Get ready, Tenno. (Warframe)

[rhoenix]

New Dojo building coming soon: the Tenno Research Lab. It will be a home for Volt and Banshee, as well as the new Wind-based frame.

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/ ... try2000247

[rhoenix]

Update 12 confirmed as dropping tomorrow.

Preview:

[youtube][/youtube]

- new frame (Zephyr, air-based combat frame)
- new HUD UI
- new Tenno Research Lab in Dojo
- new map tiles for Earth
- ability to move Polarity slots around in Weapons & Warframes (including those created by Forma)
- new game mode in Earth (Domination)

[rhoenix]

Massive lag observed on the website, as well as the game itself. I'm guessing a huge number of people are hitting DE's servers right now for updates. If you can't login due to an error like "Internet Timeout", that's basically why.

EDIT: DE's staff knows about this, and is currently working on a fix (as of 11:15 Eastern)

[rhoenix]

Login issues appear resolved.

Clan LibriumArcana's Tenno Lab is on the second floor, on the right side of the main hall. 24 hours until completion.


EDIT: If you want to make Zephyr, unfortunately we'll need to stockpile some Oxium for the research. Clan LibriumArcana is a ghost clan of not very many people, so the costs won't be as high as they might be for larger clans - but regardless, the amount of Oxium required looks to be in the hundreds.

Regardless though, head over to Kappa, in Sedna, and start farming away.

[rhoenix]

FYI - this thread on the Warframe forums goes over Warframe ability specifics with a fine-toothed comb. The author and others have just begun testing the changes wrought through U12, and should be posting their findings soon.

EDIT: This is a very good summary video of all the changes in U12 thus far:

[youtube][/youtube]

[rhoenix]

So.

The devs announced that 2014 is spit and polish year. They appear to be set on updating each planet's tilesets (as they did with Earth in U11), updating bosses (as they did just now with the Hyena boss on Neptune in U12), and adding endgame content.

Endgame content basically is:

- a second set of abilities, dubbed "Focus" abilities, with various precepts, such as Warrior, Tactician, etc. Mastery of each allows for Mastery Ranks with that precept, granting the use of a new power at each rank (1 at rank 1, 2 at rank 2, etc.). These powers are evidently intended to be the "oh shit" type of powers that can only be activated once in a given timeframe, not based on energy.

- reputation with various organizations, and not just the Grineer or Corpus. There will be many smaller organizations as well, and like in most MMO's, you'd have to do stuff to gain ranks in reputation with a given faction. Raising in ranks with a given faction will give access to rare stuff that you can't get otherwise (Grineer will have grenade blueprints, others might have mod blueprints, etc.), but raising rep with one side will necessarily drop your rep with another faction they're antagonistic with. Benefits are shared across a clan, so this is evidently intended to cause discussion within a clan as to which faction(s) to support. This is being dubbed the "Proxy War."

- The Badlands, which are extra areas on the map that are normally unreachable - until you build a solar rail hub from the clan hall to that location. Other people can use it, but they have to pay a toll (set per clan) to use their rail hub to get there. Those extra areas have harder enemies and better rewards. Other clans can try to build railways to the same location and contest control of the tower, which will lead to an Invasion-type game of competitive PvE, in which both clans will compete in kills against the Orokin defenders to see who controls the tower, and access to it.

[rhoenix]

Damage cheatsheet (all suggestions here are intended to help you take down the most irritating members of each faction, and in doing so, indirectly make things easier against the less annoying ones. For Grineer, these are the Bombards and Napalms, and not the Heavy Gunners due to their light armor; for Corpus, these are the MOA's and Corpus Techs; for Infested, these are the Toxic and Disruptor Ancients):

Against Grineer:
Good: Puncture damage (Dera, Hek, Lex, etc.)
Better: Puncture + Cold (better damage against heavy armor)
Best: Puncture + Radiation (Electric + Heat)

Against Corpus:
Good: Impact damage (Sobek, Karak, Strun/Strun Wraith, etc.)
Better: Impact + Cold (better against shields from Cold), or Impact + Electric (better to take robots down faster)
Best: Impact + Magnetic (Cold + Electric)

Against Infested:
Good: Slashing damage (Braton Prime, Drakgoon, etc.)
Better: Slashing + Heat
Best: Slashing + Corrosive (Toxic + Electric)

