A Disturbing Trend Of New Players Vs. Veteran Players

[FierceRadiance]

Our job is to provide feedback base on our own standpoint.

We don't need to consider others points. Since that's DE's job.

As long as we stay respectful and open-minded, I don't see the problem of only speaking for ourselves. 

Can't agree.  Your point would be valid if all player levels were represented on the forums, but as the OP pointed out (correctly, I think) newer players are not well-represented here.  Who among us spends any serious time posting on the forums of games you try and then drift away from? 

 

Generalization is usually a bad idea, but I'll guess that most of the people voicing opinions on the WF forums have been playing for at least a month or two, and have advanced through at least a couple of levels of Mastery.  They have an investment, of time at the least. 

 

I'll also guess that the folk who don't catch 'Warframe fever' also don't end up here to tell us why they didn't enjoy playing more, and what DE could do to improve their experience.  So I believe that the viewpoint of newer players is NOT well-represented here.

 

I can't speak for anyone but myself, or speak to anyone's user experience but my own.  But that said, I think the OP is right, we need to try and put ourselves in the frame of mind of newer players, because someone has to try and see things as they do.  Otherwise, we get...well, potentially we get what may be happening already, if the OP is right.

[Monybags33]

Warframe truly dose have a massive problem when it comes down on two major topics from my point of view, endgame content and beginner fairness. Both of these things are truly lacking in Warframe and many of the "Issues" and "avoided" conversations seem too branch of from these two ugly things. 

 

New players are usually solo players and when your a solo player in Warframe things get well....very boring and very lonely very fast since theirs no trading/communication/ non rush system. I'm fairly new and so I can say this with experience that many players in Warframe "rush" every mission they get a chance too and this dose not help new players "take in" Warframe and truly enjoy the game when everyone is running around the place and you have no idea what your doing. The tutorial system was a good start but your still left with a "were do I go from hear" kinda feeling, at least for me I just did the tutorial mission from U14 and said "Well that was fun" and left it at that...nothing continued on it just ended abruptly leaving me with a millions options of what to do...and not enough of a purpose or a guideline.

 

Only veterans and people with groups and friends who enjoy this game can truly really enjoy Warframe too its fullest, if the chat system was more "updated" and a much more user friendly option then I think this would help new and old players alike. The guild recruitment chat tab is just a spamming of Guilds screaming "We want you", why cant it be like EVE's guild system were you can search for guilds that have been formed and look too see what type of guild they are, how many people are in the guild, and if the guild is looking for new people or not.

 

The list of ideas go's on and that's only for newish players, if the chat system was changed up also in the "Trading Chat Box" anyone who's like me who's semi new looking too sell or buy things in Warframe with other players could actually enjoy it rather then hating too have too read lines of "Selling this" or "Buying that", its been talked about for a long time now too give Dojo's a "Trading Center" or just changing the trading system as it is too be more likeable. This would very much at least make Warframe more appealing too a audience like myself who is not a Veteran or a extremely new player.

 

Finally as for Veteran players and endgame content we all know the annoying drop rates for our favorite items is ridicules, I might not be a veteran but many people conceder the Void too be endgame content and who can argue its not? So far iv been in the void allot and I personally gave up Warframe lately for weeks now just because of how frustrating the void can actually be. You go farm keys witch can take up too hours hoping too get the right keys you need, then you go too the void and farm again praying a drop of what you actually want is their and not some dam Fusion Cores every time when playing Defense or Survival. Now add a solo player trying too accomplish this feat and not get dead board alone and you got a recipe asking for players too give up simply because its a waste of time too them and not rewarding. Its hard enough for me a guild leader in Warframe too not want to give up after doing the void thousands of times when I hardly got the time too waste and not feel rewarded after words, so far I refuse too play the void until Its fixed too be more fair too players both old and new, solo and not.

 

Gatta enjoy however hearing everyone's opinions on this thread because the more we speak up and the more we tell Warframe what we like and dislike the more likely they are going too fix it for the better, if we don't speak up now it will be only harder too change in the future for Warframe and I enjoy this game too much despite its bumps too see it fall in flames.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Monybags33

[Feallike]

If the DE plays it smart we can have 2 situations in the near future.

