By The Numbers: Warframe Powers

[Dillon_J]

hmm wonder why excalabutt has so many kills? i cant for the life of me figure it out...

[Dillon_J]

it wouldve been nice to see these without them being scewed in a way that reflects normal gameplay and not syndicate farming

Edited February 11, 2015 by Dillon_J

[GamePois0n]

Reputation farm doesn't = actual gameplay.

[CherryRammer]

Noticed Excalibur Prime wasn't on the equip time/exp gained chart. Was he lumped in with Excalibur?

"Due to Prime Warframe's Abilities functioning identically to their counterpart, all kills and assists were merged together for regular and Prime Warframes."

[ntyd1s]

Too bad Saryn is not such a hipster anymore since she can now survive far better than Rhino. >_>

[Mak_Gohae]

Those are horrible assist numbers.

It just shows how much Dynasty Warriors this game has become.

[Gilmaesh]

haha almost everything that is wrong in this game in 1 chart, nice.

miasma /radial javelin/energy vampire/desecrate.

 

honorable mention to campframe vauban with his assist number

 

My only surprise is mag kills chart and that nova is not the number one frame.

 

Do the chart for highest equip time without the xp gain exist somewhere?

Edited February 11, 2015 by Gilmaesh

[(PSN)madjonny]

Hmm... I never really come across another Saryn when I play as her...

Rhino and rhino prime were pretty low numbers aswell in terms of usage, not what I expected...

[Archwizard]

Also, 14 million players is almost certainly registered users, not active playerbase.

 

An especially notable line - there have been no events within the sampled time periods to encourage players to return, and hadn't been an update since December for two consoles.

 

Llyssa's "1/14th" claim also doesn't account for the use of multiple frames diluting his own sample. 

[Loswaith]

For me Im more curious about which frame is equiped the most, not releative to the amount of Affinity that frame gains during that time.  Simply what has the most time equiped (seeing this in comparison to the listed information, actually tells the real story).

 

Wow. The stats regarding Saryn do not shock me one bit. Maybe now that four of hers will catch DE's eye and get a proper.... adjustment.

Not really, all those stats show is that the rep farm is still around. 

Saryn just happens to be the best killer in that field whether in a dedicated group or for random pugs. 

The pie chart simply shows (the amount of affinity gained over the time the frame is equiped for), Saryn has the potential to be by far the most efficient killer in the game by a long shot (or she is simply just used only when heavy killing is needed like for rep farms).

While Volt and Mag appear to be the least efficient killers (maybe players sit in the liset/relays/dojos a lot with these frames along with the other lower percentage frames).

 

...My only surprise is mag kills chart and that nova is not the number one frame....

Keep in mind that the credit for Mol Prime kills doesnt go to nova but the person trigering the ememies to explode.  However Nova does rank second (@10% for nova and nova prime collectivly) in the XP for equiped time chart which likely indicates she is either played a lot or is responsible for a lot of damage.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Loswaith

[Monolake]

Ever want to know exactly how many times Nekros players cast Desecrate over a two week period of time?  Well your unusually specific curiosity is in luck!  This week on By the Numbers we take a look at Warframe Powers and how players use them.

 

Check out By the Numbers: Warframe Powers and enjoy our bite-sized look at Warframe's statistics! 

 

-DE_Adam

What's the point of doing time x EXP stats (or whatever was the formula, its so obscure and tells absolutely nothing)  Nuking frames would always get more XP on frame.

Can you please give just usage numbers not mixing them up with XP, and preferably separated at mastery  rank3 (obviously new players only play 3 starting frames)

Edited February 11, 2015 by Monolake

[Deus_X_Machina]

What's the point of doing time x EXP stats (or whatever was the formula, its so obscure and tells absolutely nothing)  Nuking frames would always get more XP on frame.

Can you please give just usage numbers not mixing them up with XP, and preferably separated at mastery  rank3 (obviously new players only play 3 starting frames)

I absoltuly agree.

