Daftmeat's Daring Do-Over (2nd Account From Scratch, Minimal Cheating)

[DaftMeat]

U18 Warframe is a very different thing from the Closed-Beta-Ended-Open-Beta-Starting point where I found it on Steam. There have been many profound changes since I last came across a Grineer Sawman saying "Hey, leave my mother out of this", and nowadays I often wonder what coming into the game at this point is now like for newer players.

So I stopped wondering and started a new account. Notes follow...

1) I did play the revamped tutorial when it first came out, and I think it does a great job of covering all of the basics. However, I think the addition of Bullet Jump and Aim Glide to the game could use a better introduction. Post-tutorial as I was going through Mercury and Earth unlocking nodes again, I was often leaving fellow new players far behind because they still barely knew about these maneuvers. The Intro mission map could use an update, maybe to include a chasm that requires Bullet Jump & Aim Glide to cross?

2) Auras are not introduced or discussed at all. Please, please, PLEASE consider including a choice of Damaged Rifle Amp or Damaged Steel Charge with a maximum rank of 2 or 3 (I suppose asking for Damaged Energy Siphon would be too much, and Mag/Volt both have V polarity auras anyway).

Spoiler

I did transfer a max rank Energy Siphon via a helpful clan-mate. It is cheating, I know, but Warframe powers are what make this game shine, not having access to them really hampers gameplay and enjoyment for me. :P

 

 

3) When did Volt become a starter frame again? IIRC, the original three were Excal, Loki, and Volt. When I came into the game and when I also later took the last Account Reset offered, I remember the choices being Excal, Loki, and Mag to offer a female starter option. I was really looking to indulge in Invis-Chain-Stealth-Kill-Bonus-Affinity ranking for my second time around. Now I have to do it the more standard way with Excalibur, I guess. :3

4) As of today, I finished all Mercury nodes with the exception of the Caduceus AW node. And much to my chagrin, this last AW node is preventing me from deploying the Titan Extractor I finally had enough credits to buy a BP of and build in the Foundry. AW should still be a bit more "optional" IMO, and it certainly shouldn't count as unlocking the star chart.

5) Painfully Obvious Note: Being broke really sucks. I'm not even talking about Platinum, I can get by without a lot of that. The lack of credits at the low level is dreadful. Any chance the frequency of Credit alerts on Mercury/Earth/Venus could be looked at, and possibly increased? SRSLY. :[

6) Please consider updating the relays to include a vendor who provides direct-credit-purchase Common level mods, or even just the Damaged mods. Not Uncommon or Rare, just the Common ones.


Further goals:
Keep unlocking the star chart. Earth is up next.
Farm more credits.
Work towards MR 3, get more gear to rank, which means farm more credits.
Need to build my Odonata (farm more credits).
Need to get sentinels; upgrade through Wyrm, Dethcube, Dirigia, Shade, Carrier (may keep only last 2, also farm more credits).
I have my first Kubrow Egg, now I need to beat Jackal on Fossa, unlock & finish the quest, then upgrade my Liset to hatch it.
I am not at all looking forward to experiencing the newly updated Stalker with low MR gear.
Farm more credits.

Thanks very much to the Dev team for all their hard work, for listening to player feedback, and for still finding ways to make this game new and interesting. To be honest, I was starting to feel some burnout (I was even spending time playing other games instead, whose names I won't even mention here), but The Second Dream really revitalized the game a bit for me.

 

I'm also recommending the YouTube series I'm New What Next? by TacticalPotato. I think he does an excellent job of summing up a lot of Need To Know points for beginners...

Edit for further input and to reorganize thoughts:

TUTORIAL

• Parkour 2.0 is not very well known by new players. Maybe add a chasm so players can learn "Crouch-jump and hold aim to glide" immediately?
• The Gear Wheel is not covered at all, particularly the Scanner. As the codex is very useful in hunting down mods in a backwards kind of way, this should be addressed as well (credit to @Vomitous for bringing this up).
• Sentinels are not revealed/discussed in-game. Perhaps add a "disposable" starter sentinel that Vor destroys before the end of mission? At least then new players would be aware of them before just randomly seeing them via other players or the Market. *Devstream #71 noted that this is in the works. Much thanks to @AM-Bunny for his overview
• Auras are also not introduced. Perhaps add Damaged Rifle Amp/Steel Charge aura in Tutorial (max 2-3 ranks).
• End tutorial with Social information: Relays, Clans/Alliances, Forums, Wiki, Facebook, Twitter alerts, Nexus app.