 

1.

 

Harder content becomes much much harder, easier content becomes much easier, due to FOCUS SYSTEM.

 

From what we know about this system, its going to make us MUCH stronger. Soooo how is the DE going to balance this? Make harder content, the Focus system if done right would make the game much easier for newbies due to that boost it gives you, and much harder for pros due to that boost letting the DE expand upon enemies. 

 

 

2.

 

Mentoring system.

 

Well the whole teaching aspect would help the game allot, this would help players get trained.(not much here since this is self explanatory)

 

 

 

 

I honestly think the DE needs to take more risks with difficulty. Excavation is by far their best gamemode since at higher levels it becomes very hard, and pretty rewarding. ITS FUN!

 

This is a breath of fresh air for Warframe, if Survival mode can be changed to be as fun as Excavation then it would help endgame so much...

Edited October 10, 2014 by Feallike

[(XBOX)ShapelessHorr0r]

New players are not supposed to have a good time too far after the tutorial in free to play games. Now before you get your pitchforks, let's look at this from a third set of eyes: the devs. They got bills to pay. They got to have cash flow to have a reason to support Warframe.

I, at roughly a month after the X1 release, started Warframe. Hadn't heard anything prior save for seeing it on steam (and thinking it looked dumb). I booted it up. My brother beside me, he commented that my Volt looked like a fish. So, my Paris, Bo, and Furis wielding electrical fish dropped from the pod. From then, I began to learn the tutorial.

Now, at close to a month and a half later, I can hold my own against most endgame content. I also haven't paid a dime for anything in this game including my newly acquired color pattern. However, three weeks of that playtime was spent using low tier stuff. Three weeks of grinding.

How was I able to do this?

I understand F2P games. I understand the business model, and I understand the workarounds. Uh

The only things I will ever put money into, at this point, are aesthetics. That's it, period.

The sad part is that Warframe has a terrible selection aesthetics. It is way too small. This means that DE is short forty or more dollars from me. DE will never recieve this, ever. Veterans will not dump a lot of money into function based items. New players, however, will pay for the Karak. You see, Warframe is designed to hinder new players. It isn't a new thing, but it is worse. For example, I spent 10 of the starting platinum for a morphics during my first few days. Why? Because Vor is a terrible morphics farm, but I didn't know any alternatives.

1) Veterans won't put much into the game after a certain period.

2) New players are alienated by boredom and seeming endless grinding for what exactly.

The effect of this is a decrease of new players. Since new players are the ones who purchase things, this creates a decrease of income. A decrease of income forces devs to get desperate. In other words, the devs create BS that vets and semi-new players must go through. Argon crystal decay is the beggining of this.

How do we solve this delema: better business models. Non-function based items for sale. Pay two dollars for one of the ten different skins for your Loki. Heck, cosmetic attachments to my weapon would be really cool. A red dot sight for my Paris Prime would add real detail. No ones going to buy a gun that'll become redundant after two weeks, but everyone will buy a timeless cosmetic item. For example, that color pattern will be applied to everything I own in Warframe. My Karak, dependable as it is, is almost useless compared to my Paris Prime and Latron Wraith. However, my black and gold Paris is a good contrast to my red Lateon Wraith.

[DirkDeadeye]

Posting feedback for the purpose of either having a discussion or soliciting for change is about as effective as tweeting at Samuel Jackson.

[FierceRadiance]

Meh, I disagree.  Yeah, there will be trolls, because there are always trolls.  Read past them ~ it's what they deserve.  I haven't had a chance to read all of every post here yet (reading at work-shhh) but going just by the sheer size of several of the posts, there are some people who care very deeply about this issue, and have clearly put some thought into solving this problem.  Kudos to them for caring.  I absolutely think discussions are possible and useful here, trolls be damned.

 

Adding my 2¢, I think DE should bring about the Mentoring system that gets brought up from time to time.  It's what the OP is already doing, more or less, and I think it would not only be useful to new players, it would allow Mentors to 'take the pulse' of newer players, and perhaps bring that perspective here to the forums.  Two birds, one stone.

