Missions are the main game component in WARFRAME. Up to four players can participate in the same mission as a Cell to complete the objective(s), then extract themselves from the site with their Lisets.
Each mission has a specific pre-assigned objective, although secondary objectives or objective changes can occur during the mission (except in Assassination, Defense, Mobile Defense and Interception).
The playable area in missions are randomly generated using pre-designed rooms and halls commonly referred to as "tiles"; missions also have a chance to include environmental hazards.
Each mission is also populated by one specific enemy Faction, but it is possible for two different factions to appear in a mission and fight among themselves. Upon starting a mission, each player will be given Challenge Reward.
When attempting to join a mission online, players' total equipment rank (Weapons, Warframes, Companions etc.) will be calculated while finding a match, placing players in squads with similar rank points first, to reduce the chances of joining squads of new players/experienced players. This can be problematic for users with new or recently polarized equipment, as the game will consider you a slightly lower overall rank and may place you with similar players, possibly increasing difficulty.
You need to take note that if you stay long in a place in solo (needs confirmation if also works online) enemies will spawn more than the required to be kill, it came more known in the case of the Corpus.
Mission Completion
Completion of the objective and successful extraction gives the player bonus affinity, bonus credits, and the mission completion reward. It is necessary to complete the mission to retain items obtained during the mission such as mods, resources, and blueprints. Affinity is retained regardless of mission success, but bonus affinity will not be awarded for the cell if at least half of the remaining squad does not reach extraction. Disconnecting or quitting the mission will not award bonus affinity or credits either.
Hovering the cursor over a node will give a mission description, including:
- Map type - The type of environment expected; displayed as a picture. Different tile sets may have different conditions.
- Mission type - The type of mission expected.
- Faction - The enemy faction populating the mission. Not shown when there are multiple factions.
- Level - Range of the enemy levels expected. This is not true with Survival, Defense, Excavation, and Assassination missions where the boss scales depending on the player.
The mouse over will also reveal the user names of a solar landmark to honor "Grand Master" founders, shown in the bottom of the planet info box.
Planets have 12 to 26 missions displayed as nodes. Completing a mission will turn the node white and unlock other missions connected to it displaying them as blue nodes. Unavailable missions will be displayed as gray locks. The number of missions available to a player in a planet is given in the top right of the planet info box. Alert missions will only be viewable if the player has the node available, but can be seen in the lobby even when locked, and Nightmare Mode missions will only be available if the player has successfully completed every mission in the planet. Alerts will be yellow with an alert icon on them and Nightmare missions will be orange with a nightmare icon. Invasions will be red if the Grineer are attacking a Corpus region, and blue if the Corpus are attacking a Grineer region. A faction icon will be shown depending on the attacker. Infestation Outbreak Invasions are green and can occur on all planets except Mercury and Earth.
Mission Types
There are currently 19 types of mission in Warframe. Sometimes, a second mission type and/or Secondary Objectives will randomly be included, but will not be known or made available until the first mission is completed.
Trivia
- The missions are all named after real physical locations and objects that exist in the solar system as recognized by the International Astronomical Union.
- When multiple factions appear on the map, they are always hostile to one another.
- Raid has been removed and replaced by Survival as of update 10, due to player disinterest.
- Although most missions allow for up to 4 players to play, Trial and Cephalon Capture missions allow for up to 8 players to join.
- Some quest missions list the mission type as Salvage.
Bugs
- If the squad starts another mission before the player finishes loading from the previous mission, the player's weapons and Warframe will be unmodded.
