Zephyr Deluxe Shouldn't Have English Written On Her

[Fireshock]

tl;dr: Zephyr Deluxe as it was shown on the Devstream breaks Warframe's setting by having English text. I'm requesting a small, easy change to Zephyr Deluxe: change the text on her textures to better fit the lore.

Warframe has spent years on world building to create a living, breathing universe, including developing unique languages for each race we see in the game. For example: Orokin and Tenno use their own language, Grineer use their own language, Corpus use their own language, and various settlements like the Ostrons and Solaris use their own languages.

Of note is the fact that none of them use English. While the player can play the game in English, this is merely so that you, the player, can understand what's happening. Think of it like a translator for accessibility's sake. However, whenever the player looks at Tenno creations, such as Warframes or Relays, all written text is in Orokin script. This is all to create an immersive world where you can believe that you're in a future where humanity has evolved past the use of English.

Until now.

When I initially saw the concept art for Zephyr Deluxe back at Tennocon, I thought, "there's no way that text on her will make it into the final model, or it'll break the player's immersion." I guess I was wrong.

Deluxe skins shouldn't be a free pass to break the setting's rules. Until now, every deluxe skin has more or less looked like it belonged in Warframe's universe, even if they take inspiration from media outside of it. If the developers want to make a Jet Set Radio/Gundam skin, that's fine! Kind of rad, even! But it should match the universe it inhabits. I have other issues with the skin, but changing the text to Orokin script should be an easy change that would only involve editing the textures and would go a long way to keeping player immersion intact. Or even using Corpus script would feel thematically appropriate. Just not plain text English, which doesn't make sense when no one living in Warframe's universe remembers or has knowledge of anything pre-Orokin era (our English). The "Proto-weapon" skins in Devstream 97 were scrapped for breaking this rule, so why should this be any different?

As another example, Warframes that have text on them have always been in Orokin script since that's the language Tenno speak. Excalibur has "Hayden Tenno" written on him in Orokin and that was a major source of lore speculation in the early days. Nekros and Vauban have "Evolution" and "Tribe" written on their shoulders, respectively. Even cosmetics like the Izvara Syandana have "Flight" written on them in Orokin, so clearly cosmetics have followed this rule before.

I realize that a lot of people won't care about this or won't see it as a big deal, so I'll just say as someone who's played this game for 7 years, the lore and setting of the game has been a big part of my enjoyment of it. Piecing it together from Codex entries as the game went along, playing through the early quests which dropped hints leading up to The Big Reveal in the Second Dream. So I have a great deal of investment in the universe of this game. I've also seen other games start to care less about their art direction as time went on and add more and more ill-fitting cosmetics (*cough* TF2 *cough*) and I don't want Warframe to suffer the same fate.

[-Krux-]

Zephyr Deluxe is the latest greatest example of DE caring less.

I noticed some self awareness on latest stream when they looked back to their first dev stream for a moment. Geoff literally said along the lines of - their fear of what could happen back then was a good thing, it's what drove them to develop to great success.

They're comfy now and get a kick out of their playerbase getting "butthurt". They're the bizzaro version of who they were. Warframe today is a combination of what Warframe once was and Fortnite.

I know my outspokenness seems harsh, but DE has changed and the game with it. That's just fact. They're not 'indie game devs' anymore, they're AAA at this point. They got the income, the player-base, the notoriety. I'm not saying ppl should quit or that i'm quitting. But the quality we had as this game was coming up is something we need to let go of. That kind of attention and care was only there while DE was trying to 'make it'. They're there, it's done, Warframe was a success. Their story ended years ago, the credits rolled, and now Warframe is a toy.

[Fireshock]

On 2021-03-05 at 12:34 AM, -Krux- said:

Zephyr Deluxe is the latest greatest example of DE caring less.

I noticed some self awareness on latest stream when they looked back to their first dev stream for a moment. Geoff literally said along the lines of - their fear of what could happen back then was a good thing, it's what drove them to develop to great success.

They're comfy now and get a kick out of their playerbase getting "butthurt". They're the bizzaro version of who they were. Warframe today is a combination of what Warframe once was and Fortnite.

I know my outspokenness seems harsh, but DE has changed and the game with it. That's just fact. They're not 'indie game devs' anymore, they're AAA at this point. They got the income, the player-base, the notoriety. I'm not saying ppl should quit or that i'm quitting. But the quality we had as this game was coming up is something we need to let go of. That kind of attention and care was only there while DE was trying to 'make it'. They're there, it's done, Warframe was a success. Their story ended years ago, the credits rolled, and now Warframe is a toy.

I do think they care less now, but I don't think we should give up just because of that. I think if enough people give feedback and make their voices heard DE will rein it back a bit. They do still listen to feedback or we wouldn't constantly be having Dev Workshops like the recent Railjack changes.

[(PSN)jockhotty]

I am sympathetic to your concern, why do you not wait and see what your coloring scheme does, perhaps it is easily shaded out or can result in cool pattern w use of an emblem or armour. Some people overlook what they think is a useless emblem. I also remember someone complaining about the last equinox, calling it a step down in quality when it turns out to be amazing and flexible. Regardless adding things that switch things up is exciting and necessary since no one ever seems happy enough w new gameplay content for long, adding a challenging piece might keep you busy longer. Go create what is needed in your opinion and I will probably pay you for it. Warframe universe keeps expanding and a corpus once told me that branding can be key to making lifelong profits.  -Coco Clem