2 Weeks Of Warframe - A Noobs First Impressions

[xelotar]

Warframe was a big surprise for me.

After a certain company left me stranded with a certain city simulation game that turned out to be a bugfest... I was looking for something to play when I was browsing through Steam. This how it all started.

Since then, I've spent way too much time smashing, piercing, slicing and pinning enemies with various kinds of crazed weapons (I hope there will be more of that in future, I love them). Looking back, I noticed a few things that could be improved.

One major problem: The first warframe. The tutorial makes me play Excalibur, naturally I picked him, since I had not the slightest clue about the game and this was the only one I "knew". I also didn't know I wouldn't be able to change it for quite some time. This should be made clearer.

HUD: During the heat of the battle it occasionally happens that I don't pay attention to my shields all the way in the corner. A centralized HUD option with (optional) bars for HP/Shield/Ammo + Sentinal HP/Shield would be a great addition.

Mission Details: Please add a mission tracker to the screen so people joining know what to look for at the ! marker.

The weird Lady: I don't know who she is, but she's very chippery, too chippery for my taste. I don't need to hear about the Jackal 10x before actually seeing him. Give me her objectives and warnings in text / icon form and I'd be very grateful ;)

Weapon Previews: This is a biggy in a game with real currency transactions. Give me an option to try out a weapon, even if it's in this virtual testing arena that I always get into for level ups. There's nothing more frustrating than realizing the gun sounded better in the description than it actually is.

Ammo Clutter: It took me a while to figure out which color is for what weapon. Maybe consolidating it to primary and secondary weapon ammo would make it easier.

Lasers, Turrets & Cameras: very annoying and it took me forever to understand that there's cameras on the ceiling triggering all that. The green / red light blends in a lot of times, maybe some adjustments make it a bit easier to see.

These were some of the first impressions I've had of this game.

There's a lot of potential in the game and it's on the right track. Keep it up devs!

[Endrance]

Just going to point just one part. The Laser, Turrets and Cameras.

I mean, they're supposed to be hard finding, since they are defense features. You can't expect to enter a room and a big pop-up shows in the middle of the UUD saying "Turret above".

Usually finding the cameras while not triggered is lame, since they're green and half the facilities have a greenish color, but after triggered they turn red, and became quite easy to detect. The same with Turrent, when disabled kinda hard to see, when hitting you &#! off becames clear.

About laser, well... i hate them. Many times i'm sprinting happy like a bunny rabbit to the doors and BANG! Laser in my face. There goes all shield and half Health. But hell, it's not meant to rush like that.

Back to the other points, i agree with all of them, specially the Shield/Health bars being able to change position.

[omnissiah19]

who cares what the mission is it will be 1 of 4 different things

Edited April 9, 2013 by omnissiah19

[xelotar]

who cares what the mission is it will be 1 of 4 different things

While that is true, it was still rather confusing at first.

I mean, they're supposed to be hard finding, since they are defense features. You can't expect to enter a room and a big pop-up shows in the middle of the UUD saying "Turret above".

Valid point, maybe just something to consider doing within the first levels. My Warframe was level 20 when I realized there were cameras. Nobody ever shot them before. Instead people would slide and rush through lasers. Countless deaths go back to not understanding this.

Now that I know about them it changed things for me, but for a beginner it's very frustrating.

[Alsphestrium]

First of all, congratulations on your first post!

Next, well, those are pretty valid feedback! I joined Warframe really early on and have been sticking with it so far as well. I too faced some problems with cameras, lasers and that chatty lady. (Who by the way is called the Lotus!)

But they're there to slow you down and make you more careful. Or well, I learnt to be whenever I faced Corpus foes! This is quite necessary because enemies will get stronger and they will gun your speedy butt down if you jump into the fray without preparation. That's what I feel anyway.

Remember, we're not only cybernetic killers with power suits! We're NINJAs with power suits! xD

Edited April 9, 2013 by Alsphestrium

[Blatantfool]

The game has no real tutorial at this stage. Lots of important ideas - like the significance of elemental damages - or that you are supposed to keep and eye out for Cameras are totally absent of the new player experience.

At some point in the future DE will probably remedy this.

