Support NeoGAF

[thumb]

It turns out Warframe's gameplay gains absolutely nothing of value from being set in an open world. There's no reason to explore, nothing interesting to find, and the only meaningful difference between bounties and regular missions is how inconvenient they are (and the massive amount of bugs really exacerbates this). So far I've seen literally nothing to suggest that this entire update wasn't a complete waste of effort.

Edit: Well, other than the attention it has drawn simply by existing, but we'll see if that lasts.

Gains nothing of value from being in am open world? I can't disagree more. Warframe's hyper fast and fluid movement system can finally be let loose in a massive playground. It feels great to bullet jump and aim glide down a mountain. And snipers, for the first time, are actually a lot of fun to use. It also allows for big, map-spanning fights with eidolons, who would otherwise be too boxed in by typical Warframe maps.

There are all manner of resources to find out there, and some of them are only located in certain regions. I also think there is lore hidden in the caves, but I need to confirm this.

Just for comparison, what would you say was a good update to Warframe?

 

[Niceguydan8]

It turns out Warframe's gameplay gains absolutely nothing of value from being set in an open world. There's no reason to explore, nothing interesting to find, and the only meaningful difference between bounties and regular missions is how inconvenient they are (and the massive amount of bugs really exacerbates this). So far I've seen literally nothing to suggest that this entire update wasn't a complete waste of effort.

Edit: Well, other than the attention it has drawn simply by existing, but we'll see if that lasts.

Hm, fair enough.

I disagree with most of what you said and I'm not too fond of calling the entire update a "complete waste of effort," but hey, to each his/her own!

I personally think the whole "Land in a city and then go out and explore the area almost seamlessly" is a hell of a lot more interesting than "pick a node on your ship and load in with a group."

LIke I said, I think it's a good foundation for them to build on. I think those experiences (especially if iterated on) can be far more interesting and engaging than picking a node on the star chart and bullet jumping through the whole (often confined) map.

I'm not saying PoE couldn't use any work or improvements, but I think even at it's core it's more interesting on a gameplay side than pretty much anything else in the game at this point.

 

[yet_another_alt]

It turns out Warframe's gameplay gains absolutely nothing of value from being set in an open world. There's no reason to explore, nothing interesting to find, and the only meaningful difference between bounties and regular missions is how inconvenient they are (and the massive amount of bugs really exacerbates this). So far I've seen literally nothing to suggest that this entire update wasn't a complete waste of effort.

Edit: Well, other than the attention it has drawn simply by existing, but we'll see if that lasts.

I agree, the open world only reinforces that the base gameplay is fun because all the traveling in between bouts of shooty stuff is extremely tedious. It's especially terrible having to wait for people that take forever to get to mission areas. I don't mind what feels like a tenfold increase in grind due to everything new, that's part and parcel of the game but all the unnecessary downtime due to moving from one place to the next is not welcome.

 

[Uthred]

The scale of the new grind is at best daunting, honestly after playing for a few hours it feels like I "got nothing done". I know they want to stretch their content but I think they've erred on the side of too grindy here. I mean its Warframe, so obviously there's grind but it just feels like the current setup is almost a disincentive. (Clearly this is all a lie and is just a smokescreen for my fury that the poster upthread caught a bigger fish than me )

 

[MissCauthon]

So I installed this on Steam, then I run the game and it starts downloading other stuff but at a snail pace is this normal? Downloading the game from steam was fast, barely minutes but when updating in the browser of their game... it just doesnt move fast at all...

edit: the update stops and said, update could not be downloaded from their servers..., I guess im not meant to play this game...

 

[Niceguydan8]

So I installed this on Steam, then I run the game and it starts downloading other stuff but at a snail pace is this normal? Downloading the game from steam was fast, barely minutes but when updating in the browser of their game... it just doesnt move fast at all...

edit: the update stops and said, update could not be downloaded from their servers..., I guess im not meant to play this game...

Maybe retry it? I had the same problem and just reloaded the launcher and it worked just fine.

 

[Lork]

Gains nothing of value from being in am open world? I can't disagree more. Warframe's hyper fast and fluid movement system can finally be let loose in a massive playground. It feels great to bullet jump and aim glide down a mountain. And snipers, for the first time, are actually a lot of fun to use. It also allows for big, map-spanning fights with eidolons, who would otherwise be too boxed in by typical Warframe maps.

