**DE CONFIRMED** Historical Warframe Claim: The First True Mag Master

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

9 hours ago, Dexaldem said:

Man this is straight 2013 Warframe energy and I love it. That is one impressive achievement, chief. Fantastic work, and the greatest of all kudos to a job VERY well done! xD

Thanks! That's an interesting way of putting it, but I can see what you're saying. Rather than trying to compete with the "meta," this style of gameplay is more expressive and experimental.

 

2 hours ago, Berzerkules said:

I love all animals and plant life but I do have a particular fondness for felines.

I just picked up a cat from the shelter a couple months ago after not living with one for about 5 years. After I had 3 cats and a dog that were 13-16 y/o pass in a 2 year period i wasn't ready for another furry companion until recently. I was actually still reluctant but my wife and daughter finally convinced me to go to the shelter. The shelter said they only had one cat but she was shy and wouldn't let anyone close. We walked into the room and she perked up, got super talkative and was trying to get us to pet her through the cage. She picked us. It finally felt like the right time and we found the right cat.

What a story! I'm sorry for your loss, too. I had a very similar situation, let me see if I can trim this down to a short story...
So my wife wanted a cat, my mother in law tagged along, and they both got cats (brothers). Mother in law couldn't take care of him, so we got two cats, but that second cat decided he and I would be best friends. Then after a few years he came down with a terminal illness and I lost my friend.

Shortly after that, my wife started helping out a terminally ill human, who had a small black cat. That human's condition got worse and she moved out of state to be with family. She didn't want her black cat because it was "antisocial and mean," so she was going to just abandon it. My wife and I couldn't stand the thought of that happening, so we took her and tried to find a home for her instead. However, the home we ended up finding for her was our own. She wasn't antisocial or mean; she just didn't feel safe and loved. Now she's a snuggly spaz.

I can relate to a lot of what you're saying. Loving and losing a cat, not feeling like you want another, having another get dropped into your life anyway, and loving the new cat while still remembering and mourning the old one.

[Xzorn]

I've played Mag here and there when I came back but after this post I was more seriously trying to figure out how to deal with Overguard without playing "Shield Gate The Game". As I mentioned before I used to Bubble Hop with her and rely entirely on her abilities to stay alive. I ran no Defense mods at all. 200% Duration, 235% Range, 200% Power, 45% Efficiency. Something like that which doesn't quite work anymore.

Been thinking of a good Helmith for her to help with Overguard. Rad Pillars worked out great for Volt so might try that.

 

Edited June 4 by Xzorn

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

5 hours ago, Xzorn said:

I've played Mag here and there when I came back but after this post I was more seriously trying to figure out how to deal with Overguard without playing "Shield Gate The Game". As I mentioned before I used to Bubble Hop with her and rely entirely on her abilities to stay alive. I ran no Defense mods at all. 200% Duration, 235% Range, 200% Power, 45% Efficiency. Something like that which doesn't quite work anymore.

Been thinking of a good Helmith for her to help with Overguard. Rad Pillars worked out great for Volt so might try that.

*gasp* Are we talking Mag builds!?

The can of worms has opened!
^{(A fun Warframe connection here: Worms Armageddon was released in--wait for it--the year 1999)}

I'll share my favorite builds from each of my four separate Mag Prime team members...

Series: Hero - Model: ALL

Spoiler

• Purpose:
  Hero is designed as a Jack-of-All Trades / Master of None build. She can do all the content (except EDA because it disables abilities), but her weaknesses have to be made up for with player skill. The ALL model is has additional survivability and armor stripping so that all enemies can be killed quickly.
• Mods:
  Overframe Build
• Shards:
  • (TF) Azure - 7.5 Health Regen / Sec
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Duration
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Strength
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Duration
  • (TF) Amber - 37.5% Casting Speed
• Helminth:
  Flexible. I used to love Polarize because the Augment worked on Eximus, but DE hates CC these days. Right now I have Xata's Whisper on to help against Overguard enemies.
• School:
  Zenurik
• Playstyle:
  Hero-ALL ranges from 2,387 to 31,407 EHP. She can armor strip within a 30 meter radius while locking enemy movement for 14.35 seconds. Her Magnetize bubble is 17 meters in diameter and lasts for 30.75 seconds. Aim glide is zero gravity and lasts 9 seconds. She has health and energy regen without the need for pickups or gear. Finally, she gets a 60% discount on Ability costs.
  With all these perks, her play style is very versatile. Generally though she survives by killing the enemy before they kill her, and she uses her abilities without caring about the energy cost. I have a habit of activating Zenurik's energy regen every couple of breaths during the heat of battle. The float ability is her main mobility method, and I get Sprint/Parkour from her weapons. I don't have any knockdown protection, so I compensate by just paying attention.

Series: Mage - Model: KPM

Spoiler

• Purpose:
  Mage is set up to rely on her abilities more than the other members. She's got a lot of power boost shards and her builds capitalize on that. The KPM build is specifically used for ESO because I'm still trying to get the Vandal weapon components that come from the 8th zone.
• Mods:
  Overframe Build
• Shards:
  • (TF) Amber - 37.5% Casting Speed
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Strength
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Strength
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Strength
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Strength
• Helminth:
  Polarize > Breach Surge. ESO enemies don't need any armor strip because Breach Surge in the bubble with a Pasmor just vaporizes them. Putting it in slot 3 lets it be used frequently enough in ESO.
• School:
  Zenurik
• Playstyle:
  Mage-KPM only really gets taken out for ESO runs, but she's comfortable in that arena. Her final Ability Strength rests at 259% and her Range is 265%, so her death bubbles act very quickly. She uses Praedos for Parkour boost, and her companion for enemy radar. The strategy is to leap into the most concentrated enemy cluster, Breach Surge, Magnetize, shoot a shot or two, and repeat. The bubbles continue to kill enemies while you move on, and the faster you move the faster the oldest bubble explodes. There are enough Eximus units in ESO that her energy is taken care or through Equilibrium, and she starts each round at full energy from Preparation. The only enemies that give me trouble are the Neutralizer Crewman; I've got a Cycron on hand for popping their bubbles, but they break the flow. Apart from all that it's just a matter of getting good maps for the week. the LOS checks make things like the Kuva Fortress a huge pain at higher zones.

Series: Rogue - Model: SPY

Spoiler

• Purpose:
  Rogue is a stealth and infiltration specialist. She has added parkour velocity for leaping over or through security systems, and extra duration for putting enemies to sleep to get stealth affinity bonuses. The SPY model is for blitzing through Spy and Rescue missions as quickly as possible.
• Mods:
  Overframe Build
• Shards:
  • (TF) Amber - 22.5% Parkour Velocity
  • (TF) Amber - 37.5% Casting Speed
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Duration
  • (TF) Amber- 22.5% Parkour Velocity
  • (TF) Crimson - 15% Ability Duration
• Helminth:
  Pull > Perspicacity. I could keep building Ciphers, but Perspicacity is just so convenient that it's hard to justify spending the resources. I'm thinking of moving it to her 3rd ability instead though because of the recent nerfs to CC.
• School:
  Zenurik
• Playstyle:
  Rogue-SPY has a sprint speed of 2.42 and a Parkour Velocity of +60%. I used to have higher parkour, but it was unwieldy. She has basic Ability Boosts too for the minor skirmishes, but her main role is to to just run past enemies and clear the objective. Depending on the mission I might change out her Aura Mod for Aerodynamic. The Lua Spy Mission for example has a section where you can just fly right above the electrified floor but under the laser platforms. Rescue missions are also easy with this build. I use Innodem rather than Praedos for the slightly higher Sprint as well as the stealth finisher bonus for rescues.