[ChameleonDude]

I agree that the new player experience could use some work, but the only difficult things on the first two planets are bosses (which scale to your veteran gear) and missions that were designed to be done as a group. A better tutorial system (I know it was recently started) and the old solar chart would help a lot with showing newer players what they should be doing though.

[Sixty5]

I will agree that there are problems with scaling in this game, though they arent quite as bad as you suggest.

Firstly, I distinctly remember endless nodes on mercury having two difficulties. One for the first run through and one for subsequent runs.

In addition many bosses/minibosses have scaling logic in place to help keep things fair. When a level 45 stalker shows up on your mercury run, it probably has something to do with your gear, just saying.

The biggest problem with the learning curve in this game is that the importance of mobility is never really taught. It must be picked up. I've gone on 45 minute runs of T3 where my teammates have taken a rank 10 Nyx without any survivability mods, they did that because they know how to move around and avoid stuff.

Regardless the new player experience does still have a way to go, even if it is the best it has been in a long time.

[Lost_Cartographer]

The newbie problem might be part DE's fault, but a LOT of it has to do with the player's mentality coming in.

 

I'm talking a striking inability to learn the game.  Take the OP for example.  He claimed excavation was confusing because he didn't understand it at first.  My very first excavation run, I put two and two together fairly quickly just reading the simple text, "okay, so it has X energy and Y time to scan."  The scan ends and I get a new waypoint marker.  Similar process applies, I see a brand spankin' new enemy unit and figure "that dude's important.  Better kill him."  My only mistake was assuming I had to defend the scanning device, but I quickly found I didn't have to when I noticed it didn't have a health bar.

 

But this isn't my first FPS rodeo.  I've played A LOT of games across a lot of genres.  I also tend to analyze and interpret for myself.  I can learn MOST things in a game just experimenting around, and in a lot of cases, it's actually fairly intuitive or straight forward.  I've come to recognize the dissonance between myself and others with "experience" in like games is that I walk in with a blank rule book, they're carrying over their experiences and expectations from their previous game of choice, and if this new game doesn't play near exactly like the one they just left, they can't seem to wrap their head around it.

 

Yes, the game could do with a better tutorial session, but there comes a point where it simply won't work.  Why?  As rude and brazen as it sounds, the truth is some people really are that slow (not the OP, I'm talking the more extreme cases here.)  Sometimes, it's a downright unwillingness/incapability to learn.  When TERA released, a bunch of players from many MMORPGs tried to get into it, but couldn't.  Movement and camera control itself was the wall here for many people.  I tried to train someone on how to play the game... literally, camera control and movement were no different from a third or first person shooter, but they just couldn't grasp it.  They had to be able to move with the mouse and not via mouse buttons, but I mean click-to-move (moving with four mouse buttons is clumsy at first, but now I can't go back, it's just that awesome for me.)

 

Finally, there's another mentality that seems to be walking into "free to plays" and actually expecting a "free to play."  I mean the people that will see anything, and I mean ANYTHING that they feel they must buy with real world money as some kind of personal offense on the level of violation of   civil rights.  'Cause, you know, free to play should be truly mean free to play, with maybe a few gaudy dresses being 100% of the developer's profits.  Truthfully, there's no saving these people.  They're the newbie that wants to see a developer follow some moral code conceived by the player to pretty much make sure they can play the game, easily and comfortably, without ever having to break out a credit card.  Some people might call them entitled.  I call them misguided.  Entitled is thinking because you have more hours invested or more posts on a forum that your word has more merit on things like weapon balance.

 

Meanwhile, there are people that are happy with "pay walls..." like warframe slots... because they appreciate the entertainment and don't place too much emphasis into the term "free to play," or perhaps they actually recognize gaming as a (really cheap) hobby worth investing into, just like how card games and table top miniatures are pricey out the wazoo just to really get started.  Can't we appreciate that we at least don't have to buy our first Warframe, eh?

