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Again, we are talking about two separate things. I'm not talking about a narrow spectrum of great picks, but a narrower spectrum of what can actually reliably survive and progress at a decent rate. There's a difference between content where a loadout gives you an edge versus content where a specific loadout changes the experience from a nightmare slog to something possible and reasonable. I've accidentally queued for Archon Hunts with off-meta Warframes and weapons and it's been fine. Not optimized, but not a significant challenge either. But once enemy damage is capable of one-shotting a frame's health regardless of their mitigation, the viable methods of survival — and the corresponding pool of frames — is meaningfully reduced. You're either shield-gating, invisible, or invincible. I think they wouldn't be either encouraged nor dissuaded. Just like any other game modes, one can choose not to play thanks to the fact its rewards are tradeable or obtainable in other ways. And yet, if they do feel encouraged to try level cap, I wouldn't mind that, actually it would be nice to have more people to share opinions and suggestions with. I'm doing my best to interpret this in good faith, but you're not making a sound argument. Less optimal farms don't prevent players from being attracted to more optimal farms. Case in point: many players are vocal about hating Plague Star, and yet these same players grind it anyway because it's an optimized way to get Forma; myriad other ways to get Forma exist, but those do not prevent players from being encouraged to do content they don't want to do. Evidence demonstrates that if you put rewards somewhere, players will be drawn to them. This is where we disagree then; I don't see it as fine. Or rather, I'm fine if there's outlier-grade high-level content where things get more restrictive; what I'm not fine with is that content being normalized. DE keeps doing great work to make more weapons and frames viable, and I think that's the direction the game should continue to go; this would be a hefty step in the wrong direction. I have a question for you: if you want to do level-cap content, and the option to do that easily was offered to you, why is that alone not good enough? Why is it that you wouldn't be satisfied without increased rewards?

If you want to know for sure, I'd recommend doing a science: Enter Plague Star solo, without any pets that attack enemies. Progress to the final phase. Kill all the Grineer nearby to ensure they aren't killing the Infested. Check the percentage; watch to make sure it isn't climbing on its own (ie - without you doing kills) Carefully kill 10 pods, note the increase in percentage as P. Carefully kill 10 of the basic quadruped Infested, note the increase in percentage as Q. The quotient obtained from P/Q is the difference in efficiency per kill. Repeat steps 4 thru 7 a few times (20 if you're feeling very scientific!) to get a nice sample set and reduce the risk of mistakes/flaws/unexpected variable interference. Note: If a Hemocyte spawns in the middle of steps 4 thru 7, that messes up the experiment, so kill it and start again at step 4. My guess is that what you'll find is that pod kills don't result in any increase, while quadruped kills do. But who knows what could happen? ^^

Rewards are the encouragement; that's why they cannot be there. They will prepare themselves if they wish to. Almost every game has several difficulties to choose from, why is Warframe always on easy mode? With respect, it seems like you replied to my counter-argument with something entirely unrelated; whether players will prepare themselves has no bearing on whether players are or aren't encouraged to try this content. I don't want to put words in your mouth, so I'll ask plainly: does this mean that you're acknowledging that players would in fact be encouraged to try this content? I strongly disagree, meta combos are far from being ideal and none of them ever prevails thanks to nerfs. The only time a specific modding gets popular is when a YouTuber shared it. You're misunderstanding me. There's what players think the meta is, and there's what the true meta is. One lives in players' heads, the other is coded into the actual game as mathematical fact. The latter is what I'm talking about. What word would you use that is a synonym for "narrow"? Because the possibility space of frames and weapons that are capable of completing level cap content at a reasonable pace is narrower than those that can do the same at level 100; that's an undeniable fact that we can't deny while being honest.

Of the games I've played, I think that the Dark Souls and Elden Ring games are probably the closest. They are less cinematic in their story-telling than Warframe, but they are similar in their more passive approach to it. In all of these games, it's easy to misunderstand or not fully grasp the story because it's rarely being spelled out for you; rather, the player is expected to be capable of taking in information, reading between the lines, and filling in the gaps. In addition, these games have meaningful aspects of their lore hidden throughout the world, whether within a Cephalon Fragment or as text on a sword. And I would say that the lore of these worlds is of a very similar depth, though one is dark sci-fi and the others dark fantasy.

