The Story So Far…
“They were called Tenno. Warriors of blade and gun: masters of the Warframe armor. Those that survived the old war were left drifting among the ruins. Now they are needed once more.
The Grineer, with their vast armies, are spreading throughout the solar system. A call echoes across the stars summoning the Tenno to an ancient place. They summon you. Allow the Lotus to guide you. She has rescued you from your cryostasis chamber and given you a chance to survive. The Grineer will find you; you must be prepared. The Lotus will teach you the ways of the Warframes and the secrets to unlocking their powers. COME TENNO, YOU MUST JOIN THE WAR.”
The Basics
Warframe is a PvE F2P co-op third-person shooter for one to four players produced by Digital Extremes and released on October 24, 2012. The basic premise is that a cryogenically frozen warrior race known as the Tenno have been awakened by the Lotus to save their solar system from the threat posed by four warring factions that each seek to dominate the universe.
In order to do so, the Tenno will need to use their various resources, including their various Warframes and weaponry to complete various missions and protect the solar system. As they do so, more of the Tenno’s history will be revealed and more content will be unlocked. The game is often updated with new content, and occasionally with new areas and story arcs.
Gameplay
Players will initially need to choose from three basic Warframe models, namely the Exalibar, Mag and Volt suits. As the progress in the game, they will find various upgrades, either through loot drops, random finds or through completing missions. It is also possible to speed up the process by purchasing items with real-world cash on the platinum store, but it is not necessary to do so as most items can be unlocked through hours of grinding.
Many video gamers have praised this title for its smooth gameplay and feel, and state that the key to advancing in the game lies in mastering speed and fluidity in terms of combo-moves, as well as switching between and using weapons and items.
Warframes and Other Collectible Paraphernalia
Warframes are the mechanized suits that Tennos use to fight with enemies and engage in their environments. Each Waframe comes with its own unique set of abilities, strengths and weaknesses, which includes the types of weapons that they are capable of wielding and combat styles that they are best suited for. There are currently 58 unlockable Warframes, subdivided into regular Warframes and Primes. The difference being that Primes were created by another alien race known as the Orokin who predated the Tennos. They left behind an array of technology that was recently rediscovered. It was their technology that served as the basis for the current Tenno Warframes, although the Tenno race have lost the knowledge to fully recreate suits with the same stats as the ancient technology. This is why the Prime version of the basic Warframe suits and equipment generally have higher stats than the regular Tenno technology.
Most items are unlocked as players level up and progress in quests. However, there are a few other methods of unlocking goodies. For instance, Twitch sometimes provides free loot to Twitch Prime members, so it’s worth logging in at least every couple of weeks to see whether any new offers are available. Another option is accessing Warframe’s promo codes that are released during certain events. However, most promo codes only unlock free GIFs and emotes.
All items and equipment automatically level up as the player gains experience points, with the level cap being at thirty. Each items level will be added to the player’s Tenno’s overall Master Rank. As the Tenno reaches higher Mastery levels, they will be invited to participated in a fighting-skill test, which will award them with either a new piece of equipment or an ability. This makes it worthwhile to continually switch between items and weapons.
Acquiring new Warframes generally entails finding the blueprints for a particular Warframe, as well as combining the various materials required to build the Warframe. This means that the player will need to ensure that they gather the necessary materials as they race through levels. Many materials can only be found on specific planets or in specific locations, which necessitates a lot of travelling and exploration.
When a player wants to build an item from a blueprint, they can go to the foundry on their ship. There, they will be able to insert the blueprint, as well as the various forging materials necessary for the item’s construction. The player will then need to wait a certain amount of time for the construction to be completed. This can take anywhere from hours to days, depending on the item. Fortunately, multiple items can be forged simultaneously. It is also possible to pay for items to be forged instantaneously.
Pets
There are currently three types of pet; Kubrows, Sentinels and Kavats, some of which can be divided into subcategories, or simply have different skins. Kubrows require completing the ‘Howl of the Kubrow’ quest, which will provide players with an incubator segment. The incubator will then need to be fixed. Once the incubator has been fixed, either by constructing or buying the components, the player can then go to Earth to hunt for Kubro eggs. Egg missions can be completed multiple times. Sentinels are easier to acquire, as they can be either bought on the market or built using blueprints.
Kavats are the most complicated pet to get. Firstly, you will need a Kavat incubator. There are a number of missions that a player can complete to get one, including killing Kavats on Mars and getting one from a drop or building one in the research lab. Players will then need to apply Kavat DNA. This can either be bought on the market, or by scanning wild Kavats and various building resources. There are no Kavat eggs. Kavat kittens and Kubrows can wander around the player’s ship but can also assist in combat.
The Ship
The first mission given to the player entails scrounging through various locations on Earth in order to acquire the necessary parts to repair their ship, which is called the ‘Orbitor’. Once repaired, the Orbitor will serve as the player’s base and will give them access the various missions, upgrade their equipment and toggle between Warframes. The missions are connected to planets within the solar system, and each planet is only unlocked with the completion of various tasks. These tasks will allow the player access to the celestial Junction of a particular planet. Here, a player will be required to defeat a specter Warframe in a one-on-one battle. This will unlock the new planet, as well as a other rewards, often including blueprints for new Warframes and various forging items.
In order to change weapons and Warframes, players will need to visit their arsenal. Each player only as a limited number of item slots, so they need to be selective about which items they take on missions. They can only switch suits in their Orbitor, so they need to consider the mission carefully, before selecting their suit.
Missions
Each mission is given a difficulty ranking and can be completed either solo or in squads of up to four players. Completing missions will award players with experience, equipment blueprints, in-game currency and items. Certain Warframe and equipment blueprints, as well as actual items and equipment, can be purchased in the store for either in-game currency called ‘Ducats’ money. Ducats can also be bought for real-world money.
As certain missions are unlocked, more aspects or the storyline will unfold revealing more of the history of the Warframe universe and the Tenno’s history. Some missions are crucial to developing the plot, while others are minor missions that will unlock new Warframes and equipment. Concluding a story questline will also occasionally unlock new abilities. New storylines are added incrementally, as are new Warframes, items, equipment and other cosmetics.
When players hover over a location on their Star Chart maps, it shows them the corresponding mission and rewards. This will allow players to prioritize missions based on the goodies or goals that they would like to focus on.
Open-World Areas
In November 2017, the first open-world zone, the Plains of Eidolon, was introduced to the game, which boosted the games popularity. On November 10, 2018, they released a second open-world area, Fortuna. In these zones, players are able to interact with NPCs to gain new missions and bounties, each with their own rewards. Some of these bounties involve gathering and mining items, rather than the regular shooter-style missions. Fortuna also added a new hover-vehicle called the K-Drive, that allows players to travel at increased speeds.
