Warframe is a unique free to play game where you play as frames which can only be described as space ninja’s. In Warframe, you play as a Frame, each with their own set of abilities, you can use any weapons you want as weapons are not frame-bound. The lobby is a spaceship that you can decorate inside and out, this is where you initiate building of items, customisation of frames and weapons, plus starting missions. Quests are the main drive for unlocking different nodes (levels) and planets. Some frames are only obtainable after completing certain quests. There is a handful of objectives on the missions varying from sabotaging reactors to survival to rescuing a hostage.RNG is a big part of Warframe as you will find yourself speed running the same mission with a slight bit of hope, wishing for that final part that you need will drop.
As of writing this, there is 33 different frames, each with their own skill set and play styles. The 33rd base frame was just released, called Harrow. There’s a frame for everyone, varying from the stealth (Ivara/Loki), the frames that have minions (Nekros/Atlas) or the ones that just mass kill everything (Ember/Banshee). In my number, I didn’t include the prime version of frames which usually have slightly better stats but nothing majorly. The prime version can be obtained through relics which only have a chance of getting items from or through purchasing them from other players.
Warframe was released in 2013 and has got constant updates since, I admit in the beginning that I thought it was a great idea but executed terribly. The star chart that is the main hub of levels was disastrous and didn’t know what to do nor where to go. Now they’ve improved it a lot and is greatly more user friendly with a new simple layout. I love Warframe as a game now and not ashamed to say that I even got addicted for a few months. If you were to start Warframe now, you might just be overwhelmed with the amount that’s in the game but you don’t have to collect everything, you can just go for the frames and weapons that sound cool to you.
Why do I think Warframe is the idyllic free to play game?
Warframe has a premium currency, Platinum, like every other free to play game, items are purchasable through the in game market using Platinum. This game allows you to trade that currency, being able to trade it creates it as the primary currency for buying and selling items. So not only can you buy items from players that are found playing the game, but you can also buy the items not sold by players in the market. You do occasionally get discounts on the platinum prices aswell meaning that a lot of players do not buy premium currency until they get a discount.
Being able to purchase just about every item in the game (believe me, that’s a lot of items) I think gives this game a boost in the charts of being free to play. There is usually some downside of being free to play, downsized experience, not being able to look stylish. Warframe eliminates all that allowing you to get and use just about anything you want.
I think that a lot of free to play games could learn from the step Warframe has taken in the free to play world and could potentially make it possible for more games to be or turn into free to play. Some games have taken this into account such as Crossout, the main currency used on the in game market is the premium currency (Coins) as well.
What’s your favourite F2P game?
