Devstream 31

Devstream 30 started on June 20th, 2014, @ 2pm EST.

Summary
Plat Winners: Sinorras Frostosti SistersGrim StarLightSky HOUSEKEEPING Rebecca: 24-hour alert for a Reactor after stream! Warframe for Xbox One officially announced! Breeding Grounds live on PC! Spectres of Liberty just finished on PS4! Free plat! Winner: Sinorras Test Winner: Frostosti! PS4 UPDATE We are aiming to submit 13.7.0 next week! Stay tuned for confirmation! PS4 LOKI PRIME ACCESS It will align with the next update once everything has been approved. Stay tuned! WYRM PRIME Damogow: Q1 - why does wyrm prime have no polarities or extra buffs for being a prime following the recent trend of primes being buffed....? Also why does Wyrm prime, not have a laser rifle prime and only the standard a laser rifle which does not count towards mastery. Steve: Retroactively, anyone who got the Wyrm Prime will get a prime version of the weapon. PS4 users will have the weapon right out the gate. DROP TABLES BecomeLikeWater: The only question I have and the only thing I know we all want to know is concerning drop tables....you know we want to know where your decision on the drop tables for 13.7 came from. What influenced you to dilute the drop tables further and not spread them out instead? Sheldon: My thinking was that with T4, stuff can be easier to get at higher levels, and harder to get at lower levels. I wanted to put all the most rare items in the T4s, so you're always getting the loot that was difficult to get at lower tiers. Obviously, the problem with that is duplication of some loot in a bunch of places, which the community did not enjoy. If an item was hard to get, splitting it up made it even harder. We fixed it as soon as we got that feedback, and stripped back T4 quite a bit. Now in the entire void, no item is duplicated more than one time. We also added packs of Orokin Cells to T3 Survival as well. Rebecca: For new players, having an item available in T1 as well as T4 is a good thing, so the duplication helps users who can't do endgame content. However, I feel like it's part of a bigger issue that veteran players don't have as much to do other than hunt for cosmetic differences. Sheldon: Our first attempt to reward getting prime parts was to make them tradeable, which somewhat alleviated the problem. Post U14, we're looking for a way to get value our of prime parts that may not be worth as much. I don't want to give away too much, but stay tuned. Rebecca: In T4, we added Vor as a mini boss fight to help spice things up in the void, and I think that is a good approach. However, the prime parts are always going to be in demand, and it's something we'll keep an eye on. Sheldon: This is something we're getting lots of feedback on, and a solution will come eventually. WARFRAME BUFFS/CHANGES Brawlee: when are the oberon updates coming, hes my favorite frame and i really want to know what your gonna do with him. Scott: Honestly, I'm wrapped up in U14 right now, and not really focused on old buffs/changes. There are several buffs and changes coming, but if they don't feed directly into the major update, it can get pushed off to the side for us to go back and change them later. I want to make some changes to mods to improve the early-game experience which will likely be done for U14 because they have to be done for U14. NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE Scott: Right now, players feel like there are must-have mods, like Serration and Multishot. We're looking at adding a quality rating to mods, which will then affect the fusion level. So if you get a low quality Serration, you fuse that into your rare, high-quality version. As part of the new player experience leading up to killing Vor, you would receive the must-have mods needed to progress through the game. We readdressed the tutorial, so 3.0 of that is coming. We also give new players a shield mod right out the gate, and that turned out well. The new player experience is a series of levels leading up to the first boss, and we want you to feel fully equipped coming out of that. Rebecca: What it sounds like is a new mini-quest to help getting players up to speed? Scott: A lot of the complaints were that after the first level, you're presented with 25 different things to click, which can be overwhelming, Some give up there, some find the proper information and keep going. Steve: Someone in chat said that the player ship is not going to fix the new player experience. But the way the player ship is structured is that systems get introduced as the ship is powered on. The ship is a way of assisting with gradual disclosure of all systems. QUESTS Steve: That's a huge part of U14, and the catalyst for that system is the new tutorial. The