What sort of ‘end game’ do people even want?

Warframe contains a lot of content. From cramped exterminate missions to the fresh air of Cetus, all the way to space in our Railjacks, there is a LOT to do. Yet somehow, for some people, that doesn’t seem to be enough. Veteran players complain all the time that there isn’t much to do. They believe that Warframe has no end game content.

But what even is end game content?

The term ‘end game content’ is a very nebulous one. Players are looking for new content to challenge themselves, or, just in general, they want something to do after they’ve played most of a game. An end game would be something that happens at the end of general play, once you have all starchart nodes finished and have done all the quests.

Although end game content can mean a lot of different things. Sorties for example used to be end-game content, but they have been left behind with the release of other end game activities.

Another albeit odd example is the stealth in the New War quest. People get bored of being super-powered murder machines. Playing as Drifter and having to rely on stealth was an eye-opener for many, and some would like to see Operator-only missions. Problem is, a lot of Warframe’s content requires using Warframes

We already have a lot of end game stuff!

The first that comes to mind are the open world bosses. The three Eidolons, Profit-Taker and Exploiter Orb are all unique fights that require experience and game knowledge. Eidolons in particular require very specific builds, if you plan to hunt more than one Eidolon.

Then there’s Arbitrations: maps where you can’t die. Arbitration missions are endless missions which reward you greatly in Endo and rare arcanes. The enemies in Arbitations are greater in number, and dying is permanent, until someone can revive you with bits off dead enemies. You end up in a scenario where you want both mass destruction but also some tankiness in your choice of frame.

Heck, we have the Steel Path! There’s essentially a whole ‘new game+’ that takes the starchart, adds 100 levels to everything then enhances enemy armour and shields. And unlike normal levels, Steel Path missions have a chance to spawn in Stalker’s Acolytes, and give better rewards.

And then we have mastery. Increasing your mastery rank is a huge part in Warframe. Reaching True Master is a genuine achievement, even if it is made more reachable with every update. But people’s end game desires don’t really fit well with the mastery system, it’s a little too slow and requires scraping the bottom of a barrel looking for new things to level up.

We don’t know ourselves what we want.

At the end of the day, no one can make up their minds. And no one solution will please everyone. There are so many players that it’s impossible to get even a vague idea what everyone wants. To make matters worse, we have no real idea who is a veteran or not, if we wanted to poll ourselves. With no real definition on both end game content and what a veteran player is, it’s even more impossible trying to figure things out.

Personally? I think, between Steel Path, Arbitrations, Railjack and Eidolon hunts, we actually have some good end-game content. All of these provide rare and unique rewards, while also requiring some general thought. There’s challenge here already. But there’s something even bigger that could be described as end game content.

The real End game is actually Fashion Frame

It really is. Once you’re like me, with everything mostly unlocked, all we’re really left with is making our Warframes pretty. Or, in my case, making my Waframes yellow…