Is warframe going into a ¨Dark Age¨?

[(PSN)Kallastin]

In my fair share of about 700+ Hours into this game i feel like it is slowly dying from how upset the community is. I Absolutely love this game, but it is starting to feel like warframe is going down in players due to what was been given to us through the past couple updates. In my honest opinion, i believe warframe started to downfall when the lunaro update hit the game on PC, and consoles. It was a nice addition to the game but it really cant hold its own weight knowing the only two sought after items the conclave has to offer is the Syandana, and the Riv-Elite Armour set. A month or two later down the line ¨SOTR¨ hit the game as well, and this is where the game really started to get hurt. From the void being changed to New relics for new warframes/ weapons, this upset a lot of players, Vets, casual, and even some new players are really upset that the changes were permanently made for this game. If you keep up with warframe news you might now that Alot of youtubers including, (Tactical Potato, H3adsh0t, Bousefeenux, and even Mogamu are all upset, and they are stopping the game, or not playing it as muchas they used to. This is my opinion, and i would enjoy reading the replies to this.

[bejuizb]

It's a game built on content additions. Lesser content additions, lesser player retention. People will come back when new stuff comes on. 

[Mcl_Blue]

According to the forums, Warframe goes into a "dark age" once every two weeks AT THE VERY LEAST.

[Varacal]

Just now, Mcl_BlueMadness said:

According to the forums, Warframe goes into a "dark age" once every two weeks AT THE VERY LEAST.

dont forget the few weeks after every major patch with new mechanics that the "veterans" dont like

[DEADSHOT456]

If 25k+ average players every single month of 2016 equals to the "game dying", then, yes, Warframe is dying, I suppose.

Also, this.

And that is just Steam. I myself have not linked to Steam and still use DE's standalone launcher. I believe there is quite a few people like me.

Edit - Oh, and I totally forgot PS4 and Xbone. I think Warframe hits a ~50k average players every month.

Edited September 13, 2016 by DEADSHOT456

[SethCypher]

Warframe constantly has this sort of thing going on. To avoid burning out, people will try other games until Warframe has additional content...which is like every month after every major update that happens.

Does this mean Warframe is dead? I'd say no, until DE absolutely shuts down the servers we can't really say its going into the dark ages or become dead.

EDIT: Also have to take into account that most of the recent updates have been geared towards new player experience, which is something the game has needed improvement on since...always and forever probably. So naturally, old players will find themselves with nothing to do until TWW kicks in.

Edited September 13, 2016 by SethCypher

[chaotea]

Ive been in warframe since near the beginning (ive got my shiny badge) and i can tell you that nothing has changed. There are always people moaning about how each major update has ruined the game.

 

Its true that usually warframe players peak just after big content drops, go down for a while, then peak again at the next big content pack. With SotR weave seen the content split into more parts since lunaro. I think this has affected the usual status quo abit, but when its done and they go to the usual content drops it'll be business as usual.

[(PSN)xKAIOWAx]

My feeling after 3 years is, i ever play for fun and pleasure, now i play for obligation , this game became "heavy" , all this kinds of farms , syndicate , focus, fragments, dailys , raids... Jizus why??? Isnt not my job , i just want fun

[-Krose]

Only DE have the true player graphics... Only them know if their game is dying or not... and Steam is just a portion of the total player base...

Also, its always like that, people are waiting for the War Within.

[(XBOX)KC9EYE]

I have to disagree. From my point of view, the SOTR update brought me back to this game. As a relatively new player, I found this game lacking any kind of structure or progressive flow prior. That is until they changed the map. Now there is clear progression to the game, instead of the hog pog that existed before. I think it makes the game much more player friendly in terms of new players entering the game for the first time. Which as we all know, is any games (Developers) bread and butter, i.e. new players. If you don't constantly have an influx of new players, then your game HAS entered the dark ages. In my opinion, if the old players of the community are as upset about the changes as you say they are, then the developers are doing everything right. You can't progress a game past the point of being uninterruptible for new players. If you do then the only ones that understand how your game got to this point is the older player base, which means your game is dead. Which means the lights in the studio are going to be turned off soon. Eventually everyone finds other things to play and without an influx of new players the game is dead, so updating the progression of the game so new players can drive the developers to bring new content shouldn't make people upset. It should make them help the new player base more, so the developers can bring new content being driven by the influx of new players. 

