Warframe intro quest changes

[(PSN)mmcareen]

So after reading some comments, some constructive, some not so much, I decided to reconstruct my idea as some of the points were really good.  I left my original post below.  My reason behind this is to help with player retention.  I have a lot of online friends who I know would love Warframe, if they got into it.  They tried it, did the first quest, game didn't explain nothing after that so they gave up.  Honestly I would probably be in the same boat if people didn't help and explain stuff when I first started, now I have 5000 hours in the game.  I know people are going to say there is the wiki, there is the forums, reddit.  Yes, I know of all of those, but a lot of players are not going to go to those when they first start a free to play game.  They are not going to spend hours reading up on Warframe to understand what's going on to see IF they might like it.  So my original post was just something very minor I thought could help keep people around.  My changes however are not going to be so minor.

Change 1 - would be change how MK1 weapons work.  I think these should have much less xp requires and level up very quickly.  There isn't many MK1 weapons in the game so there isn't a huge downside to this other then a few thousand easy mastery points.  My reason for this will be a later change

Change 2 - should be the Skana that's in the quest as a possible first melee weapon should be replaced with a MK1 Skana.  Only real downside is people complaining about a useless weapon in the game.

Change 3 - is that the Bo, Kunai, Furis and Skana in the market should be changed to credits instead of being built.

Change 4 - The part after picking your weapons, when you go to get a segment for your ship, you also recover 3 fully built catalyst, that the game requires you to put in your starter weapons as part of the quest.  The Lotus can give a very brief explanation of what they are and that there is 1 called a reactor as well that does the same for your Warframe.

Change 5 - and this is where they all come together, so during the quest, you get a enough xp to max out your starting weapons.  The quest itself requires you to change out your weapons, so if you pick MK1 Paris, Mk1 Kunia, MR1 Skana as your starting weapons, towards the end the intro quest, it requires you to sell those weapons and buy the Paris, Kunia, Skana in the market.  Lotus can also comment on how maxing those weapons to 30 for the first times counts towards your mastery.  I suggest this because someone made a comment about extra mod points would make it less likely for someone starting out to try other weapons, really good point.

 

I think these changes will at least give new players a idea of what is going on.  A good bit more then what they have right now.  They will know leveling up a weapon for the first time gives more mastery.  They will know about reactors and catalysts doubling mod points.  Does it fix everything?  No.  Does it help?  I think so.  A lot of people try this game and quick very early on, DE knows this, they have admitted it before.  If I remember correctly its one of the reasons they changes the star chart, to help new players with a direction to go.  It's just a idea I think might help.

 

Edit:  I also believe at the very end or either the intro quest, or the second required quest and package of broken mods should be given out, serration, continuity, streamline, hornet strike, pressure point, stretch, intensify.  A email with some kind of statement about helping you on your journey, help protect the solar system or help you deal out carnage and destruction as you cut your way pass enemy forces with all those mods.  In their broken forms of course.  Just a little starter pack.

 

 

 

 

Original Title: Starter gear should have potatoes

Original Post:

So I have been thinking lately(mainly because I ended up with new brand new players in my clan) about when you start this game and how its not new player friendly.  There is a lot thrown at you, and not a lot explained.  Just a random idea to help out new players is that their start frame, and starter weapons would have potatoes already installed.  I think however minor the help would be, it would help as we all know its the mods that make sure good.  Might even keep some players from quiting

Edited June 14, 2017 by (PS4)mmcareen
changed suggested based on comments

[Katinka]

New player experience might not be quite as it was when I started but I went a long time without using Catalysts or really needing them or Reactors.  I didn't have the mods to spend the points on!  However, I do think it would be a good idea if the game at some point showed how to use Reactors e.g. put it into a quest that you get your first one and get guided through installing it, so people know it is an option.  I think it would be better to be given one and shown how to use it than to just have it pre-installed from the beginning.

