Now this is a game I thought I would never play again. Yet somehow it managed to pull me in. But at the same time, I haven’t been playing it as much as I was earlier in the week.
So anyway, I reviewed this game almost four years ago, calling it out for not being a true single player game.
Now I look back at myself and wonder.. what the fuck was I thinking? I only assumed this was a single player game. It can indeed be played solo, but it’s more intended to play with others (especially with some of the later missions).
I also called it out for having a respawn penalty.. punishing the player for failing by having a finite number of respawns. When I hit the limit, I was told I would either have to wait or pay up to restore all of those chances.
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Last year, I played it again after finding out that respawn punishment system was greatly improved; no longer the way it was, but having a finite respawn system based on the mission. You can respawn five times before the mission fails, but you can get back in and have another five attempts.
Failing a mission is quite brutal IMO. Everything but ranking up your warframe, weapon, and companion.. is lost. So, you can safely say “all of that effort was wasted”. Personally, I wish it would give you a ‘at least you tried’ thing (instead of taking away all of that effort).
But, I also see why people would be all “that’s what happens in life, sometimes you lose it all,” encouraging teamwork to prevent another failure.
Moving on… I got further in the game (finally completing what I assumed was the single player campaign). Then… things started getting annoying– reused level assets for these ‘missions’. Felt very cheap (even though I kept forgetting this is a free to play game). Began to wonder why it’s so damn popular (even more popular than GTA5). But it’s just like Wurm. It’s tailored to a specific audience. An audience I often find myself trapped in, and wish I could forget about ever coming here.
Fast forward to last week. I see Kovo and a few others playing this game that I haven’t touched in a long time. Want to play with him, but since Sony is an ass and won’t allow crossplay (neither will Micro$oft for the XBox), I’m forced to make a new account for my computer.
If you would like to friend me (you don’t have to), my name ingame is ‘Benie7601’. With that said (and what I said at the beginning of this post), I’ve reached a point I’m playing it less.
Though I really like the game (managed to get all the way to Saturn, with the help of random players), I feel… OK, I know I’m not playing this thing the way I need to.
The basics, I know all quite well. I know that you do missions to rank up your warframe & weapons. I now know that you got to keep building new ones and leveling them up (in order to raise your Affinity (Warframe’s version of XP), in order to raise your Mastery rank).
What I don’t know, are specific mods/frames to be aiming for. I’ve been using the game’s auto-equip for every weapon I get. And now learning that this system should only be used in the very early parts of the game… so that sucks.
I’ve been trying to follow this guide, who keeps mentioning to get the ‘Hex’ shotgun when hitting Mastery Rank 4 (even though I prefer rifles). Yet he hasn’t posted the build he uses.
One thing that’s semi-bugs me, is you’re seen as a ‘new player’ even after you complete the star chart. How is that possible, when I’m getting my ass kicked in Saturn (even from doing an Extermination mission, a mission that is hard to fail at)?
If you know the basics of the game that got you this far, you shouldn’t be labeled as a new player anymore (but as an intermediate player). You can’t just go from ‘new player’ to ‘skilled player’ once you’ve reached the final planet in the star chart. There has to be something in-between.
Another thing, modding should be an intermediate player thing (as well as learning how Polarity works.. which I still fully haven’t yet). I get how it makes a mod less expensive (in the number of slot capacity it takes), but that’s as far as I know. I don’t know what type of polarity I need (for a particular slot), and there’s no ‘undo button’ (for what I read about it).
See, I don’t think all the time a mod with a squiggly line is going to be in the second slot.
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Then the guy in the video, mentions about farming lots of rare mods from the Void, especially what are known as ‘Corrupted’ mods. And you can only get these (if they drop at all) from doing very special missions that require one of four keys, called ‘Dragon Keys’.
But it comes with a major snag… you have to join a clan (and join their Clan Dojo) in order to get the blueprints for said keys.
Now I’ve been quite alright in joining PUGs for doing certain missions, they’ve been quite awesome to me (especially how they don’t bitch about my DPS). …But this forced clan BS, is where I draw the line.