There are all manner of resources to find out there, and some of them are only located in certain regions. I also think there is lore hidden in the caves, but I need to confirm this.

Just for comparison, what would you say was a good update to Warframe?

I completely disagree about the movement. The whole reason why it's engaging in a regular level is that they serve as obstacle courses to creatively utilize your entire moveset on in order to zip around over, under and around everything at what feels like a breakneck pace due to how dense the room layouts are. When you're in a wide open plain with no real obstacles (which hardly seems like a "playground" to me) all you're doing is spamming the fastest or most convenient sequence for moving in a straight line over and over again. How is that fun?

And OK, so now you can actually shoot an enemy from far enough away that a sniper rifle makes sense, but as far as I can tell there's no reason why you would ever need to do that, so they still ultimately seem just as useless as they always were.

Finding random drops at random intervals does absolutely nothing to make me want to "explore" a space. The whole incentive for exploration in a game for me is to find unique things and get unique rewards, which is a requirement that a randomly placed crafting material will never be able to satisfy. Even something as maligned as a korok seed is infinitely more rewarding to me than what I've found in PoE, because at least they're finite and hand placed.

As for what I think is a good update, I don't think they've ever had a major update that was completely for the better, but I'd say that the biggest single improvement to the game was when they switched from the sphere grid like progression system to the current "mod cards" system.

 

[MissCauthon]

Maybe retry it? I had the same problem and just reloaded the launcher and it worked just fine.

It seems I was not the only one, found a fix on reddit. I had to click OPTIMIZE on the download cache cogwheel thing.

 

[bati]

Huh, what don't you like about it? I like it quite a bit, I think it's a cool foundation that I hope they build off of. It's by no means perfect, but I don't think it's anywhere near garbage either.

Mostly the archaic mission design. Feels like something out of an early 2000s mmo. And they took two arguably the least popular concepts from the base game - escort missions and operator combat - and doubled down on it.

I don't even mind the bugs, that can be fixed, bad design is sadly there to stay. Also, what Lork said about movement/scope of the level - it doesn't bother me as much but it's also something that's hard to ignore.

The plains themselves look pretty amazing though (by WF standards anyway), I wish they'd revamp the vanilla levels (other than Earth) to this degree.

 

[Dubz]

Just downloaded and it's kind of stuttery on my Gsync monitor. Any tips?

1070
4770K @ 4.0GHZ
16GB RAM

 

[Naite]

Was fortunate enough to get the twirling spire stance from the last bounty.

Stance seems pretty slow so far

 

[bati]

Just downloaded and it's kind of stuttery on my Gsync monitor. Any tips?

1070
4770K @ 4.0GHZ
16GB RAM

Make sure the game uses your gpu instead of intel one. Other than that, uncheck dx9 and dx10 boxes in the launcher, use 32 bit mode.

 

[Poodlestrike]

The Plains are pretty fun if you've got a Warframe that can handle larger spaces, but anything melee-focused or relies on dealing with enemies in clumps really diminishes things. I'd recommend Hydroid, from my closet, but there's probably better ones; the fully charged 4 and of course the aerial bombardment 1 are both crazy useful. Rhino is... less fun.

Unrelated, if you're not checking out Warframes on the Wiki you're missing a TON. I've started playing with Mag some and her in-game Ability descriptions don't encompass half of what she actually does.

 

[Zafir]

My main complaint is that you have to keep going back to the town to pick up new bounties, unless I'm missing something?

Which means you're constantly running back to the gate too since when my friend tried to click the "Abort Mission" button after completing a bounty, they didn't get any of the drops we found in the open world like what happens if you do it in a normal mission(they did fortunately keep the bounty reward though).

 

[ooteeni]

I completed the tutorial a couple of years back, But Eidolon is still locked out for me.
No idea how to unlock it. Is there anything else i'm supposed to do?

on another note also have have a problem with the quest Howl of the Kubrow quest which never gave me a incubator power cell. ( I ended up saving up to buy a blueprint for it only to find out i needed some crystal that i'm unable to get as the location is also locked out to me.

 

[spindoctor]

Warframe's hyper fast and fluid movement system can finally be let loose in a massive playground.

Why oh why did they nerf zorencoptering...

