🔗 Share this article

The space ninja adventure known as Warframe, an experience where you might encounter bizarre cosmic entities and drive a motorcycle in the year 1999, has launched a significant update. This latest expansion exemplifies the distinctive charm that has become synonymous with Warframe in recent years.

The new content, released on Wednesday, brings in a fungus-inspired character that does a little dance, along with a brand-new biome to discover. But it’s also going back to basics, with another quest designed to making sure this complex, vast long-running online game makes sense to new players.

A Quest Called "The Teacher"

Called “The Teacher,” this is the long-awaited quest that trains Warframe players on how to use one of the game's fundamental yet complex systems: the mod system.

In Warframe, modifications are enhancements that can be equipped on your warframe or arsenal to enhance their abilities. These can be simple (increase damage or speed up reload rate) to the incredibly intricate. Content creators often craft hour-long videos about optimized loadouts that use synergistic enhancements to create devastating effects.

“I think a lot of people were maybe getting into the early game, seeing mods, not really understanding it,” explained a lead narrative designer. “We believed it was crucial, upon completing the mission, for players to think, ‘Wow, modding is interesting. I want to try more of this.’”

Teamwork in Action

“The Teacher” was developed in a collaboration between the original developers, who provided the narrative sauce, and an external team, who crafted the gameplay, which will be introduced to new players.

In the quest, the player is tasked with obtaining a new segment for their spaceship, but they’re interrupted by a menacing, powerful warrior called Teshin, who takes away the player’s abilities and melee weapons, and forces them to engage with the mod system to handily demonstrate its power.

Many of the external team were already fans of the game, but some were newcomers, according to a lead designer. This fresh viewpoint that proved critical.

“Our initial step involved observing new players and go right play through the tutorial and document extensively on everywhere they fell out,” the designer said. Early-game menu pop-ups introduced players to modding. But the team noted that they didn’t work on everyone.

“Certain players missed fundamental guidance where it's flashing on the screen saying equip the modification,” he said.

Closing an Important Loop

Warframe’s mods allow players to create incredibly strong combinations that turn the screen into a blitz of numbers. But "The Teacher" isn’t really about that. Veteran users who wish the quest was geared more towards their needs, like optimizing for endgame challenges. But it became clear that “The Teacher” is filling a real and significant gap for early players — and that doing so isn’t as simple as it looks.

“There’s lots of little tweaks and background details there to just sort of show you what it can do rather than tell you,” the designer said. For example, one of the goals of “The Teacher” is to show how mods can create powerful elemental status effects; in this case, Magnetic damage that eats chunks out of enemy shields.

“We had to change the weapon to be a rapid-fire gun, because it shows off the proc rate more,” the designer said. “However, the goal isn't to say to people, 'with a basic modification, you only got a low probability to trigger a special damage type.' How can you teach this mechanic effectively?”

Experienced players will instinctively look for that kind of weapon effect and understand how it works, but beginners require instruction to pay attention to these things.

“This type of design work that we've had to worry about as much just because that hasn't been our focus,” said a narrative lead. “But part of it not being our focus that players weren't properly taught the modding system.”

Months of Effort

“A tremendous amount of work is required for just making a really simple mission that — honestly — you can complete quickly,” said the designer. “But it's months and months of work for many team members.”

The designer was clearly enthusiastic over contributing to a beloved title — and to design content featuring a preferred figure.

“I'm a huge fan of Teshin,” he said. “He's my 8-year-old internal self's idea of what's cool.”

Streamlining the Beginning

In the 12 years since its release, Warframe has been in a consistent battle with its own new user introduction. There are many intricate mechanics that players don’t need to worry about — and won’t even have access to until much later. And others, like modding, that scale in complexity depending on your level of engagement. A previous patch streamlined the early game so that players could reach Warframe’s complex narrative arcs with reduced repetitive play up front.

With “The Teacher,” it’s clear that the developers are doubling down on a commitment to make sure Warframe’s initial hours doesn’t stay locked in 2013. Beginners can find their way — regardless of overlooking tutorials.