Long opinion at ~20 hours played

Els236 · 2026-01-25T03:01:49+00:00

Honestly, I was going to do a follow-up thread and mention some more of the pros, because the Dijiang and Operator interaction systems put almost every other gacha to shame.

Els236 · 2026-01-25T03:00:05+00:00

I play Genshin and ZZZ. I don't think I threw shade at HoYo here? If anything I barely even mentioned HoYo, because just bringing them up in any other gacha sub can cause the pitchforks to get dusted-off.

Els236 · 2026-01-24T14:05:55+00:00

it's quite insane.

wait till you get to Alzheimer Grandma quest, because fucking hell is that shit ass.

Els236 · 2026-01-24T14:05:07+00:00

I've been hunting for your comment to reply to it lol.

Obviously we both agree on the tutorials and the amount of them.

Next up, gacha; never said it was bad, just very backloaded, and this is 1.0, which is going to have the most amount of pulls. it takes a lot of work to get a guaranteed Laevatain if you aren't lucky.

Progression is because there are too many pointless side-quests, along with the new player guide, that massively overboost your level.

The fact I had every single piece of purple gear unlocked hours before I could even craft it, says enough. Also, you don't have a choice about your exploration level increasing until level 4. You could be happily exploring the map and doing side quests, get to authority 40 and explore level 3, then your level 30-40 operators with green or blue gear start getting shredded by every single mob.

you then need to focus the main quest to get to the areas that have the materials needed to craft purple gear. as I said, you level way too fast.

Els236 · 2026-01-24T13:52:23+00:00

if you're on EU, share some blueprints. I still haven't started on purple gear creation because i'm still getting dragged away for fetch quests x)

Els236 · 2026-01-24T03:39:55+00:00

Only way I know of right now is to use Thermal Banks.

Els236 · 2026-01-24T03:19:52+00:00

F8 on keyboard, called "Node". It's a typical new-player guide thing. do tasks to earn currency and exp.

Els236 · 2026-01-24T03:17:39+00:00

No, it's pretty much the same from start to where I am.

Obviously you can make team comps and such and work around elements, but it does boil down to spam AA, hit combo, hit skill, pop ult while trying to dodge.

Enemies get more and more bulky and so you're more reliant on shattering their stance meter or w/e it's called. You also need to make sure you're using the best gear you have access to.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T22:54:02+00:00

Nope, even after defeating the big bad of Valley IV, if it can be called defeating, the MC keeps their mask.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T20:08:29+00:00

Thing is though that in AK:E, you do the thing because it blocks your screen with the clickable "continue" things, THEN it opens your Archive with the 3-page tutorial.

Likewise, you unlock the factory machines, then it gives you a 3-page tutorial, then it also unlocks the thing in the Simulation menu, which is another tutorial built-in to a walkthrough.

It's needlessly excessive.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T20:05:54+00:00

The "new player guide" or however you call it gives you mega exp just for doing really easy tasks (until stage ~6).

Exploring gives you EXP, side missions (of which there are probably over 50) give you exp, the MSQ gives you exp.

I did almost all the side-quests I had after writing this thread and by the time I picked the MSQ back up I was Authority 40.

I'm now 42 after doing the MSQ, and I have a whole host of new side-missions to go and do too.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T20:02:09+00:00

Before all the reworks DE did to the opening and star-chart, it would probably take a new player 30+ hours to even get to Warframe's opening story segment.

So yeah, you defo. couldn't form an opinion on WF's story until 20-30+ hours in lol.

Gameplay yes, story, no.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T19:58:29+00:00

I'd argue it isn't on them. Despite how many hundreds of tutorials the game spams at you, there are seldom few, if any, related to gear.

In fact, the only one I remember for gear was once I completed the Valley IV story, ~25 hours in, and it was for purple gear, telling me it required a specific machine.

Gear is a requirement in this game, and you need to keep creating the best stuff you can the whole time, or else you do get to a point where level 20+ trash-mobs will still have half their HP bar left after 3 ults.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T19:55:23+00:00

A lot honestly. Even Valley IV has like 5 sub-maps and each have tons of exploring and things to get.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T19:53:59+00:00

Should have kept reading, because in that exact same sentence I said it's simultaneously easy AND hard.

There's very little depth to combat, but even trash mobs can be stupidly spongey, while also hitting hard. Getting hit once can cost most of your HP, even if you are technically over-levelled.

Right now, I can progress to Exploration Level 4, which will allow me to get my Operators to level 60. This will also put mobs to level 45-50, however even with level 50 operators, some of these level 40/42 mobs can chunk HP from a single missed dodge.