[(PSN)A_SimpleName]

14 minutes ago, Katinka said:

put it into a quest that you get your first one and get guided through installing it, so people know it is an option. 

I was thinking of something similar. The Stolen Dreams Quest is an early one that reward a Catalyst. The devs can add another quest or flesh out current quests to accommodate for a tutorial on Reactor and Catalyst. Maybe a mid-tier quest as newer player won't need potatoes till later. Save the Exilus Adapter for Simaris.

[polarity]

If I remember correctly there are now reactors/catalysts as junction rewards or for completing some of the early quests.  What might really help though is some kind of infographic we can point new players towards, showing weapons and their MR requirements, perhaps along with some crowdfunded 'tier' values, so new players can get a better idea of what's worth putting those potatoes into.

Also, similar to that infographic, a single in-game progression roadmap would be very useful.  Sure, we have the star-chart, but that suffers like much of the game's UI from DE's failure to appropriately balance function and form in their designs, leaving us with fancy looking animated interfaces, that fail to present information clearly, or accessibly.

Edited May 31, 2017 by polarity

[(PSN)mmcareen]

Honestly I was thinking about a lot more then that, but was in mission when I was typing.  haha.

Honestly what I think should happen is:

1.  As said earlier, which you pick during the first mission should have potatoes

2. After completing the first quest, you receive in your inbox a set of broken mods(serration, hornet strike, pressure point, stretch, intensify, continuity and streamline)

3. Have a video guide in the codex and lotus comments about it being there during the first quest.  What these videos would cover, would be 1. Basic modding 2. MR and leveling gear.  3.  A guide on slots, platinum, trading, and moving in the star chart.  The reason I say a video in the codex is, as we all know Warframe changes fairly often.  If its a video of Lotus(DE Rebecca) talking while she do stuff on her account, anytime anything is changed, its only change the video file which could be done rather easily.

I think that would make it a lot easier on new players, and the way I always looked at Warframe, its a game that grows on you, the more you play, the more you get hooked.  So keeping new players around a little longer, helps them get hooked

[Chipputer]

Potatoes on the stuff you pick at the start would be a wonderful way to help out new players who have no idea what those even are. The recommended strategy, at this point, is already to spend your starting 50p on slots and/or potatoes, anyway.

Explaining them would be helpful, but an observant player would notice that the next frame they acquire only had 30 capacity when fully leveled while their starter had 60 and would try to figure out why. Even if the tutorial messages didn't help, just having that discrepancy between starting gear and gear you get later would be enough to get the questions rolling, which would lead to them obtaining the necessary knowledge.

A+ suggestion.

[DSpite]

2 hours ago, (PS4)mmcareen said:

So I have been thinking lately(mainly because I ended up with new brand new players in my clan) about when you start this game and how its not new player friendly.  There is a lot thrown at you, and not a lot explained.  Just a random idea to help out new players is that their start frame, and starter weapons would have potatoes already installed.  I think however minor the help would be, it would help as we all know its the mods that make sure good.  Might even keep some players from quiting

 

No actually, they should not.

We already get plenty of things from weekend events, logins and random Alerts. The difference between "this game is hard" to "this game is easy", is asking questions, and being able to Google.

Friend of mine that started recently and only plays on my LAN is only on randomly, and in under 10 hours of mission time he already has a Pet, multiple Reactors and Catalysts, and ranked enough stuff to get him to MR5 to continue the main quest line.

All games are "hard" if you decide to Solo everything, and if you always take that path, then you need to also do your own legwork.

 

[(PSN)mmcareen]

10 minutes ago, DSpite said:

 

No actually, they should not.

We already get plenty of things from weekend events, logins and random Alerts. The difference between "this game is hard" to "this game is easy", is asking questions, and being able to Google.

Friend of mine that started recently and only plays on my LAN is only on randomly, and in under 10 hours of mission time he already has a Pet, multiple Reactors and Catalysts, and ranked enough stuff to get him to MR5 to continue the main quest line.

