One of the biggest and most long-awaited updates for Warframe, the Duviri Paradox update, is finally going to be coming soon. Megan Everett, Warframe’s Community & Live Ops Director, sat down SegmentNext for an interview where they answered a lot of questions about what the mode will be like when it finally launches.
The Duviri Paradox has been generating a good amount of buzz for something announced several years ago. According to the devs, the excitement of it finally arriving has apparently resulted in a slight jump for Warframe, including a spike of old players coming back.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any solid numbers to share today, but we do see lots of old players coming back to catch themselves up! A lot of familiar faces and new faces which is always exciting to see. With The Duviri Paradox being our most accessible update ever, it’s the perfect time to dust off that Orbiter.
One of the biggest surprises in the Duviri Paradox is that, unlike previous Warframe game modes, this one will actually include roguelite elements, which is actually a genre that many developers at Digital Extremes are apparently fans of. Thus, with Warframe’s usual mission conditions, the devs say that it’s only natural that the players adjust to such things. While explaining the motivation and inspirations behind Duviri, the Megan explained:
A lot of developers at Digital Extremes are fans of roguelite games! When we were discussing all the many things we could bring to this Update, we kept coming back to a version of a roguelite experience. We asked ourselves if we could implement something that allowed the players to have temporary choices to bring their insane power fantasies to life – and now we have Decrees! With Warframe being a 10+-year-old game, the players are no stranger to the balancing song and dance we must do in order to maintain an even playing field. Duviri will allow them to achieve that temporary power fantasy in each Spiral, perhaps experimenting with different Decree combinations, and then having it all reset when the Spiral switches over.
However, even with so many older players coming back and the new mechanics for Warframe, Digital Extremes has maintained that Duviri Paradox will be a good starting point for new players to take part in, not an easy task for a decade-old game that has had a lot happen in its story.
Yes it does! The Duviri Paradox Quest has become an entirely new beginning path that new players can choose. For players who have already started their journey in Warframe, The Duviri Paradox Quest can be accessed at ANY point, regardless of where you are in the lore. The choice is completely up to you when in your journey you want to experience this Paradox.
Unlike other updates where the various expansions came through missions and quest chains, along with three different open areas, the devs say that the Duviri Paradox is different, not only because of its landscape with floating rocks and the Undercroft areas, but also because it’s persistent.
Unlike other open landscape cycles, Duviri has a persistent state of side objectives, resources, etc. Meaning, each time you enter Duviri these interactive options remain intact regardless of the current active Spiral. Duviri is unique compared to our other open landscapes due to its various floating islands and Undercroft space.
Fans have been curious if they will be able to play as their Operators in The Duviri Paradox instead of alternate timeline Drifters. We asked if Digital Extremes plan to converge the timelines for both Drifters and Operators and Drifter timelines could converge in the game to which Megan replied:
We tend to never-say-never, but for now, their origin fighting is separate from a story point-of-view. The New War showed how both Eternalism timelines converge eventually, but there are lots to be explored still!
So for the time being, Drifters will be the only option for players in The Duviri Paradox which could be disappointing for a lot of players. That could however, change in the future but nothing is official for the time being.
As you might already know, Digital Extremes is also working on Soulframe which is a fantasy based MMO based on melee combat. Since The Duviri Paradox also have a lot of emphasis on the melee combat, we asked if it’s something related to Soulframe.
Soulframe and Warframe are 2 different games in their own way, and the development team is keen on keeping them that way! The Duviri Paradox really came from a place of inspiration from our own favorite games and experimenting with how weird we could make Duviri while still maintaining the essence of Warframe. Soulframe is still in early development, and the team is really excited to challenge themselves in a slower-paced methodical fantasy world.
Being a game mode with roguelite elements, Digital Extremes has said that there’s also a great amount of enemy variety that’s separate from what we know from normal Warframe gameplay, though some things will be consistent across multiple runs, along with telling us some things about the Orowyrm, a major enemy in the mode. And yes, fans will be able to fight it.
Yes, the Orowyrm is indeed a boss that you will have to overcome in each Spiral, with each Spiral having a respective Orowyrm that is unlike the others. The enemies in Duviri vary from elemental imbuing Heralds, to calculated Archers, to big hammer-swinging threats, and more! The shadows lurk some enemies as well!
Along with the Duviri Paradox being released, however, a large number of players are also curious as to the status of cross save, for the game. However, Digital Extremes is aware of this, and has answers for it, too.
It’s definitely a priority for us. With Cross Play having launched last December we’ve shifted focus to Cross Save and the many challenges a 10+ year-old game faces. Currently we’re hoping to do something similar to Cross Play where we released small stages of the system to test functionality of its many moving parts.
Even though The Duviri Paradox hasn’t even released yet, Digital Extremes is also looking forward to the mode’s future, particularly in how to add more features to increase the mode’s variety.
We have things in motion for a 1.1 Update after The Duviri Paradox. Gardening for example is one of those features we’re working on. Decrees will also be a feature we continually add to to maintain the possible variety players can work towards in their Duviri sessions.
And if you’re still missing traditional Warframe gameplay but don’t want to go back to the main mode, Duviri’s Undercroft mode will let you scratch that itch for a while, according to the developers.
Correct! The Undercroft is all about the player versus the enemy in familiar endless gamemodes such as Survival, Excavation, etc. The upper world of Duviri is predominately Drifter gameplay with snack of Warframe gameplay when you reach that level. It’s full of side activities, mini-games, puzzles, Drifter combat, and of course, flying horses.
Warframe’s Duviri Paradox expansion will be releasing on April 26, only a week away, so if you’re excited about one of Warframe’s most ambitious modes yet, you won’t have that much longer to wait for it.