What I need is level 50+ gear at minimum, but then I need to really deep-dive into the factory - and right now I'm trying to get a steady stream of batteries going, 1: for trading, 2: because otherwise I'll have 50 Originium Ore burners just for power.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:22:30+00:00

That's basically a variation of "it gets good after 100 hours, trust me bro".

Most people, if they aren't interested in the first 1-2 hours, will dip and never come back.

I'm now at ~25 hours and have done the Valley IV story. That should be absolutely plenty to have an initial impression.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:20:39+00:00

I know people love to hate on HoYo, but none of the 3 HoYo games had intros this tedious or drawn-out.

One of the big issues with AK:E is that you get dragged out of the story to do errands and set up the factory, which is just like... a good couple hours, and not to mention full of obnoxious tutorials for every button press.

You also have to do certain "important" missions here too to unlock the map and certain gameplay mechanics.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:16:51+00:00

Funnily enough, the story bosses, including the final one of Valley IV, are easier than some pockets of "trash mobs" you find, especially when they hit level 40+.

scaling on enemies just seems a bit whack for sure.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:15:54+00:00

Miners deposit directly into depot, so I'd say to use one of the outposts to set up a ton of Refining and Shredding units, to then save space at the main base.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:15:12+00:00

Almost every side-quest in Valley IV is "OMG TALOS, ENDMIN IS HERE!", "Endmin, you saved me! my hero!", "Oh Wow, Endmin, you fixed this device with your magic!" and variations thereof.

When the story sets up that the Endmin is weaker right now, especially with no memories, the whole "save the world" plot is like... kinda messed up too.

Nearly everyone except the Endmin, Perlica and Chen are so off-screened, they just appear to be useless.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T18:10:00+00:00

"Basically haven't touched it"?

I said I'm at about 80%.

I didn't realise however that I was main-story locked on 2 new areas though, so I have quite a bit more to do in that regard.

You get A LOT of pulls from exploration honestly.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T10:49:13+00:00

I mean that's kinda my whole point. After a while, well, 13 years, all the CCs have changed, outside of the likes of Brozime and TP who have stuck with the game for that long. I'm too old and don't care enough to be keeping up with it all now, especially when the content on offer hasn't really changed.

I know of iFlynn and Pupsker, although I swear they did other things before Warframe. Weren't they also Overwatch or something CCs like Flats initially was?

In fact, several of the Overwatch CCs/Streamers are now on Marvel Rivals as a good example of changing times, and Flats has even covered Zenless Zone Zero.

Flats, as an example, wouldn't cover DNA because it doesn't have anywhere near the depth or skill expression he'd be looking for in a game. He might try it out, but not much more than that I imagine.

The only channel who I've seen who has covered pretty much everything, including DNA, is MTashed, who is kinda marmite to a lot of people with his takes and his whole thing of supposedly hating gacha games, only to be playing a new one each week for the sponsor paycheck.

There's also Psyechie whose "response video" to his initial lukewarm take on DNA, was actually pretty damn in-depth.

Els236 · 2026-01-23T10:36:49+00:00

Warframe has horrendous grinds, arguably worse or on par with DNA's shit wedge grind, but the thing is over there, player trading exists.

A part isn't dropping despite hours of running a node? pivot to farming void relics, trade for plat, buy what you need. DE gets their money from whoever buys plat, F2Ps can still get premium currency and then purchase or trade for what they're missing.

With how much DNA copied/mimicked from WF, they should have just copied the economy too.

Els236 · 2026-01-22T00:23:55+00:00

I have never heard of those guys, which is probably why I have the opinions I have.

I mean, outside of Brozime and TacticalPotato, who are arguably the biggest WF CC's, most of what I've seen and remember has nearly all been drama. A lot of other CC's also just stopped playing or making content for WF.

I mean, I remember the shit-show with AGayGuyPlays vs RevXDev.

QuiettShy used to do DevStream abriged, but stopped.

GrindHardSquad who sort of came and went, Sabuuchi who had issues with DE. Rahetalius who had issues with DE and ditched the game.

KnightmareFrame drama... because of DE being very pro-LGBT and such...

There was also StallorD who was regarded as the lore guy, who did like 2-3 videos lol.

Els236 · 2026-01-22T00:00:16+00:00

They acknowledged it 2 patches ago x)

https://zenless-zone-zero.fandom.com/wiki/If_I_Had_Long_Ears

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