History ScrappyMechanic / Warframe

** However, it remains in the form of objectives randomly changing into Extermination missions. Exterminations are often faster than the mission you were probably doing... but what makes this annoying is how often it pops up ''after'' all the objectives are done to make the missions longer, like right as you're about to head to extraction after a Mobile Defense, Sabotage or Capture.
* Knockdown in general is widely disliked because of the enormous length of time it incapacitates the player for. In a game where you can easily die from 2-3 seconds of sustained fire, being knocked down and unable for move for four or five seconds often results in death. This is made worse because the mods that allow knockdown resistance and improved knockdown recovery are both extremely rare, and often can't fit in a player's build beyond essentials like effective health and power boosts.

* Having to deal with [[HeroKiller Stalker]] when you're still a newbie. You'll be lucky to survive more than five seconds after Stalker starts moving.

* "Riven" mods are randomly-generated mods with powerful effects, that can only be used with one specific weapon. Players get one from completing the ''War Within'' quest, with more coming from Sorties, albeit at a low drop chance. However, these mods come with two problems: First, the player must ''unlock'' the mod's effects before they can use it. To do so, the player has to complete some randomized challenges with ridiculous (and often downright sadistic) modifiers; for instance, the player may have to complete a high-level Survival mission without killing a single enemy, or solo a high-level Interception without taking any damage, or capture a Sanctuary target without using powers or traps while wielding a Hobbled key. If you manage to cheese your way past the task, you face the second problem: the stats are completely randomized (including some with ''negative'' modifiers, or useless stats like Zoom for Sentinel weapons) and the mod can randomly attune itself to any eligible weapon in your arsenal beyond the one it was equipped to when it was unlocked. No worries though, you can re-roll the stats - you just have to collect a heap of a rare resource and complete a new challenge, whereupon the mod will completely randomize itself again. For bonus points, some players have exploited the randomization process to sell useless Riven mods to unsuspecting players at inflated prices, whereupon it will remain attuned to the ''seller's'' inventory for the purposes of deciding a new weapon.

*** As of The Duviri Paradox, a Legendary 3 player can reach daily Focus cap in less than 2 hours of Circuit without a lens, thanks to the common Thrax units that spawn there.

* The random, secondary incursions in Plains of Eidolon, that appears when you're free roam, prospecting, fishing, and scouring for materials in the Plains, brings to mind "Niko, it's Roman! Let's go bowling!", only here, Lotus gives you random missions (with smaller payout than accepting the bounty directly from Konzu), if you choose to time it out and not doing it, Lotus basically passive aggressively told you that [[YouBastard thanks to you, the enemy succeed in whatever things they done]]. It has since replaced by field communicator (in Plains, it must be discovered while in Orb Vallis, must be activated through a HoldTheLine section) which allow you to receive bounties without having to return to Cetus though.

* The bounties in Plains of Eidolon and Orb Vallis are generally this due to the strict time limit and different rules compared to usual mission, making it more easier to fail it if not careful. In each one of the open world plains, there is always an EscortMission from a randomly picked pool of the missions. In addition, some of the common missions include searching a certain radius of area for small cache crates IN TIME LIMIT. While at least the caches in Plains of Eidolon emits a yellow light and chiming noise, the ones in Orb Vallis only emits bright blue light and subtle beeping noise that can be easily drowned by the other noises. Mitigated after a certain update, when the time is low, the radius shrinks and some of the Orb Vallis cache gave chance to pinpoint the rest.

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immune to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via Void damage, there are some issues with this intended counter[[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a SquishyWizard character, 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to the relatively harder to modify nature of Amps, and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]]. Even then, the portion of the gameplay this change was aimed at (late/endgame players who can effortlessly steamroll 99% of the game's content) are typically dealing ''so much damage'' that the need to [[spoiler: use Void damage]] to crack Overguard is rendered moot by raw numbers.