first quest in the game is Vor's Prize. We have a screenshot to prove that we are working on it. We think new players will want to try it too. (Refer to Screenshot in spoiler, dear reader!) Shad0wclaw17: How exactly are you going to integrate the new tutorial system into the game for players already here? Will they be forced through it to acquire the necessary parts for our ships, or will it just slide in like the first tutorial changes? Steve: That's still up for debate. We're thinking of railroading veteran players into playing it, since it is cool, and we want their feedback. Is this interesting and engaging? Do you like the quests? We want to hear your opinion. It's flattering to hear veterans complaining about the new user experience, because they're basically advocating the rest of the game. Sheldon: Trying to bring friends into the game is the biggest problem. Maybe they don't get hooked in the same way that I did. We want to hear what everyone has to say. Geoff: I think the lore will bring those players in. We'll elaborate more on the Grineer as well as the Tenno. Steve: We've only used events and codex entries to reveal lore, and the reaction is usually so positive that we're finally going to do it for U14. Beastking9: Question: do you plan to implement some sort of quest system in the game that goes further than the tutorial? Sheldon: We're building it for U14, so the quest system will be in the game. Steve: Look at the event right now, which has gameplay variation and even some character progression for Vor. After the event, any of the flavour is lost, like all our other events in the past. What I'd like to do is make events the unveiling of a new quest, with leaderboards and such. THE KUBROW SHOW Santaphrax asks: Kubrow updates! How are our favorite space-puppies coming along development side? Related, Jeahanne asks: is there any chance at all in the future that we will be able to name our sentinels and/or Kubrows? I've wanted to name my Dethcube "Companion Cube" since its release when I painted it white and pink like a Companion Cube from Portal (I know, I'm a nerd, sorry), but naming/renaming isn't an option. Is there any talk that we might eventually get to do this? Sheldon: That's a big question with a lot of answers. Yes, you can name your Kubrow. Steve: Do people know you can name your loadouts as well? That's a big part of U14. We have some animations ready to show. https://www.youtube....XBSkaRM&t=26m6s HOW TO GET KUBROW Sheldon: It's kind of a quest. In Kubrow dens, you will find a Kubrow egg, which you will take back to the genetic foundry on the player's ship. Before you can manage your Kubrow, you have to breed it, which will spawn a puppy! You're going to have to give a little love to make him grow, getting him to a point to make him fight by your side. They can end up getting huge. They have a lot of traits, like their personality types which show themselves in combat, dictated by how you breed them. Geoff: All Kubrows will have a generic melee attack and be able to fight. This is the hunter Kubrow, which will track enemies and loot for you, maybe even pinning down VIPs. This one is a digger, and here's one in a stealthy state. Sheldon: Every Kubrow has a genetic makeup, which will change their fur colour, eye colour and more, expressed in dominant and recessive gene type. You can take your Kubrow and distill it into a genetic imprint, which you can give to other players for them to breed together. If you want another Kubrow, you're going to have to release your other one into the wild. Winner: SistersGrim Sheldon: Right now we're toying with a “release to the wild” quest. We'll figure it out eventually. As a responsible pet owner, you're going to have to show it affection. By maintaining your Kubrow and keeping his DNA integrity at a high level, it will perform better in combat. Taking him into combat will make it less happy since it's being shot at, and if you don't take care of it, your Kubrow dies. The Kubrow is going into the sentinel slot, so you can't have both at once. DAMAGE-BASED WARFRAME ABILITIES Archwizard: Do you have any plans to address falloff on purely damage-based Warframe abilities (ie Fireball, Psychic Bolts, etc.), so damage-focused frames or abilities can be attractive for more than just stuns in higher level content, rather than just being outclassed by a well-modded gun or sword? Scott: Definitely utility based abilities work better when scaled to the high end. Some of the solution to that is going back and buff them, but also give utility effects. Once the damage falls off, its utility becomes the primary usage of that ability. I personally think that's the solution, so we will hopefully make sure that every