Community Thoughts: How are you with 8 months of low content?

[Kenmei]

God forbid you saw how the game was when I started playing. The game was about trying all the weapons and which one looked the coolest, the (few) frames and selecting which skills you were going to use, and which not (because they were equippable mods), etc, and who could run survival the longest.

With all the things you can do now... content drought?
sigh...

[Aeon94]

On 2018-08-12 at 2:46 AM, peterc3 said:

How do they do that and also rebalance existing weapons? Presumably the same people would be working on the same things. Numbers people on numbers, mechanics people on mechanics, art people on art.

DE makes new weapons but ignores older weapons and people complain.

DE revisists older weapons and newer weapons are farther between and people complain.

Why should DE care at this point what the community thinks about the situation?

Let me make this clear ;

DE revisited primary / secondary weapons and they already got their balance pass ( melees are next ) , there is no reason for DE to not to release new primaries and secondaries ( new melees will be released after Melee 3.0 , obviously ).

If you have pointed out workload of Fortuna etc , I'd be fine but coming up with balance reason ?

Edited August 15, 2018 by Aeon94

[peterc3]

On 2018-08-14 at 6:11 AM, Aeon94 said:

there is no reason for DE to not to release new primaries and secondaries

Do you think there is a separate team for Primary weapons, Secondary weapons and Melee weapons? I would wager there isn't. Therefore there are the same people working to balance any weapons, in this case Melee, and to work on new weapons.

Fortuna certainly factors in, but you have provided nothing to show my reasoning is bad.

[(PSN)Onder6099]

It’s definitely time to slow down, the WF content is enormously huge, especially for new players, which negatively impact the game itself.

[ElKayJae]

What kind of updates do you guys want? I do prefer large updates and QOL improvements over small updates. Small updates like new weapons every few weeks brings nothing to the game but just some new MR fodder to be used and forgotten and don't really enchance the game. Large updates and great new features is what is gonna help the game in the long run.

[-Temp0-]

В 07.08.2018 в 14:44, (PS4)Taishin_Ishu сказал:

"I demand a burger, cooked to perfection like one would find at the finest of restaurants! ...but I also want it done fast, with a new one made every 30 seconds! ....AND I want it free! ...but still high quality!"
- The Gaming Community.

Nothing is free, especilaly in a free to play game. Stop being a 4 years old.Also the quality of warframe and especially PoE is nowhere near a aaa game and not even close to it.

Цитата

I personally hope that after Fortuna, they think up something other than a new open world to add to the game.

I'd personally take 2 quests like sacrifice a year (especially considering that it's supposedly was done in 4 months) over a pile of *** that was and is PoE anytime anyway. Or one like the war within. At least it's 1 lore driven 2 moves the main storyline forward 3 left us with mechanics,systems and new maps that we use to this day. Unlike the plains of grindolon that most would never load after 3-4 months of playing if it's wasn't for arcanes that drop from Eidolons.

[Aeon94]

2 hours ago, peterc3 said:

Do you think there is a separate team for Primary weapons, Secondary weapons and Melee weapons? I would wager there isn't. Therefore there are the same people working to balance any weapons, in this case Melee, and to work on new weapons.

Fortuna certainly factors in, but you have provided nothing to show my reasoning is bad.

Ofcourse I don't think there are seperate teams for them.

As for where your reasoning is bad ( to me ) ;

On 2018-08-12 at 2:46 AM, peterc3 said:

How do they do that and also rebalance existing weapons?

I mean they are actually working on them atm - Fortuna's kitguns , weapons that shown ( but not released yet :( ) in Tennocon and Melee 3.0.  I'd be fine and agreed with you if you have pointed out Fortuna's workload AND Melee 3.0 but JUST telling " How do they release new weapons and also rebalance existing weapons " is not a good reasoning. Like telling DE is incapable of doing both at same time.

