First Impressions: Why I love this game, and why I never want to play again

[GimmeAChance]

After having resisted since launch, I finally installed Warframe last night and was immediately hooked. It's a lot of fun, solo and with a pug!

 

Quick missions are a blast. I can run through, do some killing, and 5-15 minutes later, take a break to get some coffee. The lootfest is better than most, and it's clear that there's a lot of progression to indulge in without wasting your life for no reward at all. The controls are very fluid, and it's gratifying to shove a sword through an alien's back like that. "Bullet jumping" is satisfying, and the ability to tumble is a big plus in tight quarters.

Even the GUI looks amazing. I'm enormously impressed with the way some UI elements move around as you hover over them.

However, as soon as I got past the initial storyline and into the Plains, I started encountering things that chipped away to the point where I don't think I want to play anymore.

First was the Saya's Vigil quest. I've seen lots and lots and lots of forum posts, reddit posts, Steam posts, talking about the "kill all reinforcements" part of this mission. You kill them all, the circle is empty, you stand there for what feels like forever. I managed to use up all my revives getting picked off by those irritating skybug things that I haven't learned to shoot yet. It was only on my second run-through and like the 15th forum post that I discovered you have to kill the big ship with the gun emplacement. That's not at all intuitive. It's the world's simplest fix - add an element to that quest stage that says, "Destroy the dropship" - but it appears to have been a problem for at least two years and you guys haven't fixed it. This is not an encouraging sign.

Nevertheless, I powered through. Did a few more missions, unlocked a gun and ran some of the noob missions a few times to level it up, plenty of fun. Next I decided to run some Plains bounties to unlock that frame I got the blueprint for from Saya's Vigil.

So I take a bounty, enter the Plains, and I'm in a group that's already finished the first stage. I have to run 1200m to catch up. Along the way I am killed by the Eidolon or whatever the hell that thing is. I use my first revive.

While I'm running my 1.2km, the team finishes the second stage and they're told to relocate. My waypoint moves. Still 1000m away. I get killed by the boss thing again. Now I've used two revives.

Next a player dropped, so I had to wait for host migration. You guys can't do anything about that, but it came in the middle of being compelled to run and run and run and run and run and screw whoever decided I should have to spend this long doing nothing whatsoever.

Finally, I caught up with my remaining teammates. This part of the mission was an escort quest. Fine. We kept up with the thing, killing stuff along the way. I was killed a third time, although at least this one came in battle, but I never saw what killed me. I was revived by a teammate, thank god.

We finished the escort quest, got to the "defend" stage of the mission, and the whole place erupted in so many visual effects I literally could not see what was going on. No hyperbole, the entire screen consisted of nothing but fire and smoke effects for a good 10 solid seconds, and when it cleared, I was dead. This happened twice.

At last, another teammate having dropped, we managed to finish this nonsense, and I got a popup from that NPC that indicated I'd completed the bounty. But that's it. No, "Exit the Plains." No direction, so I assumed I was done. Not wanting to run all the way back across the map again, I decided to exit the zone. Of course, it warned me that I'd lose completion rewards, but, having completed the bounty, what do I care, right?

So I did, and my final screen was missing two mods that had shown before I "aborted" the mission. Clearly I was intended to run back across the map, another 1200m, just so as to keep a couple of dropped items.

Final result: between the fact that I joined so late, was killed by things I couldn't see, and was such a low level relative to my teammates, I did a grand total of 7% damage and got no useful rewards. That's like 15 or 20 minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

Running Simulator 2019 is not fun. It's the antithesis of fun. Being killed for no apparent reason is not fun. Going through all that without ever having the opportunity to do anything useful is absolutely not fun.

Hence, I love this game, and I don't ever, ever, ever want to play again, because the experience I've just described has left me exhausted and, frankly, somewhere between frustrated with and angry at the devs who put me through it.

[Drachnyn]

The game is not very beginner friendly sadly. Bounties are not really intended to do right at the start especially the higher level ones. The normal progression is to go to Mercury and do the quests there and then start going through Mars, Phobos and the other planets. Plains bounties and Fortuna bounties are way too hard for when you see them first.

The universal new player advice still is to get Rhino from the boss on Venus on the Fossa node and for early weapons is suggest working towards the normal Vectis or the Hek.

New Player experience is a very difficult thing to get right in a game this big. At this point there cant be a good tutorial, since it's either going to be far too complex or it wont tell you nearly enough if it is kept simple.

I suggest progressing through the start chart until you can comfortably deal with the enemy levels you are having trouble with right now and then returning to the plains. 

[Pie_mastyr]

The plains of Eidolon have always been in a weird place. When they were introduced it was clear that DE wanted to make it accessible to everyone, after all it was the first time warframe had something like this and they didn't want all the new players who were brought in from the hype of its release to be left out. While you can access it from a very early point in the game it's more like a sight seeing tour at that point in player progression. Sure you can do the resource gathering and low level bounties but the best parts are further down the line. I think the intention at this point is for the player to say to themselves "Hey I want to see the rest of what plains has to offer, I should go power up in the rest of the game." but for one reason or another that never really happens.

