Hello! I am a ... tentatively returning player after 5 years of not playing Warframe. I've been playing since 2017 (though this account is from 2018) and quit during the pandemic. Somewhere along the way, I returned briefly for the Heart of Deimos update but I also quit afterwards rather quickly since I couldn't catch up to the meta.
I am wondering: What has changed since I've quit?
I would really appreciate some insight as to what the meta is like now. Since a lot of the information I've kept in my head for as long as I can remember is very outdated. There's all these new terms, mechanics and weapon and warframe metas that I am not aware of that I would like to be more informed about. To give some insight into my playstyle: I was a Mesa main and my weapon of choices then were mostly shotguns or explosion type weapons (think: Acceltra, Arca Plasmor, Astilla, Corinth...)
I have NO idea what's viable at the moment. All I know is that there's 50+ Warframes now (woah that's half a hundred.) and the weapons I see people using nowadays in youtube videos are the ones I'm definitely not familiar with. As far as I know, some changes were also made to certain mods, the focus tree, amps, etc...
Why am I *tentatively* returning?
Long story short my current laptop isn't meant for gaming (except I still game on it anyway), and Warframe's required specs have gone up since then. However, a friend of mine decided to get back into it and is basically trying to get me to join him. I had very little reason to return, up until I realized that I've missed out on 5 years of awesome lore and story questlines that I loved playing through since I first started. When I have a better laptop or a PC I'll likely be returning on and off once more just to pass the time and enjoy the grind.
TLDR
What the hell is the Meta right now and what do I do about it when I come back