TGDM
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Posts posted by TGDM
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3 hours ago, Sitchrea said:
I really hope DE sees this. Excellent post; have all 1 of my +1's.
I hope so, too. I'm going to continue reaching out to them on the topic of the Fusion Packs in light of the upcoming and ever-pending Fusion Rework. Hopefully I can get their attention before PAX, but if not I'll continue on to the next month.
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: April 16 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week's roundup features the recap of Prime Time #114, an update for the Warframe Nexus App, more warframes being added to the TennoGen Tool, as well as some changes and bug fixes. TennoCon tickets and Nyx Statue (pre-orders) are now on sale.
Check the site for last week's recap! Note: There was not a Devstream this week. The devs will make up for it next week at PAX East!
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The Forma update: "System Tenno Completes Several Trades Without Being Banned"
QuoteA local System Tenno emerges triumphantly from yet another clan’s Dojo after successfully completing a trade. Two Tenno had entered, but only one would survive the trade. For the other, the Dojo would become their final resting place once the trade was finished.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
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6 hours ago, (PS4)robotwars7 said:
yeah, there are some things on the market I don't agree with, like the Stalker Bundle being 800 Plat when Hunhow's Gift and other bundles (with better weapons and cosmetics included) are cheaper. clearly just a way to try and capitalize on those who don't have Stalker's weapons, and there's no point buying it if you're only missing one weapon, because you may as well just farm for it.
I also wish there were other ways of getting Transmute core than the market or Scanning for Simaris, even if it's just through random alerts. it's not like it would be giving away the best mods when you consider the chances of actually getting a rare or even half-decent mod Via Transmute anyway. you can still end up with a Bronze even if you sacrifice 3 gold ones with the Core.
and who even buys the Credit bundles anyway? you can get 20k per every 5 waves on Seimeni, Ceres.
Many of the older bundle prices are certainly questionable, especially in light of the power creep over three years and subsequent diminished perceived value of the items included. Not to mention the missed opportunities to expand on items like the "Female Warframe Pack."
I find it very hard to believe anyone who has played the game for more than a few hours would buy the Credit Bundles, too, but as I reached out to various resources in preparation for the article I was surprised to find out there were more than a few anecdotal accounts of players buying them at one point or another (and not as a gag).
4 hours ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:Absolutely. I haven't even sniffed the market for resources since. Even for frames and weapons (outside of skipping the insane grind and RNG for Ivara/Mesa/Equinox)
At the very least I hope that your experience can serve as testament for why the Market needs to be reevaluated.
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7 hours ago, (PS4)SupeBoss said:
Completely agree. I can't believe I fell for the credit bundle/fusion core/mod pack trap when i was a noob.
Actually, that's probably why they haven't been adjusted.
Are you more cautious before purchasing items from the Market now? I imagine that after purchasing one of those kinds of items and learning about how they're not really worth what you paid, a player would be much more cautious about purchases in the future.
A concentrated effort should be made by DE so that there would not be any items on the Market which would cause players to lose trust and feel as if they were tricked.
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Every month on TCN I take a deeper look at some of the game's features, mechanics, or systems. This month's topic was the Market. This post will be roughly the same as on the website, minus some formatting due to limitations on the forums. I can't preview before posting (any more) so it may take a few minutes to clean it up after the post initially goes up. That being said, you can view the full article on tennoclocknews.com. I won't always do cross-over posts between the website and the forums, though. You can get notified when a new post is up either here by following the Forum Megathread or by following the post-bot on Twitter.
At some point in the time you play Warframe, you will visit the Market. The Market is where Digital Extremes (DE) blends together the in-game currency (Credits) and the premium currency (Platinum), serving as a pit stop on the path of progression within the game. It is one of the few systems within Warframe which has not been revamped or updated alongside the other elements of the game.
Warframe, following in suite of many other Free-To-Play (F2P) games utilizes a premium currency as a part of their revenue model. Players can purchase the premium currency from the official Warframe store (typically via credit card or equivalent) to then use on various items within the game. The in-game currency is what players earn through gameplay. As is common with many other games that employ the dual currency system, there is a bit of overlap between what can be obtained with the premium currency and what can be obtained with the in-game currency. Generally speaking, premium currencies in F2P games are used as “impatient funds” where you buy something for cash rather than investing the time in the game to unlock or earn it.
The call to the Market is usually in the form of buying a new blueprint for equipment and sometimes for progression in the form of quest items or key blueprints. A significant portion of the Market is dedicated to the in-game currency of Credits for purchasing items and equipment. More importantly there is nothing in the game you cannot buy with Credits attributed to progression in the game (though there are a few borderline exceptions which I will address). Credits serve as the measure of your time investment – it’s how much time you put into the game and generally speaking the items you can purchase for Credits will come with a time component included before you can use the item. Typically the time restriction is a literal timer related to crafting, though we should not overlook the time required to collect the resources necessary to craft in the first place.