 

[Uthred]

The Plains are pretty fun if you've got a Warframe that can handle larger spaces, but anything melee-focused or relies on dealing with enemies in clumps really diminishes things. I'd recommend Hydroid, from my closet, but there's probably better ones; the fully charged 4 and of course the aerial bombardment 1 are both crazy useful. Rhino is... less fun.

Unrelated, if you're not checking out Warframes on the Wiki you're missing a TON. I've started playing with Mag some and her in-game Ability descriptions don't encompass half of what she actually does.

Yeah the in-game information is pretty bad, its better than it used to be but the bar was so low as to make that meaningless. They've more or less totally abrogated responsibility for full information and teaching the game to the "community".

So far I've found any frames with big AOE effects seem to be a good bet for the plains, Ember, Equinox and Nova all feel as "powerful" as normal. Nidus is pretty good for long runs. Honestly considering the need to farm random stuff I almost feel Volt's speed boost is more annoying than helpful on the plains. It would be nice if they expanded the range of stuff like Animal Instinct, etc. when on the plains. They're sort of worthless at the moment (apart from those find the cache bits of bounties, very handy there)

 

[ViviOggi]

My main complaint is that you have to keep going back to the town to pick up new bounties, unless I'm missing something?

Which means you're constantly running back to the gate too since when my friend tried to click the "Abort Mission" button after completing a bounty, they didn't get any of the drops we found in the open world like what happens if you do it in a normal mission(they did fortunately keep the bounty reward though).

My biggest issue as well, that loop just gets tedious real fast, especially with the (still) awful bounty rewards. I swear in one of the pre-release streams Rebb said you could just load up on bounties and then venture out into the plains so I hope they're implementing that soon

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

I feel you should be able to load up bounties then join a public game where they're all active. The current set-up seems awful if you're playing solo, unless I'm missing something you just need to join on the plains and hope there's an active bounty?

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

So I downloaded this to give it a (second) shot before Destiny 2 releases on PC.

Only played the first tutorial level so far(which I think is about as far as I got however many years ago the last time I tried it.)

Pros:
+Very fast player character movement which is kind of nice.

Cons:

Numerous technical issues, like it automatically lowering my screen resolution to 1280x720, with no option to change in the launcher before entering the game for the first time. It defaulted to windowed as well (not fullscreen windowed mind you), if I recall correctly, which was also crap. Oh,and the default graphics settings were well below what my machine should be able to handle, so until I tweaked those, the game looked pretty bad.

Only partial or minimal controller support. Like really? (At least that what Steam big picture is telling me.) The tutorial prompts did not change when I plugged in the controller partway through the level. Relatively minor issue/bug, but still annoying.

Linking to Twitch Prime for goodies is down, and apparently has been down all day. Which is extremely disappointing, because I want my freebies, whatever they are exactly.

Also, the game didn't remember that I had played it at least for a couple minutes at one point years ago (purely through Steam, I'm sure). I had to create a brand new account.


So yeah, not the best second chance at a first impression Warframe. I'll give it a bit more time, but uh, yeah. The brand new player experience here could see a lot of improvement, especially as a F2P title. They're not exactly roping me in.

 

[Xyber]

I would consider it a good thing that it launches in a state where most people would be able to load in just fine and then tweak the settings when you get in. *Shrug* Especially when it's a F2P game that people will install to toasters.

Controller complaint is valid since it has a console version, but I personally wouldn't really want to play this on a pad.

And some stuff like the twitch prime connection being a busted should probably be working soon enough again. Some stuff will break when you have a huge influx of players.

 

[Freeman76]

Gains nothing of value from being in am open world? I can't disagree more. Warframe's hyper fast and fluid movement system can finally be let loose in a massive playground. It feels great to bullet jump and aim glide down a mountain. And snipers, for the first time, are actually a lot of fun to use. It also allows for big, map-spanning fights with eidolons, who would otherwise be too boxed in by typical Warframe maps.

There are all manner of resources to find out there, and some of them are only located in certain regions. I also think there is lore hidden in the caves, but I need to confirm this.

Just for comparison, what would you say was a good update to Warframe?

Most people need more that just bullet jump/glide down a mountain.

 

[LiQuid!]

I'm sure it's been answered a million times but can anybody tell me how to access the locked plains? I logged in briefly last night to do a couple missions but couldn't figure it out before I had to stop. Also somehow managed to screw up my focus system. I didn't realize the game was asking me to re-pick a school and I picked one I don't have a lens for or points in. Whoops.

