History of Gameplay Difficulty and the Elusive 'Endgame'

Showcasing DE's history with experiments for increasing gameplay difficulty and rewarding gameplay that can be repeated: the so-called 'endgame'. Note that instances of power creep are undocumented since meta loadouts change constantly and there are so many to account for.

Update 7.0 - Stormbringer

Update 7.x Weapon Balance March 22nd, 2013 - First weapon balance sweep

Update 9.0 - Vor's Revenge

Update 9.0 July 13th, 2013 - Nightmare Mode introduced

• Optional missions with increased enemy levels (by 10 levels) and gameplay modifiers.
• Can be accessed after completing all nodes of a planet.
• Rewards Nightmare Mode mods.

Update 10.0 - Shadows of the Dead

Update 10.3 October 9th, 2013 - Survival game mode changes

• Items awarded at 5 minute intervals are now shown in the HUD below the Lotus transmissions.
• Reward items now stack as you play - all rewards are given at the end of the mission.
• As you play and survive, you will receive items at these times:
  • 5m: Item from the first reward tier
  • 10m: Item from the first reward tier again
  • 15m: Guaranteed Void key (this is considered the second reward tier).
  • 20m, 25m, 30m+: Item from the third reward tier
• Void mission Prime rewards are awarded at 15 minutes only.
• Mission rewards are now split into three distinct tiers of enemy level, instead of being based on faction.
• Expect better rewards based on the enemy tier you are fighting:
  • Tier 1: Level 1-25
  • Tier 2: Level 25-45
  • Tier 3: Level 45+
• Void mission rewards are tied to the tier of the key.

—Update 10.3 patch notes

• Reward stacking in Survival missions and introduction to reward rotations (i.g. rotation A, B, and C) to this mission type.
• Mission/enemy level now determines what reward pool it will have, with higher-level missions supposedly drawing from a reward pool with better rewards.

Update 11.0 - Valkyr Unleashed

Update 11.0 November 20th, 2013 - Damage 2.0 introduced

New Damage Model 2.0! More information here: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/132366-information-on-damage-20/

—Update 11.0 patch notes

Update 11.2 December 4th, 2013 - Warframe armor buff

• Warframe armor buffs across the board so that no Warframe has base armor below 15.

Update 11.5 December 19th, 2013 - Enemy Level Scaling changes

Armour/Shield/Health/Damage curves have been modified. We've lowered the "bullet sponge" to high level enemies, but they now deal more damage. The armour curve was radically dropped. The health and shields curves dropped slightly as well. However, damage output went up.

—, Update 11.5 patch notes

Update 12.0 - Zephyr Rises

Update 12.0 February 5th, 2014 - Eximus units introduced

Enemy Leaders AI – specialized enemy types that spawn with improved stats and ally support abilities.

—Update 12.0 patch notes

• Tougher versions of their normal counterparts with an aura buff/debuff to allies/Tenno.

Update 13.0 - Dark Sectors

Update 13.0 April 9th, 2014 - Solar Rail (Dark Sectors)

New End-Game System - the Dark Sectors! The first of the end-game projects to ship, the Dark Sectors were an area of space once inhabited, cut off, that players can reconnect with by building Solar Rails! Building Solar Rails allows for expansion and dominance into the Dark Sectors of the Solar System.

—Update 13.0 patch notes

• Clans can build Solar Rails to be deployed in Dark Sectors and apply a ‍ Credits tax to players playing those nodes.

Update 13.0 April 9th, 2014 - Melee 2.0 introduced.

Update 14.0 - The Mad Cephalon

Update 14.0 July 18th, 2014 - Enemy health uncapped

• Enemies health is no longer capped at 65535.

—Update 14.0 patch notes

Update 14.0 July 18th, 2014 - Infested faction changes

• All Infested enemies have behavior changes to increase the difficulty in fighting them.