On of the tough parts of coming into beta testing this game is going to be learning the features. A Tutorial has to cover all the factors of the game players need to know and it doesn't make much sense to build the tutorial until the game is actually finished and all the features intact.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Blatantfool

[Valkrieger]

Warframe was a big surprise for me.

Lasers, Turrets & Cameras: very annoying and it took me forever to understand that there's cameras on the ceiling triggering all that. The green / red light blends in a lot of times, maybe some adjustments make it a bit easier to see.

That's the fun part about this game. It doesn't spoon feed you about every single thing. For example weakpoints, jackal boss fight, etc.

[Calgacus]

Heh, the turret/cameras confused me the first game I encountered them. After that game I alt tabbed and read up on them on the forums. There's quite a lot of info on the forums but I totally agree there needs to be a much more in depth tutorial. I'm sure there will be though since this is just beta.

Oh and the shields/health thing, yes yes yes. It needs to be more noticeable and easy to glance at....glanceable!!

[Blatantfool]

That's the fun part about this game. It doesn't spoon feed you about every single thing. For example weakpoints, jackal boss fight, etc.

I dunno. To be honest when they get around to having a real tutorial they really should mention the cameras. They nearly one-shot players. It is borderline unfair to not tell them 'Hey, some ships have defenses that are focused around these cameras. ALWAYS shoot them.'

There is a difference between spoonfeeding and simply teaching a player well.

Plus - most people tend to forget. If you teach a player well in the tutorial the game can be more difficult and complex - since the players are equipped for those challenges better early on.

[aranha]

I agree that the lasers are annoying especially when you first encounter them. They should remove lasers from the small loot rooms as you can get locked in without any cameras in sight unless your party helps you.

[MAL1WAN]

Ammo Clutter: It took me a while to figure out which color is for what weapon. Maybe consolidating it to primary and secondary weapon ammo would make it easier.

That's how it is back then in CBT.

[Drayvin]

My only issue with cameras/laser defenses is when you have a player on your team that likes to blitz several rooms ahead of everyone else, but fails to shoot the cameras they are triggering, so you end up doing the fence knockback through every door you walk through.

[neKroMancer]

While I agree that tutorial is lacking due to the content isn't complete, something should be left for the player to find by himself.

The most complained feature is the laser door/camera. While the tutorial about it is non-existence, the game gives you enough visual and audio cue to know something is wrong. I think that Corpus laser door should be replaced with something milder in early level in order to 'teach' new player through gameplay without outright killing them. As the game progress, security in higher level Corpus should be tighten, more types of detection, more traps.

At this stage, the laser door makes the game feel like playing Limbo (die and try platform game) at lower level. It's far from fun.

[GhostlightX]

I started around the same time and more or less agree with the OPs points.

I will add one: you accumulate credits too slowly. Just a little too slowly, I realise there has to be a certain cap in the rate of prgression to keep me playing, but it's quite severe. It can makes things feel "static" for a ittle bit longer than I believe is good for the game. Getting a new Warframe feels miles (like months) away for me which is somewhat disheartening.

And although I am only 4 planets in, it feels like the credit reward for later, more time-consuming planets just isn't worth it unless progressing or farmng a boss.

Otherwise, the game is excellent....a huge surprise. {On which topic...you need more publicity. I only heard of this game from a friend by a huge fluke as it happened to pop up on one of Steam's pages for him}.

[Blatantfool]

While I agree that tutorial is lacking due to the content isn't complete, something should be left for the player to find by himself.

The most complained feature is the laser door/camera. While the tutorial about it is non-existence, the game gives you enough visual and audio cue to know something is wrong. I think that Corpus laser door should be replaced with something milder in early level in order to 'teach' new player through gameplay without outright killing them. As the game progress, security in higher level Corpus should be tighten, more types of detection, more traps.

At this stage, the laser door makes the game feel like playing Limbo (die and try platform game) at lower level. It's far from fun.

Nah. Really all they need to do is actually have a moment in the finished tutorial actually showcase a Camera.

You point it out plain as day.

"These Camera's are commonly tied into ship security. This includes Turrets and Laser Grids. It is in your best interest to take them out" with maybe a laser door in sight so that it is clear what the game means.