 

[Sygma]

"Guys how the fuck do i get to mars's junction now that the path is locked by Eidolon. I need to get there to have the archwing quest and whatnot but yeah.

Should I go in the plains in order to hope that there's an exit leading to whatever is before the junction ?"


Go to Cetus and do a bounty in the Plains, I think that will unlock the node and you can continue on.

Ty ! worked

Numerous technical issues, like it automatically lowering my screen resolution to 1280x720, with no option to change in the launcher before entering the game for the first time. It defaulted to windowed as well (not fullscreen windowed mind you), if I recall correctly, which was also crap. Oh,and the default graphics settings were well below what my machine should be able to handle, so until I tweaked those, the game looked pretty bad.

Like warframe is the only game around starting in windowed mode with modest graphical settings, which you only change once and then you wont have to do it ever again ?

its just pc gaming in a nutshell

 

[Night Terror]

So I downloaded this to give it a (second) shot before Destiny 2 releases on PC.

Only played the first tutorial level so far(which I think is about as far as I got however many years ago the last time I tried it.)

Pros:
+Very fast player character movement which is kind of nice.

Cons:

Numerous technical issues, like it automatically lowering my screen resolution to 1280x720, with no option to change in the launcher before entering the game for the first time. It defaulted to windowed as well (not fullscreen windowed mind you), if I recall correctly, which was also crap. Oh,and the default graphics settings were well below what my machine should be able to handle, so until I tweaked those, the game looked pretty bad.

Only partial or minimal controller support. Like really? (At least that what Steam big picture is telling me.) The tutorial prompts did not change when I plugged in the controller partway through the level. Relatively minor issue/bug, but still annoying.

Linking to Twitch Prime for goodies is down, and apparently has been down all day. Which is extremely disappointing, because I want my freebies, whatever they are exactly.

Also, the game didn't remember that I had played it at least for a couple minutes at one point years ago (purely through Steam, I'm sure). I had to create a brand new account.


So yeah, not the best second chance at a first impression Warframe. I'll give it a bit more time, but uh, yeah. The brand new player experience here could see a lot of improvement, especially as a F2P title. They're not exactly roping me in.

Hmm

By parts on those cons:
-You can choose to use Fullscreen or not on the very launcher. I'll agree that it's not really visible.

-Settings are indeed always at a default value you need to change, which is one of my biggest peeves with Warframe. There should totally be an Options setting in the login screen.

-Controller support is *almost* fully available outside BPM (where a few important systems don't support it. Mainly Mods, Foundry, and Focus.) , but on Steam Big Picture mode, which uses the same Menus, UI and schematics as the Xbox One version of the game, it's 100% supported. Anyways their plan as of late is to use a diegetic UI for all platforms, so it'd be like Destiny 2. We'll see if the UI team can grab some time for that.

-They had to turn off the Twicth stuff because the servers kept getting nagged. Sucks, but their server capacity is strained.

-Warframe uses an outside of Steam login system, so that's not the game's fault really. Even if you had played a few minutes anyways you'd be taken directly into Vor's Prize again, so it wouldn't matter.

 

[Niceguydan8]

Mostly the archaic mission design. Feels like something out of an early 2000s mmo. And they took two arguably the least popular concepts from the base game - escort missions and operator combat - and doubled down on it.

I don't even mind the bugs, that can be fixed, bad design is sadly there to stay. Also, what Lork said about movement/scope of the level - it doesn't bother me as much but it's also something that's hard to ignore.

The plains themselves look pretty amazing though (by WF standards anyway), I wish they'd revamp the vanilla levels (other than Earth) to this degree.

I personally would rather them try to improve stuff I'm not fond of as opposed to ditching it. Operator combat, while still not amazing is vastly improved in my opinion. Even the switch between the warframe and operator feels a lot better in my opinion.

 

[Uthred]

Seeing a lot of well articulated complaints about the new grind, whether it be rep acquisition with Quills or Cetus, the archwing consumables, the construction cost for amps and zaws. Hopefully DE take this feedback into account, though history suggests that may be a little optimistic.

