Warframe News and Info

[Firuthi Dragovic]

A lot of people really underestimate how much Mother Tokens you get with a T5, likewise how... easy, those are to run with a good team. Particularly a good team that knows what the words "Do" and "Don't" mean. I specify this as I'm sure you've had a few "Mesa spends 15 minutes complaining about mission being bugged, all the while actively disregarding the notifications popping every five seconds telling the team to wait until the Infested are inside the bubble before killing them" runs before to as much amusement as I.

Yeah, mainly ran into that during the times I was farming both copies of Xaku. The T5s for Naberus were.... surprisingly clear of such frustrations.


I'll admit something that looks like a dumb move... I've been trying to go through my relics and use up the old vaulted ones I've had from years ago - on Radiant. No radshares from me, though, and no fretting if I don't get something special. Here's the thing - I'm not in urgent need of the Platinum as total min-maxing is not a big drive of mine, I've proven willing to just replace the Platinum when a good coupon comes up, and these relics have been haunting me for a long time. It's basically spring cleaning.

I've actually gotten a few rares off of this drive, and will check the Warframe Market whenever it's time to cash these in.


So... I used the Affinity weekend to level up stuff again. It turns out, that pushing for just that little bit extra on some Kuva/Tenet weapons I hadn't finished, leveling all the 'Frames (still no Gauss), and using this new Basmu and Ceti Lacera.... I was able to push for my Legendary test.

Compared to what MR 30 was, the first Legend test was a disappointment. Primary weapon only, 3 waves of late Sortie enemies, no abilities allowed. You only get 3 lives. I broke out Atlas Prime and Vermisplicer and with a lot of jumping around, only needed two practice attempts (one to find out there were no abilities so Trinity wouldn't cut it, the other with Atlas where I barely passed) and then passed the real test first try.

I spent my first Legendary core on Primed Chilling Grasp. I had a lot of unranked Primed mods I could have done as I'm way behind on Endo farming, but that one seemed the right choice at the time.

Despite not being able to level up any further, there is still quite a bit of content I need to catch up on (Steel Path, a bunch of odds-and-ends weapons, more Kuva/Tenet stuff). However, having taken just 4 months to catch up 8 ranks, it is REALLY time I consider taking days off (not 2 whole weeks or my clan boots me), and some weekend days in particular, so I can catch up on other games. Or at the very least, being really restrictive of my time in-game.

Meaning I may go to a "two week update" schedule.


The 'Frames I leveled were Hildryn, Protea, Xaku, Grendel, and Nidus Prime. Of those five? Grendel's the funniest to watch, and most useful for Defense or Survival far as I can tell - which kind of makes it compete with Nidus Prime there. Jury's still out on Hildryn, Protea, or Xaku, although I was informed Protea is nuts on Deimos.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Well, here's the two-week update.

I have all the pieces of the Ambassador, just not the core blueprint itself. Railjack survival, huh? Yeah that's going to be painful to convince people to do, especially the one with the good drop rate. I've secured Nautilus as well, meaning I have two more weapons to get from Railjack content. Three if you count Shedu, but I'm avoiding that one as its grind is probably one of the worst in the game.

While dealing with Plains bounties in... I think it was last week's Nightwave, a fairly low-MR random managed to coax a Korrudo blueprint out of a Thumper. Saved me hours of dedicated grinding.

I have four more weapons to max and need the Cold ephemera before I'm done with the Sisters of Parvos, and have fully set one of the four Corrupted Holokey weapons. (I have another at max bonus, but it's the wrong element.) No progress on Kuva liches.

Believe me, once I max everything from the Sisters (and spare one with an Arca Plasmor for a sigil), I will want nothing to do with the Granum Void period (I already grew to hate it with the Protea farm) until new weapons happen. It's just Kuva Liches as nemeses from then on out. Holokey grind isn't so bad because most people know how to build a ship by the time of Veil Proxima, plus I'm at least doing Axi relics and getting Void Traces to power up my vaulted relics (and taking chances at the last two weapon pieces I need if the node has a Derelict) by then.

STILL no progress on Gauss or Steel Path. I will definitely go after Gauss before I try to get the Shedu (probably work on Gauss after finishing up with the Sisters), and I think I'll work on Steel Path at that time too. What I actually want for Steel Path is the right Helminth bonuses on a 'Frame I like using there, like Ability Strength AND Armor for a Rhino or somesuch. I'll have to evaluate my next set of Invigorations and decide if it's right to do it then.

