Is it worth it to continue? [Spoiler Warning]

[Stryker50]

( TL/DR at the bottom )

Yo.

I'm a new player and after 2-2.5 weeks of on and off gameplay I've clocked in about 86.8 hours.

I just finished the Second Dream quest, and I for the most part enjoyed it especially considering at least half of it was a considerable departure from the standard, "Receive orders via radio." sort of mission dialogue with some flavor thrown in. While the Operator reveal and it's customization options were quite disappointing, what disappointed me much more was after I completed the quest I looked at my Codex and saw the next requirements for the next major quest "War Within" alongside seeing the requirements for building base Chroma I came to a realization. Despite those requirements alone not being too stringent, I see it as the final tip of the iceberg or 'straw that broke the camel's back' in terms of wanting to flip my table over how much of a damn grind everything is. I was looking forward to getting into the game prior to my starting and looking at all the frames, weapons, etc I was very excited and was aware grind would be a part of the experience, but not to the point that I've seen now.

I don't want to sink hundreds of hours into this game as I have real life priorities that I can't develop a major distraction to just progress toward my little goals I have in the game. Trading is a pain in the ass as most of the time no one wants what you're selling or if they do you it's highly difficult to corner the market just starting out, and when all you really use Platinum for is Warframe and weapon slots, the grind between the Foundry, Quest Requirements, Star Chart, Syndicates, Trading, Farming, etc is just taxing for what is ultimately just a PvE gameplay loop with no real endgame aside from the vicious cycle of MORE FARMING. I have resigned myself to the fact that I'm only going to own 3 or 4 warframes maybe if I continue playing, and so the only thing really interesting me or stringing me along at this point is the story, universe, and lore, which has been pretty sparse or obscured until now aside from self contained adventures.

I may very well be wrong or misremembering but in terms of my knowledge of the lore I'm aware of these key points:
-The Orokin are the true original humans that created a hyper advanced civilization
-The Sentients are an artificial race either created by the Orokin or that come from another system/realm to battle the Orokin
-The Old War was between these two factions
-The Tenno were created by the Orokin and as we know them now were maintained by who we know now as the Lotus
-Grineer and Corprus are technically their own races now as the genetic apple has fallen too far from the tree at this point and took over amidst the aftermath of The Old War
-The Technocyte Virus was a creation or possibly a rediscovery by The Orokin to fight The Sentients and also used with greater focus to create the Warframes the Tenno control (I played Dark Sector on the 360 so I'm a bit confused on this.) which resulted in The Infection's creation, and now they're back after that one Grineer scientist got too hot to trot.
-The Tenno were the result of experiments performed using the Void and a warp incident caused them to essentially be outside of reality for a bit
-The Lotus is a Sentient formerly known as Natah who took on the characteristics and cause of the wife of one of the 7 Orokin Emperor's after becoming barren when crossing the Void and projected her maternal instincts onto the Tenno she found stuck in the Void, nurturing them and protecting them to this day.
-You or, The Operator, was a Tenno directly on that derelict vessel.
-You are essentially an equalizer and warrior culture in this time of great conflict after the Old War awakened by the Lotus in order to possibly bring about a system wide peace/prosperity currently in the game.

-----[TL;DR]-----
Are the later quests worth grinding out to play and witness for myself or does it not add or twist much to the lore/story after the Second Dream quest is completed?
I burnt out on this grinding crap and just want to have fun and be captivated by an interesting setting and story and not be limited by slots or hours upon hours of farming for hyper rare parts or even touching trading to get platinum without having to spend my hard earned money on what would inevitably become a sunk cost fallacy. I currently have the game uninstalled out of frustration, but if there really is something actually worth it here that I haven't seen yet I want to know if it is.

[Am_Sha3gar]

Definitly worth it, quests after the second dream get much better than the previous ones, but apart from the war within (which i definitly reccomend, it also expands on the operator) don't expect the same level of quality, the others are definitly smaller quests but they advance either the plot or the lore nonetheless. Just take it slow, play once in a while, do some nightwave to get free slots and potatoes and you'll arrive at the later quests pretty soon.