Series: Tank - Model: EHP

Spoiler

• Purpose:
  Tank is destined to take the most abuse; her design is all about surviving without using abilities. The EHP model is mainly used for Archon Showdowns where I need to just stare down a single enemy and keep firing while everyone is shooting me.
• Mods:
  Overframe Build
• Shards:
  • (TF) Azure - 225 Armor
  • (TF) Azure - 225 Armor
  • (TF) Azure - 225 Health
  • (TF) Azure - 225 Armor
  • (TF) Azure - 75 Energy Max
• Helminth:
  Polarize > Dispensary. Something I love about Dispensary is that the first drop is always a Health Orb. So with Equilibrium, it's an immediately refunded ability.
• School:
  Zenurik
• Playstyle:
  Tank-EHP has 595 Health with 86% damage reduction from Armor, (variably) 90% damage reduction from Adaptation, 64% damage reduction while airborne, and an additional 58% damage reduction from Quick Thinking when applied to her 830 Energy. So it's (595 / 0.14 / 0.1 / 0.36) + (830 / 0.14 / 0.1 / 0.36 / 0.42) = ~510,156 EHP. So after Adaptation spins up, you get over half a million EHP, and with Energy Nexus / Zenurik you're able to have an EHP regen of about 3,779 per second. And the first health orb that drops from Dispensary gives you a net positive ~36,375 EHP, with each additional health orb granting even more due to the casting cost having already been paid. Long story short, This build let Mag take a LOT of hits. This is only my speculation, but it seems like Warframe has a minimum damage register of 1 HP. With that said, in practice it's more like thinking: "I can take 595 normal hits to my health and 830 normal hits to my energy." So it can still drain pretty rapidly when playing solo and every single enemy is shooting you at once, but it also regenerates rapidly as long as you're keeping Zenurik up and Dispensary going.
  The other thing that's tempting to ignore but vital to keep going is to make sure you're floating, which means this doesn't work well with melee. But the playstyle is easy enough to understand. Just be careful while Adaptation is spinning up, and then jump, aim, and fire. When the aim glide wear off, refresh Dispensary and Zenurik's Wellspring, then hop back up and start firing again. You basically turn yourself into Protea's 2nd ability; just an immortal floating turret.

As is evident by now, I'm quite enthusiastic about Mag builds. I'd be happy to hear about any or your setups as well!

[Berzerkules]

18 hours ago, Xzorn said:

I've played Mag here and there when I came back but after this post I was more seriously trying to figure out how to deal with Overguard without playing "Shield Gate The Game". As I mentioned before I used to Bubble Hop with her and rely entirely on her abilities to stay alive. I ran no Defense mods at all. 200% Duration, 235% Range, 200% Power, 45% Efficiency. Something like that which doesn't quite work anymore.

Been thinking of a good Helmith for her to help with Overguard. Rad Pillars worked out great for Volt so might try that.

 

Since Mag's 4 restore shields/overshields she is kind of built to shield gate. Not using shield gate mechanics is ignoring one of her main strengths.

I sometimes play her in a similar way that you describe with similar stats. I use several builds with stats around 145 duration, 45 efficiency, 235-265 range and 139 strength. I'll stand just inside her bubble so I don't get hit with stray shots while I have several shots from Nataruk are swirling around my bubble. I'll pull non eximus trash mobs into bubble and pick off eximus with exodia contagion zaw since it goes right through her bubble. 

If you don't want to pull enemies into bubble you can use well of life or blood alter to to keep your magnetized target alive and it will keep pulling enemies until duration expires or you detonate it. 

Nourish is great on almost everything, free viral and energy regen. This saves mod slots on main dps tool and allows mag full ability spam. Obvious choice but ill state it anyways, 

Breach surge in the bubble is just a stupid good subsume.

Gara spectrosiphon augment is underrated imo. Soft cc and infinite energy. It pairs really well with Mag's bubble since you generally run high range and who doesn't like a nice little pile of energy orbs? This might be close to what you were thinking with pillar since specrtosiphon acts like a rad proc they are both bamboozle abilities. 

There is also the smite build that is a decent disruption too. It's kind of like Wisp's breach surge build where the orbs are trapped in magnetize bubble but instead it's the orbs from smite that do 35% target's hp/shields as damage. Just like breach surge orbs the smite orbs are effected by weapon damage modifiers like vigorous swap and arcane arachne. Stack some viral and you have a scaling single target nuke. 

3xtau duration and 2x tau casting speed shards ftw

Anyways, Mag is a heck of a lot of fun. 

edit: oh yeah! Combat discipline + arcane avenger + molt reconstruct is a fun combo in those nourish/spectrosiphon builds where energy is never an issue. 

Edited June 5 by Berzerkules

[Xzorn]

@Probably_Asleep

My old build looked somewhat like this Old Mag Build except it used her Arcane Coil helm 25% Range and double Energize which you can't run anymore. Since enemies don't really scale like they used to the high duration to stack Magnetize ticks isn't as important. Her augments mostly did nothing for me back then. There was no range on Magnetize and while Armor Strip on crush was fine it was equally easy to strip enemies in Magnetize or stack it's damage so high it didn't matter.

This is my current toned down version: Sorta New Build

Crush obviously gained a lot of value since last I played giving Armor Strip, cast speed and shield gate. I changed the build when I came back. Thinking back I could have kept similar and just added Energy Orb Yellow Shards but I didn't have many at the time. Using 100 energy to shield gate is a bit expensive. The bubble hop doesn't feel as safe as it was either. I've gotten dropped a few times trying it again.

Shards are Cast Speed and Duration.

@Berzerkules

Yea I don't really need the energy since I dropped Blind Rage which I might put back. I dunno. By "Shield Gate Game" I mean the rotation of immortal nonsense not just gaining shields back. I'm fine with that. Players have mentioned Harrow having survival issues but I've not seen it thanks to Auger Reach giving 10 shields on cast enough time for Condemn to travel and if all else fails press 4. I don't mind bubble hoping. Magnetize, amp it up, pull enemies in, pick another target, hop over and repeat.

A lot of endurance runner friends used Rolling Guard to hop. I used the operator cuz I was super stingy with mod space. Both worked.

I was looking for Helmith options to keep Overguard enemies off her since that's become her biggest issue IMO.
Nyx, Volt, Mag, Frost, Banshee. All the old kings and queens get suckered by the mechanic one way or another.

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

6 hours ago, Xzorn said:

My old build looked somewhat like this Old Mag Build except it used her Arcane Coil helm 25% Range and double Energize which you can't run anymore. Since enemies don't really scale like they used to the high duration to stack Magnetize ticks isn't as important. Her augments mostly did nothing for me back then. There was no range on Magnetize and while Armor Strip on crush was fine it was equally easy to strip enemies in Magnetize or stack it's damage so high it didn't matter.

This is my current toned down version: Sorta New Build

Crush obviously gained a lot of value since last I played giving Armor Strip, cast speed and shield gate. I changed the build when I came back. Thinking back I could have kept similar and just added Energy Orb Yellow Shards but I didn't have many at the time. Using 100 energy to shield gate is a bit expensive. The bubble hop doesn't feel as safe as it was either. I've gotten dropped a few times trying it again.

Shards are Cast Speed and Duration.

