Warframe’s Nightwave and Intermission-iness

On the 28th of July, Nightwave Intermission 3 ended. It had been going since early February, filling nearly half a year. A good 5 months or so of randomly chosen daily and weekly tasks. When it did finally end, there were a lot of mixed emotions about Nightwave. Was it good? Was it bad? Who really knows.

Editor’s note: Intermission 4, Nora’s Choice, started on the day this was published. But frankly all of this article applies equally to Nightwave 3 and 4.

It was all mostly filler

One thing that we know for certain though is that Nightwave Intermission 3 was mostly repeats. Pretty much everything in Nightwave Intermission was something taken from a previous Nightwave season. So if you had missed the last couple of years, you could at least find some of the things you missed. There was also an Umbral forma at the end, which seems to be the norm with Intermissions.

The Nightwave shop also wasn’t particularly different. In fact, the Nightwave shop had both Wolf Beacons and a key to fight Nihil. Alongside the assassination node on Deimos, it was possible to get all the Nightwave-exclusive weapons. Good luck on the Wolf Sledge though, that bastard is a stingy git with a low drop chance.

As an aside, fighting Nihil again after getting his sword would earn you a Riven Mod. Which is a nice touch. But there are loads of ways to get Rivens now, especially since Red Veil’s mystic and Teshin both sell them as rewards too.

No matter how long an intermission is, someone will fail to complete it.

Despite being around for five months, I’m sure plenty of people didn’t finish the whole thing. After all, players come and go all the time. And long breaks from Warframe are pretty common. Some may complain that they didn’t have enough time, but how long can you really wait? Some tasks were also actually a bit daunting for newer players. Most of the Elite Tasks were a bit newbie-unfriendly, featuring a myriad of end-game fights like the Hydralyst, or requiring 1000 kills on the Steel Path. However there was definitely enough time to get to rank 30 even without all Elite tasks.

Of course, part of it may be because of a bug. Apparently, some Nightwave tasks aren’t recovered properly. So if you were really far behind, it was possible that there might not have been enough tasks to make it to rank 30. Combined with more tedious tasks involving bosses, Steel Path and all that, a new player will struggle.

On the other hand, for a more average player, you only really need a month of not-particularly-strenuous tasks or so to get all rewards. It can’t be helped that some people won’t reach rank 30.

We don’t need a story

Thing is, I don’t think players even care about the stories. The stories told in Nightwave aren’t particularly interesting. Heck, they’re pretty predictable. Of the Wolf of Saturn Six would escape Alad V, he didn’t want to be a slave again. Of course the miracle healing kid was an Infested trap. In Glassmaker, we had a murder mystery that was probably the most tedious thing I’ve ever done in Warframe.

Even the Nightwave-specific additions weren’t great. The Wolf was originally far too tanky for normal players. The infested people were just mooks to kill. And Glassmaker? That was the worst of the bunch, with its annoying glass-covered enemies and pixel-hunting side quests. The Nihil fight at the end was okay in hindsight but it wasn’t fun.

If anything, not having a story makes Nightwave better. Makes you feel less pressured to continue. And it means that the devs don’t have to waste time on dioramas that no one really cares about.

It’s free?

At least we aren’t paying for a season pass. Warframe’s Nightwave may be very simple. May even be tedious at times. But not only are we not paying for season pass rewards, but they’re completely available for free. There’s no second, paid season pass with better rewards. And, honestly? I think that makes Nightwave a slightly better system. Even if it does drag on for ages. All Nightwave costs is time and effort. But if you are willing to put even a little work in, the rewards are quite nice.

All that being said, there is definitely room for improvement. Especially after we reach rank 30.