Warframe: An Introduction to Being a Space Ninja
What is Warframe?
Warframe is a free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter developed by Digital Extremes. Imagine Destiny, but absolutely free for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Their tagline is "Ninjas Play Free".
Why is it still in Open Beta when it launched in 2013?
That's because lots of changes, patches, hotfixes, and updates are gradually being added to the game, and putting it in Open Beta phase gives the devs more freedom to experiment and explore more options. Hotfixes happen almost everyday on the PC version.
Who do I play here?
You play the role of a Tenno - a recently-awoken space ninja and you jump from one planet in the solar system to another doing ninja stuff. We can't really give more details on how those metal suits work because we don't want to spoil you on its story line.
What do you mean by "ninja stuff"?
It basically means spying on enemies, exterminating bad guys, assassinating bosses, performing sabotages, stealing ancient artifacts, and many more. You can go into missions as solo or you can team up with three other Tennos. The missions may remind you of typical hack-and-slash setups of randomized enemies and dungeons.
If you want to see how the gameplay looks like, watch Angry Joe revisit Warframe in the video below.
Where does my character stay?
Your main menu and your main base of operations will be your ship.
I have my own ship?
Yup. You can roam around and use the consoles in your ship to access different functions like jumping to missions, buying stuff in the market, accessing the codex, building weapons, and outfitting and modifying your warframes.
Warframes?
Warframes are the metal suits that you control. Each frame is unique in both visual appearance and skillset similar to that of a character class.
So does that mean I can only control a single frame?
Nope. Unlike usual character classes in RPG games, you can swap from one frame to another, depending on what you feel is appropriate for the mission you're going into or your desired playstyle.
Wait. Give me an example.
For example, if you feel like playing a frame who has crowd control capabilities, you might want to use Vauban who throws traps and a containment field that turns hordes of enemies into a target practice.
Or, maybe you feel like playing a support frame like Trinity who can regenerate energy and mass heal for you team.
Or, in the end, you might just want to use Ember and burn every single enemy to ashes using her final ability.
Where can I get these frames?
There are several ways on obtaining these frames. One, you can buy them instantly using plats (platinum) which is the in-game currency or credits. Two, you can complete the quests that reward the frame's parts in the end. Three, you can defeat bosses. Four, you can hunt the parts down in missions where they drop.
I thought this game was free-to-play.
It is free-to-play, but you have the freedom and the option to purchase the frames instantly in the market using plats if you want to avoid the exciting grind. In fact, this option's hidden deep beneath the customization and the market that it's easy to just ignore. It urges you to grind rather than spend money.
So I need to spend real money to get plats?
That's option number one. Option number two is to trade or buy-and-sell rare parts with other players in-game to earn plats. Option number three is to join a clan who can show and help you how to farm rare parts and sell them for plats.
How can I be more powerful than other players?
Everyone is overpowered here. And because everyone is overpowered, no one is. Everyone's on equal grounds. You can slice through enemies even if you're still just a newbie to the game like cutting through piles of Jell-O.
What if I run out of things to do?
You'll almost never run out of things to do. You can try hunting down all 31 frames, and that's a lot of mission runs and boss battles. Building each requires materials, and that means farming for those resources. Every now and then alerts pop up that might reward something you need.
This game looks like it has a steep learning curve.
Yes, for starters, the game might be a bit overwhelming. But as you progress through the game, becoming more and more powerful and acquiring more frames and weapons, you'll start to get the hang of how the game's system works. Read Warframe's quick start guide by clicking here.
