It was a pleasant surprise that Digital Extremes popped into PAX East for a Tenno-rific DevStream and TennoVIP event for Warframe fans. I was even happier to sit down with the team and delve into their Dante Unbound release, the upcoming 1999 update, and I was even treated to a little info on their pre-pre-pre-alpha game in development, Soulframe.
PAX East was well underway by the time I was able to sit down with Digital Extremes’ cadre of developers before their debut of Devstream 178, and I could tell the team was bustling with excitement for their big unveiling. Warframe Creative Director Rebecca Ford, Community Director Megan Everett, Voice Actor Ben Starr, and Soulframe Creative Director Geoff Crookes joined me for the interview.
“We really wanted to bring back the Leverian in sort of a non-Leverian way.” Rebecca started, when I asked about the inspiration behind Dante Unbound. “We’re going a little counterculture within Warframes own storytelling, where the Warframe that actually curates the Leverian went missing, and that’s Dante. So, the story itself is about the Warframe that helped Drusus find the Leverian things, has gone missing, and it’s the player’s role to bring Dante back to Drusus.” She explained.
She went on to say that it’s not a quest, but it certainly has the feel of one as you delve deep into the archive where you’ll find Dante. The alluded to Parvos returning and that there’s the driving theme of Drusus making the mistake of making a rich man even richer, and players will see how that plays out when playing the update, which has since released as of March 27th, 2024.
Lucky Number 56
It's important to note that Warframe has entered its 11th year, and Dante marks the 56th Warframe added to the roster, though Megan was quick to point out that if you include Primes, they are at 98 Warframes. When you have so many different options it can be difficult to balance them all, and even tougher to keep some of the older frames viable.
“I think what’s really inspiring is, over the years, we have support frames, we have the tanks, and it’s trying to mix and match them, giving players a little bit of flavor of each of them. And I think what’s also really cool is Keith Thompson, one of our original concept artists, we’re still looking at his concepts from years ago, and it still makes sense. We’re still able to bring it to Warframe 11 years later, and it speaks volumes to his work.” Megan said.
“I have a pinned post with (Design Director) Pablo (Alonso) about power creep” Rebecca told me. “It comes down to, ‘What is our mission statement?’ ‘Would we address power creep if we had to?’ and it always comes down to the fundamentals. We don’t nerf unless it disrupts other people’s games or if it is too dominant in the Meta or if the game can play itself.” The team is abundantly clear how far the game has come from its roots, but that has also given them a lot of perspective on how to manage balance.
“We would never bring up a radicalization of balance philosophy without the players even having the slightest idea. And we’re currently not planning any revolution in that regard. We’re actually looking at things that could use more love, but more on that in May.” She teased.
That led to the perfect segue, as part of the Dante Unbound update includes a rework of Inaros. Inaros was originally released back in March of 2016, and was one that the community has been clamoring for. It looks like DE listened, and Megan, being the Inaros player that she is, had a lot to say about the rework.
“I’m an Inaros player and I believe he is just great. But there is a certain level, and this is where you get into the conversation of meta and gaming where it’s – you play the hardest mission possible, you’re playing Steel Path at the ultimate level, does he survive? Is he doing what he needs to at that level? That’s a conversation that we have, and (why we) are making these changes.
The Inaros rework is looking at the stats of his abilities and saying, ‘Okay, could we make Sandstorm better? It’s not a very much used ability. What are lpayers saying in terms of this ability and how can we change it?’”
The result is a change to his passive ability to bring more functionality and fun to it, to bring him back to life. Another big change was that they’re improving Sandstorm, making it faster, with more utility to bring players in for melee kills. They also split Scarab Swarm and Scarab Armor into two separate abilities, with Scarab Swarm having some increased stats and the inclusion of Sand Cats to fight alongside you.
Party Like It's 1999 Because It Is
We then pivoted to Warframe 1999, the next huge update slated for later this year. The huge update will include a new storyline that follows Arthur, voiced by Ben Starr, that takes place after Whispers in the Walls, and players will need to progress through it, as it will likely be a prerequisite to reach 1999. Players getting through a prerequisite for the new content brought up some questions about getting new players involved. After 11 years, the game is daunting for new players or those that have been gone for a while.
“The biggest debate we’re having right now with 1999 is what to do with possibly the biggest piece of meat we’ve ever dangled on the hook for new players, which is like, do you make them play 60 hours to get to it, or do you find a way to expedite it? And if we are expediting the new player path continuously, every update, even Dante Unbound (now released) is going to shave off some grind, it’s going to optimize some flow, and we’ll be doing that all year.” Rebecca said.
