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Remnant of the Founders


SnowyGreyish
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This is a story of a Founder player looking back over the years.

I'm not asking for anything, nor am I aiming at criticizing, Im simply showing a founder side of things in-game. Some people will probably disagree with my story, and they're allowed to, this angle to the game have always been causing stirs throughout, since Founder packs were launched. Stories from other Founders will probably vary too, that is also the beauty of it. I am simply feeling nostalgic and pulling the old 'Deckard Cain' -card ("Stay a while and listen").

Back when Founder packs came out, people were scavenging to get any Mastery Rank XP they could get hands on. Nothing much have changed in that area over the years. People were also quite fascinated by these golden (already from default state) shiny gear with a bit more edge to them than the regular versions or in some cases compared to the most alternatives of their respective type of gear. Skana Prime was especially standing out with its visual imprint compared to most melee form back then. That said, strength-wise both melee and secondary weren’t that strong compared to the competition and was mostly fashion items after getting the Mastery Rank XP from mastering them. Excalibur Prime was of course marginally stronger than the original and now with a shiny head (+ some minor pattern changes), So it remained a contender on the Frame scene. The Excalibur Prime profile icon pictures were also popular either for those loving Excalibur in general or, and probably mainly because of the exclusivity from the icon pictures, back when there mainly were basic pictures of the Frames available. The price tag that followed the Founder packs in its versions received some different feedbacks from players. Some simply said, “Pricy, BUT I WANT IT!!”. I played with some players who saved up over 2-3 months to buy one of the packs. I fell into that category myself as well, since I ended up buying the Grand Master Founder pack and was still a working student back then. Most Founders I talked to simply considered the Design Council Forum section and Chat tab as added boons from the purchase.

While the Founder packs were still available the Founders were greeted with different responses to their purchase and use thereof, but mainly two types of responses were common. Some players approached Founders with fascination and awe and often wanted them themselves, others were badmouthing them quite bad like show-offs or rich kids and connecting Founder players to a part of the game they considered Pay2Win. Some cases went as far as treating Founders as cheaters and slandered them without it having anything to do with the actual person’s actions besides the Founder pack purchase (ridiculous as it may sound).

Through the years Founders have often turned to either showing-off their Founder status with honour and ignored all the hateful remarks occasionally coming their way, others got fed up with the hating and hid their Founder gear and picture, so it only showed on their profile. I did hear on one occasion that one Founder left the game entirely, because the remarks had destroyed his ability to enjoy the game anymore. That was probably 3 years back now. That said, some did go under the radar entirely and haven’t heard any remarks to them being a Founder. After the packs were gone a lot of players were sad they missed their chance to get one of the Founder packs, some took it with fascination when they some of the gear show up in groups with other playing occasionally, others were going almost frantic about Founders having an unfair advantage with exclusive gear with Mastery Rank XP.

At one point in time I was running low of weapon slots and since the Skana Prime was stat-wise close to a starter melee, I sold it. Of course, I sort of regret that decision all this time later since I can’t get it back, but it would still only had been a fashionable object. The Lato Prime did manage to stay in my collection throughout the years, which led to a decent competitive option with a strong riven, mainly due to a buff it received many years later. Excalibur Prime have also stayed in my collection over the years, although no one can recognize it if I use it with other colours or attachments than the default settings for the Frame and assume it’s a regular version Excalibur, possibly due to Founders being a remnant of another time in this state of the game’s life cycle. I kept on using the Excalibur Prime profile picture throughout the years partly for its exclusivity and the fact I never collected many those icon pictures. I do use it for a functional purpose though, I use it to get into talks with the occasional Founder I meet in public groups, since we quickly recognize each other when we see those icon pictures, even if we aren’t using any of the Founder gear at the time.

With the release of Excalibur Umbra and the documentary about Warframe’s development. Players throughout Warframe brought two new tendencies and opinions to view. General players started calling Excalibur Prime for an ugly and weak version of the Umbral version and only showed little resentment over the Master Rank XP part. A lot of players started taking note again when they saw a founder and started contacting them to say thanks for them buying Founder packs back when they did.

Founders in general do feel Excalibur have been left in the dirt as the game developed and everything came more detailed, intricate and shinier one after the other. We have often tried to petition Excalibur Prime to get a slight update over the years, but when I founder have spoken up either on forum or stream, they have been met by a huge backlash by the community. With players annoyed by founders or fearing Excalibur Umbra will lose its shine, most founders have given up on that topic after many attempts, realizing that we’re simply a minority with an unpopular opinion.

