help with difficulty progression

[glaukopes]

Where do I start? Work on unlocking the star chart is always the answer I see to that question.

Ok, so I started like everyone else, working my way from planet to planet playing through the story along the way. In the beginning it was easy. Too easy. I would almost always have a full party of 4. Sometimes there would be an overpowered character clearing the level faster than I could even keep up. But even when there wasn't, the content was easy.

At some point the content started getting a little more challenging, but I was upgrading my gear. Modding, upgrading mods with endo, then using potatoes on my frame and weapons to get more power. But the enemy health levels started to out-scale my weapon upgrades. Enemies kept taking longer and longer to kill even as I was maxing out all the weapon modding.

On top of that, the queue started to become very sparse. By the time I got out to Uranus, I would have to wait a long time in queue just to get one other person to do the level with me. Not only was it difficult for me to solo levels because the enemy health had out-scaled my damage, but some mission types are basically impossible to solo due to needing to capture and hold multiple points simultaneously. So it was a double-whammy with my damage getting out-scaled by enemy health and the queue being empty so I could no longer ever get a full party to run a level together with.

I could go into chat and ask for help. But then I would get some super overpowered character who would just blast through the level clearing it so fast that I was just running through the level doing nothing but trying to keep up. So it seems like my only choice is to struggle against an increasingly impossible difficulty curve or else just be carried while doing nothing. Needless to say, I am not thrilled with these choices.

What should I do? Should I be doing something else other than working on unlocking the star chart? Is there some way to upgrade my damage to the next level that I am not aware of? I see that other people seem to have very different mods than the silver&gold mods that I have, but I don't know if I can even obtain them. Even the gold mods are quite challenging for me to obtain.

[bad4youLT]

Post your loudout and mod setup for us to help

[ledkit]

Get other Tenno to help you on forum, in recruitment chat. Get into a clan. Get some friends into Warframe. It's flourishing with a team. 

[(PSN)BlightDragon89]

A good clan can definitely help you out with mods you might be struggling to get, and for people to help you in runs. Clearing the star chat and finishing the quests is pretty much the starting point for any tenno. We can help you out if we know what your loadout looks like. Also, if you get your MR rank up, you will get access to more gear that will help you. I also suggest that new players farm a Rhino. That frame is tanky, easy to use and will give you some breathing space in missions while you level your gear and farm the higher end mods you need.

[GibsonPrime]

You don't get stronger by unlocking the star chart, it just lets you access planets/nodes where you will need to go to get certain things.

In my star chart clearing times (all solo), I remember making a lot of use of Rhino, Frost and the Hek shotgun.  It was definitely tough.

General advice...

For weapons, look for staple damage mods like serration, pressure point, hornet strike and get them fairly high level (no need for max, I know it's hard to get the endo/credits for that).  Remember that a few highly levelled mods is often better than lots of low levelled ones in your build.  Most powerful builds focus on +damage (either the mods I mentioned or the elemtnal mods), multishot, +crit chance/damage and +attack speed for melee.  There's also status, but it general has more impact at higher levels.  There are other things, but that's a good start.

Now that's said, check the wiki for those mod names and drop locations, play some missions until you can build up endo/credits and dont be afraid to skip nodes like interception or hijack (man I hated those XD).

As folk have said, you can try recruiting chat to find groups willing to help you farm for credits/mods/endo unless you really want to do it yourself of course :).  I did/do most of the game solo, so I understand the reluctance, but I would recommend it when you go to find materials to make things.

[hyzmarca]

33 minutes ago, glaukopes said:

Where do I start? Work on unlocking the star chart is always the answer I see to that question.

Ok, so I started like everyone else, working my way from planet to planet playing through the story along the way. In the beginning it was easy. Too easy. I would almost always have a full party of 4. Sometimes there would be an overpowered character clearing the level faster than I could even keep up. But even when there wasn't, the content was easy.

