Official Firefall-Esque ability requests Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ronyn

Commander
Staff member
Community Manager
Director of Marketing and Community
Jul 26, 2016
723
2,704
93
#1
Greetings Reapers,

As you know, Em-8ER is being built on the same founding principals that Firefall was originally based on. Em-8ER is both the spiritual successor and the evolution to the core idea. Loking back, many of us have different opinions on what was the best time, best version, best feature and best area of our beloved firefall. One thing we can all agree on is that there were some amazing abilities of all sorts of varieties on the battleframes in Firefall, so lets dig into that!

So here is the plan. TELL US which abilities you'd like to see for the Omniframes in Em-8ER.



RULES
Each ability request requires a clear description, visual representation and preferably a video displaying it in use.
Any requests without sufficient description or visual representation will be deleted to keep this thread clean and organized, as the devs looking have limited time to search. So lets do this together. Lets be as clear as we can to get our favorite abilities in this game!

WHY?
There were many different versions of firefall. A single ability may have had five to seven iterations over the lifespan of the game, so when you mention an ability we need as specific information as possible to know which version of of you mean. That is the best chance we have at being able to recreate it. We cannot promise that Em-8ER will have any particularly ability, but we do promise to look closely at these requests.

NEED MORE INFO ON OMNIFRAMES?
There is some more info in the spoiler below, or go here to the web site or here to a vision book section to learn more about them!

Em-8ER is a true shooter that requires skill! Players can succeed by crafting and building frames and bases - but players who want to test themselves can use their skills to maximize their abilities. The THMPR encounter is designed to reward skill by granting rare resources for “pushing the limits”. Similarly, many weapons and abilities have an additional skill based component. Higher twitch skill, reflexes, and timing will give extra benefits to using many of these weapons and abilities.

Omniframes are lightweight MEKs (Mechanically Enhanced Kinetics) that are fast and agile. They can jump-jet, skim, and glide over long distances. Omniframes are needed to battle the strong and fierce Kaiju that attack regularly. Omniframes are the only line of defense capable of protecting a human from being shredded or bitten in half. Omniframes are upgradeable and collectible. Players can have as many as they can build, outfitting them in different ways for different mission roles.

Instead of confining players to “classes,” Em-8ER lets players define their own role. Players start by selecting one of the three frame-type variants: Light, Medium and Heavy. There is a common pool of crafted upgrades and components shared by all frames, as well as collections of upgrades and components that are exclusive to each
frame-type. Building an Omniframe may remind players (loosely) of building a small “deck” for a collectible card game.

A: There is no leveling in Em-8ER. Instead, advancement is more about giving the player options, rather than huge power increases. You can level up your Omniframe’s abilities, weapons, and armor as you progress - both individually and as you help advance the world state.

Abilities and weapons are arranged in tiers. Each tier gives more options, and sometimes more powerful upgrades, to craft. Players unlock tiers by gathering resources and using them to reach higher tiers up to the maximum. The maximum is determined by how far the players have progressed in the world goal.

NEED AN EXAMPLE?
I would like to see something similar to the list of abilities that made up the "Mobility cat" firecat build from the around the 2013 to 2014 era. It used a combination of Soaring afterburner (A directional dash that leads into a glide), Inferno dash (A directional dash that leaves a trail of fire behind), and Burn Jets. (A temporary hover mode that spewed fire out of the jet boots). t took all three of these abilities, and stats aimed toward jet pack fuel and efficiency, to do what you see in the video.
 
Jun 25, 2017
4
19
3
#2
I would like to see shoulder rockets similar to the Arsenal battleframe. I like feeling like a walking armory of destruction. Having the occasional massive firepower is really fun!
Simply a barrage of x number of missiles at a targeted location. Preferably a larger weapon mount than the style they chose in Firefall as it looks tiny and weak.
 

zdoofop

Firstclaimer
Jul 26, 2016
531
766
93
Noneofyourbeeswaxistan
#3
I guess I'll go

"Turret Mode"

This ability was for dreadnaught frames. It made the user immobile in exchange for increasing accuracy, rate of fire, and damage, as well as a little extra shielding for survivability.


