How much of this game can I "ignore?"

[Malidictus]

Wait! Let me explain! :)

I got roped into Warframe by a few friends of mine, so I've been trying to make the best of it. I played a fair few MMOs in my time, chiefly City of Heroes, bless its heart. I know Warframe isn't an MMO per se, but it has a lot elements which remind me of old-style subscription-based MMOs ala Lineage and World of WarCraft. Player-trading, crafting, guild halls, dailies, etc. None of these are necessarily BAD things, but some of them REALLY don't sit well with me. I did my time with MMOs, I put eight years into City of Heroes, I'm done with those mechanics.

So... How much of Warframe can I safely ignore and how much will that hurt me? To try and keep the question a little less broad, let me give a few specific examples:

Can I ignore PvP? Are there any rewards exclusive to PvP, is it in any way mandatory, what would I be missing out?

Can I ignore pets? At least the organic Tamagochi style ones which require regular logins and resource investments? I have NO patience whatsoever for upkeep, and it seems like I can grab synthetic pets in their place. Maybe not as good, so what would I be missing?

Can I ignore Syndicates? Not a fan of factions, not a fan of the runaround special missions, not a fan of the Syndicate warfare, at least what I've read of it. What would I be missing if I never bothered with that?

Can I ignore clans? As the "Why play an MMO if you're going to solo" type of player, I want as little contact with other players as possible, so I don't intend to form or join a clan. I'm told there's research restricted to that, but how much would I be missing and are there alternatives?

Can I ignore Mastery Ranks? This is probably the dumbest question of all, but I honestly don't see Mastery Ranks doing terribly much for me. They give me more slots I'm not going to use, more trades I'm not going to do, more capacity for Syndicate stuff I'm not going to partake in, etc. Mastery Ranks DO gate weapons so that's something I'm definitely going to have to invest in, but is there a point to getting to max rank? Do I gain health/armour/shield/damage/whatever?

Those are just examples, though. I'm well aware that this is playing the game "wrong" and probably hurting me in the long run, but I'm trying to meet Warframe half-way. As with pretty much every MMO I've ever played, the secret to sticking with it has been as much finding what I like as avoiding what I don't like - hence the original question.

[GunsForBucks]

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

Apologies for the double-post, but this is going to be a bit more esoteric and it didn't seem to fit into the previous "response" post. Something jonnin asked kept me up at night - if I don't care about end-game but only care about mid-game... What IS mid-game? I don't know enough about Warframe to comment about this game, but I have a few examples of what I'd consider mid-game in other games. Hopefully that should provide enough context to explain what I mean here.

The nomenclature I'll be using is "stuff to do" and "stuff to get." It's been my experience in stat-based, loot-based MMOs that that's essentially what content breaks down to. What does the content allow you to do and what does the content reward you with, though not necessarily for the same stuff. As such...

City of Heroes

The mid-game stuff to do in City of Heroes I'd describe as all content up to level 50 (the level cap) aside from Trial and Raid content. Missions, Story Arcs, Task Forces and a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting would count. Any of the Incarnate content (post-50 content) would definitely count as end-game due to the major power creep in enemy stats, as well as consisting primarily of raids anyway. The game's handful of Raids (Hamidon, Mothership) would obviously be end-game content, as well.

The mid-game stuff to get in City of Heroes is pretty much standard enhancements (standard gear), as well as Common and Uncommon Inventions Enhancements (crafted gear). All of these are fairly easy to get off of drops or buy off the Market for cheap and are easily available on the road to 50. Rare and Trial enhancements (Hydra, Hamidon) I'd argue are end-game due to their rarity and cost on the Market. Purple Enhancements are DEFINITELY end-game due to their stupid rarity. Any Incarnate powers are also definitely end-game, as the Incarnate progression system is hella-grindy and only available in Incarnate content.

In my time with City of Heroes, I did my best to avoid the Inventions system and the player Market as well as avoid grinding for loot as much as possible. That made my builds pretty weak and generally inapplicable for what little solo/small-team Incarnate content there was. As such, I ignored most if not all of the end-game altogether. I did dabble in Incarnate stuff, but progress was so painful without raiding I gave up pretty quickly.

The Division

The Division is odd in that it has next to no end-game any more. At one point, the developers made a change where all the content could drop all of the stuff and be run at max level. I wish more games would do that, but it made true end-game fairly rare. As such, I'll focus on what that actually is.

