A Better Way To Gain Frames

[_Fracture8]

Hey everyone

 

Have you ever given considerable though to how we acquire our Warframes? Built by using spare parts beaten out of a Boss and constructed in our foundry. Doesn't that seem a little... odd to you guys? I mean in the E3 trailer last year, we see Excalibur being (almost) captured by Vor in an epic face-off that rivals any gamemode seen in Warframe. And yet we are stuck here building Frames from scratch by using an incredibly boring and drawn process of waiting, and when we actually get to use them, we are given no tutorial lesson on how we should be using them to their full potential. To me at least, this is immersion breaking and doesn't fit the lore whatsoever. So why not overhaul the current method of Frame construction with something a little more lore-friendly, instead of building our Frames, we should "rediscover" them (as the Lotus puts it) by using something similar to Vor's key.

 

The Key's construction:

 

So my proposal is that we rename/retexture the Helmet, Chassis and System components into parts of a Warframe "Void" Key. That opens up a "Retrieval" mission type.

- Helmet > [Warframe] Key Bow

- Chassis > [Warframe] Key Blade

- Systems > [Warframe] Key Co-ordinates

This requires no change in Boss drop locations, drop frequencies or other massive design changes of the sort. It's a simple rename, nothing more. 

Once all the components have been gathered, we buy a [Warframe] Key Blueprint from the Market, then combine the following resources into the foundry to create a Warframe Key.

- x1 [Warframe] Key Bow

- x1 [Warframe] Key Blade

- x1 [Warframe] Key Co-ordinates

- (One of the following) x 3 Argon Crystals, x 3 Orokin cells, x 3 Mutagen Masses/Fieldrons/Detonite Injectors

As usual, the build time for the complete key is 3 days, however the Bow, Blade and Co-ord's will not need building as they are pre-built components (an extra 12 hours on top of the 3 day waiting period is annoying and should be removed in my opinion : /    )

 

 

How the Lore works:

 

Ok, my Warframe Key is built. So what now?

 

Well you go to your key menu and pull out whatever key you just made and use it, lets say for the sake of simplicity we use an Oberon Key as an example. Upon warping to a distant location you find yourself deep within the jungles of Earth. You move forward and begin to notice bands of Grineer troops scouring the lush vines for an old Orokin bunker, presumably containing Oberon, the same Warframe you want. As you traverse further though the level, you find a deep, vine-covered pit with a shiny golden glint at the bottom. You jump into it.

 

You realize the glint was the Bunker door you've been looking for and use proceed to use the key that warped you here (much like the Orokin vault door, using the same animations and mechanics). As soon as the door opens, you step inside the overgrown mess that was once a proud Tenno's refuge. Vines and Fauna have grown rampant through Oberon's power seeping out of his containment. As you approach the cyropod it opens, the screen shakes and fades to white. 

 

"It's time to wake up Tenno"

 

Now playing as Oberon, you are placed in a situation similar to the tutorial at the beginning of the game, lacking powers and weapons with the Lotus giving you a brief overview, describing the Frames general play-style and/or stats. The Frame you used to get into the bunker will now behave in a manner similar to a specter, equipped with the weapons and Frame you brought beforehand; it will closely follow you as you play as Oberon and learn your newfound power. Small waves of Grineer soon find their way into the bunker, one by one your shields and abilities regenerate with each wave, acting much like a tutorial since the Lotus guides you through the abilities when they unlock. You only have the, Mk1-Braton, Lato and Skana during this time. 

 

With all the waves defeated, a much weaker version of a Boss appears (prob Vay Hek since it fits the Earth lore around him). And after a short fight, you overcome them and they escape. You then leave for extraction with your "specter". And yes, other people can join the match and assist you in finding your Warframe, so everyone can have the opportunity to see all the cinematics for those with the "must have 100% complete" complex. All Warframe Keys should be something similar to this.

 

 

So what does this fix?

 

Well, quite alot. It gives the small amount of Lore to the fans who so desperately want it, while not giving too much away about the Tenno's mysterious past. It makes the game feel more immersive, and fits the "canon" idea of Frame acquisition. It adds a more interesting concept to the idea of gathering Warframes, as we get to see undiscovered regions/lore. The new players gain an idea on how to use Frames they aren't experienced in. Lore could be subtly told in the form of level design:

- The overgrown vines in Oberon's bunker with life flourishing in the form of vibrant flowers (Bonus Jadeleaves!)

- Burn marks along the outside of Ember's Vault leaving charred outlines of humans (Orokin?) scratching at the wall.

- Nekros could have bones/scrap littering the cryostasis chamber, with broken golden weaponry scattered among them

- A cluster of frozen vaguely humanoid statues about to shoot their weapons at Frost's cryopod. 

Yeah... real subtle there...

 

So how hard would this be to create?

 

I'm no expert, but I'm assuming it wouldn't take much at all. It's renaming the Warframe components into key components, changing a few recipes to fit said components, a new room for each Warframe (That might be a pain), a few lines for Rebecca and scripting for the tutorials. The majority is pre-made already, so I would imagine that it wouldn't take too much effort. 