Against Corrupted/Void Enemies:
Good: Tossup (Impact better against Shields, Puncture against Heavy Gunners, Lancers, and the robots, and Slashing better against Crewmen/Lancers and Ancient Healers)
Better: add Fire damage to bring down the Crewmen and Lancers faster, or Cold to erase shields more quickly
Best: add Corrosive or Radiation

[rhoenix]

Livestream #22:

[youtube][/youtube]

- Frost's Snowglobe no longer simply lasts a set duration. It now has HP, uses Frost's Armor rating for its Armor, and a duration that lasts only about 20 seconds. His other abilities, including Avalanche, all got buffed for utility and damage to balance this.
- HUD customization is coming (HUD scaling is already added, located in Options in-game)
- Melee 2.0 is coming at the end of February (many changes and animations)
- Endgame stuff:
. Focus Abilities: what you do with XP after you hit rank 30. Warrior, Guardian, Channeling, Tactician, etc.; more ranks allow for unlocking passive and active abilities. Will act more like a toggled Avatar State-type of thing instead of mods; Avatar State is slated to be a once-per-mission buff.
. Proxy War: not just for Grineer/Corpus, but for many smaller, "secret" organizations too. All give missions you can do to raise rep with them, to allow access to stuff you can't get otherwise, both fun and useful. This is also slated to be a "lore buffet."
. Badlands: allows an alliance of clans, or a clan, to build a railway to these locations. The clans who built it set the tax rate others must pay (in credits) to use the road to access the area. Another clan can sneak in and contest control of the tower, and even form a new alliance (with another clan) to take control of the tower. If a player or clan has high rep with a specific faction, they can call members of that faction in to help in the fight as well.
- Devs are being coy that the Grineer are up to something called Project Telthra, and the Fomorian.
- Star chart is apparently being phased out in favor of a lobby system for each planet. Each planet would have a Tenno space station that you'd launch into missions from. Quick movement between planets will still be possible. Alerts still a thing, just broadcasted on large screens in the lobby of each station. Trading stations will be available there too.
- Coy hints about all the event items released for all events so far going into a "Disney Vault", and therefore would be available again later. This does not include Founder's items (Excalibur Prime, Lato Prime, Skana Prime)
- Working on including "generic" Warframe abilities (abilities that can be equipped on any Warframe, similar to some of the Sentinel mods).
- Definitely more lore coming.
- new Prime frame will be added in the same patch as Melee 2.0. (still not revealing whether it's Loki or Rhino, or someone else)
- Grineer Shipyard tileset being added next.
- Katana and wakizashi being added
- Lever-action rifle and pistol being added
- Corpus freeze ray being added
- Grineer acid blaster being added
- Tenno crossbow (primary type, not secondary) being added

[rhoenix]

FYI - the Natural Talent mod is now available as a reward for Interception missions on Earth.

The Interception missions are pretty easy - I've been running them solo, but they'd likely be more fun with a coordinated group.

[rhoenix]

Devstream #23 happened this week:

[youtube][/youtube]

- Heavy discussion on UI elements

Bonus:

[youtube][/youtube]

- Discussion of upcoming content, including melee 2.0

[rhoenix]

Teaser trailer for the next update was released today... and it pretty much confirms that Rhino Prime will be the best Primed frame.

[youtube][/youtube]

[rhoenix]

So - with U13 now out, Melee 2.0 is now here.

Melee for the most part works like before, except the Charge Speed & Charge Damage mods have been replaced with Channeling Efficiency & Channeling Damage mods, and you can't do Charged attacks regularly anymore.

You can hold down your weapon switch key (F by default) to switch to having your melee weapon readied instead of your guns - and this is when you can Parry and Channel attacks, and the full benefit of a Melee Stance mod becomes apparent.

You can have one Stance mod equipped at a time, and they function similarly to Auras for Warframes - they give you extra energy points to use on mods for the melee weapon, as well as unlocking additional combo attacks and melee attack options.

When your melee weapon is out, you can activate your Melee Channel key (by default it's the Left Mouse Button). While holding down the Left Mouse Button, each melee attack performed will drain 5 energy from your Warframe's energy pool, as well as deal +50% additional damage, and stagger every opponent struck. With this mechanic in mind, Channeling Efficiency mods decrease (or sometimes increase) the amount of Energy used per strike when Channeling (to a minimum of 1 energy used per strike), while Channeling Damage mods increase the damage bonus above +50%.

