Summary
Warframeis revamping its new player experience with the goal of becoming significantly more accessible. The newly announced overhaul will be introduced gradually, starting with the nextWarframeupdate.
March 25 marked the12th anniversary ofWarframe’s release. Since debuting on PC, the free-to-play action RPG also made its way to the latest two generations of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as the Nintendo Switch. In February 2024,Warframeeven made the jump to iOS devices.
While a steady stream of ports has helpedWarframereach new audiences over the years, Digital Extremes is now planning a different initiative to keep the game relevant: overhauling its new player experience. To that end, the Canadian developer has justannounceda wide variety of changes meant to make the game more accessible, detailing them during the latest Warframe Devstream, which was broadcast during PAX East. The overhaul is planned to roll out in stages, starting with the nextWarframeupdate, Yareli Prime, scheduled to drop next Wednesday, May 21.
Warframe Is Simplifying Some of Its Systems
The highlight of the upcoming patch is a rework ofWarframe categorization. The futuristic exo-armor suits will now be classified into groups that are labeled by role: Damage, Support, Stealth, Crowd Control, and Survival. Up until now, the game didn’t really make any attempts at categorizing Warframes, leaving players to research or guess what a given suit’s strengths and weaknesses are. On a similar note, the May 2025 update will group weapons by intuitive types across primary, secondary, and melee categories. This pair of changes aims to help new players learn gear functionality and spec out correctly for their playstyle of choice.
The Canadian studio is also planning on makingWarframemore beginner-friendlyby revising its difficulty curve and select encounters. On that note, several enemy types, including the Bailiffs, are set to be added to Grineer missions, where they will appear as mini-boss units. Junction solo missions are also being overhauled and will soon start displaying their task lists and rewards upfront. As part of this revamp, players will be able to earn rewards for every individual task rather than just for defeating the Specter boss. The goal of this set of changes, planned to debut as part of the Islewaver update in June 2025, is to make Star Chart progression more accessible.
Digital Extremes is also redesigning Captain Vor,Warframe’s first major boss. The revised version of Vor will feature new and reworked abilities, all geared toward teaching newcomers the game’s basic mechanics without overwhelming them.
