Improving the New Player Experience

[Vllama87]

This sounds silly, but I wish the game had taught me that I could put mods into the slots that aren't aligned, because it just mentions that I get a bonus for matching them, but doesn't say that I have 8 to play with. I just kind of assumed that as I leveled up my warframe I would earn more slots or something. I had Volt at Rank 20 before I finally asked "when do I unlock more mod slots" to which someone replied "you always have 8 slots". Mind blown.

[Raggycakes]

17 minutes ago, Vllama87 said:

This sounds silly, but I wish the game had taught me that I could put mods into the slots that aren't aligned, because it just mentions that I get a bonus for matching them, but doesn't say that I have 8 to play with. I just kind of assumed that as I leveled up my warframe I would earn more slots or something. I had Volt at Rank 20 before I finally asked "when do I unlock more mod slots" to which someone replied "you always have 8 slots". Mind blown.

Oh man, now that you mention it, my wife didn't realize that they unpolarized slots were unlocked already as well. 

[(XBOX)cubeof11]

I'm playing on the Xbox One edition of Warframe and I'm coming from a background where I basically had not played any shooters before, so I had to pay extra close attention to what might be considered common knowledge.  For context, I started playing in June 2016 and stayed exclusively in Solo matchmaking for several months because I wasn't confident player interactions would go well until I'd had a bit of gameplay experience.

I remember the initial Warframe selection in Vor's Prize was intimidating because I felt that I didn't have enough information to accurately judge which one I would be happiest with playing.  All the on-screen words describing each Warframe might as well have been gibberish because I had no context in which to interpret its meaning.  I wish I could have watched each Warframe in action to see if that kind of gameplay appealed to me.  I like how Xbox One's Sunset Overdrive handled this by including a video clip for each purchasable weapon giving about 10 seconds of various gameplay featuring the selected item so I could preview roughly what I'd be capable of doing after purchasing the weapon.

When playing through the first mission in Vor's Prize, I felt the pacing at which new concepts and controls were introduced was a bit too fast for my liking.  This was extra difficult for me because I was not accustomed to standard controls for shooters.  Shortly right after the wall climbing part, I felt like I had made too many poor decisions and not enough intuition about the controls, and I decided to force close Warframe and start over from the beginning so I could rethink my weapon choices and recap the various controls introduced so far.  I like how Xbox One's Mirror's Edge Catalyst handles this by including a very focused combat tutorial in the first chapter where you were given immediate feedback on whether you successfully executed the technique, and if you failed, you'd be reset to the beginning of that activity and immediately ready to try it again.  I remember accepting the offer to replay that segment about 2 extra times until I felt like I had internalized enough of it.  It also let you replay previous chapters, so when I want to return after a long break, I know I can go back to that combat tutorial to refresh my memory, which is something Warframe doesn't offer without registering a new account.  Warframe does offer a replayable Advanced Movement mission in the Codex, but it's relatively obscure to find since it's completely different from how every other Codex article behaves.  I'd like to see that expanded into its own section of the Codex along with what you were supposed to learn in Vor's Prize.

I absolutely hated the inventory screen in Warframe because it is designed to destroy your progression.  Most inventory screens are intended to inform you about what you have, what each item does, and allow you to use them.  In contrast, Warframe's inventory screen allows you to destroy the items you have for credits and doesn't offer you a way to use your items.  This is extra punishing on the console edition because there are no item descriptions (my understanding is that PC players get them as mouse tooltips?), so I was left with basically no idea what to do with the items I had.  I'd like to see selling items deemphasized and ways to launch a Codex entry for a particular item, navigate to its Market listing, or jump to it in the Arsenal.  Perhaps it could use a layout similar to how Void Relics are refined so there is room for detailed information on the selected item?

I had very little idea of what my Warframe abilities could do because there was limited energy available in-mission, and even if I had enough to cast the other abilities, I was afraid I'd need that energy for my first ability if combat became difficult.  I wish there was a place available early in the game that would offer complimentary energy refills and a sandbox in which to practice casting abilities, like how the first inn in turn-based RPGs is typically free to use, which allows experimentation on nearby minions in combat.