[(PSN)JustJoshinEnt]

On 2018-08-13 at 2:33 AM, BETAOPTICS said:

Quitte Shy called this year uneventful. Brozime said that if the Sacrifice would not drop before Tennocon then the game would suffer from drought greatly. Paraphrasing there, not literally quoting but something like that. It is not him, it is content creators as well as many players who have expressed this sentiment and left to play other games or stopped repeating their perception since it would be pointless. While Brozimes and Quitte Shy's comments were before the Sacrifice, all in all it is true that in terms of things to do, it has not been as fast delivering content as the game used to be. Years back players used to get new weapons almost every other week or even every week, there were new game modes once or twice per year, new Warframes around every 3-4 months and new Primes started to be released at a similar time cycle. Colors, ships, skins, weapons, modes, all of that.

That all changed since the Second Dream as DE realized they do have a knack for more story telling and more expansive additions in the game. It came as a surprise for players because back then the phasing still followed the old format and it set a new high bar of performance. Performance which as Steve mentioned the studio has been anxious to follow up ever since, and who could blame them? This was yet again broken into new standard when Plains of Eidolon was finally released. And now instead of releasing new content a bit at a time, DE instead focuses on few big events in the year at a time. This is not necessarily a bad thing mind you, it very much depends where the player is at currently in their Warframe cycle and these big content drops have their own perks too at the cost of more balanced cycles that the players used to get.

I wrote about the problem of skins in video games on one Warframe players post complaining about content drought. While I do not think you can necessarily classify current situation as content drought, again depending heavily on each players current cycle position and progression, but the problem with skins is their superficial nature. They do not actually add anything into the game. Aesthetics matter, but they do not add to the games mechanical (physical) content, they do not alter what you do, only how you look while you do them. That is why their ability to sustain a game is not as comprehensive as new gear is. And sure enough, there have been tweaks to weapons and Warframes, few new items and Warframes too. And they have mattered a lot, and they are welcome additions, but in the end of the day you still do the same things you have done before, only slightly differently now. That is why they do not activate the same brain areas responsible for satisfaction stimulation as say new things to do. If you do have things to do then this point will be moot, but it does inform those who do not. hence the ' content drought ' posts each year.

I personally would say that the Sacrifice definitely has been this years biggest positive addition so far and it has given the game new life. And without a doubt Fortuna will be able to revitalize the game quite a lot when it will be released. In the meantime though the world of Warframe is a bit slower and quieter than it has been years back, that is also true, and the way it affects some players is relevant to them at least, and should be relevant to DE as well. What is the solution? I have no idea. It is a difficult problem and a gamble DE takes. Slow down updates like Fortuna that give good press and market, to get more consistent content and keep a portion of players playing, or not but at the gain of faster bigger updates?

Lots of very good points here, valid observations, AND done in a very mature manner.  I very much appreciate posts like yours ^_^

It is true things are slowing down.  My point-of-view has been that that is a natural thing, however.  Not @ you, persay, just at these threads in general.  I don't think people understand how "creative" processes work.  YOU have a great grasp on it.  For others, I'd try this exercise:

Name the first 5 colors you can think of.  Easy right?  Now...name 5 more. Still no challenge.  5 more?  Gotta do a bit of thinking, but no sweat.  Now do this 10 more times.... After awhile, coming up with a new color that is completely different and meaningful becomes quite a difficult task, yeah?

Creative processes aren't just things that pop up when you need 'em.  DE has been doing this content creation process for 5 years.  At this point, releasing a new gun or sword will be met with "It's just a weaker/stronger this or that".  New gamemodes also are not something you can just come up with overnight.  Railjack IS coming, Landscapes are in development.  Vehicles are being worked on.  So it isn't so much a drought in that there is no content, it's just the incubation period for those ideas to mature.  

But the slowing to a gradual pace, that's normal.   It's like growth spurts when you're younger.  A baby is gonna double in size.  A teen is gonna get tall fast.  Once you hit your 20s, it's pretty gradual from there.