* Kahl's Break Narmer missions are not the most popular due to [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent making you play as Kahl-175]], whose movement speed is much slower than that of the Warframes you've gotten used to by now (even his {{jetpack}} barely makes this better), but the worst aspect of his missions is undoubtedly the "scavenger hunt"-style optional objectives they often have. Since merely completing the mission on its own gives you nothing other than leveling up Kahl's Garrison (which is meaningless once you've maxed out its rank), you'll NEED to go out of your way to complete as many objectives as possible if you want to get anything of value out of them, since these objectives are the only way to earn Stock for the Garrison vendor. And, as mentioned before, Kahl is not very fast, which means that this scavenger hunt will force you to slowly lumber your way down long, long hallways in hopes that there's actually something at the end and not just an EmptyRoomPsych. This makes getting all of the Stock you can each week ''very'' tedious.
* Damage Attenuation, used by both Liches[=/=]Sisters and [[spoiler:Archon Hunts]]. The more hits you land on an enemy with a certain weapon, the greater resistance they will develop to that specific weapon. As a result, fast-firing or high pellet weapons are considered useless against them since the enemy can develop 90% resistance to it before you finish the clip. Thankfully this resistance is temporary, but still annoying.
* With the Duviri Paradox comes the Duviri Circuit missions, an endless stream of truncated missions such as Defense, Survival, Excavation, Exterminate and Void Flood. What pulls this into scrappy territory is the fact that your available loadouts are ''randomized'', and not from equipment you own either, ''every single piece of equipment available in the entire game.'' While on paper it doesn't sound terrible, but the only way to get the coveted Incarnon Adapters is to play the Circuit on [[HarderThanHard Steel Path.]] When the game will regularly hand you the hundreds of [[LowTierLetdown Low-Tier Letdowns]] that have no business ever seeing the light of day even outside of the Steel Path over anything remotely usable. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also you can't preview your choices before entering selection, nor can you reconfigure your mods at that point.]]

** What made this a nightmare was the addition of Steel Path Ropalolyst, since its shields increase with its level. Eidolons only had their level doubled on Steel Path to make up for the limited strength of [[spoilers:Operators]], while the Ropalolyst received the full +100 level bonus; clearing its shields just once can take ''upwards of 10 minutes'' with sustained fire from decent Amps, and players have to do that ''four times''.

** Somewhat mitigated by the introduction of Sanctuary Onslaught - said game mode only allows the usage of max-leveled warframes - that is, the ones which can have focus lens attached to them - and provides boosts to focus point acquisition, which scale as you go to more dangerous zones.

** One of the things that made the Eximus rework feel like a slap in the face was that Overguard has a built-in "vulnerability" to Void damage, once again trying to nudge players to use [[spoiler:Operators]] to clear the barriers. Except that Overguard ''scales with enemy level'' (even on Steel Path difficulty), while Amps have a linear progression on output versus weapons having ''cubic'' scaling (or more) just from mods, so even with the double damage against Overguard, an Amp made with the best parts usually won't outdamage fully-modded weapons. As a result, players rarely bother using Amps against Overguard, since it would be yet another unnecessary extra step.
** This becomes a case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor come Duviri. The second phase of the Orowyrm boss fight completely ''restricts'' the ability to use [[spoiler:Operator mode]], so players whose builds incorporate pressing 5 for healing, Focus boosts, or Void Mode are shit out of luck.

* Thermia Fractures are the Orb Valis equivalent of the Ghoul Purge. While they're slightly better than the Ghoul Purge (you get some nice mods and the Opticor Vandal as a reward for completing them), while they're active, Eudico ''will not stop telling you about them'' when you try to talk to her at Fortuna. This can be particularly grating because this takes priority over other greetings, including ''story important ones'', namely becoming Old Mate with Solaris United ([[spoiler:which ruins some of the power of TheReveal of Eudico's real face]]) and post-quest dialogue for The New War ([[spoiler:where she briefly discusses what it was like being under a Narmer Veil]]).
* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via Void damage, there are some issues with this intended counter[[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a SquishyWizard character, 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to the relatively harder to modify nature of Amps, and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]]. Even then, the portion of the gameplay this change was aimed at (late/endgame players who can effortlessly steamroll 99% of the game's content) are typically dealing ''so much damage'' that the need to [[spoiler: use Void damage]] to crack Overguard is rendered moot by raw numbers.

