Every time I sat down to write something about Warframe, I'd get distracted one way or another, unable to find the words to describe the game - whether it's the good parts or the bad parts. I decided to write a review for the game around the time I reached 100 daily logins. I was having a lot of fun with the game, and I had done a considerable amount of the content, but I still had quite a lot to do. I eventually postponed the review and continued playing. I went through my first Prime Access, got even better at the game, did solo level-cap and more, and decided I'd do my review for day 200. This was also around the time a major update dropped for the game, so it made sense. However, things didn't work out as I intended, and the review got postponed once more. Today is my day 300 and also the day I reach LR5, which is the highest rank you can achieve at this point in time.
I started playing Destiny 2 when I was in my first year of university. At the time, the game was not F2P or on Steam. I only bought the base game to try it out, and it didn't leave much of an impression on me. I didn't have anyone to play with, which I would eventually find out is the most fun part of Destiny 2. When it came to Steam and became free, a lot more people started playing, some of whom were my friends from university. I also started playing with people from /vg/'s Destiny general. I'm still friends with a lot of the /dg/ guys. To keep things brief, I'll just say I really did like Destiny 2, but I didn't like many of the changes, like removing old content, sunsetting most of the weapons, not replacing them with viable alternatives, and unnecessary nerfs to speedrunning tech which eventually led to me dropping the game. Ironically, some of those friends (who eventually dropped Destiny 2 later than I did), not wanting to play the newest expansion at the behest of other friends, led to me (and them) starting to play Warframe together.
I'd like to preface the rest of this post by saying even though most of what I say here will be negative, I did truly enjoy most of my time with this game. These are just my gripes with the game.
I had technically tried Warframe 10 years ago, but my laptop at the time couldn't handle the game very well. This new try got me hooked nearly instantly. I spent the whole day playing and didn’t do much else for a while. However, one of my very early critiques was that much of the game is time-gated. To progress, you need new equipment, which requires 12 to 24 hours (or 84 in the case of frames) to craft. This meant that to get to the actual fun part, you had to pace yourself, which is something I'm not very good at. Another thing that was hard to get used to was the game's premium currency economy. You can play this game without spending a dime and make tons of premium currency by being a good trader. However, it's not that simple.
At the start, you're spending platinum non-stop on frame and weapon slots, and because you don't have any valuable items, making plat is really hard. Even when that gets better and you're sitting on a comfortable amount of platinum for a beginner, another time-gate stops you from progressing. This time-gate is forma. Forma is required to craft some items. It is also the most important thing in building your frames and weapons. Early on, you don't have access to many good weapons and probably don't have many Prime frames unlocked, so there isn't much point in spending forma. Eventually, however, you get to a point where you need forma non-stop - not just to progress, but also to have fun. It is a very obtuse system. Eventually, however, I was making enough plat just by doing what I enjoy to make this a non-issue. This is one of my main issues with the game: everything is front-loaded. Everything, including the premium currency, eventually becomes a commodity you have too much of. I have more plat than I can probably spend, and I buy gifts for my friends every now and then.
The last time-gate I'd like to talk about is something very dear to me, as it is the activity I have the most fun doing. I'm talking about Eidolon hunts. Simply put, Eidolon hunts are the most complicated thing in Warframe. They are not as complicated as raids in Destiny 2 - it’s actually a pretty simple (and soloable) activity all things considered - but I really like how much it can be optimized. Speaking of which, it's not just that it can be optimized, but it must be. Eidolon hunts take place in Plains of Eidolon, which has a day and night cycle. Eidolons only appear during night, which lasts about an hour, while day is much longer in comparison. This, in turn, results in me waiting a very long time between Eidolon hunts. Worst of all, when I log into the game and want to do a night cycle, I may not have the time to wait for it to turn to night. The thing is, Eidolon hunts are very rewarding - well, they used to be. With the event I mentioned earlier (Belly of the Beast), you can get all the Eidolon rewards in a much shorter time frame with a fraction of the effort and time, making the decision to lock Eidolons behind a time cycle meaningless. The solution to this problem is also very simple. The second most complicated activity, which can also be optimized immensely, is Profit-Taker - and unlike Eidolons, you can do Profit-Taker whenever you want by just selecting a bounty.
All of that brings me to the newest Warframe update, which is Techrot Encore or Update 38.5. In my humble opinion, Techrot Encore does absolutely nothing to improve the game's current state. First of all, let's look at what this update added to the game:
There are also a few other additions, like new Augment mods, which I find uninteresting and haven’t mentioned, along with a few things I’ve likely forgotten to mention. I’ll briefly touch on two things I won’t be discussing in depth. First is Temple - I don’t know much about him, I’m not very interested, and I’m not a fan of the design. That’s all I care to say. Second is Omni Forma, a long-overdue change (just like this review). I think it’s a net positive for the game, but let’s be clear: this is DE trying to squeeze more plat from your account and more Höllars from your wallet. With that out of the way, let’s go over the main additions and changes.
Temporal Archimedea is not only a worse version of Deep Archimedea that doesn't make sense from a story standpoint (Sister of Parvos/Tenet system also suffers from this, but that's another matter), but the new modifiers it introduced also make Deep Archimedea worse. Not to mention, enemies you fight in Höllvania are not as interesting as their Sanctum counterparts.
I don't really have much to say about the new arcanes. Two of them seem extremely niche, if not straight-up bad (not worth using territory), and the other one is more of a niche arcane that replaces Arcane Avenger (which is not that great to begin with) in some scenarios.
I do not like the grind. I didn't like it when I was doing Kuva Liches, I didn't like it when I was doing Tenet Sisters, and I sure don't like it when it comes to Coda Adversaries. Some props are due, as I think they have improved on the barrier-to-entry problem (the aforementioned front-loaded issue) compared to the previous two systems, but it doesn't make the actual grind any better. I may not have minded this system as much if not for the next point.
The changes to the Höllvania tile set are straight-up awful. I already disliked the maps due to them being either extremely open or extremely closed with no in-between, but these changes make the tile set even worse than it already was.
Being unable to romance the 4 new Hex characters, unlike the previous Protoframes, is a tad bit disappointing. However, I'm not sure if I would even romance them at all. I think Velimir and Minerva being a married couple that drifted apart and you being able to fix their relationship if you make the right choices is neat. I probably wouldn't date either of them, even though I like their designs more than the previous Protoframes. Flare is not very interesting to me, as mentioned earlier. One of my friends told me he's supposed to be David Bowie, but I don't see it. If you combine the "Aladdin Sane" album cover and Jareth from "Labyrinth", maybe there's a similarity, but he looks more like Visual Kei meets KISS' Ace Frehley to me. Kaya is hot but rather uninteresting and, at times, straight-up annoying. DE said this is the last of the Protoframes, but I kinda don't believe it. I didn't buy any of the skins (for myself), but I know they made a lot of money, so I think they'll go back on their word and release more Protoframes - if not just skins. I think the potential income will outweigh the integrity in this case.
I have very few good things to say about the new Warframe update. I don't think it is bad enough to warrant me dropping the game as I did with Destiny 2, but it sure isn't good, fun, or entertaining for me. Sorry if this review comes off disjointed or even slightly schizoid.
I listen to music most of the time I play Warframe, and about a week ago, I finally listened to Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". That shit sucks, and /mu/ as a collective has shit taste.