 

It would be really nice to see the numbers of the frames used just for time, not some not really interpretable statistic. The mastery rank 3 division also has a place, although some frames I guess will always have less avaiability to all players than others (Saw a Mirage on Rank 3 recently, but doubt I would see a Frost (a Frost Prime is easier to get for many new players). Hydroid is only off charts till mastery Rank 5 now, and was probably so before)

The data to produce that must be avaiable since they could produce the other chart, so it can't be that hard to do.

[DE_Adam]

What's the point of doing time x EXP stats (or whatever was the formula, its so obscure and tells absolutely nothing)  Nuking frames would always get more XP on frame.

Can you please give just usage numbers not mixing them up with XP, and preferably separated at mastery  rank3 (obviously new players only play 3 starting frames)

 

I've seen this question pop up a few times, and am happy to provide some clarification:

 

The point of providing you information on both EXP and Time is because Time by itself is not really indicative of anything.  Players spend a lot of time with Warframes equipped not necessarily being 'active'; and these graphs are not meant to be skewed towards one Warframe or another.  

 

Some problems related to just using time would be:

 

-Do we count Relay, Dojo, MR Tests, or Liset time as time equipped?

-Should 'endless' Missions be excluded simply because they are, by nature, longer than Exterminate?

-If we exclude MR 3 and below players, would we make exception for anyone who has purchased a Warframe through Platinum?

 

By using Time and a generalized EXP gain we can measure player activity in a more meaningful way -- without diminishing the value what you, or any community member, chooses to do in Warframe.  'Nuking' Warframes may always get more EXP by nature, but our graph displaying 'popularity' over the time period contradicts your statement as I would hardly consider Rhino, Frost, Ash or Vauban to fall under your definition (assuming 'nuke' means a large instant AoE damage ability).  Despite this, they maintain higher 'play' rates in the community.

 

The fact is these charts will always change.  As the meta of Warframe shifts, so too will these percentiles.  To know that the perspective on Warframe performance and popularity is always a little skewed from individual perspective is a valuable reminder.

[sappinmahsentry]

#Voltisawesome

[Shreiko]

Excalibur prime absent from pie chart...

Edited February 11, 2015 by Shreiko

[Monolake]

I've seen this question pop up a few times, and am happy to provide some clarification:

 

The point of providing you information on both EXP and Time is because Time by itself is not really indicative of anything.  Players spend a lot of time with Warframes equipped not necessarily being 'active'; and these graphs are not meant to be skewed towards one Warframe or another.  

 

Some problems related to just using time would be:

 

-Do we count Relay, Dojo, MR Tests, or Liset time as time equipped?

-Should 'endless' Missions be excluded simply because they are, by nature, longer than Exterminate?

-If we exclude MR 3 and below players, would we make exception for anyone who has purchased a Warframe through Platinum?

 

By using Time and a generalized EXP gain we can measure player activity in a more meaningful way -- without diminishing the value what you, or any community member, chooses to do in Warframe.  'Nuking' Warframes may always get more EXP by nature, but our graph displaying 'popularity' over the time period contradicts your statement as I would hardly consider Rhino, Frost, Ash or Vauban to fall under your definition (assuming 'nuke' means a large instant AoE damage ability).  Despite this, they maintain higher 'play' rates in the community.

 

The fact is these charts will always change.  As the meta of Warframe shifts, so too will these percentiles.  To know that the perspective on Warframe performance and popularity is always a little skewed from individual perspective is a valuable reminder.

Time is indicative of usage, its clearcut and transparent, and every one wants to know what frames are played the most.

 

Relay, Dojo, MR Tests -  this is all active use, Liset doesn't count as mission time by the game already so you should have in-mission stats separate from 'idle' equip time. Different missions are still active play time, doesnt matter how long they last or how much xp they net per mission or per minute. Lots of players walk around getting no XP while exploring looking for medallions or caches -they are actively playing and your method totally discards them.

 

Your graph shows exactly what Im saying: very skewed picture that doesn't reflect real usage - a not very popular frame having the largest share of that pie, 2 starting frames are at the bottom cause obviously new players are not good at killing quickly/farming. And we are left to guess what tricky math you used to make it look like that. What's the formula? What does that graph REALLY show? What frame is mostly used to most effectively farm frame XP? 