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There might still be a way to get the keys without a clan, though. But the last time I tried this (entering an existing Clan Dojo), was trying to get the Archwing Launcher blueprint.
When trying to access the menu to get the blueprint, the window auto-closed on me. Since then, it felt to me that this was a clan-only thing (yet didn’t want to tell me for some unknown reason).
Friend of mine who was with me at the time, was able to get said blueprint. But he’s in another clan. So, it’s not hard to do the math, that clan membership is forced in order to get these ‘exclusive’ blueprints. Especially when I made this thread, and only one person responded with “this happens to me as well”. There’s been zero responses since then in my attempts to look for some kind of workaround.
I am not joining a clan, just for this. Clans should be optional, just like nearly everything else in this game.
Though another route I can take (since I also refuse to pay for Platinum to get these rare mods), is making my own Clan Dojo (using this video series as a guide), and then eventually be able to get the blueprints myself. However I’m not sure if said series is still viable to rely on, as it’s been over a year since it was made (if any updates since then made it easier or harder to do things).
But, assuming the Dojo building requirements haven’t been changed that much, I’m going to use it for my words below.
Unlike WoW, I don’t need to get ten people to make my own solo guild (or clan in this game). All I do is simply create a clan and name it. Boom. Done.
But to get access to your Dojo (or even access to a Dojo of a clan you just joined), you must craft a Clan Key. But if you think that making this key is quite cheap, you’re not wrong. For it’s the cheapest thing you’re going to need…
Because if you want your own Dojo, you’re going to need lots of Forma. And depending on how simple or complex you want to make your private Dojo, you’re going to need to do a lot of grinding for multiple Forma blueprints (as said blueprint isn’t reusable).
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Each room you wish to construct (including things like the Trading Post) requires one Forma. But… if you want to be efficient with your time (which I don’t see why you wouldn’t), then make one room after a Forma is crafted, then wait another day to get another Forma (and repeat until all rooms are created).
Finally, you’ll need to focus on how much Energy is available to your Dojo. Most corridors take -3 energy, and most rooms take -5. Building a Reactor gives +25 energy, but you got to be smart with your energy pool, as you might run into an issue where you can’t even make a reactor. Thankfully you can destroy rooms, and you’ll get all of your resources (including the Forma used to build the room) back.
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But even with the super helpful guides, I feel this game isn’t for me and uninstalled it. Said guides just couldn’t pull me back in. The damage is done. I only see endless, repetitive grinding to get better mods. I prefer cookie cutter builds over RNG. That’s just the way I was raised from the gaming tit.
But don’t get me wrong… there’s several things I actually loved about this game;
-The fluid movement system, and how it encourages you to master it.
-How it makes the player feel like a badass (even when low ranked).
-The look from the interior of the orbiter. It’s quite beautiful.
-Joining a PUG (or even duo’ing a mission with a random) is a hell of a lot more friendly than it is in other multiplayer games. Not once did I feel intimidated, or feeling like I was being carried by the group. The reactions were quite friendly, and I love that.
-Missions feel challenging.
..And that’s about it.
Besides knowing I’ll have to go through hell and back to get the required mods I would had needed for future builds, the fact this shit wasn’t taught to me ingame makes it worse. Now I understand most gamers feel that ‘hand holding’ limits their creativity. But when it comes to new players, hand holding is the only way to steer a player in the right direction.
And of course it should be made completely optional. A simple checkmark to turn off helpful hints at the early part of the game, is all that would be needed.
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Finally, I wish this thing that you absolutely have to be part of a clan in order to get key blueprints, in order to get rare mods, in order to survive longer in the game.. was removed (or at least limit the good shit to clans only).. keys can be carried solo, and should be allowed to buy the blueprints solo.
Now I completely understand that joining a clan isn’t that big of a deal, but I have standards. 😛
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I might come back to this game at a later date, I might not. I want to see some positive changes for new players before I do (that is if they care for new people playing their game).
But, you know what stings the most about this? Kovo and his friends are still playing (and enjoying) the game. I keep hoping they’ll look at me and feel they should try something else, but.. nah.