Warframe In The Playground - The Grustrag 03

[somedudeguy]

I will warn you about Nekros: people will constantly shoot at your summoned zombies, since they look and move exactly like the enemies, except they have a glowy aura around them based on the color of your energy. You can mitigate this by choosing a really obnoxious energy color like bright pink so it's more obvious, but I know that at least I will still reflexively shoot at them if I come around a corner and run into one, regardless of what kind of aura is around it.

I remember grinding for argon crystals in the void with a friend when I first started the game (why a mastery rank 2 weapon requires crafting components you wouldn't normally get until much later is beyond me). She used Nekros and her energy color was bright gold. That made for some very interesting times during those missions.

[Tvtyrant]

Your best options for frames that make something else do the fighting for you+keep you from ever dying are Nekros and Nyx. Nekros has an augment for his summon that gives him extra damage resistance which scales with power strength, so it's easy to get 80% resist. Sadly, Nekros is hard to get, as his components drop from a PITA boss that's late in the map, and Nekros Prime relics don't drop currently.

Nyx makes entire rooms of enemies aggro on each other, can mind control one enemy into a pet and has a personal invulnerability toggle. She's also easy to get, as she drops from the boss of any Phorid Manifestation invasion, and those happen every few days.

The down side of trying to have enemies fight for you is that they do a fraction of the damage of players, while having dozens of times the HP. So waiting for them to actually kill each other is pointless, you're better off controlling enemies with major buffs so you can deprive the NPCs of them and steal the effects for your team. A mind controlled Ancient Healer's 90% damage reduction aura sounds a lot better when it's working for you than the enemy, doesn't it?

Nyx sounds pretty dang cool. Keep trailing enemies into the big throwdown and let them aggro each other while sitting in the back and shooting.

Okay so I have two classes to pick from, that is nice.

Edit: I just read up on terminator Nyx and having an indestructible character who is devoted to mind control seems right up my alley.

[Rynjin]

What's the best way to get a Reactor? I've settled on Rhino Prime as my "main" Warframe, but need some more mod space.

[Toastkart]

What's the best way to get a Reactor? I've settled on Rhino Prime as my "main" Warframe, but need some more mod space.

They show up as invasion rewards every so often, so check those. A reactor or catalyst blueprint also shows up regularly during gift of the lotus events, which they usually run every two weeks after the dev streams on Fridays. They can also be gotten as sortie rewards, but since I only seem to get kuva or endo as sortie rewards, that's not what I would call a reliable method of acquisition.

Is Calling A Taxi still a thing, like it was on the old starmap? Pretty sure my first trip to Pluto and Eris was around about the same MR

I don't really know. I only started playing a couple weeks before specters of the rail went live and introduced the new starmap. I think I'd managed to get one or two missions on saturn, but had spent most of my time on venus/mars up to that point.

In addition to getting a taxi, you can simply not bother taking your MR tests as your effectiveness as a player (maximum mod capacity, mod levels, etc) is independent of your MR. I concede that it would harder now that they've re-balanced the MR requirements of weapons, but I reckon you could still get a decent way around the star chart with Excal, decent mods and sub MR3 weaponry.

I remember there was a MR0 or a MR1 veteran who ran the old Raids with Excalibur as a point of principle that MR is not equivalent to player skill prior to the introduction of MR restrictions.

It comes down to playstyle too, I suppose. My brother started playing only a couple weeks after I did, and we've both put in over a thousand hours in the game, but I'm almost mr20 and he's still mr10-11. I'm a bit of an altaholic, and I like to try out new weapons besides. He's only played like 5 different frames.

MR is such a weird gating mechanic anyway. It has nothing to do with skill, or even time spent. I'm sure if I'd planned it out and focused on doing as many new frames and weapons as I could, I could have reached a much higher MR in the same number of hours, even without affinity boosters.

[NeoVid]

MR is such a weird gating mechanic anyway. It has nothing to do with skill, or even time spent. I'm sure if I'd planned it out and focused on doing as many new frames and weapons as I could, I could have reached a much higher MR in the same number of hours, even without affinity boosters.

It's largely based on resources spent, which is a fairly reasonable thing to measure in a game that has so damn much to grind for.

[Wraith]

I think MR was introduced just to give players a goal to aspire to, before the story and plot were properly developed. It made about as much sense as anything else - MMORPG gamers live to hear that level up "ding", so why not give them an arbitrary rank to work at and maybe encourage a little bit of platinum sales to make it slightly faster along the way?