Parrying is now much easier to do, though it requires that you have your melee weapon out. If you hold down the Aim button (typically the right mouse button), you'll nullify incoming damage (though you will drain Stamina) and even deflect it back at enemies - but it can only block attacks from the direction you're facing. Note that you can parry Knockdown attacks, like a Shockwave MOA's blast wave or a Shield Lancer's shield bash. You'll get pushed backward a short distance, but you won't get knocked off your feet if you parry it. This will also block Grineer Scorpion's grappling hooks.

Last but not least is the Combo Counter. When you have your melee weapon out and attacking enemies with it, you'll see a counter increase with every successful hit you make against an enemy. Once you reach certain numbers of successful hits, your melee damage will increase.

5 consecutive hits: increases melee damage by 150%
15 consecutive hits: increases melee damage by 200%
45 consecutive hits: increases melee damage by 250%
(3x previous number of hits per tier, continues increasing damage by 50% per tier achieved)

Note that Ash's Blade Storm adds all its hits to your Combo Counter, if you have your melee weapon out at the time you perform Blade Storm.

[rhoenix]

Also, here's how to get your hands on the Dragon Nikana, which currently has the best melee damage of the game:

First, get the Blueprint for the Nikana from the Tenno Research Lab in the Dojo. Be warned that you'll need Oxium for it and you'll need to be at least Mastery Rank 4.

Once the Nikana is crafted, check the Market, and look specifically in the Melee Blueprints section. You'll see the Blueprint for the Dragon Nikana there, which requires the regular Nikana to craft (as well as Mastery Rank of 8), plus more Oxium, and an Argon Crystal (received from Void enemies).

Note that the only Melee Stance mod available for the Nikana currently is the Tranquil Cleave mod, which is a rare drop from Arid Butchers (found on Phobos levels), and from Frontier Butchers (found on Earth levels).

[rhoenix]

Here is the full list of Stance mods, and where to find them. I know in advance nobody is likely as addicted to melee attacks as I am, but here it is, just in case. Seriously, if you've never tinkered with melee much, it's now far more than a simple novelty.

Note that the combos allowed and created from Stance mods are mostly different than the light attack chain combos of before, and that there are two or even three different attack chain combos per Stance.

As for Channeling mods (e.g. Killing Blow, Reflex Coil, etc.), their use right now is debatable. Having an activatable +50% bonus to melee damage is nice and all, even at the cost of 5 energy per enemy struck (and please note that it is drained per enemy struck, not per weapon swing) - but you can usually get just as much damage with elemental combos if you have them. I'm still getting the hang of how they work, but for the moment I'm leaning toward just using Channeling attacks when leveling a weapon, and not much afterward.

[Hotfoot]

The new stealth missions are modestly fun, but I suspect that they are more fun solo than they might be in a group. That said, a maxed out silencer mod makes any gun worthwhile for them, and of course Lokis rule the fucking missions like nobody's business.

That said, I've put some new additions in the Dojo, they'll be ready tomorrow. You're welcome.

[rhoenix]

Excellent. Also, the Amprex is now available from the Corpus labs - and if you're looking for a good AoE Electricity gun, this works nicely.

The Synapse is still better against single targets, but the Amprex will leap to another target if it procs on its status chance against an enemy, which is what makes it great against crowds of enemies. With proper status chance mods, this gun can electrify an entire room of enemies without much effort. Moreover, it's very high crit chance means that every enemy hit with it and being electrocuted is going to be very unhappy.

[rhoenix]

Also, just as a quick thing, since I only really recently got how to do this - the whole Zoren-copter thing. Here's basically what it is, and how it works, if you're curious. Bottom line is that it can make any frame extraordinarily fast, even without any sprint speed mods. However, getting it working requires a bit of practice, or simply setting up keystroke macros. However you do it, and even if you don't really find it useful very often, I still recommend learning how to do so, since it offers a great generic utility of movement on any frame.

The How-To Of Zoren-Coptering:

Spoiler: show

You don't absolutely have to use the Dual Zorens for this trick (any melee weapon with a fast swing speed will do), but they do work the best for it. The basis of the entire thing is crouching while running to go into a slide, and then pressing E to perform a slide melee attack. With a fast melee weapon, this will project you forward in a very quick dash that sometimes can spring you across an entire room.

