Warframe Vs Destiny

January 18th 2024

Someone really wanted me to make "content" again, and I was feeling a little bit inspired recently on account of having started playing Warframe again because some friends were playing the Warframe. The middle of last year I really started prioritizing spending time with folks rather then focusing on creating content, so while Warframe generally intimidates me I jumped in to spend time with them.

I'm pretty happy that I did, firstly I've been having a blast hanging out with folks, and the gameplay is really quick and fast. I first played Warframe back on the ps4 when I first got one, and it was one of the first games that made the touch pad make sense to me. I didn't play a ton at this time seeing how hostile the design was with needing platinum (a premium cash shop currency) to speed up building and stuff didn't jive with my lifestyle back then. 

It doesn't really now either, but I'm still willing to throw a little cash at the things I enjoy. That being said as I started to grind my way through the story of Warframe a few thoughts really started to jump out to me, and I couldn't help comparing it to another Space Opera game, Bungie's Destiny. 

I know a lot of background but I think you need to understand where I started from before you can understand some of my thoughts. I played the first Destiny, I was a huge hunter of the loot cave. I used to remote connect to my ps4, so I could blast into the loot cave and keep farming, and with the first game I thought Bungie really struggled to find their footing, but by the end of the first game they had figured stuff out. Nothing could have prepared me for how many steps backwards Destiny 2 would take. I'm old by "gamer" standards, having grown up in a house with an Atari 7800 and an Intellivision I've been gaming for a long time. I love me role playing games so grinding can be my jam. 

I found myself really loving the story of the Red War in Destiny 2. Yet Destiny 2 lost the grind at the start. Moving away from randomly rolled loot meant there wasn't a grind in the end game. I've started to refer to this end game as the treadmill which Destiny 2 left a lot to be desired. Pretty early on I was convinced by moving away from random loot rolls meant players would lose interest and fall away, and they sure did. They really lost me as a player when they started taking DLC and story content I loved away from me but that isn't so relevant to my overall thoughts so, maybe a Rant for another day.

So, what did I want to Vs these two fighters in a ring like Ryu vs Iron Man? What was the realization? 

Firstly, Warframe has the treadmill on lockdown. The way they rotate Prime Warframes, use premium currency everywhere, and have always been clear about their cash shop and like "what you get" when you spend money there (with a few exceptions) is sort of refreshing in an era in which so much effort is made to obscure this. Recent Destiny 2 scandals highlight this trend in the industry. 

Like, would I ever recommend someone really playing Warframe? no, not likely. The fact that when I saw someone playing it for the first time in a long time, I reached out like "are you okay?" and then when I fired up the game someone immediately asked "are you okay?" speaks to the nature of the game and it's reputation.

But because all that aggressive cash shop stuff is front and center, and if you roughly know what you are getting into regarding the grind there is a lot to enjoy. (I like I can do a quick mission in half an hour and not dedicate an entire evening to the game.) I think Destiny 2 struggled to find their grind, and were never at first really making a live service game instead making a spiritual successor to things like Halo. I am still very upset these days that the Red War is no longer playable as I felt at the time it was a real return to form for Bungie. 

But a weird thing hit me while playing Warframe, and it was around 80 hours I think for me playtime wise. I found like the "big narrative event" the game had been building to, and was immediately kicked in the teeth with how good it was. 

Suddenly out of basically nowhere you are hit with this strong narrative, with a compelling villain to deal with, and it all takes place sorta "outside" of the normal Warframe stuff. Please understand there were compelling one off stories before this, but the willingness to throw a lot of the convention aside to tell a badass story was frankly impressive. The fact that they hide it 80 hours into the game. which allowed me to reach MR 9 (This is your account rank maxing out at MR30) on my route to this story, which per steam achievements only around 9.5% of the player base does, and here is a plot as good as many AAA shooters. 

To my surprise I found my mind going back again and again to something I couldn't play anymore The Red War, yet a game with roughly the same setting (our solar system) which has a drastically different approach to it's live service, but doesn't shy away from its cash shop. Told a story very similar to the Red War in a way that was completely compelling and expertly done, but why the heck hide it so deeply in the game.

So in Destiny 2 we have a story that can no longer be experienced, and In Warframe we have a story that takes the dedication of someone Watching/Reading One Piece to get to. 

I don't know if this has a point other than Live Service confuses me.

End Rant.