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

The archwing stuff is a step too far in my opinion. This game is all about mobility but now I'm going out of my way to collect resources just to travel at a reasonable speed (assuming I don't get knocked out of the air ten seconds later). The archwing mechanism is heavy enough on resources. Once that's built, allow unlimited archwing deployments on a timer.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Sounds great, can't wait for the ps4 patch.

For all the grumpy gills, remember how much the game has evolved since launch. This will do the same.

 

[Glitchesarecool]

Sounds great, can't wait for the ps4 patch.

For all the grumpy gills, remember how much the game has evolved since launch. This will do the same.

Certainly. Reb posted on Twitter they'll be adjusting lots of things on Monday. It just sucks that it requires waiting on something that seems to be so basic.

I mean you have to think about how modding has changed over time, how bosses have been reworked, how the game generally shifts for the better. The PC crowd gets to play the bleeding edge of it, and sometimes it's really rough. But DE will learn, hopefully.

For now, I'll just quietly fish.

 

[Uthred]

Certainly. Reb posted on Twitter they'll be adjusting lots of things on Monday. It just sucks that it requires waiting on something that seems to be so basic.

I mean you have to think about how modding has changed over time, how bosses have been reworked, how the game generally shifts for the better. The PC crowd gets to play the bleeding edge of it, and sometimes it's really rough. But DE will learn, hopefully.

For now, I'll just quietly fish.

I think what gets a lot of people down is that they keep on making the same mistakes again and again, especially with this it feels like no one played through the content normally because it is so clearly too grindy. I'm hoping the upcoming changes are good, but the grind is the one area where they consistently fall down (e.g. Hema, Sibear, mission rewards, etc.) Like yourself, going to fish and mine and hold off handing anything in until the rebalance hits.

 

[Sarcasm]

I'm sure it's been answered a million times but can anybody tell me how to access the locked plains? I logged in briefly last night to do a couple missions but couldn't figure it out before I had to stop. Also somehow managed to screw up my focus system. I didn't realize the game was asking me to re-pick a school and I picked one I don't have a lens for or points in. Whoops.

You have to start in one node before it named Cetus. Do a bounty then you get the MQ for it.

 

[Manzoon]

I think what gets a lot of people down is that they keep on making the same mistakes again and again, especially with this it feels like no one played through the content normally because it is so clearly too grindy. I'm hoping the upcoming changes are good, but the grind is the one area where they consistently fall down (e.g. Hema, Sibear, mission rewards, etc.) Like yourself, going to fish and mine and hold off handing anything in until the rebalance hits.

There was a dev streams leading up to release where they were discussing the in game resource economy, and how they put so many new resources in that they got ahead of themselves with the grind. They've apparently balanced it during pre-release once, so hopefully they do so again.

I really like the foundation they're building here and I think most of the frustrations will be gone once I can summon my archwing on the plains (getting back to cetus quickly, scouting for the teralyst between phases). Running everywhere on foot hasn't been a huge annoyance yet, I just pull out my mining zapper and listen for pings.

 

[Uthred]

There was a dev streams leading up to release where they were discussing the in game resource economy, and how they put so many new resources in that they got ahead of themselves with the grind. They've apparently balanced it during pre-release once, so hopefully they do so again.

I really like the foundation they're building here and I think most of the frustrations will be gone once I can summon my archwing on the plains (getting back to cetus quickly, scouting for the teralyst between phases). Running everywhere on foot hasn't been a huge annoyance yet, I just pull out my mining zapper and listen for pings.

Well so far their rebalance was changing the 50 endo reward to 200, 200 endo as a reward for a high level 15-30 minute mission is a joke. Five minutes in a dark sector extraction will get you more or less double that amount of Endo. It's this kind of seeming ignorance of how the various bits of their game function that makes it hard to put much faith in their promises to rebalance things.

 

[Conkerkid11]

I'm not quite sure I get this. I went out into the plains, it automatically put me in a squad, so we ran around killing random stuff and doing random objectives. People left and joined randomly. I assumed this was some drop in drop out stuff. Now I'm stuck waiting for my squad to come back to the door? This seems like dumb game design. There's no set objective besides just doing whatever, and they still force the whole squad to go back to the city? Wtf?

 

[Niceguydan8]

I'm not quite sure I get this. I went out into the plains, it automatically put me in a squad, so we ran around killing random stuff and doing random objectives. People left and joined randomly. I assumed this was some drop in drop out stuff. Now I'm stuck waiting for my squad to come back to the door? This seems like dumb game design. There's no set objective besides just doing whatever, and they still force the whole squad to go back to the city? Wtf?

