It’s funny how certain things I learn and experience in gaming remind me of old posts. Some are word for word suggestions and ideas I made in the past (such as having WoW armor switch stats on specialization switch which I suggested almost a decade ago – you are welcome) to my ire that people who add extensively to a game through volunteer modding or UI enhancements should get paid. WoW is another good spot for this as in the past (and present) you can’t even play the game right without the third party community made mods as support. Blizzard should pay those people. They don’t, but still. If your game is infinitely better by someone in the community putting their time and resources into something that saves you from spending your time and resources, you should find a way to reward them. Even notionally.
Enter, my darling Warframe, and the Tennogen program.
All of those items are community created. There is a whole sub-section in the marketplace with dozens of items made by, and for the community at large. Here is a second screen to show some other really good work. I’m really impressed. That Excalibur unicorn *ahem* helmet is cool beans. I don’t have Excalibur yet, but can see myself rocking that helm at some point in the future.
Mesa is a Warframe I have had my eye on for a while – I have a bunch of star chart to unlock before I can even think about grinding for her. The one issue I have with Warframe is that while the frames themselves are so varied you have no clue whether or not you will really like one until you play one. And you can’t play one until you unlock them. That takes time, money, and commitment. They do have a “testing” room for challenges to move up a level and I think it would be a good program to run that you can try out a Warframe in that testing environment to see what you like. I bet it would lead to more unlocks. Back to Mesa, I absolutely LOVE the Tennogen Dead Eye Helmet option. It’s got a futuristic eyepatch and everything:
I have that one on my Wishlist. The price for these items seem to be set at $6.49 CAD of which the creator gets half. With millions of players in Warframe there is an opportunity here for content creators to make some decent dough if they hit the right notes on look and feel. Of course, a lot has to line up to make that happen but even if the sales hit the 1000s it’s not a bad side income. I haven’t found any statistics on the programs yet to know how sales are actually going.
Not sure what it is about Horns on robots that I like so much but here is another standout that I chose as a personal favourite. Keep in mind everything is still customizable on color and I think I appreciate how they give shape to the ‘faces’ of these bots. I love the detail of the white glow dots on either side of the horn as you can customize those to be any color and I can envision that looking wicked if you went with a contrasting instead of complimentary glow.
Another Warframe I don’t own but appreciate the look of this helmet. Funny this (and the Harka Frost Skin I have) give earrings to the frames. I have seen a few others as well. They are also animated – so they swing back and forth and sway when you turn your head or body. The level of detail is quite impressive.
I have never been a cosmetics guy. In games that have that option – which are more and more of course – I tend to find an outfit I like and just keep it and upgrade everything into that look. It’s simple. I have never once spent real money on in game cosmetics but I am pretty confident once I settle in on a favourite Warframe or two that I will definitely explore custom options. Bonus is that I can support both Digital Extremes and player content creators at the same time. It isn’t hard to get behind that.
(As always, you can click on a picture to get it in grander detail and higher resolution – it will open it in a new browser)