Your high-strength builds are much more humane than mine. A lot of my builds use 40% Strength because of Overextended. I tend to think along the lines of: "Meh, they're in the bubble so they'll die eventually..." and I just ignore them as the DoT/AoE takes care of them over time. But I've noticed when I go with more strength the enemies are put out of their misery much quicker.

Very envious you got an Arcane Coil helm.

When I bubble hop, I'm used to using it as an advancing technique like in Exterminate missions:

When I advance too quickly (entering the forwardmost bubble) then things don't work out well. But as long as I set the bubbles further ahead, I have a safe zone I can rely on.
The figure above is a rather extreme example because I wouldn't really be using it in such a nonaggressive manner. Instead of pushing through enemy forces, I'd be eliminating the laterally-positioned enemies, use the forward-positioned enemies to extend the bubble centipede, and then advance a bubble to repeat the process. This has the added benefit of extending the time Eximus units spend inside the bubbles; they have to travel an entire bubble's length before making it to me, which often drains their Overguard and "mob-ifies" them.

_{This is a bug, but I'm not sure if it's ever going to be fixed because I brought it up multiple times and it never got noticed...}
The Incarnon Kunai passes right through Mag's bubble, completely unaffected. It also tracks to headshots and can deal massive single-target damage. This makes it a perfect weapon to take down Overguarded enemies from the safety of your bubble. Modding for Magnetic Kunais might be a nice ace of your sleeve after they release the Jade Shadows update that promises to make Magnetic the anti-Overguard element. (Of course Mag's Bubbles also use Magnetic so maybe it won't be necessary then...)

Naturally this doesn't work as well when holding a static position because the enemies are coming from all sides. In that case I rely more on sealing off entry points, or using the 3rd dimension to lift projectiles over the defense target.

 

I'm impressed by your strategy though! I usually like having high efficiency because I have an instinctive distrust of relying on pickups for my energy economy. I'm impressed by anyone who routinely uses 100% or less efficiency.

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

DE CONFIRMED IT!!! I'm going to edit the original post...

[Birdframe_Prime]

Congrats on that ^^

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

7 hours ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

Congrats on that ^^

You have the perfect Glyph for your username!

[Birdframe_Prime]

12 hours ago, Probably_Asleep said:

You have the perfect Glyph for your username!

Thanks! Unlike you, I can't claim to have mained a frame exclusively, but I do have around 36% of my hours on the Zephyr variants, so much so that I even changed my username ^^

[SaidTheRogue]

so what weapon does the mag master use for bubbles? love me some of that mag blender =D

i myself use lanka or cyanex..

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

I honestly thought I was going to be quick and efficient with this reply but I got to excited. Sorry @SaidTheRogue...

4 hours ago, SaidTheRogue said:

so what weapon does the mag master use for bubbles? love me some of that mag blender =D

i myself use lanka or cyanex..

Agreed, punch through weapons are always fun for Mag! But I'm going to do my best to make an argument for hit-scan weapons. I know this is controversial, but please hear me out:

The above example is from a Sancti Tigris. The enemies are (Steel Path) Level 180 Corrupted Heavy Gunners. I know everyone loves the blender effect of punch through weapons, and I don't blame them. But I think hit-scan weapons also a very viable option for Mag. As I'm sure we're all aware (but I need it to make my case so I'm repeating it) Mag's bubble works like this:

• Inject Weapon Damage increase DoT strength
• DoT ticks last the duration of the bubble
• One DoT tick registers for each enemy inside the bubble
• The final damage is based on all the registered DoT ticks

So we have a system that's very similar to weapon mods. The best way to maximize damage is to increase all aspects that multiply together. While for weapons it's flat/multi/elem/etc..., for Mag's bubble it's Damage * Duration * Enemies * Armor-Reduction * Ability Strength. In the above example, the Sancti had a damage of about 54k and I shot into the bubble 6 times (or 3 "duplex" shots). The Bubble's duration was around 23 seconds, and I was using a 200% strength build which means the Bubble's DoT should be about a 1:1 ratio with what's injected. So the math works out to something like 325,000 (Base) * 20 (Seconds) * 20 (Enemies) = 130-Million potential damage. It only gets to around 50-Million in this example though because the enemies die after only around 6 or 7 seconds. With that first generation of enemies dead, I quickly generate a new wave of enemies and let them face the AoE burst. I Armor-Stripped both the first and second generation of enemies.

This is where it gets controversial: With a Hit-Scan Weapon like the Sancti Tigris, you end up getting larger blast values. The reason for that is because the actual shots aren't killing the enemies, it's the DoT of the bubble that's doing the job. And that means more damage is getting tallied up to be used in the final AoE burst. So it turns into a skill-vs-convenience game at this point. If you're casting, stripping, firing, repeating, then you'll leave behind a trail of explosions that are dealing millions of damage over and over again. The skill comes in how quickly you can cycle through that routine as well as how good your instincts are on where to place the bubbles. Doubled up bubbles compete for resources because they kill each other's enemies too quickly and reduce the DoT ticks that get registered. But bubbles that are too far apart will not suck enemies and therefore lose out on DoT ticks that could have been registered.

In conclusion! I believe high base damage weapons with hit-scan attacks can be very effective for Mag, especially in enemy-dense areas, but they require a greater level of focus and instinct to make work. Punch-Through Weapons, on the other hand, will so the work for you, killing the enemies with their own power and making it so you don't have to concern yourself with the finer mechanics of Mag's abilities.

 

I got through most of the game with the Sancti Tigris. I kept improving my builds and my skills naturally, so I didn't actually notice much of a difference between the Star Chart and Steel Path. I felt like I always had something to work on but was always just enough to pull through. It wasn't until the Archons and their damage attenuation where I finally had to start looking for a new weapon. Now I use the Phenmor mainly. I like the feel of it. I will say though that the Latron with Incarnon will just "pop" anything in Mag's bubble. I really like it but I'm not a fan of the low ammo. Phenmor is just a great "don't have to think about it" gun. I never runs out of ammo, has the power to obliterate anything, and with Mag every weapon is an AoE weapon so I don't need to worry about the fact that it's a single-target weapon.

 

 

[Anova3]

6 hours ago, Probably_Asleep said:

I honestly thought I was going to be quick and efficient with this reply but I got to excited. Sorry @SaidTheRogue...

Agreed, punch through weapons are always fun for Mag! But I'm going to do my best to make an argument for hit-scan weapons. I know this is controversial, but please hear me out:

*Proceeds to make a VERY compelling Point for using hitscan with mag*

Bravo! Very nicely done!
I spend more of my time on excal these days but I need to pick Mag back up again. She was my first pick back in Ye Olden Times when we had Excal, Mag, and Loki to choose from.

Also, congrats on being the Mag Master! That's a very awesome title!

I personally like using the Exergis with Mag. I've got a riven and a neat little build that gives two rounds per reload and a ton of multishot. I never really got into using the grenade launchers like other folks did. I tried it a few times, but it just felt awkward to me.
I'm certainly going to give some hitscan weapons another spin now to see how they go. This game has so many niche mechanics that it seems there's always something new to learn and experiment with.

Magnetic as a damage type & status got a huge buff recently too, so I'm sure you and our other mag mains are enjoying that.

EDIT:
Just went and looked at the first post again. They SENT YOU A PLAQUE?!?!? Holy cow that's cool. Great Job!

Edited July 15 by Anova3

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

1 hour ago, Anova3 said:

Bravo! Very nicely done!
I spend more of my time on excal these days but I need to pick Mag back up again. She was my first pick back in Ye Olden Times when we had Excal, Mag, and Loki to choose from.