Update 14.0 July 18th, 2014 - Solar Rail Conflict introduced

• Player vs. player (PvP) game mode under the context of Clans battling over control over the Solar Rails of the Origin System.
  • Up to 4v4 PvP with AI teammates filling in empty player slots.
  • Sabotage and Defense game mode elements in PvP context.
  • System of increasing power as the match progresses through unlocking the effect of installed mods as you gain Affinity from defeating other players or objectives.
• Borrows elements of Invasion system where players can side with a Clan to reap rewards.

Update 15.0 - Archwing

Update 15.0 October 24th, 2014 - Removal of Warframe Ability mods

The former 4 Ability Slots have undergone the following changes:

• All Warframes have had 2 Ability Slots removed. Any Forma spent on these slots will be refunded.
• All Warframes have had 2 previous Ability Slots converted to be blank polarities (unless otherwise Polarized).
• All Warframes purchased or crafted moving forward will have their abilities automatically viewable in the Arsenal.
• Abilities are all unlocked as a Warframe is leveled up.
• Abilities are all ranked up as a Warframe is leveled up.

—Update 15.0 patch notes

Update 15.0 October 24th, 2014 - Defense and Interception stacking rewards

Defense and Interception Mission rewards now stack! This removes the "inventory checkpoints" every 5 waves in Defense -- it's all or nothing now. The Reward Rotation for Defense and Interception has also been changed (to be like Survival) as Stacking Rewards is now in place. The Rewards now rotate through the reward tiers.

—Update 15.0 patch notes

Update 15.5 November 27th, 2014 - Enemy Accuracy changes

Enemy accuracy will now be affected dynamically depending on what movements players are doing. Sprinting, sliding, jumping, and wall-running will all decrease enemies accuracy, and the faster you move the better that penalty becomes.

—Update 15.5 patch notes

Update 15.5 November 27th, 2014 - Infested faction expansion

• Brood Mother, Boiler, Tar Mutalist MOA, and Swarm Mutalist MOA units introduced.

Update 15.10 January 15th, 2015 - Overshields introduced

Overshields have been added to Warframe! Overshields are an extra layer of protection on your existing shield that must be destroyed before your Warframe’s shields can be damaged.

• Overshields can be obtained when using Shield Restore items when you are at maximum shield capacity. Overshields cannot be regenerated, and this extra protective shield is noted by a color change (purple) in the UI.
• Overshields have a cap at 1200.

—Update 15.10 patch notes

Update 16.0 - Sanctuary

Update 16.0 March 19th, 2015 - Solar Rails discontinued

Update 16.0 March 19th, 2015 - Trials (raids) introduced

• The Law of Retribution was the first one.
• New Arcane Enhancement rewards.
• Can only be completed once per day.
• Max 8-player and min 4-player game mode.

Update 16.0 March 19th, 2015 - Conclave introduced

• Player vs. player (PvP) game mode.
  • Capture the flag, free-for-all, and team deathmatch.
• Exclusive rewards through Syndicate system.
• Warframes and weapons have modified stats to be 'balanced' within the game mode.
  • Can only be equipped with PvP mods.

Update 17.0 - Echoes of the Sentient

Update 17.9.1 October 29th, 2015 - The Jordas Verdict

• Second Trial mission with new Arcane rewards.
• Has Archwing gameplay tied into missions.

Update 18.0 - The Second Dream

Update 18.0 December 3rd, 2015 - Focus 1.0

• New system that revolves around Operators.
• Resource sink to convert wasted Affinity to Focus points to spend on upgrading Operator abilities, Warframes, or weapons.

Update 18.0 December 3rd, 2015 - Revive 2.0

• Players now have 4 Revives available per Mission. Returning to your Landing Craft will refresh all Revives between missions.
• Players can no longer purchase Revives in the Arsenal.
• Revives used in Missions will have a small cost (approximately 10%) of experience for each Revive used. This is currently disabled, but will be activated in a future Update.

—Update 18.0 patch notes

Update 18.0 December 3rd, 2015 - Sorties introduced

• Series of three relatively high-level (levels 50-100) missions that each have a gameplay modifier.
• Reward after completing all three missions.