For Em8er, the shield should absorb a moderate amount of all damage, and should allow for more rotation (ideally 360 instead of 180) possibly by constructing a "light wheel" instead of locking down the legs. Either way, this could be a very viable alternative to having to construct manned turrets in game. Available for medium frames (given their nature to dual weild, this makes the medium frame ideal for such a task.)


"Last Stand" (or a better name if I think of one later.)

This was not in and of itself an ability in Firefall, but in fact an consumable item called the chosen drone, which formed a barrier that was impenetrable to weapon fire, but allowed players and unfriendly npcs in (in other words, it blocks ranged attacks but allowed for melee attacks). What makes this shield unique is that it was big enough to fit a small number of players, instead of just an individual mech/pilot.

I couldn't find a video of the exact ability, but here is a close approximation:


This would be a great fit for an engineer who could use it as a place for his teammates to heal/repair/reload while not under super heavy fire. It could be used in conjunction with deployables that repair/heal players as well as deployable unmanned turrets to assist in fending off melee attackers.
 
Last edited:
Sep 1, 2016
17
35
13
#4
Assault "Afterburner" - It boosts the player in a straight line towards where they are aiming. This can be used to quickly enter the battlefield, retreat. When used, it will also give a bonus to all movement speed for a short time.
It can also negate fall damage if activated before impact. Afterburner can store multiple charges.

Assault Firecat "Inferno Dash" - It provides a brief burst of speed for the player, similar to Afterburner, but replaces Afterburner's move speed buff with small AoE damage and a trail of fire.

Assault Tigerclaw "Trailblaze" - It shoots out a shot which places a marker at the place of impact for a short duration. Any friendlies who come into contact with the marker are given a move speed increase. The ability can store multiple charges

Biotech "Ghostly Triage" - The ability allows the Biotech to revive allies to full health, revive at a faster rate than a normal revive, and take less damage while the ability is active. Ghostly Triage allows the user to pass through enemies and allies while it is active. Additionally, passing through allies heals them, while passing through enemies damages them

Biotech Dragonfly "Emergency Response" - skill that launches the Dragonfly up and forward at a high velocity. The cloud it leaves behind debuffs any nearby enemies with the Vulnerable effect, causing them to take more damage. Additionally, any allies who come into contact with the cloud are healed. The Dragonfly automatically receives this healing upon use.
"Healing Pillar" - ability that places a green pad on the ground. For a short duration, allies on the pad will receive a small amount of healing. After this short chargeup, the pad explodes upwards, healing allies and damaging enemies on top of it. A percentage of the burst heal applied to allies is siphoned and applied to the Dragonfly. If the Dragonfly is within the pad when it explodes upwards, they will also be healed by the ability. However, the ability's siphoning will not apply to the burst healing applied to the Dragonfly.

Biotech Recluse "Evacuate" - Activating the ability immediately launches the Recluse up and backwards while leaving behind a small poison cloud that does damage over time to all enemies within its Area of Effect.

Engineer "Rocket Turret" -
Heavy Turret deploys a medium sized turret on a flat surface. After a brief setup period, the turret will automatically attack any nearby enemies. After dealing enough damage or surviving for enough time, the turret will automatically upgrade, changing its appearance and significantly increasing its rate of fire. you can have more than one turret deployed. However, you must still wait through the cooldown in between deployments. The Rocket Turret takes longer to upgrade then a Heavy
Turret. Before upgrading, the Rocket Turret will only shoot Rockets. After upgrading, the Rocket Turret gains the dual machine guns of the Heavy Turret in addition to its rockets.

Engineer Bastion "Energy Wall" - It fires a fast moving orb that turns into a vertical shield wall when it hits an enemy or the ability is activated a second time. This wall has collision with enemies and will block weapon fire from both sides while active.
"Multi Turret" - skill that can deploy 3 or more Multi Turrets that automatically attack all hostile entities. When deployed, they will attach to any solid surface they hit, allowing them to be attached to walls and ceilings. The amount of charges is based on Max Deployment.

