The concept of space ninjas fighting aliens and robots does have a nice ring to it. It’s been almost six years since Warframe introduced us to this fascinating world and we, as gamers, still can’t get enough of it. The game, in essence, is a third person loot shooter where you can either play individually or as a team-up with friends and comrades. Your resources are integral in order to progress further into the game and they also present the greatest charm as every in-game task offers bounties while adding to your overall progress. When we look for suggestions to play online games, Warframe is undoubtedly amongst the first names to be recommended, which gives us a good idea regarding its popularity among the gaming community.
The game recently celebrated its 6th anniversary, and this birthday, like the ones before, came with a lot of surprises and blessings for its player base. As per recent stats, Warframe ranks among the top 20 most watched games on Twitch, which is quite a considerable achievement. The overall player base for the game is rapidly approaching the 50 million mark. What’s the reason behind this consistent success and what can we expect from Warframe this year? Let us dwell into the detail of the matter!
A happy community
The primary attraction with Warframe undoubtedly is the super active community. The developers interact with the players and continuously roll out interesting updates to keep them entertained. We witnessed the introduction of the Plains of Eidolon back in 2017, which added an open world element to the gameplay where you can roam around freely while pursuing quests and missions is on your own beck and call. Plains of Eidolon also introduced new game mechanics so it could be considered as something like a Warframe 2.0. Recently DE (Digital Extremes) introduced a cross-platform event under the name Nightwave, which gave the daily alert mission a revamped vibe along with presenting an interesting story, and lore, related to the indulging world of Warframe.
TennoCon bringing higher visibility
Like the years before, the company is set to host another grand TennoCon this year which will include loads of fun and bounties for the attending Tenno (an in-game term used to describe the various players). When inquired about the success of such events and updates, a DE official reported that after last year’s TennoCon, the company experienced an influx of concurrent active players for a few weeks, which amounted to more than a million gamers, simultaneously. Hosting such events is a success since players can find new ways to relate to their favourite game. What just a game was before becomes an entire community, and when like-minded individuals get together, they take the opportunity to build a bond which ultimately helps in strengthening the entire community into a single unit.
What is melee phase 3.0?
Among the various things DE is incorporating in the ever-evolving world of Warframe, the new melee phase 3.0 is among the most awaited. New game mechanics allow you to seamlessly switch between your guns and melee weapons in an instant. This gives players the ability to use multiple types of weapons in a single attack phase. The melee weapon channelling mechanics have also been changed. The channelling key now executes a heavy melee attack to knock out your opponents (effects vary between various weapons). The melee weapon combos have also been standardized to add a higher level of convenience. For instance, various heavy weapons can benefit from similar combo sets with the new update and this melee phase is only going to get better with further polishing.
The ‘New War’ is coming!
The immersive lore of Warframe is undoubtedly among its key attractive elements. Announced during the TennoCon 2018, New Year will pick up from where The Sacrifice quest left off. Giving any spoilers regarding what it offers would be a bummer but you can very well speculate what’s going to happen from the happenings of the last chapter. Lotus, the key to our Tenno operations finally revealed her identity as ‘Natah’, a sentient creature. During the epic cinematic end of The Sacrifice, we saw Lotus flying back to her origin with the objective of joining her so-called ‘Mother’. Therefore, we can expect an epic sentient battle coming our way that will test our space ninja skills to their highest limit.
Warframe as a Hobby
The market for 3rd person loot-based shooter games is rapidly getting saturated. With the growing saturation, it becomes even more challenging to keep our offering at the top. DE insists that Warframe is more than just a game, rather it has become a hobby among players. When people switch to different games from the same genre, there is always observed a phase of transition. If they stick through that phase successfully, they will switch; but during that phase, it’s more like a testing period. Warframe has been able to evolve successfully with time which offers the player an incentive to always come back to it. The game developers have been able to create a new genre through Warframe in the category of Space Ninja. When people compare other titles with this, Warframe manages to stand out. The support staff for the company is particularly responsive and co-operative whenever players have a query. It’s at par with some of the most widely renowned customer services in the world which gives Warframe an edge over its competitors.
Welcome to Railjack
Another highly anticipated updates coming our way is operation Railjack. This would let the players enjoy a more detailed experience of what it is like to be a space ninja. DE gave us a teaser last year, which showed a team of Tenno flying a massive airship. The ship then entered the lower orbit over the Venus airspace and then engaged with enemy vessels. You and your allies will co-operate in intense space battles with having the ability to exit your ship via arch wings and engage enemies in different ways. Players will even get the ability to board enemy ships to take the battles into their territory. Hacking through corridors, opening secret doors and turning enemy ships onto themselves are a few prominent highlights, which have skyrocketed our excitement to the next level.
What are the Planes of Duviri?
This may sound like a new open world expansion like Planes of Eidolon, but honestly, we cannot say much based on the limited knowledge we have so far. Set to be released sometime during the fall, this update will introduce the players to a new enemy faction under the title of Planes of Duviri. This could either refer to where the faction originates from, or might actually be the name of the faction itself. The developers introduced audiences to a few of the concept arts of the units and they sure seem interesting.
Adaptability for new players
The developers face a lot of pressure since every new update is expected to be bigger and better than the previous one. A major issue new player’s face is when they get to follow a very short tutorial after which they are dropped into a massively complex game. This makes the start quite complex, to say the least. The community has highlighted this issued several times and finally, to our relief, DE has decided to work on it. The new-player experience would be enhanced complimented by a higher degree of detailing. So to all the Tenno recruits out there, help is coming your way!
Fortuna update
The Buried Debts event is currently underway which allows players to unlock a new part of Fortuna, which adds quite a number of cool features. Players can now access a wider map, new enemies (including a boss) and a much-needed dose of Warframe lore progression. Players recently reported a bug where they could enjoy the game individually but not with their select comrades since there was a mug in the matchmaking. DE recently fixed the bug and has extended the event to compensate for the inconvenience, so you can log in to your Warframe account and enjoy the event right now.
New Warframes and remastering content
The Plains of Eidolon can definitely be a breath of fresh air for players especially since the company recently gave them a revamped look. The new Plains offer a wider map, improved graphics and manoeuvrability, and a funny-looking yet challenging boss called the ‘Thumper’. The Gas City tileset, a part of Jupiter region, is also getting a revamped look which will add to the aesthetics. The team has also confirmed a number of new enemies and rewards coming our way.
Hildryn is the first frame that was introduced this year. Wielding heavy weapons as combat tools, she uses her shields to cast abilities including attracting team buffs and damaging nukes. Art Director Geoff Crookes during Devstream 115 hinted towards a new frame called ‘Wisp’. It will have an amazing aesthetic appeal but is the maximum we know regarding the frame so far. So this makes a total of two Warframes with one already introduced. We can expect two more frames to be introduced by the end of this year since the company wants to keep the audiences engaged by continuously delivering quality content.
Welcoming Nintendo Switch
DE understands well that in order to grow, they need to diversify across various platforms. Keeping that in mind, the company introduced Warframe for Nintendo Switch, back in December 2018. As popularity rises for Switch, it will give the game even more visibility.
Final Word
Too much to take in? All this clearly shows how active Digital Extremes is in making Warframe an unparalleled experience for its players. All these features (ones that have already been introduced and the ones that are soon to be implemented) definitely establish 2019 as a very happening year for Warframe. The future looks very bright indeed for the game and we anxiously await to see the glory the game achieves in the coming years.
