Problems getting Mastery Ranks playing solo. Is this is a real thing or do I just suck?

[Zengur]

I have something like 48 hours of logged time in (but seriously perhaps 20 hours of actually doing missions, 50-60% of the time I'm in some menu doing nothing on the Orbiter, dabbling with weapon and mod builds or the game runs in the background) and I'm STILL at mastery level 2, though inches from MR 3.

For the past 17 missions or so I have averaged to the tune or 240 mastery points per successful mission. I counted.

I take all the Void Fissure missions I figure I can handle alone, and lately have played a ton of defense and exterminate missions (also infestations to get credits, they are plenty easy to frag for quick cash - at this MR at least) trying to kill as many enemies as possible as fast as possible to gain affinity and rank up my weapons. But going is slow as hell.

Also I'm stuck on Earth/Venus because the Space Crab JACKÀ$$ in Venus stomps me to minced Tenno Armor (I bet the ***er eats the metal after with Sriracha sauce) or shoots blue 5$|-|17 on me which causes me to die. Granted, I am not very good at the Parkour element of the game but after I die a couple of times I go back trying to find a Fissure, a mission I have yet to complete or take a survival or defense gig and try to level up something. I recently fixed myself up with a Kraken and Furis MK-1 just for Mastery Fodder but oh boy are the fun to play for the first 1 to 5 ranks. 

How do the veterans of the game rank up their unranked new stuff? Personally, I pick an easy defense or exterminate mission and do as much as I can with my new peashooter and kill whatever causes me trouble with another backup weapon or Skana which is a whirlwind of death against almost any faction at this stage of available missions. 

Since I have access to just about nowhere my inventory is overflowing with Ferrite, Rubedo, Alloy Plate, Polymer and generally stuff you find in Earth/Venus but not much else. Which in turn cramps my style hard if I try to forge just about anything on my blueprint list, never mind those I can buy.

Mods and weapons make the Frame in the end but being rank 2 (3 in an hour or two, I hope) seriously cramps my options though. What missions I can take, what weapons I can buy and use, how many slots I have free, how many loadouts, you know the drill. I've heard it mentioned several times over playing with a squad will result in faster advances in Affinity. This true?

Oh, and I don't _like_ playing solo, but I'm currently in a network with Strict NAT 90% of the week and the guys in this organization would laugh until they pass out even thinking about making changes to their routers because some semi-random IT guy wants to play a computer in the evenings. 

Bonus question #1: Should I spend a potato on my level 30 Excalibur? I like it. Perhaps because I can't try anything else though? I already bought some damage mods since they weren't dropping so I don't mind spending the worth of a single lunch to get a bit of Plat and spend a bit on delicious Potatos. But in general I try to play for free.

Bonus question #2: I forgot it while typing. Oh yeah, now it returned to me. Should I try to get my hands on a sniper weapon, is Vectis good (if I can gather the materials ?) and go wander around the Plains of Eidolon or Orb Vallis to get some variety to this eternal grinding against level 1-16 enemies that results in nothing. 

Opinion: The Taxon is plenty fun to have around, it's like a GoPro drone that does target spotting for me either draining shields or slowing down space monsters while spamming blue rays so it makes it easier for me to spot them! Hooray!

Anyway still an awesome game, love it, I'm not in a hurry to run through everything within a week and just enjoy the ride but feeling like I'm doing something wrong and a bit stuck in here.  

 

 

[(PSN)grayhyh]

8 minutes ago, L1GUR said:

I still don't have a HEAT mod for my primary weapons, rifle or shotgun, any ideas on how to acquire them? Every weapon I have has all the rest of the Elemental mods but heat keeps avoiding me for the primary weapon >:[

Dont worry about it,you will get them just by playing the game anyways,Elemental combo doesnt matter all that much anyways at star chart levels and even outside of star chart other than few most of the elemental combos are situational af/useless.

11 minutes ago, L1GUR said:

Also is there a limit on how many different types mods you can have in your inventory :O 

Nah,only riven mods which you will get later on have a cap on how much you can acquire,other mods and resources are limitless.