Engineer Electron "Bulwark" - Activating the ability shields nearby allies, including the Electron.
"Overclocking Station" - It deploys a station that tethers to nearby allies. While tethered, players deal increased energy-type damage. Buff is applied by a tether that breaks when players move too far away. while tethered also continuously regenerates jumpjet energy faster. has charges
 
Jul 26, 2016
1,461
2,441
113
43
#6
This.

Specifically dropping something down that can alter the gaming experience for people.
Jump pads, glider pads and stuff were neat that it changed the game and made it more dynamic. But Red5 kept altering it and finally taking it entirely away almost as if the devs had trouble understanding what dynamic means. And why that's fun.

Like... take this.

That grapple hook changed how people play.
 
Last edited:

luigisnipes

Firstclaimer
Aug 23, 2016
44
42
18
#8
This.

Specifically dropping something down that can alter the gaming experience for people.
Jump pads, glider pads and stuff were neat that it changed the game and made it more dynamic. But Red5 kept altering it and finally taking it entirely away almost as if the devs had trouble understanding what dynamic means. And why that's fun.

Like... take this.

That grapple hook changed how people play.
I think we all can fly in ember i hope we do at least let us attack while flying.
 

0V3RKILL

Tsi-Hu Hunter
Aug 5, 2016
193
376
63
#9
My favorite frames for ground battles were always the arsenal, recluse and dragonfly. their weapons and ability were very effective. But, for thumping nothing beats the engineer imo. Made it so easy for me to thump in peace and alone.

The healer where it uses a power that glows a circle on the ground and a nice heal happens the sound is especially neat too
plus the heal wave and so on!

yeah recluse was a lot of fun
http://plays.tv/video/5698195ebce6912a49/-firefall
 
Last edited:

BunnyHunny

Deepscanner
Aug 20, 2016
127
69
28
#10
Boomerang Shot
Electron ability.
Shoots a horizontally rotating "boomerang" of energy that returns to the user after traveling a certain distance (can bounce off surfaces while moving away from user, but returns in a straight line -unless a wall is in the way, then it breaks on contact-).
Deals instant damage to enemies (number of damage ticks depends on time of contact, so bigger enemies get hit more often, anything above human size gets hit at least twice by a boomerang passing through)

Additional effects, depending on iteration:
-(1.3): applies a shield (absorbs all incoming damage, limited structure and time) to allies that are hit by the boomerang (shield is much stronger than Bulwark, but has a slightly shorter duration, overall better shield as trade off for skill requirement on application).
-(1.6+): applies resistance buff to allies and user,
applies a damage vulnerability debuff to enemies.
If a target it hit twice with the same boomerang (by both, forward and backward motion), the buff/debuff is multiplied onto already applied effects, including the buff from the same Boomerang Shot, but the durations of both buffs do not interfere with each other.

Base stats (1.6+):
20170628122642_1.jpg

My boomerang shot (potency and duration almost maxed out, aoe could be 50% more, range low on purpose):
20170628122730_1.jpg
Slightly broken... 100% uptime with over 100% damage resistance.
Reaching more than 100% causes some strange behavior for the user himself though
(i.e. 120%)
-sometimes 100% damage resistance
-sometimes 100% - 20% = 80% resistance
-sometimes 100% resistance and 20% heal

Video shows 1.6+ version (animation stayed the same, shield effect from 1.3 looks like the shield from the ability Bulwark --> an energy bubble surrounding the player).
Ability is being used all the time throughout the video.

The damage resistance effect is visualized by the player being coated in a glowing, blue layer, made up of hexagonal "energy armor" plates.

Mighty charge
Rhino HKM.
Weapon gets holstered and player gets launched forward (towards the point that is aimed at) with insanely high speed by a short boost from the jets.
While moving forward, the Frame Reactor creates an energy field around the player that deals high instant damage to enemies within an area around the player.
Also knocks enemies in the air (The knock up was insanely annoying. Better would be to stun enemies -and probably additionally push them all to the same spot in the process of charging through them-).