Sortie Missions are now available for all Tenno Mastery Rank 4 or higher!

• Sortie Missions are difficult endgame Missions for experienced Tenno that can be completed alone or with a group.
• Each Sortie Mission will have its own unique requirements or enemy modifiers, favoring Tenno that have a versatile arsenal.
• Players can access Sortie Missions through the Sortie Icon through the upper right hand corner of the World State Window in Navigation.
• Sortie Missions will change daily, and players must complete all three connected Missions to receive a reward from that Season's pool.
• Each Sortie Season will last for a period of 15 days before cycling in a new Season with an updated loot table.

—Update 18.0 patch notes

Update 18.5 March 4, 2016 - Warframe Ability Resistance and Immunity Changes for Bosses

Some Warframe Abilities can be broken down to 'do lots of damage in an interesting or stylish way', while others provide intense crowd control or essential AoE effects that can cripple or negate the opposition before they've had a chance to fight. It's an epic way to eliminate ground troops but against more notable boss-style enemies it can make a fight feel anticlimactic. On the other hand, a boss that's completely immune to Warframe Abilities can feel too strong -- almost unfair. What we want is a good middle ground – we also want things to be consistent.

If you have fought the Stalker post-Second Dream or his Acolytes on PC during Operation: Shadow Debt you may have already noticed that some Shadow units weren't affected by certain powers, and some were. It feels inconsistent, and that's because it is.

To help solve this problem we're going to slowly continue introducing Resistance and Diminishing Returns to of Warframe's notable bosses and boss units (example: Vay Hek and the Stalker). Currently there are some boss enemies that are just plain immune to certain powers. An example of this is Loki's Switch Teleport not working on massive bosses, simply because it'd break the arena, so an immunity of that nature would stay. Overall with Diminishing Returns, this doesn't mean that your Warframe powers will be completely ineffective against them, but instead the boss may have a heightened resistance to parts of it. For some Warframes it means using your powers as a valuable resource, while other more damage-oriented Warframes may not feel any change.

—Immunity Vs Resistance Dev Workshop post

Update 19.0 - (The Path To) The War Within

Update: Specters of the Rail July 8th, 2016 - Conclave rating removed

• Conclave rating was a numeric value that determines the 'power level' of a mod. A particular loadout can be arbitrarily restricted from being used in a special mission (e.g. Tactical Alerts) based on the conclave rating of the mods equipped on the Warframe and weapons.

Update: Specters of the Rail July 8th, 2016 - Nullifier Crewman changes

• Abilities will not affect players or enemies within a Nullifier bubble.
• Effects of an ability on both players and enemies will be removed when entering Nullifier bubbles.
• A Warframe's active abilities will be deactivated upon entering a Nullifier bubble.
• Projectiles spawned by an ability will be deflected when they encounter a Nullifier bubble. For example, Ember’s Fireball and Ash’s Shuriken will be deflected.
• Abilities that exist independent of their creator will not be deactivated if the Warframe enters a nullifier, but will be destroyed if touched by the bubble itself. For example, Frost’s Snowglobe will not disappear when Frost enters the bubble, but will be destroyed if the bubble comes into contact with the Snowglobe sphere.

—Update: Specters of the Rail patch notes

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Update 19.0 November 11th, 2016 - Endless Void Fissure Missions Changes & Additions

• Scaling rewards for Endless Void Fissures, including bonus Affinity, Credits, Resource, and Void Relic gain.

Update 19.0 November 11th, 2016 - Sortie Changes & Additions

Sorties were introduced in The Second Dream. They originally launched with 'Seasons' that rotated with set rewards. Since launch we iterated in several ways, including adding repeatable/non-repeatable rewards and more. Now we bring you more change with The War Within: Sortie Seasons are no more. We now have a set reward list of rewards that are always repeatable.

—Update 19.0 patch notes

• Riven Mods introduced into reward pool.