Rewards are the encouragement; that's why they cannot be there. YouTubers have a disproportionate affect on the way aspects of the meta are communicated and thus propagated, but they don't create the meta. The game itself is what shapes the meta: it creates the challenges, and it provides the tools, and what tools best solve those challenges are the true meta, regardless of what any YouTuber says. I wouldn't say ruin, but it would be meaningfully disruptive and negative to have the meta shift towards a much narrower subset of tools. That's simply not good for the health of the game.

Rewards determine what content is useful to do, which in turn determines the meta. Steel Path was initially conceived as an optional hard mode, but meaningful rewards were placed there, which suddenly made it the baseline experience that builds need to be able to tackle. If level cap farms become more efficient than non-level cap farms, then suddenly level cap is no longer just a fun time for the players who want it, but rather it becomes an optimal farm. That shift in useful content would in turn shift the meta towards builds that can succeed at level cap. Rewards are a carrot, and if you dangle a carrot you will lure players to do content, whether they want to or not. It's an unfortunate truth, but it's also Game Design 101. That's why my support for level cap gameplay is entirely contingent on there being absolutely no change to the reward tables. I want level cap players to have the challenge they crave because that sounds like a nice little thing for them, but I will oppose such a change with ten times the ferocity if such a change would impact the game outside of that experience.

Burnout and liking a game aren't mutually exclusive. It sounds like you like Warframe, and you're also burnt out on Warframe. Take a break from it. Break the habit of turning on Warframe because that's just what you do, and start a new habit of not turning on Warframe unless you know beforehand there's something specific you want to do in it.

You'll never get this in Warframe. Ever. What you're describing is a completely different kind of game. And honestly, game AI is never truly smart. It's always predictable, always exploitable, once you know what to look for. If you truly want smart enemies, what you're after is PvP.

I will say this: I don't think level cap enemies will do anything to genuinely challenge you. Rather, they will simply reduce the number of viable builds to the subset that are capable of delivering the necessary cheese. For offense, True Damage. For defense, invisibility or abilities that create temporary invulnerability. And there you have it: the foundations of designs that will trivialize even the highest content in the game. That said, I'm not opposed to players having access to max-level enemies if that's actually what they want, as long as there are absolutely no changes to rewards. Unless there's a compelling reason not to, let the level-cappers have their level cap at-will.

When you're Grendel you're just a sphere, and I would say that counts as not being humanoid.

You may not realize it, but you're basically talking about Wisp. Wisp gives movement speed and constant healing to your party.

If I'm interpreting your comment as you intended, I think you may have overlooked the part of my comment where I showcased exactly where non-difficulty-based motivation to play together comes from in Warframe: it's fun. It's simply a delight to see the loadouts, strategies, and aesthetics of my fellow players. Weapons, Warframes, abilities, pets, playstyles...Warframe offers so many different ways to customize yourself. Every time I match-make I get the chance to see what other Tenno have selected from myriad possibilities, and all while working towards a common goal. These other players breathe so much life into each mission, and they're a meaningful part of why Warframe is such a fun game to play for me.

With respect, you're being needlessly reductive. You can do every single mission in the game without a group, and some people do. But you can also play with other players. And when you do that, that's multiplayer. And personally, I find that to be an incredibly fun aspect of the game. If you don't, that's fine; different strokes for different folks.

It really depends on what you're talking about. For example, I'm guessing one of the threads you are talking about is the thread requesting a dedicated augment slot, where you posted a similar sentiment. In a case such as that one, the proposed change has an effect on the meta and game balance issues, and those are things that affect all players. Thus, there are both pros and cons, and it's no surprise that different people feel differently on the matter. Which is why you really shouldn't do what you seem to be doing here by grouping all opposition to ideas you personally think are good under the same banner. Every idea exists in its own context, with its own pros and cons. With respect, if you genuinely don't understand why people oppose any given idea, my best guess is that you are not putting enough effort into trying to understand. Because the people opposing these ideas generally give their reasoning, often at length. Read it, and even if you don't agree with it, do your best to understand it. And if you don't understand it, ask clarifying questions; plenty if the Tenno here would be more than willing to elaborate for you.

If you're interested in having more of an idea, a handful of Warframe players have written 5 pages worth of comments explaining their reasoning.

