New Player:first Week Complete:thoughts, Reviews, And Suggestions.

[FatRefrigerator]

 

TL:DR;  After about a week of gameplay from a new-to-Warframe but experienced gamer, this is my list of observations, suggestions, and bug reports.  All in all, a great game that I'm very much enjoying!!

 

Now I've played Warframe for about a week.  I've reached rank 2, rank 22 on my Warframe (Loki), and have ranked up a few good weapons.  I've only made it as far as Earth, and I can't wait to explore the rest of the Galaxy.

 

So lets cut to the chase, here are my thoughts so far.

 

First things first, bug report:

-Occasionally my shield level will display incorrectly.  I sit around 300 shields at the moment.  However, when I join games sometimes it will show much lower, and never correct itself.  I'll even have my shields cut in half it seems and stay there for the entire mission.  I've double checked my mods and everything else to make sure it wasn't player error.  But this also occurs mid-mission.  I'll start with 300 shields, and when I take damage later on the shields will be permanently reduced to around 150 or so.

-During defense missions, players sentinels will occasionally start shooting the ground non-stop when there are no enemies present.

-During the Captain Vor boss fight, I've had enemies spawn inside of walls.  They were able to shoot me, but I was unable to shoot them.

-Stats are not recorded accurately.  I've had missions where I've slaughtered over a dozen enemies via melee, and the final recap screen will show 0 or 1 melee kills.  I assume other stats may be inaccurate as well.

-Occasionally, the opening cinematic will be disrupted by a piece of terrain or object.  Basically, as the camera pans out you are no longer able to see the Tenno dropping in and your view is completely obstructed by an object.  I like these openers and would like to see this corrected.

-This may be intended:  As a Loki, sometimes when I go invisible I am rapidly shredded by...something.  I can look around and not see an enemy in sight, but I'm being absolutely demolished by....something.  I believe this is a bug.  It's happened many times, and it can bring me to the brink of death when I'm invisible and have run over 100 yards from my previous position.

-Occasionally, certain buttons will become locked.  What I mean is, I'll sprint, only to have the sprint become locked and I cannot disable perma-sprint until I run out of stamina.  This happens with sprint and crouch.

 

 

Gameplay

 

Hardly anything to complain about here, if anything at all.  Controls are tight and responsive, my Warframe does exactly what I want it to when I ask it to.  Switching from melee to gunplay and back is seemless and efficient.  Melee is effective, and firearms are deadly.  Enemy AI seems to be well programmed.  They take cover, flank you, use their special units to great effect.  I didn't find many issues with AI doing stupid unrealistic things.  I do think with 4 players in a match it becomes quite easy for average missions however.  We blow through them with little incident.  This applies to all missions with the exception of defense and mobile defense.

 

2 Things about Gameplay, 1 absolutely must change, and 1 is highly recommended:

 

1:  It's been reported before, but it seriously needs a hotfix sooner than later.  In certain situations the camera will be pressed up against the back of your Warframe.  The Warframes never become transparent and thus your entire view is blocked.  This can happen simply by another Tenno standing too close to you.  This needs to be changed immediately.  Your unit should become transparent immediately and completely as the camera zooms in.  This is a high priority.

 

2:  Stealth kills (Backstabs) should be instant kills on anything that isn't a boss if you are able to backstab it.  I snuck up on a hatchet wielding Grineer and backstabbed him, only to cause a moderate amount of damage and have him turn to attack me.  Regardless of weapon/level/whatever, backstabs should be instant, silent death.  I highly doubt anyone would disagree to this.  Your AI is well programmed, and their paths are random.  Earning a backstab in Warframe is a pretty big deal in my opinion.  Reward the player with an instant kill, and extra experience.

 

Graphics and Sound

 

I give this 10/10.  This game is beautiful.  Your environments are detailed and well made.  I felt completely immersed in the world at all times.  The enemies look alive and are very detailed.  The Warframes take center stage.  They are gorgeous creations with an extremely unique art style.  Kudos to your design and animation teams.  

 

 

Sounds are also spot on.  The musical score is great, heroic sounding and creepy when necessary.  All sounds seem perfect for each weapon and action.  Little things like the clinking of your blade as you roll on the ground are also noted and very much appreciated.  The sound team did their job, and they did it well.

 

Lore

 

I found the lore page and I wasn't disappointed.  I love the stories behind the Grineer and the Corpus.  The stories give me the feeling that I like to have in these kinds of games, a hatred towards my enemies.  I look forward to seeing more of this released as time goes on.  I can tell DE has a lot planned for this, and I can't wait to see it all.

 

 

Now for my opinions and suggestions of certain game elements:

 

Fusion:

 

This is a pretty big part of the game.  It provides the increased strength you seek from leveling up.  When you gain a level on a weapon, you typically have a variety of mods on that weapon to choose an upgrade for.  Be it damage, crit%, or whatever you please, each upgrade to a mode provides a sizeable boost to the weapons performance.