The damage dealt by Mighty Charge was counted towards the recharge of it (as it was an HKM -charged by damage dealt and damage taken-).
Smart usage, allowing to hit high numbers of enemies, therefore dealing high overall damage, allowed instant self-recharge.

Tick density allowed overlapping damage ticks, which is nice because hitting an enemy central would deal more damage than hitting an enemy with the edge of the aoe.

Damage should be applied as follows:
(i.e. damage aoe radius=20m 1 damage tick for every 5 meters range)

Ability duration: t ≈1sec flat
(potential) range: x meters
density of ticks: y = 1/5 meters
number of damage ticks: = y*x
tick cycle: y*x/second

(the way it actually worked was: a set number of damage ticks, independant on the range, which made the ability worse when the range was increased and only allowed for overlapping damage ticks when range was kept somewhat short)

Base stats:
20170628123005_1.jpg

My Mighty Charge (aoe and range could be increased to twice what i have, without drawbacks on otehr stats)
20170628123008_1.jpg

3:43
Sadly only found this video of weak mobs getting rekt.

Sundering Wave/Sundering Blast
Was a Rhino ability.
Causes an explosion, dealing instant damage within an area around the user.

Additional effects, depending on iteration:
-(1.3): affected enemies get a debuff, increasing their vulnerability (≈+30% damage taken), additionally a dot (short duration) is applied
-(1.5): increases the damage dealt by the user for a short time (+x% damage dealt for every enemy hit by the ability), pulls enemies toward user and disables their weapons
-(1.6+): snares affected enemies

Base stats (1.5):
20170628123140_1.jpg

Video shows 1.6+ version (animation is the same).
7:28

Dreadfield
Was a Rhino (later Mammoth) HKM.

User surrounds himself with an energy vortex.

Effects, depending on iteration:
-(1.3, Rhino HKM): increases damage dealt (≈+30%), grants unlimited ammo while enemies are within the aoe
-(1.5, Rhino HKM): deals continuous damage to nearby enemies (with a chance to fear them), grants unlimited ammo while enemies are within the aoe, increases the user's rate of fire (≈+8% for each enemy within the aoe)
-(1.6+, Mammoth HKM): deals continuous damage to nearby enemies and reduces their damage dealt

Base stats (1.6):
20170628123432_1.jpg

Effective stats with modules, equipment, etc. are around 2,5 times the base stats.

Video shows the 1.6+ version (1.5 animation was the same, but feared enemies would have a smoke skull above them, 1.3 animation was a blue and foggy sphere -hard to see through- and did not include glowing lines towards enemies)
9:32
 
Last edited:

BunnyHunny

Deepscanner
Aug 20, 2016
127
69
28
#11
Power Field
Raptor ability.

Shoots a ball of light that explodes on impact, creating a spherical energy field that applies a buff to allies within aoe.
The buff increases the rate of fire and grants unlimited ammo.

Power Field and its buff have separate durations.
The buff duration was set to 10 seconds, while the base duration of Power Field was shorter, but could be pushed above 10 seconds (at the cost of a slightly lower rof bonus) to allow getting two buffs in a row, when standing inside the field from the beginning.

A properly built Power Field had 11,5s Duration, 7m radius, 65% rof boost

base stats:
20170628123841_1.jpg
Duration and Buff Duration in the item description are mixed up.
Duration --> buff duration
Buff Duration --> Power Field duration

0:39
One in the background, and one on the player recording.

A player being buffed by Power Field is indicated by the shiny thing on their back and a continuous sound.

Overload
Raptor HKM

Causes signature weapon projectiles to explode on impact, allowing to hit multiple targets at once.
Increases Charge Speed of weapons with a charge up function.

Damage dealt is calculated like this:
aoe damage = weapon damage (per shot) + Overload bonus damage
If the projectile lands a critical hit, any damage dealt by the Explosion of this projectile is critical as well. Otherwise, the explosion can not deal critical damage.