ability has a situational purpose. Rebecca: Will there ever be a percentage based damage? Scott: I'll never rule anything out, We may try that eventually. KUBROW DEMO https://www.youtube....BSkaRM&t=40m51s Steve: There are several different body types you can get. The fur patterns are awesome; we definitely tapped into Gregor Mendel with the recessive and dominant genes. There will be both male and females. When looking at patterns, sexes and colours, the players are going to have a lot they can do to make their perfect Kubrow. PLAYER SHIP https://www.youtube....BSkaRM&t=43m46s Steve: Here's the player ship, named the 'Liset'. Starting with the redesigned exterior, this is the ship that will pick you up and drop you off. This one is the stealth ship, but it can connect to a larger ship. Perhaps in the future, you can have a Kubrow kennel? Down here are the stations that offer different functions on the ship, like the foundry, arsenal, and mods. You can do an instant jump to any of the systems from your pause menu. We also have a persistent party system going into U14, which will hopefully solve the problem with frequently disbanded parties. The universe map is just getting up to speed now. Keys will be visually represented right in the void, rather than pulling up an inventory screen. We also added in a notification message to get alerts and things out of the chat box. VALKYR REWORK https://www.youtube....XBSkaRM&t=50m3s Geoff: We showed her branch combos, and talked about giving her a new animation set for Hysteria. We have a video showing that. She's got a new sprint, new wallrun... It's pretty cool how all these things together maker her feel a lot more hyper, which suits her better. She has a new slide attack as well, which is multihit, as well as a new finisher. CLAW WEAPON Geoff: These leaked, so here are some new animations. We're trying to have this out next week. Each of these sets will be it's own stance. We were originally going to make them gauntlet weapons, but it's so different that it'll likely be it's own weapon type. SWORD AND BOARD Geoff: This will be out for U14. It has both new stealth and parry finishers. Really fun to use. PLAYER SHIP UI https://www.youtube....XBSkaRM&t=54m5s Steve: The UI is a lot clearer now, which will help introduce the systems naturally, teaching the player what they should do next. There's still a lot of polishing left to do. The codex is here in the form of a supercomputer, but of course you can just jump to it. GAMESCOM Rebecca: Last year we went, over 100 Tenno came and visited us, and we had a lot of fun. We're happy to announce that we'll be there this year as well, but in a much more intimate and special way. Stay tuned for a special announcement. We will be there! NEW WARFRAME Scott: Yes, the dual stat mods do have a new frame. The only thing I want to talk about is this one power, which is insane. Our producer Dave called it “the comedy of errors”. The ability will booby trap all items within a radius, including terminals, lockers and ziplines. Basically, this frame can manipulate world objects in your favour. For example, she can use loot crates as a weapon so when they're broken, they give off a radial blind. FOCUS SYSTEM Shin:/Rovak: Can we have some info on the focus system, I remember that Steve said it was being reworked, but any info you can give would be very welcome, even if its only bare bones basics that your planning for it Steve: It's not going to be in U14, unfortunately. Our focus is primarily on the new player experience with the ships and quests. The core of it hasn't changed. There are the original clans of Tenno, represented by the symbols on the Mods we already have. This will allow you to funnel any experience you get onto something that’s maxed. Ideally it won't just increase the damage output, but it’s creating more interesting tactics at the equipping level to mix up the game play. DARK SECTORS Estoree: Any more ideas for endgame content? The Dark Sectors were fun for a while, but after playing them and getting a ton of credits and XP, I ran out of things to do again I would like to speak to the thorough Analysis DEGlen provided us (through observation and interactions with clans/alliances), that for the purposes of the stream we will condense to the key issues highlighted: 1) They loved how alliances brought people together and made new friends (but hated jerks) 2) They were mostly burned out -- partly from politics but mostly from boredom. 3) There are few ways for them to internally reward participation; I think this is particularly important because prestige is vital feedback for a competitive group of players. 4) Pay-baiting discourages people from running rails (especially non-alliance players). 