EDIT: Oh, and speaking of Railjack:

First, I figured out why there was an issue with fighters spawning sometimes if you do objectives first in Grineer skirmish missions. It's not merely a glitch, it's a spawn cap issue. Cleaning out the objective vessels of enemies should fix it.

Also, the Corpus Crewships with those rotating invincible barrier shields. Something like 90% of the players I encounter swear by the one gun that just penetrates the shield, but I prefer circling around and hitting the crossbar holding the shield from behind.

 

[Attaman]

I've already given up on both Granum Void and Sisters because... while they're admittedly more fun than Kuva Liches (in no small part due to being far faster to complete), the Granum Void part is just such a chore. Likewise I haven't touched Steel Path for a while as... I have a pair of functional strategies (Zephyr for anything involving static defense, Banshee for straight up murder-blendering), it's very tedious and unlike the base Star Chart doesn't really have anything on offer that I want. Steel Path only really unlocking stuff for Steel Path-level content diminishes its appeal.

 

[Pomorek]

Finally got my paws on the Miter. After kicking Vor & Kril's asses no fewer than 11 goddamn times total. But now... let the blade-saw massacre commence!

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Finally got my paws on the Miter. After kicking Vor & Kril's asses no fewer than 11 goddamn times total. But now... let the blade-saw massacre commence!

Yeah, 11 times seems about accurate by the drop tables.

I still find it very, VERY strange that that weapon's a status gun rather than a devastating crit gun. It does specialize in one of the meta damage types at least - and has one of the stranger Syndicate mods that actually gives it some utility in Steel Path. (One-shotting Nullifier bubbles to be exact.)

I'll bust that gun out again if I ever wind up getting a Riven for it.

 

[Attaman]

I was today years old when I learned that, at some point, Viral ceased to apply to Infested / Infested on Deimos. Huh.

At least my grinding is done. Fashionframe sinks its teeth in us all.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

I was today years old when I learned that, at some point, Viral ceased to apply to Infested / Infested on Deimos. Huh.

At least my grinding is done. Fashionframe sinks its teeth in us all.

Yeah, I found that out about Deimos the hard way and eventually went Corrosive/Heat/Slash as my build for that place. Especially on weapons that already have Radiation to cover for the Infested Sinew armor type that's common on Deimos. (Gas works on Juggernauts and the few Infested humanoid bosses but I don't consider it worthwhile to use that type as of the problem Infested enemies, ONLY the Zealoid enemies don't have any other weakness. The other problem enemies where Gas is worth it, Juggernauts and Mutalist Alad V, have Ferrite Armor which IS weak to Corrosive.)

Fashionframe has to wait a couple more arbitrations and quite a few more Liches and Sisters for me as I'll want to incorporate Ephemeras into the mix.... and one of the Ephemeras I want is dependent on Railjack because it requires an Ash systems...

What was the latest thing you were grinding?

 

[Attaman]

Yeah, I found that out about Deimos the hard way and eventually went Corrosive/Heat/Slash as my build for that place. Especially on weapons that already have Radiation to cover for the Infested Sinew armor type that's common on Deimos. (Gas works on Juggernauts and the few Infested humanoid bosses but I don't consider it worthwhile to use that type as of the problem Infested enemies, ONLY the Zealoid enemies don't have any other weakness. The other problem enemies where Gas is worth it, Juggernauts and Mutalist Alad V, have Ferrite Armor which IS weak to Corrosive.)

Fashionframe has to wait a couple more arbitrations and quite a few more Liches and Sisters for me as I'll want to incorporate Ephemeras into the mix.... and one of the Ephemeras I want is dependent on Railjack because it requires an Ash systems...

What was the latest thing you were grinding?

Just the things I needed from this year's Naberus. So the Wings and the alternate Captura / Simaris tileset thingy. Because Wings and the fact that I had absolutely zero patience for Scarlet Spear.

