With an industry focused on releasing live-service games, video games are no stranger to seeing radical changes over time. Final Fantasy XIV and Destiny 2 are two notable examples of this, yet many people forget that Warframe set as much groundwork for this genre as Final Fantasy XIV did.
Square Enix might have shown that old dogs can learn new tricks, but Digital Extremes showed that rapid iteration and listening to player feedback can be enough to make a small horde shooter one of the largest free-to-play titles in existence. While it might have shown developers how important communication is for updating a game, Warframe has suffered a bit of an identity crisis as of late that has left the community fragmented. Here are ten reasons why that is.
10 Proper Endgame Systems
One of the largest problems certain players have with Warframe is the lack of proper endgame systems. Endgame typically refers to a unique activity or grind that requires well-made builds and coordination to survive in.
Trials, Warframe's take on raids, somewhat fit this description but were removed from the game in 2018. Arbitrations lack difficulty scaling, Kuva Liches are separated from the rest of the game, Riven Mods have no deterministic methods of improving them, and endurance missions are downright discouraged with the game's reward structure. Either these systems need to be overhauled or new systems new to be introduced altogether.
9 Consistent Content Releases
Player retention is critical for a game to stay afloat in the current gaming landscape. With the surge of live-service titles that release frequent updates, games like Warframe need to have a consistent content release schedule to keep players around.
This used to be the case until recent years. Ever since the "Plains of Eidolon" update, Digital Extremes has focused much more on developing a major content update to reveal at Tennocon before spending the next three to four months finishing it. This was the case for "The War Within," "Fortuna," "Empyrean" or "Railjack," and "Heart of Deimos." Most of the year is otherwise starved for content. Mid-year updates like "The Deadlock Protocol" are a fantastic step in the right direction.
8 Removal Of Time-Sensitive Systems
Some of Warframe's systems are heavily reliant on daily caps or rotating cycles. Foundry crafting times and daily login rewards make perfect sense for being time-reliant. What doesn't make sense is for Eidolon Hunts to be available for 50 minutes every 150 minutes.
This limited time frame encourages players to play with cheesy, meta loadouts to maximize their time in an activity while preventing newer players from enjoying it. Open world planetary cycles and similar systems need to be removed from the game to help encourage experimentation and allow newer players to dive into them.
7 UI Changes
The User Interface of Warframe has seen massive changes over time. Its appearance is a treat for the eyes, providing a beautiful background and unique icons that make every menu feel distinct.
Equally distinct about the UI is how bad the user experience of it is. Most information is delivered through tooltips or messages players need to tab through. Certain menus such as the Star Chart require multiple confirmations to begin a mission if multiple alerts occupy that node. The UI is certainly satisfying to look at but is rather clunky to use.
6 Balance Overhaul
Digital Extremes has done major balance changes to Warframe in 2020 with the overhaul of status effects and enemy scaling. These changes were a great first step to making Warframe feel more balanced, yet it demonstrates just how many balance issues the game has.
Most of Warframe's Mods are either redundant or outclassed by other choices due to the way damage scaling and survivability scaling works for the player. Every weapon will have a base damage Mod, a source of multishot, two elemental damage Mods, and upgrades to status or critical effects. Melee weapons also far overshadow primary and secondary weapons due to melee's combo counter mechanic and Mods that scale from it. For a game that prides itself on build variety, it's shocking how little variance there is in weapon builds.
5 New Player Experience
When the community heard that Digital Extremes was going to overhaul the new player experience in 2020, most assumed it meant that the "Vor's Prize" quest and related content was going to get revisited. Instead, all the update amounted to was a new introductory mission.
New players are swamped with so many game systems that they are forced to look for information outside of the game. While this is fine on occasion, Warframe throws so many systems at newer players that having the game's Wiki open on another screen or device is downright necessary to decipher the title's plethora of unintuitive systems. The community does its best to make up for this lack of knowledge, but newer players that don't interact with the userbase are almost guaranteed to abandon Warframe after a few hours of play.
4 Peer-To-Peer Needs To Go
"Host migration in progress" was a message that plagued the seventh generation of online titles. A focus towards dedicated servers and a push away from peer-to-peer connections has made this message near-extinct in modern titles.
Sadly, Warframe still suffers from host migration connection issues. Squads that consist of players from around the globe will have a difficult time opening doors or using their abilities. This usually results in a member of the squad leaving. If it was the host, prepare to wait as the game promotes someone as a new host. There's also a chance that this process will end the mission, resulting in loot from the session to become lost.
3 Less Hard-Counter Enemies
Hard counters refer to an ability or foe that can nullify a particular strategy or power. Warframe has leaned to this style of enemy design for years now, which has put Digital Extremes in an unfavorable position.
The game's difficulty comes from players having their powers disabled instead of their skills tested. Grineer Scorpians disable a player's movement when they hook the player, Nullifiers are the only way enemies can defend against AoE Warframe powers, and Energy Leech Eximus targets can remove a player's energy pool without any clear telegraphs. When players also consider the abundance of invulnerable phases certain enemies and bosses have, it becomes clear that the enemies in Warframe are due for an update.
2 Connecting Content Islands Together
Before the Empyrean update released for Warframe, Digital Extremes made it clear that it wanted to strive towards interconnected systems and away from isolated progression systems and activities — otherwise known as "content islands" by the community.
Railjack was anything but an interconnected experience. The mode has yet to see any use outside of its microcosm of missions excluding the Scarlet Spear event. This issue carries over to Kuva Liches, open world locations, Arbitrations, the Steel Path, Conclave, and many more game systems. Connecting these systems would go a long way to making Warframe feel more cohesive.
1 Loot Tables
Image from the Warframe Forums.
Virtually every issue players have with Warframe stems from the game's reward structure. Warframe is a game about collecting a whole suite of Warframes, guns, Mods, and cosmetic items, and then using those pieces to create the best loadouts possible. It's a major reason why the game's cosmetic customization or "Fashion Frame" is considered an endgame pursuit amongst the community.
Whenever a new update releases, players rush to obtain the new rewards as soon as possible. To prevent the new content from becoming obsolete immediately, the developers try to incorporate daily limits or absurd RNG gates behind new items. Player burnout has been a major result of this, but the game will forever have this issue so long as the reward structure stays as is.
Endurance missions are discouraged due to the rotating AABC rotation model that has filler rewards for the first three rotations of a mission that never scale. Non-endurance missions don't fare much better as 2,000 Credit Caches and old Relics are the most common rewards from these activities. Digital Extremes needs to overhaul the loot tables of Warframe to make the game less reliant on RNG while saving players from burning themselves out.