The Market also houses a variety of cosmetic options available to customize your equipment. These cosmetic items do not impact gameplay and simply exist for vanity and, like many other F2P games, are only available via the premium currency. Platinum will allow you to purchase items such as Color Pickers (unlock more color customization options for equipment), warframe and weapon skins, as well as cosmetic armor attachments. There are even some vanity items no other players will ever see which you can purchase for your own satisfaction (such as Noggles). However, there are a few exceptions which allow players to expand their cosmetic options without purchasing Platinum such as holiday-themed Color Pickers or items available from the Void Trader which employs a sort of end-game currency combined with Credits. The Void Trader is a topic for another time, but it is important to establish that Platinum is not the only means of obtaining cosmetic items.
The Market also houses many items which can be purchased in an ‘either or’ format between Credits and Platinum. For example, you could purchase a weapon such as the Burston for 120 Platinum or you could purchase a blueprint for the Burston for 15,000 Credits. If you purchase it with Platinum, you will immediately have access to the Burston and it will come along with a complimentary Weapon Slot (value of 6 Platinum) and a pre-installed Orokin Catalyst (value of 20 Platinum). If you purchase it with Credits, you will have to meet the resource requirements to being crafting it and wait 12 hours for the crafting to complete. The conversion point here is the convenience and time saved if you want to have something immediately. There is not a single warframe or weapon which can only be obtained via Platinum but there are several which cannot be obtained by Platinum. Platinum does not lock content behind the Market; it is a shortcut to some items at an elevated cost.
The focus of this article is to critically analyze certain items on the Market and the prices being asked for them. In particular, I will focus on items which may seem appealing to new or inexperienced players (commonly referred to as “Noob Traps”). The goal of this article is to bring attention to the cost versus value of an item; contrasting the dollar amount of an item against the time it would take to unlock or earn that given item from gameplay. Cosmetic items will not be the focus of this post as they have no impact on gameplay.
Establishing A Baseline
Before analyzing individual items available on the Market, it is important to establish just how much every unit of the premium currency is worth in terms of dollars. Warframe has several different buy-in tiers for its premium currency of Platinum (P). All dollar values in this article will be in USD. As of the time of this article being posted, those prices are:
Platinum Purchasing Options Tier Cost in $ Platinum Gained Platinum Per Dollar T0 $4.99 75 ~15.0 T1 $9.99 170 ~17.0 T2 $19.99 370 ~18.5 T3 $49.99 1000 ~20.0 T4 $99.99 2100 ~21.0 T5 $199.99 4300 ~21.5 Prime Access Purchasing Options Tier Cost in $ Platinum Gained Platinum Per Dollar PA0 $49.99 1050 ~21.0 PA1 $79.99 2625 ~32.8 PA2 $139.99 3990 ~28.5 The prices can be checked any time while logged in at https://warframe.com/buyplatinum and https://warframe.com/prime-access. Here are some screen captures for reference:
For PC players, you can receive a 20%, 50%, or 75% discount as a login reward coupon for your next platinum purchase. Console player discounts work a bit differently, but it is essentially the same kind of consideration in regards to price reduction. Unless otherwise noted, all references to P/$ will be in terms of purchasing it without a discount.
The standard value of Platinum Per Dollar used within this article will be valued at 18.5 Platinum Per Dollar which is derived from the Tier 2 sale item at $19.99 for 370 Platinum.
Case #1: Platinum to Credits
The Market items in question:
These are absolutely and completely the worst possible deals to buy on the Market. To put things into perspective, 3,000 Credits can be obtained within 2-3 speed run missions on Mercury or Earth, the lowest level systems where new players start out, which would take less than 5 minutes of your time. Alternatively, you could run Hieracon on Pluto or other Dark Sector missions to gain a bit over 20,000 Credits in less than 5 minutes. That translates to paying around ~$5 for 30,000 Credits to save 5 minutes of time.
To make matters worse, these prices have been the same in the game for a very, very long time. Including the period of time when Tower 3 Void missions (the highest tower level at the time) rewarded upwards of 80,000 Credits for a single run of any kind. With the current version of the game, the newly added Trials (TLOR and TJV) raised the potential Credit gains even higher. As of the time of this article being posted, the average completion time is 31:25 for normal TLOR, 29:36 for Nightmare TLOR, and 45:04 for TJV (sources available here: wf.christx.tw and are parsed automatically from the official sources such as this one for normal TLOR). TLOR (either version) has a Credit reward upwards of 150,000 and TJV has a Credit reward upwards of 220,000. Both Trials come out around 5,000 Credits per minute at those averages which means the ~$5 bundle would be saving you about 6 minutes of time. It’s also worth noting that the averages given account for all runs (starting from when the Trials were first added and being learned) as opposed to recent runs. Many groups are capable of completing TLOR in under 20 minutes and TJV in under 30 minutes.