 

POST-TUTORIAL

• Melee system & stances are also not introduced, but is currently being discussed for changes by dev team. Personally, I would hope that melee combos would unlock the same way that Warframe abilities do as you rank an item up. Existing stance mods could be changed to add 1 or 2 combos if Uncommon or 2 or 3 combos if Rare, and both would add mod points to the weapon.
• Inclusion of a relay vendor that sells Common rank mods would be greatly welcomed. Certain basic necessary mods like Redirection, Vitality, Steel Fiber should not be left to RNG.
• Credits at very beginning of game are extremely scarce. There's no need to cut credits short for new players as Platinum is the real currency of the game. Credits should be the hook that draws players to stay, to experiment with beginner weapons, to build more Warframes. Please consider a larger initial credit fund, and perhaps reexamine credit alert amounts and frequency?
• Blueprints for Mutagen Samples, Fieldron Samples, and Detonite Ampules are extremely cost inefficient. So many invasions give you fully crafted/usable Mutagen Mass, Fieldron, and Detonite Injector rewards instead. At the very least, please give thought to dropping the credit cost from 15k to 5k, and making the blueprint reusable.
• Explain Void Tower keys: Make a mini quest perhaps that gives you a Tier I key as a reward?
• Archwing mod acquisition needs re-evaluating, and damaged AW mods might be a great addition to the initial quest.

 

MASTERY RANK

• I think they should start by awarding MR based weapons in a "Pick one or the other" function per Mastery Rank up till MR 6. The other benefits of getting mastery ranks (weapon slots, loadout slots etc.) wasn't made clear
  The basic frame slots should be 3, not 2. There are a lot more frames now. You can at least then get 5 by buying slots with your starting plat. (credit to @YasaiTsume)
• I wonder if it would be possible to scale weapon and warframe build times based on ranking and availability (credit to @Caelward); i.e. low MR requirement = low build time, high MR requirement = high build time.
• Parkour 2.0 has trivialized some of the MR Tests. Specifically, the MR8 test can be almost completely bypassed with Bullet Jump and Aim Glide (from the start of the test, it took me 10 seconds to accidentally jump to the final platform).
• There's no reason to hide what each mastery test is. The devs may as well give the name description of the test so that people can go in prepared. Otherwise, you go in unprepared, risk failure, and just have to redo in 24 hours. No one likes taking a test they are not prepared for. Pop quizzes are universally hated except for sadistic teachers. At any rate, most people will just check the wiki or ask friends/clan for info. Again, not having information up-front really serves no purpose. While you can practice the tests in Sanctuary, this isn't make apparent in-game (Relays and Sanctuary Tests are never really introduced in-game either)

 

STAR CHART

• New star chart UI is nice, but lacks the linear paths shown by the original star chart showing which nodes lead to other nodes, especially on other planets.
• All crafting blueprints and parts should definitely note where all of the needed parts can be obtained, ESPECIALLY in the Market preview screen before they are purchased. (credit to @Ojimaru) Whether it's Warframes, weapons (like Miter), or Prime gear, each piece you receive should tell you what node, boss, or void missions the other necessary parts come from. Maybe these could even be listed on the star chart itself just like resources? Maybe this info could be unlocked after running the node successfully? Anything is better than just deferring players to check the wiki. I don't understand why this information cannot be made directly available in-game.
• I really wish Archwing nodes didn't count towards star map completion. They block the use of resource extractors.
• Also a problem with Extractors, they are not shown anywhere except in the market. A clan-mate of mine was MR12 until he discovered extractors.
• Also regarding Extractors, Earth is Extractor-locked until you have finished "The Second Dream" because of nodes that are hidden until the end of the quest. However, there is no in-game reason as to why an extractor can't be deployed. Maybe consider making the Moon another "planet" or a sub-node of Earth?