My usual go-to was Corrosive / Blast / Whatever (since it was the two easiest combination Elements and usually wasn't terrible against any one thing), but I had just started using Viral / Heat / Slash as part of Steel Path content (which, sure enough, promptly proved useless for Deimos). Not sure what I'll run on Deimos, as Heat is generally a good pick all around against Infested but everything else is a toss-up.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So.... the Nightwave forced my hand a bit in trying some more Steel Path. Bringing my Vermisplicer, Magnetic Kuva Nukor, and Redeemer Prime (the first two for mass status procs, the last for finishing blows) has... actually worked well for mobs, and using Slow Nova is viable for Infested defense. I will PROBABLY need another solution for Grineer/Corpus/Corrupted defense missions with all their shooting, and may need to make adjustments for large bosses that don't suit the Redeemer quite as well (it'll probably mean setting up a Corrosive/Cold gun as primary and keeping that Magnetic Nukor).

My five mission requirement was with the Infested branch of Mercury. Most of the missions were alone. I.... ran into complications with the survival mission.

Because someone joined and brought SPEED Nova to it. Yeah, Speed Nova in Steel Path, a combination I consider downright mental, especially tested alone.

They were trying a build with Nidus' Larva ability and an efficiency boost they got from the Helminth. It.... still strikes me as something more useful for Arbitrations than Steel Path.


....thanks to this and STILL not having done all of the Simaris Research scans (I still have one enemy to go on that), I was able to complete almost all of the Nightwave in one day. I still need Syndicates and Invasions but those are relatively easy to get in a decent timeframe.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So, I know I said I might go to every-other-week updates on this. Well... that's not how it's going to go this time.

I'll get to the main reason in a second, but I'll first note I'm actually doing pretty well on Steel Path using Slow Nova, with a weapon loadout of Scourge/Kuva Nukor/Redeemer Prime. I swapped Scourge in to replace the Vermisplicer because... Corrosive/Heat/Viral makes the Scourge (innate Corrosive) WAY more powerful than I expected (I have a fire rate/multishot riven in it) and it still spreads status effects remarkably well. Plus I can throw the thing with alt-fire if I need the Nukor out.

And the Scourge also powers up Antimatter Drop well, which is useful for Defense crowds.... and Acolytes, surprisingly enough.

Also, I managed to farm enough parts for two copies of Gauss, so I'll officially have at least some form of every 'Frame in the game so far. Turned out to be not so bad a farm, as the Kappa node on Sedna (the one Disruption node where you can farm Gauss) is merely Star Chart content so the enemies are weaker than I expected. You just have to remember to stay for at least 6-8 rounds to get a good shot. I think it took me.... 4-5 runs to get both, with one run giving me a full set if I'm not mistaken.


The reason I'm convening this on one week this time? I had a serious talk with a clanmate about builds, because I was seeing if I could jam Rhino's Iron Skin higher more easily (with Parasitic Armor and hitting two enemies on Ironclad Charge, I can push up to about 117k)... and we wound up discussing the one spot where I am farthest behind on my grinding by a LONG shot:

Arcanes.

I'll leave the Steel Path arcanes (Primary and Secondary Deadhead/Dexterity/Merciless) out of this for now, as that's fairly recent content as it is.

I'll also ignore Amp Arcanes (the Virtuos category) as I've already got mine set for the time being. (I use Strike on my Eidolon-hunting Amp.)

As far as Operator Arcanes (the Magus group) I have a maxed Husk and Vigor, so I have a workhorse set that I can use for most situations. The clanmate actually suggested Anomaly to me, and while I think the pull is weaker than they were talking about, it STILL looks like a good setup for Ironclad Charge. Other than that, Lockdown's the only Magus arcane I could see myself using.

Zaw and Kitgun Arcanes (Exodia/Pax/Residual)... I don't have much to add here as I already have Pax Charge and Pax Bolt, and the only one that jumps out at me is Exodia Hunt (which pulls targets in).

The main issue is the Warframe Arcanes. None of mine are at max rank, and I've only got about 6-7 that are even rank 3 for the extra revive. I think it's... Nullifier, Warmth, Ice, Tempo, Consequence, and Momentum are all I have that'd be worth much. And of those, half of them aren't necessary on Rhino as Iron Skin makes him immune to status, and two of them (Tempo and Momentum) are mutually exclusive. And farming these... means I'm in the realm of Arbitrations and Eidolon Hunts now.

Now I'm in slog territory.

 

[Attaman]

Welcome to Hell.

