7th Sep 2014 - Warframe and expectations

Two of the things I quite tire hearing about Warframe is: How it's Pay To Win, and how it's a grind to level up and do anything in that game. And this discussion always gets brought up whenever a game is similar in this matter.

The Pay To Win one I'll say real quick: It is as P2W as many of those Facebook games people play. The truth is that anything that makes a difference in combat in Warframe can simply be earned through the grind. It is not Pay to Win, it is Pay to Save Time. Or to be vain, as you can now buy skins and such.

In fact, it is very simple and quick to find the 'best' Warframe, Primary, Secondary and Melee weapon and forever use those. Nothing will stop you doing that. The game will not punish you for sticking with the best gear. Except if you want other gear that's level locked... But these levels can not be bought, you can however buy aforementioned gear without having to craft it. It'll also come with Orokin thingies installed that doubles their mod capacity, which is also a thing that you can craft.


Speaking of the grind, Warframe's whole gameplay revolves around the idea that you grind missions to level up your gear, then create more gear to level up. Occasionally an event or a new questline breaks the tedium, but that's it.

Here is the thing, though: Warframe doesn't really pretend to be anything more than a grind. If you study it's UI and system, you actually realize that it's optimized to make that grind as smooth an experience as possible.

So here is the mistake I see lots of people make when playing or discussing Warframe. They expect a Free To Play game that will swoop them away with an interesting story, a balls-gripping plot and the most fun gameplay. In many games, I have made that mistake as well. I had high expectations, which lead me to condemn a game that, while not meeting my expectations, still had some value in what it tried to do.

I find it mind boggling that bigger grinds like Farmville and whatnot seem to stay exempt from this argument. But the moment a game has high graphics and requires an installation, it suddenly is expected to no longer be a grind game and instead is held up to different standards.

So let me spell it out for you: Warframe isn't just a grind, it is all ABOUT the grind. It does one thing and tries to do that well, as opposed to trying to be more than what it really is.

Warframe is exactly the same like those many Facebook games that try and lure you into buying premium currency to speed up the process. Only it requires to be installed on your computer and actually looks good.

Whenever you shit talk Warframe because of it being a grind, I will deem you ignorant and stupid.
HOWEVER, if you shit talk Warframe because of it's other problems, go right ahead. There's problems aplenty with that game and it should not be exempt from criticism. In it's lengthy career of working on this game, DE has made it's fair share of mistakes and might not be owning up to all of them. But THAT is a whole different topic to cross.

Just try to first rationally investigate the point you will try to make, see if you can properly support it without sounding like an overzealous or small minded teenager.
If there is one thing I have learned in my many years on the internet, it's that your opinion has tremendously more odds to be taken seriously if it is cohesive and properly written out, while seeming as if you have your bias under perfect control.

Do not pretend to be like the imaginary people you are writing to, be better than them. Try to imagine that you are a posh British columnist who has a strong opinion but knows how to perfectly describe it as if sounds like official and trustworthy lecture. Nuance and presentation are half the battle in writing a good piece.