All of this is to say the “Credit Bundles” should not be in the Market. Or, at the very least, the prices / exchange rates should be dramatically adjusted. It would be understandable if DE chose to make a 1,000,000 Credit Bundle available for Platinum for the sole purpose of instantly acquiring the Credits necessary to trade for Legendary rank mods (Legendary Fusion Cores and all Primed mods). Other than that, there’s no justification to keep these on the Market. 3,000 Credits are too few to do anything useful with and 30,000 Credits are definitely not worth 90 P… and also very limited as to what you can do with them considering most blueprints combined with crafting costs exceed 30,000 Credits.
This is absolutely a Noob Trap. I am very curious as to what DE’s internal data shows in regards to this Market item and just how many purchases there have been over time (and any context to those purchases such as Mastery Rank or current account Credit balance account at time of purchase). I find it highly unlikely that any players purchase these items from the Market and / or that players who have purchased them did not eventually regret the purchase.
Case #2: Fusion Core, Mod, and Void Key Packs
There are four branches of items in question for this case:
From an experienced player’s point of view, none of these packs are worth their costs. So, let’s take a look at each subsection of items, their dollar costs, and why veteran players would advise against purchasing them.
Fusion Core Packs
Reference: In-game or Wiki
Fusion Pack Options Pack Platinum Cost Dollar Value Bronze Fusion Pack 55 $2.98 Silver Fusion Pack 70 $3.79 Gold Fusion Pack 80 $4.33 The most important note to keep in mind about these packs is that they are randomized and you will only receive 3 cores per pack. To put that in perspective: Most missions which reward Fusion Cores will reward them in quantities of 3 or 5. A mission type such as Excavation will reward 5x Rare 5 Fusion Cores at a 25% chance per Rotation A, for example. Sorties will reward players with a possible 25 or 50 of the highest quality core possible from these mod packs. There is absolutely no reason to buy these Fusion Core Packs if you plan on ever playing the game.
You can trade for the highest quality Fusion Cores available from these packs at an almost universally standard rate of 2 Platinum per 1 Rare Rank 5 Fusion Core. For 6 Platinum you can acquire a better set of three Fusion Cores than you are ever likely to obtain with even the most expensive pack. All of these packs are Noob Traps. Though trading should not be considered the fundamental baseline for the value of these items, they should at the very least cause some concern for both the developers and players when there is such a significant difference between the officially assigned cost and the player created cost.
With the upcoming (and still in development) Fusion Rework, these Market items should be reevaluated for price points at the very least. Further changes, such as adding Legendary Cores to the mix, might encourage some players to gamble with the system once again. However, the current amount of Fusion Power acquired from these packs at those price points are laughable at best. I would suggest weighing an updated Fusion Core Pack system around the idea that 1,000 (more/less) Platinum should, on average, be enough Fusion Cores and Fusion Power to reach maximum rank with a Legendary mod (such as Primed mods).
Mod Packs
Reference: In-game or Wiki
Mod Pack Options Pack Platinum Cost Dollar Value Hawk Mod Pack 30 $1.63 Falcon Mod Pack 45 $2.44 Eagle Mod Pack 60 $3.25 Phoenix Mod Pack 75 $4.06 Dragon Mod Pack 90 $4.87 Similarly to the Fusion Core Packs, these packs are all randomized and you will only receive 5 mods per pack. Perhaps when these mods were originally added there was an incentive to try and roll for Rare mods, but that is no longer the case. When considering that warframe abilities used to be rare mod cards as well, many players found that there was a surplus of rare quality mods which had no value. Without seeing the internal data for these Market items, I cannot speak to their popularity, but I suspect these were not a common purchase among experienced players.
While these items may not by as much of a Noob Trap as the Credit Bundles or the Fusion Core Packs, they are far more expensive than they should be. Almost every mod which you can obtain from these Mod Packs could be traded for at a fraction of the price with perhaps one or two exceptions. This is essentially the Platinum equivalent of the in-game mod Transmutation system when it comes to gambling; You may get a rare mod but there is no guarantee it will be a valuable one.
Transmute Core Pack
This pack consists of 4 randomized Transmutation Cores for 75 Platinum (valued at $4.06). Though purchasing them from other players earning them via the Cephalon Simaris reputation is far less expensive, I would not consider these items a Noob Trap from price alone. However, the randomized nature of the packs renders them questionable at best. At the given price point, relative to simply earning the Transmutation Cores yourself through the reputation system or trading with other players, I would advise against purchasing this Market item.
