Warframe (Part Five)

Editor's Note:
During the course of featuring this game, Warframe, there has been an unfortunate incident of a "Version Update" by the game devs. Whilst the majority of the gameplay has been left untouched and somewhat the same, a radical change has been made to the game's interface or hud display.

As such, I have chosen to keep the previously written articles intact and without any changes made to them. But from here onwards, the continuing articles will be made/written using screenshots in the new interface.

But a word of warning...

While the new interface does give an intriguing dash of sci-fi, futuristic feel to the game, it is in my opinion a little bit too tacky and hard to get accustomed to (in comparison to the old one).

Mods
Do you still remember in the previous article, when I was talking about Ranks, that I mentioned about "Mod Points" and its purpose being for installing of "Mods"? Well...here is where we will be touching upon it, so look no further.

What are mods and what do they do?

To state it quite simply, mods are something that you install onto an item, be it a weapon, a warframe or a sentinel, to alter its parameters (stats) and make it better.

In other words, it will make an inferior weapon...better, but can also make a good weapon into a killing machine. It all depends on how you mod it and the purpose your modding it for.

The Basics of a Mod
The below shows a typical mod that you can pick up during the course of playing the game. And for your convenience-sake, I've highlighted the important aspects found on the mod so that you can know and understand what each of them means...

• Name
  This tells you the name of the mod.
  
• Power
  This tells you the power of the mod.
  
  Without an "arrow" pointing upwards (beside the number), this depicts the amount of mod points needed to install the mod onto the item. But with the "arrow", instead of "consuming" mod points upon installation, it would free up mod points on the item...giving you points to install more mods (if you have the space for them that is).
  
  

  Mods with this "arrow" are typically "Aura" or "Stance" mods. These can only be installed in limited special slots separate from the others. "Aura" mods can only be installed on warframes whilst "Stance" mods can only be installed on melee weapons.

• Polarity
  This tells you the polarity of the mod.
  
  If the polarity of the mod matches the polarity of the slot its installed in, it would reduce the amount of mod points consumed or increase the amount of mod points it frees up. (Power Number and Polarity would be shown in "Cyan".)
  
  Conversely, if the polarity of the mod does not match the polarity of the slot its installed in, it would increase the amount of mod points consumed or reduce the amount of mod points it frees up. (Power Number and Polarity would be shown in "Red".)
  
  If the slot does not have any polarity, then there will not be any mod point penalty or bonus applied to the mod installed. (Power Number and Polarity would be shown in "White".)
  
• Rank
  This tells you the rank of the mod.
  
  Each box represents one rank and if filled, turns white, will increase the effects of the mod.
  
• Rarity
  This tells you the rarity of the mod.
  
  From Common to Legendary, this is a measure of how hard or rare to obtain the mod is. (The number at the end, I believe, reflects the current numerical rank of the mod. It does not have anything to do with the rarity.)
  
• Type
  This tells you the type of the mod.
  
  It mostly affects where and on what you can install the mod.
  
• Conclave
  This tells you the conclave rating of the mod.
  
  When installed, your overall "Conclave Rating" will increase by the numerical value indicated.
  
  

  The "Conclave Rating" is a score system used in PVP-matchmaking to ensure that fights are "fair". PVP arenas are restricted by a conclave rating value whereby players will not be allowed admittance if their overall conclave ratings are above the restriction.

• Effect
  This tells you the effect of the mod.
  

Fusion and Transmutation

There are two things that you can do to a mod. One, fuse them and two, transmute them.

When fusing, what you do is to take mods that you don't want or need (in "Red"), be it junk or duplicate mods, and fuse them into the mods that you wish to keep (in "Blue").

And the purpose of doing this? Why...to rank up the mods that you wish to keep of course (so as to increase the effects of those mods).

Just note that it is generally faster to rank up mods (you'll need to fuse less of them) if you use duplicates of the mod (as in fusing the same mods) rather than junk mods in the fusion process.

Additionally, the higher the rank of the mod, the harder it is to continue ranking it. For instance, it is very easy to rank an "Unranked" mod to Rank 1, but much harder to rank it from say...Rank 4 to Rank 5. (Let alone max it.)

Some mods only have three ranks to max, some may have five while others can have up to ten ranks. (Refer to the number of empty boxes at the side of the mod.)