The Market was intimidating and largely unproductive for first-time players.  I remember looking over everything featured in the default home section and concluded none of it was relevant or affordable to me, which was discouraging.  It felt like a waste of time to open each item tile to see what the price was to know whether I could afford it, and it was a slow and tedious process to compare prices on items so I could start understanding the relative values of items, despite the flaws of that methodology.  I remember opening the Prime Access tile and being disappointed that none of the Warframe and weapon contents were explained or linked to the Codex, and today I still have no idea how to tell what type of weapon something is (like a bow or shotgun) without first owning it (to see what Mods are eligible) or memorizing it.  After opening a couple tiles on the top-level categories and concluding I couldn't afford anything, I stopped exploring.  I wish there was a way to sort or filter by price or affordability so I could find things I could purchase and actually be productive.  (I wasn't prepared to make the purchase at that time, but when I did make my first Prime Access purchase, I was frustrated that I was blocked from opening the market tile again (with a dialog stated I already owned it) because I wanted a recap of what I just bought so I could go look for it in my inventory.)

I wish I'd had some Codex Scanners early in the game because expanding the information available in the Codex is one of the ways I'd have been able to understand what kinds of enemies I was fighting and what were their damage weaknesses, and it would have introduced a section of the Market that contains affordable items.  I know Saya's Vigil fulfills this role, and it even explains how to use them; I just hope players manage to make it to that quest.

[Tatsumaru.]

On 12/22/2017 at 9:43 AM, Liew5439 said:

The things that really annoys me when I was new to Warframe is when a player uses Ignis/ember to burn everything in one go, or somebody one shotting the boss before I can even see him for the first time, while running solo is viable, its not that fun playing alone and I was not strong enough to pass the mission without another player. Its not much of a trouble for me now but, for the new players this need to be look at, it'll ruin their experience of the game.

Suggestion:(1)Damage of frames/weapons should be scaled down based on MR level (,shouldn't be scaled down if its a low level frame/weapon)

Suggestion (2)Option for Duo party, people stealing your kill isn't fun, so too much people isn't that great. Why not duo then?

I thought the same thing. They should cap your level/abilities and scale your gear/mods based on the level range of the mission.

[(PSN)DrewXIII]

Put this up on the WF subreddit recently, thought I'd share my suggestions here as well:

• Tone down the information overload on the Star Chart, it can be overwhelming at times and more often than not, it doesn't put enough focus on planets or nodes that you're currently on. Sure, right now we've got broken lines and locked symbols but something like graying out or putting out of focus nodes and planets you don't have access to yet can remedy overwhelming players too much. Maybe even hiding planets on the Star Chart until you have them unlocked.
   
• A reminder to new players that it's recommended to complete "Archwing" and "War Within" before stepping onto the Plains.

Edited December 30, 2017 by (PS4)DrewXIII

[(PSN)alidex_ad]

As a new player, the first thing I got confused with is the story. My friends till this day ask me about the story but I keep referring to it as a space ninja game. I think its need more depth in the game lore. Another thing is the mods system need to be explained clearly. I didn't understand it till I had to watch youtube tutorials. Also, the game tutorial needs to be more elaborated. Finally, the game needs some elaboration about the syndics. I didn't know how they work.

side note: the game have some weird issue on pc when I tried it with a controller instead of mouse and keyboard when I checked Reddit the was a post for some other players having the same issue.

[(PSN)Knirhim]

I think Specters of the Rail was a step in a good direction, giving new players the obligation to do basic game mechanics (Open 3 Lith Relics or scan 3 cephalon fragments as seen on the early junctions.) However, what new players have are the tools, but not the first-hand idea of why they should. Take relics as an example, as a new player you don't really know what are these for or where to get them, add a tutorial page to the codex explaining the best ways to get relics (in a lore-friendly way, after all they're common rewards for Interception or Defense early on) and how prime crafting functions. This puts me into the main idea: The codex tutorials.

The way the movement 2.0 functions is perfect, because you learn it by practicing it. How can this apply to the others? Make the Damage tutorial entry a simulacrum session with mods to choose from, where new players can see directly how elementals work or why weapons can become better by putting the right mods to them. 
With this, make the codex not just a huge wall of text that other players can just summarize, make it a testing grounds for new players. I may not be a new player anymore, but all the friends I've introduced can say that the way they've learned is through practice.

