Promotional Material for the Founders Program, featuring Excalibur Prime, the Lato Prime, and the Skana Prime.
Founders are users who purchased special Founders Packages as a form of funding Warframe during its early days. These packages included Platinum, Prime Equipment unique to the program and other assorted benefits. The Founders program began on December 19, 2012 and ended on November 1st, 2013.
If you are a founder and have an account on the Warframe Wiki, you may have your badge applied to your user page.
Please note that most of the bonuses associated with the Founders program are no longer obtainable.
Founders Program
When the program was active, there were 4 packages available for purchase, with each package granting more and more bonuses with increasing cost. Players who purchased a package could also opt to upgrade to higher package tiers if they so desired. The package tiers, bonuses, and costs are listed below;
| Disciple | Hunter | Master | Grand Master | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 370 | 1220 | 3210 | 8875 |
|
Badge |
|
|
|
|
| Excalibur Prime | - | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Skana Prime | - | - | ✔ | ✔ |
| Lato Prime | - | - | - | ✔ |
| Design Council | - | - | ✔ | ✔ |
| Solar Landmark | - | - | - | ✔ |
| Price: USD | $20 | $50 | $100 | $250 |
| Price: Euro | €18 | €45 | €90 | €225 |
| Price: GBP | £14.99 | £32.99 | £65.99 | £165.99 |
The following things listed below are exclusive to the Founders Program. Unless otherwise stated, none of these things will be re-released in the future.
Badges, Emblems, and Sigils
Each Founder Package came with a relevant Badge that is visible in the bottom right corner of the player's Forum avatar to indicate the player's chosen founder package. Additionally, players also acquired the badges as equippable Emblems or Sigils. All preceding lower tier Sigils and Emblems are also unlocked for in-game use.
Prime Equipment
Available from the Hunter Tier and onwards, the Founders Packages were the only way to acquire Excalibur Prime, the Skana Prime, and the Lato Prime. One piece of Prime equipment was added with each successive tier, beginning with Excalibur Prime. Additionally players who purchased those tiers were also rewarded Excalibur Prime Glyphs.
Closed Beta Keys
Available from the Hunter Tier and onwards, Closed Beta keys were distributed to in order to invite other potential players to participate in Warframe's Closed Beta. Additionally, if the player had yet to access Warframe's Closed Beta, purchasing a Founders Package would instantly gain access to it.
Design Council
Available from the Master Tier and onwards, players would gain access to the Design Council subforum, which is normally hidden to other players. Players who have access to the Design Council Subform can vote on designs, features, and names in the game. The Development Team is significantly more involved in the design council subforum than they are with the rest of the forum at large. Players also gain access to the Council Chat tab, allowing them to communicate with other Design Council members in-game.
Unlike most of the things listed here, access to the Design Council wasn't limited to the Founders Program; at the end of each month, the Development Team will invite up to 25 players to the Design Council via forum inbox messages. To be eligible for an invite, players must have a Mastery Rank of at least 5, no reports of Griefing or forum warning posts, and overall quality of forum contributions. This opportunity is available for players on all platforms.
Solar Landmark
Exclusive to the Grandmaster Tier, The Solar Landmark was a text ticker displayed below the description of a given mission node, featuring the original names of those who purchased the Grandmaster pack. Since Lua error in Module:Version at line 109: p._getVersion(name): Version name or alias"Update: Specters of the Rail" not found (add to Module:Version/data if needed)., featuring an overhaul of the star chart's interface, a memorial has been set up in the relays instead, displaying their names, although without connection to the selected mission. There is an average of about 32 names per node. Players can still see the mission node that a founder selected on their profile. Before the overhaul, the player could've navigated to their own Solar Landmark and selected the relevant mission node, after which the Lotus would've said one of the following messages:
- "Now the Tenno are stronger by your hand, Grandmaster."
- "The Lotus is pleased to be in the presence of a Grandmaster."
- "We are in your debt, Grandmaster. Thank you."
- "The Tenno have gained great strength thanks to you, Grandmaster."
- "With your support Grandmaster, the Tenno will rise again."
Extractor Cap
Beginning with Update 11.5 (2013-12-19), all Founders regardless of package tier can deploy one more Extractor. This cap increase stacks with the cap increase from Prime Access purchases.
Trading Cap
Beginning with Hotfix 11.1.1 (2013-11-28), all Founders regardless of package tier are given two additional Trades per day.
Availability
The Founders program began on December 19, 2012, and was supposed to end on March 16, 2013, before the game transitioned to Open Beta. However, it was extended partly to allow new users brought in by the game's Steam release to be able to purchase it, but also to give the developers more time to refine the Prime Access program. The Founders Program officially ended on November 1, 2013.
Special Gifts
Copy of the email sent by DE to Founders about the special gifts.
Before the program ended, all Founders received additional gifts from Digital Extremes. Disciples and Hunters received a Warframe-themed headband while Masters and Grand Masters received both the headband and a limited edition T-shirt. Founders were required to fill out shipping information on this form before 9 AM EST November 18, 2013 otherwise they would not receive their gifts.
The following regions are known to have received their T-shirts and headbands:[1]
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Brunei
- Brazil
- China
- Chile
- Canada
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Malaysia
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russian Federation
- Serbia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- Thailand
- UK
- Ukraine
- US East, West, and Central