Base stats:
20170628124007_1.jpg

My overload (none of the stats are maxed out):
20170628124009_1.jpg

7:20

Overload being active is indicated by certain parts on the back of the Battleframe spreading (making them look like wings) and starting to vibrate (not smoothly, it looks more like shivering).

Also (not visible in the video) right around the explosions, everything looks slightly warped (as if there was a layer of hot air around the exploding energy bubble).

Smoke Screen
Raptor ability.

Throws a grenade that instantly deploys a smoke screen on impact.
Allies within aoe get continuously buffed with damage resistance (buff duration ≈3sec).
Enemies within aoe get continuously debuffed (same buff duration) with decreased accuracy/increased weapon spread

Base stats:
20170628124113_1.jpg

My Smoke Screen:
20170628124117_1.jpg

Found no good video and am too lazy to record one myself.

The animation of the Smoke Screen itself is simply a round smokey cloud.
Buffed players get a grey/silver shimmer to them and emit some smoke from their body (basically looks as if he had taken a hot shower and then stepped outside in the cold).
Debuffed enemies do not get the shimmer, but emit more smoke than buffed players.
 
Last edited:
Jul 26, 2016
1,461
2,441
113
43
#12
But, for thumping nothing beats the engineer imo. Made it so easy for me to thump in peace and alone.
Honestly that's the one thing that shouldn't be brought to Em8er.
The ability to mine/waves of enemies alone.

The placing of turrets and whatnot to setup up killzones whever you wanted on the other hand was pretty cool. And it made it more interesting to take on enemies in different ways. I enjoyed setting up the mini turrets on ceilings and walls instead of on the floor.

Though I had always wanted to place a turret on a person instead. Like in the Just Cause series if you had a particular group of enemies that were too large for you to handle, you could drop a bunch of c4 on a car, drive it into them, jump out and blow it up when it hit the pack.

The capability of dropping things on other things changed up combat in a good way.

It would interesting to see what the ramifications of dropping an extra automated gun, flamer, grenadier, etc on a omniframe of a different player or something to buff them.
Ya know instead of shooting magic at another player to buff them up.
 
Last edited:

Silv3r Shadow

Max Kahuna
Max Kahuna
Kaiju Slayer
Jul 29, 2016
341
764
93
#13
Healing Pilar and triage
I apologize in advance for not getting any pics or anything, reasons.
But we all know what these 2 are anyway :p
They both been the same and same effects across all versions
 
Likes: Pandagnome

0V3RKILL

Tsi-Hu Hunter
Aug 5, 2016
193
376
63
#14
Honestly that's the one thing that shouldn't be brought to Em8er.
The ability to mine for crafting components and do waves of enemies alone.

The placing of turrets and whatnot to setup up killzones whever you wanted on the other hand was pretty cool. And it made it more interesting to take on enemies in different ways. I enjoyed setting up the mini turrets on ceilings and walls instead of on the floor.

Though I had always wanted to place a turret on a person instead. Like in the Just Cause series if you had a particular group of enemies that were too large for you to handle, you could drop a bunch of c4 on a car, drive it into them, jump out and blow it up when it hit the pack.

The capability of dropping things on other things changed up combat in a good way.

It would interesting to see what the ramifications of dropping an extra automated gun, flamer, grenadier, etc on a omniframe of a different player or something to buff them.
Ya know instead of shooting magic at another player to buff them up.
it made it fun for me to thump. I hate it thumping with any other frame. so something was right about it to me. I aint complaining if I like it and it worked.
 

Taldrakkan

Firstclaimer
Base Commander
Jun 28, 2017
2
1
3
#16
It might take me a while to find and I'll edit when I do, but Recluse before it got nerfed into the ground. I love DoT based characters (Rip Skye from Paladins as well) and would love to see similar in Ember. Specifically I remember a dash/jump that left a poison cloud, and I believe a sprayed one as well.
 