 

Come one Adam, you showed us what happens if you mix up different stats, please show pure time used too (unless its a secret information, then Im sorry to bug you)

I see the point about MR3 limit being questionable, just overall picture will be good. 

Edited February 11, 2015 by Monolake

[Deus_X_Machina]

I've seen this question pop up a few times, and am happy to provide some clarification:

 

The point of providing you information on both EXP and Time is because Time by itself is not really indicative of anything.  Players spend a lot of time with Warframes equipped not necessarily being 'active'; and these graphs are not meant to be skewed towards one Warframe or another.  

The numbers shown to us, indicate even less. Because WE do not know what exactly is measured how in this graph. Therefore, the numbers are meaningless.

 

The bigger question would be: Why would certain Warframes be equipped more in non active times than others? As long as there is no indication for such a thing, non active time could only be excluded for other reasons.

 

Some big questions with this overview:

-) Do people have more direct influence on the graph the longer they are online?

-) Do people have more direct influence on the graph the more damage they do?

-) Do people have more direct influence on the graph the more missions they play?

-) Do people have more direct influence on the graph depending on time spent in missions?

-) Is someone playing 5 minutes survival versus level 60 enemies having more influence on the graph than someone playing 5 minutes survival versus level 5 enemies?

 

By the way, Rhino has an instant damage nuking ability. Ash has one that is not instant but with high damage.

 

The problem is, while you know what you measured, and it might make sense, we DO NOT. And all graphs are more or less meaningless if one doesn't know what is measured.

With all the exceptions (Liset, Dojo, Relay, Mastery Rank Tests [i doubt they take up that much time]) thrown in the data, and just time used as measuring, we would now know more about the usage of Warframes, than by the graph shown to us.

 

One easy solution would be, to have several graphs for example:

1) Time Warframes were active

2) Time Warframes were active in missions

3) Experience earned by Warframes

 

If the right data is avaiable, it would also be possible to make a graph showing Warframe usage with accounts featured in. For example each Account gets 1 Point to "distribute" and that number is divided by time used on all Waframes used by that account. The cumulative numbers then show a distribution representative of Warframe Preference across players.

 

The graph at the moment shows the preference of the most active and power leveling players have in Warframe preferences - at least thats what i assume with the information given - as said, we really can't say exactly whats that graph showing to us.

 

 

Using and showing information correctly is a hard thing, I know that.

Its just that, when someone has experience with statistics, that person starts to say problems with other statistics too.

The most important point to understand a statistic, is to know what exactly was measured and is shown.

[Rompido]

I see this chart and I see mainly 2 things represented by it.

 

rep farm

long survival runs.

[Gilmaesh]

Time is indicative of usage, its clearcut and transparent, and every one wants to know what frames are played the most.

 

Relay, Dojo, MR Tests -  this is all active use, Liset doesn't count as mission time by the game already so you should have in-mission stats separate from 'idle' equip time. Different missions are still active play time, doesnt matter how long they last or how much xp they net per mission or per minute. Lots of players walk around getting no XP while exploring looking for medallions or caches -they are actively playing and your method totally discards them.

 

Come one Adam, you showed us what happens if you mix up different stats, please show pure time used too (unless its a secret information, then Im sorry to bug you)

I see the point about MR3 limit being questionable, just overall picture will be good. 

 

Exactly my toughts, why should rep farm/spam ulti bot/camp survival be more relevant than every thing else.

 

 

I see this chart and I see mainly 2 things represented by it.

 

rep farm

long survival runs.

 

^

this

[MechaKnight]

The chart shows what many of us have suspected: infinite target radials that work in a (4/3)*pi*r^3 radius through all walls and cover to do multiple roles of damage + stun with more effect than any other ability in the same kit will always be spammed. The gate mechanism of energy cost is not sufficient to discourage players from repeatedly using an ability that hits exponentially more targets with greater effect for only a small linear cost.