THE VOID

I know that there's talk that the Void will *eventually* be blown up and distributed among the star chart. For the time being, the rewards tables don't seem to have any specific order for where parts go and can be found. At present, it seems parts are just randomly thrown in wherever there seems to be room. RNG rewards need structure. I would love there to be a formula like Blueprints in Tower 1, Common parts in Tower 2, Uncommon parts in Tower 3, Rare parts in Tower 4. At least then you don't have to keep asking in chat or referring back to the wiki when looking for stuff. Forma should really fill Tower 1 missions, since it seems that most people rarely play it because T2-T4 reward better. It seems that the only time people go to T1 is if they are looking for something specific, ranking junk, or they're new and it's all they have/don't know better.

STALKER

Stalker changes have really revamped him to be balanced for veteran players, but for new players he can be too much of a challenge and no fun at all. At the very least, please let players run from him/abort the mission just like Grustrag Three encounters and remove his player-teleport ability.
Suggestions for changes behind spoiler for Second Dream follow:

Spoiler

1) Lock Stalker completely behind The Second Dream. Have the quest be his introduction to players, who by that time should be better geared and more experienced enough to face him.

OR

2) Bring back a weaker original/vanilla Stalker for new players (less of a threat than he is currently), and only unleash the more powerful Shadow Stalker for players who finish The Second Dream.

Either way, if the Devs are happy with Stalker's current state then my only suggestion would be to push him as he is further into the late game.

 

 

 

SYNDICATES

• At Mastery Rank 3, please consider giving players at least an Inbox message asking them to visit a relay and research which Syndicates they might be interested in.
• Please let players know where to find the sacrifices they need to rank up with Syndicates, as there is no need for mystery. "Orokin Catalysts can be found in specific alerts, invasions, or purchased in the market." "Soma Prime Barrels have a chance to drop in Tower IV Interception and Tower III Mobile Defense."
• New Loka Assasins: Damage mitigation auras, healing auras, toxic auras, energy drain auras, and a huge fire AoE... Loka hit squads are no joke for new players. They definitely don't compare to Roller hit squads or MOAs or Corrupted Lancers. They could use some reevaluation and tweaking.

 

OTHER ENEMIES

Rampart turrets can be extremely lethal at any level of gameplay, and especially so for beginners. I have seen these things cause near team wipes. Granted, in real life a stationary gun like this would be exceptionally deadly to an on-foot soldier. But this isn't real-life, and I'm not playing Call of Duty or some other type of Tom Clancy game. Please consider giving these emplacements a spool-up time, much like the Gorgon or the Supra. As deadly as these things are, some forewarning before they completely shred a Tenno would be nice.

 

EVENTS/TACTICAL ALERTS

I love most of these, but more often than not I join public games and people have no idea what to do (even myself on occasion). The Warframe team does a lot of great videos for teasers and Tenno Reinforcement showcases. Perhaps posting quick How To videos could be considered in the future?

 

THE SECOND DREAM - CONCLUSION (SPOILERS)

Spoiler

Choosing your Focus school at the end of the quest is another example of information that more players would be happy to know up front. Many players who chose Unairu end up regretting it since it really seems just like an Atlas expansion. I forget the details of the quest (and can't refresh myself since quests are not repeatable), but I don't remember being able to browse the schools branches to see where each school leads. Perhaps this could be changed?

 

3

 

Edited March 25, 2016 by DaftMeat
Updates on findings

[OverlordMcGeek]

Loki was changed since the tutorial as you saw requires you to kill enemies with your power.

 

I would like to mention that there should be a small blip of text to mention dark sectors so they won't face-plant going in.

[Inarticulate]

5) Painfully Obvious Note: Being broke really sucks. I'm not even talking about Platinum, I can get by without a lot of that. The lack of credits at the low level is dreadful. Any chance the frequency of Credit alerts on Mercury/Earth/Venus could be looked at, and possibly increased? SRSLY. :[

 

Oh god this yes. I started (a day or two after Operation: Gate Crash began) with the MK1-Paris and clearly remember finding the 25,000-Credit price tag on the Braton painfully out of reach. If I didn't have friends that had already been playing the game, I have no idea how I would have gotten anywhere in this game before giving up.

[DSpite]

I did this process at U14 with an Excalibur. I was also "lucky" to get a Glaive BP on like, the 3rd day reward? so I went with that as a main.