Warframe is settling into its mature 20s.  It IS still growing at a healthy pace, though.  I don't mind people complaining they wish there was more to do.  Just irritates me to -expect- it, as if DE keeps a Content Genie in the back room.  That's really all 

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_IGN]

With the exception of some of the Dojo Pigments and the void relics I have been having a blast.   I wish Tridolons were not so deadly.  I got maxed out tier 3 amps and frames able to run it but its just not fun getting nuked and or constantly being drained of your energy so you cant use abilities.   If you want to do Tridolon then everyone expects you to do it 3 times per night also.  I love fighting the Terralyst,  I can go in there and pretty much single handedly destroy it so if I do get grouped with noobs it doesnt bother me,  they do their best and I get a LITTLE bit of help and we all get max rewards.   = FUN for all.   They learn and get rewards,  I get to be the man and get rewards.  

Needing X frame with Y amp and Z focus school ability = not fun.  

Hope spiders arent as bad as eidolons but I am expecting the worst lol.  

--------------------------

Most games die horrible deaths because of "Try hards" that want to rush around, be Max Level, instantly consume/buy latest content and then sit around and cry because they have nothing to do.  These morons should be completely ignored by developers.   

[Chronometria]

Problem isn't a lack of content, its a lack of replayable content. We need things to keep us occupied and usually in games that means PvP of some sort. Conclave is so bad and that hurts the game terribly.

[ComfyOlivia]

On 2018-08-11 at 9:45 PM, Sajochi said:

I'm gonna bookmark this thread the next time someone posts a thread about "DE makes too much content and doesn't focus on old stuff" just to prove a point that there is no winning for the dev team at all. 

Two ends of the spectrum. They can fix stuff AND make content at the same time. I'm not saying they need to be able to do it all, but I am saying that they should have been fixing this stuff along the way instead of letting it sit.

They let things get way out of hand by not fixing these things as they went, and just kept pumping out systems and modes that weren't quite right. While they were playable and entertaining, there were little things to fix and rework on the vast majority of releases.

I say this every time I talk about this stuff. DE knew they had a lot of stuff to fix. They knew they were going to have to do this at some point. Yet, they had nothing prepared for it. They saw the issues with IPS and seemingly decided "well, I guess we should go ahead and do the QOL stuff after all these years".

They are by no means evil or a bad company for this, but they were ill prepared. It isn't them never being able to win.

There was a point they were pumping out like 4-6 weapons a month, a frame every 3 months and some cool new bigger thing every couple of months. I can understand extending a bit to ensure quality, but tell me when the last time was we had more than 1 tenno reinforcement in a month? Or the last time we even had one? Hell, when was the last weapon that wasn't related to a quest even dropped? Not a prime reskin. Like, a new original weapon.

People aren't upset that this QOL is happening. They're upset because there's nothing other than random side stuff for them to do that has either nothing to do with core gameplay, or just isn't worth spending time on.

The partners are right, it's a drought. If they were even on an extended release schedule, we would have had like 20 new weapons and at least 2 new frames in the last 8 months. That's 3 weapons a month and 1 frame every like 3 and a half months. That's why people are upset. It should have never gotten to this point in the first place.

Edited August 15, 2018 by CoRRh

[Kaotyke]

1 hour ago, -Temp0- said:

Nothing is free,

Everything is permited.

[Vox_Preliator]

I'm fine with it.

I'm capable of taking breaks when I don't feel like playing Warframe and I understand my own and the game's limitations.

So you've "finished" the game and are still expecting there to be more?  Well, you've finished it.  There isn't any more.  I remember a Cave Story hack I played way back when exploring this concept, noting how the player was so desperate for, just, more that they would try to squeeze out every last drip of fun they could possibly have.  It was a bit of a sobering experience, I had already played Cave Story to the point I could beat it without health upgrades and was actively seeking out blatantly unfair hacks just to get my fix.   But... there isn't any more.  I can go back and play it again, but there is never really going to be anything more.  We play these games so much, it can be hard to remember that, in the end, they are finite.  Replayable, but finite.  There is no "Save Asriel" ending in Undertale.  There is no "Save everyone and kill Voden" ending in Omensight.  There is no "Precisely and specifically explain what the crap is going on and why" ending in The Witness.  There is no "Fix the world permanently" ending in Bastion.  There is no "Restore Mother to the stars" ending in La Mulana.  There is nothing stopping any of us from enjoying these games once more, and we still do.  But there just plain isn't any more.

