Over the weekend, Warframe lead designer Scott McGregor sat down with Youtubers Quite Shallow, Tactical Potato, Brozime, and DkDiamantes to discuss the current state of the game, what Digital Extremes hope to do in the future and some very specific elements of the game that have been a concern for players.
A large portion of the conversation was dedicated to Railjack, the game’s recently added battleship portion that allows players to engage with enemies in their own attack ships. The last few additions to the game, namely Kuva Liches, Railjacks, and the Scarlet Spear event, haven’t quite landed the way players, or Digital Extremes themselves, had hoped, but according to McGregor, the developers are aware and are passionate about trying to repair and rebalance the elements that are dragging down the mode.
A plan is in place to release a series of updates, tentatively called Railjack Revisited, that will turn the mode from an also-ran addition to the game into must play content.
Some of the ideas that were discussed will go a long way toward making Railjack more engaging and exciting for players. There is a general hope that they can make the Railjack missions more “arcade-like,” making the ships move faster, hit harder, and feel more like the Tenno that pilot them. A better balance between the Railjacks and Archwings is also being worked on, as when the mode launched, many players found Archwings more effective, but a series of nerfs and rebalances left them in a very bad place. A full balance pass is planned to find a more comfortable fit between both systems, allowing players to make practical, tactical based decisions about what they do in the mode.
In-ship hazards like breaches, fires, and electrical shorts will be reduced in number but increased in severity. This will make them occurring an actual event that needs to be dealt with, not just something that feels like it had little impact. They are also looking at bringing in a Valance System, similar to the one for Kuva Lich weapons, allowing players to transfer stats from one gun to another, and improve on the ones that they wish to keep.
Intrinsics, a real sticking point for many players, are also going to get a rebalance. The conversion rate of XP into Intrinsics is going to be altered, making it much faster to farm Intrinsics and increase your relevant skills for the Railjack mode. Just about every aspect of the mode is getting looked at with potential changes on the way, from enemy spawns, to weapon stats, and how the Railjacks feel to fly.
While the bones of Railjack are sturdy, and it certainly adds something unique to Warframe, the potential the mode has to really set the game apart from its competitors sadly just hasn’t been realized yet, but it certainly sounds like Digital Extremes are not willing to let the content languish in its current state.
The important thing to remember about the conversation is that while it is a fantastic look into the design of Warframe, and the work that the team puts in to try and keep it all running, there is no guarantee that changes will arrive in the form that McGregor discussed. Things can and will change, but hopefully, all such changes will be for the better.
While there are no set dates for when Railjack Revisted, or whatever title it is released under, will arrive, it seems that there are going to be plenty of reasons to get excited when it does.