Also, congrats on being the Mag Master! That's a very awesome title!

I personally like using the Exergis with Mag. I've got a riven and a neat little build that gives two rounds per reload and a ton of multishot. I never really got into using the grenade launchers like other folks did. I tried it a few times, but it just felt awkward to me.
I'm certainly going to give some hitscan weapons another spin now to see how they go. This game has so many niche mechanics that it seems there's always something new to learn and experiment with.

Magnetic as a damage type & status got a huge buff recently too, so I'm sure you and our other mag mains are enjoying that.

EDIT:
Just went and looked at the first post again. They SENT YOU A PLAQUE?!?!? Holy cow that's cool. Great Job!

Thanks! And I really do love the Exergis. It's got decent damage of course, but the real fun is in the sound and the feel of it. When they said they were going to add a new Tenet weapon I was really hoping the Exergis would get the spot. (And I'm still hoping it might one day get one...)

And you're very correct about the excitement over the Magnetic damage rework. I wish Mag had some status change built into her abilities, but I'm happy with how the weakness/resistance got laid out. The only enemy with a Magnetic resistance is Narmer, which I'm fine with because the Sentients and the Archons do not have any Magnetic resistance and those are the ones I'm actually concerned with. Also Mag's AoE from her Magnetize is Blast damage, and the only faction with a resistance to that is Corpus Amalgam (which is totally fine because they're vulnerable to Magnetic).

THE PLAQUE RIGHT!?!?!? I was originally hoping for something like an Accolade on my account or maybe a Glyph to be issued; something minor and digital. Never in a million years would I have hoped to receive something tangible in the real world. This completely changes my "What would you save in a fire?" answer. (I mean I'd still save my wife and cats first, but this plaque is a strong third place before them; it gets the #1 slot now for the non-living category)

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

  @3xt1inct, I thought it would be more applicable if I responded to your questions on this thread.

16 hours ago, 3xt1inct said:

Ok no doubt that is an achievement, for which i congratulate you, but the only other possible starter (assuming they mean the true starter pool from the original (beta) release) to do it on is Volt, as we all know Excal has a lot of difficulty with keeping up with scaling levels. You gave yourself a little of a tougher start, but that grew exponentially as time and levels progress.

I do however have some questions/notes with a few of the stated rules and claims, especially when laid next to the evidence you provided. Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to get some clarification and possibly help you make the claim to fame solid. So I'll be zooming in on technicalities and inconsistencies, as a trigger warning.

Happy to chat about it! And don't worry about raining on my parade! The parade is already finished; everyone packed up and went home. I'll admit I was somewhat insecure about it at the beginning because I was worried someone was going to come out and say "Actually I did it first!" And a small part of me was also worried that people would try to argue that I didn't actually do it. Honestly, had DE never acknowledged anything, I would have carried that insecurity with me forever. But DE did acknowledge me, and there's literally no greater authority that could weigh in on the subject. So the "parade" really has concluded. This has been upgraded from a "historical claim" to a recognized historical event.

 

16 hours ago, 3xt1inct said:

1. The DE plaque states "the first to complete the game with the original characters", meaning that they state no-one can do it again, even with Volt or Excal. Another note is that the original characters in the beta were Excalibur, Loki, Volt, Rhino, Ash, Mag, Ember and Trinity. This implies you could have used all 8 of them instead of only 1 and that title could actually have been achieved before, but not claimed. Thus the plaque is in direct contention with your first rule of the challenge.
2. You claim "I have finally done it; I've made Warframe history. My account is the first to have achieved the True Master Rank while playing as only one type of frame (Mag/Prime).", People could argue that mag prime (or any of the primes) is not an original frame. This means the plaque provides more confusion around the achievement as the title does not resemble the rules or the goal of the challenge at all.
3. There have been 4 starter frames, Loki should be included as a possibility, P.E. i have friends who started playing the tutorial, picked up Loki, ended the tutorial and decided that this was not their game. I could pick up that account and do the same challenge for Loki (although in that case i should ask support for permission as it would fall under "account sharing").
4. The rule to solo every kind of mission and boss, is not specific enough imo, does this include all Steel Path nodes (they are no longer necessary for True master rank)? To what extent do you need to solo everything, as in are you allowed trading with others, using others and their full arsenal access for your cause? You said you called up your wife to help relic/ducat farming, but was that in a mission with you? Was she opening relics solo as well, or in a squad of 4? How many people are allowed to help gather relics and ducats? Those things are important as it could lead to this stuff becoming a speedrun thing for warframe and people with big clans helping them will have an advantage this way.
5. To what extent do you need game completion? mr30 is obvious, but you mention collecting the archimedean eye sumdali from EDA, the question being, do you need to unlock all possible rewards or was that just a fun sidequest?
6. To what extent may you spend actual money buying plat?
7. I'dd argue that subsumes do impact playstyle and frames capabilities massively, especially abilities like nourish. This feels like swapping out the weaknesses of the kit you chose to challenge yourself with and thus is playing 1/5th of another frame (4 abilities and passive).
8. It is a good thing you did not use any other frame in circuit, if you have the frame built and play it in circuit, you gain mastery and stats on it (yes i tried).
9. Nightwave and halls of ascension fall under the "What needs to be completed?" argument. If the goal is mr30 than the challenges should not matter.
10. Another one for the plaque and proper title, "First to ever beat the game with the original characters", what constitutes beating the game? Whether that is completing all available content, getting to mr30, doing all challenges the game throws at you or having done everything succesfully at least once. It should be clear. There is someone possibly waiting for the title "First to ever beat the game", if the requirement is the first to reach mr30. 
11. Does The title get taken away when there is a new mission type, or if someone on the same course beats you to playing the new mission type first?

Other than those things, congrats, hope you will find as much enjoyment in other things as you do in warframe!