At some point the content started getting a little more challenging, but I was upgrading my gear. Modding, upgrading mods with endo, then using potatoes on my frame and weapons to get more power. But the enemy health levels started to out-scale my weapon upgrades. Enemies kept taking longer and longer to kill even as I was maxing out all the weapon modding.

On top of that, the queue started to become very sparse. By the time I got out to Uranus, I would have to wait a long time in queue just to get one other person to do the level with me. Not only was it difficult for me to solo levels because the enemy health had out-scaled my damage, but some mission types are basically impossible to solo due to needing to capture and hold multiple points simultaneously. So it was a double-whammy with my damage getting out-scaled by enemy health and the queue being empty so I could no longer ever get a full party to run a level together with.

I could go into chat and ask for help. But then I would get some super overpowered character who would just blast through the level clearing it so fast that I was just running through the level doing nothing but trying to keep up. So it seems like my only choice is to struggle against an increasingly impossible difficulty curve or else just be carried while doing nothing. Needless to say, I am not thrilled with these choices.

What should I do? Should I be doing something else other than working on unlocking the star chart? Is there some way to upgrade my damage to the next level that I am not aware of? I see that other people seem to have very different mods than the silver&gold mods that I have, but I don't know if I can even obtain them. Even the gold mods are quite challenging for me to obtain.

Plan your builds.  Do research,  use the wiki,  find out what you need and then work to get it. 

 

Clearing the star chart is a starting point,  but it's much more complex than just running missions.  It's also about learning multiple frames,  learning the intricacies of different game types,  finding your playstyles.   There's a lot of work that goes into it.  

 

For example,  when I started failing at Excavation,  I decided to get Limbo.   That put my star chart progress on hold while I did his quest,  leveled him, and learned his intricacies (which angered many pub players, but I digress).      But he took me through defenses,   interceptions, and excavations all the way to the end.   I did replace him with Limbo Prime as soon as I could, though. 

I spent a lot of time farming Corrupted mods for certain builds,  as soon as I could, as well.  

 

Farming the basic and important stuff is part of star chart clearing. It slows the star chart down a lot,  but it is a major part of the game.   As you clear the star chart,  farm boss missions for parts,  collect more frames.   Do quests.  Collect more frames.  Build new weapons.   Raise your MR.   Especially raise your MR.    It'll all come together in time.

[glaukopes]

https://imgur.com/TDx8sJk

https://imgur.com/PRGoYaS

https://imgur.com/VzYiR9r

[glaukopes]

So I'm trying to research mods on the wiki like many people in this thread suggested, but it's not working for me. Every time I find a mod that looks good, I click on it and find out that I don't even have access to it yet. Trying to find a mod that I don't already have that would actually be available for me to obtain is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Is there any website that would let you filter mods based on which ones are available to you? Honestly I'd rather play the game than take on a research project.

Is there any kind of website or tool that would let you create a build outside of the game to compare mods and see how the numbers add up with different combinations of mods that you might not have yet?

[prodi1600]

22 minutes ago, glaukopes said:

So I'm trying to research mods on the wiki like many people in this thread suggested, but it's not working for me. Every time I find a mod that looks good, I click on it and find out that I don't even have access to it yet. Trying to find a mod that I don't already have that would actually be available for me to obtain is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Is there any website that would let you filter mods based on which ones are available to you? Honestly I'd rather play the game than take on a research project.

Is there any kind of website or tool that would let you create a build outside of the game to compare mods and see how the numbers add up with different combinations of mods that you might not have yet?

you can use:

http://warframe-builder.com/

I saw your builds and are pretty basic, you need to max out all your mods, when you get to the point that you cant due space then its time for you to start formaing weapons.

for suvival of the WF vitality at max + steel fiber maxed out.

Serration maxed out, also when you get life strike replace healing retun, it cost less and works better.

 

With MR get other frames, suggestion, frost, rhino so you can have a tanking one and a defense one.