The end-game stuff to do is pretty much restricted to three things. There are the game's four Incursions (four-player raids) which cound since they're generally harder than standard content, employ gimmick boss fights and require extreme levels of voice chat communication. There's Legendary difficulty on some missions, which counts due to the abolishment of storyline and the extreme power creep on enemy stats. Resistance (wave survival) also counts as enemy stats balloon HARD in later waves. Finally, PvP also counts since the Dark Zone used to be the game's selling point and sole end game at one point. That and most PvP players are jacked-up on end game gear. Anything else is mid-game.

The end-game stuff to get is pretty much restricted to Classified Gear Sets and Exotic weapons, purely because these are VERY rare. However, since they have a chance to drop from all content, they're easily attainable outside of the end game, making this one of the few MMOs where I've been able to obtain a full complement of end-game gear without engating in end game :)

As with City of Heroes, I've avoided The Division's end game almost entirely. I don't PvP, I've run very few Resistances or Incursions and I couldn't care less about Legendary missions. Over-statted enemies are no fun.

Diablo 3

The mid-game stuff to do there I'd argue is Adventure Mode, at least up until level 100, maybe Paragon Level 20-30. Anything past that starts getting REALLY grindy and repetitive, which I'd describe as end-game easily. Adventure Mode is DEFINITELY end-game, since that abolishes story altogether and focuses on Nephalem Rifts - random-tileset maps with a mix of random-faction enemies designed to test your build's stats. I did one of those and it was so boring I never want to touch it again.

The mid-game stuff to get I'd argue is any gear up to unique. Unique used to be end-game, but then Blizzard got their heads out of their asses and abolished the auction house and redesigned drop rates. Uniques are still rare, but attainable without the need to grind for them. I don't even know what all the crap that drops from Nephalem rifs even is - runes and some kind of super-unique jewellery, if I recall. That I'd definitely consider end-game. There are a few crafting recipes with obscene costs, as well, which I'd lump in there too.

I don't bother with Adventure Mode in Diablo 3. That boils an otherwise cool game down to throwing stats against stats and watching a completely incomprehensible soup of effects resolve itself. Rather reminds me of City of Heroes Task Forces. No, thanks. I'll keep playing Story Mode, instead.

Warframe

I don't know what the equivalent of mid-game in Warframe is. I'm assuming unlocking the solar system and being able to do most of the non-special missions there would count, but I've no idea what that means for gear. I'm still strugging to wrap my head around the gobbledygook naming convention at this point :)

Mid game in warframe is getting endo and credits to level up your mods.

So find statues and make credits

[Omnipresent Oatmeal]

Автор сообщения: GunsForBucks

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

 SNIP 

Mid game in warframe is getting endo and credits to level up your mods.

So find statues and make credits

Mid game is more along the lines of having completed the star chart and then working towards being geared for "end game" things like sorties, eidolons, endurance missions.
Also the part where you probably end up grabbing a crapton of random weapons and Warframes to shove your MR a little bit higher.

[GunsForBucks]

Автор сообщения: ;1734336452569872632

Автор сообщения: GunsForBucks

Mid game in warframe is getting endo and credits to level up your mods.

So find statues and make credits

Mid game is more along the lines of having completed the star chart and then working towards being geared for "end game" things like ..snip

what you are saying is finding and leveling up the good mods for your build.. to me that is "working towards being geared for "end game" "

I think we are saying the same thing here.

[Archwraith]

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

Apologies for the double-post, but this is going to be a bit more esoteric and it didn't seem to fit into the previous "response" post. Something jonnin asked kept me up at night - if I don't care about end-game but only care about mid-game... What IS mid-game? I don't know enough about Warframe to comment about this game, but I have a few examples of what I'd consider mid-game in other games. Hopefully that should provide enough context to explain what I mean here.

Warframe

I don't know what the equivalent of mid-game in Warframe is. I'm assuming unlocking the solar system and being able to do most of the non-special missions there would count, but I've no idea what that means for gear. I'm still strugging to wrap my head around the gobbledygook naming convention at this point :)

Mid-game and end-game are both defined by players themselves.

For me, mid-game is finishing starchart and faced all the bosses and finished all the quest. The bar is not that high and as I said before, doable with standard properly modded gear. Problem may rise when you start encountering high level enemies in Void such as Mot (a mission node) but if what you do is just to clear the mission, it's still doable.