Yeah, Warframe Arcanes are by far one of the most tedious farms you can get into. The drop table is diluted to hell and back (I have a couple Rank 5's I acquired the old fashioned way and I'm fairly certain I'm still missing my first copy of at least two Arcanes, one of which isn't a Rare!), you generally need at least three ranks for many of them to be viable (or at least Proc reliably), and while they're just the worst mix of "Convenient enough to make you want to farm them, optional enough that you don't feel like you're hunting a mandatory upgrade".

They aren't the hardest thing to acquire (with good timing and a decent group you can often run 2-3 Triads in a single Eidolon Night Cycle), but are a frustrating remnant of the "Play a dozen instances of 60 Minutes T4 Survival for a 1% Rotation C drop" wherein you will want to lay down and shout into a pillow after spending a full weekend and over two dozen instances of the same mission only to find yourself maybe two Arcanes closer to your goal.

 

[Mike Lobo]

I need to get back to playing this game.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

I need to get back to playing this game.

How much have you missed since you last played?

In particular, how much Vaulted stuff?

I bring that one up in particular because starting Tuesday, they're going to be running 10 weeks of something called "Prime Resurgence" - they're testing to see if they can replace the Prime Vault rotations so they're going to have most of the stuff that's been in vault for more than 6 months in various rotations.

I think they're going to have the vaulted Relics available for a currency you can earn from.... I want to say Void missions and open-world bounties.

Unfortunately, most of what I'd consider from these is going to be relegated to the paid-currency version - as I have every Prime Warframe and Weapon up to this point (thanks to having been part of the game for so long, plus some extensive and exhausting trade sessions to make up for two years of hiatus), I'd be solely after customizations, like Sugatras and the like.

There might be some customizations available with the earnable currency rather than the paid one, but I don't know the full details of it.


EDIT: Might as well throw in some progress at this point: I have only one Sister weapon that needs maxing. However, since I have all the ephemeras, I've only ever seen the Envoy like once or twice, and I've IDed my clan's Crimson Branch room.... I'm going to buy that one off of someone else who has at least a 55% bonus on theirs once I clear one last Sister (54% Arca Plasmor with ephemera).

At which point, I will only bother with the Sisters once they release new Tenet weapons. I'd rather have the Kuva Liches.


EDIT 2: So... hopefully I won't need to change my Steel Path build too much. Slow Nova with Scourge/Kuva Nukor/Redeemer Prime works in MOST situations.

I stress "most" because Lephantis (20 minutes) and Zealoid Prelate (27 minutes!) took me FOREVER even if I beat both first try. At this rate, the mutated version of Alad V on Eris is going to provide me the same or worse pain.

I've finished Mars and Deimos, and the build works in almost any other situation (it struggles on Disruption missions). I can put off a mission node for a while if it's giving me trouble, but eventually I will need to get around to everything to open up nodes for those Incursions.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So Prime Resurgence is here.

Naturally, the videos on it all have a slew of "don't buy the Regal Aya, it's a scam" comments.

Thing is, most of what I'm after is exclusive to the Regal. I have all the Prime Warframes and weapons they're offering, and I note exactly three cosmetics that are bought with standard Aya.

So there's a good chance I'm plunking down at least once for this stuff.

Interestingly, the Akvasto Prime relic is also available, not just the Mag/Nova stuff.

(The main week I'm interested in for regular Aya is week 4, knowing how much Loki Prime Systems has gone for on the Warframe Market.)

 

[Attaman]

Normally I'm not a fan of a game introducing multiple Premium Currencies. However, so long as Regal Aya stays as it is (see: Specifically for purchasing previously vaulted Prime Accessories), I... don't really have any complaints? In fact, the main reason I don't have a complaint is specifically why so many people call it a scam.

See: For those who are in this thread but don't play this game, Warframe is free to play. Downloading? Costs nothing. Practically everything in the game that isn't a non-attribute changing cosmetic (and even a great deal of those)[1]? Including mechanics, content, et al? Costs nothing. This means that, at its base level, the game bleeds money between advertisements, server costs, running Digital Extremes, etcetera. How, then, is this game still around almost a decade after Closed Beta? Let alone thriving enough to host a yearly convention?