 

As for the difficulty curve?  Hah, this game can remain hard as long as you don't plow in damage mod after damage mod.  It's only difficult because the newbies lack options.  I agree with another poster: there's really no reason to give newbies broken versions of staple mods, it's not like they're going to get them to even rank 5 within two hours of play.  Could the game have been designed differently?  Sure.  Imagine if we could only equip either Serration OR Split Chamber, how different would the modding dynamic be then?  But that's not how the game works, so all we can do is make sure the newbie gets the mods they need to get started.  Serration, Hornet Strike, Redirection, and Vitality being the really big ones, obviously.  Then, a better tutorial.  If they can't figure it out from there, I hope they're willing to visit a forum or speak to other players, and I hope those other players don't expect 200+ hours of experience from yon newbie.  Because really, that's the final turn off WE can influence - oh how quickly people will jump at the chance to belittle others for their lack of knowledge or skill. 

 

For my part, I have no issue with unknowledgeable people.  I have an issue with people that can't or won't learn.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Littleman88

[Xeo_Nespydonum]

I care about the new players as well- this is a problem any game with vertical progression can easily fall into.  I want to see more focus on making the game fun and diverse than the typical More Power = Better approach.

[AsuraKyu]

Well from the standpoint of this being my first full month or so  on the game (and respectively logging 700 hours since). If there's any care or concern to be had with warframe, i'd honestly have to say it would be the extremely slow start. I played about 2 or 3 days after coming back from being somewhat uninterested during the beta release, and found it to be quite refreshing. However, I got help soon thereafter from some very nice players (which i will say warframe has a far better community than almost every other MMO i've ever played) and that quickly made the game an enjoying experience. Being taken through new landscapes, terrain, bosses, etc. From there it really picked up after i got my second frame. Without those veteran players to help me along though i'm sure that entire process would have gotten long, boring, tedious, and overall a less inviting and fun environment for any new player which is one of the few things i might say DE should work on. Warframe has a TON to keep this game interesting while some may be locked through XP which keeps it spry not having everything available to you at the start and something to look forward too.

 

Another main factor for me as I have noticed is the inherent marketing brought into this game due to the way platinum works, which i love. Again though without that veteran guiding factor this is just another daunting aspect of this game which can almost seem more limiting than helpful to a new player feeling as though they HAVE to pay to get somewhere without knowing you just pay to not wait.

[Kartumterek]

most new guys join up and want to get carried right away, then get mad when their unleveled unformaed and unmodded equipment fails.

 

did it fail them, or did they fail it?

[Arabaxus]

I'll be honest, I played until I was MR10 when they introduced Excavation, so I considered myself well-versed in Warframe by then, but when I first did it I also had no idea what I was supposed to do.

 

They don't really tell you much. They don't explain how Elemental and Physical damage mods scale, how and what Status is and does, the x4 damage Critical Headshots, etc. When I first began I had a friend explain a few things and I had to look everything else up on the wiki. This was before New Player Experience 2.0 too and I had one hell of a time before I got a Serration and things started making sense.

 

Meanwhile veterans either leave noobs in the dust and ignore them or try to take advantage of them by selling them overpriced garbage, which is ridiculous. Doesn't help encourage one to stay and play the game.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Arabaxus

[UrielColtan]

I dont think things should be taken out or made easier. Things should scale to the player, such as the case with bosses. I also think that early on, that newbies should learn the value of teamwork. Level up wit squads instead of trying to do everything solo(thats what I gave into when I started.), join clans for assistance or even free gear. I also personally care about the newbie experience, which is a large part of why I always revisit Mercury, Venus or Earth. I do this to help out the newbies, inform them, help them fight bosses or get through defense missions, show them what they can be able to do themselves eventually. I even help them out by occasionally giving them free mods. I would hope this is an attitude most vets would share or want to adopt.

Edited October 11, 2014 by UrielColtan

[UrielColtan]

I'll be honest, I played until I was MR10 when they introduced Excavation, so I considered myself well-versed in Warframe by then, but when I first did it I also had no idea what I was supposed to do.

 

They don't really tell you much. They don't explain how Elemental and Physical damage mods scale, how and what Status is and does, the x4 damage Critical Headshots, etc. When I first began I had a friend explain a few things and I had to look everything else up on the wiki. This was before New Player Experience 2.0 too and I had one hell of a time before I got a ISerration and things started making sense.