Adding to the idea of the codex being more interactive, give each faction (After completing quests, like Grineer and Corpus unlocked just after completing Vor's Prize, Infested after unlocking Once Awake, etc) an actual description in the Enemies tab. Maybe not so detailed, to incentive people to do the Simaris Synthesis, but definitely giving each a meaning.

The first message Lotus sends to you is a good step, now the codex should be the path to know what to do.

[CplNemoh]

Other than fixing your email problems with the verification mails, the game is very fun.

[Ruby_Rose_]

On 12/19/2017 at 5:17 PM, [DE]DeckardPain said:

With that in mind, we would love to hear more about your experience (if you can remember that far back, for some of you); for example:

• What were some things you wish Warframe taught you in the first 2 hours?
• Were there some things that were too overwhelming or confusing during these first 2 hours?
• Can you recall any points in which you or a friend weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing during the first 2 hours?
• Any other obstacles that stood out to you at the beginning of your Warframe experience, or any particular items you feel a new player would benefit from.

See you in-game!

[DE]DeckardPain

 

The First Couple Hours.. Honestly, These first few hours are generally what make or break a player sticking around. Having some early clarity on how they can progress and where to go outside of where junctions point/push them to would be amazing.

First up, not all quests are mandatory. Some are required to progress into later quests, but it's never stated which are directly or indirectly prerequisites outside of Junctions and Codex. While quests are sort of a guide or gentle easing into the game by some means as well as lore, a lot of new players get the idea this is similar to an MMO where they will have numerous quests to guide them deeper into the game, this is not the case and should be addressed more clearly.

Next, Starter Weapon Choices. While this in its self isn't a huge thing, Some extra information tidbits on the weapons would be nice. Just extra details stated near the weapons. Noting things like Charge, Semi-Auto or Automatic Fire modes; Silent vs Alarming; and small effectiveness tidbits like " MK1 Paris is high in Puncture damage, making it more effective against armored enemies". Just so that way even if they get far enough in, they always have a weapon for every situation; even if they haven't picked up or earned enough credits to get a new weapons just yet.

There's also Affinity and Mastery, these would also be worth explaining to some degree, but not in detail. Just the basic point of Affinity is EXP for weapons, Leveling weapons allow you to use more Mods on them, Every Frame, Weapon, etc. grants Mastery, unlocking more guns and frames to use and enjoy. Every player I've helped has usually asked the difference between the two at some point or another. 

Small aside on the topic of leveling, Enemy Level is only an indication of their power, nothing else. Can recall many times having to explain that to newer players. Careful play can get you farther in the star chart than tricked out weapons/frames will. This should absolutely be made more clear, as most players think it's a recommended level.

Might also be worth the time to also automatically fill in codex entries for the "Necessary" or "Core" Mods as well as give them indication to look at the Codex in general for further training and information. Hand them the list of missions/enemies which they can obtain cores mods like Vitality, Redirection, +Damage and +Elemental. Then simply explain the rest can be uncovered via filling in your codex with Codex Scanning enemies and by completing mission where they can drop. 

Last thing I think needs to be stressed more than it is, as alluded to with the point of I made about quests.. This game is open ended. Opening and completing more missions and planets is far and away the best way to progress and have fun early on. Pick what weapons and missions you enjoy and play those, don't be pressured into obtaining high MR ASAP.

 

As far as thing that might be confusing or overwhelming...

Hacking

It shows up randomly and isn't explained at all the first time. I think giving a brief pause to explain the puzzles and how they work would be a good step to take, or even having the controls/instructions marked more to be prevalent the first few times on each puzzle type.

Modding

It's not super hard when you get deeper in and know how things work, but can still be confusing early on. "Should I use this mod, or that one?" and "What's a good build for X" are pretty common newbie questions. This can easily be fixed too. Just tweak the auto select to function as more of a "Most Frequently Used" selection of mods, that prioritizes Sustain mods (like Vitality/Redirection/Steel Fiber) over Full build mods (Strength, Duration, Range, etc) [At least until a certain MR, which it can start leaning more towards full builds]. This ensures they're getting optimal mods, and by paying attention to what mods are placed automatically, they can slowly learn what mods are useful to them.