* After ''The War Within'', a number of mechanics and systems were added that required players to use their [[spoiler:Operator]] attacks or abilities for extended periods in order to deal damage or progress; however, [[spoiler:Operators]] were ''extremely'' fragile upon their introduction with only 100 baseline points of health, a weakness for fall damage, and an inability to attack while using their only defensive skill (particularly as their attacks initially used energy); compensating for such weaknesses would require ''months'' of grind and investment in specific Focus trees ''just to make them usable''. Until then, the result was often players pressing 5, getting a couple seconds of damage out and then being killed by a stiff breeze, which would them penalize the Warframe, ad infinitum until the Warframe was downed from too many stacks of Void Static. Particularly notable encounters include the Eidolons (whose shields and minions can ''only be damaged'' using [[spoiler:the Operator's]] beams or Amps while they fire out constant map-wide damage), quests like the ''Chains of Harrow'' and ''The Sacrifice'' (which feature entire boss fights where Warframes are not available), and the later addition of [[spoiler:Void Angels]] (which have a phase that requires players to sling around them with limited time to control their direction). While later patches would gradually improve this (the first Amps replacing their ammo pool and tripling their health alongside a selection of helpful Arcanes, and patches later on giving them a pool of shields as well), it left a bad taste in many players' mouths as they were still being ''forced'' to use the system to progress, while their investment in modded equipment was being deliberately pushed aside; the majority of a fight against an Eidolon is usually players trying to damage its shields using Amps for several minutes per phase, versus scant seconds of gunfire that destroy vulnerable sections in a couple hits thanks to Warframe damage boosts. Even in scenarios like fighting Vomvalysts or Thrax ghosts, skilled players only pop into [[spoiler:Operator]] for a couple seconds at a time, making additions that "require" it feel like a tedious extra step.

** One of the things that made the Eximus rework feel like a slap in the face was that Overguard has a "vulnerability" to Void damage, once again trying to nudge players to use [[spoiler:Operators]] to clear the barriers. Except that Overguard ''scales with enemy level'' (even on Steel Path difficulty) while Amps have a linear progression and a hard cap, so even with the double damage against Overguard, an Amp made with the best parts usually won't outdamage most weapons with staple mods. As a result, most players don't bother using Amps against Overguard.
** This becomes a case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor come Duviri. The second phase of the Orowyrm boss fight completely ''restricts'' the ability to use [[spoiler:Operator mode]], so players whose builds incorporate it for healing, Focus boosts, or Void Mode are shit out of luck.

** Overguard also further exacerbates the ComplacentGamingSyndrome of picking a Warframe with high durability/damage output along with weapons specialized in high-burst-[[AreaOfEffect AoE]] damage, as the crowd control immunity units with Overguard gain renders Warframes who are reliant on such abilities to survive unable to protect themselves (the Warframe impacted the most by this is [[SquishyWizard Limbo]], whose normally absurdly powerful defensive capabilities especially when it comes to defending stationary defense targets can be completely ignored by Overguard-ed units; most egregiously Eximus attack abilities can pass through the Rift Plane, potentially severely harming or downright one-shotting Limbo).
* Kahl's Break Narmer missions are not the most popular due to [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent making you play as Kahl-175]], whose movement speed is much slower than that of the Warframes you've gotten used to by now (even his {{jetpack}} barely makes this better), but the worst aspect of his missions is undoubtedly the "scavenger hunt"-style optional objectives they often have. Since merely completing the mission on its own gives you nothing other than leveling up Kahl's Garrison (which is meaningless once you've maxed out its rank), you'll NEED to go out of your way to complete as many objectives as possible if you want to get anything of value out of them. And, as mentioned before, Kahl is not very fast, which means that this scavenger hunt will force you to slowly lumber your way down long, long hallways in hopes that there's actually something at the end and not just an EmptyRoomPsych. This makes getting all of the Stock you can each week ''very'' tedious.