 

 

TL;DR

 

Beating pieces of a Boss and building each piece one-by-one is bad, then building the entire thing in 3 days is worse, when you collect the Warframe you want with no tutorial, lore, subtle background story or epic feeling of badassery is horrid. Making Warframe Keys with pre-made components and a single 3 day waiting period, rewarded with an awesome mission type, tutorial and badassery is good. It isn't hard to implement because...

- The Key Components are a rename of the current Warframe Component blueprints

- The tilesets are unchanged, only one extra room per Warframe is needed to show subtle lore

- Minimal voice acting

- Most of the other content is in the game already (specter AI, tutorial scripts etc)

 

Problems with this:

- DE might already have Lore planned, and this may contradict everything they planned to implement

- Valkyr (Maybe a Valkyr Warframe Key situated in the Jupiter tile set could fix this?)

- Nova ("Created under the influence of the Tenno high council. AKA us)

- Prime Warframes (Void themed retrieval?) 

Edited June 16, 2014 by KilelrDrone492

[Deckers]

No thanks. But i do appreciate the time you have taken to think of the idea.

[CY13ERPUNK]

+1 to this SO MUCH

 

srsly

 

+9999 OP

[-Ozymandias-]

me like

 

+1

 

Edit: This should go to a feedback section

Edited June 15, 2014 by Angainor

[_Fracture8]

me like

 

+1

 

Edit: This should go to a feedback section

 

Ah crap, any way to do that from here perhaps?

[dragonboss]

Question: Why is this not in the game already?

 

This is exactly what warframe needs as part of the upcoming, somewhat mythical, new player experience. Well, this, revamped movement/parkour, blocking/parrying and new AI, then warframe will be much better.

[Inquisitioner]

Ah crap, any way to do that from here perhaps?

 

Some bored mod will move it for you. Otherwise repost it there.

[Drufo]

It's a really nice idea... it gives more sense than just simply build a frame with components dropped by bosses. I always asked myself how grineer and corpus have aquired those blueprints. Plus, when we build a frame nothing is said about the Tenno inside of it. It can't be that the Tenno inside my Ash can also wear Nyx XD According to your idea, the Tenno is another one from the orokin era awakened by you from his cryosleep... it makes sense

[The__Q]

This actually fits the lore MORE than the actually building warframes, because where does the person inside come from?

[_Fracture8]

What if the 3 starter frames had this template, with Vor as the mini boss? 

Immediate correlation with Vor's prize perhaps? :)

[OptimumBow0]

Don't forget prime frames, because that would be pretty awesome as well if this was applied to them.

[Kirby47]

The key parts should cost the same as current warframe pieces. I don't see new players with 3 Argon, 3 cells, and 3 Clantech components.

[_Fracture8]

The key parts should cost the same as current warframe pieces. I don't see new players with 3 Argon, 3 cells, and 3 Clantech components.

 

That isn't per component, its to make the entire key. And that is ONE of the following. 

[Kirby47]

That isn't per component, its to make the entire key. And that is ONE of the following.

I know, but maybe you SHOULD make it per component, but with a 1 minute build time.

[-CdG-Obtenebris]

I like this idea A LOT. I'd honestly love to see this in the game as I'm one of those lore hungry folks the OP mentioned. A friend and I can sometimes(perhaps sadly?) sit on voice chat for hours just bouncing lore theories off of each other while playing.

[sedy25]

Keyblade? 

 

[-FV-Runehawk]

Great idea, OP. My upvote is yours. 

[MortalSage]

This is a great idea. The lore aspect of this game is almost non existent at this point and I never understood why the build time on frames components is more than a couple minutes. I feel like the current system is much more geared to a warframe game that existed a long time ago. Right now the player base is to big with too many new player that can't get a grip on what's going on and vet players are screaming for immersion after they collect everything. We have no ideas how you guys plan to tackle the behemoth that the lack of lore is becoming but this idea is a step in the right direction.

[low1991]

Ook..

what will happen to the Prime Warframe? with these changes.

 

[Pendragon1951]

I think I can safely assume that many of you who have posted are fairly new to Warframe, and don't get me wrong I'm not bashing you for being new, it's just this is a old topic that has been voiced many many times about Lore and why we do what we do. From a game perspective it makes no sense and I totally agree with what the OP says, but from a business point of view unfortunately lore is not a factor, though DE says they are working on it tends to be how much plat can we make them buy if we frustrate them with RNG, IMHO anyway. In regards to Warframes and why they can't wear a different Warframe, is I believe when the Orikon created the tenno they were each endowed with certain abilities which is enhanced by specific Warframes which are bonded to each tenno thus the tenno and Warframe become as one entity.  

[ShadowCore67]

This sounds really good. While Im not sure how well it would work, I would certainly be open to trying it out. Nice idea OP, we need to get DE to see this.

+1

Edited June 15, 2014 by ShadowCore67