 

These abilities do everything we want the warframe to do. In the case of Excalibur and Saryn, they damage for greater magnitude more quickly than any other ability in the kit with the least effort involved. Their other abilities hit fewer targets and are more difficult to use, yet are not rewarded for the effort involved in use due to sheer lack of effect against fewer targets. Until this changes, it is always expected players will optimize towards their best ability. As is the case with radial infinite target multi-tools. Abilities with infinite targets in a massive spherical area that deal damage + stun, or damage multiplier + slow + explosion, or damage + defense removal + healing + shielding. If one easy ability does everything, there's no reason to use anything else. Generally, the more range an ability has, the more exponentially effective it is.

 

The data also shows frequent use of Desecrate and Energy Vampire. If a warframe is not suited to play a main participant role, it will be assinged as a support role. Despite Nekros' kit variety, Desecrate is a unique tool teams want, hence why Nekros is requested solely for Desecrate. Trinity has a heap of supportive abilities, but players see Energy Vampire as a precious resource to void the energy system. The usual Trinity build in this case uses maximum negative duration to increase the rate of energy EV delivers. However, even without Trinity energy is plentiful enough. Most builds feature maximum efficiency, enemies drop orbs often, and we can carry energy restores in stacks of 200 per slot. However, the amount of energy we have isn't the biggest problem, but rather the practical variety within kits. For many warframes, time not using radial infinite target x-ray abilities is wasted time.

 

My opinion is that the limited target abilities should be more significant than infinite target abilities due to effort involved. Ability #4 should not be the ultimate ability, simply another ability. Abilities in the kit should also have significantly unique purpose, and be rewarded on their limited target application and difficulty. It takes more work to aim at targets with Slash Dash and Venom, so why are they such inferior options to Radial Javelin and Miasma? The effort to effect ratio isn't well adjusted. It should be adjusted to where limited target abilities are greatly effective compared to infinite target radials. That, or everything would have to become an infinite target radial or cone to compete.

 

It would be better to tweak kits to find a balance between the audiences playing this game. Assets in a kit should be adjusted so the radial ability is still in the kit to satisfy players, but more priority is placed on more difficult to use abilities. This can be done by buffing the other abilities, or shifting assets in a kit while multiplying effect depending on the difficulty and limitations of the ability said assets are pushed onto. Radial abilities like Radial Javelin and Miasma do everything you want the warframe to do with greater magnitude and ease than any other ability.

 

Radial Javelin damages twice as much as Slash Dash, and blinds through walls when Radial Blind doesn't. This effect applies to infinite targets, so why bother using the other two abilities? Also, notice how Super Jump is the least used ability in the kit. There's no need for evasion with Super Jump when everything is either dead or blinded to not attack.

 

Players who spend a lot of time learning the game's fullest extent of trivia and minutia feel cheated in the system because radial do-everything spam is often superior in all ways of damage, stun, and utility compared to time and effort involved. This game changes rapidly, and limited time reward incentives like those from the void trader punish inefficient gameplay. Ability balancing obstacles punish those who do not spam radials more than those who do. The key to trivializing nullifiers is to spam radials to kill every other enemy before they reach the protective bubble. If the purpose of nullifiers was to decrease radial spam incentive, it did not succeed. They do however do a great job limiting weapons and single-target warframes like Valkyr, who were never spamming radials in the first place. Meanwhile the usual arguments of "if you don't like it, don't use it" and "if you don't like the game meta, play solo" similarly punishes players who are playing and progressing fairly with balance, but rewards players who like to exploit the system and haven't gotten bored of pressing one button all day every day.