Alternatively, if you do run out of duplicates or junk mods, you can also substitute them with "fusion cores" (such as the ones shown above) instead. But I'll highly recommend that you keep these for the ranking up of those rare mods rather than waste them in the fusion of some easily found in abundance ones.

When transmuting, what you do is to take ANY four "Unranked" mods and combine them into a new RANDOM mod.

Now what your doing here is entirely a gamble, so I would suggest that you do these not too often and only when you have spare credits / mods to burn and is feeling lucky for the day.

Other than that...there isn't much else to say about transmutation. There's no formula to it as far as I know.

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Warframe (Part Four)

Weapons and Sentinels

Regardless of the warframe your using, you can bring along with you three weapons and one sentinel, of your choice, into a mission...any mission. And as each of them have their own characteristics, stats, functions and power, what you choose to bring is entirely down to your personal preference and how you like to deal with things (blow 'em all up, quick and silent or one shot one kill).

But frankly speaking, because of the way missions are made (and perhaps friendly competition between team-mates for kills), a fair deal of them involve you needing to kill mobs after mobs after mobs...as fast as you can, as hard as possible and with as little time to aim as humanly achievable, therefore it is in my opinion that your weapon of choice be something with a fairly reasonable magazine size, allows for full auto if necessary or at least deals area damage or affects multiple mobs per fired shot.

However, due to "ammo scarcity", there is also a need to conserve ammunition and not make too many wasted shots. Hence, it is also advisable that your weapon be something that kills fast and in as little shots as possible.

But that's just my opinion of course.

Primary, Secondary and Melee
Anyway, weapons found within the game are classified into three specific categories, Primary, Secondary and Melee. (Your limit of three weapons is actually derived from these three categories, namely you can only equip one from each.)

• Primary - Rifles, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Bows, Launchers, etc
  
• Secondary - Pistols, Dual Pistols, Throwing Knives, etc
  
• Melee - Blades, Daggers, Giant Hammers, Heavy Swords, Polearms, Fists, Whips, Boomerangs, etc
  

But even though there may be plenty of different types to choose from, what you must understand is that...like warframes...they will have to be built as well (or purchased using "Plats").

First, you must obtain the appropriate blueprint necessary to make the weapon. These can be either purchased from the "Weapons Market" or they can be found as loot during your mission runs.

Then you must source for the appropriate resources to build them, wait for them to finish, claim and then equip them as you would with your warframes.

During a mission, you may switch to the different weapons by pressing "F" (to alternate between your primary and secondary weapons) or by pressing "E" to temporarily use your melee weapon (good for when you've just emptied your clip but the enemy is still standing).

Holding on to "F" will allow you to holster your primary/secondary weapon and switch to your melee weapon (instead of just using it temporarily). And when using your melee weapon this way, you will gain a bonus "damage multiplier" that multiplies your melee weapon's damage for consecutive strikes. (Attacks will still need to be performed through pressing "E".)

Additionally, you will also gain the ability to block attacks by holding on to your right mouse button (attacks blocked will consume your stamina instead of HP or shield) as well as a "charge" function (hold your left mouse button to charge) that trades off your warframe's energy in exchange for dealing additional damage on landed attacks.

Sentinels
You can think of them as your "pets", "companions", "equipment" or even "sidekicks" for all that matters. Just note that, apart from being an extra "gun" (helper in dealing damage), these ultimately aid you in some special way during missions depending on their type.

For instance, some of them may function as a cannon fodder (to lure enemies into attacking them when your overwhelmed), some may act as a crowd control (stuns enemies that are close to you), some cloaks you when enemies are nearby while others help you loot stuff by vacuuming and dropping them at your feet.

In my opinion, just try them all out. Then pick one that suits your playing style the best.

However (once again), sentinels will have to be built or bought as well. Just head to the "Equipment" section in the "Market" like as shown.

If your planning on making it yourself, then as per normal, you'll need to buy the blueprint (of the sentinel), gather the required resources, build and then claim it to use it.

Note: Although a sentinel may be killed within a mission, they cannot be destroyed permanently and will simply rejoin you for your next mission, alive and well.

Slot Limitations

Sad to say though, much like warframe slots, weapons and sentinels also have their own slot limitations.