5) Players love it when the rails are not in conflict. Part of me is sad to see this: the best place to farm XP is Sechura. What do you believe the additions coming will help address in the Dark Sectors? Scott: For me, the biggest one is the burnout. We changed it to Mobile Defense which is a very simple game type and easy to burn out on. We're adding a new game mode that will remain fresh because it's more of a challenge. The design of the mission is designed in 3 parts. You'll fight for one Alliance which has these certain sections, whereas the other one might have a different layout entirely. We're not nerfing what's already there. Playing against other players is obviously going to be different. Not being able to reward your own players is a huge issue, and we should give clans a way to reward players for their time and support. Steve: The mode does have a lot of problems. We do plan on adding a lot of content in the future, because the mode isn't done. We've talked about a new enemy faction which is going to play a part in Dark Sectors. Scott: The plan is to ship version 1 of the PvP assault mode in Update 14. ANNOUNCING UPDATES Steve: We've had a lot of great questions. We wish we could just tell you when these things are coming, but there are so many variables, because it has to be fun, as well as reasonably stable. Scott: When we say these things are being worked on, they are. We could put a release date on things, and hold onto finished features until then, but we don't want to. We want it in the hands of players as soon as possible. Winner: StarLightSky NEXT AFTER INFESTED TILESET http://youtu.be/RT6-...SkaRM&t=1h9m39s Steve: These are still very, very early. We've show concept art about the ‘crashed Corpus ice set’ before. The ships in the sky are actually shooting at one another. Scott: The artists doing the skyboxes just do an amazing job. ALT HELMETS: SERIES 3 http://youtu.be/RT6-...kaRM&t=1h11m22s Rebecca: These will be coming in the next season of cosmetic helmets. Only one of these will be in the next series. MELEE COMBOS DiabolusUrsus: Any word on adding an actual purpose to melee combos beyond aesthetics? You've been adding new combos (most of which look pretty dang nice,) but I suggested giving a specific purpose to each combo a while ago. (e.g. Fast, single-target combos that strike the same enemy multiple times to build the hit counter. Combos that do less damage but offer defensive bonuses. Combos that are slightly slower but hit larger numbers of enemies. etc.) Can we have some specifics on what is happening, and what won't be? Scott: I think a lot of the combos do have a reason to exist, although it's not explicitly stated. Geoff: Some do radial damage, some do stun. Scott: I think we don't tell the player that, which is a UI problem. Some will do proc damage, radial slams, open up finishers, and some are multi hit based. Based on the animation set, you can generally tell what a stance is for. Some are single target, whereas others do AoE. Steve: I think the time required to get down a combo branch is needs to be cranked up a bit. Scott: Totally. Especially the ones that end in the devasting finishers with rag doll multipliers. There are some in there doing 2-3x damage. Steve: I get a lot of criticism about finisher/stealth damage, and how long it takes to get down a combo chain. Geoff: I think we need to look at a way to do an alternate way to do jump attacks. A few stance cards that are getting updated as well, like hammers, dual daggers and the whips. REVISITING MODS Hastur609: When will we be seeing old and dated mechanics become properly fleshed out and utilized without the inclusion of mods and our limited mod capacity? Things like Parry, Handspring, and Stamina mods. Many players are dissatisfied that this has been your solution to fixing broken mechanics as a bandaid fix, as the term 'bandaid mod' suggests. Have you considered touching that degree of Mod customization? Scott: They may be referred to as 'bandaid' mods, but they're in there for a reason. We've added mods after the fact, like handspring, if you really don't like knockdown. Geoff: I was surprised to see the Grineer enemy chosen by the community had knockdown attacks! Scott: I don't want to say that the mods won't get changed, but everything in there exists for a reason. FACTION SPAWN ROOMS Scott: We've talked about it before. Just 'arting up' our developer version is not a solution, it's a lot more complicated than that. The dojo definitely should have a firing range eventually, DPS dummies type of thing. It's not our top priority right now though. DEFENSE REWARDS STACKING Scott: It’s something we want to look at and do; we just need the time. Thanks for watching!