Void Key Pack
Like the Transmutation Core Pack, this pack consists of 3 randomized Void Keys for 75 Platinum (valued at $4.06). You could purchase these packs yourself via Syndicates rather than using Platinum, but many players prefer using their standing on other items to trade for good reason. As with all of the other packs, it is much more efficient to use the Platinum you would have bought the random keys with to buy significantly more of the specific item you want for substantially less Platinum. Though this item is not necessarily a Noob Trap itself, but I would advise against purchasing this Market item at the current price point. Some people may just enjoy the convenience of not having to farm or trade for Void Keys in general.
Case #3: Warframes and Weapons
Many of the warframes and weapons available in the game are not actually available on the Market at all. Among those items unavailable on the Market are some Clan Research Items (Ignis, Synapse, Prova, Dera, etc.), event rewards and weapon variants (Vandal, Wraith, Prisma, Dex, etc), Syndicate weapons, and Prime equipment. Some of these items can be traded among players which will be a point of analysis, but not for comparison. I will be focusing primarily on items directly available from the Market itself. Note that any item purchased from the Market will come with a complimentary warframe/weapon slot and pre-installed Orokin Reactor/Catalyst. These are effectively worth 40 Platinum for any warframe purchase and 26 Platinum for any weapon purchase. Sentinels will come with complimentary slots and pre-installed Reactors/Catalysts as well. The focus of this post will be on warframes only, but there are other very noticeable examples that share the same problems for weapons as well.
Warframes
It’s a bit unclear to me as to how the pricing works for these particular items on the Market. In an attempt to contextualize the items, I’ve put together a table to show a rough estimate of the time involved in unlocking a given frame. The list is imperfect and from the point of view of a veteran, so some acquisitions may take much longer with weaker equipment or lack of access to a particular mission on the Star Chart.
Parts will be calculated as 3 steps; Time to collect individual part blueprints, time to craft those parts, and time to craft the final product. Crafting time for part blueprints is assuming you start crafting all necessary parts at the same time when applicable. Argon will be calculated at a rate of roughly 1 Argon per 20 minutes and overlap will be considered with any resources obtainable in the Void. Nitain will be calculated as 5h per Nitain due to the limited availability of Nitain per day. For players with less time to play, this could easily translate into 1 day (or more) per Nitain. This chart assumes all Clan Research has been completed. If your Clan Research has not been completed, you should consider the extra time required for those times as well. For more information in regards to the resources themselves, refer to the Resource Cost Log featured on the Tools section of this website.
List of Warframes on the Market Warframe Time Required for Parts Time Required for Resources Total Time Estimate Platinum Cost Dollar Value Ash 40m1 + 12h + 72h 30m 85.2h 375 $20.27 Atlas 18h2 + 12h + 72h 45m 102.8h 275 $14.87 Banshee 12h + 72h 30m 84.5h 225 $12.17 Chroma 50h3 + 72h 50m 122.84h 375 $20.27 Ember 30m + 12h + 72h 30m 85h 225 $12.17 Equinox 2h + 84h4 + 72h 1h 159h 325 $17.57 Excalibur 25m + 12h + 72h 30m 84.92h 75 $4.06 Frost 1h + 12h + 72h 30m 85.5h 375 $20.27 Hydroid 1h + 12h + 72h 1h 86h 300 $16.22 Inaros 1h30m5 + 12h + 72h 11h 96.h 225 $12.17 Ivara 2h6 + 12h + 72h 47h 133h 325 $17.57 Limbo 45h7 + 72h 50m 117.84h 200 $10.81 Loki 30m + 12h + 72h 30m 85h 75 $4.06 Mag 20m + 12h + 72h 30m 84.84h 175 $9.46 Mesa 23h8 + 12h + 72h 50m 107.84h 325 $17.57 Mirage 44h9 + 72h 40m 116.67h 275 $14.87 Nekros 10h10 + 12h + 72h 30m 94.5h 375 $20.27 Nezha Nd11 + 12h + 72h 1h Nd+85h 275 $14.87 Nova 30m + 12h + 72h 30m 85h 375 $20.27 Nyx Nd12 + 12h + 72h 30m Nd+84.5h 225 $12.17 Oberon 30m13 + 12h + 72h 30m 85h 325 $17.57 Rhino 25m + 12h + 72h 30m 84.92h 375 $20.27 Saryn 25m14 + 12h + 72h 30m 84.92h 225 $12.17 Trinity 50m + 12h + 72h 30m 85.33h 225 $12.17 Valkyr 30m + 12h + 72h 30m 85h 300 $16.22 Vauban Nd15 + 12h + 72h 30m Nd+84.5h 300 $16.22 Volt 12h + 72h 30m 84.5h 75 $4.06 Wukong 12h + 72h 31h 115h 275 $14.87 Zephyr 12h + 72h 30m 84.5h 275 $14.87 (check the spoilers below for the footnotes for the table)
Spoiler1This assumes you are farming for Ash part blueprints in The Law of Retribution. Attempting to farm Manics on other missions may take dramatically longer. Not all TLOR groups will spend time Manic farming, so make sure it’s understood before attempting to do so. Farming Ash in a completely solo attempt at the game (which means you will not be able to run TLOR) could take upwards of 2 hours.