 

[L1GUR]

I still don't have a HEAT mod for my primary weapons, rifle or shotgun, any ideas on how to acquire them? Every weapon I have has all the rest of the Elemental mods but heat keeps avoiding me for the primary weapon >:[

Also is there a limit on how many different types mods you can have in your inventory :O

Frames and weapons are limited I know, as well as how many you can equip at a given time but can you run out of inventory space either on mods or resources, I'm wondering. 

[L1GUR]

2 hours ago, vegetosayajin said:

Yes, excal is a great frame. I still play with him even if he wasn't my starter frame and I take him on every mission.He can do every content in the game(not the best at all of them, but still good with good modding).

For your leveling question - for solo players that just started I will reccomend you the mission gabi on ceres. It has also a querk to gather credits(every dark sector mission has it) , the fist 5 min give 25k credits, you can extract and start again(rinse and repeat) to gather good amounts of credits before you can handle the index, profit spoder or other credit farms.
For leveling is also good, enemies are easy even if you don't have maxed gear, you can go for about 20-30 min to level your gear before it becomes too hard for a new tenno.
Important thing - if you notice you are going to die (low health, they gang-rushed you or something) run away as fast as possible, because reviving will cost you afinity.
All this is if you are playing solo.

For coop with others better choose SO, ESO or some defence mission you have access to.
You can even ask someone to taxi you to hydron(the boring but tried and true way for new tenno to level everything)

Hah! This is the validation I needed, I shall POTATO UP my Excal and see what it can really go through. ("No, no, don't do it, man" I hear someone say. But it costs me about the same sum as a pint of beer or a semi-decent cheeseburger where I live. I can deal with that if it gives me hours of fun.) I'm sure there are better Frames for different things, but I've learned to play it and Radial Blind and Radial Javelin are awesome. 

Thanks to advice from beginners guides and this forum I have already built a decent tank out of it (for MR3 newbie... I mean, I think it's a decent tank but anyone above MR3 probably does not) , I rarely or almost never die because SPACE MEN shoot me during missions I can access, but f*** up because I'm stupid and can't figure out how to be in four places at the same time, or something else that is very difficult to solo to begin with. 

My weapons are peashooters so I'm always looking for the first cover or narrow corridor when 10 000 monsters attack at the same time, shoot up 5h17 until my shields start to drop, blind or impale those closest by and make a tactical retreat behind a corner and start picking them out one by one as they follow me, xaxaxa, take that, space perverts. Especially Corpus. Who wears a cardboard helmet on his head during working shifts? My shields are already up before they can shoot at me again. 

I'm quite into the endless Infestation missions because of the space credits you get and the affinity bonuses, also I seem to pick up Void Relics more often than not which in turn make Fissure missions that more worth my while. which is why I miss some gas damage from heat mods, Infested don't wear no Protivogaz. Right now I can pull three waves of Defense with weapons I'm using as MR Fodder like Boltor and MK1-Furis.

[vegetosayajin]

On 2020-09-19 at 10:21 PM, Zengur said:

Bonus question #1: Should I spend a potato on my level 30 Excalibur? 

Yes, excal is a great frame. I still play with him even if he wasn't my starter frame and I take him on every mission.He can do every content in the game(not the best at all of them, but still good with good modding).


For your leveling question - for solo players that just started I will reccomend you the mission gabi on ceres. It has also a querk to gather credits(every dark sector mission has it) , the fist 5 min give 25k credits, you can extract and start again(rinse and repeat) to gather good amounts of credits before you can handle the index, profit spoder or other credit farms.
For leveling is also good, enemies are easy even if you don't have maxed gear, you can go for about 20-30 min to level your gear before it becomes too hard for a new tenno.
Important thing - if you notice you are going to die (low health, they gang-rushed you or something) run away as fast as possible, because reviving will cost you afinity.
All this is if you are playing solo.