Each weapon you own will occupy one weapon slot while each sentinel you have will occupy two sentinel slots (one for its weapon and one for itself).

If you've run out of slots, then you will either be forced to sell your existing ones to make space or buy more slots using "Platinum".

Ranks, Ranks and More Ranks???
Now that you've already been introduced to warframes, weapons and sentinels, let me bring your attention onto something called "Ranks".

In this game we call "Warframe", your warframes have ranks, your weapons have ranks too, as do the sentinels you own. Heck...even your account has a rank as well, called the "Mastery Rank".

So what do all these ranks do?

Warframe, Weapon and Sentinel Ranks

Whenever you kill monsters or complete random tasks within a mission (like as shown above), you will gain these so called "Affinity EXP".

These EXP allows your warframes, weapons and sentinels to rank up, gradually, starting from "Unranked" to the maximum of "Rank 30".

However, apart from your warframe's rank affecting its Maximum HP and Shield Points, ranking up doesn't seem to do much of anything else (to their stats). In fact, from a strict point of view, a "Rank 30" is no different in comparison to an "Unranked", stats-wise of course.

So what's the deal with it then? For modding purposes, actually.

Starting from 0, each increase in rank will give the item (warframe, weapon or sentinel) 1 "mod point". And with these mod points, you can then install all sorts of various "mods" into the item to help boost its performance.

But for now, let's just leave it at this. I will explain further when I touch on the topic, "Mods".

Mastery Rank

If you look at your profile (can be accessed by clicking on the interactive bar showing your "Name", "Credits" and "Platinum" amounts), you will be able to see your current "Mastery Rank" and how much "Mastery Points" you'll need to get to the next rank.

In my case, my current mastery rank is "Silver Novice" or Mastery Rank 5 (if you look at the number). To get to my next rank, Gold Novice (Mastery Rank 6), I will need to get another 14,290 mastery points.

However, these Mastery Points aren't as easily acquired as Affinity EXP though. They are in limited amounts and cannot be obtained via simply killing monsters. Instead, one will need to rank up items in order to get them.

For every "UNIQUE" item (warframe, weapon or sentinel) that you rank up, you will get a certain fixed amount of mastery points per rank, but only up till its maximum of Rank 30.

And by "UNIQUE", what I'm saying is that each item that you rank up will only give you its mastery points ONCE. Therefore it is not possible for you to do something like purchase Item A, rank it up to 30, sell it, buy Item A again and rank it up to 30 once more to "farm" for mastery points. It doesn't work that way.

So ultimately, in order to increase your mastery rank, you will need to acquire and use as many items (warframe, weapon or sentinel) as you can. You will also need to rank them all up to Rank 30, at least once, in order to maximize the amount of mastery points that you can get from them.

Clear so far? Good. So let's move on...

Upon gaining sufficient mastery points to move on to your next rank, you will need to pass some "simple" test. You can start the test by clicking on the same interactive bar as when checking your profile. You will then be spawned into the special test rooms after accepting it.

These "simple" tests may include stuff like killing waves of monsters (in a limited amount of time) using only your primary, secondary or melee weapon, hack a designated number of terminal consoles (within the time limit) or perform stealth assassinations.

Basically, each Mastery Rank has its own unique test to perform and these tests are merely a way to show and teach you the "Ways of the Warframe". Well...to get you accustomed to the gameplay and game features actually.

However, do note that if you fail the test, you will have to wait for a day (24 hours) before you may be allowed to re-take the test. So only attempt them once you are sure you can pass them.

Mastery Points accrued, when your items rank up, do not get lost even if you are stuck on a mastery rank test (failed to pass it).

The point of raising your mastery rank, you ask? Well...as far as I know, these mastery ranks don't mean much, nor do they affect your casual enjoyment of the game in any way...even if you ignore them.

They do, however, come with certain "benefits" if you do decide to raise them.

Like for example, you will need to be at a certain mastery rank level before you are allowed access to purchase the blueprints of certain weapons.

Apart from that, raising it also increases the amount of times that you may trade with other players per day (will require at least one of you to be in a clan, "guild" in regular MMO terms, with a functioning "Trading Post"), as well as affecting the number of "Titan Extractors" that you may deploy simultaneously.