The bugs can be really frustrating but I think they are usually outweighed by the high points in the game. I've been playing for a long time and I have sort have built up an immunity to them, so it's kinda hard to take my biased opinion on them. IMHO they are worth tolerating (after all you rarely lose much more than some resources.)

The biggest thing to alleviate your issues with plains is to invest in an archwing and the launcher so that you can fly around the plains with ease. It would drastically improve your situation

[Shalath]

@GimmeAChance - As a new player I would probably advise leaving the plains (and Orb Vallis) for later until you know more about the game mechanics and have more gear that is appropriate for the plains. Personally I would have locked access to the plains behind a couple of quests as the distances you mention are trivial once you have your Archwing. You aren't prompted to leave the plains because you can pick up more bounties from tents rather than having to go back to Cetus every time (something we griped about a LOT when the plains launched). Definitely do not go out on the plains at night as you really aren't equipped for that yet.

For now I would suggest concentrating on the quests in your codex as these open up more things including your Archwing which will allow you to travel faster in the plains. Look at modding gear and collecting more mods to replace your damaged ones. Start levelling up those mods to improve your weapon and frame. As you go you will start encountering bosses which you can start getting parts for new frames (the blueprints for which are purchased from the market for credits). I would suggest exploring Venus to acquire Rhino as he is very much an all-rounder and will serve you well in keeping you alive on the plains as well as elsewhere.

[Firetempest]

Simply PoE should not have been accessible so quickly, specially signing up for any bounty but the first if you haven't left earth. But DE tried too hard to make it a hook for new players by just allowing access. Without any guidance or prior knowledge of the games typical bumps. Really, a new player shouldn't even have the option to be on the plains during night time because all that is late game player events with hardly a warning at all, except a voice line and all these extra new enemies that you cant even kill and you don't know WHY.

Just do your one bounty to get past the node and keep moving through the starchart.

[GimmeAChance]

Thanks, everybody. I guess I'll give some other missions a try. This brings up another point, however: I made this post sincerely expecting that it was the last I'd played of Warframe. The post was just meant as a courtesy for the devs, to help them analyze player retention.

And yet, I wouldn't have gotten any of these tips if I hadn't made this post. How many players must have shared my experience and quit without speaking up?

[Xaero]

12 minutes ago, GimmeAChance said:

How many players must have shared my experience and quit without speaking up?

Apparently, not enough. 😄

[GnarlsDarkley]

32 minutes ago, GimmeAChance said:

The post was just meant as a courtesy for the devs, to help them analyze player retention.

They are aware of this "early game problem" and stated half a year ago that they have a (small) dedicated team to rework the Beginning

[Azvalk]

The beginning of the game will be remastered soon this year I think if I remember correctly what was said in some devstream and interview.. ( and replayable.. )
( watch tennocon on july 6 to discover this 😄 ( I hope *-* )
Hope it will help..
In the meantime, other players are your best way to learn the game..
Warframe community is known to be helpfull in any situation ^^
Personally I only help those I meet on my way in game, but it's clear in the region chat, that all questions are always answered.
Aside that I help newbies that I find on twitch ^^
That way I can answer questions of more people at the same time 😃
And I know I'm far to be the only one who do that ^^'

We all know the game can have a succession of bad experiences sometimes, but it's so vast.. it's..normal, because aside that, it have plenty of good experiences ^^ just need to find the right track..

Edited June 29, 2019 by Azvalk

[Urlan]

Fair enough, I hope you give the game another chance, but I can understand being frustrated with how little is often explained or introduced to the player when just starting out. You might enjoy the Archwing or K-Drives for getting around on the plains when doing bounties, as you do have to 'bank' your progress by returning to town and its much faster than just walking the whole way. Good luck in your other games, but I hope you give the game a try again later.

[DenisJaguar]

I did the same thing you did. Then i put some reasonning into it and found that i was not ready for the plains.

So i went back to do planet nodes. Got Rhino and started to get some fun. For new player at the moment, Warframe is lacking alot but if you pass this and go back to do nodes on the planets you will see lots fun to do and learn new tricks.

By the way visit the warframe wiki or the warframe section of reddit. You will get lots of input for the game.

If you get Rhino, go do Orb vallis quest line. It will give you a k-drive that will help you with the travelling in open world until you can craft archwing.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Spaceland

[Ultimatesoup]

Il y a 8 heures, GnarlsDarkley a dit :

They are aware of this "early game problem" and stated half a year ago that they have a (small) dedicated team to rework the Beginning

Good thing they noticed the "early game problem" that has been here since years now, hope it will be fixed by 2021.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Ultimatesoup

[Sabremouse]

Hahaha sorry, but your first experience of the plains reminds me of my own laughable debut there in which I died a lot and got lost for ages. I remember being so angry at the game for not making things more obvious. But then I hadn't prepped for it in any way either so no excuses when there's so much knowledge available to improve one's chances. Also it helps to roll with the punches...