Well, in addition to the pre-existing Premium Currency (which yields aforementioned cosmetics, and below mentioned convenience / expedience), there's a thing called Prime Access / Prime Vaults. At its most basic level, the Prime Access / Prime Vault dealios are just more of the above. You get some cosmetics, you get some new / recently returned content without any of the associated in-game farming, and you even get a fat load of Premium Currency on top of this (for buying further cosmetics / expedience). It's a win-win for players and developer! However, on top of this? Prime Access / Vaults tend to include anywhere from 1-2 unique accessories (usually purely cosmetic) that cannot be acquired anywhere outside the Prime Access / Vaults. If you're trying to save money, newer Prime Vaults / Prime Accessories have tended to offer broken down versions that include only the exclusive content (and, again, Premium Currency) for cheaper. Y'know, in case you already farmed the rest of the stuff (since again: Rest of the stuff can be acquired for free and / or via in-game trading).

Regal Aya is used to purchase specifically these cosmetics during the on-going event. Now, if this seems a bit redundant ("Why let people buy Regal Aya while Prime Access / Vaults are a thing?"), it should be noted that the current event is aiming to make things far more convenient for players as the usual cycle is "Singular Prime Access, two Warframes + Associated Accessories via Prime Vault". Such cycles usually last a good 3-4 months apiece, but can take a while to cycle back in some cases (one of the examples given on the official website - an example for why they're running this event - being Mag Prime, who before this event was last seen approximately three years ago). So instead of making somebody wait, say, 1-3 years to shell out $20 in a narrow window for the content (and only specific content), they're making it a bit more open. As well as using the current event as a testing ground of whether to run alongside the Prime Vault, or replace Prime Vault (thus leaving Prime Access + Prime Resurgence).

Several people are not happy with this for a mix of reasons. Some, as mentioned in my very first sentence, are merely acting out of principle: Multiple Premium Currencies bad. Sets precedent for other Premium Currency tack-ons. Etcetera, etcetera. Those people have a leg to stand on.

A lot, however, are upset that the Premium Content which is used to help fund the game by creating content that's exclusive to donators (content that, I'll reiterate, is entirely non-mechanical in nature and is not gating any sort of mechanics, other content, or so-on)... is remaining exclusively to donators. Which is a bit naff, and a line I might be more willing to entertain if the same people complaining about some cosmetic content being locked behind a paywall weren't also (usually) the exact same people who take a point of pride in contributing $0 to the FtP game they have 500+ hours in and literally could not sustain itself if not for people contributing for said Premium Currency and Cosmetics.

So... yeah. I personally don't have any real complaints over Regal Aya.

[1] I have to put this disclaimer as the most effective way to get Additional Equipment Slots (with the biggest bottleneck being Warframe slots specifically) is via Premium Currency. You can unlock them for free, but usually to the tune of only... like, 2-3 free Warframe slots within a year without having to do anything. That said the fact that said slots cost 20 Premium Currency and a great deal of in-game content you can farm trades for 20+ Premium Currency? It's less of a slog than you might expect to do something. Hell, every other week most semi-active players can make 20 Premium Currency easily just by selling (Prime) shit for people to melt in-game for a bi-weekly trader.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Good summary of what's going on for the people reading.

They wound up buffing the Regal Aya packs, by the way - the Prime Vault stuff used to come with Platinum whereas the Regal Aya packs originally didn't. Now the Regal Aya packs do come with Platinum just like the Prime Vault packs did. I think it's roughly the same ratio, too. Retroactive for the people who already bought the packs.

Anyways, given that I'm after Syandanas/Sugatras/armor sets/whathave you, it looks like I'm going to be buying multiple packs over the course of the event.

Near the end of the event (specifically early in week 8, so roughly at the start of next year) I'm going to have to do a massive Fashion-Frame session or two or five, to get my definitive looks on basically all my 'Frames and current weapons. Syandanas, Ephemeras, armor, sigils.... it's going to be a mess since I've been gathering this stuff for most of eight years. (I do NOT have every single TennoGen skin and syandana though - I don't even think I have 10% of them, possibly not even 5%. I basically bought a bunch at once a couple times and have no plans to get a full set at any point. Just... sometimes fan skins that are fairly simple wind up with a better look than DE's defaults, you know? And the insect wing syandana's easily one of the most amazing.)

It's getting to the point where I'm going to have to spreadsheet this to make sure I'm not repeating syandanas.

(Now that I think about it, looking through the predicted list on Warframe's wiki page for the event, it's the 'Frames themselves that I won't start the fashion-frame stuff until I get to week 8. I can start with primary/secondary weapons and non-Sentinel companions any time now. Sentinels can be week 5, when I decide whether I'm actually getting those accessories - I may not because Sentinels besides Oxylus are basically something I never use. Nothing on melee weapons until week 6.)



