Hello c/Warframe!
First of all, I want to make a big shout out to @[email protected] , whose effort in writing the Weekly Warframe Revisited posts here are what got me back into the game recently.
I just crossed something like 120 hours played (across many different attempts to “get into” the game over the last 10 years), which I know is peanuts compared to many folks, but it’s a significant personal milestone. It’s very rare that any game holds my attention for that amount of time, though full disclosure compels me to state that, prior to this latest interaction with the game, I’d wager I didn’t make it more than 10 hours in any of my previous attempts.
So, thanks to Keegen and their work here. I’ll speak for all of my fellow lurkers (what are they gonna do, post something to correct me? I think it unlikely lol) by saying we appreciate the effort you’ve put into preventing this community from stagnating.
In an effort to contribute, do any of you have any moments you’d like to share where Warframe made you do your best 
?
I’ll go first. Important to note 100+ playtime hours. I JUST discovered this week that the handful of mods I have in my inventory which affect multiple damage stats are rewards for Nightmare Missions. I’ve felt like my main frame’s power level had plateaued for some time, and routinely struggle to take on enemies in the 40-50 range on longer endless missions. Cue me learning that I’d been (intentionally) ignoring the mode which grants the exact sort of reward that breaks a build through to that tier of content, and cue my Picard impression.
Oh hell. I’m learning from your list that, while I may have thought that I was solidly in the mid game at this point, the rabbit hole goes ever deeper. I only vaguely recognize like half of the mechanics you’ve mentioned lol. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you were talking about some spin off title that I hadn’t been aware of. Like how a Diablo player might feel if they accidentally wandered into a thread talking about Immortal.
It’s incredible to me just how expansive the game is.
It only gets better. 120-ish hours is where I’d expect the game to start really opening up for you, assuming you’ve been making progress on the star chart and mastery ranks. 😄
As you can tell, there are many foot-guns and opportunity costs in this game. If you aren’t playing under someone else’s guidance, I recommend finding a mentor, else you risk making the same expensive mistakes that I (and many others) have made.
You’re probably right. I’ve been avoiding getting into the weeds on stuff with this game, because that’s been a barrier that I’ve bounced off of and out of the game many a time previously. I want to drink from the fire hose, but ultimately it becomes overwhelming and I cease to enjoy the experience while becoming hyper aware of the grind. However, you’re correct to counsel that it would be just as disappointing to “waste” hours worth of effort on a suboptimal outcome due to ignorance.