 

Meanwhile veterans either leave noobs in the dust and ignore them or try to take advantage of them by selling them overpriced garbage, which is ridiculous. Doesn't help encourage one to stay and play the game.

Not sure what youre talking about with damage and element mods, the game does indeed tell you how they scale in the upgrade screen of your arsenal, it even tells you what element combos do in tips bar below where the stats are listed.

[Arlayn]

Not sure what youre talking about with damage and element mods, the game does indeed tell you how they scale in the upgrade screen of your arsenal, it even tells you what element combos do in tips bar below where the stats are listed.

Going to tell you now. Alot of people including myself never looked at that. Infact it took a long time, and lots of trial, and error to figure it out.

 

 

I dont think things should be taken out or made easier. Things should scale to the player, such as the case with bosses. I also think that early on, that newbies should learn the value of teamwork. Level up wit squads instead of trying to do everything solo(thats what I gave into when I started.), join clans for assistance or even free gear. I also personally care about the newbie experience, which is a large part of why I always revisit Mercury, Venus or Earth. I do this to help out the newbies, inform them, help them fight bosses to get through defense missions, show them what they can be able to do themselves eventually. I even help them out by occasionally giving.them free mods. I would hope this is an attitude most vets would share or want to adopt.

If such a thing ended up in the game I would want an option to shut that off. I still enjoy running around like a God of War once in awhile on Mercury sometimes. Its good for letting off steam. Its also helpful for players to experiment, and level low level gear at their own pace experimenting, and having fun with it. Pushing players to have to fight enemies on par with them is not considering everyone. This is leaving behind people who struggle to keep up, or understand the game.

[Dseaver]

Well from the standpoint of this being my first full month or so  on the game (and respectively logging 700 hours since). If there's any care or concern to be had with warframe, i'd honestly have to say it would be the extremely slow start. I played about 2 or 3 days after coming back from being somewhat uninterested

 

haha I had this exact experience too!

I've been playing for about 10 days, and was about to uninstall Warframe from steam.

 

I only had 3 planets and I thought that was it, since this was a Free to play game, so I didn't expect much.

 

I decided to play one last match before uninstall,so I picked a defense mission on Venus.

 

That was the first time I encountered the veterans!!!

 

They were very weird looking warframes that looked nothing like the starting warframes I saw on Earth missions.

 

This warframe that kinda looked like female could wipe out entire room with some kind of fire AoE.

Another warframe looking like a juggernaut kept rezzing me everytime I went down.

 

After countless waves (I lost count lol) I asked them if I could stay in the squad.

And they said "yes" :DDDD

 

Thats when my journey began!!

They ended up taking me to the void, and dozen other planets and kept asking me if I was marked.

I have no idea what that means but they took me everywhere despite having to rez me 20 times per game.

 

I'm in a clan now and having a blast everytime I log in :)

(I even got 50% discount too!)

 

This is the best game ever lol

[Arlayn]

haha I had this exact experience too!

I've been playing for about 10 days, and was about to uninstall Warframe from steam.

 

I only had 3 planets and I thought that was it, since this was a Free to play game, so I didn't expect much.

 

I decided to play one last match before uninstall,so I picked a defense mission on Venus.

 

That was the first time I encountered the veterans!!!

 

They were very weird looking warframes that looked nothing like the starting warframes I saw on Earth missions.

 

This warframe that kinda looked like female could wipe out entire room with some kind of fire AoE.

Another warframe looking like a juggernaut kept rezzing me everytime I went down.

 

After countless waves (I lost count lol) I asked them if I could stay in the squad.

And they said "yes" :DDDD

 

Thats when my journey began!!

They ended up taking me to the void, and dozen other planets and kept asking me if I was marked.

I have no idea what that means but they took me everywhere despite having to rez me 20 times per game.

 

I'm in a clan now and having a blast everytime I log in :)

(I even got 50% discount too!)

 

This is the best game ever lol

This is the ideal experience most veteran players try to give new players. Its not easy, but its a goal. I would like to see more good stories like this.