My $0.02, your mileage WILL vary.

[F4talFr4me]

6 hours ago, bejuizb said:

It's a game built on content additions. Lesser content additions, lesser player retention. People will come back when new stuff comes on. 

Game is built on bandaids, which are connected to more bandaids. they need to fix the initial bandaid to then fix the other bandaids. game is a buggy mess.

Edited September 13, 2016 by [DE]Taylor
removed off-topic remark

[DeadlyBard676]

3 hours ago, (XB1)KC9EYE said:

I have to disagree. From my point of view, the SOTR update brought me back to this game. As a relatively new player, I found this game lacking any kind of structure or progressive flow prior. That is until they changed the map. Now there is clear progression to the game, instead of the hog pog that existed before. I think it makes the game much more player friendly in terms of new players entering the game for the first time. Which as we all know, is any games (Developers) bread and butter, i.e. new players. If you don't constantly have an influx of new players, then your game HAS entered the dark ages. In my opinion, if the old players of the community are as upset about the changes as you say they are, then the developers are doing everything right. You can't progress a game past the point of being uninterruptible for new players. If you do then the only ones that understand how your game got to this point is the older player base, which means your game is dead. Which means the lights in the studio are going to be turned off soon. Eventually everyone finds other things to play and without an influx of new players the game is dead, so updating the progression of the game so new players can drive the developers to bring new content shouldn't make people upset. It should make them help the new player base more, so the developers can bring new content being driven by the influx of new players. 

My $0.02, your mileage WILL vary.

while the current maps is good i still miss the original starchart. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by KiryuKusakabe

[Xzorn]

6 hours ago, Varacal said:

dont forget the few weeks after every major patch with new mechanics that the "veterans" dont like

 

What new mechanics?

Parkour 2.0, Archwing,  Void 2.0  and Focus are just about the only things they've done outside ability "reworks" since Damage 2.0, in nearly 3 years.

One of those is independent of the primary game, one is unfinished and broken and the other killed majority of endurance runner's entertainment.

Mechanics are the one thing I'd love to get some changes on. Namely Scaling, Damage, Status and Melee.

You know....  The things you do every single time you're playing the game. Which are broken in design.

 

[Slander630]

6 hours ago, Mcl_BlueMadness said:

According to the forums, Warframe goes into a "dark age" once every two weeks AT THE VERY LEAST.

This. some one can sneeze on the forums and a dark age ensues....

 

Just because a You Tuber goes off to pursue something else/ throws a hissy fit, doesn't mean a game is dying, having burnouts/ lack of content, grind, its all part of the process, having almost 2500 hours into this game, I still find myself enjoying this gem of a game, sure, SOTR does have its ups and downs, (I'm looking at you "new and realistic" Archwing controls.)  and of course players are going to go on a Hysteria fueled rant when Baro doesn't show up with some fancy new tools/ cosmetics for us to use, even after a good month of bad loot over and over. In the vernacular, the old saying still holds true:

 

                                                                          "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

[----Fenrir----]

6 hours ago, DEADSHOT456 said:

If 25k+ average players every single month of 2016 equals to the "game dying", then, yes, Warframe is dying, I suppose.

Also, this.

And that is just Steam. I myself have not linked to Steam and still use DE's standalone launcher. I believe there is quite a few people like me.

Edit - Oh, and I totally forgot PS4 and Xbone. I think Warframe hits a ~50k average players every month.

Those numbers are worthless without the actual amount of time played. 20k of those 25k could just be login in for the login reward every day and not play at all. Same for the console numbers. The existence of login rewards makes the numbers of people that login every day a completely meaningless statistic.

