Not Sure Where I'm Going Wrong

[Risakisa]

I joined Warframe last Sunday, and so far it's been a blast. However, I seem to be having difficulties.

 

When I'm trying to play on either Sedna or Phobos, I barely make it through the first level (well, on Phobos; I can't seem to manage Sedna's first mission at all. And I could only do the first Phobos mission by exploiting the poor AI, standing back and "sniping" with my pistol). 

 

I'm currently at mastery rank 4, and just got a Sobek (which is currently rank/level 14), because I like shotguns. I'm playing with a Mag, rank 30, and have the Seer pistol (30), and the Cronus sword (30). I posses a deathcube, and it and its weapons are also rank 30.

The problem I seem to have is that most of the useful shotgun mods drop from Grineer mobs that're, as I understand it, primarily on Phobos. But I can't farm that solo, and the few groups that I manage to snatch tend to have a high-level player or three that speed through it quicker than I can follow, and so I can't really get any mod drops (assuming I'd wish to be carried).

 

Should I forgo using the Sobek until I have the mods (and the rank) for it, and instead use my Braton? Or is it simply that my warframe mod setup is entirely wrong?

 

I'd also like to see any other tips/suggestions/lambastments (which is a word now) to help me out. Preferably something that I can do by myself and doesn't involve monsters above level 15.

 

My warframe mod setup, in the format I believe is standard:

[(PSN)Magician_NG]

Swap out fast deflection in favor of stretch.

[Stratego89]

Step 1: Seer is in the top 5 worst weapons in the game. Replace it immediately.

Step 2: Level your primary before going to mid tier planets... mods are important.

Step 3: Cronus is the game's lowest tier one handed sword. Replace it immediately.

[(PSN)IMainTheMains]

You're still quite low level so I'd recommend grinding coba, earth for leveling. If possible , also try to farm cores and credits to rank up your mods.

I'd also recommend trying to get a reactor for your warframe and an aura.

[evil_m3nace]

First off, mag is a very squishy frame, high level grineer content is just not her forte. I suggest getting a frame with decent armor (rhino, valkyr, frost, chroma, pretty much almost all frames except mag) and doing those missions with one of those. also if you have a aura mod I suggest you equip one of those on your frame, even if its not the same polarization as the slot

[Kestral9999]

One thing that should help massively is getting an Orokin Reactor/Catalyst (the golden one, for Warframes, I forget which is which). That'll effectively double your mod capacity on your frame and allow you to be much more effective in combat. There's a chance there will be a 24 hour alert for one after today's Devstream at 2pm. I'm not sure whether it will be a catalyst or a reactor but you could benefit heavily from both.

 

Replace any cracked mods in your inventory the second you get the uncracked version, the cracked mods are part of the tutorial and are basically gimped versions of the actual mods.

 

Get a better secondary and melee weapon. I'm not sure which ones are unlocked at MR 4 but I know that there has to be something better than the Seer and Cronus at your disposal. They are two of the worst weapons in the game and are pure mastery fodder.

 

If you haven't put any mods on your Sentinel's weapon, do so. The more effective you make your sentinel the easier of a time you will have killing more difficult enemies. Their weapons don't seem that potent but when you factor in that they have infinite ammo and fire nearly constantly, you realize that they're basically floating sentry turrets. My Sweeper Prime, Prime Laser Rifle, and Stinger can wipe out mobs in a matter of seconds until later planets (Neptune +)

Edited July 24, 2015 by Kestral9999

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

get Rhino, the boltor and the atomos/kohmak

Edited July 24, 2015 by (PS4)DesecratedFlame

[Risakisa]

From what I gather, it's merely a matter of equipment, and having a beefier warframe? Even though I'd not use melee/side-arm outside of emergencies, that's still what I need to upgrade?

 

No suggestions on "you must have this-and-this mod, and should not have so-and-so mod"? Nothing like "make sure you're doing X and not Y"?

 

I'm currently spending all the credits I get (after I bought the medallions for the syndicates) on upgrading the mods I think will be most useful.. but, to be honest, I'm just going with "This increases my damage? Alrighty. This gives me better shields? Great!" without any real plan or thought (I've yet to find a guide that instructs you on what to aim for in terms of mods, outside of high-level guides that requires formas and reactors/catalysts and rare mods only found in high-level maps).

 

I'm currently making a valkyrie, because she sounds like more of a shotgun user than the mag (though she also seems to be more melee-focused). Maybe that'll solve my problems, and suddenly I can stomp through most content. But I'd still not know why, or how, other than "I've more armour and a higher-level shotgun mod".