[vaugahn]

I have no idea what that means 

 

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Assassins

 

Welcome to warframe :D

 

Edit: Also, I raise this story as the perfect example of why we need the mentor system.

Edited October 11, 2014 by vaugahn

[Dseaver]

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Assassins

 

Welcome to warframe :D

 

Edit: Also, I raise this story as the perfect example of why we need the mentor system.

Thank you!

Most of my time is now spent in parkour room inside dojo.

[UrielColtan]

Going to tell you now. Alot of people including myself never looked at that. Infact it took a long time, and lots of trial, and error to figure it out.

 

 

If such a thing ended up in the game I would want an option to shut that off. I still enjoy running around like a God of War once in awhile on Mercury sometimes. Its good for letting off steam. Its also helpful for players to experiment, and level low level gear at their own pace experimenting, and having fun with it. Pushing players to have to fight enemies on par with them is not considering everyone. This is leaving behind people who struggle to keep up, or understand the game.

 

What do you mean by "if such a thing ended up in the game"? Such a thing is already in the game, and you can switch back to solo whenever you want.

What, have you only being playing solo and didn't know there was a public play function to coop with other people over the internet? I see clearly now what your problem was and currently is, you don't even attempt to pay attention. They could make it so Lotus yells at you how to do everything with a bullhorn and you still wouldn't have listened. Its a waste of time trying to cater the game for people like you. The game would inevitably end up on rails and filled with QTEs.

Edited October 11, 2014 by UrielColtan

[Arabaxus]

Not sure what youre talking about with damage and element mods, the game does indeed tell you how they scale in the upgrade screen of your arsenal, it even tells you what element combos do in tips bar below where the stats are listed.

I mean it doesn't explain very well on the mod. The wording on all the mods are the same:

 

+90% Elemental Damage

+60% Slash Damage

+165% Damage

 

Nothing is written to indicate that elemental damage mods scales off of base physical damage but physical damage mods scale only off of that particular physical damage base.

[Arlayn]

What do you mean by "if such a thing ended up in the game"? Such a thing is already in the game, and you can switch back to solo whenever you want.

What, have you only being playing solo and didn't know there was a public play function to coop with other people over the internet? I see clearly now what your problem was and currently is, you don't even attempt to pay attention. They could make it so Lotus yells at you how to do everything with a bullhorn and you still wouldn't have listened. Its a waste of time trying to cater the game for people like you. The game would inevitably end up on rails and filled with QTEs.

What... o.O confusion has taken hold of me... what in Lotus name are you talking about... Does anyone understand. Can someone translate to me, or to him... someone? This went on dead ears entirely. I was talking about if all missions scaled outside of Boss missions. I would like to turn that off to just enjoy it. What in the hell are you talking about? If such a thing was in the game why haven't I fought level 30 grineer outside of survival on Mercury when I play solo then? Explain that conundrum.

 

edit: I also haven't seen enemies scale violently on Terminus when I show up with new players. So yeah what scaling are you talking about?

 

edit2: unless your talking about how elements work then allow me to tell you a story of when advanced elements first came out. The explanation was on wiki.. Not yet in game.

 

edit3: unless you mean the original elements well then it was no where. Because Closed beta.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Arlayn

[UrielColtan]

I mean it doesn't explain very well on the mod. The wording on all the mods are the same:

 

+90% Elemental Damage

+60% Slash Damage

+165% Damage

 

Nothing is written to indicate that elemental damage mods scales off of base physical damage but physical damage mods scale only off of that particular physical damage base.

Don't know how it can be much clearer. The damage is raised by percentage of the damage type a weapon may have, it isn't some flat absolute damage amount or something, and mere "+165 Damage"  is such a general label, why would you think it only scales one type of damage? And in any case the people can see what the hell it scales to when they attempt to put it on their weapon in upgrade.

If you can't fathom things so basic then I don't understand how you are even able to navigate a computer.

Edited October 11, 2014 by UrielColtan

[Xaelon]

The things I always need to explain to new players are: Why/When to Forma or Potato, how damage types work, Polarities, what weapons are good and Mastery Rank.