[(XBOX)Englands Own]

7 hours ago, (PS4)strasserhouse said:

In my fair shisre of about 700+ Hours iyouhis game i f ssel like it is slowly dyin Fissurehow upset the community is. I Absolute ly love this game yf but it is starting to feel like warframe is going down in players due to what was been given to us through the past couple updates. In my honest opinion, i believe warframe started to downfall when the lunaro update hit the game on PC, and consoles. It was a nice addition to the game but it really cant hold its own weight knowing the only two sought after items the conclave has to offer is the Syandana, and the Riv-Elite Armour set. A month or two later down the line ¨SOTR¨ hit the game as well, and this is where the game really started to get hurt. From the void being changed to New relics for new warframes/ weapons, this upset a lot of players, Vets, casual, and even some new players are really upset that the changes were permanently made for this game. If you keep up with warframe news you might now that Alot of youtubers including, (Tactical Potato, H3adsh0t, Bousefeenux, and even Mogamu are all upset, and they are stopping the game, or not playing it as muchas they used to. This is my opinion, and i would enjoy reading the replies to this.

I totally agree, I've played the game on console when Mesa was the newest frame, so a while now.My honest opinion, the fissure missions are dull and easy.I've lost any will or desire to farm primes any more.Although not everyone liked the endless void runs.That's where my enjoyment and challenge came, even If you didn't get what you wanted, at least you had ducat fodder.All the forma you used to try and build stronger weapons and frames Is wasted, due to fissure missions that you could do with little to no effort.When something Is so easy, It quickly becomes boring.

[MystMan]

An online game enters a "Dark Age" once it becomes clear as day that you can't find anybody in pub to play with for more than a month due to the low amount of people.That's like when the average player base of an MMO drops below 100.  Such games are done for.

Why people make a big deal about some youtubers leaving makes no sense. We can think for ourselves and play what we like.  What some popular online stranger does should have no effect on our daily videogame decisions.  Unless you like behaving like a brainwashed cultist who does whatever Thee-You-Worship does.

Edited September 14, 2016 by MystMan

[(XBOX)Lem0n Sama]

No.

[Latiac]

Perhaps a little, it seems that way because TWW is always being delayed (it seems like anyway) and we've burned through all the content released before then.

 

Also it might be partly because we don't have the need or motivation to run long survivals or defenses anymore, which was a core thing that kept many returning, Facing high elvel enemies trying to survive and getting loot for it. (Which I personally think is a step backwards, Relics have certainly helped in some aspects, but have crushed the game in other.)

[bejuizb]

10 hours ago, F4talFr4me said:

Game is built on bandaids, which are connected to more bandaids. they need to fix the initial bandaid to then fix the other bandaids. game is a buggy mess.

Oh I never denied that. I simply chose to not start the thread with my usual pessimistic, jaded vein of thought. Decided to stick to neutral statements. 

[Elyann]