All games are "hard" if you decide to Solo everything, and if you always take that path, then you need to also do your own legwork.

 

Causally signing on and doing Reactor/Catalysts is a good way to stockpile yes, but there are people who pick up the game, don't have a clue what's going on, put it down and never look at it again.  Google is easy enough when its only a Alt-tab away but that doesn't really work on console.  I'm sure there are a lot of people who doesn't feel like they should need to go do research on a game just to start playing it.  What I'm suggest doesn't hurt anyone in the long run and I'm not suggest giving them potatoes to put into their weapons.  I'm talking about them coming with them already installed.  At worse they get a free potato for Excal and Skana, Skana which they will eventually replace with Prisma Skana.  Volt and Mag they will eventually replace with the primes and the rest of the weapons are MK1 versions.  Everything will be replaced expect Excal.  Is 1 reactor really that bad of a idea if it helps new players get into the game.  People do like playing solo, and they shouldn't be punished by that, nor should they have to instantly head to the wiki to have a clue what's going on.  I don't seem the harm in giving new players a little advantage.

[Tesseract7777]

There are a lot of good suggestions ITT, I think it would be best if they got them as part of beginner quest, but just giving them auto-potatoed, maybe with a short tutorial message about it first time you put mods on the weapon could also work. 

It may mean slightly less platinum sales in the short run, but I think in the long run in would lead to more retention of new players, which is more plat sales in the long run. 

[(PSN)Steelergurl33]

Perhaps they get the free Potato AFTER watching tutorial video on how to use it.

Make it a "Watch this tutorial on Reactor/Catalyst and receive each upon finish!"😎

Totally agree though, a quick tutorial, whether video or text(+potato) upon beginning WF would be huge at reeling in beginners. 

Edited June 1, 2017 by (PS4)Steelergurl33

[CarrotSalad]

I dont think starter gear should have a potato. Instead setup a questline and introduction into the use of Orokin Catalysts and Reactors. (have it as a research questline to steal/research orokin data from data terminals in the void.

The reason for this is because friends i recently introduced to the game were forma'ing thier guns and warframes before they even knew what Orokin reactors and catalysts done.

Edited June 1, 2017 by CarrotSalad

[P0Pz]

12 hours ago, Katinka said:

... However, I do think it would be a good idea if the game at some point showed how to use Reactors e.g. put it into a quest that you get your first one and get guided through installing it, so people know it is an option.  I think it would be better to be given one and shown how to use it than to just have it pre-installed from the beginning.

This!

And for all other things...a guide-linie integrated within the "game-flow".

I truely understand OP. Remembering my start...it was confusing/missleading at some points or not even leading.

I also would give a "timed" companion from each typ to guide starters/players how to get one and test them out for some days.

Edited June 1, 2017 by P0Pz

[DYSEQTA]

Starter gear should not have potatoes. It's starter gear.

[Chipputer]

18 hours ago, DSpite said:

We already get plenty of things from weekend events, logins and random Alerts. The difference between "this game is hard" to "this game is easy", is asking questions, and being able to Google.

Yes. We already get plenty of Reactors and Catalysts from that one guaranteed alert we get every two weeks that has a random chance of being one of three items and the slim chance of one showing up as a random alert at any other time during the week.

Don't pretend they're more prevalent than they are.

[(PSN)Steelergurl33]

Any ways to help keep beginners playing should be encouraged. A one time questline or video tutorial regarding potatoes would be a great addition to retaining new players. Love this!

Edited June 1, 2017 by (PS4)Steelergurl33

[(PSN)mmcareen]

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 2:14 AM, CarrotSalad said:

I dont think starter gear should have a potato. Instead setup a questline and introduction into the use of Orokin Catalysts and Reactors. (have it as a research questline to steal/research orokin data from data terminals in the void.

The reason for this is because friends i recently introduced to the game were forma'ing thier guns and warframes before they even knew what Orokin reactors and catalysts done.