Update 20.0 - Octavia's Anthem

Update 20.0 March 24th, 2017 - Nullifier Crewman changes

Bow and Sniper lovers rejoice! A new strategy for annihilating Nullifiers is now available. Nullifier backpacks are now equipped with Projector Drones that are deployed overhead. These Projector Drones are the power source behind the Nullifiers' bubbles, and determine the growth, size, and vitality of the bubble.

—Update 20.0 patch notes

Update 21.0 - Chains of Harrow

Update 21.0 June 29th, 2017 - Dual-Wielding Thrown Melee And Secondary Weapon

• Buffs to thrown melee weapons across the board.

Update 21.0 June 29th, 2017 - Nox introduced

• Unique Grineer unit that has heavy damage reduction to bodyshots but headshots can only occur when helmet is broken.

Update 22.0 - Plains of Eidolon

Update 22.0 October 12th, 2017 - Eidolon hunts

• New avenue for obtaining Warframe Arcanes.
• Field bosses meant to be taken down by a squad.
• Repeatable until Plains of Eidolon is day time.

Update 22.0 October 12th, 2017 - Focus 2.0

• New Focus nodes and changes to existing ones in the context of Operator mode introduced in Update 19.0.
• Increased caps on Focus acquisition.

Update 22.0 October 12th, 2017 - Weapon Falloff and Sniper Combo Changes

With the release of Plains of Eidolon, most weapons will have a form of damage falloff added, to reduce their effectiveness at extremely long distances. But don’t panic! This damage falloff will only be noticeable at extreme ranges (greater than 300m). Across all of our current tilesets, we were unable to find an unobstructed line of sight longer than 300m, so that is the point at which damage falloff will start.

Based on our assessment of all existing procedural tiles we’re extra confident that our current tileset-based gameplay will be largely unaffected. It is also worth noting that snipers will be able to fire 600m without experiencing falloff, to give them more of a purpose in this wide open terrain where long range weapons should thrive.

—Update 22.0 patch notes

Update 22.12 February 9th, 2018 - Eidolon Gantulyst and Eidolon Hydrolyst introduced

Update 22.12 February 9th, 2018 - Weapons Stat Rebalance

We sketched out Mastery Rank groupings of 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15 for each weapon type with a minimum DPS and amount split between crit and status for each group. Using existing stats, weapons were sorted into the groups. If their stats were too high for their current MR it was raised along with any other properties to match.

—Update 22.12 patch notes

• Most primary and secondaries have been rebalanced based loosely around their Mastery Rank.

Hotfix 22.13.3 February 21st, 2018 - Beam Weapon Changes

Perfect accuracy and high fire rate is balanced by limited range and damage ramping up from 10% to 100% over 0.8 seconds when firing and decays back to 10% over 1 second after stopping. To help with ammo economy, Beam Weapons consume 0.5 ammo per trace - unless they are Flamethrowers.

—Hotfix 22.13.3 patch notes

• All beam weapons have been rebalanced based loosely around their Mastery Rank.
• Beam weapons can apply more than one status effect per second like other weapon classes.
• Damage ramp up added meaning beam weapons do not deal full damage until after a few hundred milliseconds.
• Beam weapons consume less ammo when being fired.

Update 22.14 March 1st, 2018 - Trials discontinued

Update 22.17 March 28th, 2018 - Kuva Guardian changes

As an overall change, Kuva Guardians are now easier to turn vulnerable, but will become tougher to kill once they are.

Previously vulnerability flow was:

• Operator Void Blast to stun, then Void Dash when stunned to disarm their Kesheg and turn vulnerable.

NEW vulnerability flow:

• No stun state required. Operator Void Blast OR Void Dash to disarm their Kesheg and turn vulnerable.

General Kuva Guardian Changes:

• Increased base Health from 300 to 400.
• Slightly increased the Fire Rate of their Twin Rogga.
• Guardian Health type is now in line with the rest of Grineer.
• Weaker against Heat and Viral but more resistant to Gas.
• Added a pulsing red glow around Kuva Guardians for a few seconds to depict when they are vulnerable (similar to the Teralyst).