[chaotea]

Its honestly up to you. The other quests are interesting, sure, but if your tired of the core gameplay at this point i wouldnt bother going further. The cinematic quests are the icing on the cake, but if you dont like the cake theres not much point of choking it down just for the icing.

[Dhrekr]

3 minutes ago, Stryker50 said:

-The Orokin are the true original humans that created a hyper advanced civilization
-The Sentients are an artificial race either created by the Orokin or that come from another system/realm to battle the Orokin
-The Old War was between these two factions
-The Tenno were created by the Orokin and as we know them now were maintained by who we know now as the Lotus
-Grineer and Corprus are technically their own races now as the genetic apple has fallen too far from the tree at this point and took over amidst the aftermath of The Old War
-The Technocyte Virus was a creation or possibly a rediscovery by The Orokin to fight The Sentients and also used with greater focus to create the Warframes the Tenno control (I played Dark Sector on the 360 so I'm a bit confused on this.) which resulted in The Infection's creation, and now they're back after that one Grineer scientist got too hot to trot.
-The Tenno were the result of experiments performed using the Void and a warp incident caused them to essentially be outside of reality for a bit
-The Lotus is a Sentient formerly known as Natah who took on the characteristics and cause of the wife of one of the 7 Orokin Emperor's after becoming barren when crossing the Void and projected her maternal instincts onto the Tenno she found stuck in the Void, nurturing them and protecting them to this day.
-You or, The Operator, was a Tenno directly on that derelict vessel.
-You are essentially an equalizer and warrior culture in this time of great conflict after the Old War awakened by the Lotus in order to possibly bring about a system wide peace/prosperity currently in the game.

So... on the lore: pretty much correct, bur here are some corrections.

- The Sentient are both an artificial race created by the Orokin and come from another systen (the Tau system - the in-game name for Tau Ceti, one of the closest Sun-like stars to our solar system). The idea is this: the Orokin wanted to colonize Tau so they sent automated, self-adaptive machines to do it for them; the machines adapted to the point of becoming sentient. The Orokin knew this could happen and planted in them a defect (they are weak to the Void, which is the way to travel faster than light). The Sentient declared a prehemptive war on the Orokin out of revenge and self-preservation (the plan of the Orokin was always to come to Tau and get rid of their terraforming machines).

- The Tenno were Orokin children who acquired Void powers during an FTL incident - not per se an experiment (that we know of), and it should be noted that the Orokin treated the Tenno with extreme suspicion (some thinking that they were abominations). The Orokin created the Warframes through which the Tenno (whom the partially consider abominations) could channel their power.

- The origin of the Technocyte is... not clear. We don't know how much of Dark Sector is canon. My best bet is: the Technocyte predates the Orokin, but the Orokin expanded the virus and tweaked it to be used as a weapon.

 

But, to the point of your question about the game...

10 minutes ago, Stryker50 said:

Are the later quests worth grinding out to play and witness for myself or does it not add or twist much to the lore/story after the Second Dream quest is completed?

Yes. All the main quests are very good and I highly recommend them. The War Within and the Sacrifice are, as far as I am concerned, must play.

12 minutes ago, Stryker50 said:

I have resigned myself to the fact that I'm only going to own 3 or 4 warframes maybe if I continue playing, and so the only thing really interesting me or stringing me along at this point is the story, universe, and lore, which has been pretty sparse or obscured until now aside from self contained adventures.

I wouldnt be that fatalistic, honestly, but... yeah, I see where you are coming from.

And it must be said - Warframe has a good story and the storytelling (whenever they bother) is generally excellent. That also goes for secondary characters, visual storytelling, allusions and so on. But 95% of the game is a monster shooter-looter, and if that doesn't click with you, then the story isn't going to be enough.