End-game, for me, is collecting every stuff there is to get. Lores, weapons, warframes, and other content. There are others who say end-game killing as many Eidolons as possible in one night cycle, survival missions for hours, sorties (Specific mission with high leveled enemies and special mutator), and etc.

In the end, there's no real endgame in Warframe. You decide what is the end game by yourself.

[Omnipresent Oatmeal]

Автор сообщения: GunsForBucks

Автор сообщения: ;1734336452569872632

Mid game is more along the lines of having completed the star chart and then working towards being geared for "end game" things like ..snip

what you are saying is finding and leveling up the good mods for your build.. to me that is "working towards being geared for "end game" "

I think we are saying the same thing here.

More or less, but I was being a bit more broad; there's more to being geared than having a bunch of maxed out mods and a few million credits.

[GunsForBucks]

Автор сообщения: Omnipresent Oatmeal

Автор сообщения: GunsForBucks

what you are saying is finding and leveling up the good mods for your build.. to me that is "working towards being geared for "end game" "

I think we are saying the same thing here.

More or less, but I was being a bit more broad; there's more to being geared than having a bunch of maxed out mods and a few million credits.

well you only need the credits to put the endo in the mods .. but ya you also have to figure out how to use them well for a build like an EV trin vs a Blessing trin... but those are finer points to me in terms of what to do in game to "progress"... you can still get away with bringing a EV trin to a hunt for example.

[FAArscape]

One thing : Create your own clan, and build on it. It gives a 'crap-tonne' of Endo each time it levels up...and you get access to a bunch of warframes, weapons, Archwings & Archwingwepons.

It IS doable by one person...it WILL take time...and resources, but as I see it, it's worth it...

[Walrus-Sama]

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

Автор сообщения: Walrus-Sama

The mentality you're displaying here OP, seems like you may as well just go into Captura with your 'cool looking' LMG's and make Pew Pew noises with your mouth and pretend to be playing. Because right now you don't really sound like you want to play the game much at all.

See, these kinds of responses are odd to me. Without wishing to offend, they come across like "You don't want to grind? Then you can't enjoy this game." It's similar to the "Why are you playing an MMO if you don't want to team?" questions I had to answer over and over again for eight years playing City of Heroes. Most games - especially MMOs and especially F2P titles - are made up of more than one thing, more than one aspect of gameplay. What I'm getting from a few of the responses so far is a genuine question of how I can enjoy the game if I'm not willing to engage in the "core" gameplay.

The answer to that is the same answer I gave in City of Heroes - I like the game DESPITE it being an MMO, not BECAUSE it's one. So far, I've had actually quite a bit of fun playing Warframe DESPITE its progression system, not BECAUSE of it. If anything, whenever progression comes up and I have to dive into menues, Alt-Tab to the wiki and come here asking questions, my will to play decreases significantly. When the game lets me just go from mission to mission punting Grenier into space, running on ziplines and firing into a crowd, I can enjoy it even if it gives me nothing.

I don't know what Captura is and if my gear of choice doesn't work there... Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Worse come to worst, I don't do it and keep doing what I'm already doing. Again - I don't need to engage in every single part of a game in order to enjoy it. More often than not, trying to do that spoils the fun, rather than enhancing it. For me at least.

Автор сообщения: GrimSentinel

If you want to unlock all planets/quests, I think the minimum MR rank you'll need is 5. So you'll have to grind MR some.

Yeah, I found a few workarounds. There are a few weapons I can juggle - some of the cooler-looking rifles and pistols might be a good place to start. That and Sentinels seem to have their own levels as do their weapons, so that's another thing I can try levelling up. Getting to 5 should be doable without having to use gear I hate.

Captura is a tool/mode purely for screenshots, allowing various options like backgrounds, lighting, DoF changes, spawning enemies, camera postion, etc. It is purely for vanity purposes and there is no 'real' reward or purpose.

Here is an example: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1267379360

[Malidictus]

Автор сообщения: Archwraith

For me, mid-game is finishing starchart and faced all the bosses and finished all the quest. The bar is not that high and as I said before, doable with standard properly modded gear. Problem may rise when you start encountering high level enemies in Void such as Mot (a mission node) but if what you do is just to clear the mission, it's still doable.