—Update 22.17 patch notes

Update 22.17 March 28th, 2018 - Commander changes

We've all been in that sudden situation when you're Switch Teleported into an angry mob of Butchers happily thrashing at your face. Questions of 'how did I get here?', 'who done did that to me?' and 'why me, Lotus, why?!' are typically asked to oneself. The lack of warning or indication that a Commander Switch Teleport is about to occur can leave one confused and distraught, which is why we’ve made some changes to improve not only indication, but also ability to avoid!

• Increased the Commander Switch Teleport cast time to 2 seconds instead of being almost instant, and added a casting sound indication.
• Both Grineer Commander and his target will glow orange during his Switch Teleport cast.
• Bullet Jumping or dodge rolling can now break you out of the Switch Teleport. Previously the only way to avoid being Switch Teleported is to kill the Commander while he is casting.
• Switch Teleport now delivers a Knockdown Status debuff after being teleported (unless Modded to avoid or minimize Knockdowns).

—Update 22.17 patch notes

Update 22.18 April 20th, 2018 - Sanctuary Onslaught

• Endless game mode with arcade elements of killing enemies as fast as possible to progress.
• Normal and Elite versions with different starting enemy levels and rewards.

Update 22.20 May 17th, 2018 - Napalm and Rocket Bombard QoL Changes

• Nerfs to Napalms and Bombards.

Update 23.0 - The Sacrifice

Update 23.10 October 12th, 2018 - Arbitrations introduced

• Special alert that is a high-level (starting level 60-80) endless mission with a reward rotation ABCCC... (C repeating, unlike the typical AABCAABC...).
• Unique gameplay modifiers like no revives, Warframe and weapon boons (buffs), and Arbitration Shield Drones that make nearby enemies invincible until destroyed.
• Game mode changes to make mission harder (such as lowering the percentage of life support restored upon picking up a life support capsule during Survival).

Update 24.0 - Fortuna

Update 24.0 November 8th, 2018 - Bounty bonus objectives

• Completing optional bonus objectives during Bounties reward extra standing and an extra reward from the reward pool if all stages have their bonus objectives completed.

Hotfix 24.0.4 November 12th, 2018 - Orb Vallis enemy changes

Orb Vallis mission and Vox Solaris quest data showed that certain Terra enemy types were not on par with other Corpus enemies, causing an unintentional difficulty spike, especially noticed with lower level players.

—Hotfix 24.0.4 patch notes

• Enemy units on the Orb Vallis deal reduced damage.

Hotfix 24.0.10 November 21st, 2018 - New Elite Terra units on Orb Vallis

In Hotfix 24.0.4 we reduced the difficulty of certain Terra Corpus enemies to improve the balance between Orb Vallis enemies. This change came mainly from low level/newer players finding it difficult to proceed within Orb Vallis. We still want to bring a level of challenge to those that want to take on higher level Terra enemies, thus the Elite Terra Corpus enemies have been added! These level 30+ Elite variants have higher Health/Shields and hit with harder damage.

—Hotfix 24.0.10 patch notes

Update 26.0 - The Old Blood

Update 26.0 October 31st, 2019 - Grendel missions

• Experimental game mode to acquire Grendel's component blueprints.
• Player's Warframe and weapons will not benefit from mods with the exception of Warframe Augment Mods and Robotic Companion's precepts.
• Enemy level 40-45.

Update 26.0 October 31st, 2019 - Melee 2.9999

• Changes to Stances and improvement to flow of melee.
• Rebalancing of melees across the board based loosely around their Mastery Rank.
• Charged attacks reintroduced from Melee 1.0 in the form of heavy attacks that have scaling damage based on combo.

Update 26.0 Octover 31, 2019 - Kuva Liches

• New field boss that can use specific Warframe abilities.

