Warframe Build Times

[Anti051]

The only problem I have with this game is in the crafting aspect, specifically the amount of time required to create a full warframe once all the components have been acquired. I could understand something reasonable such as a 24-hour build time for a full warframe, but three days? Really?

I can't possibly be the only one here who finds a 72-hour build time completely outrageous.

[Gaiters]

It is a little much considering the time it takes to gather all of the parts in the first place.

[DigitalDamage]

Personally I think it's 100% fine. The dev team has done a very good job with making all content in the game available to f2p players and have made it so that the only reason you'd want to pay for platinum is for the Orokin Catalysts/Reactors (which is, admittedly, a pretty good reason) and to Rush items being made--that's it. They've made it so that their only income comes from whether or not the player wants convenience. That alone justifies the 72-hour build time, at least in my opinion.

[Frazeil]

I'd prefer it if they reduce the time it takes to craft the item. We do spend an incredible amount of time to craft the frame only to have to wait 3 days to even use it, add that it already takes half a day to craft each part and you're looking to wait days to use something you've been playing days to make.

If they reduce it I'd prefer 1-2 days, maybe make it possible to use the in-game currency to reduce some of the time? Note I said some..

[Nyss]

Another heavy reason to buy platinum is to expand your inventory, as there is no other way to yet.

Maybe if the devs added a 50,000 credit per inventory slot, and 80,000 credit per warframe slot cost?

[Alteris]

Maybe if the devs added a 50,000 credit per inventory slot, and 80,000 credit per warframe slot cost?

I actually like this idea, it means that you still have to work for it but at the same time its not insanely hard to abtrain :).

[cypherhalo]

Yeah, a 3 day wait for a warframe that you had to farm 3 blueprints from boss fights and also farm all the materials for is excessive. Personally, I think you should be able to buy all the blueprints you need from the market, I don't see how it is helpful to the game to make getting a new frame such a pain. I know they want to encourage you to buy but this is a bit much.

Particularly when you consider the situation of people who may not like the frame they're in. Someone posted a thread on that recently and I can understand their frustration. To use an example from another game, I bought a few champs when I started League of Legends and I wasn't good with all of them (Master Yi, looking at you). I may not have kept playing the game if I was locked into a champ I didn't like for hours upon hours. Fortunately, I just don't play Yi and play people I'm good with instead. Anway, obviously a different game here and you have less characters. Regardless, the current system for a free player to get a frame strikes me as excessive. It's cool if they want it to be some work, but the amount of work is crazy.

I'm also against buying slots. Personally, I'd prefer they be done away with entirely. I don't need to buy "barracks" to house my League of Legends champs after all. If not that, then make it so I can buy the slots with credits.

[lorddash2]

Yeah, a 3 day wait for a warframe that you had to farm 3 blueprints from boss fights and also farm all the materials for is excessive. Personally, I think you should be able to buy all the blueprints you need from the market, I don't see how it is helpful to the game to make getting a new frame such a pain. I know they want to encourage you to buy but this is a bit much.

Particularly when you consider the situation of people who may not like the frame they're in. Someone posted a thread on that recently and I can understand their frustration. To use an example from another game, I bought a few champs when I started League of Legends and I wasn't good with all of them (Master Yi, looking at you). I may not have kept playing the game if I was locked into a champ I didn't like for hours upon hours. Fortunately, I just don't play Yi and play people I'm good with instead. Anway, obviously a different game here and you have less characters. Regardless, the current system for a free player to get a frame strikes me as excessive. It's cool if they want it to be some work, but the amount of work is crazy.

I'm also against buying slots. Personally, I'd prefer they be done away with entirely. I don't need to buy "barracks" to house my League of Legends champs after all. If not that, then make it so I can buy the slots with credits.

hear this man developers. dont make it such a pain in the &#! for playing the game.

if you need to make money, do skins, or skin parts, dont know. or give me 1 or 2 slots more, or point it out that i could buy it whit my free plats i get at the start. crafting a warframe for 3x12h and than again 3 days kinda sux. in that time i will play other games, and spent my money there!!!!