...Okay I kinda lost track there and just I started writing words and now I'm not actually sure what my original point was going to be before I got sidetracked with reminiscing on a minor existential crisis.

Anyways, I'm cool with it.

[(PSN)TEKKENGOD420]

 There’s been some good points for both sides of the coin mentioned in this post and I understand where everybody’s coming from, but a lack of content in warframe is not exactly the end of the world.  If you ask me one of the best things about warframe is that even if you take a year long break from playing the game when you get back you’re still not that far behind, mainly because it does not use a traditional MMO gearing  system. So unless all your frames and all your foma’d Weapons get beat flat with the Nerf hammer most if not all will Still be usable when you return. So if you find yourself bored because you have no more content you can consume just take a break from Warframe, play other games, go out hang with your friends come back in 6 to 8 months and you will more than likely have a plethora of stuff you are able to do again. I say this as a player that took a year off from the game and came back and was no less as powerful upon my return as I was when I took my break, just had more stuff I could do when I got back.

[Leland_Gaunt]

I don't like the long stretches in between new content releases. There was a time when it felt like we got new stuff every week (and not just cosmetics/tennogen). It's been around 4 months since the last clan research weapon. That's terrible IMHO.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who basically doesn't have anything to do anymore besides farming kuva. I've slapped hundreds of forma on my gear, I forma everything even if I'm not gonna use it. Why? Because there is nothing to do or really go for after a certain point. I've been playing since '13 and I got more hours in this game than I should.

It must be great being a new or semi-new player in WF these days because it looks like you'll never run out of stuff to do. But you do.

[(PSN)Mahd2_7]

To be honest I'm fine starting building weapons to end game level and have started doing end game runs pretty fun actually just got to go past the 4hr mark on solo

[Hypernaut1]

3 hours ago, Leland_Gaunt said:

 

I don't like the long stretches in between new content releases. There was a time when it felt like we got new stuff every week (and not just cosmetics/tennogen). It's been around 4 months since the last clan research weapon. That's terrible IMHO.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who basically doesn't have anything to do anymore besides farming kuva. I've slapped hundreds of forma on my gear, I forma everything even if I'm not gonna use it. Why? Because there is nothing to do or really go for after a certain point. I've been playing since '13 and I got more hours in this game than I should.

It must be great being a new or semi-new player in WF these days because it looks like you'll never run out of stuff to do. But you do.

when was WF getting new content every week?

[Leland_Gaunt]

vor 26 Minuten schrieb Hypernaut1:

when was WF getting new content every week?

I said it felt like every week. But that was years ago, it was like every Tuesday would bring something cool.

And we had events more regularly, tactical alerts much later too.

[(PSN)JustJoshinEnt]

3 hours ago, Leland_Gaunt said:

I said it felt like every week. But that was years ago, it was like every Tuesday would bring something cool.

And we had events more regularly, tactical alerts much later too.

See my color/growth analogy earlier in thread on page 6 or 7.   Point is, it's easier to create content when there is none, because there is a ton of source material to pull from AND because anything you make is new.  Later on down the line, say..5 years or so, it becomes exponentially harder to be truly creative.  Any gun they put out is just going to be another shotgun compared to Tigris, or another heavy sword will just be another Galatine, and so on.   I love new stuff, but y'all are demanding an impossible task from DE.

They worked hard to build Warframe into what it is.  They aren't going to soil their work by just settling and putting out crappy copies of a thousand weapons just to sate the gluttonous hordes on the forums.  Warframe is much bigger than that.

We've also had a ton of events in the last few weeks alone, so dunno where y'all are complaining.

And don't give me the "but it's repeated" crap.  Yes, it is a returning event list.  Do you expect the creatives at DE to just fart out new stories for every single alert event and screw over the carefully built lore of WF just to sate your appetite for things to hit?

I don't mean to come across as hostile, but it's like talking to a brick wall on these forums anymore.  You give people a reasonable explanation, but if it isn't what they want to hear, they just call you names, shout back, and write you off a a troll or an idiot.  