 

I ended up liking it so much, I ran that solid for months. I have not had any cross over with my main account other then use my main to get it the Proto suit and Glaive skin, as I could not predict it would ever be on the market permanently, then again, it's a skin, so It has no effect on numbers.

 

I do not remember having any major issues with Mods. You get enough of a base to keep everything running. I still don't have any of the corrupted or Primed etc etc, and it runs fine.

 

Problems I ran into were that soloing Defense missions (as I wanted to solo as much as possible for testing) to unlock the last nodes to get to boss nodes was a little taxing. What helped a lot was that if you restart a Defense mission, the map is selected from a pool, and some maps are easier then others.

 

Keeping an eye out for events allowed me to get "free" weapon slots, as they came with a weapon, and I'm reaching the stage now of deciding "do I sell an event weapon or trade for Plat to get slots" but it's not a major issue as I know exactly what weapons I might like to use as I test them all first on my primary ... I so wish DE allowed a system to test weapons before getting them, as many just have weird recoils or incredibly weird mechanics that some players will not enjoy using. Reality is, a handful of weapons and Frames can easily be more then enough to sustain a player in this game for thousands of hours.

 

Right now, the Glaive throwing mechanics are borked, so I'm not using it, and I'm not kitted enough to do Sorties effectively because of the enemy levels. I mean, with the new Excalibur "upgrade" I could spam Radial Blind and Exalted Blade, but it feels a little gimmiky. I'm trying to decide on the "next up" balanced Frame I could get to keep testing, rather then stick to a one-trick-pony setup. Ivara kind of looks very interesting right now.

 

To the OP: Let us know how tricky it is to do all the basic footwork to finish Second Dream and get Broken War, as many are complaining that Broken War is "way too powerful" for a "free weapon", and the only balancing act seemed to be how involved it is to go and do all the footwork for that last quest.

 

I have now capped that account at MR7, and I can't see it going higher unless I go out of my way to "grind" weapons I would never use. I only even got that high by accident because of Event weapons. MR12 is now a stepping stone for Syndicate Weapons, but I think me doing that would over step the fact that it's meant to replicate a "casual account" and grinding MR just for guns would break that.

 

I really wish DE would introduce missions that are totally focused on a low entry only challenge system, as an idea, say, a max of Mod energy on Frames/Guns (like a Conclave score but limiting Mod points), with the idea that it's a personal challenge mission. Could even just be like a Simulacrum Training simulation, with Just extra Focus or bonus Affinity being given out, and use that to break the monotony of normal missions.

Edited December 16, 2015 by DSpite

[DaftMeat]

To the OP: Let us know how tricky it is to do all the basic footwork to finish Second Dream and get Broken War, as many are complaining that Broken War is "way too powerful" for a "free weapon", and the only balancing act seemed to be how involved it is to go and do all the footwork for that last quest.

 

Yeah, I'm in no rush to face Stalker. Probably not going to get to this quest for a bit. :)

[DaftMeat]

So, I can't make a Bolto because Orokin Cells are on Saturn, not unlocked yet.

Seer, I do not even want to worry about farming parts for, and have need of Orokin Cells elsewhere.

Heat Sword needs Neural Sensors, and I only have 1 accessible node on Jupiter.

Odonata Systems needs a Control Module which I might get from void keys, and Plastids which are locked on Saturn.

 

I'm fine with all of this except for the Archwing holdup. Not being able to craft these things is still preventing extractor use, which would help greatly with resource farming. I really wish Archwing nodes didn't count towards star map completion.

 

Anyway beat Jackal and next up: Howl of the Kubrow. Hoping against hope that I get a Sahasa to help with in-mission pickups and additional resources.

 

Ugh...

Edited December 17, 2015 by DaftMeat

[Davoodoo]

Actually you can get ocs from any boss or stalker type(except synds). It is a rare drop though so prepare for 100+ runs.

[DaftMeat]

Actually you can get ocs from any boss or stalker type(except synds). It is a rare drop though so prepare for 100+ runs.