I might have gotten a more grey tint to my hair since back when I clicked that button to support this game as a Founder, but the game has certainly gotten more fluid, smooth and shiny over the years, and I’m less likely to encounter a bug compared to back in the early days (it is true, so don’t give me weird responses about this in the comments).

Thanks for entertaining me over the years.

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11 minutes ago, SnowyGreyish said:

At one point in time I was running low of weapon slots and since the Skana Prime was stat-wise close to a starter melee, I sold it

bruh

14 minutes ago, SnowyGreyish said:

I did hear on one occasion that one Founder left the game entirely, because the remarks had destroyed his ability to enjoy the game anymore.

bruh

and if someone bothers you and you are host you can unplug the internet cable so jelly squadmate get host migration which will probably cause to lose all his stuff, while you can plug the cable back in and extract with no worries

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There's only one way to make things right regarding the Founder Pack, and it would be to release the 3 items while refunding the money to Founders, as a token of good will from DE. This latter part is important.

There's a fact that I've come to fear recently, which is very simple: If the game keeps going, and nothing suggest it won't, when we reach 10 years of Warframe, what will be the point of keeping these items exclusive while only a tiny percent of us remain here? The items will be taken care of less and less, and they will age badly. Besides it's gating the Prime Warframe of one of the starters, 2 weapons and the idea of the dual weilded versions of them.

The reason I say DE should return the money as a token of good will is merely legal, as, if I am not mistaken, it would do 2 things:

a) Mainly disencourage of legal action against DE

b) In the case of users taking legal action, if a court perceives good will out of the provider, they would most likely not condemn the action, as in most countries returning the money would be legally accepted -- in this case they wouldn't even take away the goods, for we take they would not ask back the plkatinum nor the digital goods associated.

Well. Either this, or make Warframe 2, which would be clear of all this trouble.

On the other hand this should finally open the door to redesign the first 3 Primes, which badly need it. If I had to choose, I'd have Mynki do it, especially Excalibur, since he would need to be the male version of Nyx Prime (a part of it is on Umbra, but they would both be visually different if my udnerstanding of the design process is right).

That's what I would suggest should be done.

51 minutes ago, SnowyGreyish said:

Of course, I sort of regret that decision all this time later since I can’t get it back, but it would still only had been a fashionable object.

Have you sent support a ticket? They will most likely readd the Skana Prime to your account.

Edited by NightmareT12
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21 minutes ago, NightmareT12 said:

 

As a non-founder and console Tenno, I don't see a reason to ever release those items exclusivity. They already don't exist on any platform other than PC as it is, and only a tiny fraction of the PC community has them. They were never meant to be the indisputable peak of Warframe's potential for all time. They had their day, and the game has moved on.

Let them stay as exclusives for the Founders that helped make this game a reality. All versions of Excalibur already have more exclusives than any other frame as it is, and Umbra more than filled the need for an upgraded form of Excalibur. 

When the last Founder account has been inactive for 6 months, maybe they can discuss opening it up just to keep them in game. Lol

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Well i am not surprised,this game is not the 1st one who treats Founders that way, and cause this i have iron rule when play this kind of games = Spend no money on them.

DE are so hellbent on making money on all costs that they forgot about those who help them this game running.

I dunno why people backlash on Founders,hey if not those people this game would not run at all probably or we would not had semi-fair grind system.

Founders deserves overhauled Excalibur Prime,Skana Prime and Lato Prime.

I don't give damn if they will outshine everything else.

Just give them what they deserve after all as sign of gratitude to those who help this game running from very origin

 

 

 

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So I started playing Warframe about a month before PoE launched and my take on founder exclusive items is that I am totally fine with them having those exclusive items and I think those items should be adequately powerful for them to function if the game evolves to make those less useful then they should be brought to the new standard. That said they shouldn't be strictly better options than what non-founders have access to. With the addition on Excalibur Umbra and the fact that it is basically just a better version of Excalibur Prime I think The prime version should be brought to the level of umbra but be more of a side grade not an upgrade. Make them roughly equivalent not the same.

