Content, Not Filler

[Darayas]

After reading many of the grouses about the current core system of the game, both in Gameplay Feedback and General, I found myself agreeing with loads of those sentiments. I'm posting this because I do believe that DE reads these topics and responds to them, and because I hope that Warframe can move away from the current direction it's headed in right now.

 

I. The Status Quo: Grinding and Filling

We all have an idea of how the game roughly is already. Lacking in lore and the impact of player actions on the environment, Warframe has the tendency to revolve around a tedious grind - I have to farm X amount of mats and credits so I can build Y weapon, which I can then use to form more mats for Z weapon. Admittedly, we build weapons and frames because we enjoy using different, satisfying ways to kill our enemies, but when you distill the game down to its basic fundamentals, it is just a grind.

 

Some people say that other PvE MMOs all involve a grind. Is this true? Yes. Does this mean it's a good thing? No. Warframe has already established itself with a flavour that is different from other games on the web. That's why I came to play it. I believe the grind is essential in that we feel a sense of reward and hard work paying off when we finally build a certain item, but when the grind slowly creeps to become the fundamental element of the game, that is when it's time to change.

 

Right now, the updates that are coming into the game are more filler as opposed to content. Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining about the addition of new weapons and warframes. I love seeing expansions to my list of How To Dismember Grineer Effectively, and I mean this in all seriousness. The only problem is that every update includes only these, and that perpetuates the creep of grind, especially since we're likely to be entertained by these weapons for a while and then sell them off after they hit rank 30. Essentially, the game remains unchanged.

 

The addition of the Orokin Derelict in U10 was a nice touch with a new area to explore, as was Lephantis. I don't really have any problems with that being behind a grindwall, because I can accept to some extent the importance of grind, as I've mentioned before. In fact, that just makes your entry into the Derelict feel more accomplished and feel as though it is worth something.

 

However, this feeling is ultimately artificial. The question we have to ask ourselves here is so what? So what if we access the Derelict and slay Lephantis? What does this do to the game and for the Tenno we are roleplaying as? The only corollary or endpoint for this is a Warframe blueprint that we get to farm mats for and grind up to rank 30. 

 

The problem here is that PvE games demand some kind of player agency. It demands that we, as players, are impacting the environment that we operate within. When I enter the Derelict, I want to discover large tracts of information about its significance, beyond "this is what happens when Towers cannot enter the void". When I slay Lephantis, or any other boss, I want to see shockwaves ripple through the starmap and affect how other missions that I play unfold.

 

PvP games like CoD can get away with this because the thrill comes from the versus element, but in a co-op PvE game like Warframe, I think it's of utmost importance that DE fleshes out the way that players interact with the universe. Right now it feels more like a convenient greenscreen, rather than a world we are playing in.

 

That leads me to the next bit:

 

II. Where to Go From Here: Real Player Impact

The unlocking of Phobos after a successful weekend event is a great example of something that came close to a good direction. The efforts and actions of players essentially opened up a whole new area to explore, something that wouldn't have materialized without us.

 

These sorts of collectively-unlockable elements are things that I would rather see in consecutive updates, alongside weapons and warframes that supplement them rather than becoming the primary focus. Of course, if the weapons have to be sidelined to make room for such elements, then by all means go ahead and do so, because I think they would be examples of true content.

 

The lore for Warframe is exceedingly rich in potential. Two galactic superpowers - a martial Empire of cloned, brutal fighters pitted against a proto-conglomeration whose business puts the oligarchs of Russia to shame. The mysterious Lotus. Awakening splinter cells of forgotten warriors across the stars. Fragments of an ancient super-race and their rampant bio-weaponry. There is so much that we, as players, have a chance to build upon and influence, yet this potential is not maximised. I think a great way of including real content is to give us this chance.

 

For example, a fortnight-long event where the Grineer are expanding and culling colonies of civilian sympathizers to the Tenno cause. It could take place on a new tileset - a jungle, maybe. Overwhelming numbers of Grineer advocate a more stealthy approach, making use of your environment as a force multiplier, like cutting rope bridges or blowing up ammo dumps. Each individual patrol of Grineer or every base destroyed affects the war effort, potentially driving them out for good - or letting them exterminate populations.

 

That in turn has an effect on the rest of the galaxy for players. If the civvies survive, we get access to new weapons, or a new area that provides an opportunity to strike deeper into the heart of the Grineer empire. And the deeper we strike, the more palpable effect that it has. Grineer presence receding from certain worlds, and a power vacuum that anyone could fill - even the Tenno or a growing base of our allies around the galaxy.

 

I'm getting a little carried away here, but you get the general idea. For every player action, an eventual reaction or consequence. The development of the galaxy according to our impact on the environment is the content that we want, as is the building of the vast tracts of ambiguous, unfilled lore. The possibilities are endless, from us helping to wipe out one superpower to the Lotus revealed as a terrorist organization.

 

In conclusion, DE's been doing a great job with art and concept and community interaction, and I think they deserve a lot of kudos for that. But they are slowly heading in the wrong direction towards stagnation, when this relatively new game has such room to develop in positive, fulfilling ways. Even if the ideas I've listed so far are too ambitious, surely there has to be a more feasible way of implementing content - not filler. 

Edited September 20, 2013 by Darayas

[BrokenDown]

Just... beautiful. 

[Neuhnee]

+∞