 

Still, I do see a lot of players wishing to retain the "press 4 to win" gameplay, so I have but one option to suggest to satisfy as many players as possible. A two step combo: make limited target non-radial abilities with limited effects more potent than radial abilities, and implement a difficulty selection system. The radial abilities can still carry some form of damage as they do now, and the level of the mission node and/or difficulty selected will decide how the kit is used. In lower difficulty missions, radial spam should be just as effective as it is now, and even alongside more powerful single-target abilities players will prefer to wipe content quickly with radials. Higher difficulty will add incentive to the newly improved limited target abilities with variety, so players will juggle their kits more often and use abilities accordingly. The radials will then shift their purpose to become panic-button room stunners, similar to what is seen an hour into T4 survival. The key is to give priority to abilities that are harder to use, and make each ability unique enough to suit them to different situations in gameplay. Higher difficulty missions will also give greatly increased rewards, which will act to directly balance the massively more efficient radial spam in lower difficulty. Balance is found within the playerbase: the old radial gameplay is still possible, and players who are dedicated enough to spend time and effort learning the game's minutia are rewarded for skillful and focused gameplay.

Edited February 17, 2015 by MechaKnight

[Deus_X_Machina]

My opinion is that the limited target abilities should be more significant than infinite target abilities due to effort involved. Ability #4 should not be the ultimate ability, simply another ability. Abilities in the kit should also have significantly unique purpose, and be rewarded on their limited target application and difficulty. It takes more work to aim at targets with Slash Dash and Venom, so why are they such inferior options to Radial Javelin and Miasma? The effort to effect ratio isn't well adjusted. It should be adjusted to where limited target abilities are greatly effective compared to infinite target radials. That, or everything would have to become an infinite target radial or cone to compete.

True words. Since our abilities are now all avaiable with a leveled Warframe, we don't even have higher point costs of the higher abilities, only higher power costs (most of the time). Giving those abilities that have limited use ajob to do would go a long way, they make no sense if we only use them for the first three levels of a Warframe.

A good example of a useful low ability is Shock. It hits several enemies, must not be aimed directly at one enemy, and stuns the enemy. Low level /damaged enemies are also killed. Other first abilities feel very useless compared to that.

 

But to know the real deal, the whole numbers on used abilities would have to be known, and so thats only for DE to see for now. We only see a small portion of abilities used, so maybe low level skills are used far more than we suspect. I think its interesting for example, that Pull is high on the list of used abilities, despite Mag being not that widespread.

But then again Radial Javelin is high on this numbers too, and Excalibur is even less widespread used than Mag. I don't get how Miasma isn't further up, with 15% Saryn Users (I don't get that number at all, they must be everywhere but where I play).

[i don't really understand the abolute numbers of the graph too, as someone mentioned, one person could be responsible for a significant part of all uses of an ability on that chart - I doubt only that few people are playing Warframe]

[PookieNumnums]

id like to see a 'to date' or as close as you could get on kills for all warframes (combined primes of course)

 

 

and HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

 

 

Nova barely has anything. And all the QQ that happened till she got changed. I wonder how that number dropped post alteration (hence why i wanna see a to date version)

 

i main nova and that.. that surprises me.

 

MOAR AMD!

[JohnnyL]

Volt :( JohnnyL is my name and let's all get a group of Volt's to go play a mission together!

 

[Veddhartha]

I'm wrong. Meh.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Veddhartha

[ranks21]

don't forget that Excal is a starter frame for many a player and if you check their profiles it's also the most used frame<< they learned to mod and parkour with Excal more than any other frame. Should he be as tough as a rhino or valkyr in the armor dept I say yes but that  would make Excal a god.

 

 with the power usages, look on how the game has evolved with the op enemies that as soon as you reach level 30 or 30 mins in endless missions you  WILL be one shotted  if youre not carefull. so powers like RJ and Miasma  will be heavily used by players using those frames respectively  especially low  mastery players that doesn't have the mod setups  maxed for frame and weaponry.

 

 there is no denying that press button is the only  viable solution for many a player even vets< some just don't want to admit it but realistically  WARFRAME IS ALL ABOUT THE PRESS BUTTON GO FIGURE.

 

 as for nekros and desecrate and all the hoopla nonsense  players spew in this thread, the same can be said about loki's invis ala spy missions or RD in t4 defense or survival. basically this data is flame bait for trolls.  and each and every one of warframe players press buttons and spam abilities. if you don't press buttons how do you play? how do you  move, fire a weapon parkour, melee? do you use tele kinesis? GTFO here with all the nonsense.

Edited February 17, 2015 by ranks21