Yeah, but that entails boss farming, which will create more Stalker marks. One is plenty for now. :P

[DaftMeat]

I do not remember having any major issues with Mods. You get enough of a base to keep everything running. I still don't have any of the corrupted or Primed etc etc, and it runs fine.

I finally got a non-damaged redirection today (was getting nothing but Vitality). IMO, it's just basic gear which should be available for purchase. It's your prototypical MMO First Armour Upgrade Purchase.

Edited December 18, 2015 by DaftMeat

[DaftMeat]

Day 3 Updates

 

Items 30'd: Excalibur, Cronus, Heat Sword, Lato, Mk1-Bo, Mk1-Braton, Mk1-Furis, Mk1-Kunai, Mk1-Paris, Mk1-Strum, Skana.

Still working on Braton, Mk1-Furax, and Bolto.

Up to Mastery Rank 4 (note, this is with an affinity booster, would be much slower otherwise).

No sentinel still. Hard to save up 100,000 credits for a blueprint when there's so many other expenses. 

Currently aligned with Steel Meridian (made Rank 1 Brave) and Cephalon Suda (Neutral).

Sorties are open now. I am not doing them, as I am WAY under-geared. The idea of getting a Lens on Excal is quite tempting, but I don't want to leech off other players.

 

Finally have all Odonata parts cooking. In 4 hours, I can start building the first Archwing.

Earth and Mercury are all unlocked except for their respective Archwing nodes. I have two Titan Extractors in the wings awaiting deployment.

 

Nyx Helmet has been built, Systems and Chassis will finish in 10 hours, so 3 days after that hopefully my second Warframe will be ready (if credits allow, have enough for AW now but will be broke again afterwards).

Also have all parts for Mag & Rhino, Oberon Helmet/Chassis, and Ivara Systems.

Currently have Stalker hate-mail for Jackal, Phorid, Seargeant.

 

Quests: Vor's Prize completed. Once Awake completed. Howl of the Kubrow still needs 100,000 credits (!!!) to cook the Power Core before I can start incubating. Archwing is awaiting completion in Foundry. Man of Few Words is on hold until AW is finished for Uranus missions. Stolen Dreams is on hold at first mission to capture Maroo.

 

Still leaving random squads in the dust. Parkour 2.0 is not very well known by new players. I had to explain to people "Crouch-jump and hold aim to glide" for players who repeatedly fell off cliffs trying to get to extraction.

 

The lack of credits is still quite frustrating, but things are coming along at a fairly steady pace. I've been running Alerts and Invasions when I can reach them on unlocked nodes, and there have been a nice batch of Infested Invasions on Saturn today. Other than that, there's been a lot of running Earth - Tikal, Dark Sector Excavation on repeat for credits and resources. I was lucky enough to get a 40 minute run with a Nekros (it's a Christmas miracle!)

 

 

Some of my clan-mates are quite vocal about questioning my sanity, but there has been a lot of support as well (moral support only, no cheating). Still, it's been a very interesting experience. I have a whole new respect for our new players, especially those on a budget.

Edited December 19, 2015 by DaftMeat

[DaftMeat]

Grineer Treasury Ship! Nyx building, first Orokin Reactor building, first Orokin Catalyst building, first Kubrow incubating. Stolen Dreams quest finished. Achieved rank 1 with both Steel Meridian and Cephalon Suda.

I've met a lot of friendly and chatty people at the low end of the game, more nice folks than not. I've only encountered one pair of trolls so far in Jupiter DS Defense, voice chatting about me as "some pub noob" who joined their defense run and kept trying to Switch Teleport me as far away as possible.

I am not at all surprised how much I'm enjoying my second run through. Armed with MR21 knowledge and experience, the game is still challenging and fun taking so many steps back to the beginning.

Odonata Archwing finishes today. Will be able to finish Mercury and Earth and deploy first Extractors.

[DaftMeat]

Kubrow hatched...

SAHASA!

 

Free energy orbs and additional credits and resources! Just what I wanted, thanks RNG Claus!

 

 

Feeling so festive and blessed, I make an Ugly christmas Sweater Excalibur color scheme.