Potato'ing (Using Reactor/Catalyst) and Forma

 While these don't come up too often, these are both overwhelming and under explained to new players. I think an introductory thing that at least explains how Catalyst and Reactors work would be amazing honestly. Give the new player a set of potatoes for their start frame and weapons and explain what they do and how they work. This also doubles and could help with player retention, as their starter weapons can now last much longer before they may have to seek out new options.

 

As far as things a new player could benefit from..

• The above set of "tutorial taters".
• Additional starting slots for Warframes and weapons. (I think 3 and 12 were the respective counts, this is pretty low imo)
• Discount on the Credit and MK1 weapons until a certain MR is reached (around 3-5 would be a good cut off) . 
  • This is so they can have a reasonable starting arsenal and try more weapons and playstyles and don't feel forced into their initial picks.
• Just more clarity in general. The game is pretty vague about a lot of things.

 

TL;DR: See end list and the bolded topics and main points for adjustment and fixes to improve the New Player Experience. I tried to hit a lot of the main FAQs I get when guiding, but I may have missed some things due to my preference to teach myself when it comes to games that just aren't coming to mind as issues. Sorry if I repeated anything.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Ruby_Rose_

[Kracken]

From the most friquent questions and problem of New Player that i encounter on region... 

The game need to enclose an information What reasorses can be found on a planet (Titan destiler icon is not intuitive). 

People asking What are and where they can find Eximus enemies. Those need an explanation. 

Nodes that need for e.g archwing need to be hidden till a Player get it. 

The same with planets (nodes on it) that where Player dont have access to. 

Players tends to buy weapons that needs reasorses that dont apear on first 4 planets. Those weapons needs to be locked (till a player unlock a planet with requested reasorses or an information that they dont have access to those resources).

Frost being eble to be obtained from mars... Need reasorses from jupiter. 

 

[LSG501]

Just been reading the article on polygon and thought of something else that might need help for newbies...

When you first use the market you don't always know there is a blueprint you can buy, maybe a quick 'tour' or 'tutorial' on how the market layout works would be helpful too. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by LSG501

[VirtualViolet]

1 hour ago, LSG501 said:

Just been reading the article on polygon and thought of something else that might need help for newbies...

When you first use the market you don't always know there is a blueprint you can buy, maybe a quick 'tour' or 'tutorial' on how the market layout works would be helpful too. 

Yeah, they redesigned the market and made it a little easier to find blueprints, but there's still room for improvement there. Heck, just recently I, a three-year veteran of the game, accidentally bought one of the new weapons for plat instead of the blueprint while I was staring at the stats.

[Mopsie]

Quick thing that  comes to mind when I first logged in and did the tutorials.

Make the enemies NOT drop objects. Since you can't pick them up...

My first two hours were spent trying to figure out how to pick up the glowy things the enemies dropped since like... I figured I'd need them before giving up and just continuing onwards. Since you don't know what the blue glowy thing, and the purple glowy thing, and the green glowy things are (could be money, could be ammo, could be boxes containing weapons.. literally anything) it annoyed me that they dropped but I had to ignore them.

 

[(PSN)OnlyTheDead]

As someone who has recently gotten back into the game and brought some new players with me and helping them start there are some obvious barriers in explanation to some of the stuff.  So much so that I often spend about an hour explaining stuff to them that should for all intents be in game.    Specifically things like mod capacity and the effects of reactors on that in the mod tutorial. More explicit explanation of mod mechanics like forma, polarity, damage types, and elements.  The mastery system, the importance of leveling items and frames to 30.  What does and does not effect this.  An explanation of exactly what is dropping out of containers when you open them.   (I had to look at wiki to understand what the blue thing was when starting, turns out it's an energy item for my warframe and very important.) 

Even basic tutorial options that may pop up and can be switched on/off as players advance. 