1. The simplest answer to all plaque related questions is that I had no influence on the contents of the plaque. I didn't ask for it, didn't expect it, and I wasn't involved in the discussion to commission it. DE decided on the wording. In my own claim I did make mention of the fact that I was first both in the Mag-route as well as the general route itself. DE chose to commemorate the general route. Though I'm not privy to their rationale, I can speculate it's because that's what they found impressive. And it's not like this is a contradiction. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares; all starter frames are original characters, but not all original characters are starter frames. So in the case of Mag, the plaque is accurate regardless of what label they chose.
   And about Excalibur, I'm not going to touch that. I feel like there are Excal mains out there who would argue that it's possible to take him into everything as well, but I don't know enough about his kit or style to say so one way or another.
2. The Original/Prime point obviously didn't factor into DE's decision, and while again I can't claim to know their reasoning, I can speculate that it's similar to mine. A Prime variant is the same playstyle. It's an upgraded version of a character, but it is that character. Lore-wise, the Primes are supposedly the first and original forms. And while it's true that the Prime variant awarded me an additional 6000 Mastery Rank Points, that was an inconsequential contribution to the overall challenge. (And it's available to other contenders who may want to undergo the challenge with their starter frame of choice)
3. That's an interesting idea! I say go for it! The point of the challenge (at its core) is to reach MR 30 without playing as any other type of frame. That's why Rhino and Trinity wouldn't be possibilities because it's not possible to make it through the opening mission without registering at least one kill with Mag, Excalibur, or Volt. But it would be very cool if you've got an account out there that can produce a "True Loki Master." I'd love to see it done!
4. I should clarify on this one that it's more a matter of pride than a rigid requirement of the challenge. It's not something that anyone can prove one way or another, so it can't be enforced anyway. The principle behind it though is that if you want to call yourself a True X Master of a particular Frame, then you should be confident that you can solo all the content. And being able to is also very different than actually doing it all solo. I have friends who got me into Warframe that rarely pop back on and want to play. I'm not going to tell them to take a hike because I only play alone. And my wife likes to help me with my goals, so if the two of us can save some time to get Ducats then that's just a sign of a happy marriage. But at the same time I wanted to be confident that I could solo the content available to be sure that I (and Mag) were capable of it.
5. MR30 is the only real requirement, realistically. The content is always going to grow so it would always be a moving target. DE chose to label MR30 as "True Master" because that was the bar they set to consider yourself an actual master of the art of Warframe. There are always going to be more Legendary ranks and bosses, and I'll still strive to conquer those as they become available, but no new content will ever take the "mastery" away.
6. This is less of a point of challenge and more a matter of fun. It's not fun to skip content. (As long as the content is fun) I'd say spend plat to support DE, but you should try to get things through the game just because it's such a thrill when you finally get that last piece and can start building! (Though if the farm is just a boring grind and not fun by any stretch of the imagination, then just prove you can do the mission and then move on to something that's enjoyable; it's a game after all)
7. I'm not saying that subsumes have no impact on the game. I'm just saying that the subsume system is a feature of the game and should be experienced and mastered like everything else. Helminth, Focus Schools, Necramechs, Companions, Specters, Vehicles, Gear, Mods, Shards, Weapons, Arcanes, and whatever other system they add to the game are all tools to accomplish the objective. My challenge does not impose on the freedom to use any of those other systems for the enjoyment and progress of the game. If Mag can use something to accomplish the mission, then she would. But it's still Mag that's using it. If I rip an arm-canon off of a robot and strap it to my shoulder to use as a weapon, I'm not suddenly less me and more robot. I'm just a more-awesome me with a robot's arm-canon on my shoulder.
8. Good to know, thanks! I've never wanted to risk it but I'm so glad I didn't now!
9. I might be repeating myself too much, but the point is to enjoy everything this game has to offer as Mag. That's not really part of the title, it's more like the reward on your way to the title. The journey to become a True Master should be fun and varied, with numerous challenges to overcome and anomalies to reminisce about afterward. I loved solving the Halls of Ascension the first time and wish there were more. But if someone took the journey to be the first "True Volt Master" and they haven't done the Hall of Ascension with the blowing organ pipes, it's not like I'd call foul on them. I'd just say: "You should try it! It was fun."
10. I was actually shocked by this too! I thought it was pretty bold of a Live Service game to admit it was possible to beat the game. But I'm not one to look a gift plaque in the mouth.
11. #5 answers this. It's not possible to go down to MR29 or less after you get to MR30, and it's not possible to lose the "first" status of something.

Thanks again for the good conversation and I hope this wasn't too daunting of a text wall to wade through. I hope if there was any takeaway from this, it's how cool it would be if you became the first True Loki Master. I'd want to be the first to congratulate you!

Edited July 18 by Probably_Asleep
Wrote it in a hurry and made a LOT of typos

[Anova3]

12 hours ago, Probably_Asleep said:

And about Excalibur, I'm not going to touch that. I feel like there are Excal mains out there who would argue that it's possible to take him into everything as well, but I don't know enough about his kit or style to say so one way or another.

I can confirm that he's viable in all content. I use him to carry in EDA *sometimes*. (the energy drain and negative duration debuffs are my bane)
With one possible exception: I don't think I could solo the secret 60-eye murmur boss. That might be the only thing I couldn't do on him, but hypothetically that's a skill issue, and not entirely a gear issue. (I'm not going to blow smoke and make out like I have perfect gamer skills - I kinda suck at shooters if I'm being honest. I'm just a wizard at buildcraft type games and the modding system in warframe is freakishly OP and broken in so many wonderful ways.)

I also know from experience that doing steel-path-grade intercept missions on him can be hard solo. Bring GOOD specters. The rest can be solved with clever use of various subsumes.

Edited July 18 by Anova3

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

7 hours ago, Anova3 said:

I can confirm that he's viable in all content. I use him to carry in EDA *sometimes*. (the energy drain and negative duration debuffs are my bane)
With one possible exception: I don't think I could solo the secret 60-eye murmur boss. That might be the only thing I couldn't do on him, but hypothetically that's a skill issue, and not entirely a gear issue. (I'm not going to blow smoke and make out like I have perfect gamer skills - I kinda suck at shooters if I'm being honest. I'm just a wizard at buildcraft type games and the modding system in warframe is freakishly OP and broken in so many wonderful ways.)

I also know from experience that doing steel-path-grade intercept missions on him can be hard solo. Bring GOOD specters. The rest can be solved with clever use of various subsumes.

The 60-Eye boss was difficult for me too. Mag relies very heavily on her abilities, and that boss has an ability-disable feature woven into each attack. Because there's no toxin attacks I have to worry about, I ended up combining a lot of shields with Arcane Aegis / Nullifier for the majority of my survivability. Then I dumped all my shards into armor, and used Adaptation/Rolling Guard to have just enough tanki-ness to make it through to the next Aegis activation. Finally I used the Sancti Magistar to do all the damage and keep my HP at max. And as a final final last resort I had a Vaska Kavat with Transfusion and Pack Leader (Transfusion get activated immediately, and Pack Leader makes the companion immortal as long as you're swinging Melee). It was a tightrope of mechanics that needed a lot of attention paid.

I'm also with you on the love of buildcraft! I love the idea of thinking things out at base and then taking those ideas out into the field to test them.

[SaidTheRogue]

i suppose one of the few legit issues with mag is enemies not getting pulled into the bubble even though they may be standing pretty close to the outer edge of it.. i suspect this just means i needed a little more ability str in the build, but we cant have everything. 

 

would be curious to know if DE would have us believe that the bubbles pull on different enemies in different amounts/strengths.

[BloodForCavalero]

On 2024-05-16 at 9:07 PM, Probably_Asleep said:

-EDIT-
DE confirmed the claim! They sent me a plaque:

Thank you so much DE, and especially whoever decided to take the time to acknowledge my efforts and actually get a plaque made/mailed to me! I will treasure this.

Claim Number 1 (a claim for myself)
I have finally done it; I've made Warframe history. My account is the first to have achieved the True Master Rank while playing as only one type of frame (Mag/Prime). The following are the rules for my emergent game and the backbone of my bold claim:

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• Must be a starter frame (naturally, because you can't "only" play as a frame that isn't available from the moment you boot up the game)
• Cannot register any kills with Excalibur Umbra
  • It's impossible to have zero Mastery Points with EU because he is given to the player at MR30
  • It IS possible though to play the one required mission with him without killing anything (proof supplied below...)
• Must solo every kind of mission and boss
  • I have no way of proving this; you'll have to just take my word for it, sorry
  • This is a moving target, but at the time I achieved this, Elite Deep Archimedea was the latest challenge. Mag rolled week 1 and I got the Archimedean Eye Sumdali
• Complete all quests
• Trading/Buying is okay but I found it's more fun to avoid it in most cases
  • I often took advantage of the 75% discount whenever it came around, but I never actually did any public trading
  • Though I did enlist my wife's help for relic/ducat farming; it's fun helping each other with your hobbies
• There's no limit on the amount of frames you use, they just have to all be the same type
  • I'm using Mag and Mag Prime, but the challenge could also be done with Volt and Volt Prime, or the Excalibur trio (though Excalibur Prime is now impossible to get)
  • I'll show my team in pictures below; I realized it was easier to have multiple Mags for different Archon Shard configs
• No restrictions on other equipment; use whatever guns, blades, vehicles, companions, etc. to conquer the game
• You can build other Warframes to Subsume them or make Specters
  • I feel like Subsumed abilities are not an insult to the frame you install them on; if a frame can use that ability well then it is a credit to that frame
  • I also grew up playing Megaman, so that might have affected my feelings on the subject
• Cannot use other Warframes or The Stalker in Duviri
  • I don't actually know how this affects Mastery Points; I didn't want to experiment and possibly ruin my account so I played it safe and only used Mag
  • You'll always be able to play your frame in Duviri/Circuit if clear out over frames from your inventory, so I Subsumed/Sold all non-Mag frames
• I never made any guidelines for Challenges, but I ended up doing most of them (including all the Nightwave ranks)
• There were also several "hidden challenges" like the Halls of Ascension that I made sure  to check off the list

 actually asked Support to confirm that I was the first account to accomplish this and they told me to go to the forums instead. I can't say with 100% certainty that I'm the first. But I'm 99% certain for the following reasons:

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• It wasn't possible prior to the Abyss of Dagath update (October 18th, 2023)
  • Prior to that, there just wasn't enough equipment available to reach MR30 without using Warframes)
  • This could have been bumped back to the Echos of Duviri update (July 27th, 2023) for Founders, but I doubt any Founder used just one type of frame for 10 years)
• There is equipment that cannot be rushed via trading/purchasing
  • Daily Tribute equipment takes nearly two years to get
  • Some Prime equipment would be hard to get if it's not available in trade (especially for Nintendo Switch, but that's irrelevant)
• While not impossible to grind faster, there's a LOT of hours that need to be spent just playing the game to open up MR point access
• Excalibur Umbra

So basically, someone would have had to have had this idea years before October 18th, 2023, and been working on it diligently in preparation for the inevitability that it would one day become a possibility. And "working on it" would mean willingly not playing as new characters for all that time. Every time a new Warframe is presented, that player would have to think: "No thanks, I'll keep playing as my starter frame..." for every single update! And with power creep, nerfs, loadout restrictions, and game modes tailored to new frames, there's no shortage of temptation to play multiple characters. And this is not to even mention the fact that Warframes are just given to players sometimes. I got a starter pack for the Switch that gave me a Nidus, and just recently I think there was a Baruuk Prime given to everyone who logged into something. Who would be dumb enough to sell free Warframes for measly 20,000 credits? (Besides myself) It's just such a ridiculous self-imposed handicap that I don't see anyone else being interested.

And then there's Excalibur Umbra. By then I had already firmly resolved to become a True Mag Master so I knew exactly what to do. I parked Umbra off in a corner somewhere at the start and used my Operator to accomplish the mission (this was back before Operators had shields, mind you). But it's a VERY pivotal moment in the journey to become a True [Mag/Volt] Master. (If you're trying to become a True Excalibur Master though then there's zero problems here) Umbra acts on his own, so if you aren't both careful AND lucky, then you'll permanently ruin your ENTIRE account from that one mission. You can't even abort to save yourself. As soon as Umbra slashes a Sentient, you'll need to delete and recreate your account. In my opinion, this is the biggest barrier to becoming a True Mag Master or a True Volt Master, and it (along with the time windows and investment) is why I'm 99% certain I'm the first to make it here.

 

So with all that said, I hereby thrust my flag into the peak and claim the title: First True Mag Master

 

Claim Number 2 (a claim for Mag)
Mag is awesome! My account will forever stand as proof of that. The following is opinion so take it for what it's worth, and just a warning I'm going to be a little tongue-in-cheek about it...

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Mag is a historically and infamously unpopular frame. She has the reputation of being bad at the early game for being complicated, energy thirsty, and squishy. All her downsides may be remedied by the late game when you get better accustomed to all the game systems, improved energy economy, and more diverse survival options, but by then you'll have gained access to other frames built specifically for the end game. So generally speaking most people think that there's just no place for Mag; an outcast on both ends of the game.

But in achieving the title of True Mag Master, which I believe to be the first and currently only True Master of only one Frame type, I subsequently believe I've earned the right to say that Mag deserves respect. She is currently the only frame in history to have an account acting as proof that she can solo every piece of game content in the entire WF universe. And she will always be the first to have said account. Sure, anyone can say that their favorite frame can do everything, but how many have shown it? One. In my very humble opinion, the Warframe Tier Lists are all nothing more than opinions, while my account is undeniable fact.

An "S-Tier" frame should be able to do everything by itself. Anyone is free to try and prove that their frame is S-Tier, but that proof has already now been established for Mag. If you want to label your frame as "S-Tier," then start walking the path that Mag has already finished. Beat everything, master everything, and do it on your own. Only then can you elevate your favorite frame to the top rank, where Mag will welcome you with the open arms of a proven veteran.

To address the criticisms about Mag, I think they play in her favor. I will admit that when I first started the game I hardly ever used Mag's abilities. I knew I only had 1 Crush, 2 Polarize, 3 Magnetize, or 7 Pull casts. Those abysmally small numbers meant that I should only rely on them for emergencies or with extremely careful planning. Because of that, I instead needed to learn the core, universal skills of the game: Agility, Aiming, Evading, Stealth, Leading, Lifting, Timing, and so on. For the first several planets, it didn't matter what frame I was using because I had to learn the skills that all frames have, and I had to rely on those skills because I was using the squishiest starter frame. It was harsh training in an unforgiving world. But making it through that gauntlet and learning those skills have benefited me throughout the entire game. Not even if EDA when they just turn off abilities and negate survival options, I don't feel out of my element (though I don't agree with that design choice). Mag forces players in the early game to not rely on their frame's innate talents, and that's a priceless lesson.

Then we move into late game content. How does Mag stack up? Well. She's stacked quite well. I remember when I got Zenurik and Fleeting Expertise and first had the realization: "Can I even be killed anymore?" And of course there were later challenges with toxin enemies and the new content where they just childishly say: "No Abilities! No Shields! Health Drain! No Operator!" (I'm of the opinion that those kinds of "challenges" are making the statement: "We can't make Warframe challenging anymore, so we're making challenges un-Warframe.") But still, as I've said, she can do it all. She can defend, kill, knockout/disable security systems, support, and control the battlefield. I don't like recent CC nerfs, but her 2 is just so powerful that it doesn't even matter. What's also great about Mag is that she's so upgradeable. Schools, Shards, Subsumes, and so much more pair well with her. She gets better the more attention you give her. Like a magnet that keeps collecting more and more as it rolls through the world. Not only is her performance  top notch, not only is she fun to play, but she's fun to build. She just makes the game better.

 

Evidence
I'm prepared to do more than just claim that Mag and I have done this. I have pictures!

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True Master Rank Completed

Lotus' motherly words of congratulation

Mastery Breakdown; notice the 18,000 points from Warframes. That's Mag, Mag Prime, and Excalibur Umbra

Scroll through Stats, mainly just to show the normalcy of the account itself

Challenges progress (embarrassed I still have some to get, but I'm being transparent about what I have and haven't done)

Scroll through Warframes to show that I got my 18,000 MR Points only from those three frames (as the rest are grayed out, showing they don't even have a single kill/point)

Excalibur Umbra: Zero Kills, Zero Kill Assists, Used Zero Percent of the time. I had to have him, but I made sure not to play as him.

