Warframe is an online, shared-world game developed by Digital Extremes. As it features elements of MMOs, shooters, dungeon crawling looters, PvP, crafting, RPGs and more, we’ve put together a collection of guides to help new players get to grips.
With Warframe having just launched on Switch, it’s the perfect time for players to learn or get a refresher course.
Warframe Guide
Missions
Progression through the campaign itself is somewhat daunting at first. In fact, it’s still a little overwhelming 25 hours into the game, but the fog eventually starts to clear.
You will at first have two primary ways to proceed; Quests, and Missions. Quests are essentially story missions and these can take you across multiple missions in varying places, but there is an overall goal and something is awarded or unlocked at the end.
For example, the first Quest, Vor’s Prize, plays out over a number of missions, all on Earth, and teaches the player a few core gameplay concepts. The core storyline in this quest is that you’ve been awoken from cryosleep to find yourself at the mercy of Vor, a Grineer Admiral (soon to be demoted to Captain).
He has attached a device to you that will allow him to take control of your Warframe unless you manage to remove the device within a certain timeframe. At the end of the Quest, you are of course successful and are awarded with a bunch of credits (in-game currency) and allowed free reign of the Star Chart.
Warframe Starchart
On looking at the Star Chart, you’ll notice that each planet is covered with a bunch of nodes; some of which are glowing blue. The blue nodes are active missions, and completing them will unlock the next one along the path.
Completing all missions won’t have any immediate effect, but will allow you to place an extractor on the planet at a later stage. This effectively allows players to mine the planet for resources and will also unlock Nightmare missions. These award special mods, but are higher difficulty and include a specific augment (no shields, for example).
There are also Planet Junctions. These are slightly larger nodes of a different shape, with a line going offscreen; connecting to another planet. Completing specific requirements unlocks a Junction mission, wherein players battle another Warframe.
Defeating this enemy unlocks the next planet. In this way, the game is ensuring players have completed certain tasks before progressing, basically making certain that they are equipped with the knowledge they need in order to progress effectively.
It’s important to note, though, that quests are separate to missions, and you’ll only see your active quest on the Star Chart. Changing Quests is as simple as going to the Quest console, or by accessing the quest list in the top right of the Star Chart. Missions are your path to unlocking planets, Quests are your path through the story campaign (and are required in order to complete certain Junctions).
There are quite a few different activity types, so many, in fact, that I won’t go through them here, however, I’ll introduce a couple to demonstrate the kinds of tasks you will be undertaking.
In Spy missions, you will be fighting your way to a set of data points. Here, you will need to utilise stealth to access the data without being seen. Setting off alarms will start a timer and at the end of the timer, the data will be deleted.
In Defence missions, you will be tasked with defending a point from a series of enemy waves. Survive five waves to complete the mission, but note that continuing will result in better rewards and increasing difficulty.
Rewards are offered every five waves. There are several of these Endless mission types in the game and it’s up to the player as to when they decide they want to pull out. These different mission objectives apply not just to Missions, but also to Quests, and so form the basis of most of what you will tackle in the game.
Mission Types
Of course, there’s more to the Star Chart than just Quests and Missions. In the top right of the Star Chart, there are some icons. I referred previously to the Quest list, but there are a couple of others there as well.
Alerts are mission nodes that are offering additional rewards for slightly increased difficulty. Sometimes the rewards are very worthwhile. Invasions are missions whereby players assist one faction (Grineer or Corpus, for example) in a specific mission type.
Rewards are awarded on completion of the same mission three separate times. Once the Invasion is over (it is time gated), players will be sent their rewards via the in-game mail system.
Void Fissures is the last icon; at least in the early game. Essentially you take in a Void Relic and defeat enemies until they drop Reactant, which is used to unlock the Relic. Once unlocked, players receive a reward. The beauty here is that the potential contents of a specific Relic are known, so players can actively choose the range of rewards that may be awarded on completion.
Lastly, all missions, regardless of type, will generally include a single enemy type and these enemies will be of a certain level. When choosing a mission, you’ll be presented with a basic tooltip. This will tell you the Mission Type (Spy, Assassination, Defence, etc.), the Faction (Grineer, Corpus, etc.), the Enemy Level (generally a range, such as 1-3, or 11-15), and any Open Squads that may be available.
Matchmaking
Before I continue, I should also mention Matchmaking as this is pretty important for new players and never explicitly explained.
At the top left of the screen in the Star Chart, you’ll find your matchmaking preferences. This can be set to Public, Friends only or Solo. Any mission can be played Solo, but be careful if you find yourself struggling, try giving Public a go. Some random helpers might get you through.
There aren’t always people doing the same mission as you, but it will happen from time to time. I would recommend doing Alerts in Public, and Void Relics ALWAYS in Public, as there can be additional rewards.
Note that your Microphone will be active if you choose Public and you’re wearing a headset, so keep that in mind and mute yourself or pop yourself in an empty party if you aren’t feeling social.
Note that if you are matchmade with other people, you will need to choose to manually leave the Squad once the mission is over. That said, the community is pretty great, so playing with others is an enjoyable and generally non-committal thing.
Make sure you check out our other Warframe Guides to help get you started.
- Introduction to the story, combat and your ship
- Introduction to Missions and The Plains of Eidolon
- Introduction to Progression and Mastery
- Introduction to Mods and Crafting
- Void Fissures and Primes
- Platinum and Trading
This post first appeared on Cephalon Squared and has been republished here with permission.