For coop with others better choose SO, ESO or some defence mission you have access to.
You can even ask someone to taxi you to hydron(the boring but tried and true way for new tenno to level everything)

[(PSN)Claudija]

36 minutes ago, L1GUR said:

I still don't have a HEAT mod for my primary weapons, rifle or shotgun, any ideas on how to acquire them? Every weapon I have has all the rest of the Elemental mods but heat keeps avoiding me for the primary weapon >:[

Also is there a limit on how many different types mods you can have in your inventory :O

Frames and weapons are limited I know, as well as how many you can equip at a given time but can you run out of inventory space either on mods or resources, I'm wondering. 

Heat 60/60 mods drop from perfect Spy runs around Ceres, Phobos and Jupiter iirc. The Wiki has the full details. Cold 60/60's are from Saturn to Pluto I think. Toxin 60/60's onky drop from Corrupted Vor who shows up in any mission in the Void on Mot and Akko's arm and Baro sells the Electric 60/60's though I think there is another means to get them.

[L1GUR]

No, don't tell me about it, please thanks bye.

I can never get it anyways. 

[(PSN)Claudija]

38 minutes ago, L1GUR said:

No, don't tell me about it, please thanks bye.

I can never get it anyways. 

There is no Excalibur Prime unless you're a PC Founder. However spotting this, DE released Excalibur Umbra instead which a lot of us think is better than Excalibur Prime anyway as whilst he loses the ornamentation and Death Orb Energy refill boosts on Void missions as is normal for a Prime he has special additional ability I can't share as I spoiled enough now :) suffice to say complete the story to The Sacrifice, the follow on quest after The War Within and Chains of Harrow you will love him

[AdagioPravda]

Stat-wise, Umbra is pretty much Excal Prime.

[HoustonDragon]

On 2020-09-19 at 3:21 PM, Zengur said:

How do the veterans of the game rank up their unranked new stuff? Personally, I pick an easy defense or exterminate mission and do as much as I can with my new peashooter and kill whatever causes me trouble with another backup weapon or Skana which is a whirlwind of death against almost any faction at this stage of available missions. 

If it's a unranked Warframe, jump into normal Sanctuary. If it's anything else, grind some ESOs. If you have an Affinity booster, you can generally cap in a matter of 6-8 rounds.

 

Biggest learning curve for me was that MASTERY is not actually based upon playing the game. It's all about building and leveling Warframes/weapons, so if you're chasing it, you need to be looking what you can be working on efficiently. The Clan Dojo labs have a huge number of weapons to research and build, along with 4 or so Warframes from the Tenno lab (Wukong is ridiculously awesome, and should be in your stable)

 

Next, start going through the Marketplace, but DO NOT SPEND PLATINUM on them. Instead, use the filters, and start clicking through the ones you can buy the blueprints for with CREDITS. There's literally a couple hundred weapons on there, along with a ton of Warframe blueprints that you can then spend your time farming the components from planet bosses. You also want to keep in mind that several weapon patterns WILL require previously built ones, so be sure you're leveling their Mastery on ALL of them before tossing or using to build the next step. There's also the "starter" MK-1 weapons and things that are on there that can be bought and leveled immediately via Credits.

 

Downside, this will take a LOT of grinding for materials and also credits to purchase and build. You also have to manage your inventory slots, so keeping a bunch of junk floating in your Foundry between claiming becomes an important job to manage. The more Mastery ranks you get, the more reputation daily cap you can earn, meaning you can also be grinding the various Syndicate ranks for their own specialized weapons, augment mods, and the various Archwing weapon components. I ended up grinding through all 6 to rank 5, just to be able to pick up everything. You can also trade components/mods between other players if you're enemies with a specific faction otherwise. And then there's all the Sentinel companions, pet companions, MOAs, K-Drives, Zaws, Amps, Kitguns, Archwings, Archguns, and Archmelee stuff to all build and level, including going after the Lich weapons to grind and Forma level up to 40 (I think there's like 16 different ones of those?)

 

MR rank is important to have access to certain things, but honestly, once you're above MR16 or so, you should have access to all of the weapons/frames in terms of restrictions, and are mainly limited by the rep cap and void trace limit. You can easily make yourself crazy trying to do ALL of it at one time, so also keep your goals reasonable.

