Warframe Beginners Guide
Have you been wanting to get into Warframe, trying to get a friend into Warframe, or are already playing and struggling?
This can be your full guide to the basics of Warframe, feel free to share and send this around!
What is Warframe?
Warframe is a sci-fi fantasy 3rd person co-operative shooter game. It is free to play with zero paywalls and no pay-to-play aspects. It has dozens of hours of amazing animated story quests, cutscenes, and dozens of NPCs for you to meet and interact with.
This game is +10 years old with that much content. +10 years of content. If it feels like too much, just take a breather and step back. You don't need to know all of this, just take a look when you're confused or frustrated. Its an amazingly fun game but you can't start a hobby/game by diving into the deep end on late game mechanics and story (So push aside all the stuff you've seen for Warframe 1999 it will make sense in time)
And yes, there is both cross-save and cross platform play.
And for the love of stars above, play your first handful of missions on solo until you are comfortable playing with people who will speed blitz through the levels. Many high level players will knock out earlier missions for one reason or another and entering a stage and realizing extraction is ready before the lotus is done yapping isn't always a great feeling, so take it slow.
How do I play?
In general, its a 3rd person shooter. You have a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, a melee weapon, a companion (you don't start with one), and your Warframe. Each Warframe you play as has 4 different activated abilities and a passive ability, meaning they all play very differently. You go from node to node on the star-map battling enemies and trying to gather resources and defeat the enemy factions of the game. For now, just worry about doing that.
The movement is difficult
It can be, but it takes time to learn. Its a new game, and the unique movement keeps it fluid regardless of what you're playing. Take some time and experiment If you need a stress free environment to practice, try bullet jumping and rolling around an open world lobby like Cetus or Fortuna to practice.
Why am I not doing enough damage?
Mods. No, not game Mods. In Warframe you will pick up mods that allow you to change your weapon to deal additional damage types, enhance the critical chance or damage, modify fire rate, and many more. This is the main progression mechanic. Almost anything in Warframe is viable as long as you mod it, so there is a lot to cover.
How do I use Mods?
In your arsenal, which you unlock during the tutorial quest "Vor's Prize" you have the ability to modify/upgrade your equipment with Mods. Each mod has a lot on their display but your main focus should be the cost of the mod (top right) and the description of what it does (bottom).
What does the cost mean?
Each piece of equipment can be leveled up from levels 0 to 30. At level 0 they have 15 mod capacity, and for every 2 levels the equipment gains the mod capacity increases by 1 (So 30 mod capacity at level 30) Remember this cost is only for that piece of equipment, you can mod every part of your build including Warframes, all weapons, and your companions
I'm at max capacity and still not doing enough to get through my missions Upgrade your mods. I will explain why this is way more important that you may think Weapon-A is rank 0 (15 mod capacity) has a base damage of 100 and you have a fire elemental mod (Hellfire) and a cold elemental mod (Cryo Rounds), both with a base total of 6 mod cost each and giving +15% damage. With a total of 12 mod capacity you can make your weapon deal 100+30% elemental damage. Or Weapon-A still being rank 0 with 15 mod capacity and 100 damage has a single elemental mod installed on to it, max level Cryo Rounds (11 cost for +90% cold damage). So now that mod, with 1 more capacity for other mods to wriggle in, deals 100+90% elemental damage. Upgrading your mods can make you soar
How do I get new weapons/Warframes?
Firstly, you can use in game currency to purchase blueprints from Weapons normally only need specific resources and then can be crafted, so the hunt for that isn't bad. Warframes needs parts blueprints to be acquired and the built, usually a systems, chassis, and neuroptics. These can be obtained from defeating bosses in Assassination missions (Except for Vor on Mercury, he gives 2 weapons).
What the hell is mastery rank and why are weapons locked behind it?
Mastery rank is a lot of things, but all you need to focus on is this:
Mastery Rank is based on how many unique weapons and Warframes you have leveled up
As Mastery Rank increases, so does your base mod capacity (If MR > Weapon level, then it uses the mod capacity of your MR rather than the weapon level)
It is a way to slowly introduce weapons and funky unique mechanics with said weapons to players instead of bombarding them
It limits how much progress you can make with any given faction in a real world day, so if you want to level up your standing with a faction you should also focus on leveling up your mastery rank
What are Relics? (Lith, Meso, Axi, etc)
Your one-stop-shop for "prime" materials. Primed weapons and Warframes are special versions that have increased base stats to make your modding have that little bit of extra oomph You take the relic into a relic mission and kill the golden glowing enemies. They have a chance to drop reactant, a resource you need 10 of before you complete your objective. if you get the 10 reactant, you will get one of the 6 rewards from your relic. If you play with other people, you will have the choice between all of the opened relics once you complete your objective meaning that if you got something you already have and your buddy gets something super rare, everyone can just choose to get the super rare thing.
This game seems like it is very grindy/has a lot of grinding.
The one downfall to Warframe F2P is time. Crafting times, time spent in the open worlds gathering resources, time spent popping open relics, its the only thing premium currency can help you with. If it helps, don't spend your time actively trying to do the thing to get the thing to do the thing to get the thing to- Just relax and have fun. I've spent god knows how long mining and fishing in the open worlds because I thought it was super fun and neat, and when I started trying to progress through those areas stories and factions I had tons of resources to do exactly that. Don't rush. Take time to enjoy the game, Warframe isn't going anywhere for a long time.
However I heard they are working on a system to allow players to get un-tradeable premium currency by doing certain quests/missions a few updates for now, so whatever that may be if we get it could help.
How does Warframe/Digital Extremes stay afloat?
They Listen To The Playerbase And Maximize Potential Fun Rather Than Profits.
DE rarely nerfs things and instead likes us to have a power fantasy of a game where we can kill hundreds of enemies in a few blows and light up rooms like a firework show gone wrong. They make their game so fun to play and stay responsive with the player base so people feel inclined to spend money because "I love this game and hope they keep making more" I've probably sunk ~$200 into Warframe and I will keep giving them my money because I love the game. I don't feel pressured to do this, I don't even really feel stressed or worried about FOMO because Warframe always comes through with the ability to nab things from old events and even bringing some back around for a 2nd time.
If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know and I will add it to this list!