* Kahl's Break Narmer missions are not the most popular due to [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent making you play as Kahl-175]], whose movement speed is much slower than that of the Warframes you've gotten used to by now (even his {{jetpack}} barely makes this better), but the worst aspect of his missions is undoubtedly the "scavenger hunt"-style optional objectives they often have. Since merely completing the mission on its own gives you nothing other than leveling up Kahl's Garrison (which is meaningless once you've maxed out its rank), you'll NEED to go out of your way to complete as many objectives as possible if you want to get anything of value out of them. And, as mentioned before, Kahl is not very fast, which means that this scavenger hunt will force you to slowly lumber your way down long, long hallways in hopes that there's actually something at the end and not just an EmptyRoomPsych. This makes getting all of the Stock you can each week ''very'' tedious.

* The random, secondary incursions in Plains of Eidolon, that appears when you're free roam, prospecting, fishing, and scouring for materials in the Plains, brings to mind "Hey Niko, it's Roman! Let's go bowling!", only here, Lotus gives you random missions (with smaller payout than accepting the bounty directly from Konzu), if you choose to time it out and not doing it, Lotus basically passive aggressively told you that [[YouBastard thanks to you, the enemy succeed in whatever things they done]]. It has since replaced by field communicator (in Plains, it must be discovered while in Orb Vallis, must be activated through a HoldTheLine section) which allow you to receive bounties without having to return to Cetus though.

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via Void damage, there are [[FakeBalance some issues with this intended counter]][[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a SquishyWizard character, 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to the relatively harder to modify nature of Amps, and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]]. Even then, the portion of the gameplay this change was aimed at (late/endgame players who can effortlessly steamroll 99% of the game's content) are typically dealing ''so much damage'' that the need to [[spoiler: use Void damage]] to crack Overguard is rendered moot by raw numbers.

* Kahl's Break Narmer missions are not the most popular due to [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent making you play as Kahl-175]], whose movement speed is much slower than that of the Warframes you've gotten used to by now (even his {{jetpack}} barely makes this better), but the least popular aspect of his missions is undoubtedly the "scavenger hunt"-style optional objectives that missions often have. Since merely completing the mission on its own gives you nothing other than leveling up Kahl's Garrison (which is meaningless once you've maxed out its rank), you'll NEED to go out of your way to complete as many objectives as possible if you want to get anything of value out of them. And, as mentioned before, Kahl is not very fast, which means that this scavenger hunt will force you to slowly lumber your way down long, long hallways in hopes that there's actually something at the end and not just an EmptyRoomPsych. This makes getting all of the Stock you can each week ''very'' tedious.

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, [[spoiler: Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units]] are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via [[spoiler: Void damage]], there are [[FakeBalance some issues with this intended counter]][[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a [[spoiler: SquishyWizard character]], 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to [[spoiler: the relatively harder to modify nature of amps]], and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]]. Even then, the portion of the gameplay this change was aimed at (late/endgame players who can effortlessly steamroll 99% of the game's content) are typically dealing ''so much damage'' that the need to [[spoiler: use Void damage]] to crack Overguard is rendered moot by raw numbers.
** Overguard also further exacerbates the ComplacentGamingSyndrome of picking a Warframe with high durability/damage output along with weapons specialized in high-burst-[[AreaOfEffect AoE]] damage, as the crowd control immunity units with Overguard gain renders Warframes who are reliant on such abilities to survive unable to protect themselves (the Warframe impacted the most by this is [[SquishyWizard Limbo]], whose normally absurdly powerful defensive capabilities especially when it comes to defending stationary defense targets can be completely ignored by Overguard-ed units; most egregiously Eximus attack abilities can pass through the Rift Plane, potentially severely harming or downright one-shotting Limbo).