BAM. You nailed it. You highlight the importance of the camera - you detail what the Camera is commonly for - and you show the laser door in working order to make sure to player knows where the lasers will be.

Then maybe introduce new trap types later.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Blatantfool

[xelotar]

"These Camera's are commonly tied into ship security. This includes Turrets and Laser Grids. It is in your best interest to take them out" with maybe a laser door in sight so that it is clear what the game means.

Honestly, that'd would've helped a lot. this could easily be added to the tutorial at the beginning, which in my eyes should feature all 3 frames you can pick from.

Another thing I'd love to see added: filters for mod fusion. Simple ones like: rifle/melee/sniper mods only, also, lighting up identical mods when selecting one to fuse would help too.

[Acyl]

Incidentally, the Lotus voiceovers in-game are done in-house by DE_Rebecca. Who's also the community manager for the game, so there's a decent chance she's actually read this.

The DE team's aware the Lotus text and voice in-game is lacking, though. It's something they'll almost certainly improve, given you can go watch the first dev livestream and see them joking about it. I doubt it's a very high priority area, but it's on their list of things to do.

[Arsonide]

I actually quite enjoy the voice acting of Lotus, but the code triggering the sound bites is a bit too ... verbose.

That is to say that there are too few things she is saying too frequently. As it was previously stated, they are aware of it.

[GhostlightX]

also, lighting up identical mods when selecting one to fuse would help too.

You can sort them by name before you begin fusing, so duplicates are easy to spot.

[honeybadger]

Ammo Clutter: It took me a while to figure out which color is for what weapon. Maybe consolidating it to primary and secondary weapon ammo would make it easier.

This! Oh man, this. Since you can never carry a rifle, shotgun and sniper at the same time, and ammo drops are instanced...why do we need to see other drops? The "elegant" solution would be a fixed generic Long Gun ammo similar to pistol ammo. I hate hidden numbers in games like these, but as a first pass, just restore a variable amount of ammo based on the type of gun you are using. 20 for rifle, 10 for sniper...X for shotgun (dont have a shotgun).

Or ammo would just turn into a resource like energy and guns would expend a certain amount of "bullet energy" based on the specific gun -- it would keep the max ammo size fixed for all Long Guns, but preserve the effective max ammo of guns like Paris by having to expend 10 (or whatever number >1) energy per shot.

...Or just drop ammo based on your current Long Gun...whatever :-p

[Thingy-]

I was going to make a post about the Tutorial and the HUD as well. I think the tutorial needs to be a bit more informative of mechanics of the game, a few small changes such as the HUD would also improve the game a good amount. I also agree that it should be made clear when picking your first Warframe that it's a permanent decision.

Really nice to see a this kind of thing addressed in a level-headed way for once.

[Flamed]

Warframe should have some kind of loading screen tips.

It should let people know how to wall run, hack the doors, shoot ancients in the limbs to kill them faster, shoot cameras to shut down laser doors, etc.

[Cerebelum]

I have been playing about 2 weeks as well. I like the format but agree re: the suit information and gun descriptions. I would like to see a dps indicator on weapons, espacially none sniping type ones. Other than that my main two niggles are the alert titles bearing no relation to the actual mission and hoards of enemies spawning behind you (especially the infested, those damn doggies bug the hell out of me!). Still, I log in and play for a bit every day, it is slightly addictive, especially the log in rewards...now if only I could get something useful and not sniper ammo boxes, considering i run shotty!

[Acyl]

This! Oh man, this. Since you can never carry a rifle, shotgun and sniper at the same time, and ammo drops are instanced...why do we need to see other drops? The "elegant" solution would be a fixed generic Long Gun ammo similar to pistol ammo. I hate hidden numbers in games like these, but as a first pass, just restore a variable amount of ammo based on the type of gun you are using. 20 for rifle, 10 for sniper...X for shotgun (dont have a shotgun).

I knew the Honey Badger doesn't give a [redacted], but I didn't know it also gave good suggestions.

You're brilliant. I want this change.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Acyl

[Flaming_Snake]

I must be one of the only people in the game who thinks the HUD is fine.....

It surely can't be that hard to just glance quickly up at your health and shields, if you forget to look at it thats your problem, others might not have that issue... =/