That sounds like fun, actually. Probably what I intend to focus on for the time being. It does also seem to fit my definition of mid-game, as well. If I ever get tired of that, I'll consider doing more :)

Автор сообщения: Archwraith

End-game, for me, is collecting every stuff there is to get. Lores, weapons, warframes, and other content. There are others who say end-game killing as many Eidolons as possible in one night cycle, survival missions for hours, sorties (Specific mission with high leveled enemies and special mutator), and etc.[/quote]

Right, so collecting and challenges. That makes sense, in terms of RPG progression. I've never been a collector, personally. Never felt like I need to catch 'em all. In games with fewer options, like say Titanfall 2, I could be convinced to try most or all of them. But in cames with collect-a-thon mechancis... Eh, no. I'm lazy and fun-driven. Is what I'm doing actually entertaining right now and does it unlock something that looks like I'll enjoy? Great, I'll do it. Is it boring and/or does it unlock something I probably won't like? Eh, not interested.

So sounds like I'll be able to stick with Warframe at least until the mid-to-late-game. Good to know, thank you for the perspective.

Автор сообщения: FAArscape

One thing : Create your own clan, and build on it. It gives a 'crap-tonne' of Endo each time it levels up...and you get access to a bunch of warframes, weapons, Archwings & Archwingwepons. It IS doable by one person...it WILL take time...and resources, but as I see it, it's worth it...

That's also an option, yeah. What does it take to level up a clan, though? Can it be done by "just playing the game" or does it require some kind of special non-standard tasks? I'm generally OK with "grindy" systems as long as I can progress through them while otherwise playing the basic game mechanics. It's what's kept me involved with The Division as long as it has - I ignore loot, play the game, then check my inventory every couple of hours and end-game loot just turns up there without me doing anything special.

On Syndicates:

I'm finally able to join some of them, and I'm noticing that the couple of Syndicate-like things I spoke with aren't on the list. There's... God, the names in this game... There's the gunter guy in that settlement on Earth who has a Syndicate-like thing and the male-voice Cephalon with the digital zoo. Both of those let me join them and they don't seem to be part of the factions system. Do they have emblems of their own I'm supposed to wear? The way they were presented to me, it seemeld like doing missions for them was the only way to progress.

As to the other Syndicates, is there a good way to tell who offers what and what "groups" they form or am I going to have to trawl the Wiki and construct a flowchart myself? Seems like I can all but entirely avoid going to the Relays since I can call them from my ship. That simplifies matters. The less time I have to spend in public places, the better.

[Qwib-Qwib]

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

On Syndicates:

I'm finally able to join some of them, and I'm noticing that the couple of Syndicate-like things I spoke with aren't on the list. There's... God, the names in this game... There's the gunter guy in that settlement on Earth who has a Syndicate-like thing and the male-voice Cephalon with the digital zoo. Both of those let me join them and they don't seem to be part of the factions system. Do they have emblems of their own I'm supposed to wear? The way they were presented to me, it seemeld like doing missions for them was the only way to progress.

As to the other Syndicates, is there a good way to tell who offers what and what "groups" they form or am I going to have to trawl the Wiki and construct a flowchart myself? Seems like I can all but entirely avoid going to the Relays since I can call them from my ship. That simplifies matters. The less time I have to spend in public places, the better.

These aren't really Syndicates, more like neutral factions that behave a bit like Syndicates, except they might have a little more going on. Cephalon Simaris wants you to Synthetize specific targets in some missions with his special scanner in exchange for his unique rewards. I'm assuming the gunter guy you're talking about is Onkko, in Cetus. He mostly wants you to run bounties, and the affinity you get doing them allows you to buy the services of Cetus' various inhabitants. The actual Syndicates are all listed on the module to the left in the cockpit of your landing craft. No passive sigil for them, though, you have to do their thing if you want their affinity.

[Archwraith]

There are 6 main syndicates that has allies, enemies, and rivals. Those 6 mains can be easily found on the left, next to your navigation panel on your orbiter. These follow the simple rule of "Wear our emblem, do our missions, you get our points".
They are basically split to three on left and three on right. You can eventually gain the stuff from opposite syndicate later on by trading with other players, so don't worry.

The other syndicates are slightly different in terms of gathering points.
Cephalon Simaris - You gain his points by scanning enemies using his own personal scanner, which you can upgrade to have infinite charges later on, and by doing his daily missions
Conclave - This one is PvP based, I don't think I'll need to explain this one because you seem to be not interested in PvP
Ostron (Cetus) - A settlement in Earth. You can either do bounties (sets of missions), selling fishes, or selling gemstones to gain their points. Mainly Plains of Eidolon faction. There is another one but it's a bit spoiler-ish, so I won't cover it here.
These seperate faction won't have any trouble which main syndicate you choose. You can gain point from them without worrying anything such as getting the point reduced by following certain syndicates.