** Overguard also further exacerbates the ComplacentGamingSyndrome of picking a Warframe with high durability/damage output along with weapons specialized in high-burst-AoE damage, as the crowd control immunity units with Overguard gain renders Warframes who are reliant on such abilities to survive unable to protect themselves (the Warframe impacted the most by this is [[SquishyWizard Limbo]], whose normally absurdly powerful defensive capabilities especially when it comes to defending stationary defense targets can be completely ignored by Overguard-ed units; most egregiously Eximus attack abilities can pass through the Rift Plane, potentially severely harming or downright one-shotting Limbo).

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, [[spoiler: Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units]] are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via [[spoiler: Void damage]], there are [[FakeBalance some issues with this intended counter]][[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a [[spoiler: SquishyWizard character]], 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to [[spoiler: the relatively harder to modify nature of amps]], and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]].

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, [[spoiler: Kuva Trokarians and Thrax units]] are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContractualBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via [[spoiler: Void damage]], there are [[FakeBalance some issues with this intended counter]][[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a [[spoiler: SquishyWizard character]], 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to [[spoilers: the relatively harder to modify nature of amps]], and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]].

* Certain units, such as all [[EliteMooks Eximus]], Noxes[[note]]though upon breaking their helmet they lose it regardless of how much damage was dealt[[/note]], recipients of Ancient Healer/Corrupted Ancient buff, [[spoiler: Kuva Trokarions and Thrax units]] are in possession of a special kind of protection: Overguard. This health buffer renders the unit [[ContracturalBossImmunity immunity to crowd control]], and turns the otherwise fragile unit into a tank on par with their HeavilyArmoredMook companions, and the previously armored mooks [[FromBadToWorse even more durable]]. And while Overguard is meant to be taken down via [[spoiler: Void damage]], there are [[FakeBalance some issues with this intended counter]][[note]]1: This forces you into combat with a very strong and tanky unit with a [[spoiler: SquishyWizard character]], 2: The intended counter falls off hard in higher levels thanks to [[spoilers: the relatively harder to modify nature of amps]], and 3: It is unavailable prior to The Second Dream and inconsistently available prior to The War Within[[/note]].

* Thermia Fractures are the Orb Valis equivalent of the Ghoul Purge. While they're slightly better than the Ghoul Purge (you get some nice mods and the Opticor Vandal as a reward for completing them), while they're active, Eudico ''will not stop telling you about them'' when you try to talk to her at Fortuna. This can be particularly grating because this takes priority over other greetings, including ''story important ones'', namely becoming Old Mate with Solaris United ([[spoiler:which ruins some of the power of TheReveal of Eudico's real face]]) and post-quest dialogue for The New War ([[spoiler:where she briefly discusses what it was like being under a Narmer Veil]]).

* The token system for ranking up with the Entrati. The system is similar to Ticker's debt bonds, in that you trade Cambion Drift resources with Entrati family members in exchange for tokens, but the main difference is that giving the tokens to Grandmother is the ''only'' way to gain Entrati standing, as opposed to Solaris United, where the debt bonds are just one way to gain standing alongside all of the other activities in the area[[note]]However, the token system is not locked out upon hitting [AntiPoopSockingthe daily standing limit], meaning it is completely possible to grind out extra tokens for redeeming at a later time[[/note]]. This makes it ''extremely'' tedious to rank up with the Entrati, to the point DE had to release a patch practically the next day reducing the token requirements for each rank up to 1, and it's still a pain.