There is free roam stuff (which sounds like what you're doing) and then there are set missions. You need to talk to a guy near the door that leads to the Plains from Cetus, the city. He gives out set missions ("bounties") that give you a set objective.

He also has the quest for the new frame blueprint that he will give you early on.

 

[Moldiver]

So, I can't get this game to go fullscreen, got it all set and it minimises then goes windowed. Did anyone get this?

 

[Strider]

I'm not quite sure I get this. I went out into the plains, it automatically put me in a squad, so we ran around killing random stuff and doing random objectives. People left and joined randomly. I assumed this was some drop in drop out stuff. Now I'm stuck waiting for my squad to come back to the door? This seems like dumb game design. There's no set objective besides just doing whatever, and they still force the whole squad to go back to the city? Wtf?

to the bolded... yes, at the moment. It's def not ideal so I imagine they will change that because the plains need single player extraction badly.

 

[bati]

I'm loving the new Zenurik, can't wait to fully upgrade the Energized Dash. Energy orb increase is pretty great as well but I wish I had put more points into Dash first.

 

[Wanderer5]

So got back on finally since I gotten that Tentacle Swarm pack for the cheap price, and just got access to the plains. I barely understand what is going on.XD

I pretty much focusing on Hydroid Prime along with the two weapons from the pack for now. I think there are some goodies I can look into from the Prime Accessories also.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Weren't you able to reroll the mod slots on weapons and such in this game? How do you go about doing that now? I got an expensive drain mod and I want to see if I can get lucky to use it.

 

[Lork]

Weren't you able to reroll the mod slots on weapons and such in this game? How do you go about doing that now? I got an expensive drain mod and I want to see if I can get lucky to use it.

There's nothing random about mod slots, so you can't "reroll" them. However there is an item called a 'Forma' that you can use on a fully leveled weapon or warframe to add a polarity slot of your choice and reset its level, which may be what you're thinking of.

 

[Uthred]

Weren't you able to reroll the mod slots on weapons and such in this game? How do you go about doing that now? I got an expensive drain mod and I want to see if I can get lucky to use it.

You don't re-roll them, but you can add polaritys (the little symbols that when you match them with the mods symbol give you a discount). To do that you need to use an item called a Forma, you can get forma three different ways:

1. Get the blueprint to drop and craft it, the blueprints drop from relic missions and alerts (they take 24 hours to build)
2. Some high level missions drop fully constructed forma
3. But them in the store, a three pack is 35 platinum.

Once you have a forma there are a few steps needed to use it, well one step really. The weapon needs to be max level. The from the mod screen for the weapon select the "Actions" button down the bottom and select Polarisation from the options. You can then select which mod slot and which polarity you want. Adding a forma to a weapon resets its level so you'll need to level it back to 30.

You can also add an Orokin catalyst to a weapon to double the number of mod points it has. Orokin catalysts can be made, the blueprint only drops from alerts and rare invasions IIRC, or you can buy them in the store for 20 plat.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Thanks for the info.

These are what I was talking about. Maybe it's when I was crafting a weapon when I first started. Though I remember trying a few times, I probably went through a lot of materials not knowing what I was doing. This was years ago, so maybe they let new players try a few times and I though it was something you could do normally. I only have 1 rifle, 1 bow, 2 pistols, and 1 sword.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

So I've played a couple hours now through more missions and I guess defeated that first boss guy (Vor?).

I'm still mostly turned off by this game, despite wanting to give it a fair shake.

As a complete neophyte sort of buying into some hype about the new update, here are (some) of my problems:

1) Nonsensical story (and poor follow up introduction levels.) Just sort of tosses you in and expects you to play, but I really have no idea whats going on.

2) Forced matchmaking after the very first level(?) The game dropped me in with 1-3 other people for these missions, who are clearly on alt accounts or something just speedrunning to the objectives, blowing past everything while I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on. This does not a good experience make.

3) Secondary systems (i.e. everything not combat) are not explained well, if at all. You just sort of unlock them over the course of the few missions, and seem to be expected to know how to use them (despite them still seeming fairly limited.)