[Canach]

Mastery Rank is a leftover mechanic which used to pace progress in the game, before DE took on the philosophy that new players should have access to all content. There was a time, when I would have advised the original poster not to rush the endgame, but now, the game is out of balance for players below MR 6 or so.

A Soma (MR6), Ignis (MR5), Twin Gremlins(MR5), and Orthos (MR2) will get you all over the star chart with style - as will many other low-MR weapons.

Some tips for gaining MR:

• Warframes, Archwings, and Companions give more MR than weapons
• All warframes, companions and weapons which you obtain should be quick-leveled to 30 - Translation - level them through Sanctuary Onslaught or Hydron on Public, without wasting your forma or catalysts on them.
• Many weapons and some warframes, archwings, etc, are available from your Dojo research - join a clan, you'll see.

G'Luck! 

(1,000+ hrs, MR 21)

[quxier]

34 minutes ago, HoustonDragon said:

You also want to keep in mind that several weapon patterns WILL require previously built ones, so be sure you're leveling their Mastery on ALL of them before tossing or using to build the next step

There is one think to keep in mind. If you (I'm talking about new players) want to use weapons to build another weapon keep in mind that the Orokin catalyst won't transfer to the new weapon. For example if you want to build the Sarpa you need the Akstiletto. So if you put the Orokin catalyst on the Akstilleto you lose it if you use it to build the Sarpa. Such weapons (the Akstilletto) are not hard to build so you may build a fresh copy and use it to build another weapon. So keep in mind while you want to install Orokin catalysts. As fair I remember only one weapon comes with pre-installed orokin catalyst - the Broken war. If you want to build the War you may consider using another Broken war.

ps. for a new players getting orokin reactors/catalysts is harder. For someone more experienced 20 platinum is not too much. So don't think too much about such thinks as you can acquire catalysts/reactors somehow (if you really want).
 

[quxier]

1 hour ago, (PS4)grayhyh said:

Bois should we tell him about the other excal? lol

*playing dumb* Excal prime?

[quxier]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

I find a Khora or Wisp Specter is always handy, allowing me to do them solo. Though around the 13th Excavator it gets silly and I wish we could get Cryotic from anywhere other than slooowly through login or the mindnumbing Excavation missions though... especially considering the ridiculous amount we need like Lenz needed 2,400 or so for just that one bow.

The Frost is the safest. The limbo is 2nd against Griner.
And Sibear needs 30... 000. Good luck with that kiddo.

For frames/weapons it's ok. I mean, maybe 30k is too much but <10k should be ok. It's a grind for a one thing. You don't have to repeat it.
... however a new Helminth system requires ton of resources. 3k Cryotic is just a snack. Now that's insane.

ps. sure, cryotic farm could be more versatile or more efficient

[(PSN)Claudija]

1 hour ago, quxier said:

You need 2 things:
- shoot carriers
- defend excavator for 100 seconds

I guess there is some limit of active enemies so you have to kill something. Without it carriers won't appear.

Enemy spawns sucks so doing it with at least one person allows 1 person to defend and one person to look for enemies.

I find a Khora or Wisp Specter is always handy, allowing me to do them solo. Though around the 13th Excavator it gets silly and I wish we could get Cryotic from anywhere other than slooowly through login or the mindnumbing Excavation missions though... especially considering the ridiculous amount we need like Lenz needed 2,400 or so for just that one bow. Either they need drop these absurdly high prices for a resource only from one source or let us do something else to farm it saaay Archwing missions against Corpus say; give more people good cause to dust off the ol' Odonata then 😋

[o1517]

Hi all. Try to level frame as fast as possible, I use Gabi on Ceres. Contrary to popular opinion get the potato if you can, opens up mods for you.

[.Little.]

Add me to your friends list.  And if we were ever on at the same time and you need help to do something feel free to message me in game. 

[quxier]

18 minutes ago, L1GUR said:

300+ kills and I got maybe 7 power cells. GREAT DROP RATE MAN. Then I quit in disgust.

