Talk:Excavation/@comment-25942348-20160213011458

The Excavation game mode is a good example of a good idea implemented poorly into the game.

The absolute first counter argument to this claim is usually "Do it with a group". That is a good point, however, there are several Assassination missions and Void Towers that are meant to be done as a group but can be done by a lone Tenno with enough preparation.

My main argument for this poorly design mode are as follows:

1. The enemies spawn outside your immediate line of sight. Just around corners or pillars that cover your line of sight or even right beside the Excavator when you (and the group) are busy handling enemies or picking up cores.

2. The Carriers always run away from you the moment they are spotted. This is a very poor choice of AI scripting which prioritizes their survival over stopping the Tenno. (It makes sense in a ludonarrative form, but then you could argue why they'd even be on the site at all to risk the Power Core to be used.)

3. In higher tiers the enemies don't become more difficult to fight, they only get stronger and tankier the longer you progress, which increases the time spent fighting them. It's a standard example of artificial difficulty to make the fights -seem- harder when they really aren't.

Fights just take longer which distracts the player from fending off other attacks, ultimately leading to the inevitable destruction of the Excavator.

Had I been on the design team I'd file a RFC for a few of these points.

"Place spawns further away from the players (a minimum radius of 80m or so) and have occassional drop pods when it's difficult to spawn enemies in a narrow area." - This makes spawning a lot more dynamic and "fair" since the players receive a visual and audio cue as to when enemies arrive near the Excavator

"Give Cell Carriers a special mechanic to thwart or stun the excavator momentarily, hindering them from running away more frequently." - This makes Cell Carriers more interesting and higher priority (besides refueling) for Tennos to defeat quickly.

The last point is quite difficult on a scripter's end because the only real solution to making enemies more difficult is to add more functions and actions to their AI behaviour, more abilities and movement locomotives to avoid damage and counterattack.

Excuse the developer jargon, the idea is good for "another defense mission"-type but it is poorly executed.

I don't buy the "Beta" excuse after such a long time in development, the in-game shop as well as being released on multiple platforms. In todays usage it's just a shield-term to deflect any negative criticism or faults the product may have.