2You are required to complete The Jordas Precept prior to having access to the mission to collect parts blueprints from as well as the final blueprint itself. You will need Archwing equipment for this quest. Part of the quest requires you to craft Pherliac Pods which takes 8 hours and Potent Pherliac Pods which require another 8 hours. The remaining 2 hours are an estimate of how long it would take to complete the quest and farm the parts blueprints.
3Chroma’s quest has to be done sequentially; each part has to be crafted before you can move to the next stage of the quest to earn the next blueprint. In addition to this, Chroma requires you to use parts from other Warframes in order to craft his parts. If you craft all 4 of the other warframe parts prior to the quest, you will only have to wait an additional 12 hours overall (already included in the 50h estimate). If you craft each part as it becomes necessary, you will have to wait an additional 96 hours.
4Equinox does not require a quest, but it does require a more nuanced collection. You must collect all Day and Night parts and aspect blueprints before being able to craft the final product. The most efficient crafting for Equinox would be to begin all 6x 12h crafts at the same time and then craft Day and Night aspects at the same time for 72h. The Forma crafting time is assumed to be done at some point prior to the final crafting which is another 72h.
5A quest is required to obtain the parts blueprints, but you are free to progress and collect the next part before crafting a part unlike every other quest-based warframe.
6All of Ivara’s blueprints are obtained via gameplay as a chance reward and cannot be traded. They could take 2 hours or 2 days due to the drop table dilution for her parts blueprints as rewards. Ivara also has perhaps the most demanding crafting requirements in regards to the rare resources.
7Limbo’s quest has to be done sequentially; each part has to be crafted before you can move to the next stage of the quest to earn the next blueprint. In addition to this, you must collect resources for and craft The Limbo Theorem for the quest.
8Mesa is in a rather unique position (used to be similar to Hydroid). The quest must be completed to gain access to the blueprint required to craft keys (1h crafting time, 2h+ to gather components for 1 key) to fight the boss and collect parts. If you have access to someone else’s keys, you can dramatically reduce the time required to collect her parts without ever doing the quest. The key components are included in the “Parts” section and not the “Resources” for time estimates. The collection estimate is based on completing the quest, collecting MavNavs, crafting keys, and completing the mission at least 5 times… but it’s likely to be much more than that.
9Mirage’s quest has to be done sequentially; each part has to be crafted before you can move to the next stage of the quest to earn the next blueprint. In addition to this, you must collect resources for and craft Hidden Messages for the quest.
10Nekros requires you to use Orokin Derelict Assassination keys which take roughly 50 minutes to collect the resources across a standard mission, an OD mission, and complete the assassination mission in addition to the 1 hour crafting time of the key itself. The resource requirement part will be less dramatic the more you play and it is highly likely you will find a surplus of these specific resources as you work on keys, so it is plausible to reduce the component collection to be more around 10 minutes + 5 to do the assassination mission itself.
11Nezha is a complicated warframe to collect parts for. It might take you 3 days or it might take you 3 months to collect all of his parts due to the nature of the Sortie reward system. Unlike all other non-prime warframes, his parts can be traded.
12Nyx cannot be farmed for at will and is dependent on an Infestation event on a system’s assassination mission node. You should be able to collect all of her parts within 30m once the mission is available, and there generally is at least one Phorid mission a day which lasts several hours, but it is still up to chance for the mission to exist when you have time to play.
13It is highly likely you will have Oberon parts by accident when you get around to crafting him. If not, 30 minutes on a mission with a high quantity of Eximus units (Sorties or Interception) will result in at least one complete set.
14The Kela De Thaym rework is likely going to change this estimate in the very near future.
15Vauban acquisition is completely dictated by the randomized Alert system and can take players anywhere from 1-2 days to several months to obtain all necessary parts blueprints.