As an example, consider the first time opening your Navigation.  A quick sequence of windows one by one pop up showing what the different items mean, the icons on the chart such as alerts, nightmare, etc.  Perhaps a stable "Help" cursor that can be activated any time and used to click on items for explanations that brings up a help index.  Or as another option maybe a random help tip if tutorials are on that pops up displaying something every time you activate items on your ship. (Upon entering navigation a small unobtrusive box in the corner slides out that reads "press R1 to cycle thru categories and missions of interests" or "Be sure to unlock as many planets as possible by completing junctions to increase your opportunities to take part in alerts for special rewards!")

This could be applied to anything. Open mods and the help box flashes random tutorials that might say "Be aware of mod capacity on your items.  To double capacity at lvl 30, install the applicable orokin uograde item" or "Forma a mod slot to reduce the cost of high level mods by changing the polarity of a slot for more advanced builds!"

Something of this sort in conjunction with a help index would massively increase the ability to learn about the game in the actual game instead of going outside to the wiki.  Most new players aren't going to be engaged enough to gonariund searching for stuff that should be readily available and that is a serious issue for player retention as it wasbforbme when I first tried the game upon PS4 release. 

[MagusZeal]

Best suggestions I can give, having lead a few friends through the game recently.

• Vor's Prize should dump you on Mercury like it used to. So instead of going Earth -> Venus -> Mercury it should have stayed Mercury -> Venus -> Earth. This way the PoE isn't the first flashing node they see and they get smashed by the night critters and have time to get their mods up. By doing this it gives a more clear definition of junctions provide progress and direction. Also back tracking is just terrible in most games.
• If Mercury is returned to being the first planet unlocked maybe include the junction as the final step on Vor's Prize?
• More emphasis early game about leveling mods or a better tutorial on them than what's present in Vor's Prize. Sadly most of my friends have never noticed the codex and the tutorials it has. So until I said level those damage and health mods they were just sticking anything in without leveling them.
• Something pointing that assassination missions provide warframes parts, it's not something that's clearly stated anywhere in game and with Vor's Prize and Vor's own drop tables no one would really put that together.
• Cetus and PoE being moved so it's no longer a connection node to the other half of Earth but a dead end. Even on the lowest tier of bounties the enemies are going to wreck newer players that aren't leveling their mods especially if it's the first blue flashing node they see.
• Weapon and Warframe slot tutorial, lot of people are unaware that there's a slot limitation until they hit it. I also think maybe the first 2 or 3 mastery ranks should provide one or two slots. Say MR 1 (1 weapon slot), MR 2 (1 Warframe slot) with a notice and message about how to obtain more going forward.
• Maybe a babies first relic farm quest as well so the mechanics are better explained. Or a better listing on the juncture pointing to something that explains it.
• I kinda think a tutorial on trading might be worth it with a mention about Platinum being available from trade, but I kinda like that none of the lore mentions it.
• Rebalance of resources per planet. There's a few resources that are really only available on one planet and they tend to be way late in the star map for when players actually need the resource. *couch* neural sensor *cough*
• In-game explanation of mastery rank and how it works, this is one of the most common questions I've seen from friends and new players aside from "how get this?". Possibly include information that the MK1's are training/inferior weapons.
• Better understanding that the MK1's are starter/training weapons, when I first started I thought I was doing something wrong till I finally got off the MK1 Braton and switched to any other gun. Or at least an easier to find upgrade path from them, as it is you either scroll through all the weapons in the arsenal and notice the ones that can be purchased with credits or you get lost in the market.
• Add a credit only button to the market that shows only credit purchasable items.
• When movement 2.0 was added there was a tutorial present for the new movement system and all the ways you could move. It might be a good idea to have that some where in Vor's Prize instead of buried in the codex.
• Either a rework of broken mods or complete removal. I know there supposed to function as here's some limited versions of 'needed' mods, but they seem to cause more confusion than anything else with the people I've played with.

[Twilight053]

Plains of Eidolon, the fact that you can access them a node away from the tutorial quest, is not a healthy thing to do. It exposes players to medium-endgame level content, but definitely not beginner level content. I made three posts about Cetus NPE.

