The Long-Awaited Lesson on Modding: The Game's New Quest Fixes an Oversight

The popular online game known as Warframe, an experience where you can feed yourself to a giant mouth and drive a motorcycle in the year 1999, has launched a new update. The Vallis Undermind showcases the distinctive charm that has come to define Warframe in the past few seasons.

The new content, released on Wednesday, adds a fungus-inspired character that performs a unique animation, along with a whole new explorable fungal area. However, it also revisits core concepts, with another quest designed to making sure this complicated, expansive long-running online game is accessible for new players.

Introducing "The Teacher"

Named “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 added to your character or your weapons to enhance their abilities. These can be simple (increase damage or speed up reload rate) to the devastatingly complex. Content creators often craft hour-long videos about idealized builds that use powerful mods in combination to create devastating effects.

“Many players likely started their journey, encountering mods without grasping their purpose,” said a key developer. “We believed it was crucial, at the end of the quest, for players to think, ‘Wow, modding is interesting. I want to try more of this.’”

Teamwork in Action

“The Teacher” was created through a partnership between the original developers, who handled the story elements, and a supporting studio, who designed the mission, which will be introduced to new players.

In the quest, the player is asked to retrieve a component for their ship, but they’re confronted by a formidable foe called Teshin, who takes away the player’s abilities and close-combat arms, and compels them to use the mod system to effectively show its potential.

Many of the external team were already fans of the game, but others had never played before, according to a principal games designer. This fresh viewpoint that was essential.

“The first thing we did was basically sit behind them and have them experience the introduction and take prodigious notes on everywhere they fell out,” the designer said. Early-game menu pop-ups introduced players to modding. But the team observed these weren't effective for all.

“Certain players missed fundamental guidance where it's flashing on the screen saying put the mod in the slot,” he said.

Filling a Significant Gap

Warframe’s mods allow players to create stupidly powerful synergies that turn the screen into a blitz of numbers. But "The Teacher" isn’t really about that. 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 Teacher” is filling a real and significant gap for newcomers — and that doing so isn’t as simple as it looks.

“Numerous subtle adjustments and little subtle things in the background there to just demonstrate the possibilities 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.

“Adjustments to the armament to be a burst-fire weapon, because it shows off the proc rate more,” the designer said. “But you don’t want to say to people, 'oh yeah, actually on a base level mod, you only got a few percentage chance to trigger a special damage type.' How can you teach this mechanic effectively?”

Experienced players will naturally recognize these mechanics and understand how it works, but new players have to be taught to pay attention to these things.

“This type of design work that we've had to worry about as much just because our priorities lay elsewhere,” said a story developer. “But part of it not being our focus that we never really told people how to use mods.”

Significant Investment

“A tremendous amount of work is required for 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 contributing to a beloved title — 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 player onboarding process. There are many intricate mechanics that players don’t need to worry about — and won’t even have access to until hours into the game. 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 mind-bending plot developments 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. New players can get their foot in the door — even if they miss the menu prompts.