This is The ONLY Live Service Looter Shooter I Can Recommend

When we hear about live service games or looter shooters I usually don’t have any expectations of a good game since there have been too many times where we have a title that is getting all hyped only for it to deliver a mediocre experience.

This has pretty much conditioned me to be skeptical whenever I hear the words “live service,” “hero shooter,” or “looter shooter.”

So when I first found out about Warframe in late 2023, I was just going to scroll past it, but the concept was interesting enough that convinced me to at least look it up on YouTube and I have to admit that I was intrigued after looking at the trailer.

Just take a look at it:

I also saw a few gameplay videos and they all showed a character in a futuristic suit of armor who was running, jumping, and flying around at incredible speeds while shooting or hitting enemies with some cool-looking weapons so I decided to try it.

After all, it’s a free game if it is bad I can just drop it with no strings attached so I have nothing to lose.

I was still skeptical though, since there have been many times when a game has stunning trailers but then the gameplay turns out to be completely different.

(Looking at you League of Legends)

So you can imagine how surprised I was after seeing that Warframe’s gameplay wasn’t too different from what the trailers promoted.

My second biggest surprise though, was the movement mechanics and weapon system since I had never seen anything similar in a game.

Being able to run on walls, dash at high speeds, climb buildings like they were nothing, and easily glide through the air gave me a level of freedom no other game had ever done before.

This video will show you what you can do:

Also, most games tend to limit the weapons you can use based on things like classes or stats but Digital Extremes (Warframe’s development company) did the exact opposite and gave players the freedom to combine any weapons to build load-outs that better fit their playstyle and preference.

You can play as a cyborg ninja, a hulking tank, a speedster, or a space wizard, and use any kind of weapons you want.

There are also these things called “warframes” which are the suits of armor that work as the characters that you control and each of them works differently from each other.

They all have different passive and active abilities and some are better than others for specific things like stealth, damage, defense, and support.

All weapons and warframes are also customizable. You can give them “mods” to increase their damage, health, shields, energy (for abilities), reload speed, critical damage, or even add elemental damage to your attacks.

They give the player so much variety in customization that I can play the game in any game I want.

Not only that but it has also managed to successfully add things like:

• Pets
• Base customization
• Clan creation
• Boss fights
• Open worlds
• Space ship fights
• Mechs

I’m yet to find another game that offers this same level of depth and player freedom in a way that makes sense and doesn’t feel bloated or at least one that I like.

However, Warframe has other 5 things that keep me coming back.

1 Its Story

This is probably a surprise since the story tends to take a back seat in these kinds of games and it doesn’t usually have an impact on the player experience but in Warframe the story is one element that drives the game forward.

Besides introducing you to most game mechanics you also get to learn about the world, its factions, and characters in a way that feels organic and not forced.

But most importantly, you can see the passion and care that was put into this game.

The story is good, the characters are memorable, there are various emotional moments, and you get exposed to the different perspectives of some characters in the enemy factions making them feel like people instead of mindless mobs.

The story in Warframe has a soul and you can feel it when you play it, especially when you reach Second Dream or The New War which is where the story takes a narrative that drives you to emotionally care for the world around you.

2 Its Monetization

It’s always nice to see a game with a player-friendly monetization model.

I admit, some players don’t like it, but I personally don’t have a problem with it and I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Before that, you must know that it has 3 layers:

• An in-game store — in here, you can find a bunch of cool cosmetics. Mostly, warframe, weapon, vehicle, and pet skins, emotes, decorations for your home base, and in-game resources.

I know that having in-game resources in the store tends to be seen as a bad thing, but let me reassure you that you don’t need to purchase them at all because 99% of the resources are available in-game and you can get by simply playing a few missions.

That’s where the grind comes in, but it is not as bad as other games, and I'll explain it in a second.

• 3 in-game currencies — Warframe has 3 main in-game currencies. These are Credits, Platinum, and Regal Aya. You can find credits in abundance in missions and the other 2 can only be purchased.

Credits are the most useful currency because you can use them to buy the blueprints of weapons and warframes in the in-game store as well as use them for other stuff.

Platinum will let you get cosmetics, bundles, and complete weapons and warframes instead of a blueprint from the store.

Regal Aya will let you buy prime weapons, mods, and warframes which are a better version of a regular one.

(You can also get primes for free. More about that in a moment)

• Player trading — probably the most important aspect of Waframe’s monetization is the fact that you can trade with other players. This includes items, weapons, prime parts, resources, and even Platinum.

Warframe has a whole economy going on where players can trade almost everything and the fact that you can even trade one of the paid currencies is huge because this means that there is a way for players to earn Platinum for free.

I know that some games allow you to trade between players, but I haven’t heard of any that let trade a paid currency so it blew my mind when I found out about this.

If you know other examples like this please let me know.

3 Its Community

Ever since I started playing Warframe live on stream I’ve been often visited by other players offering advice, sending me gifts, or they even hop in to play with me for a bit.

They would also drop bits of “lore” about the developers and the game’s history.

For example, I didn’t know that Warframe was supposed to be the sequel to another game called Dark Sector or that this game was launched more than 10 years ago.

However, the moments that stood out the most to me were those when other players would invite me to their “Clans” or “orbiters ” and show me around to see how they decorated their bases or customized the look of their warframes.

