Devstream #73 aired on April 29th, 2016, @2pm EDT
Devstream 73
PAX East has come and gone, but it left us with a ton of amazing stuff to talk about in regards to community feedback and upcoming content. Devstream #73 let us explore these ideas a little more in-depth as well as take a look at some sneak-peeks of changes that are coming down the pipeline.
Didn’t catch the discussion live and want to see what it is we’re talking about? You can watch it here and see it all unfold. For those of you less concerned with the visuals or who want to cut to the chase, we’ve laid out all the details below: [1]
TennoCon
TennoCon tickets are on sale now! The event is happening on July 9th in London, Ontario, CANADA (not where the Queen lives), so be sure to mark your calendar and grab yours now before they sell out! Go here now to get'em: www.warframe.com/tennocon
Hallowed Guardian for Console
Console Tenno experienced a wave of new content with the Hallowed Guardian release last week. Highlights include the Oberon Deluxe Skin, Sibear, and Zhuge, but also more customizations for their Warframes and Orbiter. New Sortie missions and Sortie Season 6 Rewards were shipped with the update as well, which will come at a later date!
Operation: Rathuum
PC Tenno may have noticed a new event this week, headed by the Steel Meridian syndicate. Kela de Thaym has made a comeback and has started a new reign of terror by forcing Grineer defectors into a rigged trial by combat. The challenge is yours, Tenno, to stop this injustice by facing the executioners yourself. Various rewards and potential glory for your clan are there to sweeten the pot, if you are up to it.
Lunaro trailer
Warframe is getting a sport! We discussed in more detail the Lunaro trailer that was released during the Warframe Developer and Community Panel at PAX East. The new game mode, which is based on Ulama (think the Road to El Dorado), will be a more accessible way for players to earn Conclave standing outside of the fast-paced, ‘elite’ version that exists now. Lunaro’s release will involve further exploration of the Syndicates and Conclave Syndicates as players bullet jump their way to victory.
Bourbon List
Steve has released to the public his mysterious Bourbon List. While its title may lead you to think otherwise, its focus is on the big picture questions and problems surrounding Warframe and how they manifest in the game, especially those brought up by amazing members of our community.
- Onboardin’
- The current early game experience lacks any ‘push’ for new players to explore new systems, and doesn’t make this transition easy or straightforward.
- The Starchart rework is aimed at eliminating this problem by simplifying player experience by removing numerous nodes, etc.
- Cheese Pizza
- The mid-to-late game experience has ‘cheese’ tactics letting players take on exploitative tactics to one-hit or decimate enemy groups.
- Grindin’
- Void fatigue is real, and changes are being made to eliminate player burnout. The rewards will stay the same, but tilesets and enemies will be moved around to avoid endless repetition in the quest to acquire specific, desired items.
- Samey-Same
- More diverse environments are also in the works to freshen up the 3+ year-old maps that players bullet jump through. Increased interactivity (i.e. breaking and smashing) is on the docket, including new ways to make use of your Warframe's parkour abilities.
- Dracoville
- XP farms are great for leveling up without really playing the game. This stagnant style of play is something we want to eliminate, but we also want to address the reasons behind why Draco has become such an important part of getting new equipment.
- We’re looking at revamping the relationship between weapons and player experience, where future changes can mean that a new gun or sword will immediately be leveled up to match your Mastery Rank. As a result, some of that painful early-level gameplay will be eliminated and nodes can become places of interest instead of grinding zones.
- Mo’ Money Mo’ Boring
- The current end-game experience should offer more than just sorties. Many veterans have reached the ‘have everything’ level, so the motivation to continue playing is low beyond sign-in streaks and sorties. We are working on reversing this problem, because Mo’ Money should mean Mo’ To Do!
- Sounds of Silence
- Events are always one-time-use, custom-built and painful to execute which has reduced their frequency to new lows. These are crucial to keep spiking interest.
- We’re increasing the number of events to keep interest in the game and to add a sense of 'liveliness' in the world.
- Flies with Chopsticks
- We are working towards bringing back the clan competition that has been limited to PVP Conclave. Currently, Conclave is fast-paced and cutthroat and we want to introduce systems that can appeal to more casual competition. Lunaro is a start.
- Additionally, we are looking into a change in Conclave hosting to eliminate game-ending host migration. Part of this effort may include rewarding players who have great internet connections and PCs to host PvP games in order to remove lag issues.
- Musty Smell
- We have added an insane amount of content to Warframe in the past 3 years, but there is a large percentage of this content that has remained untouched since it was introduced. It is our goal to eliminate a lot of this stagnation, including enemy designs, the lack of tiering and challenge after mid-game, and quests. Sentients are one way we will introduce more difficulty to combat the ease in which veterans navigate end-game.
- Gangs of New ‘Yolk’
- Many of you on Twitter (and other social media) have brought up the increasing irrelevance of Clans, Alliances and Dojos. Work is being put into rekindling the competition between clans, including the dark sector, starting with the Rathuum event released last week.
PBR
The usual cast was joined by Kary from the art department this week to show off his amazing PBR work. PC Tenno may have noticed that Ember Prime, Excalibur Prime, Nyx Prime and Rhino Prime are looking a little shinier after the Rathuum update!
Kavats
Devstream 73 took a turn for the cute with a sneak peek at Kavat animations. The ambient behavior of the kittens that we showed (including sleeping and chasing a laser) made these adorable creatures seem a little less deadly, but don’t be fooled! Players who want to see them in action, as well as learn a more information about their size compared to Kubrows, can watch the stream on our YouTube channel.
Upcoming Weapons
This week’s guest, Kary, had even more exciting content for fans of the redeemer and those wanting to channel a more specific type of ninja: the teenage mutant turtle kind.
These Sais will be dual wielding daggers. Cowabunga, dude.
Market Rework
Psst.. we are completely overhauling the Market, again. The market is being revamped to better accommodate the expansion of content within Warframe. In the future, players can look forward to improved organization and categorization of items, easy search filters, and even a “hide owned” button. During this process, we are also reviewing the prices of certain products, including Credit and Fusion Core packs.
Archwing
Several updates are planned to help improve the Archwing system. Some of the least popular game modes will be retired and replaced with a host of new mission styles, including Archwing racing and spaceship pursuit. A rework of the flight model is also in the works to make movement more fluid and to make it feel more like space flight.
TennoGen
The next round of TennoGen content has been released and Frost fans should be overjoyed. Below is a list of all the accepted submissions:
- Nova Wings Helmet
- Nova Device Skin
- Frost Zastruga Helmet
- Mag Alata Skin and Helmet Pack
- SETKA Syandana
- Nova Stinger Skin
- Mesa Dead Eye Helm
- Frost Hailstorm v2 Skin
- Frost Vojnik Battle-Damaged Skin
- Frost Summit Helmet
- Nova Gnova Skin
- Nova Visage Skin and Helmet Pack
- Frost Grost Skin
Volt Rework
We’re still trucking away at Volt’s upcoming changes, including a revamp of his Shield ability. After placing a shield, Volt will soon be able to pick up a smaller version of it and carry it around at a continuous energy drain cost. Tenno can melee and shoot through it, with the added functionality of ramming into enemies and zooming around maps with their own riot shield. The idea was originally pitched by the community for an Augment, but it was so genius that we had to implement it at the base-level.
General Cleanup
- Beacons dropped by Prosecutors have been removed from the game for PC Tenno, and will be removed from consoles at a later date.
PS: Don’t miss the sneak peek of the new environmental effects systems that will finally make Warm Coat relevant. It’s really cool, we promise.
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