* The token system for ranking up with the Entrati. The system is similar to Ticker's debt bonds, in that you trade Cambion Drift resources with Entrati family members in exchange for tokens, but the main difference is that giving the tokens to Grandmother is the ''only'' way to gain Entrati standing, as opposed to Solaris United, where the debt bonds are just one way to gain standing alongside all of the other activities in the area[[note]]However, the token system is not locked out upon hitting [AntiPoopSocking the daily standing limit], meaning it is completely possible to grind out extra tokens for redeeming at a later time[[/note]]. This makes it ''extremely'' tedious to rank up with the Entrati, to the point DE had to release a patch practically the next day reducing the token requirements for each rank up to 1, and it's still a pain.

* The token system for ranking up with the Entrati. The system is similar to Ticker's debt bonds, in that you trade Cambion Drift resources with Entrati family members in exchange for tokens, but the main difference is that giving the tokens to Grandmother is the ''only'' way to gain Entrati standing, as opposed to Solaris United, where the debt bonds are just one way to gain standing alongside all of the other activities in the area. This makes it ''extremely'' tedious to rank up with the Entrati, to the point DE had to release a patch practically the next day reducing the token requirements for each rank up to 1, and it's still a pain.

* Experience as a whole. In order to fully complete a build for a weapon, you are required to level it up to its max rank of 30 multiple times. The intent is that you level to rank 30 throughout a variety of missions, but due to the experience system, this will take an outrageous amount of time unless you go to the few areas that are the specific XP hotspots. The game will only give you full experience for a kill with a specific weapon, which means you need to take a poorly-built weapon into a relatively high-level area if you want all the XP to go to it. Otherwise it gets split between your 3 weapons. this includes ''if every other weapon is maxed out completely and doesn't have a focus lens on it.'' Additionally, the gains you get in most missions are pathetic; you'd be lucky to get a single level per mission, even during something long or enemy-oriented such as exterminates. and in order to gain the maximum mastery level, you need to max out nearly every weapon at least once, even the starting weapons, and the early-game weapons. Making matters worse are the new Kuva weapons, the Paracesis, and the Necramechs, which gain 2 levels every time you forma it, up to a maximum of ''40''. The new levels also require massive amounts of xp to level.

* The token system for ranking up with the Entrati. The system is similar to Ticker's debt bonds, but you ''need'' to use the tokens to earn standing, as opposed to getting it from just doing bounties, trading resources, and so on. It is ''extremely'' tedious, to the point DE had to release a patch practically the next day reducing the token requirements for each rank up to 1.

* The Nightwave. Apart from the limited ways to earn standing points (complete the assigned tasks or hunt wandering [[DemonicSpiders Saturn Six Fugitives]] that often spawn during mission, with 50 to 100 standing for each fugitive captured in a standing that requires 10,000 to level up), it has since replace Alerts and all of its associated ways to gain the rewards, and the Wolf Cred you use to trade items can and will expire when the Nightwave event ends or replaced.

* Prior to the addition of The Quills, using Transference was often a miserable experience. Transference turns you into [[spoiler:a physically normal human teenager]], making you a total GlassCannon with a base health of 100, no armor, shields, or regeneration, and a sprinting speed that's barely faster than a brisk walk, which feels especially jarring when you're used to your Warframe bullet-jumping all over the map at borderline SuperSpeed. You have a move which turns you invisible and invincible, and allows you to perform a FlashStep, but it drains the same energy meter you use to attack. Thankfully, the addition of the Quills syndicate made Transference much more useful, as you can now equip an Amp which has its own ammo pool separate from Void Mode and Void Step's energy (and you get a free starter Amp just from visiting them once), as well as access to Arcanes which increase your durability somewhat.