Update 27.0 - Empyrean

Update 27.0 December 13th, 2019 - Empyrean

• Ground enemies have higher base health than normal counterparts but are sparsely encountered, making them tanky as a result.

Update 27.1 February 4th, 2020 - Enemy Alertness changes

NPCs now have about a second of delay before being able to perceive other players or NPCs that come out of invisibility, regardless of alert state. Previously, combat-state enemies would near instantly retarget in such cases. Seen in: https://www.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/ep76hd/can_we_add_a_very_small_delay_between_detection/

—Update 27.1 patch notes

Update 27.2 March 5th, 2020 - WARFRAME Revised

• Introduction of Shield gating.
• Shields have an innate 25% damage reduction.
• Status Effect changes and rebalancing.
  • Stacking procs have benefits.
  • Over 100% status chance has meaning.
  • Shotguns follow status chance calculations per pellet/bullet like other weapons (no more 100% status chance before multishot shenanigans).
  • Shotguns status chance per pellet buffed as a result.
• Self-stagger introduced to replace self-damage.
  • All AoE weapons have self-stagger if player is hit within the explosion.
• AoE weapons' explosion radii increased, but with damage falloff at edges of the explosion.
• Enemy Level Scaling changes.
  • Enemy armor scaling nerfed significantly.
  • Infested damage scaling increased.
  • All armor, shield, and armor scaling curves have an S-shape instead of being exponential.
  • For reference, at level 180, enemies will have about 3x less health, 3x less shields, and 2x less armor than before the update.
• Warframe armor buffs so that no Warframe has a base armor below 100.
• Enemy aimbot behavior reduced at higher levels.
• Grenade markers added and players now have the ability to destroy thrown enemy grenades.

Update 27.2 March 5th, 2020 - Elite Shield Lancer introduced

• Larger variant of its Shield Lancer counterpart with a full-body sized impenetrable shield, making it only vulnerable to explosives or from behind.

Update 27.3 March 24th, 2020 - Operation: Scarlet Spear

• Features scaling rewards based on performance in Railjack and Ground Missions.
• Warframe Arcanes available through Scalet Spear credit shop.

Update 27.3 March 24, 2020 - Status Effects on Bosses, starting with Kuva Liches

Based on feedback with the recent overhaul to Status Effects in Warframe Revised 27.2.0, the conversation of how Status Effects should react with Bosses or VIPS has started. Our first step down this road is starting with Kuva Liches. Currently, there are two special rules to this “Boss Status enabling”:

• No Status Effect will exceed a maximum of 4 stacks, with the exception of Impact which can stack up to 6 times.
  • Keep in mind there is a cooldown to how quickly you can stack up Impact Status Effects to avoid stunlocking the Kuva Lich.
• Radiation does not change the enemy’s Faction, and instead of increasing Damage done to enemies with stacks, it increases the Damage taken from enemies who have turned on him/her.

—Update 27.3 patch notes

Update 27.4 May 1st, 2020 - Changes to interactions with healing/damage reduction and Defense Objects

• Changes to how healing and damage reduction abilities interact with defendable objects as seen here.
• Healing sources that scale based on objective's health nerfed to only heal to flat amounts.

Update 27.4 May 1st, 2020 - Railjack Revisited (Part 1)

• Enemy tankiness in Empyrean reduced across the board.

Update 28.0 - The Deadlock Protocol

Update 28.1 June 11th, 2020 - The Steel Path

• Features level 100+ enemies with 2.5x more armor, shields, and health.
• Resources and Mod drop chances doubled as a small bonus.

Update 29.0 - Heart of Deimos

Update 29.0 August 25, 2020 - Heart of Deimos

• New armored Infested units, Deimos Jugulus, Deimos Saxum, and Deimos Carnis.
  • Immune to Viral procs.
• New ancient Infested unit, Deimos Therid.
  • Shoots orbs of cobweb that can slow down the player.
• New field boss unit, Necramechs.
  • Immune to status effects, has three small weak spots, and is able to make itself temporarily invulnerable.