Helping a new bro out

[PureSugar]

So this is my 4th day into the game and people keep telling me FARM PLANETS FARM PLANETS but doing solo stuff all the time is pretty boring and people dont tend to help new people out. So my question is ... is there a progression path into this game that could help me get to the "end-game" ?

[Neah]

There is no 'linear' path to end game, and 'end game' in Warframe is quite a fickle thing, in which almost everyone has a different definition for (for some its getting into very long Survival / Defense missions, for some its Fashion - Being as fabulous as you can, etc.) . Why they ask you to unlock the planets is there is an upcoming major update which changes the starchart, where missions will not always be available for you to play. So there is a possibility you cannot progress through the star chart on your own pace due to mission nodes being inactive at the time. Now, onto your question about progression : Your 'power' depends on 3 things :

1. Weapons / Frames
Yes, yes everything has to do with weapons / frames you have, but know that they are merely the base upon which you build on. This accounts for ~25% of your 'power', while there is a few outliers in terms of weapon 'tiers', most of them do not matter unless you're planning on going to very very late game. (>2 hours in Survival, >60 waves in Defense) which you would not even be attempting since you're asking this question. 

2. Mods
The most important part of Warframe, and where the majority of your 'strength' comes from. Without mods, Warframes and Weapons can be classified as 'useless', and maxing out the base Damage mods i.e. (Serration, Hornet Strike etc.) is the core of your damage / strength, and they take a while to max out, (if you have a friend helping, you can technically do it in ~1/2 week(s) per mod). Learning how to mod your stuff is very important, and you can ask for builds for weapons in this subforum / reddit etc. Know that you do not have to have all of the mods maxed out for the regular Starchart, you can pretty much clear those without much trouble (generally speaking) with a few basic mods.

Levelling stuff increases the mod capacity, more capacity = more mods you can have on an equipment at one time, Orokin Catalysts double the capacity for Weapons, while Reactors double the capacity for frames. You can also 'Polarize' your equipment using Forma. Polarizing adds a polarity to the mod slot, which halves the mod cost of mods with the matching icon (every mod has one, look at the top right section), while increasing the mod cost of mismatched polarities. 

3. Experience 
As with any game, experience determines how well you do in the game. Even moreso in Warframe, where you need to tailor your builds for specific things, such as glass cannon builds for maximum killing power / General builds for usual stuff / Speedrun build etc. There is a lot, and by that I mean A. Lot. Of builds you can do. Also, parkour. How well you can use the parkour abilities will make quite the difference in your experience, as it not only gives you the freedom of moving with very high speeds, and it makes enemies less accurate, which helps in surviving a lot of things in Warframe. There are also quite a few in game mechanics that you should learn, such as survival spawning, stick together with your teammates for smoother spawns, don't stray too far from your teammates, etc. (Just to name one).

Like the others above have stated, find a clan which helps out newbies, it would smoothen your experience quite a great deal.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Neah

[ButterLutter]

You could try to find a clan either here in the forum or ingame in the recruiting channel.
once you did i am sure you will find someone who helps you.

its like you said, doing stuff solo isnt always fun, so in the end finding a friendly clan might be a good start :)

[Godzilla853]

I can give you a good start if you stick to the game, I have had to many new players start and leave.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Godzilla853

[Wopel]

Progression is:

Level up frames (mastery rating)

Level up weapons (mastery rating)

Level up companions (more a credit/resource sink but gives mastery rating equal to frames)

Right now, you want to get to MR12 as that is the requirement for several good weapons. This assures you can use everything possible.

 

The reason people say to do the planets, is it increases the number of mods you will get as drops and it will give you a feel for each of the mission types. It will also let you fight the bosses (which drop frame blueprints and mods at the least), and will open all the nodes so you can do alerts/syndicate missions when they pop up.

Mods are pretty much the way you progress your frames and weapons. You need them. To do well at the later levels, you need them leveled. You level them by using duplicates (if common) or using fusion cores (if uncommon or worth selling) that drop.... while you kills things or as rewards from the missions on the planets.

There is a reason they call it Grindframe at times.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Wopel

[Doctor_Grayfield]

23 minutes ago, Neah said:

There is no 'linear' path to end game...

Really, really great advice in that post!  I wish I would've had someone explain all this to me back in 2014 when I started.

 

I'll add that farming the planets, while boring solo, will unlock more nodes in the solar system.  More nodes unlocked for you means more alerts that you can participate in when the Lotus makes them available to us.  It is possible for you to group with others that have that node unlocked to complete the alert (this is the meaning of a "taxi" when you see that in recruiting chat), but it makes getting those alert rewards so much easier when you can get there yourself anytime.  More rewards means better mods, more credits, and better cosmetics.  I found that all three of those things contributed to the power of my warframes and to me enjoying the game much more.