1) Adding Low MR Requirement to Cetus

2) Konzu Selling Beginner's Mod

3) More Advanced Bounties Locked Behind Quests / Junctions

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by Twilight053

[MarikBentusi]

Something I found confusing at first was how Affinity is handled in the UI:

- there is no XP in this game, it's always called Affinity

- ...except for the Mission End screen, where the blue bar uses XP as units, which made it confusing for me to learn what Affinity is

- I mistook the yellow BONUS affinity in the Mission End screen as extra affinity from the affinity booster that newbies are granted, and was confused when it stayed afterwards. Now I know it's affinity you only get if you don't abort the mission, probably with a positive spin on it (we all know the WoW resting bonus XP example). I don't think "bonus" works in this context however because mission success isn't a bonus objective, which makes the connection unintuitive for new players.

[CanOfCraig]

As a player who still doesn't know what they are doing well past the two-hour point in the game, I don't feel even close to qualified to say what should be introduced in that time period. What I can say, however, is that trying to force the textbook of information I wish I had when I started into the first couple hours will make the game too bogged down with tutorial information that won't be remembered by the average new player. I don't know what I don't know, and that's my main issue with the game.  (but honestly I love this game, It's fun)

If I had to suggest anything it would be to re-evaluate the way you think the mechanics of a game need to be introduced and built your story missions from planet to planet to build an overall understanding of how damage works, how the shop/blueprints work, how to locate materials (the fundamentals of warframe more or less) through clever repetition (by that I mean don't annoy players by saying 'go collect 10 of this, that, and another thing' every planet)

For one final note... figuring out how to kill bosses in warframe is crazy. I learn nothing from attempting to kill them on my own, watching a video of someone killing it with no audio explanation of whats going on helps me none, and I've gotten to where I am so far in the game only because people farm bosses and more or less kill them for me. I'm just past the second dream and still have no idea what I'm doing on most boss fights.

[(XBOX)Khyron42 Prime]

Been playing maaaaybe a month, and I feel like I was through the "growing pains" after about 2 weeks. A few points of confusion early on which I remember:

1) Didn't realize you could buy new weapons for credits. The Market, until you poke it a bit, appears to only sell items for Platinum. You could use a "Buy Weapon Blueprint From Market" mini-quest to tutorialize that.

2) I wondered immediately if the Lotus's message about "Tutorial is over! Go wherever you want!" was a holdover from an older build, because in practice, the game becomes a fairly linear progression of Junction and story quests after the tutorial, and remains so for quite a while. And while you CAN do every node on every planet, I don't know anyone who didn't just fulfill the Junction requirements and move on.

3) The Aura, Stance and Exilus slots are intimidating and frustrating. They make modding things FEEL like it's more complicated than it is. Even just a little pop-up when you hover over them that explains what they do would be nice.

4) Plains of Eidolon feels like an entire separate game strapped onto your existing game, and making it immediately available is totally overwhelming. I would honestly lock it to MR3 (or even MR5 like Vay Hek), and provide a quest to go visit it.

5) The Lotus uses crazy informal language. "Nobody" and "Somebody" have no place in official instructions!

6) Damage 2.0 (I never saw the previous damage?) makes no intuitive sense and is never organically explained or tutorialized. I use a set of screenshots on my phone as reference when I'm modding.

7) Many, MANY events and persons from previous "events" are constantly referenced, making almost every person and event that we encounter feel wildly confusing. Hell, the TUTORIAL story makes no sense if you didn't watch the 4-year-old *patch trailer* where you see Vor get demoted. Same with ALL of Alad V. He talks about the Zanuka project like you know what it is, but ZERO referrence to it remains in the game. You told your entire story in trailers for patches to your game's beta, and the game assumes I, a new player in 2018, watched all of them. It's super alienating.

 

I have to say, at this point in our culture, I don't think it's that crazy having a game require a little online research to understand. Minecraft is the Biggest Anything Ever, and it became such while explaining diddly squat. But this game is too much. Bethesda games can afford to let you wander because you'll wander into gameplay no matter which way you go. In this game, you wander into invisible, inexplicable walls. "Hey, I got a.. Zenurik lens? Great. That gives me... focus? What the hell is that? Does it have to do with that top slot in my Warframe's mod screen?"

