The Canadian developer Digital Extremes presented upcoming content for their online space shooter Warframe at this year’s Pax East in Boston. There was repeated mention of the so-called “Bourbon List”. What it is about and whether you might also get headaches from it, you’ll find out below.
Permanent Changes
For more than three years now, shooter fans have been able to face countless cloned Grineer, greedy Corpus, and deadly Infested in the Warframe universe, get lost in the Void, or make life difficult for each other while trying to clarify their origins and find out what the term “Tenno” actually means.
Over time, new game modes like Excavation, Rescue, and Espionage, new level environments, characters, pets, and countless weapons have enriched the initially rather sparse offerings of the free-to-play title. In the meantime, various systems or modes, such as melee combat or reactor sabotage, have been completely overhauled to offer players more variety.
And this is exactly what a free-to-play game relies on: that it continually evolves, offers new content, and keeps both newcomers and veterans engaged. Stagnation often means the end.
This ongoing process of change is fundamentally found in many MMOs. For example, in Destiny, the weapon balance is adjusted every 3 months, especially when there is a content drought, so players can engage with different weapons and perhaps even add new favorites to their arsenal.
The Bourbon List in Warframe
During the presentation of upcoming additions to the online shooter Warframe, there was repeated mention of the “Bourbon List”. However, they kept curious players in the dark at that time about what it is.
However, in the subsequent developer stream number 73, which took place last Friday, developer Digital Extremes answered the many questions of the curious Tenno and introduced the headache-inducing list in detail. It consists of 10 points that affect fundamental prevailing game mechanics and systems. Changing such things can quickly be a shot in the foot, as it involves item farming, gaining experience, and the associated progress, as well as various character and weapon builds that can send a boss to oblivion with a single shot. By the way, the latter refers to point 2, the Cheese Pizza.
The Whole Thing in Detail
“Onboardin’” refers to the reworking of the star map, which is based on the old arrangement and design. This is meant to help new players at their start and answer some questions about general progress. This includes a sentinel for new space ninjas that is still in development.
The third point, “Grindin’“, relates to the Void missions, which can quickly create a certain monotony due to their respective fixed drop tables. For example, if you are trying to obtain all parts of Saryn Prime, you constantly play the same 4-5 missions because only there can you get the corresponding blueprints.
Despite the system where a complete level is generally randomly assembled from a pool of individual environments, you still encounter the same enemies. This is expected to become somewhat more varied in the future, as you will face different groups of enemies and move through different environments.
“Samey-Same” and “Gang of New ‘Yolk’” are quickly explained. These two points deal with the somewhat neglected Dojos, Dark Sectors, and level designs that will be expanded in the foreseeable future.
In the case of the currently suspended Dark Sector Clan Fights, they’re working on completely overhauling the system. It is quite likely that there will only be one Dark Sector remaining. However, how clans will fight for supremacy has not been further specified yet.
Those of you who are music enthusiasts may have noticed the reference to the old Simon & Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence“. However, this is not about musical accompaniment, but about the time intervals between updates and events.
In this regard, a better distribution should be found to avoid as many prolonged phases of inactivity as possible. The beginning is made by the currently ongoing event “Rathuum”, which is currently available for PC players.
Regarding the musty smell (“Musty Smell“), this describes the further branching and increased presence of the faction of the Sentients in the overall picture of the Warframe universe. It is already known that a new Exosuit-Sentient will soon appear, which cannot be fought with conventional weapons.
For Warframe veterans who do not know what to do with all the accumulated credits and resources, point 6 might be of interest. Long-term players will be given a way to visually express their loyalty to the game. One of the ideas mentioned was to have more ways to customize their spaceship.
PC players with high-end equipment who want to support Warframe’s infrastructure may be pleased about “Flies with Chopsticks“, as this involves providing dedicated servers. Should developer Digital Extremes pursue this path, such players would even be rewarded in some way for providing and positively rating servers for others.
Do you Draco?
And finally, “Dracoville“, the focal point of rapid leveling and gathering of experience and thus also focus points. The Draco node on the planet Ceres is a thorn in the side of both developers and some players.
This mission, in which the Intercept mode is played, has such a high enemy spawn and level that it makes it difficult for newer players with poor equipment to succeed. They feel excluded and disadvantaged because they lack such a fast leveling opportunity.
While it is also challenging for advanced Tenno depending on the choice of character and weapons, there is no comparable node in the entire Warframe universe that throws so many adversaries at you in such a short time and consequently overwhelms you with experience.
Digital Extremes has also thought about this and considered why Draco is played so excessively. They concluded that it is, on the one hand, the easiest and fastest way to earn the focus points available daily and to level up new or polarized equipment back to maximum level.
The Cycle of Monotony in Warframe
To counter this cycle of leveling, polarizing (where the item is reset to level 0), and leveling again, they are considering a far-reaching change.
Thus, one can imagine that a player with mastery rank 10, upon picking up a new weapon from the forge, would have it at level 10 directly. The same should apply when using a Forma.
This would allow the weapon to be equipped with 1-2 mods directly and actively used in missions, and players would not feel forced to level it up casually in Draco just to be able to use it, according to Digital Extremes.
With this change, Warframe players would also be rewarded with more XP for the respective item they actively use instead of just having it indirectly equipped.
The currently maximum achievable mastery rank in Warframe is 21. If this idea were to be implemented, Warframe veterans would initially have 21 points available for mods, which is close to a complete build (which amounts to 30 or 60 points with an Orokin Catalyst) and would save some time when upgrading the weapon. This would also finally give the mastery rank a certain significance; a problem that long-term players have repeatedly mentioned.
What do you think about the changes? Would you appreciate the time savings, or do you belong to those who believe that this might lead to less overall gameplay, as you reach the goal faster?
And if this insight into Warframe was too deep for you and you are just at the beginning of your journey, take a look at our beginner guide to Warframe, which will bring you closer to everything you need for a good start!