Quest line would be more then fine with me as long as they have to install them as part of the quest.  That is actually a better idea as it explains what they are as well as help them out with modding.  Same effect as what I wanted but with a explaination, great idea

[Setz021]

I myself who just recently started playing, something like this would really be a good idea. I remember my first few hours of playing and there were a lot of confusing things that almost put me off from playing the game even after asking other players. I took the time to look up stuff online and finally understood some things but not all beginners might be inclined to do this.

As suggested in the thread, a beginner or mid-level quest that describes what orokin catalyst/reactor, formas, polarities, etc and how to use them would incredibly be useful (could be right around the same time as with The Stolen Dreams quest). The tutorial might be a simple inbox message from The Lotus after doing a quest or even Darvo containing information and instructions regarding those items.

Maybe Darvo could even joke around and tell the players that orokin catalyst/reactor are called "Potatoes" because I sure was confused what the hell potatoes were 

Edited June 3, 2017 by Setz021
typos

[(PSN)shadowraith_666]

On 01/06/2017 at 1:46 AM, DSpite said:

 

No actually, they should not.

We already get plenty of things from weekend events, logins and random Alerts. The difference between "this game is hard" to "this game is easy", is asking questions, and being able to Google.

Friend of mine that started recently and only plays on my LAN is only on randomly, and in under 10 hours of mission time he already has a Pet, multiple Reactors and Catalysts, and ranked enough stuff to get him to MR5 to continue the main quest line.

All games are "hard" if you decide to Solo everything, and if you always take that path, then you need to also do your own legwork.

 

This was in reference to NEW players just starting the game, they would know nothing about login rewards, events and alerts. 

A player should never have to use an external source to get information on how to play the game it should be available in-game, using the browser on console is more time consuming and tedious that it is on a pc.

 

adding better repeatable tutorial missions and in-game information would give this game a QOL boost for new players.

[DSpite]

27 minutes ago, (PS4)shadowwraith_666 said:

This was in reference to NEW players just starting the game, they would know nothing about login rewards, events and alerts. 

A player should never have to use an external source to get information on how to play the game it should be available in-game, using the browser on console is more time consuming and tedious that it is on a pc.

 

adding better repeatable tutorial missions and in-game information would give this game a QOL boost for new players.

I totally agree on a better system for new players that explains things in an easier way, but weapons with starting Catalysts and Frames with starting Reactors will not do that.

They have starting Plat that gives them the choice to get extra slots or one Reactor and one Catalyst, and you are not doing them any favors by shoving a Catalyst in an MK1 weapon, as it will just encourage them to hold on to it longer then they should any way, and god forbid they also burn Forma on it, as they will even be more annoyed later.

In order for new players not to do silly things in the beginning, you would have to write them an operating manual, not a tutorial. There is way too much to cover, and it changes month to month.

[DSpite]

On 02/06/2017 at 4:58 AM, Chipputer said:

Yes. We already get plenty of Reactors and Catalysts from that one guaranteed alert we get every two weeks that has a random chance of being one of three items and the slim chance of one showing up as a random alert at any other time during the week.

Don't pretend they're more prevalent than they are.

I have a brand new player in the form of an old school friend that comes over to play, and he has multiple Frames, a Reactor in two of them AND his infested dog, and extra Catalysts still not-installed.

They are prevalent ENOUGH for what you just said to sound asinine to me.

The Alerts for those things pop up on Twitter, and even 12 year old children get Twitter Alerts on their phones. It is TRIVIAL to jump on for FIVE minutes when they happen and grab Forma/Catalysts/Weapons parts/etc, and if you don't have the time because work/school/youareinprison, then I STILL fail to see why it's DE's fault, as all they do is run a game, they don't have to create schedules around your particular RL situation.