Edited January 11, 2018 by (XB1)Khyron42 Prime
Weapons specifically

[MackeyMoose]

Late and hope a Dev reads this, even for one suggestion. Feedback from an older player (3 years?):

I have 4 friends that just started playing a little over 2 weeks ago. So I'll start from the beginning of when the questions began. 

THE STAR CHART: I really liked the revision of the star chart, but friends often have questions on what to do next. Suggestion: In addition to the flashing light, have a tiny bit of extra dialog when opening the map like "the next location awaits you" (something not as cheesy). Also, have an indicator going from the previously completed node to the next flashing node. Next up, Junctions. Friends asked about junctions. The game kinda explains but not enough. The junctions just show an objective and the planet it goes to. Ordis or Lotus should address the junctions (especially the Eximus unit requirement). Friends had no idea what an Eximus unit was or where to find one.  Which leads to the codex.

THE CODEX: The codex needs a rework. Scanning enemies should be a requirement for the simulacrum, not for the codex (most enemies/ not spoiler enemies). Mod drops should show after you scan someone. The player should be directed to the codex after they reach the Earth junction. This way they can learn about Eximus units and learn about using the Codex. This is for the new player experience so I wont go deeper into the codex. 

THE MARKET: The market is confusing to new players. Most of them think the market is where you go to buy platinum or spend it. Platinum should be explained when the market segment is introduced. Buying blueprints should be explained and shown like: *Player is forced to go to the market. When opening the interface, weapons tab is highlighted. Click on weapons, etc. Buy this blueprint, etc. "Now operator, you can craft this weapon". Also. Huge thing I've notice. There are starter weapons that new players can buy for credits. I had to tell my friends this because it was not explained. I also had to search through the weapons, because I didn't remember what the starter weapons were, to tell them what they could buy.

MASTERY: I don't recall if the game alerts or explains mastery, but I had 2 of 4 friends ask about it and how to level it up. 

Weapon and Warframe slots: The devs have done an excellent job at changing the new player experience but there is still a lot to change. New players need to start with a little more. The beginner platinum seemed to be a way around that but, in my opinion, I think it would be better for new players to have more slots for Warframes and weapons. This gives new players a little more flexibility. Maybe they could unlock them with a quest? 

MODS: Friends often had questions about mods and slots. A friend was amazed when I told him he could mix different elemental mods to get new elements. There is a tutorial about putting mods on a weapon, but the game should address this further. "For instance operator, if you put a fire mod and an ice mod on a weapon, the element changes to blast! This knocks down enemies when it's triggered". Basically expand the mod tutorial. 

MODS CONTINUED 2 hrs + : Brief quest that rewards the player with a stance mod for whatever melee weapon is equipped (quest only rewards once), with a slight explanation on stance and how it also increases the capacity on a weapon. Brief quest that could reward player with an Aura slot and explains how it can increase capacity on Warframe.

POE: I know this is past the 2 hour / right out of the tutorial experience, but I had to address it.  I had friends MR 2 and 3 wander into the plains. Definitely not a place they should be. Not only does it distract from the star chart, it really has no value for players that low of a MR except a couple of mods. 

ENEMY TYPES: Early on, the game doesn't throw too many enemies in your face but it does throw enough to confuse some players. Besides a codex update, when a new enemy is introduced, there should be a mission before hand, and early missions shouldn't scale so hard that certain enemies will show up if a player is there too long. Especially enemies that haven't been introduced properly yet. The main thing is to introduce ONE nullifier early on and explain, while a player is fighting, how to defeat one. 

This is all I can think of for the 2 hour experience at the moment. I hope my suggestions help. Thanks for the hardware DE and the great game and community you've created. 

 

 

[Saber836]

I started playing this game 44 days ago and the thing that turned me off was once i was done with the tutorial and i was looking at the star chart ...i was like what now...why am i doing these nodes...whats the point...the game needs a bit more direction in the beginning in terms of lore and rewards...the thing is its all available but nobody looks at it cause its all hidden away in the codex which i still haven't opened to read unless i was completing the quests.

 

[(XBOX)O1BadPhish]

For me the first few hours of play were very mysterious and i liked that very much. I think alot of gamers dont expect that out of modern games. If it was at least clearly stated that warframe is an experience/ investigation as you play not just hoops to jump through. The player would at least know to expect some mystery in regards to the vast details to the so many aspects of warframe. Explaining that warframe cannt be beat or mastered in 12 hrs the way most modern games are very beatable in 12ish hrs if play time. 