EDIT: 99 Syandanas, 25 of which are either Prime or TennoGen (meaning when Fashion-Frame time rolls around, I MUST use them). That's enough to fit every 'Frame twice over.

I already knew some of them were going to go unused, but....


EDIT 2: I lost track of the chronicling task. I've actually gotten almost halfway through the whole Steel Path chart - more specifically I'm somewhere in Saturn right now.

Suffice to say, Nova was my 'Frame of choice for the task, with Mirage's Eclipse ability (she's another one where I threw away the base 'Frame before there was a Helminth to subsume, but blowing all that Simaris rep on rebuilding and subsuming her was WORTH IT) in place of Null Star. Antimatter Drop works as a finisher when my Redeemer doesn't cut it.

I believe the worst is over as I actually have already taken on Ropalolyst, Lephantis, and Zealoid Prelate during this. I'm told Kela De Thaym may actually be a tedious boss as well, but I don't think she can compare to 32 minutes vs. a Sentient.

Steel Path gets easier when you realize you can put in the bare minimum, and have access to all your gear. I have been using Harrow specters for nearly anything related to defense, I've been going through Squad Restores like candy, and I rush any hack with a cipher in this mode. I SHOULD have this over with by the time New War drops at this rate - I might do the occasional Incursion, but anything else with Steel Path requires me coming to the aid of a clanmate.

Speaking of clanmates, I'm part of a clan so big it's actually FOUR clans in one alliance in-game. My branch doesn't have Hema researched for some reason and is WAY short on Mutagen, so I will likely need a LONG Deimos trip in the future.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

December 15th.

New War.

Caliban, the new Sentient-based 'Frame with an innate form of Adaptation.

HARROW PRIME. SCOURGE PRIME. (No word on a possible Knell Prime, but Knell was Harrow's other signature weapon.)


Prerequisites for New War are apparently most of the big quests in the game. I got caught up back when Sevagoth was new, so I'm not worried there. I even think I can complete every Steel Path node by that time given I've hit my stride in that game mode.

I MAY even be able to get all the Waybounds unlocked by that point (I have the Naramon Void Dash thing and the Vazarin health regen one to go - I just got Naramon's Operator movement passive unbound). Not going to be able to get every Focus tree maxed but most of that I'm just taking as I go - Unairu's carried me this far, no need to rush into any of the others.

As for Harrow Prime? THIS is where I'm going full access ASAP and not even bothering with the relics like I did with the other new Primes. And I don't foresee myself getting another full-service Prime Access like this one with the current 'Frame lineup.

Now I REALLY need to chronicle what I have as far as cosmetics, and soon.

 

[Attaman]

I'm split between hoping that the New War ends with

Spoiler

The Lotus being given the same 'Dream, not what you are...' talk, simply for the neat little bow that'd tie everything up with. The cry of "We have to fix the Lotus!" by several groups within the fandom doesn't quite mesh with me because of a mix of "The Venn Diagram of those asking this and calling her Space Mommy is almost a perfect circle" and "Y'know, if you read between the lines this 'fixing' is basically just dunking her head in a Neuralizer Pool going 'Shh, shh. Forget everything'.

and

Spoiler

The accumulated trauma the Tenno have been exposed to by everyone from the Orokin to the Lotus to Tenshin to the Syndicates to pretty much everyone whose name isn't "Darvo" or "Maroo" coming home to roost. Specifically by not handwaving things with a neat little bow resolution or an "And then the survivors lived happily ever after" post-Quest but instead the Tenno dragging out receipts for practically everything.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Interesting possibilities with New War there. I've chosen not to think in advance about how the ending will go - suffice to say this is one quest that aside from the TennoCon reveal, I'm treating it with as much reverence as I do Second Dream.

Even if that quest isn't much of a spoiler anymore, I don't like to spoil it to people in-game. It was THE big whammy back when I first experienced it.


Besides, I have bigger issues. I can probably clear Steel Path by this weekend... but I learned just how far back in skill I am from many Legendary-level players. Because while I figured things out for Neptune and Pluto (and both the Eris and Sedna Junctions - I swear the Saryn specter's harder than necessary) I needed to call in clanmates on the Defense and Disruption missions on Lua. And they were VERY surprised how often I die in these nodes.