Even IF DE "only" gave 1 major update a year, every year... HOW IS THAT BAD?   Name any other game that not only gives you a brand new game's worth of content to download -every year- for the last 5 years, BUT ALSO has -never-, and WILL -never-, charge you for it?

Most $60 games you pay for once and that's all you get. Period.

Warframe, however, is a game, THE game, that keeps on giving, no strings attached, for FREE.   And still people find reason to complain.  Not critique- complain.  
 

[Nijyumensou]

it feels like every single month, we will get a similar thread with the similar group of people complaining about the same issue with 0-low content. They just think that they Lived in the game or something, we can't save them. They are stuck just like most people in the workforce who wants a better working environment every half a year but reject to look at other job opportunities. I feel like DE should create a monthly rant section in the forum for people to place their complaint to, let them vent it out or something.

[SilentMobius]

On 2018-08-07 at 6:15 AM, Tellakey said:

I'm asking because so far as DE is willing to reveal, semi open-world nodes are the future of Warframe, sprinkled with more minor features like a yearly cinematic, Sanctuary Onslaught, The Kingpin System, Railjack and so on. The developmental route for these open worlds seems to consist of major usage of the workforce, resulting in less content throughout the year until the eventual release of a centerpiece, previously Plains of Eidolon, and at the moment Fortuna.

This year has been aptly named The Year of the Drought, but could it mark a more significant change in Warframe's content production timetable? What if every year from now on will be similar, with 8 months of small content production leading up to a big release? Would you be satisfied? Or do you like the older system better?

Keep in mind that according to DE Steve the company has an ideological and financial incentive to maintain a moderate scale of staff,  meaning that an expansion in the workforce, while possible, is unlikely, hence a stasis in terms of productivity rates. 

I don't actually think they there has been a "content drought". I think that people are forgetting how long the game has been running and are judging the last year without full context.

[German]

It's terrible and I miss the old days. The big updates are really really good but they take too long to develope.

[4thBro]

This is what I want.

 

1) 2nd open world finished.

2) A hardcore push on story quests, story quests, story quests. Get to a point where the "current story" can finally be considered "at an end," and the next big chunk of story can be something new entirely... (Sort of like a new expansion, while finishing our current "Vanilla.")

3) A good endless end-game mode. Onslaught coulda been that, but has issues. Alternatively, fix Onslaught. Don't make it so polarizing. Take out the skill-restricting mechanic that seems to hit everyone but Saryns. Also, fix Saryn and other such frames. Additionally, maybe remove the efficiency mechanic too. This is part of what's polarizing. It ONLY tests your capacity to massively AoE kill enemies. What about so many other important things to measure in WF? People should be able to reach the finish line in whatever method they are able to. That's the core mentality for versatile balance. Once you're measuring specific things that certain frames were DESIGNED to excel at, that's when the other frames get shut out.

4) Dunno... Perhaps a serious attempt at PvP? But only by people who have a heart for it.

Edited August 16, 2018 by 4thBro

[Hypernaut1]

 Year for year, I don't remember Warframe getting more substantial content than it does now. 

The only content that was semi consistent was new weapons. Other than that it was always tweaks or finishing of placeholder content  every week. Warframe is in a different place now. I'm my eyes, Warframe 1 is practically finished and they are working on folding in the practical sequel to Warframe. There's only so many swords they can release. They aren't going to delay major updates to release what amounts to sword skins to make it feel like they're releasing "content" to please players that would complain about it being mastery fodder anyway

Edited August 16, 2018 by Hypernaut1

[Autongnosis]

I think I'd rather have a year like this one where we got a round of gun polish that made a lot more weapons viable and enjoyable at any level, a good story quest, a projected new landscape soonish, that an year like 2015 where we got tenno reinforcments every other week. 

The one thing i think they should maybe do is bring back older Tactical Alerts so people can have fun with them, and also have some more events which have basically been semi forgotten compared to their older model of having multiple per year. 

See this (number of events oer year):

2013 9
2014 9
2015 2
2016 2
2017 3
2018 0

2018 so far only had 1 event that was a cppy of the last one of 2017. And the Acolytes, which again are a returning event and they didn't even come back fully (like in the actual event).