How to progress in power

[Sibcoe]

Hey all - Still fairly new here and beginning to wonder about the power curve of the game.  Anything with an "endgame" usually requires that the player grow in power and reach a point where they can handle the bigger and tougher challenge of an endgame mode.  In WF how does that happen?  I am MR4 right now and have maxed two warframes and the weapons I was using with both.  I have just reached Mars and finding some of the content starting to challenge me for the first time, even when using a maxed warframe and maxed weapons and the best use I can of the simple mods I have.  

First, I am wondering how I can progress in power overall.  Second, and related, I understand that to level MR you need to use new weapons and warframes, so how can I then be powerful enough for increasingly challenging content and progression if I constantly need to change into Rank 0 warframes and weapons.  

Appreciate any help in understanding how progression works.  

Thank you.

[(PSN)lhbuch]

I will give you the same advice people gave me 3 years ago.

1)Join a good clan so you can progress with the help of other people while having fun.

2) Progress the star chart and look for the weapons/frames that you like for each type of mission.

3) Look for the essential mods mods for weapons and frames ( some of them will be in almost all builds)

4) Max the mods

5) Forma weapons and frames to fit the maxed mods

AND most importantly, HAVE FUN! Dont worry about becoming powerful, you will eventually get everything as you play. Warframe is not a game where everything is explained or straight out clear, so everything will start to make sense over time as you play.

[(PSN)HammerOfTheMist]

In answer to your second question about the need to change back to Rank 0 weapons & frames...  You don't need to do it all at once.  And there is a lot of grinding in this game, so you often go back into easier areas where the lower ranked gear is not a problem.  For example, at the moment I'm running around a certain planet with a rank 30 Titania frame looking for a certain challenge room that she'll be a good fit for (I'm being deliberately vague to avoid spoilers).  But I just Forma'd my main weapon so it's back to Rank 0.  I've also got a high rank melee weapon and a mid-rank secondary.  With this setup I can't just walk into a room and blast away - I need to think a bit about how to handle a room with 15 enemies.  And that makes it fun.

And you may not have figured this out yet (lot's of stuff to learn in this game), but you can mod a weapon/frame up to the max of *either* it's rank OR your Mastery Rank.  So if I'm MR10, I've got 10 points (or 20 if I have a 'potato' on it) of mods for new weapons and frames.

And yes, HAVE FUN.  There will always be meta weapons and frames, but you can clear most of the star chart with almost any frame and weapon - it's all about the mods.  Find some you like and lean on them.  Be willing to experiment.  Enjoy.

Good Luck, Tenno.

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

You won't need to -constantly- switch weapons. I believe that the highest mastery lock in the game is set at mr16, beeing a riven lock that is randomly generated and in no way relevant to the actuall mod.

Power progression happens over 2 factors: Mods and strategy.

Better mods give better results, maxed mods don't mean that your weapons and frames perform perfect tho. Endgame progression is learning the games mechanics and building a perfect setup around them.

[Sibcoe]

Appreciate all the answers - thanks guys.