If anything, the game would probably benefit from a restructuring of the MR system so as to encourage people to try new frames and weapons - not excessively so in a way that forces people to buy gear with real world money to get from rank to rank, but at the same time MR barely matters at the moment and I think quite a lot of people miss out on a lot of content by ignoring it. It's a shame to see all that work wasted on the guy who rushes to the Tigris Prime and then forgets that everything else exists

Although having said that, if they do any reworks then I kind of hope that they refresh the Syndicates first. I love the Syndicate reward weapons, but I've had all of them for a long, long time and there's really no reason for me to do Syndicate missions any more, except as a slow means of platinum income by selling them. Even then, the demand for those has been noticeably reduced in my experience and it's hardly worth the aggravation, compared to selling Ayatan statues.

[Brother Oni]

They show up as invasion rewards every so often, so check those. A reactor or catalyst blueprint also shows up regularly during gift of the lotus events, which they usually run every two weeks after the dev streams on Fridays. They can also be gotten as sortie rewards, but since I only seem to get kuva or endo as sortie rewards, that's not what I would call a reliable method of acquisition.

Further to this, you can just earn the platinum (either by buying it for real money or by selling mods/prime parts to other players) and buy a reactor off the market (20p).

If anything, the game would probably benefit from a restructuring of the MR system so as to encourage people to try new frames and weapons - not excessively so in a way that forces people to buy gear with real world money to get from rank to rank, but at the same time MR barely matters at the moment and I think quite a lot of people miss out on a lot of content by ignoring it. It's a shame to see all that work wasted on the guy who rushes to the Tigris Prime and then forgets that everything else exists

I'd argue that MR is fairly important in terms of advancement with syndicates due to the standing cap being (MR+1)*1000. A MR24 can earn any syndicate weapon (not to mention hit max rank faster) in 5 days, whereas a MR9 would take 12.5 days to do the same.
The other perks (increased trace maximum, default minimum capacity on frames/weapons/minions) are mostly QOL rewards.

They recently re-balanced all the weapons so that a player rising through the MR levels would have something to aim for and that there's a sense of progression, whereas before it was a bit of a [redacted] with subpar weapons having a much higher MR requirement than much better weapons.

Rivens are their own thing - I'm not a big fan of them (mostly because I never seem to get one for a weapon I use a lot!).

[MCerberus]

They recently re-balanced all the weapons so that a player rising through the MR levels would have something to aim for and that there's a sense of progression, whereas before it was a bit of a [redacted] with subpar weapons having a much higher MR requirement than much better weapons.

And then they give everyone with Amazon Prime a free Akmagnus with an installed catalyst, which is the highest rank required secondary someone without a clan can build.

edit - I'm really not complaining though. I just need to start polarizing the thing

[Wraith]

And then they give everyone with Amazon Prime a free Akmagnus with an installed catalyst, which is the highest rank required secondary someone without a clan can build.

Wait, what? When was this, one of the Twitch-sponsored drops or something? I don't remember seeing it advertised at all.

[MCerberus]

Wait, what? When was this, one of the Twitch-sponsored drops or something? I don't remember seeing it advertised at all.

Twitch Prime currently gives you Trinity Prime, Fang Prime, and Akmagnus

[Wraith]

Is that a region locked thing? Or console specific? I know of that promotion, but (in the UK and on PC) I got Trinity, Fang and Vectis (sniper rifle), not Akmagnus.

I'm not hugely worried about missing out, I'm just mildly surprised that I missed the communique about it, is all.

[MCerberus]

Is that a region locked thing? Or console specific? I know of that promotion, but (in the UK and on PC) I got Trinity, Fang and Vectis (sniper rifle), not Akmagnus.

I'm not hugely worried about missing out, I'm just mildly surprised that I missed the communique about it, is all.

I think I kind of had a brain moment, the akmagnus was with the ps+ pack 2 that expired... oh yesterday

[Brother Oni]

I think I kind of had a brain moment, the akmagnus was with the ps+ pack 2 that expired... oh yesterday

Oh yeah, you're a PS4 Tenno, aren't you?

[MCerberus]

Oh yeah, you're a PS4 Tenno, aren't you?

Yah, and I've got a full lex prime assembly ready to go if for some reason anyone on the ps4 doesn't have one yet

[Wraith]

I'm aware that I may be jinxing myself in saying this, but I am starting to believe that the drop rates for Garuda parts have been significantly tweaked, compared to other frames like Gara. I ran dozens of bounties on Eidolon and it took ages to pick up even one Gara part; I ran just four Fortuna bounties and picked up Garuda's Chassis and Neuroptics immediately.