 

 

Odonata Archwing finished building, quest completed, and after 5 missions I finally got my first AW mod: Bleeding Edge for +Crit Damage. This is worse than I remember the first time around. I sincerely hope that in the future this can be updated to include Damaged AW mods in the quest the same way we get damaged mods in the tutorial. I find I'm having to solo complete these low-tier AW missions because no squads are ever found, it seems no one wants to touch this game mode at this level. With the level of difficulty, and the lack of drops/mods/rewards, it's not surprising at all.

 

 

Nyx will be finished tomorrow. Also have a full Valkyr set as well now. With limited inventory slots, soon I will be making hard decisions on which Warframes to keep. I'm leaning towards Mag for Corpus, Valkyr for damage/suitability, and Nekros just for the sake of farming. Everything else may be mastery fodder until I have slots to allow for more. Quest frames like Mesa, Limbo, Mirage will be some of the last I attempt to make, since there's only one way to get them without a straight Platinum purchase.

 

 

As I'm writing this, the first Nitain alert on a node I have unlocked just became available. One step closer to Ivara and Wukong :P

 

*Edit: Also 25k Standing with Sanctuary, halfway to a Sol Battery for scanning, and Got Clem.

Edited December 23, 2015 by DaftMeat

[ShakeyMac]

Really enjoy reading this.  As a relatively new player (started in October) my experiences aren't that much different.  I started out as Mag, and enjoyed the hell out of her, but I'm not your typical casual player.  I spent some time on the forums and the wiki getting to know the mechanics of the game, so with the exception of the Mk1-Strun, I pretty quickly leveled all the "starter" weapons and then sold them to free up space.

 

I also lucked out with a 50% discount plat purchase about a month in, and used that to turn 10 bucks into 20 bucks worth of plat, which gave me a nice buffer to outright buy a sentinel (Helios, natch, for that worry-free scanning) and gave me enough spare dosh to keep my frame and weapon slots ever-increasing.  Some trades of prime parts gave me enough of a buffer to last until the Vault opening for Frost P, which I spoiled myself with as a Christmas gift.  So I've already put about 70 bucks into the game so far (with no regrets, it's been great fun so far).

 

But I also cheated a little.  I ran into a Mag Prime on E Gate, Venus, and we ran the excavations there until ~1500 cryotic or so.  Following this, I was treated to an Energy Siphon, Shield Polarize and Greedy Pull gift by my Prime benefactor, and that let me take Mag and push her farther than your average newbie would be able too.  Having a steady drip of energy combined with being able to essentially go god mode against Corpus really made stuff a lot easier.  I quickly farmed the pieces for Oberon and made him my second frame, followed shortly after by Rhino and then Nyx.  I fell in love with Nyx and turned her into my main as I began to explore the Void more thoroughly.

 

At about the same time I got into Warframe, a good friend re-kindled his interest and was smitten by Trinity.  So be dropped some cash and bought her, and we ran Mag/Trin and Nyx/Trin for some time, which meant if we played safe, there wasn't much we couldn't handle.  I built Nyx Prime maybe two weeks after completing Nyx (got real lucky on Void drops) and things have really just gone up since then.

 

My experience with credits is much the same as yours; in order to stay "relevant" you need to spend cash to upgrade mods, to get new weapons, and to keep your Syndicate rank up.  Upgrading mods is the most expensive overall investment, but also the most necessary in order to function properly in the game.  So early on, you're left with a choice; get more MR via weapons and be relegated to lower-level planets and nodes (which limits your ability to farm resources, which adds another hurdle to overcome in crafting), or do you spend that cash to upgrade the mods you have in order to move on to those higher planets, unlock more alerts/invasions, and get access to new quest lines and resources?

 

It's a tough thing to choose between, because both are so key to the game, both in terms of playing it (new weapons are always fun) and progressing in it.  But there's not enough cash to do both at the same time at a reasonable pace if you're only putting in a few hours per day.

 

Minus the credit dearth, I've found the game rather accessible.  I'd like to see some other means of acquiring inventory slots however, and I agree with your suggestions regarding Archwings.  A more robust introduction to them, as well as some "damaged" mods would go a long way towards helping the early levels.  Basic damage and survival mods would be all that's required, and that would be enough of a foot in the door to keep on until you have better stuff.  In fact, certain "basics" like damaged aura mods and what not would be great additions to the intro levels.  A damaged Steel Charge would be perfect, since it has use to every starter frame.

