🔗 Share this article

The space ninja adventure known as Warframe, a title where you might encounter bizarre cosmic entities and drive a motorcycle in the year 1999, has released a new update. This latest expansion exemplifies the distinctive charm that has come to define Warframe in more recent times.

The new content, released on Wednesday, introduces 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 aimed at making sure this complex, vast 12-year-old MMO is understandable by new players.

Introducing "The Teacher"

Titled “The Teacher,” this is the highly anticipated mission that educates Warframe players on how to use one of the game's fundamental yet complex systems: the mod system.

In Warframe, mods are augments that can be equipped on your warframe or arsenal to enhance their abilities. They range from the straightforward (increase damage or speed up reload rate) to the devastatingly complex. Content creators often produce extensive guides about optimized loadouts that use synergistic enhancements to create devastating effects.

“Many players likely started their journey, encountering mods without grasping their purpose,” explained a key developer. “I think it was really important, at the end of the quest, for players to think, ‘Hey, modding is cool. I want to try more of this.’”

A Collaborative Effort

“The Teacher” was created through a partnership between the core team, who handled the story elements, and a supporting studio, who crafted the gameplay, which will appear early in the game.

In the quest, the player is asked to retrieve a component for their ship, but they’re interrupted by a menacing, powerful warrior called Teshin, who takes away the player’s abilities and close-combat arms, and compels them to use the mod system to handily demonstrate its power.

Several developers were longtime players, but some were newcomers, according to a lead designer. It was this outside perspective that was essential.

“Our initial step involved observing new players and go right play through the tutorial and take prodigious notes 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.

“Some people didn't see basic instructions where the game highlights it saying equip the modification,” he said.

Filling a Significant Gap

Warframe’s mods allow players to create incredibly strong combinations that turn the screen into a blitz of numbers. But "The Teacher" focuses on different aspects. There will be some long-time players who wish the quest was geared more towards their needs, like optimizing for endgame challenges. But it became clear that the mission addresses a genuine oversight for early players — and that executing this is quite complex.

“Numerous subtle adjustments and little subtle things in the background there to just demonstrate the possibilities rather than explain it outright,” the designer said. For example, one of the goals of “The Teacher” is to show how mods can create elemental damage types; in this case, a magnetic effect that depletes protective barriers.

“Adjustments to the armament to be a rapid-fire gun, because it better demonstrates the effect frequency,” the designer said. “But you don’t want to explicitly tell players, 'oh yeah, actually on a base level mod, you only got a few percentage chance to trigger a special damage type.' So how do you tutorialize that without changing it?”

Veterans will naturally recognize these mechanics and grasp their function, 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 story developer. “However, this oversight meant that we never really told people how to use mods.”

Months of Effort

“There’s so much that goes into just making a seemingly straightforward quest that — honestly — you can blast through in about 15 minutes,” said the designer. “But it's months and months of work for many team members.”

The designer was visibly glowing with excitement over being able to work on a game that he loves — and to design content featuring a preferred figure.

“I love Teshin,” he said. “He embodies everything my younger self found awesome.”

An Evolving Onboarding Process

In the decade-plus since launch, Warframe has been in a ongoing struggle with its own new user introduction. There are many intricate mechanics that players can ignore initially — and won't encounter until hours into the game. And others, like modding, that scale in complexity depending on how much time you want to invest. 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 reinforcing their dedication to make sure Warframe’s early game experience evolves beyond its origins. Beginners can find their way — regardless of overlooking tutorials.