 

-Fusion Bar:  I didn't even notice this until I was Rank 17 on my Loki.  I would just click mods until I heard that special noise that indicated your mod has reached the appropriate power-up level.  I suggest this meter be increased to almost 4-5 times its current size.  Also adding a lit up/blinking arrow indicator to the side pointing at the current meter level is advised.  You should draw attention to this meter as much as possible, and there is a huge sidebar unused where you can expand the size of this meter.  Also there may already be a tutorial section for fusions, I did see the tutorial area but haven't visited yet.  For new players however, there should an automatic tool-tip based tutorial as soon as you open your first mod screen.  What mods add what level of power?  What is the purpose of a fusion core?  Do duplicate mods add more than random mods?  These questions should be answered within that tutorial.  I've basicially figured it out on my own, but as a huge part of this game it deserves a fair amount of attention.

 

I also wouldn't mind a general GUI modification for the fusion screen.  Shrink the mods down to about half their size on the display (except the one you're currently trying to fuse).  That way more can fit on the screen.  Also consider adding a numerical indicator to duplicate mods (like an x2, x3 etc in the corner) as opposed to duplicate mods taking up another slot.

 

Foundry:

 

This is a really cool feature of this game.  Anything you can purchase for platinum, can also be crafted by finding the blueprint and the correct materials.  I think this is an excellent compromise, as is the 12 hour craft time (and the ability to speed it up with platinum).  A completely fair business model if you ask me.

 

However, I was quite a ways into the game before I even explored this feature.  It was kind of neat actually, as when I first opened it I had already found the blueprint for the Cronus blade, as well as all materials.  Which is a solid upgrade to the Skana, so I constructed it.

 

Having said that, this is another thing that multiple aspects need attention drawn to.  I never knew I picked up a blueprint.  Perhaps upon picking up the orb, display a sizable banner on the screen showing the weapon that you just picked up and the fact that you now have the blueprint for it.  Once you have your first blueprint, another auto-tutorial should occur once you return to your home screen with some basic explanation of the process.  I'm very comfortable with it now, and have constructed 3 separate plans.  I can't wait to find more and build them as well!

 

Matchmaking:

 

This is one of the few areas that needs improvement.  Not only with the ability for client networks to find each other and connect reliably, but the multiplayer aspect as a whole.

 

Being that this games main focus is multiplayer PvE, it stands to reason that the group-finding should take center stage.  The entire process should be streamlined.  The chat window needs an overhaul.  Nothing irritates me more than being dumped in a massive general chat with no explanation of anything, including chat functions.  And when I right-click on a friend and select "send message" it merely dumps me into the general chat window with no prompt or anything indicating i'm ready to send a message.  Either incorporate a mail system entirely, or do like War Thunder and have the "message" command open up a private chat window that adds you and your target automatically.  Messages should also be obvious, with a large obvious glowing icon that you have a message that you can click on to open said message.  Again as a PvE group based game, this is a huge deal.

 

-The chat window needs to be larger.  Really the matchmaking area needs it's own screen entirely.  Separate chat channels for each planet would be nice.  As well as channels for those looking for defense/mobile defense missions only etc.

 

-Grouping needs to be done differently.  As it stands, you click on a mission and wait for members to join you and be thrust into the game automatically.  A pre-game lobby would be nice, where players could talk about strategy and have an actual button to press when they're ready to join the game.  

 

-Groups need to be more obvious and accessible.  When you're in a group especially after a game, there are just your 4 little names listed in the lower lefthand corner.  Again with my lobby request, it would be nice if you were dumped into a lobby with your group after the mission.  There you could talk about what you just experienced, strategy for the next mission, which mission you want to take, etc.  It would also be nice to have a fluid menu to view your group members Warframe, equipment, stats, etc.  As well as an easy way to send friend/clan requests and such.

 

Ultimately:  It's okay for players to have to figure out certain gameplay elements such as how to perform certain parkour moves etc.  It is *not* okay for players to have to figure out matchmaking, chat, and non-gameplay elements.  It would be wise to idiot proof this as much as possible.

 

 

In Game Economy:

 

Please jesus for the love of god, do not incorporate player trading of any kind!  I've heard rumors of this, and I feel it would ruin this game entirely.  If you are interested in the long term life of this game, do not add player trading at all.

 

Defense Missions:

 

I've completed (and failed) these many times.  I've ran the one on Earth, and on Venus I believe.  These types of mission will be part of your ticket to infinite replayability.  

A few suggestions:

-Unless I'm crazy, both defense missions were in the exact same arena despite being on different planets.  Obviously this should change.  It wouldn't even hurt to randomize them a bit, and change up the landscape of the arena drastically on different playthroughs.  

-More cover.  There is hardly any cover...just 3 boxes and a barrel I believe.  I'd like to see a couple waist-high walls to crouch behind, and maybe some elevated positions for snipers.  Yes they will be very safe up there, but they will also run out of ammo quickly.  Plus if you position them right, they won't be able to defend the core below them from melee enemies.