The way it is now, Bond mods are always offered via the conservation expert, which creates consistency across the different areas. As for the Bond mods needing to be with the person who does Robotic Companion Construction, I don't think that makes any more or less sense than where they are now. All of the Bond mods that The Business sells can be used by all companions (not just robotic ones), so there's no need for them to be with the character who only specializes exclusively in robotics.

With respect, you don't need a new mod slot to ignore the meta. You can do that now. Adding a new mod slot will in no way change that. What I imagine you're theorizing is that this mod slot will be a "bonus". That you'll be able to have everything you can have now, but also a free augment slot to just have fun with. If that is indeed where your mind is at, then what you are forgetting is that DE balances the game against the meta. If the potential power level of Warframes rises — which it will when Warframes that are already using strong augments get access to an additional normal mod slot — DE will in turn raise the level of challenge the game offers. And we'll all be right back where we started, except now players will have to toss in a few more Forma to max out their Warframe. Not to mention that if you're playing as a Warframe that doesn't have strong augments, it'll suck even more because you won't even have the choice you have now, the choice of whether to use a strong mod versus a weak augment. Because you'll have an augment-only slot, which your strong mods won't be able to go in. The best you'll be able to do is use a weak augment in that slot, meaning you'll be at a disadvantage relative to Warframes with strong augments. In short, this is not a good idea. It will be a single normal mod slot worth of power creep, it will widen the disparity between Warframes with strong augments and Warframes with weak augments, and it will require more grinding and Forma to max out Warframes, which would have increasingly restrictive polarities on their slots. The downsides are too severe to ignore.

Pulled out my trusty calculator and the math checks out! 1 capacity remains with this build, and it's even using a full Umbral build with an Umbral mod in an un-Forma'd slot! Suffice to say, this demonstrates that capacity would not be a meaningfully limiting factor if another mod slot were introduced.

With respect, I don't see the value of adding this new resource. A new resource like this would need to have a large benefit to be worth the dev time and balance issues that would be born from it.

Experienced an issue in the Plague Star - Advanced mission last night. There were no issues until the 3rd Hemocyte spawned. This 3rd Hemocyte never opened its weak points for any of the 3 client players, making us unable to damage it. Eventually our host defeated it and clarified that it had been working for them the entire time. We did not experience this same issue with any of the other 3 Hemocytes that run. Other details: Did automated matchmaking and coincidentally ended up with all Playtstation users. I played a Speed Nova and cast Molecular Prime so that the Hemocytes would be sped up while exiting the boil. It was night on the Plains. I was playing on PS5. I've posted a video of the entire Hemocyte phase until a bit after the bugged Hemocyte was killed by the host — and our related discussion afterwards — below. Hopefully it has any further details you might need. But if there's anything else I can provide, please let me know!

You got there without me! ;) My only addition would be that it's common for artists to draw from the broader set of human phobias/discomforts when creating fictional creatures that are intended to unsettle viewers, and with humans generally having an innate subconscious discomfort of insects, that's a common well for designs to draw visual elements from. So there's a long history of creatures in popular culture that have things like pincers regardless of the fact that they are neither insects nor arthropods. Art echoes life, but it also echoes other art, and sometimes for reasons no more meaningful than "this looks cool/scary/etc".

Pincers, a piece of anatomy that non-crustaceans have as well. With respect, this is not a compelling argument.

I haven't tried it yet, but I heard from a player who has been working towards optimal strategies that the drones can tell that going through the Wormholes results in a faster path, so the drones will actually intentionally direct themselves towards a good Wormhole!

With the exception of the defense part, every part of this mission can be time-optimized with strategic use of your Warframes and weapons. If you don't want to engage with that, that's your call. But the obvious solution is to use the tools you have access to to make the mission go faster, the same as you would in any other mission. Personally, I think it's great that in this case we have the opportunity to use our tools to solve a few problems that can't be addressed with violence.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a way around this. It seems to consider Operator to be a 5th power, so when you press your Operator button it changes the selected power to be Operator. Personally, I've just gotten into the habit of selecting a new power after I switch back, though I agree it would be nice if we had the option to not have this activation change the selected power! If you ever make a feedback thread on it ping me, I'll definitely give it my +1!