What particularly stands out to me are the warframes Excalibur, Loki, Mag, and Volt. Originally, the 3 starting options were Excalibur, Loki, and Volt. Volt had quite a journey in regards to acquisition. Update 7 replaced Volt as a starter option with Mag, Update 11 moved Volt from what was then the J3-Golem on Jupiter to instead be a reward from Survival missions (similar to how Banshee was acquired at the time), Update 12 moved Volt into the Dojo within the Tenno Research Labs, and then finally in Update 14 Volt replaced Loki as a starter frame. Volt, despite seeing changes in acquisition ranging from absurdly difficult to trivially easy, never saw a change in Platinum costs from the Market. Excalibur, Loki, and Volt cost each 75 Platinum, but Mag costs 175. The prices were never readjusted despite changing acquisition methods and bosses along the way for a variety of other frames as well.
Banshee was once a reward-only frame, similar to Ivara in many ways, but far worse (if you can believe it). When the Clan Research features were added to the game, many players rejoiced that they could at long last complete their Banshee (and Volt) warframes. The difficulty of obtaining her resources is essentially identical to Volt, but she costs 225 Platinum versus Volt’s 75.
Some Warframes saw changes which improved the ease of acquisition without directly changing anything about the way you acquired their parts and blueprints. For example, Oxium is far more plentiful now than it originally had been, yet Zephyr’s price remains 275. Hydroid no longer requires beacon farming, crafting a special mission key, and there was a reduction in difficulty for the Vay Hek fight assassination mission, yet Hydroid still costs 300 Platinum. A less obvious warframe which saw a similar effect was Nova. Before the Europa tileset was added, the Raptor fight took place on a Corpus Settlement tile and a boss arena identical to Ambulas’. While the Raptor fight has changed a bit and is actually a bit harder than it had originally been, Nova benefited dramatically from changes to how warframe parts were acquired; they used to be drops (similar to how Oberon drops appear). Those drops were not guaranteed and due to the way the Raptor flew around, it was entirely possible to kill the boss and helplessly watch your part fly off of the map, becoming impossible to attain. And yet Nova is still one of the most expensive warframes at 375 Platinum. Note: The changes for warframe part blueprints from being drops to being mission rewards took place long before Europa’s new tileset was released.
The pricing across the different warframes is erratic at best and should be revised and / or updated. For 75 Platinum you could unlock Excalibur, the warframe you could only acquire after finally traversing the Star Chart to Pluto for the highest level boss outside of Trials and Sorties. For 375 you could unlock Rhino which most players can access the boss for on Venus within their few hours of playing and one of the lowest level bosses. I think most players can at least understand why Chroma costs 375 Platinum, but it is difficult to understand why Rhino and Nova would be as well. Even if Rhino’s absurd price (and Mastery Rank requirement) are implemented in a way to teach new players that they should strive to earn more equipment from gameplay and improve their Mastery Rank that way, the price point is too high to be considered a fair lesson. To be blunt, many of the warframe (and weapon) prices appear to be outdated. It’s hard to believe any single Warframe is worth over $20, especially considering the dominant factor in the time required to earn them through gameplay is from inactive timers for crafting itself (with a few exceptions such as Nitain collection).
There are other issues to consider as well. For example, many Prime versions of a warframe cost substantially less Platinum to attain via trading (as well as Nezha) while simultaneously being direct upgrades superior to the Market versions. Nova Prime, perhaps one of the more expensive and older Primes, sells as a complete set for less than 200 Platinum. Rhino Prime, a currently Vaulted warframe which is impossible to acquire outside of trading, sells as a complete set for less than 300 Platinum. A similar problem exists with weapons where a Hek would cost 225 Platinum from the Market, but a Syndicate Vaykor Hek would cost less than 40 Platinum through trading. Though player trading and economy should not necessarily stipulate a warframe’s price, there is something worth noting in such a vast disparity. Though to be fair it is also worth mentioning that Ember Prime is valued substantially higher than the Market equivalent for her (largely due to acquisition methods and rarity prior to being Vaulted).
A Case For Revision
Many of the items in the Market were added when the game was still young and formative. The game has since changed dramatically and in a variety of different ways. The prices which were set, especially for older content, should be readjusted to reflect what the game has become. The Credit Bundles, Mod and Fusion Core Packs, and Warframe and Weapon costs should be readjusted to meet player expectations and encourage conversions.
However, it’s also worthwhile to point out that items having such high Platinum costs does encourage players to actually play the game instead of buying everything in sight. Maybe not to the extent it is being done now, but this is still a good thing to do. After all, if a player were to simply buy everything, they would have nothing left to strive for. Maintaining an active player base for the long term is far more important than making short term sales for a Free-To-Play game.
The Market also seems to be missing an opportunity when it comes to bundling certain items. For example, none of the 9 new color pickers (excluding event/holiday color pickers) are available via bundles. Similarly, no bundle has been created for the Animation Sets available for Warframes. Beyond the cosmetic bundle possibilities, there is also an opportunity to create new bundles for equipment such as a “Warframe Starter Pack” which would include maybe 4-6 warframes (automatically excluding your starter choice) tailored for new players eager to try out a variety of what they would consider classes.