 

Anyway, great job so far.  Keep us up to date!

[DaftMeat]

Really enjoy reading this.  (Snip)

Belated welcome to Warframe! It is a fun and addicting game, and thanks for your feedback and input.

And you're right, the biggest dilemma when starting boils down to the choice of Mastery Rank vs Farming. Do you try as many weapons and frames as possible, or do you crunch down and hoard credits/resources for specific purposes? From a design point, it's understandable: it keeps people playing longer. From a player perspective, it is kinda frustrating, but challenging in its own right. I will say this: every Mastery Rank I achieve on this account feels a lot more significant again as opposed to my MR21 founder account.

Further updates: beat Grustrag 3 twice so far: each one individually during the Man Of Few Words quest, and then again when they ambushed me after fighting against the Grineer during an invasion (still takes 5 runs to trigger a mark, not 3 unfortunately). NO BRAKK PARTS. Sad Tenno is sad. Marked by Stalker still and now Zanuka. No sign of either.

Ready for next rank with Steel Meridian, but forgot about sacrifice: Forma + 50k credits, and I had neither. Luckily, there was a Forma alert that someone in Recruiting gave me a ride to. Tomorrow I will be able to make syndicate progress again. I need to start planning for future sacrifices, which means less star chart and more void runs.

[-dicht.Amducias-]

To me it seems that warframe is a pain for newer players because there are just so many things u can do and the chats are full of abbrevation-spam that no new player gets a word

[Davoodoo]

To me it seems that warframe is a pain for newer players because there are just so many things u can do and the chats are full of abbrevation-spam that no new player gets a word

Imo its rather about how long it takes to max out serration and hornet strike which are pretty much basic necessity and then seeing how much more you have, 26frames + primes, ~300 weapons and so on. 

Amount of grind is simply staggering.

 

If someone told me. Hey theres that game out there, its really cool but youll have to spend 2 years to get to lvl where im at. I would simply respond, "no thx ill go back to my league of legends".

This metaphore is intentional cause thats what happens within mmo market. Mobas are generally unsuccesful because ppl dont want to invest huge amounts of time to grind champions just to get lol/dota clone, Dota 2 is only example of game which worked because it had no grind and was easy to get into.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Davoodoo

[DaftMeat]

To me it seems that warframe is a pain for newer players because there are just so many things u can do and the chats are full of abbrevation-spam that no new player gets a word

That's almost all MMO's these days. Ever played TERA?

 

Honestly, Region chat can be a bad experience for a lot of players because there are too many people trying to be heard at once. Best advice I can give is to find a Clan. Check the forums and see if you can find a Clan that appeals to you. Join one, test it out, see if you get along with the people in it.

 

Remember, you don't have to get married to your Clan. If you don't find what you're looking for, try another one.

 

Happy gaming...

[DaftMeat]

*Side note: For the last two days, my login reward has been Mutagen Samples.

 

They are a worthless credit-sink.

 

They are not even a resource, they are a micro-resource to BUILD a usable resource.

 

You need to spend 15k credits to buy a Mutagen Mass BP, which then has the following Manufacturing Requirements:

Mutagen Sample 10

Control Module 1

Salvage 500

Plastids 250

Credits 15,000

Build Time - 12 hours

 

After which you get ONE Mutagen Mass.

 

New players: DON'T CRAFT THESE. Run invasions which will give you fully crafted/usable Mutagen Mass, Fieldron, and Detonite Injector rewards instead. Save yourself 30k credits, resources, and time, and get additional rewards for invasion runs instead. Seriously.

[The_Mustachio]

Still leaving random squads in the dust. Parkour 2.0 is not very well known by new players. I had to explain to people "Crouch-jump and hold aim to glide" for players who repeatedly fell off cliffs trying to get to extraction.

 

I was into the game for about a week, when I 'accidentally' triggered bullet jump. I thought to myself, huh this could be useful. The next mission had a large Corpus tile that I needed to traverse, so I was bullet jumping everywhere. I guess the gamer instinct took over and double jumped off a bullet jump. Which made me wonder, what else and I missing. I played around with different jumps and rolls for about 20 mins and found the jump-jump-roll meta. Game changer! 