All Quests Completed

Helminth Maxed Out and all Abilities Unlocked

If someone wants to claim "First" True Mag Master, then I'll require that they show the same level of evidence. I'm not trying to be petty or anything; I just think the accomplishment itself should be verified by more than just a "Nah, I did that years ago!" Especially considering I put over two thousand hours into getting this far.

 

Journey
Because it's been such a long road (relatively speaking, I know others have put more hours into this game), I'll take a moment to reminisce about how I got here:

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For starters, I'll introduce the "team" of Mag I used...

My Loadout system has four categories (different Mags with different Archon Shards) that each have four sub-categories (Mod Tabs / Equipment Choices):

1. Hero - Jack of All Trades Class
   1. ETC - General Purpose
   2. ALL - Tools to kill all factions
   3. HOP - Speed/mobility for farming runs
   4. SIT - High Duration for AFK duties
2. Mage - Ability Casting Class
   1. KPM - ESO Build, High Range, Low Duration, Breach Surge
   2. ORB - Railjack Build, 30+ Seconds of Dispensary and Armor Strip
   3. POP - (Being repurposed) Was for farming Sisters of Parvos
   4. SLY - Overshield/Strip build that lets me spam Crush every second
3. Rogue - Stealthy Speedster Class
   1. EXP - Used for ranking up equipment
   2. OFF - Multiple Invisibility options and bonuses around finishers
   3. RUN - Golden Instinct and Speed
   4. SPY - Spy/Rescue missions
4. Tank - Unkillable Class
   1. AXE - Health Gen through Melee (Survive by killing)
   2. EHP - 250k+ Effective Hit Points so I can casually take on Archons (Survive by floating)
   3. ONE - Disruption missions (Survive by moving)
   4. TOP - Netracell missions (Survive by diversity)

I've modified these 16 options a lot and will probably make more changes as content evolves. Rank 30 gave me 15 more slots though and there are more Archon Shard varieties now, so I'm thinking of making additional classes. I also have a Yester* loadout to keep my original Mag that I awoke on day 1. I use that Mag for testing new concepts. If something works good with Mag then it will work better with Mag Prime, so I've found it's best to experiment using originals and then apply what you learned to Primes.

Hero - Probably my favorite look. I'm using the TennoGen Graxx Skin, which I've loved from the beginning. This is my oldest look and become the backbone of my style. It would have been sometime December of 2021 when I completed the first quest and started coming of with a signature look. From that moment on I made sure that all of my physiques would work off of the same Red/White/Black color pallet, include the TennoGen Sari Syandana, use a Community of Tenno sigil on the front, and have a floating animation set. The general motif is curves and bubbles, so later on when I got the Steel Meridian Sigil I standardized that as my back sigil (it runs straight up and down so the circle is on her back and the line runs down her spine and past her tailbone. I also later got the Waveform Ephemera from Nightwave which really fit the curves/bubbles theme well, so that became a staple of all looks moving forward as well. The only thing that doesn't fit with the color pallet it my clan emblem, which couldn't be avoided because it's a picture of my deceased cat and I'm not about to change that. Side note: I've learned most Mag lovers are also cat lovers. Hero uses an approximately even distribution of Red/White/Black to signify the generalist role.

Mage - Using the heirloom set, I modeled Mage to be very red based on the Crimson Archon shards. Mage's purpose is to maximize ability use, so I thought that would be fitting. The heirloom set was hard to find a good animation set for because the fabric would keep clipping through her limbs with most poses.

Rogue - I chose a whiter appearance for rogue to signify the "ghostly" purpose of stealth and infiltration. Rogue uses the TennoGen Ferro Helmet because it looks like a speed-cyclist helmet, and the Immorta skin because the vertical lines give it a streaking feel.

Tank - Going with black as the main color to show ironlike durability, Tank has the Pneuma Skin. I originally went with the Immortal skin for obvious reasons, but broad shoulders of Pneuma looks more armored. This is probably my least favorite look and I'm still playing with it. This current look uses the Graxx helmet, but yeah I still want to try other options.

Original - Original is constantly changing. She's the "try new things" teammate. Right now she's got her original Mag skin because I wanted to see how the color pallet would work on it. I went to Graxx almost immediately when I started playing and realized only recently that I haven't really explored the original skin's limits.

Other style choices I've settled on along the way:

• Minimally Minimalistic - I try to have simple, smooth looks, but I'm not requiring that of myself; I just don't like a lot of noise in the appearance
• Melee Adornments - I obsess a LOT about how to place the Melee weapons. I have a love/hate relationship with melee; I love the flexibility, but hate how finicky it is
• Primarily Hidden - I always hide the Primary Weapon. The Sari Syandana is just too gorgeous to clip a rifle into it

I began with just one Mag and a few months into it there was a Prime Resurgence that let me get Mag Prime. Next time it came around I ended up being two more Mag Primes, and I got the materials to build a third. So now I have four Mag Primes, which is what inspired me to start making a team. I'm now waiting for the next availability so I can add a few members for the new Archon Shards.

Now with the fashion out of the way, a little history:

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My choice of Mag was very power-fantasy related. I booted up Warframe for the first time (I think) around 12/24/2021. Today is my 827th login, which would be 2/9/22, but I have an inbox message from Lotus about achieving MR 1 on 12/26/2021. I probably took some PTO to get a four day weekend, so that's why I'm estimating sometime earlier in the week. My friend had been playing since the beginning of Warframe and was pestering me to join for years, but his begging got much more persistent when they introduced the game on the Nintendo Switch platform. He offered to start a brand new account on the Switch if I would play with him, and so I agreed. He and his wife both started Switch accounts, and we all began a new journey together.

When I began, I was presented with the three starter frame choices. I watched the video carefully to see which abilities I liked, and Mag's was a clear winner to me. I've always loved telekinesis. I lived just about 40 years and never experienced a nightmare despite having very vivid memories of my dreams. One of the reasons for this is because, in my dreams, I always have telekinesis. It's so natural that real life seems boring by comparison. But it's difficult to feel scared when I can flick my wrist and sent anything I want up into the sun. So as soon as I saw Mag I knew this was the character for me!

When I joined up with my friends, they laughed at me for picking Mag. "I can't believe you picked the worst frame!" they jeered. I asked "What's so bad about Mag? I think she's cool!" They then went on to tell me why everyone hates Mag, and they assured me of one thing: "You're going to get sick of her soon, and when you do there are so many better frames out there to choose from." But that whole exchange bothered me. Mag was cool, and I wasn't about to just dump her the second someone new came prancing along. It was then during first few days of playing when I had the thought: How far can I actually go with Mag? Sure she's a starter character, but does this game require you to move on? Next time my friends logged on I explained that I was going to stick with Mag as long as I could, and they got angry with me. "You're going to drag us down, and you won't be able to get to higher Mastery Ranks if you only stick to one character. I mean do whatever you want, but it's just not going to work out the way you think it will..."