I also noticed nobody has suggested playing Excavations solo, maybe the Fissure ones are not even meant to be playable unless you can one shot every target... (Non Fissure Excavations have not been a problem though.)

You need 2 things:
- shoot carriers
- defend excavator for 100 seconds

I guess there is some limit of active enemies so you have to kill something. Without it carriers won't appear.

Enemy spawns sucks so doing it with at least one person allows 1 person to defend and one person to look for enemies.

[L1GUR]

What the f***ing $H17 f**ck c**p again, I tried Fissure Excavation once more even though the first one was a disaster. Survival was not a problem, it was level 11-13 Grineers and I have tankified my Excalibur to an extent I'm not killable by SPACE D1CKHEAD5 especially if they spend half of the time shooting at a drill.

300+ kills and I got maybe 7 power cells. GREAT DROP RATE MAN. Then I quit in disgust.

I also noticed nobody has suggested playing Excavations solo, maybe the Fissure ones are not even meant to be playable unless you can one shot every target... (Non Fissure Excavations have not been a problem though.)

[--K--Sharkfin]

On 2020-09-20 at 3:21 AM, Zengur said:

How do the veterans of the game rank up their unranked new stuff?

Based on the rule of ranking gears up solo without leeching from other random players, there are several ways depending on what you are trying to level, below are some examples:
1) warframes that have AoE/nuke abilities:
go into defence/intermission/survival then kill enemies with the warframe ability to get 100% affinity for the warframe

2) warframes that don't have AoE/nuke killing abilities:
bring a fully built spraying weapon into defence/survival mission, kill with that weapon to get 50% affinity for the warframe

3) weapons that can kill enemies in a group quickly:
Just bring it into extermination/survival to kill lots of enemies within a short time

4) weapons that can not kill enemies without proper build:
this is when things progress slowly. Because if the weapon can't kill, you get affinity much slower. In this case I wouldn't hesitate leeching from other randoms. But by leeching I would support them in other means like giving them energy with pads, grouping enemies together with warframe abilities etc.

5) Anything unranked/unmodded (except archgun/archwing) with railjack:
This has been my way for 8+ months to max everything within 10mins on my own. It requires a fully built Railjack to grind Gian Point (empyrean content, avoid spoiler when you search for it).

[L1GUR]

Boo!

[Zengur]

The forums logged me in as Zengur from the cache or something, that's my years old Warframe account I don't use.

What I actually play as is L1GUR, so hi again, guyz. From now on I'll post as L1GUR on the Forums.

[(PSN)grayhyh]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Smeeta: best farming pet andmany say the best pet period

Sahasa: very efficient at utility support with Dig

MOA: Auto-hack consoles and enemies (Ambulas or Bursas)

Shade: Stealths you handy for Spy

Helios: Kavat-farming and easy Simaris Scans

 

Never use anything bar Carrier Prime hmm? Additionally Ammo Case gives larger ammo but not reloads, still need to pick them up and so Arrow Mutation/ Vigilante Supplies will be useful in addition regardless.

I see people using smeeta only if they are farming something with abysmal drop chance or kuva altho its a huge ass gamble whether smeeta likes to give you the buff you want or not and whenever you actually wish it to give.

Sahasa is like mostly a niche alternative for zenurik or any other energy replenishing way.

Never used moa,heard people sya that it used to be too good with hacking and de nerfed it so its less better now,other precepts are for something like cc which you already do way better and i heard that the Moa is pretty fragile also.

Spy doesnt require stealth really,the only thing that can ruin your spy is the annoying grinner drones that can see you sometimes thru a wall and with shade you need to be cloase to enemies if they spot you right when you sneak near some enemy then rip stealth.

Helios is just used for scanning,You use him if a new enemy is in the game and you want to scan him fo simulacrum(which has no benefit becuase most enemies has sucky survivabillity) or for whatever else incase you are kinda lazy to do it.

Look,Im not saying they dont have their uses,they do but its pretty much a choice of whether you want to use that one companion or the other tbh,some people like use kubrows/kavats becuase they dont die instantly like sentinels and can revive them or some just use carrier for ammo and nothing else most of the time.