Likes: Mahdi

BunnyHunny

Deepscanner
Aug 20, 2016
127
69
28
#17
Recluse before it got nerfed into the ground.
In case you are talking about Recluse in 1.6+, it definitely did not get nerfed at all.
Compared to 1.3, it is far stronger now.
It is not idiot proof anymore though.
You need more than a primary weapon, poor aim and your right mouse button.

I do not know how Recluse was before 1.3, but as insanely imbalanced as it currently is, i am pretty sure that there never was a stronger version of it.


In case you are talking about 1.6+ and have doubts about what i say, i am happy to explain to you, why Recluse is ridiculously overpowered (preferably in private, in order to keep this thread clean).
 
Last edited:

Mahdi

Firstclaimer
Jul 26, 2016
1,079
2,330
113
44
South Carolina, US
#18
Evacuate I think was the skill. And ya, Bunny, the recluse had a spike to OP and a drop to nerfed a couple times over the years. I remember the mammoth regen module that allowed them to sit in the melding and still not die. lol
 

Tragedy

ARES Operator
Jul 26, 2016
39
64
18
California, America
#19

Mighty charge
Rhino HKM.
Weapon gets holstered and player gets launched forward (towards the point that is aimed at) with insanely high speed by a short boost from the jets.
While moving forward, the Frame Reactor creates an energy field around the player that deals high instant damage to enemies within an area around the player.
Also knocks enemies in the air (The knock up was insanely annoying. Better would be to stun enemies -and probably additionally push them all to the same spot in the process of charging through them-).

The damage dealt by Mighty Charge was counted towards the recharge of it (as it was an HKM -charged by damage dealt and damage taken-).
Smart usage, allowing to hit high numbers of enemies, therefore dealing high overall damage, allowed instant self-recharge.

Tick density allowed overlapping damage ticks, which is nice because hitting an enemy central would deal more damage than hitting an enemy with the edge of the aoe.

Damage should be applied as follows:
(i.e. damage aoe radius=20m 1 damage tick for every 5 meters range)

Ability duration: t ≈1sec flat
(potential) range: x meters
density of ticks: y = 1/5 meters
number of damage ticks: = y*x
tick cycle: y*x/second

(the way it actually worked was: a set number of damage ticks, independant on the range, which made the ability worse when the range was increased and only allowed for overlapping damage ticks when range was kept somewhat short)

Base stats:
View attachment 736

My Mighty Charge (aoe and range could be increased to twice what i have, without drawbacks on otehr stats)
View attachment 737

3:43
Sadly only found this video of weak mobs getting rekt.

Sundering Wave/Sundering Blast
Was a Rhino ability.
Causes an explosion, dealing instant damage within an area around the user.

Additional effects, depending on iteration:
-(1.3): affected enemies get a debuff, increasing their vulnerability (≈+30% damage taken), additionally a dot (short duration) is applied
-(1.5): increases the damage dealt by the user for a short time (+x% damage dealt for every enemy hit by the ability), pulls enemies toward user and disables their weapons
-(1.6+): snares affected enemies

Base stats (1.5):
View attachment 738

Video shows 1.6+ version (animation is the same).
7:28
Seconded Mighty Charge - it doesn't have to be as powerful, but it was a really fun ability - here's some superior gameplay footage at the request of BunnyHunny:




I'll reply with some more suggestions later, just a bit busy right now - I've got a lot of end-game footage, so should be good ;)

This was probably the only build for Rhino that actually held true to the name "Rhino" - charging through enemies, throwing them all over the place.
 
Last edited:
Likes: Fac3man

Tragedy

ARES Operator
Jul 26, 2016
39
64
18
California, America
#20
Recluse before it got nerfed into the ground.
Recluse has always been a powerful frame, and got more powerful with each iteration - not sure when you think it was nerfed?

My friend oZYRAo is too shy to post, so I will post for him - oZYRAo would like to see a return of delayed high explosive abilities, like Remote Explosive and Artillery Strike - or, if you're unfamiliar with those, like Novas Nukes from Starcraft.

Here is some NH high-explosives gameplay from later Firefall iterations:
 
Likes: Aphaz
Status
Not open for further replies.