All this made Warframe much more fun for me since I learned a few things that I wouldn’t have found out about otherwise and got to see a side of the gaming community I never experienced.

I say this because the only multiplayer experience I’ve had is the one you get from Call Of Duty lobbies which is not the most positive one, so seeing a random stranger welcome me to the game was a nice surprise.

4 Its Rewarding Grind

One of the main drawbacks of most looter shooters is that the grind tends to be boring, repetitive, and insufferable, but with Warframe I don’t usually have many issues.

I admit, that I don’t always get what I want or need but most of the time I do, and the login rewards usually have either resource drop boosters or rare resources that make the grind easier.

But that is not all.

As previously mentioned, prime weapons, mods, and warframes are a better version of their regular counterpart.

However, they are also one of the main driving forces of Warframe’s trading market and you can get them for free.

The way this works is that you first need to get relics which you find in abundance by doing regular missions and then opening them doing “Void Fissure” missions.

After said missions, the relic will crack and give you access to different prime parts or blueprints that you can choose from.

Not only that but if you do “Void Fissure” with other players and if they pick other relics with different rewards to yours, you can select the reward their relic dropped if you want to.

If you go with friends and you all pick the same relic you increase your chances of getting the prime parts that you want.

Even if you get duplicates you can scrap them to get “ducats” another currency that you can exchange for other resources or you can sell the duplicates in the market for Platinum so your effort farming them is never wasted.

5 Its Developers

This is the most important element Warframe has because it is rare to find a gaming studio that has developers like those in Digital Extremes.

Developers who listen.

When Warframe first launched in 2013 it came to a market that was already skeptical of free-to-play games and since Warframe was Digital Extremes’ first free life-service game they kept getting rejected by publishers.

This forced them to self-publish and cover all the costs themselves and without any support at the time they made many of the same mistakes other similar titles did and made Warframe pay-to-win.

As you would expect, players criticized this and you know what Digital Extremes did?

They didn’t attack players or tell them that they were disconnected from the realities of game development. Instead, they took the criticism seriously and improved their game.

Things that were previously only obtainable with microtransactions are now available in various free game mechanics.

One of them is the Nightwave, which is a FREE BATTLE PASS that rewards you with weapons and warframe slots, skins, blueprints, and other hard-to-get resources (some that were previously paid) in exchange for completing simple challenges.

Not only that but Digital Extremes is actively acting in the player’s best interest.

A clear example of this is when they removed a monetization mechanic because one player used it too many times.

This happened because they launched something similar to a gacha mechanic where players could pull for the fur pattern of their kubrow (an in-game pet) for $0.67.

When they launched it a player soon spent over 100$.

Other companies would have seen this as a success and would have kept it but Digital Extremes decided to remove it entirely because they realized they had introduced gambling into their game.

I respect them for that.

Another thing they do that other companies don’t is to actively engage with their community.

For the most part, companies tend to only do a few posts here and there about a big update with the sole purpose of building hype for the next big launch.

On the other hand, Digital Extremes do weekly community streams where they interact with players by making announcements, answering questions, asking for feedback regarding an update, or they are just joking around and spending time with their community.

They are not just random employees either, the CEO, creative director, and ex-community manager are some of the people who are constantly showing up in these streams.

In other words, players regularly interact with the people at the top.

Again, I haven’t seen other gaming companies do this.

It might look like I’m glazing Digital Extremes with compliments, but the reality is that when you treat your players and your community with respect and you show that you care they will want to support you.

This is why in my last article about Marvel Rivals I mentioned the importance of building goodwill because when you do it, this happens and their numbers show.

Now, they might not be as impressive as other booming titles like Marvel Rivals, but if you look at the chart you’ll see that they have kept a healthy and consistent player base from the beginning.

It’s a normal healthy chart.

Compare that to another recent looter shooter and you can see the difference.

Yep

Warframe is without a doubt special and I am glad I started playing it a year ago, but as much as I love it, it does have its flaws and so far there are 3 things that I believe are worth mentioning.

• It has building/crafting times of weapons and warframes, which can sometimes take up to 3 days, and can only be rushed if you use Platinum, which is a bit annoying.

• You start with only 2 slots for warframes and weapons. You can get more as a reward by doing the story, the Nightwave, and increasing your ranking, so it is only an issue early on but it can be annoying.

• It can be overwhelming at the beginning because there is so much to do and sometimes you are left wondering what to do next which is expected when you play a game that has 10 years' worth of content.

So far these are the only issues I have with Warframe, but they can easily be fixed by simply playing the game more casually.

This is NOT a game you can rush.

If you want to give this game a try just remember to take your time, enjoy it, invite friends to play together if you can, and play other games as well so you have something to do as you wait those crafting times.

That’s why recently I’ve been playing Warframe, Marvel Rivals, and Path of Exile 2 and I’ve been enjoying my time with all three of them.

Do that and I promise you will enjoy this game too without spending a dime.

Final Thoughts

Warframe is a great game that showed me the quality that free live-service looter-shooters can reach when the developers care about their players.

That is why it baffles me whenever I see developers and publishers pulling some shameless tactics to make more money while sacrificing their reputation in the process.

Either that or they just start drama on Twitter just to get back at those “toxic gamers”. It just makes me wonder if whatever satisfaction they feel from it is even worth all that.

Then I go back to play Warframe and it becomes clear to me again that it wasn’t.

Not even close.

See you later bros!

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