Hopefully that's not just coincidence leading to confirmation bias - I'll try for the Systems over the next few days and let you all know how many hundreds of madness-inducing hours it takes to get that one lucky drop. At least it'll give me time to pick up some gemstones and Toroids

[Brother Oni]

I'm aware that I may be jinxing myself in saying this, but I am starting to believe that the drop rates for Garuda parts have been significantly tweaked, compared to other frames like Gara. I ran dozens of bounties on Eidolon and it took ages to pick up even one Gara part; I ran just four Fortuna bounties and picked up Garuda's Chassis and Neuroptics immediately.

Hopefully that's not just coincidence leading to confirmation bias - I'll try for the Systems over the next few days and let you all know how many hundreds of madness-inducing hours it takes to get that one lucky drop. At least it'll give me time to pick up some gemstones and Toroids

Looking at the drop tables, Garuda's parts are either equal or slightly easier to obtain than Gara's. I suspect there may be some additional perception bias though as Garuda's parts come from the improved bounty system straight away (you get a drop after each stage), whereas Gara's was originally part of the 1 drop per completed bounty.

I'd also argue that the Vallis bounties can be quicker to run than Plains, or at least less scary if you keep the alert level down (grineer armour aside).

I'm sure trying to get the toroids or getting the Solaris United rank to get the BPs to craft the materials for her components will more than make up for the apparent ease of getting Garuda.

[mangosta71]

There's also the fact that if you complete all the stage bonuses you get an extra drop from the loot table in OV, so you potentially have one extra chance at getting Garuda parts per bounty. I got all three pieces the first day, then had to wait several days to grind rep for the mining blueprints (though that also gave me plenty of time to mine and farm toroids, so the time wasn't wasted). Garuda came out of the oven yesterday, and she's pretty badass.

[Wraith]

See, there's the catch that I hadn't factored into my calculations

Still, 1,000 per blueprint isn't so bad, and you only have to be... is it Rank 3 in their Rep to buy the ones you need? It could be worse; it could be Equinox 2.0, and I ground her parts out the old fashioned way. After that, everything else is almost quaint.

[Brother Oni]

There's also the fact that if you complete all the stage bonuses you get an extra drop from the loot table in OV, so you potentially have one extra chance at getting Garuda parts per bounty.

I was under the impression that completing a stage bonus got you an extra drop from that stage's pool?

Still, 1,000 per blueprint isn't so bad, and you only have to be... is it Rank 3 in their Rep to buy the ones you need?

Rank 2 for the Star Amarast BP for her Neuroptics (4k standing)
Rank 3 for the Radiant Zodian BP for her Chassis (8k standing)
Rank 4 for the Marquise Thyst BP for her Systems (12k standing)

Everything else (alloys, etc) you can pick up along the way (either Rank 1 or 0).

I generally recommend picking Smokefinger's BPs for the Solaris U rank up reward as they're usually the more expensive items available (130k for the Captura scene!).

[NEO|Phyte]

I'm on the tail end of the Fortuna mastery rank grind, have kitguns gilt and leveled, moas gilt and leveled, a kdrive leveled (it is unclear if the different boards have independent mastery XP), and am working on the fish parts for the assorted other weapons, plus that sentinel.

[mangosta71]

I was under the impression that completing a stage bonus got you an extra drop from that stage's pool?

Each stage bonus gives you 25% more rep. You have to complete all the stage bonuses to get the extra drop. Unless they've changed it in the past couple days; I've been too busy with RL stuff to do anything in game this week.

[Brother Oni]

... a kdrive leveled (it is unclear if the different boards have independent mastery XP).

According to clan mates, each board component (ie Bad Baby, Flatbelly, Needlenose) of a kdrive has independent mastery experience, but currently none of the different components (board/reactor/nose/jet) have a mechanical difference, only cosmetic.

Each stage bonus gives you 25% more rep. You have to complete all the stage bonuses to get the extra drop. Unless they've changed it in the past couple days; I've been too busy with RL stuff to do anything in game this week.

I paid more attention this time to the rewards and you're right - you only gain extra standing on completion of the bonus stages.

That said, unless you want particular bounty/enemy drops, tracking and tranq-ing kubrodons is much more efficient in standing gain per time spent, especially since I found that equipping the lure will display only that animal's conservation points on the main map.

Plus I want floofs.

[McDouggal]

As far as conservation goes, I've found that Ivara is the best way to get the Bolarolas, as they suffer from the problem of "Really hard to tell where they're actually vulnerable at range" problem.

If you sleep them with sleep arrow, it counts as a tranquilize if you pick them up before the sleep arrow expires. Equinox sleep also works, but Equinox can't turn invisible.

[MCerberus]

Spent all my fancy void coins on vulkar wraith then put the new loca mod in it.