Aside from price points, the Market functionality could stand to be cleaned up a bit as well. The Bundles page is simply a mess of every single type of bundle as opposed to being organized by subcategories. A search bar which allows you to find a specific item quickly would be appreciated as well. Maybe even add a way to toggle hiding items already owned. A common request from players recruiting friends to join them in Warframe is to add weapon and warframe slots purchasable as gifts available on the Market to give their friends some more leeway in their learning stages for new equipment.
If Platinum discounts are at the core of why DE is unwilling to adjust these prices, it may be time to reconsider that system and revise it in a way which encourages conversions in a less randomized manner. Without internal data I cannot really criticize or otherwise speak to the failures and success of the Market. I only have my own experiences and tastes to share; I would not ever buy any of the specific items listed earlier in this article from the Market. In my eyes, the only justification for such high prices would be that DE is banking on players purchasing those items when they happen to come across a substantial Platinum or Market discount offer, such as with Darvo’s Deals on the Relays. If that is the case, it could be vastly improved by offering players a way to guarantee that discount on a semi-regular basis which players could plan around.
Over this next month I will be reaching out to Digital Extremes in regards to some of the points raised in this article. I am making it a personal goal to have DE address the Fusion Core Packs specifically in the face of the upcoming Fusion Rework planned to arrive sometime after Update 19. Though the Market is not necessarily in a bad state as it is, Warframe has evolved far beyond the scope of many of the items when they were originally added. It’s time for the Market to catch up.
The Market is not necessarily in a terrible state, but it does need to be updated to catch up to what the game has become. It needs to be reevaluated to account for power creep, inflation (and deflation) of rarity for certain items, and encourage conversions by enticing players regularly rather than relying on chance that the player might have the interest or funds to buy Platinum if they receive a Platinum discount. It is difficult to juggle pricing when using a premium currency which players can freely trade with one another, but a better balance can be struck than what is currently being offered.
TL;DR: The Market is one of the few features within the game which has not been updated and should be revisited to improve functionality, adjusting price points, and catching up to what the game has become.
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Editorial update: "Analysis of Warframe's Market Prices"
QuoteAt some point in the time you play Warframe, you will visit the Market. The Market is where Digital Extremes (DE) blends together the in-game currency (Credits) and the premium currency (Platinum), serving as a pit stop on the path of progression within the game. It is one of the few systems within Warframe which has not been revamped or updated alongside the other elements of the game.
The full article featured on TCN addresses a variety of Market items and the costs associated with them versus the benefits provided by them. The Credit Bundles, Fusion Core Packs, Mod Packs, Void Key Packs, and Purchasable Warframes are all analyzed to make a case to revise and update the Market to match what the game has become.
Edit: This article now has a sister post here on the Official Forums for discussion.
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: April 9 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week’s roundup features the recap of Prime Time #113, an official response regarding Sibear crafting costs, a whole lot of console related updates (Sands of Inaros is LIVE!), as well as some changes and bug fixes.
Check the site for last week's recap! (was unable to post this yesterday when it went up)
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The Forma update: "Resource Costs Are Being Readjusted"
QuoteIn wake of Warframe’s most recent update, players have cried out that the resource costs for new items are disproportionately higher than ever before. This was not the first time a sudden and steep escalation in resource costs took place. However, it certainly was the most dramatic increase players had seen yet and players understandably cried out over it. Digital Extremes came forward with an announcement late last night to address the player concerns raining down upon them on the official forums.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story! Curious about how the crafting resource costs have shifted over time? Check out the Resource Cost Log which shows the full costs of crafting all of your equipment.
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: April 2 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week’s roundup features the recap of Prime Time #112, an official comment in regards to monetization options in Warframe, forum spring cleaning, as well as some changes and bug fixes.
Check the site for last week's recap!
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Here's an in-depth recap with screencaps/timestamps for anyone that may have missed it: http://www.tennoclocknews.com/devstream-72-recap/
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Devstream Recap update: "Devstream #72 Recap"
QuoteDevstream #72 aired on April 1, 2016. This post will feature a recap of the Warframe Devstream with screencaps and timestamps for players to check out the specific clips themselves after the Devstream. In the mean time, check out the recorded stream at PlayWarframe on YouTube or check out the subreddit’s Devstream #72 Megathread!
Check the site for the full recap and keep track of what's currently In Development for Warframe!
