12 hour buff to the player.  The challenge missions would:

• have pre-determined nightmare conditions that make sense for the objective and enemy, and most importantly that the player knows about in advance and can plan for
• Reward the player with buffs that provide ways of faster or more efficient farming and/or collection of rare resources/parts
• Have specific victory conditions that allows the player to earn the buff faster if completed.
• offer more variety to nightmare conditions, that challenge the player to adapt their playstyle or think creatively about build and weapon choice.
• be on low-to-mid level worlds so that you can experiment with different warframe/weapon loadouts without having to worry about maxing for damage.

 

Here are three examples of what challenge maps could look like:

 

Infested Defense

• Nightmare conditions: Full shields, full starting energy, no energy drops, health deteriorates over time, killing enemies with melee weapons restores energy, killing enemies with (or affected by) powers restores health
• No weapons above Mastery Rank 4 allowed
• Completion: 2 points per five waves.
• Kill at least 30 enemies in 20 seconds: 1 additional point earned once per player only.
• 10 points with this mode gives a 12 hour buff that increases affinity for killing infested enemies across any map or game mode.

 

Corpus Raid

• Normal health, shields and energy.
• Nightmare conditions: Timed mission, headshots extend time.
• Completion: 1 point
• Destroy all security cameras before they see you: 1 point
• Spend no more than 30 seconds on lockdown: 2 points
• 8 points gives a 12 hour buff that increases rarity of mod drops from Raid missions.

 

Grineer Sabotage:

• Nightmare conditions: Normal health, no shields, full energy on start, no energy drops, damage is taken first from energy, then health as normal once energy is fully depleted
• Energy is gained when scoring a critical hit.
• Disallowed Mods: Rage, Energy Siphon, Restoration
• Completion: 1 point
• Lose less than half your health: 1 point
• Use your ultimate ability at least three times: 2 points
• 10 points gains a 12 hour buff that increases drop rates for resources from Grineer enemies.
•  

Other examples of nightmare conditions:

• Using abilities drains health as well as energy.
• Start with no energy, gain energy slowly over time when shields are at maximum, damage to shields causes loss of energy
• Normal Health and shields, no starting energy or energy globe drops. Energy is awarded from killing enemies with one of the following: primary/secondary/melee weapon/charge attack/melee finishing move/headshot/critical hit/slide attack.

 

I have put together loads more info on this, including how buffs would work in a group and how it can promote more group interaction, how using the nightmare conditions and challenges intelligently can encourage players to experiment with new builds and weapons, how the buff rewards can enable players to run the missions they enjoy without having to worry about not farming in the most "efficient" way possible... but I know this post is already too long so I'll leave it here. 

 

I welcome any and all constructive feedback, thanks for making it to the end!

[Shion963]

They've already mentioned that Nightmare mode will be less random, and modifiers would be set to a per-area basis.

Something like, "If Fossa is on Nightmare, it'll be Low-Grav and Vampire". This way we can actually prepare ourselves, instead of pumping shield mods and getting No Shields.

[MDG3ist]

They've already mentioned that Nightmare mode will be less random, and modifiers would be set to a per-area basis.

Something like, "If Fossa is on Nightmare, it'll be Low-Grav and Vampire". This way we can actually prepare ourselves, instead of pumping shield mods and getting No Shields.

 

Was this in the last livestream or something, I didn't see this... well imho that's a big step in the right direction!  :D  If you can let me know where they say this I'd love to see it?

[Endrance]

Nightmare mode is a WIP, give it time

[Shion963]

Was this in the last livestream or something, I didn't see this... well imho that's a big step in the right direction!  :D  If you can let me know where they say this I'd love to see it?

 

IIRC it was either the livestream before the latest one, or the one before that.