I think the game is entering its "dark age" , yes. Even though dark age is a relative concept. 
I myself kinda quit the game after specters of the rail , endo , void 2.0 , kavats , titania and new relics to farm being introduced.
I'll just say that while a lot of people ( me included ) complain about these changes , new players and even some vets seem to enjoy them.
I actually think the game is too grindy as it is, even considering that they had already promised us to reduce the grind in january...while it feels like it doubled or tripled even.
Warframes got and will still be getting lots of nerfs while enemies got buffed and even had new additions to their ranks if not complete reworks ( talking about boss fights ) . 
There now is a serious issue with the affinity system....draco wasn't the problem....the fact all the other missions don't give enough xp is...it takes one whole day to level up a frame up to 30....and there's about 350+ weapons / frames / archwings / ecc... now ? Once you get close to the cap you might feel a little bored.
Void 2.0 completely annihilated the host / join  system and made it impossible for people to help their friends unless said friends grinded for the proper relics in the first place....problem that I never noticed with keys to be fair...which makes the system looks like a grind to unlock a new grind ( expecially when new relic types come out ) .
There's no point in endgame anymore, you don't get multiple rewards, you use 4 relics to get only 1 reward, farming for ducats is harder , farming for plat is harder too since the parts market fell due to the fact it's just too easy to get any prime piece you want...making the game get even more tough on those people who'd like to play warframe without spending money on slots ( and now everything has slots....even archwing and aw weapons....).
There also isn't any point in fighting high level enemies since fissure missions are so short and easy....I can just bring a level 0 primary into any mission, there's no point in forma-ing or catalyzing anything anymore .
Kavats take a ton of time to be obtained compared to kubrows....and there's also the risk you may get something you don't like / don't need due to the fact they have different traits and there's only 2 races...so it's a 50-50 chance.
Power creep is still a problem for many weapons / frames while a lot more op weapons and frames get introduced , old ones just don't get reworked as often as they should to be put on pair with new additions nor anything is done about scaling.
And there's just so many more things I could list that made me or other players upset....but still...it wouldn't be positive so I'm going to stop here.
Yes....lots of players quit since specters of the rail...and yes...further updates made the game get even worse in my opinion....but as well as there's people like me who do not like these changes there also are people who do enjoy them, so I can't really tell how it's going to end....it also depends on the future decisions DE is going to take, maybe they'll end up with more players than before.
 

[SolarDwagon]

Literally the only youtuber I care about enough to even recognise in your post is mogamu, and I'd have to have a look at even his complaints to judge, given the number of veteran hissy fits that have been thrown lately.
Warframe has a metric S#&$-ton of issues. And yet it's probably the game I spend the most hours on a week. Why? Because it's a fun game that has a community large enough to be able to find games. Very quickly, in most cases (at least during NA hours). Warframe is also lucky enough to have been created with player diversity in mind, at least to some degree-some people love spy missions, others hate them, some people love going to 2 hours in survival purely because they can, others see no point in not resetting every 20 for easier farming... and the game mechanics let all these people play "Warframe".

tl;dr: no.

[AurumandArgentum]

People don't like change, when change comes they go " ITS THE END OF WARFRAME," blah blah blah blah, then the bugs get fixed and the dust settles and people finally stop and think to themselves, hey, this aint half bad. 

Then there is the crowd that just likes to *@##$ and moan period who want it to go back before update X and retcon stuff and etc, those are everywhere.

To sum up no warframe is not going into a dark age, it's just following the law of gaming, when change comes, people complain for no reason, or with valid reasons.

 

[ashrah]

i like to watch some youtubers...and i avoid toxic  ppl for any cost lol...warframe is very live and will go for long we getting lot updates...now we lack on  end game content...i really miss old void

[DEADSHOT456]

7 hours ago, ----Fenrir---- said:

Those numbers are worthless without the actual amount of time played. 20k of those 25k could just be login in for the login reward every day and not play at all. Same for the console numbers. The existence of login rewards makes the numbers of people that login every day a completely meaningless statistic.

Do you see that BIG number under which it say "playing X min ago"?

Yeah, that does not come from only login. The peak can include only logins but 15k players playing right this second is not from logins.

Even if you argue that people are logging in and logging out every second, it still can not be 15k different people logging in and out at a specific time. I will go so far to say that at least 10-12k of those 15k players right at this moment(this moment as in when I am posting, the numbers will most likely change by the time you read this post) are actually playing the game.

And it is not even the peak time of the day right now. Check back in about 12 hours and I can assure you that 15k will turn to 20-23k.

 

Also, when you and OP claim that "People are leaving", "Dark Age", you guys are basically saying that out of thin air. You can not even provide a single statistical data.

I might not be able to provide the most accurate statistical data, but I am providing something. Steamcharts are probably one of the most popular source of publicly available statistical data. Where is the data to support your or OP's claim?

Edited September 14, 2016 by DEADSHOT456
missed part of a sentence.