Face it, I started Steel Path WAY late compared to these people (I basically didn't start until I'd already hit MR 30, and during the Disruption it was an MR 19 that assisted!) and have been blitzing it. And I've over-relied on Nova (I was told, by a Mesa player who wasn't spamming the Gun Kata, that Slow Nova is actually pretty rare) when the going gets tough. The one trick has gotten me really far on its own, but it's just not optimal for a lot of things.

Sedna, Eris, and the Kuva Fortress. That's all that's left on Steel Path. And I'll probably do more after because I want to max Primary and Secondary Merciless Arcanes.

 

[Attaman]

Yeah, I'm one of those people who tries not to use Transference unless everyone in the party is at least MR10. It's... interesting to see people do alerts on planets such as Earth or Venus with MR0-3 members in the squad and watch them just spam Transference.

I haven't done much Steel Path in a hot minute (particularly since they nerfed drops), but I know that I'll have trouble with Defense and Disruption as well since those missions are generally a slog even now. I could probably solo some Defense missions with Zephyr if I didn't mind spamming a ton of Restores, but I am nowhere near optimized for the damage race that is Disruption specialists. I'm still amazed when I see people just... up and one-shot Sortie Disruption enemies. I essentially need to dump 1/4-1/3 of my Vectis Prime's maximum ammo into them to get them to drop, meanwhile I get reminders of the people who just drop an Eidolon from 100% to 0% in a single pop.

It's the spreadsheets, really. There's games where breaking out the spreadsheets and calculator can be fun, but I do not play Warframe with the intent of spending days hunting the most recent weapon / components / mods with the right Forma combinations with the right Focus bonuses with the right Arcane combination with the right Warframe infusions merely so that I can now grind the same content faster. There's a reason I've jumped all of, like, 2-3 MR in as many years.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

It's the spreadsheets, really. There's games where breaking out the spreadsheets and calculator can be fun, but I do not play Warframe with the intent of spending days hunting the most recent weapon / components / mods with the right Forma combinations with the right Focus bonuses with the right Arcane combination with the right Warframe infusions merely so that I can now grind the same content faster. There's a reason I've jumped all of, like, 2-3 MR in as many years.

Yep, and in my case a lot of remedial learning compared to what people think Legendary players should know. I'm pretty much the casual of the Legendary players.

Example: I hit a brick wall in Steel Path with the high-level Rathuum node in Sedna. Nova just didn't have the survivability. So I went the OTHER way, pulled out an Inaros with Adaptation, Hunter Adrenaline, swapping Sevagoth's Gloom in place of Sandstorm, and all the health I could manage.... I wound up with a flawless victory there. Last node for SP completion is a Survival, I partner with a Wisp... and apparently I should actually be using Negation Swarm with Inaros. They also ditched Sandstorm, but went with Xata's Whisper instead of Gloom (and sacked one of the health mods I used to put in Transient Fortitude instead).

When talking to my clan later, I bring up Nova's fragility... was immediately informed about Null Star being a full 90% reduction. Also was told about shield gating (a concept I knew, as I asked a high-level player why they were carrying one of those derelict keys outside the Deimos missions).... apparently it allows for some Hildryn builds that are tankier than any Inaros could ever be. This despite being the 'Frame that casts everything using her shields.

And of course they all call for maxed-out Arcanes.

I'll be taking that phase slowly. I still have to get a LOT more Endo to max mods.

 

[Attaman]

Honestly the jump from 0-3 to 0-5 Arcanes smothered my desire to actually maximize / farm the things. Yes, individually they aren't much different from farming a specific mod. But at most you can get only, like, five chances per ~2.5ish hour block. And usually only 2-3 unless you're coordinating with regards to squad composition (or willing to take up an uncommon but necessary role yourself). Also you have no control over the ~50 minute window every 2.5ish hours. So, frustrating enough just from that angle.

However, unlike Mods (which you just need one of before being done), Arcanes need approximately 21 to reach full mastery. Because you need duplicates to level up. Have I complained about this before? I'm certain I've complained about this here before.

That's a level of dedication I simply do not have the patience for, while also being just unimportant enough to not want to burn the Platinum using the in-game market. I have a hunch this will bite me in the tush later, as End Game content increasingly caters around the Steel Path level of mechanical mastery, but for now? Generally everything short of Sortie Disruption is stuff I can solo, and that's a fine enough point for me to tap out.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So.... they announced more about Harrow Prime.