* The new Nitain resource looks to be replacing Argon as the signature Scrappy Resource. While Argon decays if not used, it's at least easily farmable; Nitain ''only'' drops from daily alerts in limited quantities, and recipes that require it often require a large amount. The end result is effectively a time gate, as once you've cleared the current Nitain alert, you can literally do nothing but wait and try to catch the next one. Update 18.5 made it a potential bonus reward for finding all three hidden resource caches in the newly-overhauled Reactor Sabotage missions, but it has an abysmally-low drop rate of 0.67%, killing any chance of Sabotage becoming a viable source of Nitain.
* As part of the hype for Update 19, the devs hinted they would add a way for players to explore the value of their older, un-{{Power Creep}}ed weapons. Enter "Riven" mods, which can provide a substantial boost to one piece of equipment in your inventory. Players get one from completing the ''War Within'' quest, with more coming from Sorties, albeit at a low drop chance. However, these mods come with two problems: First, the player must ''unlock'' the mod's effects before they can use it. To do so, the player has to complete some randomized challenges with ridiculous (and often downright sadistic) modifiers; for instance, the player may have to complete a high-level Survival mission without killing a single enemy, or solo a high-level Interception without taking any damage, or capture a Sanctuary target without using powers or traps while wielding a Hobbled key. If you manage to cheese your way past the task, you face the second problem: the stats are completely randomized (including some with ''negative'' modifiers, or useless stats like Zoom for Sentinel weapons) and the mod can randomly attune itself to any eligible weapon in your arsenal beyond the one it was equipped to when it was unlocked. No worries though, you can re-roll the stats - you just have to collect a heap of a rare resource and complete a new challenge, whereupon the mod will completely randomize itself again. For bonus points, some players have exploited the randomization process to sell useless Riven mods to unsuspecting players at inflated prices, whereupon it will remain attuned to the ''seller's'' inventory for the purposes of deciding a new weapon.
** This extends In-Universe to the developers' case. Storing 15 player-generated mods may seem far-fetched at first, but considering that each Riven mod consists more data to hold, with no shortcut keys or even a base template that identifies the component stats that make up that mod. Now, multiply this sequence for over tens of thousands of players who actively obtain, remove and modify the mods hundreds of times every day. The results on the server which painstakingly works on this, with no storage limitations, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome will not be pretty]].

* Any mission that ''requires'' [[spoiler:Transference, aka Operator Mode. While players enjoy the utility that a free weapon brings in normal missions, and the Operator's attacks can purge the Stalker's or Sentients' damage resistances, some missions (like the Kuva Flood or ''Chains of Harrow'' finale) make the Warframe useless and force a transition to the Operator in order to progress. Problem is, unlike the Warframes, the Operator is essentially a human teen (with a few extra superpowers), a very vulnerable one. They have only 100 health, and no armor or health regeneration to speak of; they're so squishy they can take ''fall damage''. Their maximum sprinting speed is roughly equivalent to a brisk walk, and their only parkour maneuver equivalent consumes energy from the same energy pool needed to attack or defend[[note]]It is possible to mitigate two of these weaknesses, even slightly: The Quills in Cetus give upgrades that increase your Operator's HP to 250 and allow their basic attack to draw from a separate energy meter simply for visiting them.[[/note]]; this pool regenerates painfully slowly compared to the energy each ability consumes. Generally, it leaves the player with long periods of running frantically away from the fight while their energy regenerates, then burning it out in short bursts. Oh, and each time you die as the Operator, your Warframe loses 10% of its max health and receives a debuff to increase this damage for the next one.]]. On the other hand, the most commonly accepted strategies of using Transference are:
** 1: Because your Warframe is completely invulnerable during transference, use transference to hide, refill the shield, and striking void-element enemies. With the introduction of Mote Amp (that come with insane grinding), the Mote Amp must be levelled up using Operator's void beam.
** 2: As transference ''also'' can grant players invisibility, it's common to use it to heal downed teammates while invisible or to complete labyrinthine corridors of late game Spy missions while using equipments not tailored to stealth.