Next one would be to clearly demonstrate the difference of equipment leveling/ modding in a tutorial early on so the player can see the carrot on the stick to motivate the  upcoming affinity grind. 

Warframe community is like no other i have seen. The game is great but in my opinion it is matched in greatness by the community of people that play it. Tell the new player this so they know early on they can lean on other players. I think i played the first 3 planets solo because i didnt know to set game play to public, my derp for sure.

[Qwar5]

I started playing with a friend about a month ago. Since we were 2 to figure things out, I haven't had much of a problem. The eximus... We simply did missions until the counter went up. Eventually, we realized that some stronger versions of regular enemies were labeled like that.

But the market has proved unusually obtuse. I cannot stress how much I dislike all inventory interfaces in this game. They seem specifically designed to be as big, obtrusive and uninformative as possible. Making tons of weapons and frames that you cannot buy without platinum, others that you can buy the BP for, and others that you can buy with credits, appear all together without any way to filter eachother out is terrible. Me and my friend didn't build a single weapon for like 50 hours because we thought all of them required plat.

The only inventory UI-thing I like is that you can sort the weapons by number of Forma applied.

I would suggest:

1. Making the froundry more interactable, like right-clicking allows you to sell the BP, something like that.

2. Tick-boxes that allow to filter out different things, like "show credit-only weapons", "show only aviable blueprints", etc (I think there's this one on the market).

3. Actually make the filter filter things. If I write "Plano" (spanish word for BP) i nthe inventory filter, it returns no results.

4. Smaller, more concise boxes for items. It takes too much scrolling through items to fins what you want, while having to much free space on the window.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Qwar5

[GoodEffort]

One of the most confusing things starting out was “levels” of maps. It shows the levels of enemies you can expect in the navigator.

I had thought mastery was my character’s level. So playing in maps around my level would give me enemies at around my power.

I have since learned those are different things. 

And I also echo other players sentiments, please do not send a wall of text explaining this stuff. I remember ending my tutorials with some walls of text which I read but I didn’t get it. Keep in mind players have never heard of words like “endo” and “frame” so a sentence with all those foreign words doesn’t mean anything.

 The things where it was part of the gameplay I understood much better. 

[Chili.P]

Hello everyone! As the game progressed the new player experience got a lot better, but I think still needs some improvement. My suggestion would be a sector on earth (unlocked after the initial tutorial missions), like some sort of an academy leaded by Teshin. Why him? He seemed like the teacher kind of guy from my experience with him from the War Within, could be cool to get him a secret academy in the mountains. The tutorial space could be entirely optional with areas specialising to teach new players at every aspect of the game. It would be hand holding type of tutorial that is entirely optional (lotus would just inform you about it and that "it may be a good idea to check it out"), you go there or you dont.

For example:

- a place where Teshin explains in depth about mods, elemental damage. it would be interactive, like you have to go to an arsenal panel, then you cant click on anything but your weapons upgrade place. it would be a tutorial weapon with a tutorial inventory (empty except a few mod that is needed for tutorial purposes) while Teshin talks about how the different type of damages are good for different type of enemies

- basic and advanced parkour map

- after archwing unlocked, a simulacrum type of holo room with explaining about it more in depth, where can the player upgrade it, where are the parts for it (syndicate panel)

- pvp panel and modes

- codex + market

- prime stuff and relic (upgrading them, where to get them)

etc etc

This place could be expanded as the game progresses in gameplay mechanics, adding new doors and places. There could be 2 rooms for each mechanic the game has: 1 for understanding said mechanic and 1 for training it a bit. Players could be even rewarded for completing it getting the most basic not-MK1 weapons for it after achieving some basic milestones in there, like doing the advanced parkour under 1 min you get a skana etc. This place could even set up Teshin a bit more for the War Within making his role in it more deep as he is your teacher about combat and how to survive, and lotus is your guide about everything else.

thanks for reading it through :)

Edited January 30, 2018 by Chili.P
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