Finely Balancing Helping Newbies in Warframe

The other day, while doing random fissures with a clan mate, they asked how I’m still playing this game when I’m MR27 and other clan mates are already MR28. I kinda shrugged and didn’t give them a whole answer. Often the case is that there’s always something little to farm, like new Primed gear, or earning Focus, or things like that. But the one thing I neglected to mention is that I mostly just like helping random players, whether it’s accompanying someone as they take down a particularly annoying Lich or helping someone find Cephalon fragments on Mars.

It’s a rewarding job. Warframe can be frustrating as it doesn’t tell you anything and can sometimes be completely backwards. After all, who’d have thought that getting KILLED by your personal Lich is the best way to earn more murmurs to unlock the next word? A person could spend ages looking for Cephalon fragments and not even know what they look like, especially since they only occasionally spawn alongside the main path for any particular mission.

There’s something about helping players though that’s difficult to judge: how far should I go when it comes to helping them?

With randoms in missions, it’s a bit easier to judge. I just bring a tanky or buff-y Warframe to help team mates and use my Rubico Prime and kill everything quickly. Everyone gets buffs, someone gets murdered, everything dies, it’s awesome, especially with Lich hunts and fissure runs where I’ve found people will stick together for a few rounds at least. Sometimes the help is just for one mission, sometimes we’ll continue chatting and playing long after whatever the problem was has been solved.

But with newbies, there’s always a concern about just how much you should be helping. How far do you go?

I mean, do you wipe the entire map the same way you do with more experienced players? Do you give step by step instructions? Do you silently give them buffs and heal them while they fight? Or do you silently follow them and let them work it out on their own? And more importantly, do you tell them about later story information, like the Second Dream and the War Within?

Well… it kinda depends. It depends on how much the person you’re helping wants to know. I try to not use my Operator when I’m around low level players, but sometimes they’ll want to know. There is a definite point where you might look like you’re babying someone, and some people don’t like that. But on the other hand, there are people who want to know everything and might be missing key details. And there are times when you definitely need to intervene, because the person you are helping didn’t upgrade their mods or put mods on new weapons and is now doing no damage.

But really, letting someone work it out for themselves is the best way to go. The role you should play is one that answers questions when needed, and occasionally helps out with mods and difficult missions. You’re a supporter, not a mother. The mothering stuff is Lotus’s job, and frankly she’s bad at that.

Let the newbie guide you and you will be able to guide them.