As expected, they'll have to vault Ivara Prime's set to make room - so that means Baza Prime (which is a REALLY good silenced machine gun) and Aksomati Prime (not as beloved, I THINK this is the one that has an Entrati mod related to being airborne) go bye-bye from the active relic rotation.

There WILL be a Knell Prime.

Harrow Prime's accessories are a syandana and an Operator suit. I... may still get the other suits from Prime Resurgence, but my Operator getups since I came back have tended to include the Commodore Prime's special chain. I hope it'll look decent along with most of the suit from the Harrow Prime access.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

......and the New War quest turned out to be EXACTLY as big a deal as we were all told it was.

Yeah, I marathoned it on Day 1 of release to make sure I wasn't too spoiled before I could get around to it.

There is especially a MASSIVE detail at the end that I REALLY want to gush about, but can't. You will understand when you see it.

Let me know when you complete the quest and your final choice in it. (Spoiler tag is up to you.) THEN I'll consider talking about the quest and my thoughts on it.

 

[Attaman]

I have beaten The New War as well. Some of my own thoughts:

Spoiler: The New War Spoilers

Spoiler: Seriously, you're warned

Spoiler: The Good

+ Drifter. Starting with Drifter as anyone accidentally finding this post is unlikely to have too much spoiled with just that. But Drifter works rather well once you realize what's going on.
+ Stalker. While the Hunhow stuff was a bit of a stretch, it was nice to see Stalker again after so very much of a drought. It also makes sense why they'd be one of the few unaffected by... uh, plot things. Between their history and current state.
+ Drifter's mechanics are rather solid, and barring a couple of the boss fights the combat parts of The New War were all rather solid. A bit of new mechanics / content too so that people who watched TennoCon 2021 weren't completely spoilered as to the front third of the quest.
+ Quest feels suitably meaty. You also have a mild freedom of choice in a few areas.
+ Beds! For the love of all that's holy and just, we have beds finally for the Dojo!

Spoiler: The Bad

- Oh dear gods the mandatory Stealth sections. Particularly the ones that don't really allow you to look around and basically just expect you to stumble into the correct solution eventually.
- As I somewhat feared, The New War doesn't seem to have had too much an affect on the Star Chart ATM. A pity re: Fortuna and Cetus and all. Also I kind of wish we could have seen a Narmer'd Deimos, but I have a hunch that would have been "Veils missing, presumed eaten by locals".
- Also as I feared, the quest's entire length was basically "We have to save Lotus" / "Oh no we have to Fix The Lotus" / "Yay we Fixed the Lotus!" There wasn't really much of a resolution of... well, anything. Either for the player or - to a degree - for the Lotus. Which is a shame as it basically means the last few quests have been Ballas' quest, which... isn't the worst plot to have, but after just starting to give us a taste of things with the Grineer Queens and the Corpus and whatnot to have an entire quest line predominantly revolve around "Villain introduced, only present in, and defeated within quest line" feels something of a waste.
- The in-mission navigation (or, in the areas it's non-existent, the direction via lighting cues and terrain and whatnot) could be significantly better.

If it sounds like I disliked The New War, I didn't: I very much loved it, hence blowing through it in scarcely five hours after work. But I do feel like it somewhat encapsulates DE's tendency to get distracted as well as their... shall we say, "Less than ideal" handling of the whole "Who are the Tenno?" stuff.

Also I'm not really sure what the actual end result of TNW was. If it was even resolved.

Spoiler: One Last Spoiler Tag

Was Erra the load-bearing basis of the entire Fleet? Which, AFAIK, is basically the sum remnants of the Sentient Armada? If so where is the rest of said Armada now? Just what are those vacuums mentioned in the mission brief that the old factions are rushing to fill back in? Occam's Razor says "Yes, they were. With Erra's death and Ballas' failed plot the majority of the Sentients are now a bunch of vapor around Sol. The vacuum is the one created within the Quest by the cult which conveniently was the exact same size as the previous factions with the exact same ground".

Again, I had a blast. And you know me: I gripe. I can easily find an excuse to gripe and it's hard to get me to gush. But the New War feels... off. Like the world's longest filler arc.