After getting over the (mostly technical) issues from the other day, none of these things are motivating me to stay (and potentially spend money), which seems completely counter-intuitive for a F2P title. I don't mind complex games, but I do mind opaque ones, which is what Warframe introduces itself as. I don't expect to know every detail about every system early on, but I should be provided with a basic understanding - Warframe glosses over even that. I don't want to (and shouldn't) have to read a wiki, or watch videos/streams just to know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing within the first 2 hours of gameplay. Especially for a seemingly fast-paced action-shooter (with MMO/RPG elements).

I mean, when EVE Online's tutorial is better (albeit still not very good in context), you're doing something wrong, despite what else you may be doing right.

That's my rant for now.

Maybe I'll play more, but I feel like I'm more likely to dive into Destiny 2 on PC in a couple weeks here, which will probably be a more polished experience, even if the underlying game systems aren't as good under scrutiny. Maybe it'll be a Diablo III vs. Path of Exile dichotomy with Destiny 2 and Warframe.

 

[NullPointer]

As a complete neophyte sort of buying into some hype about the new update, here are (some) of my problems:

Just a few quick starter tips:

* Spend some time with the in-game Codex. There's a lot there and it can help get you started on some of the basics and fill in some of the lore if you're interested.

* There is no "forced" matchmaking, but you're probably set up to "Public" for matchmaking by default. You can change that whenever you want in the menus. I'd recommend running solo for a little while to get the hang of things - and you can actually solo a decent amount, and far more as you gain experience and build out your arsenal. You can also pause in Solo mode, which is handy. You're right that public matchmaking can set you up with long time players that know the missions and tilesets backwards and forwards and who tend to speed through things far too often.

* The wiki is a necessity to understand how Warframe works, no matter how long you've been playing. The game gets so many updates, including major rebuilds of core systems, that its pretty impossible for them to create a nice tutorial that covers all the bases without them having to rebuild it every few months. You'll get the hang of it though, and check the wiki from time to time, and the game's build notes go into great detail on the latest changes.

* Ask GAF. There's a PC GAF thread and a PS4 thread. Not sure if there's an Xbox one yet.

 

[Volimar]

I hate Bombards.

 

[Uthred]

1) Nonsensical story (and poor follow up introduction levels.) Just sort of tosses you in and expects you to play, but I really have no idea whats going on.

Yep, its terrible, its not particularly clearer for long time players but its even worse for new players where you have the Lotus and Hek talking about sentients on the plain and then acting surprised a few planets later that they're there. There are numerous examples of stuff like that. Its really sloppy and very confusing for new players. If its any consolation I personally think the lore gets worse they more they expose of it, so perhaps value your ignorance?

2) Forced matchmaking after the very first level(?) The game dropped me in with 1-3 other people for these missions, who are clearly on alt accounts or something just speedrunning to the objectives, blowing past everything while I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on. This does not a good experience make.

As mentioned the matchmaking is the default and you can change to solo. But they werent people on alt accounts I would imagine, firstly because alt accounts are useless in Warframe and secondly because that is how the game is played. There is no incentive not to bang through missions as fast as possible, the games movement system and a lot of the powers and weapons are set up for it and it is absolutely the dominant, actually the ubiquitous play style.

3) Secondary systems (i.e. everything not combat) are not explained well, if at all. You just sort of unlock them over the course of the few missions, and seem to be expected to know how to use them (despite them still seeming fairly limited.)

Along with the terrible new player experience this is a perennial issue with the game. DE have happily abrogated any responsibility for providing this information in game onto the community.

I don't mind complex games, but I do mind opaque ones, which is what Warframe introduces itself as. I don't expect to know every detail about every system early on, but I should be provided with a basic understanding - Warframe glosses over even that. I don't want to (and shouldn't) have to read a wiki, or watch videos/streams just to know what the hell I'm supposed to be doing within the first 2 hours of gameplay. Especially for a seemingly fast-paced action-shooter (with MMO/RPG elements).

Opaque is an excellent summation of the game's systems. The individual systems are all fairly shallow, or easily "solvable", the complexity comes from the number of them and how deliberately obtuse the game is.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I hate Bombards.

Get yourself a Boltor with Rad damage (or just anything with Corrosive and a high status % chance).

 

[Volimar]

Get yourself a Boltor with Rad damage (or just anything with Corrosive and a high status % chance).

I'm super noob, but I'll look into it, thanks!