Feels good.

[Rynjin]

I think the time constraints have finally killed this game for me. =/

They weren't too bad at first, especially since a friend gifted me some platinum to Rush Rhino Prime to completion, but unlocking new Warframes is such a hassle, and grinding for more stuff to do the same 4 missions again seems to be the only point, that when I finally grinded for all the Oberon Prime pieces and I was stuck looking at needing to climb 2 more Mastery ranks (something that's been a once every few days affair at most) and waiting 84 hours for crafting after that I just kinda broke.

[Deadline]

Oof, just hit a small wall recently. I need 10 eidolon shards to unlock my next level of rep with the Quills, and it looks like you only get one of those per eidolon fight. In addition to that, I don't have anywhere near the debt-bonds needed to hit tier 5 Fortuna rep.

And I keep running Meso and Axi relic runs hoping to snag the last two prime warframe parts I need: Zephyr Prime BP (Meso) and Oberon Prime Systems (Axi).

And, as always, I need credits badly. Medium risk on the Index seems best (provided I can hit 75 points regularly), but if anyone has suggestions on a better option, I'm all ears.

Otherwise, I've got all blueprints that can be purchased (from market or dojo - except the Hema), and about half of them built.

Any tips you veterans can share? I'm MR 16 (almost 17) at the moment, and have unlocked the Chains of Harrow quest, so I should be able to do most things.

[Brother Oni]

Any tips you veterans can share? I'm MR 16 (almost 17) at the moment, and have unlocked the Chains of Harrow quest, so I should be able to do most things.

With regard to eidolon shards, try and get into tridolon runs as you get 3 shards per run (1 per eidolon). You should be able to do at least 2 tridolon runs per night with a decent pubbie team, which will net you 6 shards.

The debt bonds are comparatively easy - keep an eye on what bounties offer what and run those. Buy odds and ends (I recommend BPs from Smokefinger as you'll need pretty much all of them to make Fortuna stuff) so that you don't waste standing to the cap and keep an eye on the various debt buyouts that Ticker offers.

Credits are a pain - I'd advise saving up for a credit booster and running either medium Index or the 20k/24k Dark Sectors (I recommend Hieracon on Pluto as a single extractor and out is very quick). Sorties are also a good source of credits.
Don't forget to sell all those Oberon/Harrow parts you pick up from missions as well.

[Deadline]

With regard to eidolon shards, try and get into tridolon runs as you get 3 shards per run (1 per eidolon). You should be able to do at least 2 tridolon runs per night with a decent pubbie team, which will net you 6 shards.

Thanks! I'm really focused on trying to get to the next tier of rep so I can start gilding amps.

The debt bonds are comparatively easy - keep an eye on what bounties offer what and run those. Buy odds and ends (I recommend BPs from Smokefinger as you'll need pretty much all of them to make Fortuna stuff) so that you don't waste standing to the cap and keep an eye on the various debt buyouts that Ticker offers.

Yeah, I've purchased most of my debt bonds from Ticker, as they never seem to drop as a reward from the bounties I run. That gets expensive fast though, both in credits and resources.

Credits are a pain - I'd advise saving up for a credit booster and running either medium Index or the 20k/24k Dark Sectors (I recommend Hieracon on Pluto as a single extractor and out is very quick). Sorties are also a good source of credits.
Don't forget to sell all those Oberon/Harrow parts you pick up from missions as well.

My general tactic in the past has been to run 3 minute runs of Tikal on Earth when I hit a credit booster. I suspect I'll be much better off running the index though. And yeah, I need to go purge my common mods and common frame parts again, so that'll give me a little boost.

Thanks!

[NeoVid]

My method for staying ahead on credits is that whenever I happen to get a credit booster as a reward, I run at least two rounds of hard Index. That's a million credits for about ten minutes of minor effort (if you've got a good loadout, which tends to be Rhino with a high powered shotgun).

If Nef Anyo actually wanted to stop the Tenno, he'd shut down the Index so none of us could afford our gear.

[D-naras]

My method for staying ahead on credits is that whenever I happen to get a credit booster as a reward, I run at least two rounds of hard Index. That's a million credits for about ten minutes of minor effort (if you've got a good loadout, which tends to be Rhino with a high powered shotgun).

If Nef Anyo actually wanted to stop the Tenno, he'd shut down the Index so none of us could afford our gear.

Then we would be back in the dark days of Akkad using Secura Lecta and Chroma's Effigy.

Ticker took almost all my credits these days. That and my silly habit of maxing rivens I use only once or twice left me with 50K credits which didn't happen since my early days.