DE decides on what we get and what we don't get, which means they have a scheduled system in place. If they wanted to give you extra "anything", they would. You can play THIS game with 2-3 Frames and 10 weapons WITH ZERO PROBLEMS, so I fail to see why DE needs to shower players with Reactors and Catalysts on a daily basis.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by DSpite

[(PSN)N7_Dredgen]

I'm gonna say no to this - I understand where OP is coming from... but give a newbie a potatoed piece of gear, and you seriously lower their incentive to switch to anything else.  Why would somebody who's new, has very little or no platinum to buy more Catalusts, ever give up a potatoed Braton for a Karak that's not potatoed?  Even knowing little about the game, it becomes clear a 60 mod point gun will usually outclass a 30 mod point gun.  I think even the greenest of new players can figure that out with ease.

You also have to consider these players also know little to nothing about the Mastery system, so they already have poor incentive to start taking on the task of leveling everything as it is... giving them reasons to cling to gear just further increases that problem.  

Starter stuff (well the weapons anyway) are gear that was intended to be fodder and discarded quickly.  

I feel old saying this - but when I was a kid you actually had to play the game to figure stuff out - it wasn't handed on a silver platter with a guide detailing literally every single aspect of the game... can you imagine if Final Fantasy gave tutorials to players on how to use Potions lmao?  It would be an utter waste of time because anybody with half a brain cell can work it out in about 10 seconds.

Seriously all a player has to do is read the item description for Potatoes and it becomes clear what they do and how they work.  I get its alot to take on... but sometimes you have to leave things to the players to figure it out...

I know when I started Warframe we didn't even have any tutorial - people didn't even know how to wall run (yeah we actually used to wall run like bad*sses) - yet we all figured it out after 2 minutes of trial and error.  None of us understood how much of the game worked - it was all new, yet we did it.  I don't know why there's so much focus in the community on increasing ease of access... all we're doing is making DE focus more on new players, and continually ignore the loyal old players who are desperately in need of REAL substance in end game.  

Edited June 4, 2017 by (PS4)lagrue

[(PSN)mmcareen]

All comments above are based on my original post.

[(PSN)mmcareen]

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 10:48 PM, (PS4)lagrue said:

 

So honestly, the not trying other gear because of the potato, never even crossed my mind.  So I ended up changing my suggestion, your comments had a big factor on what I suggested.  I also know at least 1 final fantasy at the start of the game you get hurt and it teaches you how to use cure.  Super simple to figure out, but it still does it.  Warframe however tells you nothing about reactors or catalyst unless you get one and reads the description.  So if you don't know what one is, you might see the gift of the lotus pop up and not go get it because whatever reason.  I took all that into account with my new suggestion, little touch on mastery, catalyst.  gets them away from the MK1 weapons, at least until the regular version which would help them out.  Little bit of info goes a lot want.  You don't need everything spelled out for you after all, kinda ruins it if it is.  Just want enough to point new players in a general direction, that's what I'm really trying to achieve as I think it might help keep a lot of new players from quitting.

[True_Naeblis]

I like the updated suggestion. The further players immerse themselves in the game the more that comes up that requires tabbing out and heading to Google. Starting players off in a way that helps them to see where everything is going would be a great change. There are a lot of headaches that build up and like one of the posters above I was about ready to move on because of some poor design choices that newer players run into. I'd love to see this implemented to make the game move more towards being something polished rather that a beta test that's constantly leaving what's been started unfinished.

[(PSN)mmcareen]

 

8 hours ago, True_Naeblis said:

I like the updated suggestion. The further players immerse themselves in the game the more that comes up that requires tabbing out and heading to Google. Starting players off in a way that helps them to see where everything is going would be a great change. There are a lot of headaches that build up and like one of the posters above I was about ready to move on because of some poor design choices that newer players run into. I'd love to see this implemented to make the game move more towards being something polished rather that a beta test that's constantly leaving what's been started unfinished.

That's what I want, to help avoid some of the headaches new players come across, give them a starting point