* As part of the hype for Update 19, the devs hinted they would add a way for players to explore the value of their older, un-{{PowerCreep}}ed weapons. Enter "Riven" mods, which can provide a substantial boost to one piece of equipment in your inventory. Players get one from completing the ''War Within'' quest, with more coming from Sorties, albeit at a low drop chance. However, these mods come with two problems: First, the player must ''unlock'' the mod's effects before they can use it. To do so, the player has to complete some randomized challenges with ridiculous (and often downright sadistic) modifiers; for instance, the player may have to complete a high-level Survival mission without killing a single enemy, or solo a high-level Interception without taking any damage, or capture a Sanctuary target without using powers or traps while wielding a Hobbled key. If you manage to cheese your way past the task, you face the second problem: the stats are completely randomized (including some with ''negative'' modifiers, or useless stats like Zoom for Sentinel weapons) and the mod can randomly attune itself to any eligible weapon in your arsenal beyond the one it was equipped to when it was unlocked. No worries though, you can re-roll the stats - you just have to collect a heap of a rare resource and complete a new challenge, whereupon the mod will completely randomize itself again. For bonus points, some players have exploited the randomization process to sell useless Riven mods to unsuspecting players at inflated prices, whereupon it will remain attuned to the ''seller's'' inventory for the purposes of deciding a new weapon.

* The token system for ranking up with the Entrati. The system is similar to Ticker's debt bonds, but you ''need'' to use the tokens to earn standing, as opposed to getting it from just doing bounties, trading resources, and so on. It is ''extremely'' tedious, to the point DE had to release a patch practically the next day reducing the token requirements for each rank up to 1.

** This extends In-Universe to the developers' case. Storing 15 player-generated mods may seem far-fetched at first, but considering that each Riven mod consists more data to hold, with no shortcut keys or even a base template that identifies the component stats that make up that mod. Now, multiply this sequence for over tens of thousands of players who actively obtain, remove and modify the mods hundreds of times every day. The results on the server which painstakingly works on this, with no storage limitations, [[RealityEnsues will not be pretty]].

* The Helminth Cyst. Released with the advent of Nidus, the Helmith Cyst manifests as a giant boil on the neck of your Warframe that can be popped in order to make a Kubrow variant called the Helminth Charger. What makes this a scraapy mechanic is 1) the cyst can spread randomly from player to player just by being in the same session 2) the boil cannot be hidden for and is literally a giant, oozing sore on the neck of your Warframe, ruining [[SeriousBusiness Fashionframe]] potential, and 3) you have to wait a ''week'' for it to get to full maturity before you can go through the Infested door on your orbiter to have it popped and the Frame permanently inoculated against it. And you have to do this for every. Single. Frame. As of writing, there are a total of 70 Warframes[[note]]Counting the prime variants, including Excalibur Prime and Excalibur Umbra.[[/note]], and that's not counting any duplicates you may want.

* Mastery Tests. On paper, it seems harmless: once your accumulated experience from leveling your gear reaches a certain threshold, you're allowed to take a special test that, when cleared, upgrades your profile emblem and gives you a slew of bonuses, such as an increase in capacity for mods, Void Traces and credits. The problem, however, comes with the fact that as the tests advance, the requirements start becoming increasingly specialized for specific play styles and builds that you may not actively use, most infamously the tests for Rank 9 and 19, which are strictly {{Stealth Based Mission}}s in a game where stealth has always been notoriously bug-ridden and luck-based. Even worse, rather than being optional challenges, Mastery Rank is required to wield the best weapons and access the late-to-endgame content, meaning you ''have'' to complete them otherwise entire gameplay portions will be locked off to you. Oh, and if you fail, which becomes increasingly common the higher rank you go, you have to wait ''exactly'' 24 hours before being allowed to try again. Most notoriously, Digital Extremes, while always willing to speak up and converse with the playerbase regarding literally anything else about the game, goes completely silent whenever the topic of Rank Tests come up, as if they are actively ignoring any and all critiques of the system and how archaic its become in recent years.

Videogame/{{Warframe}} has continually grown and updated, and with those updates bring many frustrating mechanics and additions (some of which have been phased out, thankfully). Ninjas may play free, but sometimes there is a price to pay.