[Rabanito]

Why would you play Warframe if you want to avoid playing the game?

Looks like you want to reduce Warframe to a generic shooter with only one difference (mods).

Then why bother? There are plenty of them.

[Malidictus]

Got it! So Cephalon Simaris and Ostron are separate Syndicate-like things which don't have rivalries and don't require the wearing of a banner, but rather doing missions for them. That's what had me confused - thought they were all like that. Thanks for setting that straight. Incidentally, I misspelled "hunter" and "gunter" because fat fingers. Rather reminds me of City of Herpes now :)

I did realise earlier today that a new console on my ship had activated - the Syndicate console. I thought I'd have to trundle all the way to the Tenno Relay every time I wanted to deal with them, but it seems like they can be accessed remotely through a neat little summary menu. That's... A lot more straight-forward and informative than I'm used to with this game :) Knowing that they break down into the "left three" and "right three" also makes it much easier. Purely in terms of ethics, the left three appeal to me more, but I don't know what rewards any of them offer. To the Bat Wiki, I guess.

Thanks!

Автор сообщения: Rabanito

Looks like you want to reduce Warframe to a generic shooter with only one difference (mods). Then why bother? There are plenty of them.

Honestly? Because my friends are playing it and I'm trying to accommodate, and because it's actually a pretty fun shooter. Same reason I play The Division, actually. Yeah, yeah, builds and loot and progression and all that jazz. Don't care. It's a fun shooter with some of the best cover-based mechanics I've seen and a really good take on LMGs. I've covered this already so I won't go into too much detail, but I'm kind of enjoying just running around shooting stuff in Warframe right now.

In fact, just got myself a Lex pistol, which has been all kinds of hilarious. Hand Cannons are not typically my thing, but this one looks cool and is so much fun to play around with. Same feeling I got from grabbing a Fragor, actually. Kind of wish the game had a broader selection of starting weapons so I could start with the heavy melee and the hand cannon and the bullet hose, even if I got ♥♥♥♥ versions of them I was intended to replace. Thought that was the point of the Mk. 1 designator.

Point is - yes, there are plenty of third-person shooters out there. Not a lot of them are any good, fewer still that mix shooting and melee. Really the only competition which springs to mind right now is Space Marine, and that doesn't let me equip a Heavy Bolter with a Thunder Hammer and a Jump Pack. That would be heresy.

[Qwib-Qwib]

You can do ALMOST anything related to Syndicates in the Syndicate module. There is ONE thing you can't do, and it's redeeming Syndicate medallions for affinity. That being said, you can only find these medallions during actual Syndicate missions, so if you only care about passive affinity gain, you'll never need to worry about that. It's just if you want to make a quick Syndicate buck at some point. Also, during some limited time events, you might have to directly go to the related Syndicate leader to redeem any special event ressource for their unique event rewards. But that's about it.

And for Simaris, you'll also need to go see him in a relay to take your missions and rewards. Can't go around that one.

[Archwraith]

Автор сообщения: Malidictus

Got it! So Cephalon Simaris and Ostron are separate Syndicate-like things which don't have rivalries and don't require the wearing of a banner, but rather doing missions for them. That's what had me confused - thought they were all like that. Thanks for setting that straight. Incidentally, I misspelled "hunter" and "gunter" because fat fingers. Rather reminds me of City of Herpes now :)

I did realise earlier today that a new console on my ship had activated - the Syndicate console. I thought I'd have to trundle all the way to the Tenno Relay every time I wanted to deal with them, but it seems like they can be accessed remotely through a neat little summary menu. That's... A lot more straight-forward and informative than I'm used to with this game :) Knowing that they break down into the "left three" and "right three" also makes it much easier. Purely in terms of ethics, the left three appeal to me more, but I don't know what rewards any of them offer. To the Bat Wiki, I guess.

Thanks!

The use for syndicate inside the relay is to trade medallion / insignia / whatever trinkets that are spread inside their own particular mission, commonly refered as syndicate mission, for points. You can find them easily using the top right navigation bar. The mission will be unlocked when you gain certain ranks with them. Those trinkets can be exchanged without having to reduce your daily point for them.