[Hietala217]

I know I was face palming when I picked Volt at the beginning. The low shield is a pita for a new player, pretty well adjusted now... but yeah, I would have loved to switch over to Excalibur, for instance. Working up the money to craft a new melee weapon atm... too bad it'll be 12 hours before I'll be able to use it once have the finally couple thousand. lol

[Frazeil]

You can choose only ONE out of THREE Warframes so you have to really think about it. I personally loved Volt so I picked him and enjoyed every second, his shield doesn't last long but it blocks ANYTHING, his last skill is just awesome. There are always going to be people that picked wrong but it cat be helped, there is only so much content right now.

I can imagine at release they could expand it if they make new frames from now til then, but at the moment I don't see a problem with the first Frame options avaiable. They are quite descriptive so if you picked wrong you probably didn't really think about it.

[Hietala217]

I didn't really pick wrong, I love Volt now that I'm used to the game and the flow of things. When I first started it was a bit rough though. Learning how far you can push into an enemy line before your shield will disappear, etc...

Thanks to the Speed skill and a few mods it's not unusual to chain 4-6 melee kills together and have over half of my shield left. :)

[Zakalwe]

It takes a few hours of farming to gather the mats (unless you get really unlucky), then 12 hours to make the frame parts, then 3 days to build the frame.

That's pretty resonable for free content. If it were any less than that, people would find the shortcuts much less enticing.

If they got rid of the build times, they'd have to either increase component cost or decrease drop rates, both of which could potentially frustrate you even more.

I look at the build time as auto-mated farm time. If it weren't building, I'd need to be repeating the same areas over and over for even more materials. I like that I can build and leave it and actually enjoy the rest of the game while I wait.

[Frazeil]

Most people would only be building another Warframe because they probably maxed out their current one. After farming for hours for materials, waiting half a day for each part you can finally build it. BUT it will take 3 days! Sure, you could farm for more materials but for more stuff you have to wait ages for? And you have a pretty small capacity for equipment already. I just think it's outright a pain in the &#! and could steer free users away.

[Malikon]

My 2 cents:

The current build times seem reasonable to me considering there's absolutely nothing forcing you to spend any money to enjoy the game. All the devs ask in return is whatever you choose to give them, be it time, money, or nothing at all. It took more time to unlock the maps than it took to get the actual materials and the BPs for the frames I've built thusfar (Ember and Ash). The 3 day build times gave me time to learn and level the frame(s) and weapons I had available (plus little nuances of the game) while I was building more. Builds continue while you're not logged on, so unless you dont keep the hours that normal people do (6~10 hours a day asleep and 8 at school/work) during those three days, you're only really waiting 18 to 30 hours.

Compare that to some of the other F2P games where you *have* to pay to have access to anymore more than a few (usually underpowered) weapons and base classes, or have large portions of the game unavailable to you unless you pay. I consider this an acceptable tradeoff.

[Saekas]

Really the only issue I have is the time it takes to acquire the blueprints. The 3 day build time isn't really much at all I think. Think about Eve, where a Titan class ship takes an entire MONTH to build. I wouldn't particularly mind if the time was reduced to say, 24 hours, but I'm still content with the current system.

[khimera]

I'm new here, but here's what I think:

I agree that the current time it takes to build a warframe is fine. Most of the above posters already said something more logical and elaborate along these lines. In all honesty, has anyone considered the in-game canonical work that would go into making a warframe in the first place? They are POWERFUL things, not to mention technically each one is a separate character. I should think that even a 72 hour wait on the crafting of the warframes is fairly short all things considered if you think about the story.

The Tenno have been in stasis a long time. The fact that much of their most powerful technology, i.e. the Warframes, exists still even in blueprint form initially is astounding. Even with the guidance of the Lotus I should think that a Warframe is a difficult thing to craft.

I would also like to help point out and enforce what someone said earlier: you're still building even when you're not logged in.

[Cakes]

Build times feel ok given that you don't even have to be logged on for the timer to keep going on. Ember just finished for me, Rhino in a few hours, followed by Trinity, then Mag, then Ash.