 

And hey. I am almost entirely a F2P player (I spend maybe £10 in 2015) and I have all the warframes that I want. If you keep slowly grinding you will get plats and warframe slots and powerful rivens and all the syandanas you can dream of. But you need patience.

[Berzerkules]

You've just started the grind and you're already getting burned out. WF might just not be your game.

[TARINunit9]

26 minutes ago, Stryker50 said:

 
-The Technocyte Virus was a creation or possibly a rediscovery by The Orokin to fight The Sentients and also used with greater focus to create the Warframes the Tenno control (I played Dark Sector on the 360 so I'm a bit confused on this.) which resulted in The Infection's creation, and now they're back after that one Grineer scientist got too hot to trot.

-The Lotus is a Sentient formerly known as Natah who took on the characteristics and cause of the wife of one of the 7 Orokin Emperor's after becoming barren when crossing the Void and projected her maternal instincts onto the Tenno she found stuck in the Void, nurturing them and protecting them to this day.

Most of what you have is correct, so I am just going to do a couple quick comments:

darkSector is no longer canon. Forget all about it, forget about Hayden. Digital Extremes hates their old game, they sold it to another studio to do the PC port before the 360 version was even released. They didn't even bother finishing/releasing their Legacy Hayden Pistol and Shotgun skins they started working on in 2016. So, because darkSector isn't canon, the Technocyte Virus is purely a result of the Orokin. Also, DE have been moving further and further away from "Technocyte" and now just call it "the Infestation" 

Natah's motivations seem clear now, but they get muddied in later quests. If you want minor spoilers,

Spoiler

Part of her memory has been modified. However, WHICH part was modified (and how recently) isn't clear, because there are two people who could have done it and both are trying to kill the other. And both of them are trying to kill you

 

[WindigoTG]

If you aren't enjoying the grind, then it's better to find something else to play, because this game is all about grind.

[trst]

If you can't see grinding out new gear as anything other than a series of check boxes preventing you from getting to something else then you're not going to have a good time here. All of that "grind" is the gameplay on offer and things like the story quests aren't the primary focus. Even if you stick with it until you finish all the story quests you're just going to find yourself with nothing to do for a long while considering the current arc of the story is being told more through events ("grind") than quests.

[Zeddypanda]

Tbh just pick up old PS2 action/adventure games instead. The story and grind will be much better.

In my opinion it's unhealthy to view warframe as "a grind", and I'd prefer the term "an excuse". Rather than "I want to get x, what do I have to grind?", you should be thinking "I want to do k-drive kick flips in Fortuna, what's my excuse?"

The grind is the point, and if you're not enjoying the act of playing the game itself, then there's no greener pastures no matter how far you go. They only get less green, and your stomach will only have to harden further the more you grind. The more you grind, the more arduous your next grind will be.

[Surbusken]

I would have to agree with every gameplay point made. Only difference is I enjoy the combat and parkour rather than the lore.

If I were in your shoes, I would simply watch the cutscenes on youtube, read the wiki lore section and wrap it up.

 

The grind only gets worse, both in your progression where you are at in the game, and in the game as a whole over time. The warframe xaku for example, a newer one, requires you to grind out several entire planets of content.

If you heard of lich weapons, those require you to put 5 forma on them, having to re-level, to get MR from them.

The developers are always looking for new and improved ways to waste as much of your time as possible... as content.

The upside is there are a lot of fun warframes and weapons out there, you can play just as slow or as casual as you want, spend no more or less plat that you want, trade or don't.

 

Only you can decide if you are able to accept the game for what it is and enjoy playing it, in whatever way you decide.

Though objectively speaking I think most people get really frustrated with the grinds and requirements, having to read more wiki than playing, quite often, so you aren't alone.

 

A final upside to warframe is the players who tend to be generally kind and friendly. Meaning if you team up with people or play with friends, struggle with quests and so on, there are people willing and able to help you.

