Plains of Eidolon: Old Characters, New Missions, and a New Twist on an Old Event

[TheVeiledScion]

I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited for Warframe as I am now. I think the last time Warframe went through as big a change as this was when DE introduced Dark Sectors, PvP, and the first iteration of Solar Rails.  Plains of Eidolon has the potential to radically expand Warframe, but only if DE takes full advantage of these new, open-world “landscapes.”  I think the following three additions would ensure that Landscapes add to the Warframe experience:

 

I. Integration

I’ve already seen some worries that PoE will draw players away from existing tilesets, or otherwise not represent the endgame that many veteran players want. At the same time, new players understandably want some access as well.  I believe that the way to do that is to incorporate existing gameplay into PoE. 

1. Rather than just Ostrons, existing characters like Darvo and Maroo should also offer contracts/missions on the Plains of Eidolon. For example, Maroo should also send players to PoE to find Ayatans and possibly other items of interest. Darvo should send players to acquire items from Grineer areas in the landscape as well as on ships.  Furthermore, alerts from Syndicates and the Lotus should also take place on the Plains. At the same time, DE should use the Plains as an opportunity to introduce new Grineer bosses. This will ensure that there is enough continuity with the rest of the starchart, while also allowing for genuinely new characters and interactions.

2. PoE should incorporate all existing mission types (including Archwing ones), while expanding and adapting them to the landscape context. Just to use one example, with an open-world setting, excavation can be far more expansive. Rather than defending small, deployable machines that excavate mods and parts, perhaps players must seize a large, stationary drill site from Grineer control, defend it while it excavates a sizeable Orokin artifact (say, a Liset part), and then must defend that artifact while they carry it to a safe extraction point (i.e., Hijack).  Throw in an archwing component, and you have a dynamic mission that is far more engaging.

 

II. Combat Allies

While the Ostrons are great, they seem to be just a civilian faction confined mostly to the Cetus relay-space.  And while the Eidolon is promising as an endgame unit, it only appears at night, leaving the Grineer (for now) the only real day time faction. In the open-world games I’ve played, having multiple factions was a key factor in making such games work, and this RPG feature would greatly complement PoE.  Of course, Warframe already has such factions – the Syndicates.  The Syndicates have been recently fleshed out in Warframe-specific quests, and have been a critical part of expanding the game’s lore around the Tenno and Warframes.  However, I think they could play an even bigger role in filling out PoE. For example, New Loka operatives could join the Ostrons and lone Corpus buyers inside Cetus, since they are already on Earth and supposedly want to repopulate the planet.  At the same time, Steel Meridian – as the game’s most developed Syndicate – could be out in the landscape fighting the Grineer, both adding to the immersion as well as functioning as an ally in the field.  Adding such factions would allow for more narrative and gameplay options.

 

III. Sieges

Plains of Eidolon provides the perfect opportunity to create a new type of invasion-style Fomorian mission.  Currently, the Fomorian missions involve using Archwings to destroy a Fomorian before it gets close enough to attack a relay, yet there is no sense of urgency or credible stakes because the relays are nowhere to be seen.

In my previous post, I tried to lay out one example of how a new type of invasion mission might be structured. Now that we have Plains of Eidolon, though, I think DE could combine elements of the Fomorian Archwing and Invasion missions to make such events more appealing and more exciting.

The first aspect would be the same Fomorian alert, but instead of a relay, the Fomorian is targeting Cetus.  The same countdown would exist, but rather than destroying Cetus, perhaps failure means that players would need to liberate Cetus from Grineer control (Exterminate) and rescue the Ostrons from Grineer prison cells (Rescue/Mobile Defense).  The second aspect would be defending Cetus from a ground Grineer siege.  Essentially, this would be a hybrid of Defense, Mobile Defense, and Interception, where players must defend spots inside and outside the Cetus area from the Grineer.  There could be more to it than that, of course.

These are just my own suggestions for PoE, which I hope will make it truly a worthwhile addition to the game.  I'd love to hear your feedback.

[Ferah_Frithu]

How do you know that there are only Grineer in the plains? We've only been shown Grineer troops out on the field, but Corpus are evidently present as well, as seen when entering the relay area.

I truly doubt DE would confine the plains to Grineer-only situations.

[BansheePrime]

I can't help but feel you should stop laboring over endgame this and endgame that.

[AerinSol]

Before all of that is ever even a consideration to being implemented they should take care of the massive slow down of gameplay we are used to. 5-8 enemies at a time with the same survivability as a piece of paper in a water park will never cut it. This has always been a horde game. Even during spy missions everyone is thrown a few hundred enemies to annoy us more than anything.

[(XBOX)Harper Lord]

As far as the siege idea is concerned I would like to see them allow all (yes 50) players in the relay (thats what were calling the Cetus hub right?) to actually defend the relay together. This would make it feel like an actual siege and allow for massive pitched battles, that and I would love to see 50 Tenno versus as big a Grineer army as performance will allow.

[TheVeiledScion]

53 minutes ago, maj.death said:

I can't help but feel you should stop laboring over endgame this and endgame that.

I only mentioned endgame once.  If I understood Steve correctly, PoE is only part endgame (at night). The space is meant to be accessible to all players, especially during the daytime. All I was noting was that many players have a lot of reservations about PoE.  I'm not one of those players,  but I recognize that this is probably the biggest shift Warframe will ever experience. Therefore, I think they should utilize the landscape in a way that genuinely provides new content while also incorporating a lot of the old content in new ways.

[OniDax]

On most of your points I agree. I just have a note on the missions: it might be difficult to implement all mission types in the Plains due to the space limits (unless missions are randomly generated), but they could definitely have most ground missions and a couple archwing mission types.

 

[Helios1414]

5 hours ago, (Xbox One)Harper Lord said:

As far as the siege idea is concerned I would like to see them allow all (yes 50) players in the relay (thats what were calling the Cetus hub right?) to actually defend the relay together. This would make it feel like an actual siege and allow for massive pitched battles, that and I would love to see 50 Tenno versus as big a Grineer army as performance will allow.

I think that could be interesting, I wouldn't want it constant (for fear of constantly crashing on my not so good computer) maybe it could be some event like the famorians or razorback armada, I also kinda hope that they keep the number of people in your group limited to a smaller number like they have been for a while, and maybe since its a bigger world I'm not sure how they will add levels to the enemies or missions, maybe the more players with you the higher the level or something. I'm not sure if they even specified that topic yet.

[OniDax]

51 minutes ago, Helios1414 said:

I think that could be interesting, I wouldn't want it constant (for fear of constantly crashing on my not so good computer) maybe it could be some event like the famorians or razorback armada, I also kinda hope that they keep the number of people in your group limited to a smaller number like they have been for a while, and maybe since its a bigger world I'm not sure how they will add levels to the enemies or missions, maybe the more players with you the higher the level or something. I'm not sure if they even specified that topic yet.

They could have different locations or zones with different level enemies.