The second part of it is doing this while jumping, which is the more complicated part to get right. While running, press crouch to go into a slide, and then jump. While in mid-air, crouch, and then press E to perform a sliding melee attack, and you'll dart forward in mid-air. This is highly useful to get over obstacles or pit traps easily, and can also be a way to get places you're not normally supposed to easily go (without Loki, anyway).

In places with long hallways, or with large pit traps, I find this trick to be quite useful. Because I refuse to use a keystroke macro for it (as an intentional limit for myself), I don't do so all the time, but do when I want to get across a room fast. Survival missions when you're racing toward an air supply is one good example, another is racing across the map toward a downed teammate.

[Hotfoot]

Oh, and 1:14:85 is the new record in the training room.

You know, because the old record that I set was bothering me.

[rhoenix]

Oh, and 1:14:85 is the new record in the training room.

You know, because the old record that I set was bothering me.

When you say that, I'm hearing "see if Zephyr can take a shortcut."

...Assuming I actually finish the course this time.

[Hotfoot]

Powers are disabled in the course, otherwise Rhino, Ash, Nova, and Loki would have record times.

But by all means.

[rhoenix]

Those. Damn. PILLARS.

I got a runtime of 1:11 once, but I haven't been able to duplicate it yet. The closest I've come is 1:19, and those two only when I managed to not fall off the pillars for a minute and a half straight.

[Hotfoot]

The Pillars force you to slow down in order to go fast. In other words...

[youtube][/youtube]

[rhoenix]

A few quick things:

1. The Helios Sentinel has been fixed, and will now scan enemies faster than you could. It's now excellent for collecting scans, though it will still use Scanner charges from your Inventory like normal scans do, and won't even repeatedly scan things you've already made max scans of, which is nice. Since collecting the max number of scans per enemy type gives you a small passive boost to crit rate against that enemy (besides seeing it's complete drop table), this is a good thing.

2. The Amprex is the AoE version of the Synapse. It doesn't do quite as much damage to single targets, but it's almost as good as the Ignis or Drakgoon for wiping out crowds. It's especially hilarious against Lephantis.

3. The Boltor Prime is a pretty damn good gun, if you can assemble the parts. Since enemy level scaling includes armor scaling per level, and since Puncture damage is a great anti-armor damage type, you can use this gun for quite a while against high-level enemies. I've put 3 Forma into mine, though don't have plans to put in more.

4. The Paris Prime and the Dread bow are both actually pretty good now, though I haven't really played with the Cernos (the bow that does Impact damage base). Marcao's brother would argue vociferously for Dread over Paris, since the Dread causes massive Slashing damage (which therefore causes nice bleeding DoT effects), but I'd go with the Paris Prime for the same reasons as the Boltor Prime - it does Puncture damage base, and therefore does much better against armored enemies. The fact that you can make it crit for over 11k against those armored enemies doesn't hurt either.

5. I used the Dual Zorens to kill the Stalker. Twice. I win the Internet.

[rhoenix]

As a quick aside - from the latest Devstream, they're working on optimizing load times and memory addressing for all sorts of machines, after doing a proper hardware inventory of their playerbase. Many more optimizations for 32-bit machines are being done, even to the point of the developers (finally) buying low-end laptops to properly stress-test test optimizations on.

In short, Havoc's issues with network performance should soon be at an end; if not already, then by the time Update 14 hits.

[youtube][/youtube]

[rhoenix]

FYI - there's a "suspicious Corpus shipments" mini-event going on this weekend. You'll see alerts pop up with the mission title being "Suspicious Shipment," and it'll always be against Corpus. Each one that's shown up has had a fairly impressive reward; 200k credits, an Orokin Catalyst, and an Orokin Reactor have been examples thus far.

And, a mini-review of the Detron shotgun-pistol, since I got it yesterday. The only way to get it is to side in Invasion missions against the Corpus, so that you get Alad V's little Inbox message of love, similar to how the Stalker rolls nowadays. The Detron does Radiation damage base as a multi-pellet shotgun blast, which is great against Grineer units, but is unimpressive against anything else. I'd suggest only doing Invasion missions to get it as a novelty, as this is not something I'd consider a must-have weapon.

Of the two weapons you can get from pissing off one side or the other for Invasion missions, the Brakk looks like a much better choice. Getting it follows pretty much the same formula as for getting the Detron, except you side against the Grineer instead. Eventually, they'll get mad enough to send the Grustrag Three after you, each of which has a chance of dropping one of the parts you need (the blueprint, barrel, and receiver).