Can we get a option to transfer Archon Shards and Umbra Forma from normal to Prime Warframes?

[(PSN)Sentiel]

Imagine you really like a standard Warframe, put 5 Archon Shards in it and some Umbra Forma, and then a Prime is released eventually. Naturally, you'll want to use the Prime since you liked the original Warframe, which means you'll have to repeat your investment.

While we can remove the Shards, now for 30 Bile each, we can't do the same with the Umbra Forma. Depending on your activity in the game, Umbra Forma as well as Bile can be anything from extremely rare to quite common. There are players who enjoy Warframe but do not have the luxury of time to prepare enough Bile resources and especially Umbra Forma in advance. Getting 1-2 Umbra Forma can be quite time consuming by itself.

For those who would consider such resources rare, I'd like to propose a option to transfer the Shards (free of Bile charge) and Umbra Forma from the normal Warframe to its Prime version. You can have Helminth consume the original Warframe as a 'payment'.

[Voltage]

The unfortunate reality is that these things are balanced towards the people in the middle. That's why these items are time-gated, but only tolerable enough for the middle crowd that are active but not hyper-farming. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of people on each end of the spectrum, but is still satisfying enough for people relatively active and keeping up with Warframe. I don't see this changing anytime soon, especially in recent years.

The plus side is the maximum number of Umbra Forma a single Warframe could possibly use is 3, realistically 2 or even 1, and that is vastly easier to stomach compared to 5 (Tauforged) Archon Shards, especially when fusion is permanent and given how long it takes for Primes to release after their introduction. The bile cost is quite silly though, given how these are locked to all configs.

I can see where the request comes from, but resource sinks typically aren't refunded or transferred, because they are sinks in nature.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Voltage

[(XBOX)SweatyPick3L]

There is like a ~4 year gap between normal and the prime variant. There is plenty of time to recoup your maybe 3 umbra forma and 5 forma. 

[(PSN)Sentiel]

3 minutes ago, (XBOX)YoungGunn82 said:

There is like a ~4 year gap between normal and the prime variant. There is plenty of time to recoup your maybe 3 umbra forma and 5 forma. 

That's correct if you're up to speed with everything Warframe has to offer and have time to do so. In such case, waiting for Qorvex Prime gives you an ample time to gather everything needed. However, not everyone has that amount of time and they do not have to be up to speed.

Imagine someone who just discovered Sevagoth and absolutely falls in love with him. They invest their best Shards and several Umbra Forma into Sevagoth himself, his Shadow, and even the Claws. They have no idea when the Prime comes out (I don't know it either), so unless it's clearly advertised as the next Prime, they'll have no idea whether his Prime will arrive in a month or in a year.

Even if they knew it, that knowledge shouldn't prevent them from investing into the normal Sevagoth and have fun with him just because his Prime release in six months or whatever, but if they do go into that investment, they won't be able to easily repeat it with the Prime, which they will want if course, so they won't be able to enjoy it as much.

I hope that example makes sense.

[Alphas]

On 2023-12-24 at 2:11 AM, (PSN)Sentiel said:

Imagine you really like a standard Warframe, put 5 Archon Shards in it and some Umbra Forma, and then a Prime is released eventually. Naturally, you'll want to use the Prime since you liked the original Warframe, which means you'll have to repeat your investment.

While we can remove the Shards, now for 30 Bile each, we can't do the same with the Umbra Forma. Depending on your activity in the game, Umbra Forma as well as Bile can be anything from extremely rare to quite common. There are players who enjoy Warframe but do not have the luxury of time to prepare enough Bile resources and especially Umbra Forma in advance. Getting 1-2 Umbra Forma can be quite time consuming by itself.

For those who would consider such resources rare, I'd like to propose a option to transfer the Shards (free of Bile charge) and Umbra Forma from the normal Warframe to its Prime version. You can have Helminth consume the original Warframe as a 'payment'.

This isn't necessary.  You can just remove an Archon Shard, but using an Umbra forma on a non-Prime Warframe or weapon is just your own fault.  I think this stems from an issue DE created when they invented Prime Warframes where each base Warframe basically has a set expiration date.  Gauss has no reason to exist anymore because Gauss Prime will be out in like a week and will be infinitely easier to acquire.

[(XBOX)SweatyPick3L]

32 minutes ago, (PSN)Sentiel said:

They have no idea when the Prime comes out

Ok I stopped reading here. Primes come out like clock work. You can get it to almost the month it will be released. Just takes a simple google search. 
 

2. With primes the only real difference is, is the word prime and cosmetics. 
 

3. being ignorant to that fact every Warframe will have a prime, that falls directly on the player. 

[Agall]

On 2023-12-24 at 10:45 AM, Voltage said:

The plus side is the maximum number of Umbra Forma a single Warframe could possibly use is 3, realistically 2 or even 1

Including warframes with melee exalted weapons, its up to 5.

[Voltage]

2 hours ago, Agall said:

Including warframes with melee exalted weapons, its up to 5.

This is an extreme edge case in a landscape where we just aren't getting any Sentient content. Slotting 3 Umbra Mods (and/or 2 Sacrificial) is already quite unnecessary with min-maxing heavily favoring Shield Gating over Armor and CO/GunCO over normal Base Damage on most items.

This is why I said realistically. There's nothing stopping you from slotting 5, but it's not really that good of a prospect. How many Warframes even fit this hypothetical where it's worth it to do that?

[Agall]

14 minutes ago, Voltage said:

This is an extreme edge case in a landscape where we just aren't getting any Sentient content. Slotting 3 Umbra Mods (and/or 2 Sacrificial) is already quite unnecessary with min-maxing heavily favoring Shield Gating over Armor and CO/GunCO over normal Base Damage on most items.

This is why I said realistically. There's nothing stopping you from slotting 5, but it's not really that good of a prospect. How many Warframes even fit this hypothetical where it's worth it to do that?

I agree, if I didn't already have 5 umbra formas on my main warframe, I would likely just use [Precision Intensify] [Archon Vitality] and forego armor, especially with how powerful [Primed Redirection] and [Arcane Aegis] are. Outside of some niche builds like Blast+Toxin EB, even Excalibur Umbra would stand to benefit from yeeting Umbra polarities in this current patch.