[(PSN)GusMortis]

Try to farm an Oberon. He has decent armour, can heal himself and others plus protection from status effects via his hallowed ground power. The other nice thing is that most of his powers are radiation based and this can make fighting greenier a lot easier, helping you find those rare mods for the shotguns you like using.

 

Orokin catalysts/reactors and forma are a part of the game that you need to look into, this really makes planets like phobos seem like earth after putting catalysts on weapons, reactors on warframes and putting even 1 or 2 forma on both.

 

Also, a mod you should strive for is Multishot for EVERYTHING. These are awesome mods and when a polarity is matching with them it frees up a lot of capacity.

 

Keep grinding, you are just at the wall where the whole game opens up and starts to get a little easier after some orokin installs on your arsenal.

[Tenacious_Goat]

As most other answers say, stick to low level planets, Eg Earth, so you can get a few more cores, upgrade your basic bread-and-butter mods, Vitality/Redirection, and branch out on some different weapons as well. Modding is crucial, so grinding for cores is good. As well as this, aura mods, eg Energy Siphon will help, and give you more capacity, so whip on of them on. Good luck, and have fun!

[jonnin]

sobek is ok, I loved it at your level of play, but its only really usable on corpus.  Impact and grineer armor don't mix well.  Study damage 2.0 to see this.  Shotguns are about to get a major buff, so sobek might be end-game worthy if the damage increase is on par with what people are saying. ... we will know SOON.

 

seer is ok for a new player but it quickly falls behind.  Its high damage is negated by low magazine and inability to crit.  Its a starter weapon, is all.

 

Keeping with your likes -- the best sniper pistols in the game include the reputation marelok and angstrum (!).   No other guns possess seer's amazing zoom ability but learn to shoot and you won't need that.   You can make long range shots with these (and other) pistols. 

 

The best shotgun in the game IMHO is detron, which you can't get for a while, but it has no damage falloff, shoots and loads really fast,  and is generally very very nasty.  Others like other shotguns.   Its a pistol, so that might work as your shotgun and maybe go sniper for the main hand... to keep with your general build... others like hek a lot.  Phage is amazing but its not a true shotgun, its a laser beam fire-hose type gun, and I hate its mechanics while I remain in awe of its damage.

 

 

Honestly, you are probably pushing too hard too soon.  Back off, get more cool mods,  rank up your mods,  get some mastery ranks and unlock the ability to use some other weapons, etc.    You can certainly solo the game with mag and sobek all the way through the starmap, but not without the right mods and ranked up mods... no, you can't.   Sobek is a lot better with the aoe bomb mod from faction, if it turns out to be worth using after the coming buff.

 

Anyway, that is my 2 cents, back up and rank up a set of mods...  get some help, run some nightmares...

[Risakisa]

I think I have now figured out at least part of what was eluding me; it is better, generally speaking, to use your energy slot.. things.. on fewer, high-level mods, than to spend them on multiple low-level ones.

 

That knowledge was hinted at in this thread, but never explicitly stated, and was exactly what I was searching for.

 

Any other must-have knowledge available? :)

[Khranitel]

Try to not miss alerts which gives aura mods as rewards. Those are placed in the uppermost slot and gives you team-wide buff and additional mod points. Even if aura polarity is different to slot polarity it can still give you points, so slot it in and rank it up asap.

To know about every alert in the starmap (even in nodes which you didn't opened yet) you can use @WarframeAlerts twitter or various apps working on PC and mobile devices. If you see a desired alert to which you dont have access yet, you can ask for help in recruiting chat in form of "LF (planet name) alert", or try to ask for invite from somebody who hosting ("H") aforementioned alert (just throw a PM with "inv" to such person).

Also make sure to check this topic: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/164196-how-to-warframe-a-guide-for-new-players/

Edited July 25, 2015 by Khranitel

[Dalethor]

I think that the basics have been covered pretty well by other posts here, as to the various things you might want to change so you can do the content you want to do. However, my opinion is this: Don't be too hasty with covering content. Master an area, weapon, frame or whatever before attempting to move on to more difficult areas. If you do attempt to do these more difficult areas, bring along your best loadout so you have the best shot at success. This means a fully leveled frame, weapons, all with reasonably good mod setups, appropriate for the enemies you expect to encounter. Phobos, being a primarily Grineer planet, you would want damage types to deal with alloy and ferrous armor, as well as some kind of effective aoe damage or equally effective aoe crowd control; otherwise you run the risk of being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Not sure if this has been said yet, probably has, but the mods you're using that are cracked, they have versions that are not damaged that are much more effective. I'd recommend farming the lower level planets for a while to build your mod collection up, while at the same time bringing your best setup to the mid tier planets you want to do (Phobos) in the hopes of gaining some new full strength mods.

 

Good Luck and Game On!