 

 

Enjoying the journey you're taking. Keep the updates coming!

[YasaiTsume]

Yes.... Warframe is not friendly to new players.

Content has been added at a fast pace that new players are thrown in a baby to the world.

I think they should start by awarding MR based weapons in a "Pick one or the other" function per Mastery Rank up till MR 6.

Also, give the players proper, standard mods, and do away with the damaged ones at the end of Vor's quest.

[DaftMeat]

Also, give the players proper, standard mods, and do away with the damaged ones at the end of Vor's quest.

 

Seriously: add a Common Mod vendor in relays, starting with Larunda.

[YasaiTsume]

Seriously: add a Common Mod vendor in relays, starting with Larunda.

Preach it.

[DaftMeat]

Dilemma: $10 Mobilize pack on Steam.

The Mobilize Pack will help you increase your arsenal and movement for a quick boost in Warframe.

-300 Platinum to use toward new Warframes, Archwings, weapons, pets, and more

-30,000 Credits to assist in making new upgrades to your arsenal

-5 Random Mod Cards to instantly upgrade your inventory

-Mobilize Mod to increase your Bullet Jump speed, along with your duration of Aim Glide and Wall Latch

-Exilus Adapter to instantly unlock an Exilus Mod Slot for Parkour advancements

-Affinity Booster and Credit Booster to quickly level up your Warframe, Archwing, and weapons for 3 days

Very tempting for the plat, the other perks are just bonus.

[ShakeyMac]

10 bucks, for a new player enjoying a game during sale season....that seems reasonable to me.

[DaftMeat]

10 bucks, for a new player enjoying a game during sale season....that seems reasonable to me.

 

Indeed, I went for it. I figured the average new player would have $10 to spend around the holidays on this game, so I think it's a justified expenditure for this experiment.

 

Nyx is rank 20, Mastery Rank 4 achieved. I can finish Earth as Vay Hek node is now unlocked. Working my way through Phobos also to get to Uranus and try to scan an Oculyst to start the Natah quest.

 

Haven't touched Archwing further, I just can't force myself to. I probably should since that Mobilize pack has an affinity booster. I should get one set of AW stuff to 30 just because, and then put it on the shelf until absolutely needed (for Uranus missions or alerts).

 

 

Also it finally happened, the moment I've been dreading (no pun intended): Stalker...

I was in a squad running Void missions with people of similar Mastery Rank maybe 1-2 ranks higher. The others were on Rank 30 Warframes. When I got his threats, we gathered up, a Volt put up shields around us, we prepared for his spawn ... and as soon as he appeared he put a Dread arrow through the Volt shield, through me, and into the Volt behind me as well. Two instant deaths with one shot. 

 

"Well, you should have been moving constantly when you got the message."

Will the average new player know this? Is it immediately obvious that this is a new enemy that is grossly overpowered and capable of killing you in under one second? Is there any indication that if you revive, he will still be gone and you will lose your chance to defeat him? No, none of these things are readily apparent. I treated it the same that any other new player would treat any other enemy: look for it, and try and fight it. And it resulted in instant death, not just for me, but for a fully geared Volt as well.

 

"I like the new Stalker because he's challenging and this game is too easy!"

I have no problem with challenge. This game definitely needs it. But implemented the right way. Vay Hek's boss node is MR locked. Players know that it is probably different from most other boss fights. Additionally, while he is deadly, he is not cheap. If he kills you, he doesn't just disappear afterwards without giving you another shot at him the way Stalker does. You go into the fight a bit more prepared. Raids are also acceptable as challenge. They tell you going in that 8 players is recommended which is twice as many teammates as other missions.

 

In both of these cases, you know what you're getting into. You are warned. You can prepare. You choose to accept the risk. You have more than one chance to succeed, since you can revive in these missions. Stalker can show up without warning, without explanation, without allowing preparation. A vague email saying "You will pay..." doesn't prepare you for what you're up against. There are no tactics beyond DPS RACE. 

 

I believe that Stalker still needs work. While some veteran players may like the difficulty he presents, from a new player perspective it feels very different in my opinion. It felt cheap. It felt like artificial difficulty. Not challenging, not fun, just disappointing.

 

Your opinion may differ.