[Sazero]

If story is all that is left of Warframe that you want, then no. It isn't worth playing.
The War Within and onwards doesn't really bring any new plot twists or relevations, and I would even say some of the new stuff just doesn't make any sense. But lets not discus that.

[Stryker50]

Alright hey thanks for the advice dudes. I'm going to re-install and passively/casually play it here and there and then just eventually quit altogether when I finish the main quests. Thanks for the advice.

[edit] nevermind lmao I'm deleting the game, thanks anyways.

[rockscl]

the war within is well done, but if you want to skip the grind without paying you are expecting this free to play game to commit an oxymoron, im afraid

[(PSN)WaterHornet]

Well, I really enjoy Warframe; I log in nearly every day especially when Nightwave is active so I don't miss out on the rewards.  It's also one of the most generous "Battlepass" systems out there and maxing out (and going above max for extra credits) is so easy it really takes the FOMO out of it.  How the game is structured makes something to grind for always on the menu so it's pretty much baked in at this point.  With that said, however, "the grind" is always there for something for me it's something I don't really worry about when playing.  It's there for at least one thing on my list of things I want at all times so why stress over it?  Almost everything is permanent so I'll get it eventually.  I know when you're starting out and you see the established players with all the bling running around it can feel impossible to get anything.  But you do get there; it's just a slow burn kind of situation.  The way I play is to basically ignore the call of the grind and just do what I want when I feel like it.  At some point you get that Ember Prime Blueprint or whatever, but if I run three relics and don't get from one of them I go off and do something else.

I'm also a dirty free-to-play kind of guy and generate all my Platinum through trading.  I also only spend my Platinum when I get a 50 or 75% coupon from the Log In Reward system.  I have the wherewithal to wait for things like that, but for some that can be literally impossible.  There is a way to spend Platinum efficiently but it requires a lot of sacrifice that some people can't tolerate, and I don't fault or judge those folks.  Trading can be can be very hit or miss, and it can be the sort of situation where you're building up your bank 15-25 Plat trades at a time.  But again, I trade my Primes after building them up over months sometimes and only if I'm in the relic opening kind of mood at any given moment.

Warframe CAN be a rewarding game and because of the update cadence there's always something to "work towards", but it's also structured in a way that there's very little FOMO.  Chase those primes and regular 'Frames and weapons from Assassinations at your leisure.  Platinum can be generated through the other players who spend the cash on an instant bank of it, but it can take time and it usually drips in but sometimes you get lucky and can get a flood.  I currently have 2,000 Plat built up (over more than 3 years of play) and I spend it here and there on the cosmetics I like so I would say I probably have made about 3,000 lifetime so far.  But I realize I'm VERY much the outlier in how I make and spend my premium currency.  

All this to say that I recommend you stick with the game but not to the point of burnout.  The way DE designed this game you can pretty much take as many breaks as you like when you get frustrated or tired of things.  The only thing I find "mandatory", and this is for me personally since I have members in my Clan who actually could care less about it, is Nightwave.  The rewards are great and they're so easy to get if you complete at least 60% of the weekly missions; but if you hit max rank of it and want to ignore the Cred Store for the little extra cosmetic bits you can safely walk away until the next update.  You will get to a point where you're generally satisfied with what you earn and then everything else are really just added surprise bonuses when you finally get that last piece of a 'Frame or what have you.  Hope this helps.

[SneakyErvin]

The problem probably comes from not being willing to spend a wee little money on the game to unlock the common things like slots, which requires very little spending. I understand if you dont spend incase you just hop between F2P games since you feel you cant spend on games, but if you've bought a game I dont see why you wouldnt spend a quarter or less of that sum on WF to unlock things like slots.

Just wait for a discount cupon. While you wait just farm the frames and weapon blueprints and materials, possibly even craft them and leave them in your foundry. Then whne you can obtain the slots you can start using those items directly. That is pretty much what I did and I've never spent so little on a game that I enjoy so much and for such a long time.