 

I'm pretty sure that new players understand that bigger numbers are better.

 

What they don't understand is why those numbers get bigger or smaller in combat.   They don't understand that every enemy unit type has a different set of resistances and vulnerabilities.  If the game explained that I'm sure new players would be like : "Oh, so THAT'S why my 'gun X" doesn't kill 'faction Y' very well.  Maybe I should take 'gun Y' next time.".  It's a lot easier for a player to enjoy a game if they understand how it works.  There's no logical way for a player to know why their Mk.1 Paris is less effective when they shoot corpus rather than grineer.

 

Some sort of in game information (beyond that little text window in the armory mod screen) that explains damage types, the status they cause and what faction or unit they're good against is badly needed. 

 

If you want to take it to the next level, include a target range type mission that has target dummies for the general unit types of each faction.  Even better would be to have some way within the mission for a player to test weapons that they don't have access to that way they can make an educated decision regarding what equipment to build or buy next.

 

When I was a new player I had no idea how mastery worked or even that it was a thing at all.  I probably would never have figured it out either except that I ran out of weapons that I wanted to use, so I found the game's wiki and started reading.  If I have to leave your game to figure out how to progress through it there's something wrong. 

 

The main issue is that the Mastery System is something that's so different compared to many other games.  I mean who expects a game to have two different types of EXP?  One type can't even be increased directly by running missions.  Another issue is that in most FPS/TPS  you pick the weapon you like and stick with it.  Which is what I did as a new player.  Eventually that white bar up at the top of the screen stopped moving and I couldn't figure out why even though I was moving through the star chart and unlocking new missions.

 

Expecting players to figure things out on their own is fine, but sometimes things don't make sense unless they're explained.

Sounds similar to what I said about damage types right?  I think I sense a theme here.....

 

Potatoes and forma make enough sense.  What isn't explained is how to use them well. 

I didn't have any problems with this as a new player since I didn't mind buying a little platinum here and there to get a potato when I wanted one.

A new player who doesn't have any money to spend or chooses not to spend money is going to have a much more limited supply of potatoes and forma.  All the more reason the game needs to explain to them how valuable and important those things are.  To remedy this I would suggest that DE give all new players a single potato and a single forma as part of a tutorial or tutorials that explains what they're good for. 

 

Maybe when a player maxes out all 30 mod points on a weapon and/or warframe the first time they get mail from the lotus that says something like

 

"Tenno, it appears that your skills have outgrown your current equipment.  Use this <potato type> on your <frame/weapon name> or save it for your next frame or weapon.  Orokin technology like this is rare but very powerful.  Use them well or you will not survive long."

 

The message could also explain something about how to increase mastery so that a player understands why they need to use weapons other than their favorite stuff.

 

The same thing could happen when a player maxes out all 60 mod points on something, only this time the Mail would include a forma and short explanation about polarities and why re-leveling weapons is important.

 

Just as a side note, another thing that isn't explained is what sentinels are, why a player wants one and how to get one.  The whole Kubrow VS Sentinel deal should be explained as well.

 

Actually, you could solve a lot of issues resulting from lack of information by having the Lotus message the player at key points.  Like when they enter a system controlled by a new faction she could comment on the faction.  Explaining who they are and what damage/resistances the faction has.  For the grineer the message would be sent once the player reaches mercury.

 

The Liset and the new UI that came with it are great.  I have one issue with navigation though: there's no way to tell how which which systems are linked together.  This could be remedied through something as simple as having all planets shown from the start, but grayed out with a lock icon over them and some text that says "Nav Segment missing, last detected in <System X>.  Click here to open the map for <System X>.  Another thing I would change would be to make the missions that have boss encounters on them have some sort of special symbol on the nameplate for the mission. That way a player can tell at a glance where the boss is and what missions they need to do to get to the boss node.

 

TL;DR:

Many issues with the game could be solved if the mechanics driving them were explained.  Messages sent by the Lotus could be a good way to explain things to new players.

 

Edit:

You can check out this thread here as an example of what the lack of information in game can cause: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/322871-just-started-and-already-unsatisfied/

Edited October 11, 2014 by Xaelon