Other than that its just continue with the grind, I'm MR12 and still have not  unliocked all the start chart yet.

 

 

[glaukopes]

It would take me a lifetime grinding endo to max out all my mods. Every new level costs exponentially more endo, but you don't earn exponentially more endo as you progress.

My WF does have redirection, vitality, and steel fiber at pretty high levels. Not maxed, but as high as I can reasonably go without having dedicated the last decade to farming endo. But I see a lot of people recommending tankiness and getting Rhino (which I've already tried), etc. I wonder if I'm even playing the same game. I have zero problems with survivability. I can survive just fine in Excalibur. My problem is damage. Many mission types the enemies don't even attack me, they are attacking some objective that I have to defend, and the issue is that I can't kill them faster than they kill the objective. So yeah, a lot of the advice I'm being given is just kind of baffling because it doesn't match my experience in the game at all. "Just get Rhino, it's EZ mode, you can never die..." But I already never die, I just can't kill enemies fast enough to successfully complete missions. What I need is a WF that does way more damage, not a WF that is more tanky.

[Megalomaniakaal]

DO the weekly ayatan treasure hunts and socket the stars into them, then go to maroos bazaar on mars and trade them in for endo. Also, while it's good to keep a few of every mod, you can convert the excess into endo at the mod bench.

 

For the Excalibur, remove any non augur shield mods and use the augur mods you can get from the plains of eidolon, infact only the ability duration one might suffice, but combined with the shield one you get even more over-shield in return for spending your energy using your abilities. Don't forget to mod your exalted blade. It's OP. And as previously mentioned, health and armor, add those. Then just try to increase your energy pool and ability strength.

For your Karak, replace the puncture mod(Piercing hit) with the toxic mod(Infested Clip), it will combine with the electric mod(Stormbringer) to cause corrosive damage, which is good against the heavier armored grineer enemies you have started to face.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Megalomaniakaal

[prodi1600]

1 hour ago, glaukopes said:

It would take me a lifetime grinding endo to max out all my mods. Every new level costs exponentially more endo, but you don't earn exponentially more endo as you progress.

My WF does have redirection, vitality, and steel fiber at pretty high levels. Not maxed, but as high as I can reasonably go without having dedicated the last decade to farming endo. But I see a lot of people recommending tankiness and getting Rhino (which I've already tried), etc. I wonder if I'm even playing the same game. I have zero problems with survivability. I can survive just fine in Excalibur. My problem is damage. Many mission types the enemies don't even attack me, they are attacking some objective that I have to defend, and the issue is that I can't kill them faster than they kill the objective. So yeah, a lot of the advice I'm being given is just kind of baffling because it doesn't match my experience in the game at all. "Just get Rhino, it's EZ mode, you can never die..." But I already never die, I just can't kill enemies fast enough to successfully complete missions. What I need is a WF that does way more damage, not a WF that is more tanky.

you need to prioritize mods

for example if you're surviving just fine but lack power then max out serration and pressure point, I still use normal serration  + crit or stat mods and can handle myself just fine at endgame content.

Also have in mind the damage output from enemies scale up way too hard when you're starting, you'll be dying a lot and thats to be spected thats why most people ask you to change frames.

If you require ability power then get yourself intensify + start farming in plains of eidolon, there you can get augur/gladiator set and one of those does give you + 24 ability strength combined with the +30 of intensify will help you to do a lil better.

If you want to main mostly excalibur then you have to go for duration and some efficiency because you'll be in exalted blade all the time, when in exalted blade use your 2 to blind enemies and 1 to  close gap to distant or heavy foes also as a mean to get out of enemy crowds.

this its a good guide for you, you'll lack the mods but can see the whole idea of how to play excal.

Hope the info its of use, also warframe its a pretty long game, dont rush things out, have in mind this game takes time, you're in the best place to be at this moment try to enjoy it.

You can add me in game if need any advice.

Edited December 18, 2019 by prodi1600