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The Forma update: "New Warframe Cosmetics and Accessories Announced"
QuoteDigital Extremes has unveiled upcoming additions to the fan-dubbed “Fashion Frame” aspect of Warframe. Following in suite of the newer Warframe and Armor accessory designs, the new roster of accessories adds a whole new level of customization to the game as well changing the way you can acquire them.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: March 26 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week’s roundup features the recap of Prime Time #111, upcoming changes for Mesa, forum spring cleaning, as well as some changes and bug fixes.
Check the site for last week's recap!
Want to stay up to date with all upcoming features and ongoing development? Check out TCN's In Development section to keep up with the devs!
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The Forma update: "Excavation Rewards Seem To Have Been Changed In Last Update"
QuoteTRITON, NEPTUNE—A squad of Tenno complete their mission with a payload of 2,000 Cryotic without receiving a single rotation of rewards with Fusion Core packs.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
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47 minutes ago, Naith said:
God damn it...
I'd gone onto your website from your first post, browsed a bit and moved onto the Forma section. Clicked on this topic because the screens bothered me and read it all and you know what, you fooled me. At first I was like 'This can't be serious...' but then I thought 'Well, I guess it kind of makes sense, least it explains why the screens take so long, orbiter travelling to planet/node'... I slowly carried on, 'Hmm, loading screen features, gives us something to do', then I finally read the part about the boosters 'Seriously DE? That's low'. I swiftly moved on and then when I read "enter an existential crisis as you tally up all of the time you have spent sitting in front of your monitor doing nothing with your life." I laughed and realized I'd been completely fooled.
Know what the worst part was? That I thought it wasn't really surprising for DE to consider doing such a thing. Or any other F2P/MMO company for that matter. Especially the gameplay experience considering most do spend money on landing crafts and they have such a minor role in the game. Hence me being still convinced. I also feel slightly ashamed for such thoughts
Satire is done explicitly to elicit some kind of reaction. Generally by pushing the logical points of an ideology or perspective gradually until it breaks into absurdity. It's really, really, satisfying to hear someone share their experience of that trip. Glad you enjoyed it and I hope to maintain that kind of quality with The Forma posts.
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The Forma update: "Infested Tumor Mystery Revealed"
QuoteTenno across the system have been trying to solve the mystery behind Door #1 on the Orbiter. In Update 18.5, Tenno have reported hearing noises originating behind the doorway on the Orbiter. In Update 18.6, Infested growths and tumors appeared in proximity of the doorway. Thanks to the efforts of our investigative team, we now know exactly what awaits us behind the locked door.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: March 19, 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week’s roundup features the recap of Prime Time #110, talking about the recent DDoS attacks, a PSA on Account Security, Tonkor and radial damage, and the recent Dark Sector news from the Devstream.
Check the site for last week's recap!
Missed this week's Devstream? Check the TCN Recap which includes timestamps and screencaps of all the newsworthy bits!
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The Forma update: "Loading Times Between Missions Have Been Increased"
QuoteAfter the most recent update, many players were reporting that they had been experiencing longer loading screens between missions. The official forums, a hub of thoughtful and insightful discussion, was overrun by entitled players both boasting of their expensive hardware and rioting over the increased loading times.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
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General News update: "Update: The 2035 Ban Situation"
QuoteWarframe’s DE_Adam has posted a PSA regarding account security on the official forums: “PSA: AutoBan FAQ and You”
This PSA covers the basics of what could potentially cause a false flag of an automatic ban as well as providing an update regarding two-factor authentication. Over a month ago, I posted a thread onto Reddit hoping to collect more information from players about their experiences with the autoban system...
Read the post for more details on my update with looking into the 2035 bans.
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The Forma update: "System Tenno Unable To Find Prime Part They Want"
QuoteA local System Tenno continues their search for rare treasure from the void after over a month of disappointment. forma, and scrap for Baro.
Check the site for the full recount of this System Tenno!
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Editorial update: "The Roles of Affinity in Warframe"
QuoteAffinity is a staple element of Warframe. Affinity has served as the measure of progression within the game since its initial Open Beta release and has grown in importance since.
Check the site for the full editorial!
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News update: "DevPost Roundup: March 12, 2016"
QuoteA weekly round-up of the more noteworthy DevPosts on the Official Forums. This week’s roundup features the recap of Prime Time #109, TennoCon announcement, as well as some changes and bug fixes.
Check the site for last week's recap!
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The Forma update: "Digital Extremes Shares Their Lay Out of Plans For Warframe in 2016"
QuoteFollowing the recent acquisition by Leyou Technology Holdings Limited in the final fiscal quarter of 2015, Digital Extremes has finally laid out their upcoming plans for the fast-paced space ninja game Warframe.
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!
TennoClockNews(.com)
in Fan Zone
Posted
The Forma update: "Digital Extremes Teases New Content At PAX East"
Check the site for the rest of the (satirical) story!