[(PSN)Dr_Bruiser]

On 2020-09-19 at 1:21 PM, Zengur said:

How do the veterans of the game rank up their unranked new stuff?

Lots of good discussion before I arrived, but one thing to keep in mind is that levelling gear is an area where the new player and veteran experience is completely different.  When you get a new weapon, you can put exactly 3 points worth of mods onto it (gradually increasing to 30 as you level it up).  I can put 28 points worth of mods with no difference until the weapon hits level 29, just because I have already played for 2 years and levelled almost everything in the game up to earn that MR.  So each time I get a new weapon, it is practically as good as a fully ranked one.  So my 28 points worth or mods allow me to take that weapon and attempt any content on the star chart without missing a beat, while you have a weapon with, at most, 3 points of mods that will barely do any damage, even to low level enemies.  On top of that, veteran players will have extra Orokin Catalysts laying around that we can throw onto any new weapon without a second thought (further doubling both the starting and maximum mod capacity).  So my new weapon, if I plan to use it as anything other than MR fodder, actually starts with 56 mod capacity, while you would have to risk using a rare and precious Catalyst just to have 6 points of space available.

The returns on increasing MR are diminishing, but significant.  Once you get up to MR 8, 10 or 12, you'll be able to put a decent mod or two on any new weapon, but until then, it is tough sledding in the early going.   Once you get to MR 20 or so, you feel like a new weapon can be fairly functional, at least for content that isn't too advanced.  

I would always try to be actively working on one or two weapons, while you have something levelled up and reliable in one of your other weapon slots.  Playing solo, as you do, you can't sponge affinity off other players, but you can still get some spillover from mission objectives, affinity orbs, companion kills, etc. even if you don't fire a shot with a weapon in your inventory.  

[quxier]

31 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Never use anything bar Carrier Prime hmm?

I never said never. It's just my go-to companion.

34 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

MOA: Auto-hack consoles and enemies (Ambulas or Bursas)

Not sure how it's for OP but I got plenty of Ciphers. I have as well Parazon's Auto Breach and new Helminth's Perspicacity.

39 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Smeeta: best farming pet andmany say the best pet period

When I was farming Hexennon long time ago it was fine.... I used it yesterday and the amount of Hexenon was ridiculous small (~63 for ~40 minutes; I remember it was 100+ for ~30 minutes).
However if you want just get, for example, few argons then it's very random. Nekros + smeeta + checking everything = 0 argon. Causal play 3-5.

43 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Sahasa: very efficient at utility support with Dig

I honestly haven't used it but knowing companion's AI I don't think it would get me more than Carrier (or other companions).

47 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Shade: Stealths you handy for Spy

I heard some people use it... but I prefer something that I can be 100% sure it works. I just pick my Ivara + Perspicacity.

49 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Helios: Kavat-farming and easy Simaris Scans

Kavats: Not scanning completed scans.
Simaris standing: not working. Simaris' target: not working.

56 minutes ago, (PS4)Claudija said:

Additionally Ammo Case gives larger ammo but not reloads, still need to pick them up and so Arrow Mutation/ Vigilante Supplies will be useful in addition regardless.

Not sure how it is with changes, but my Carrier picks most things for me. In addition I have:
- Odomedic: wall run = healing; super efficient (unless there are no walls)
- Looter: it could be better.... but it destroy destroyable things.
- some shield/hp regen for frame -> I don't remember them

ps. I haven't yet checked new companions from Deimos.

 

[(PSN)Claudija]

1 minute ago, quxier said:

Or just use Carrier (Prime). It will make ammo and gathering things easy. I almost don't use any other companion.

Smeeta: best farming pet andmany say the best pet period

Sahasa: very efficient at utility support with Dig

MOA: Auto-hack consoles and enemies (Ambulas or Bursas)

Shade: Stealths you handy for Spy

Helios: Kavat-farming and easy Simaris Scans

 

Never use anything bar Carrier Prime hmm? Additionally Ammo Case gives larger ammo but not reloads, still need to pick them up and so Arrow Mutation/ Vigilante Supplies will be useful in addition regardless.