Warframe, Over 3000 Hours Later…

In July of 2016, I wrote an article about Warframe as I was just starting to get into it. I titled that article “Warframe – Still Not Sure” because, at the time, I was unsure whether I would continue playing Warframe. Well, over 3000 hours later, I can tell you that the article in question, which is still available to read, has aged incredibly poorly.

The most obvious thing is that I’m still playing Warframe. I’m playing a lot of Warframe. In fact, lately, it’s the only game I play on a regular basis aside from Pokemon Go. And it’s also one of the games that’s changed the most throughout my time playing it. While Team Fortress 2 was always a hat-themed war simulator and the only changes were mostly cosmetic ones, Warframe has gone all over the place, with massive open-world-like maps and the recently added ability to fly your own space ship (after a long grind).

A lot of what I said in that article varies from mostly correct to somewhat incorrect. Warframes and weapons aren’t as hard to master as I thought, mastery tests are still pretty annoying and Volt still isn’t an alternative to gun fighting. And I was wrong, Warframe can be played almost entirely solo, although it is tricky (especially for things like Eidolon Hunts) and will be even trickier in the future, what with Empyrean steaming towards us and most railjack missions being unsolo-able if you can’t hide your ship well enough.

But the strange thing is, some of my very early predictions were correct. The infested gunk in the back of my ship ended up being a (albeit very tiny) part of a much later quest, while I was completely right about being suspicious about the Lotus, saying “assuming she is a good gal” and wondering whether she was really on our side or not. Sure, it took me a good year and a half to see for myself that the Lotus would turn out to be evil, but frankly I have to applaud my very early cautiousness. Then again, anyone with half a brain can see that there’s something insanely fishy about the Lotus.

The biggest mistake I made though was suggesting that I wouldn’t be patient enough for Warframe, or that I’d stop playing for a bit. Nope, didn’t happen. Not only was I patient enough to finish leveling up Volt, but I was patient enough to build and level up most of the items in Warframe, while also being patient enough to be sitting on over 40 million credits and more Platinum and Ducts than I’d like to admit.

But the question is, am I still not sure about Warframe?

Well… yeah. I’m kinda still not sure. I mean, I’m still playing Warframe and I’m certain I will for a while, especially because I am hyped for Empyrean. But when it comes to recommending Warframe to other people? Or recent Warframe content? Or Warframe’s sustainability? I’m really not sure. This year’s content has been very hit and miss and I’m kinda worried that Warframe’s direction of one massive new thing after another, with occasional looks backwards, isn’t sustainable in the slightest. While I will continue to play Warframe, I am not sure whether other players will.

It’s still a good game, it just has some… flaws. And that is why I’m still not sure about Warframe, even 3000 hours later.

Oh, one last thing: In the original article, I offered my username, saying that people are free to add me if they want someone to play with. That still stands. If you need a fellow Tenno to do missions with, send Retvik a message!