The real problem most F2Pers are going to face is: only 2 warframe slots and the starting one is already taking up one of them :3

Edited January 31, 2013 by Cakes

[Zakalwe]

Build times feel ok given that you don't even have to be logged on for the timer to keep going on. Ember just finished for me, Rhino in a few hours, followed by Trinity, then Mag, then Ash.

The real problem most F2Pers are going to face is: only 2 warframe slots and the starting one is already taking up one of them :3

Use your free 50 platinum to buy new slots. :)

[Frazeil]

Use your free 50 platinum to buy new slots. :)

New players are more likely to run into the issue of leveling up your equipment before Warframe slot issues, and most will of spent it to upgrade their weapons first. There's no explaination fore warning about having limited slots, and there's no method to obtain more besides premium.

[Animeweedlord]

It takes forever to make a waframe when you count the time to grind for the items, to build the parts, then build the warframe out of the built parts.

It takes way too long.

[khimera]

New players are more likely to run into the issue of leveling up your equipment before Warframe slot issues, and most will of spent it to upgrade their weapons first. There's no explaination fore warning about having limited slots, and there's no method to obtain more besides premium.

There is no warning about limited slots, but I don't think f2p's like myself really expect to be able to wield or store every single warframe without some effort. While it would be nice if there were a way to gather slots without platinum for now that seems impossible. Seeing how valuable Warframe Slots are, they would be EXTREMELY expensive if you tried to buy them without platinum. I can see equipment slots being less expensive than warframe slots and more expensive than regular inventory slots if that makes sense.

Another thing when it comes to upgrading and making Warframes: The Orokin Reactors. To access the full power of a warframe you require an Orokin Reactor which, so far as I know, can only be bought with 20 Platinum. Now, since it takes roughly the same amount of platinum (I'd need to double check actually) to get a warframe slot then the cost of a warframe slot would equal an orokin reactor/catalyst if ever they became available via credits.

It takes forever to make a waframe when you count the time to grind for the items, to build the parts, then build the warframe out of the built parts.

It takes way too long.

I disagree. You are essentially gathering the materials to make a new character, abilities and all. I should think that once you have the blueprints you would have the information to get the necessary materials. You could gather enough materials for one part of the warframe and go off for the rest while one part is getting built and so on. -shrugs-

[DetergentPod]

I honestly think they should reduce the time it takes to build a warframe to 1 - 2 days like most people said. My friend took 14 days of constant Everest just to get all his parts for trinity. It took me 2 hours to get all my parts for Ash but I'm probably among the minority that is just very lucky. As for the upgrade (Orokin Reactors/Catalyst) they should make it so certain bosses drop but make the chances of that like extremely low (1%). So if someone just log on to play and find one it might just brighten their day. As for the Warframe blue print, another way for the Dev to make money is to sell the individual parts for Plat, (Helmet, System, Chassis). Make them Plat only. This would encourage people to buy Plat for it or farm a boss for it. Which for the most part keep dropping the same part 3 - 5 times before dropping something else or absolutely nothing.

Another great feature I think would be a training button where people can test all the difference Warframe along with their skills and find the one they're most comfortable with.

[Malikon]

Another great feature I think would be a training button where people can test all the difference Warframe along with their skills and find the one they're most comfortable with.

+1 for you. I approve of the idea. To expand on this, think like the X-Men's danger room. Enter danger room with level 30 cookie-cutter of the frame that's on trial with regenerating energy and health and unlimited ammunition. You play with the frame in this environment until you choose to quit. When you quit, you have gained no xp, levelled no weapons, but have gotten a taste of what the frame itself can do and whether or not it suits your taste. Limit this to one use every few days or once a week or something.

[RainDreamer]

While I have no problem with build time personally, I think having too long of a build time can be bad for the game. I mean, player build stuff to use them. If they can't use the item they want right away, what will they do? They leave and do something else, till it is done. The longer the build time, the longer they will be away. Do the devs want people to be away for 3 days, just logging on for the reward, then leave, until their stuff is finished? All that player time could have been better used.