For Additional Info:
Warframe Wikia - Weapon Comparison
Warframe Wikia - Sentinels
Warframe Wikia - Mastery Rank

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Warframe (Part Three)

Warframes

Central to the core of the game would be what is known as Warframes. And basically these function pretty similar to "characters" in popular fighting games such as King of Fighters or Street Fighter.

The player essentially "selects" which particular warframe to use in the upcoming missions by equipping it as shown. However, besides the initial warframe, all the other ones will have to be unlocked via either building them yourself or by paying means (using "Platinum").

Valkyr Rip Line - Valkyr hurls forth a hook. If it hits an enemy, she pulls them to her. If it hits terrain, she pulls herself to the hook's location. Warcry - Valkyr lets out a rallying cry that bolsters her allies' melee speed while slowing down nearby enemies. Paralysis - Valkyr unleashes her shields, stunning and damaging enemies around her. Hysteria - Valkyr is imbued with energy and becomes a ball of vicious rage, capable of unleashing a torrent of deadly claw attacks on unsuspecting foes.

Excalibur Slash Dash - Excalibur dashes forward, slashing any who gets in his way. Radial Blind - Excalibur emits a bright flash of light, blinding all enemies in a small radius for several seconds. Super Jump - Excalibur launches into the air, jumping 3 times higher than normal. Radial Javelin - Excalibur launches javelins towards enemies, dealing high damage and impaling them to walls.

Each of them warframes have their own unique special abilities and attack powers (four to be exact). These can be single target only, self-affecting or area of effect powers, trap or support abilities depending on the warframe.

You can use these powers during missions by pressing the keys "1" to "4" on your keyboard. But that is if you have obtained and equipped their corresponding power cards onto the warframe (like as shown). Else, you will not be able to use any of the warframe's powers at all.

Once within a mission, powers can be used at any time so long as your warframe have sufficient energy to activate them. And as far as energy is concerned, they do not regenerate unless you or your team-mates have special energy regenerating mods installed.

To replenish your energy via regular means, you will either have to pick up the bluish energy orbs dropped within the map area or "pot". (By potting, I mean those consumable potions that you can make and bring with you into the missions.)

Building a Warframe
So how do we go about building a warframe?

Its actually quite simple. First, we'll need to acquire the warframe's blueprints. Why the "s", you ask? Well that's because there's four specific blueprints that you'll need to get (for each and every warframe that's available out there in the game).

• The "Actual" Blueprint
  
  
  
  This is the blueprint that you'll need to obtain in order to make the actual warframe.
  

  For most of the regular warframes, these can be easily bought from the market's "warframe blueprints" section (for in-game credits).

• The "Component" Blueprints
  
  These "Component" blueprints comprise of specifically, the "Helmet", the "Chassis" and the "Systems" blueprints.
  
  They can be acquired by repeatedly doing the "Assassination" missions found on each "Stage", as reward for completing special, limited time only "Alert" missions or from performing "key" missions in "The Void".
  

  Each stage's assassination mission will drop the component blueprints for a different warframe. For instance, you can farm for the "Helmet", "Chassis" and "Systems" blueprints for the "Rhino" warframe by repeatedly killing "The Jackal" in Venus stage, on Fossa.
  
  (But be warned...in order to complete the set, you might need to do it for quite a number of times as the drop, although guaranteed, is completely random.)

* Be sure to especially pick up these pink or purplish orbs if you ever see them around in your missions. They are apparently blueprint orbs.

Anyway, once you've acquired all the necessary blueprints, you can then proceed to farm for the needed resources, craft out those warframe components before finally building the warframe like as shown.

Just note that if a particular resource is needed in small amounts (like in single digits), then it is probably an uncommon or rare resource. For these type of resources, you will likely have a higher chance of acquiring them by killing "boss" type mobs, or staying long enough in "defense" or "survival" type missions (for the particular stages that do loot them).

But as good as it sounds, however, I'm afraid to say that there is a limit to the number of warframes that you can "hold" concurrently. (Two for free-to-play players.)

Upon approaching the limit, the only way to build and play new warframes is by either selling your existing ones to free up warframe slots, or to buy additional slots using "platinum", the cash shop currency.

Note: Warframes bought using "Platinums" come with their own slots and do not count towards this slot limit.

For Additional Info:
Warframe Wiki - Warframes

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