I get that done founders will feel they should have a strictly better version because they helped get the game off the ground but the flip side of that is that there are far more people that are in the category I'm in that have helped fund the game as well and perhaps even more than a founder personally I've spent about $300 on Warframe which is more than the cost of even the largest founders pack. Yes that wasn't at the beginning and had it not been for founders I likely wouldn't have ever spent that money as the game would have failed before I got the chance to do so. However that this point that is a sunk cost. You supported a game you believed in you got not only a personal you that is exclusive to you that I can't get but you've also received all the content and updates that DE has put out since then. If you are a founder and you're still playing the game you can't say you haven't got your money's worth. How many other games that came out 7+ years ago are you still playing that you paid for once? Generally I think that if you can get entertainment at around $1 per hour of enjoyment I'd say that is an incredible deal. If you picked up $60 founders pack and are still playing 7 years later and have access new content on a regular basis I don't think you can complain because the toy that only you have access to isn't better that what everyone else has who for all you know has spent more money over a time period almost as long. 

Again I fully support DE updating those founder exclusive items I am fine with them being in the game. I am fine with founders asking DE to update Excalibur Prime to keep him level or even arguably better than excal umbra. I'm am not ok with founders throwing a hissy fit because they think they are entitled to something that is far better than what everyone else that has bought into the game after them can have. I am not ok with founders yelling and screaming at DE and saying that DE owes them anything at this point because as far as I'm concerned DE has more than delivered on what they promised to founders and if you can't see the value in the $60 purchase you made 7 years ago that allowed Warframe to get where it is today and likely have you hundreds of not thousands of hours of entertainment then I'm sorry but that's not on DE at that point that is entirely on you. 

I think a big reason why a large portion of non-founders gave a lot of back lash to founders especially around the time that the sacrifice came out is because there were a lot of founders that basically threw a hissy fit because "these new plebs" essentially now have access to Excalibur Prime and they felt that was unfair. 

Also just I hate that this has to be mentioned but anyone that is mad about the MR they can't have because of 1 frame and 2 weapons never being available to them are idiots. And eventually we'll have enough to get us to MR30 even without those and it won't matter at all. Honestly even right now assuming they had everything else maxed out that comparatively miniscule amount of XP isn't going to prevent anyone from getting the max MR that is currently possible.

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13 hours ago, Syq111 said:

Well i am not surprised,this game is not the 1st one who treats Founders that way, and cause this i have iron rule when play this kind of games = Spend no money on them.

DE are so hellbent on making money on all costs that they forgot about those who help them this game running.

I dunno why people backlash on Founders,hey if not those people this game would not run at all probably or we would not had semi-fair grind system.

Founders deserves overhauled Excalibur Prime,Skana Prime and Lato Prime.

I don't give damn if they will outshine everything else.

Just give them what they deserve after all as sign of gratitude to those who help this game running from very origin

 

 

 

If I got it right, the players that do hate on founders do so because of bad experiences they had with them. Stuff along the lines of said founders acting as entitled a-holes, showing airs of superiority and flaunting their shiny exclusivity.

I don't think I've met with any of those founders in the 5 years I've been playing, or if I did it wasn't worth remembering.

By all means do give the founder gear a visual upgrade, we all know it needs it the most.

Edited by TheRealShade
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I've played a few free to play games, and the issue here is more general. There is a group of people who consider not paying a single cent for a game they play a badge of honor, same as people who pirate the games and always invent one or the other reason to justify this. Any comment made to those people about supporting the game or devs will often be interpreted as comming from someone considering themselves superior, vain etc, etc. I mean best way to hide your own moral degeneration is to besmirch someone else. (p.s. if you want in on the drama, the upcomming borderlands 3 and the whole epic store thing should prove entertaining, as well as recent review bombings of the Switch exclusive titles by the PS4 players just for them being Switch exlusive.)

I can't really relate to your experience, but I haven't dusted off my excal prime since forever. Mostly because he is ugly AF and no amount of fashion frame fixes it and the second reason is Umbra. It should stay exclusive though, a promise is a promise.

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Hi there, in my opinion our founder gear should either get their mastery stripped or everyone else should get that mastery too.

I'd also like to use Excal Primes helmet on Umbra, but that's mostly it. Can't really talk about skana and Lato, as I don't have them, but the helmet looks fine, even for todays standards.

The only intereactions I had with people that recognised me as a founder, where a few people beeing excited about seeing Excal Prime and one person offering me hundreds of $ for my account. So all in all not really bad.

Of course there where a lot of topics back in the day when the console versions came out but I have only seen like 1 in the last year.

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