-I feel the waves are nicely mixed up, but I'd like to see the possibility of mini-bosses and bosses being introduced.  I noticed in one match where we actually made it past wave 10, there was an enemy warframe who appeared.  This could be expanded on so we see mini-bosses appear every 5th wave, and core bosses appear at every 10th wave.  These should be appropriate for defense missions.  Thus, bosses like Captain Vor types wouldn't be recommended, but big machines like the second boss (venus I believe?) would be completely appropriate.

-Enemies seem to do entirely too much damage to the core.  Now it does regenerate fairly quickly, but even on wave 1 it seems like the core can be raped to pieces in a matter of seconds.  Perhaps this is just player error, but if you're interested in defense missions lasting longer (and you should) I'd decrease the drop rates of mods and such within the defense missions, and increase the longevity of the core.  As it stands, defenses typically only go to 5 or 10 waves before players bow out quickly.

-I feel that the flow of Defense missions is appropriate.  You still are able to zoom/parkour around the arena and engage in gun/swordplay.  I do believe its in the best interest of everyone to make these possibly longer.  I do like the every-5-waves-bailout option.  That should stick around for players who want to keep it short.  Everyone would also benefit from these possibly lasting a bit longer also.

 

Mobile Defense:

 

These are easily in my favorite mission types of all time, across all games.  These are intense, fast paced, and mixed gameplay.  Perfect for Warframe.  I remember myself and my group members commenting on the sheer amount of bullets we had fired at certain points.  They remind me of another game mode in an entirely different game.

 

Go check out the "RUN!" game mode on F.3.A.R (Fear 3)  This is what it reminds me of.  And I think it's the perfect type of gameplay for Warframe.  I wouldn't mind seeing another mission type even further refined and closer to what you actually do in "RUN!".

 

I think this type of mission should be further refined and expanded.  This is how I think players will get the most out of Warframe.  I will most likely sit down with some of my Warframe buddies and come up with a mission type based on this concept.  I'll write another post about it in the future.

 

 

PVP:

 

I could care less if PVP was ever implemented in this game.  I know some want it, some don't.  If you were to implement this, I fear it would take an entirely separate stat set for all warframes/weapons/mods for it to be balanced.  A stat set that was only engaged when players are in PVP games, and immediately replaced by normal stats on PVE missions.

 

This game doesn't need PVP to survive.  Would it benefit you much later on?  Sure.  PVE players never have to participate in PVP if they do not wish, and vice versa.

 

IF you ever did PVP, this game needs Conquest/Capture the Flag type game modes, and people will play them forever.  But again, PVP requires an entirely different stat set, and probably alterations to abilities.

 

 

Melee Combat:

 

I've gotten used to the advancing attacks, but I still think this should be modified or done away with entirely.  Cut it to about 25-50% of the advance it is now and it would be fine.  But I'd like to see it mostly removed.  If I want to stand in front of an enemy that I just stumbled with a charge attack and slice him to bits with a flurry of strikes, I should be able to do that.  Not dance in circles around him occasionally missing.

 

I do really enjoy the jump attack followed by the insta-kill ground stab.  I'd like to see this improved and made more fluid, maybe better on screen indicators as to when this can occur.  Same for backstabs, this should be slightly more fluid and better visual indicators that you're ready to perform the move.  Sometimes when i'm in perfect position with my enemy unaware, I won't get the prompt and end up doing a standard slash or the enemy noticing me and attacking.  I'd like to see that fixed and improved.

 

Blocking - Is there blocking?  I've heard there is.  I'd like to see blocking as a major part of melee combat so you can block those pesky little shoves that standard units do.  We are advanced space ninja warframes who are highly trained and skilled.  I should be able to block that little attack, as well as any melee attack from any unit that's appropriately sized.  I'd also like to see a parry/instant-kill-riposte option.  IE. Little hatchet man takes a swing, only to be skillfully parried and his face impaled by my Cronus.  As highly skilled at melee combat as the Tenno are, this should definitely be a part of combat.

 

 

Endgame:  While I'm not there yet, there is something about this game that has me a bit worried.  Games like this, especially free to play games, need some sort of infinite replayability.  For PVP games this is never an issue as long as combat is fun.  Planetside 2 and War Thunder for example, I can play all day every day and never get bored.  But they have the advantage of PVP combat that is ever-changing.

 

In a PVE game, you need a very large, golden carrot-on-a-stick to keep players interested.  As much as I no longer enjoy Call of Duty games, there is something to be learned from their theory of Prestige.  While I think theirs is poorly done and very bland, it's the concept that will keep you interested.  I'm not even sure what you could do in Warframe.  But one thing is for sure.  Eventually players will max out everything; their warframes, weapons, mods, etc.  These will all be maxed out at some point.  You need an incentive for players to keep playing with a maxed out unit.  This is where the "RUN!" game mode and things similar to it would help, as well as a virtual carrot-on-a-stick for players to chase.  If I can think of anything I'll post it, but even some sort of ranking outside of the leaderboards is a start

 

 

 

I strongly agree with your melee combat feelings. If anything, we should lunge forward, but then return to our former position.

 

And as far as endgame, I don't really see anything they could do except leave the game in constant beta, simply because of the fact that there is no endgame