[TaylorsContraction]

they should somehow encourage to acquire or inform new players about archwings when they talk to konzu as a reliable mode of transport utilized by tenno.

 

[Urlan]

1 hour ago, TaylorsContraction said:

they should somehow encourage to acquire or inform new players about archwings when they talk to konzu as a reliable mode of transport utilized by tenno.

 

That is a good idea, perhaps Ordis could chime in when you first visit the plains, to announce the Archwing deployment gear research would allow getting about the Plains more quickly.

[George_PPS]

You need Archwing to be able to move efficiently in Plains of Eidolon and also Orbs Vallis. I recommend not to do bounties in both places yet until you get your first Archwing and have made your Archwing fast as well.By the way, get Itzl first. 

[k05h]

Am 29.6.2019 um 13:23 schrieb GimmeAChance:

And yet, I wouldn't have gotten any of these tips if I hadn't made this post. How many players must have shared my experience and quit without speaking up?

Way too many if I think about those struggling noobs I come across on the plains. I always try to tell them to progress elsewhere but it is rather counter-intuitive to stop playing in an area that were thrust into after your first big chunk of story. 

Thanks for speaking up.

Edited June 30, 2019 by k05h

[(XBOX)YoungGunn82]

OP I'm sorry for your experience. But you thought that was tough? Lol, man back in the day we only had 4 revives every 24 hours, or you could play a diff frame or spent plat for more.  

also this:

On 2019-06-29 at 5:35 AM, Drachnyn said:

The normal progression is to go to Mercury and do the quests there and then start going through Mars, Phobos and the other planets. Plains bounties and Fortuna bounties are way too hard for when you see them first.

The universal new player advice still is to get Rhino from the boss on Venus on the Fossa node and for early weapons is suggest working towards the normal Vectis or the Hek.

New Player experience is a very difficult thing to get right in a game this big. At this point there cant be a good tutorial, since it's either going to be far too complex or it wont tell you nearly enough if it is kept simple.

I suggest progressing through the start chart until you can comfortably deal with the enemy levels you are having trouble with right now and then returning to the plains. 

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by (XB1)RDeschain82

[(XBOX)KayAitch]

On 2019-06-29 at 11:16 AM, GimmeAChance said:

First was the Saya's Vigil quest

This is somewhat confusing, but this quest is extremely hard, and the reward for beating it (Gara blueprint) is useless for now (the parts and resources come from bounties you won't be able to complete yet).

In fact none of the plains content is particularly playable for beginners.

If you go into the quests there are 2 really important ones: The Second Dream and The War Within - you have to beat both of these because they unlock abilities that you need. Go do all the chart up to those quests and complete them, come back and the plains will feel about the right difficulty.

[DariusMcSwag]

Honestly POE and Orb Vallis should have an MR cap to participate. If the Vay Hek boss fight has a MR cap of 5, then why can't POE or Orb Vallis?

 

[Urlan]

6 minutes ago, DariusMcSwag said:

Honestly POE and Orb Vallis should have an MR cap to participate. If the Vay Hek boss fight has a MR cap of 5, then why can't POE or Orb Vallis?

 

In the Plains area locations, they were designed around the concept that early players could hit the early bounties and such, be exposed to it, and revisit later while allowing players that have already done everything else, to just stay there until done while humming "We all Lift Together" to themselves, or keeping that youtube trailer playing on loop in the background. The Profit Taker fight though was gated off like that due to players in some case feeling that they didn't like new players getting involved with Eidolons on the Plains, despite the fact that the Orb mother drops rewards that would be primarily valuable for players that haven't completed Solaris United yet.

[Hobie-wan]

The game certainly can be confusing at first as there's a lot to learn. Really one should be playing solo for a lot of early things other than interception so they can learn without people that know what they're doing already rushing them. They do need to work on early game stuff for new people, but I'm amazed how many people don't do like they likely organically would in some fantasy RPG game. "Hmm, if I go this way I can handle the rats and wolves I encounter but I die if I go the other way and run into the 300 pound ogres. I'd better go this way for now until I'm stronger".

[GimmeAChance]

5 hours ago, Hobie-wan said:

I'm amazed how many people don't do like they likely organically would in some fantasy RPG game. "Hmm, if I go this way I can handle the rats and wolves I encounter but I die if I go the other way and run into the 300 pound ogres. I'd better go this way for now until I'm stronger". 

Because the game explicitly directed me to that specific zone. Most of the time, when a progression-based game dumps you out of the tutorials, it dumps you in a level-appropriate place. If it directs you to go to a specific place, that's usually a level-appropriate area. In this case, after finishing the opening tutorials, the game offers you the choice of doing whatever you want or going to the Plains, so I went to the Plains.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

It's a multiplayer game. Some people see high mastery rank players then think, "Hey that person is strong. If I go with them because they can't get rid of me, I can get stuff faster."

[Ouinpis]

most of player are  from eye of the bling bling

nothing above or  below just DE bling fabration