I fought my way thought the Star Chart, and at first it was a struggle. I chose the Paris as my starter weapon, and each mission took like a 15 minutes because I tried being as stealthy as possible and also broke all the loot boxes I could find. When my friends logged on I'd have to hurry up because they tended to care less about not triggering alarms or getting all the loot. It was fun of course laughing and working together, but I started to realize I liked playing at my own pace more. At first, my user name was "User0.0b" because I thought it would be funny to imply that I wanted to be the first user (User0.0) but then something went wrong and I had to do it twice (thus the "b"). But after a while of playing I realized a funny habit of mine. Because the game doesn't let you pause if you're in friends mode, and I wanted to keep it in friends mode in case my friends logged on, this also meant I couldn't play it with in the living room when I was hanging out with my wife. She was used to asking me to pause games, but I couldn't and so we just awkwardly didn't talk to one another. So I instead played the game silently when we went to bed and she was asleep, but I could never stay awake that long. I'd just fall asleep wherever my character was, and sometimes that would be public places like Fortuna or Relays. I'd wake up to direct messages and invitations, but from players that had logged off hours before. So I decided to rename myself as something that would warn users that I'm probably not going to be responsive:

Probably_Asleep

As time went on I learned maps well enough that I could stick my character into safe areas whenever my wife needed to talk to me, so I was able to play the game during normal hours, but I really liked the username. My friends just stopped playing one day too, and they never told me why. I was sad and confused at first. I tried very hard to be supportive, and was at a higher level than both of them. It was clear to me that I wasn't "dragging them down" as they had feared. I think if anything they just had hoped that cross-play would come much sooner, and it wasn't that fun playing as weak characters when their strong accounts were on the Playstation. But I was hooked to the game by this point anyway, and I was playing it every day for the most part. I also had done research on Mag and realized that there were long standing grudges and controversies surrounding her. At first I just wanted to see how far I could go, but after a while my goal evolved to the True Mag Master concept when I realized that it would one day be possible if mainline updates kept adding weapons and the MR ranks never changed their point thresholds.

Through just normal gameplay I got Primed Flow and Fleeting Expertise. This let me build up enough energy to be able to spam abilities as much as I wanted for a short time. At that point I got my first glimpse of Mag's true potential and I remember thinking: "You're actually kind of amazing, aren't you Mag?" but without a good way to generate energy it was like an invincibility star than a gameplay style. That all changed though when I get Zenurik and could generate 5 energy per second. At that point I didn't even need Primed Flow anymore! I could cast Crush every 8 seconds, and effectively infinite Pulls and Magnetizes. Once I got to that point, the game completely changed. I could finally start thinking of Mag in regards to her abilities.

At the start, Armor-Stripping wasn't a very good option in both practice as well as value. To armor strip with Mag prior to the rework you needed cast three abilities (and if memory serves you needed an aura too?). But it wasn't even necessary, everything in her bubble died regardless of armor. Star Chart, Steel Path, it didn't matter. Polarize had an amazing augment though. It could shut down all ranged attackers instantly and was I could spam it as needed to only focus on melee units. (Which I could just let die in the bubble) things have changed over the years, but Mag has always been able to keep up one way or another.

I continued on the journey, making absolutely sure to never accidentally gain MR points from another frame. Excalibur Umbra made me very nervous, but I was careful and precise to get through the one required mission without any Umbra kills. Then in summer of 2023 I realized that it was finally mathematically possible to get to MR30 with just Mag/Prime. I began ranking up any equipment I could find, but it was a long road and months went by. I hadn't realized it at the time, but it was actually October 18th, 2023 when it truly became possible for my account, considering exclusive weapons. It was the fall of 2023 when I surpassed my friend's original account. The friend that got me into Warframe, the one who said I'd have to give Mag up one day, and the one who had been playing Warframe from the beginning. I could have considered that as a victory, but my goals had already been pointed higher. I wanted to achieve a genuine first: The True Mag Master title.

Fortunately my gameplay had already accumulated massive amounts of relics. I enlisted my wife's help to crack them like crazy, and got a lot of primed weapons out of it. I made spreadsheets to track my progress, and dived into every piece of the game for components and resources. One by one I found and built different weapons, and the points trickled in painfully slowly. Along the way I also beat all the content. Missions, Quests, Bosses, Archons, TFO, DA/EDA, and all the little things. Getting to MR30 without using Warframe points really forces you to explore the entire game.

I then got to rank 27, another milestone. That had been my goal years before, the last gold-colored rank possible with the points available at that time. But now I could keep going. I saved the Adversary weapons mainly for last. They were so tedious, and I immediately regretted that I hadn't done this already. But I kept going. And finally, on Monday, May 13th, 2024, I got enough points. It was thanks to the Tenet Livia that I stepped over the threshold. It was time for the final test.

(The test was actually super easy)

And I did it! MR 30, a True Master, almost entirely solo, and ONLY as Mag! The ribbon was torn, the "race" with only one competitor was finally over.

We did it, Mag, we did it.

And now it's done! I really wish I could ask for something for this like an accolade for me account or something, but it's obvious that this is a journey I solely found value in myself. I may think it's worthy of something, but I accept that it's an entirely subjective evaluation.

 

What's next?
Not sure. I'm going to keep playing Warframe, but I'm not going to sully my account with other frames. This account will always be a monument to Mag's status as the first true top-tier frame; the first frame to have done everything herself all the way up to MR30. It would be tragic to ruin that.

The only way I'd play as another frame is if they introduced another within the same "framily." If they started making "Umbra" models of other frames then I'd of course play as Mag Umbra. But barring that, I can just dabble in whatever new content comes along.

For now though, I'm still feeling the emotional high. This was a good game, and even if they make new modes that make Warframe less like itself, even if they nerf CC, even if they let the power creep like Dragon Ball, it doesn't matter anymore. I got the title, I vidicated Mag, and nothing is going to ever be able to change that now.

 

Final Thought
I don't want to come across like I'm bragging, even humble-bragging. I'm happy and proud of what I've accomplished, but I fully recognized that people have done amazing things in this game and put much more time, energy, and money in to this than I have. I had a goal for myself and I accomplished it. That's a good feeling and I'm excited enough that I want to shout it into the Void that is the internet.

Also, I'm not going to touch the other two titles. There's still True Excalibur Master and True Volt Master. Those are there for the next adventurer to seek. But if you do claim that title, I hope you'll include an @ to my account so I can comment on it and give you my heartfelt congratulations and respect. I know how hard it is to do, and I want to virtually shake the hand of whoever manages to get there next.

Outstanding!

Maybe DE will throw a "selfless helper" or "crazy gifter" or a "last enjoyer of railjack"? 

I'll be watching my mailbox, D E <3

[Kaggelos]

As a Mag main for years...
I SALUTE YOU.

Now abuse Pull to yoink everything and everyone around you to establish dominance (my most subsumed ability)

[(NSW)Probably_Asleep]

13 hours ago, SaidTheRogue said:

i suppose one of the few legit issues with mag is enemies not getting pulled into the bubble even though they may be standing pretty close to the outer edge of it.. i suspect this just means i needed a little more ability str in the build, but we cant have everything. 

 

would be curious to know if DE would have us believe that the bubbles pull on different enemies in different amounts/strengths.

That can be annoying, but I think of it as a "how do you choose to die" decision that the enemy gets to make. Option 1: Enter the bubble and die. Option 2: Stay on the other side and get blown away when the bubble ends. Option 3: Somehow make it through the bubble to volunteer to become the next bubble.

 

12 hours ago, OrionHisSon said:

Outstanding!

Maybe DE will throw a "selfless helper" or "crazy gifter" or a "last enjoyer of railjack"? 

I'll be watching my mailbox, D E <3

I wouldn't put anything past them now at this point. To be honest I wasn't even sure if they looked at the forums much, and then this comes in the mail and I realized they've been here all along.

 

11 hours ago, Kaggelos said:

As a Mag main for years...
I SALUTE YOU.

Now abuse Pull to yoink everything and everyone around you to establish dominance (my most subsumed ability)

Mag mains!

Reminds me of that Johnny Cash song:

Quote

We'll yeet again!
Don't know where.
Don't know when!

(I may be getting some of the lyrics off....)