“On the flight home from GDC CEO Steve Sinclair was like, ‘How are you gonna make it more accessible?’ and we tried with Duviri, and it kind of flopped for early game stuff. Ultimately, the Whispers in the Walls performance, retention, and reception, pretty much everything you could measure, it was a record breaker for us.” Rebecca then went on to explain that they aren’t quite sure how they’re going caught up, but speeding players through to the newest content will likely not be the answer. By doing so, you won’t care about the what happens in 1999, and that would undoubtedly be a shame as it’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting updates.
“From my point of view,” Ben chimed in, “I just feel incredibly excited that I get to digest a very cool story within a very cool universe. I’ve been so aware of Warframe for such a long time, but I’ve never played it because it just seems to impenetrable sometimes. It’s one of these games that has such a loyal fanbase, and you look it at it and go, ‘I want to play this, but how do I play it for the first time?’ And to be asked to come on board as a person who has always wanted to play and see what they’re doing with this expansion, it makes me go – ‘Oh, this is for people who wanted to play Warframe for years, and haven’t known known how to get in.’”
1999 will introduce the second Protoframe, and a new atomicycle, both of which were shown off during the PAX livestream. They also teased that the upcoming Tennocon in London, Ontario, is going to be bananas with plenty of information on what’s to come for 1999, though I couldn’t squeeze much more information out of them in regards to exactly what would be unveiled.
Android's A-Comin'
I had to ask about Warframe’s recent launch of iOS, and whether an Android version was coming soon. What was interesting about the move to mobile is that Digital Extremes hasn’t really begun marketing the game on mobile devices quite yet. Due to the lack of a marketing push, the team hasn’t seen as robust of a mobile response quite yet, but they’re hoping that will change soon. What they have seen is that a lot of mobile players are existing players that want the fun of Warframe in their pocket.
“Now that we’ve launched cross platform save, they can use their account, so I can use my 11 year old account on my phone and I can farm Barrow while I’m here at PAX. Although I don’t think he’s live right now.” Rebecca joked. In terms of the Android release, they’re looking at running some tests this year, but they were candid on any potential release window.
Godfather of Soulframe
Finally, as our time was wrapping up, I was able to fire off a few questions to Geoff about Soulframe. While not much could be shared, Geoff was optimistic about where the game is currently, despite his insistence that the game is in a pre-pre-pre-pre alpha build. The reason the team is testing so early in development is to build something stable and an enjoyable experience from the jump, while also preparing the development team where some of them haven’t experienced a live service game launch before.
Geoff also said they have plans to open the game up for substantially more players with a very aggressive invite schedule. While no specific numbers were given, he urged players to join the Soulframe Discord and sign up on the official website to receive emails, so you’re apprised of when the more invites become available.
“What we're hoping for is to have some kind of info (later this year about Soulframe) on what Warframe had, which was its founders program back in the day. We're in a different situation now as a studio. The founders program back then, it was almost like a Kickstarter. So, what we're talking about now, we will have a founders program to get people to come in and join and be those early adopters. We're definitely looking at a way to be more inclusive in that, with the wide release we just let people opt in if they want to, whereas with the founders you kind of had to buy in to get access.” He told me.
Warframe has been a staple in gaming for a long time, and it has grown quite a lot after 11 years. Geoff wanted to touch on that fact, and that Soulframe is named that way for a reason. The game is very much a sister game to Warframe so there will be a lot of similarities that players will see, like themes of ancestry and player connectivity. The feedback that the Soulframe team has received so far has been instrumental in deciding how to go about core gameplay elements like grind, pacing of the game, and rewards.
“Just an example,” he explained. “In Warframe and Soulframe (we have) what is referred to as a pact, and the pact is kind of like the kit that you wear, and it manifests as a playstyle. We took a really big swing on one of our pacts to shift how the progression of the design work. And it was it was amazing.” So amazing, in fact, that Geoff believes they will be rolling out those features to other products.
The Community's Picture In A Warframe
Unfortunately, my time with the Warframe team was up, but it wasn’t the last time I would get to see them. I also joined them for the TennoVIP event, where nothing particularly new was presented, but it was eye opening to spend some time with the vibrant and welcoming Warframe community.
Many of the stories I heard hit the heart of why MMOs are so powerful. From the small group of friends that use Warframe as their primary means of staying connected, to a long-time fan who experienced a recent loss, and sought comfort in the upcoming update Dante Unbound, seeing it as a sign that the new frame possessed the same name as the deceased. It was a welcome reminder that Warframe still means a lot to gamers out there, and I can’t wait to see what 1999 has in store later this year.
