Devstream 96 aired on August 18, 2017 @ 2pm ET
The Devstream team is back to talk about TennoCon 2017 and the huge reveals from the big day. This Devstream was highly Plains of Eidolon focused but we still stuck a few unrelated reveals in. If you want to hear the full discussion about the incredible new Landscape, you can watch the full stream below.
Warframe Devstream 96
Those of you looking for the TL;DW version, keep on reading.
Housekeeping
- The amazing Warframe speedrunning community is holding a 24 hour charity stream for Doctors Without Borders. The event ends on Saturday, July 29 at 12pm ET. Help support this awesome cause at twitch.tv/zopney!
- Next round of TennoGen will be Halloween themed. Learn more here!
- There’s no Second Stream Podcast this week.
- We’ll be at PAX West this year, in our very own booth – yes, booth!
- The Twitch Prime with Prime promotion extended August 24th! Claim yours and cool off this summer with Frost Prime, the Vistapa Syandana, and a Dragon Mod Pack.
- We raised $150,000 for Covenant House Toronto at TennoCon – all thanks to you! It was an incredible day and there are no words to describe our gratitude for all of the amazing support we received from our community. Stay tuned for our plans for next year.
Plains of Eidolon
There was a lot to discuss about the next big Warframe update: Plains of Eidolon. Since the reveal at TennoCon, the community has brought up a slew of questions that we have addressed below. Due to the variety of different topics related to the Plains, we’ve broken the discussion into subcategories.
If you want to see the Devs explore the Plains a little more, you can do so here.
Cetus
- Geoff confirmed that Orokin structures are made of flesh. The bugs sold by a vendor in Cetus actually spawn from this meat (see image below).
- The team is looking into ways to mask out players in certain areas of Cetus so you don’t have a bunch of players clustered around one person, breaking the immersion of the place
- There will be a reserved section for Operators in Cetus, which is still TBD. Steve mentioned an Eidolon hunting mentor – more details to come in the future.
Hok’s Anvil
- The “decorations” (aka Links) for the custom weapons are actually balances and cause different effects on the weapon. You can see the full weapon crafting discussion here.
- The different weapon tips gives you Mastery. However, you will have to do more than just crafting the weapon to unlock the ability to gain Mastery with it.
- Dual wield weapons will be a possibility.
- Melee Rivens would most likely be tied to weapon tips.
Landscape
- When entering the Plains from Cetus with your Matchmaking set to Public, we hope to have it set up so that other players will join your Squad. This area will still be squad-based like other missions; we aren’t adding highly populated mission areas the likes of WoW or Guild Wars 2.
- We’re working to bring in other systems that you already know in Warframe, like Archwing (and Archwing enemies) to offer a fleshed out experience
- Players will be able to gather resources in ways that don’t just involve combat/smashing things, like via spearfishing!
- This Landscape will cater to new and old players in the same space. Our goal is not to block off sections to new players. The Plains will be a place to revisit many times over the course of your journey in Warframe.
- It’s not our goal to have Archwing be the only method of movement, so we are experimenting with its implementation to encourage players to venture forward on foot as well.
- You will be able to “climb” trees:
More Fish
Eidolon Battle
- The Eidolon battle is in active development, but the team has confirmed that there will be a progression system for the boss fight.
- The Day/Night Cycle time is still being decided, as the Eidolon fight will affect it. We have nothing to confirm yet if it will be a shared cycle, or if players can manipulate it.
Development Discussion
Steve took some time to walk us through the months of the Plains of Eidolon’s development, leading up to TennoLive 2017. If you’re interested in seeing the full progress, I highly recommend watching Steve discuss it here.
In adding this Landscape, we needed to update and change our tools to create this whole new part of Warframe, while making sure it would work on a variety of PCs. Looking at the Plains, the chosen aesthetic is more like autumn with oranges and browns. The battle between Sentients and the Orokin left its mark on this place, and green is too healthy for what actually took place here.
Steve also confirmed that the Landscape has been infused with ‘Sentient Magic’ left over from the dead Sentient of the war, which has interesting effects on the terrain.
Other takeaways
- The Plains of Eidolon is just the beginning; we are looking to add more Landscapes in the future.
- Our console teams are already working on the Plains Of Eidolon update and testing it for performance there
- There will be no swimming, but the Devs had an early prototype of Archwing Submersible caves for players to explore. This is not coming with the Plains, but might make an appearance in another Landscape.
New Polearm Stance
Grineer Devourer
A new Ghoul unit for the Grineer has been revealed!
These guys are going to in the Plains of Eidolon and Earth tiles. If you remember the body bags we revealed in Devstream 90 (wiki), these foes will be buried in them and will burst from the ground onto unsuspecting Tenno.
Other Tidbits
- We’re still working on the Fan Weapon. It will take some time as it requires a new weapon grip.
- Stalker mode showcased at TennoCon is still a work in progress and we’re trying to decide how to best add it to the game. There seems to be a general consensus that it would be an opt-in system.
- Feral Kavat Skin will be added and will be acquired in Cetus
- Umbra is confirmed to be a cinematic quest that will be released after the Plains of Eidolon
- We’re still figuring out how to implement the Birds from Cetus as Companions
Source: Devstream 96 Overview
Source: Coming Soon: Devstream #96!