Warframe has itself a look. It's all slimy, fleshy edges and organic industrial complexes—like if H.R. Giger designed Alien's Nostromo instead of the dripping xenomorph that stalked its bulkheads. I love it, personally, and few of the high-speed looter shooter's character classes, the titular warframes, embody that meat and metal design like Hydroid.

Hydroid was first released in 2014, with abilities that let him crowd control enemies and move around quickly as a surge of water. The slippery devil recently got a series of ability tweaks, coinciding with the release of a juiced-up variant called Hydroid Prime. Prime hunting—running missions to earn the loot needed to construct the more powerful version of each frame—is a key part of Warframe's endgame, so it's usually an exciting excuse to revisit old, favorite classes. Until a total rebirth in an August patch, that wasn't the case for Hydroid.

Prior to his rework, Hydroid was very few people's favorite anything. Which is a crying shame: the bedraggled, tentacle-faced mech who summons swarms of liquid tendrils from tears in reality has always dripped with visual flair and personality. Hyrdoid's personality simply never applied to the way most people play him. That basically amounted to strapping on a loot drop-enhancing mod and spamming the aforementioned swarm ability to farm crafting materials.

Hydroid, who looks like a chubby robot Cthulhu and melts into puddles, always deserved a gameplay identity as interesting as his aesthetic one. Thankfully, last month's rework offered just that, and I've been having a blast with it.

Chief among the changes is a charge system on half of his abilities. Hydroid is the first frame that can wind up techno-spells, at the cost of extra mana, for increased damage and duration. That's critical for his liquid airstrike skill, Tempest Barrage, since it can also be modified to reduce the armor of every enemy standing in it (a tremendous boon in Warframe's high-end PVE). The skill's damage output was previously a joke compared to the game's myriad offense-focused frames. Now it's a more useful support skill that sets up kills on beefier targets.

Meanwhile, developer Digital Extreme's has leaned into the character's "terror from the deep" vibe even further. When Hydroid becomes a living lake, using the skill Undertow, he can launch individual tentacles from a distance to drag foes into his mass, rather than just wait for them to walk into the trap. Trapped enemies are slowly drowned with ever-multiplying damage. Undertow can also be exited and re-entered at any time using Tidal Surge, which transforms the hero into a rushing tidal wave that drags enemies along.

I've taken to dragging enemies into place with Tidal Surge, dividing them with Undertow, then hammering their armor off with Tempest Barrage. The slick, crowd controlling combo makes Hydroid unique among his peers. While most classes in Warframe have some crowd control, few focus on it entirely. 

Hydroid now fits that manipulative niche. He gives fellow players in the co-op heavy game more breathing room: room to slide, wall-run, double-jump, and glide their way into clones and monsters just begging to be slapped to death by weird, electrified nunchaku. Or... what have you.

It's fun to do, too. As Hydroid I can endlessly flow from one skill to the next. It makes carving up the battlefield feel seamless in a way that certainly wasn't possible when the class was nothing but a glorified tentacle turret. 

That's good for a game that could sorely use a more diverse supporting cast. Warframe's sole "true" support class, Trinity, currently dominates demand. The recruitment channel is always slammed with people urging Trinity players to come restore their health and mana for free. Those that don't support probably play one of Warframe's many one-android armies, like Nidus or Inaros. These popular archetypes eat damage and spew back more of the same.

Digital Extremes loves to pile on more and more things for players to do within Warframe—such as the rapidly approaching Plains of Eidolon update, which promises "open zones," surface-to-jetpack combat, and spindly kaiju battles. But Digital Extremes isn't always as good at implementing new methods to play that content, which is what makes Hydroid such a great rework for Warframe as a whole.

With loot as their prime motivator, Warframe players naturally gravitate toward what gets them the best stuff most efficiently. So, plenty of Trinity players are happy to grease strangers' wheels. It gets them what they want, too. It also makes Warframe's sprawling selection of mission types feel awfully similar over time.

The improved Hydroid offers a new angle of attack. You can use skills much more efficiently when enemies are hung up on cosmic tendrils, drowning in robo-juice, or bunched up for grenade fire. Nothing gets my mental gears turning like the possibility of new weapon and skill combos that feed into that same thirst for efficiency as optimizing the loot grind.

At the same time, nobody is sacrificing Hydroid's original selling points. He's still good at farming drops and materials. In fact, crowd control is put to best use on the endless, wave-based missions where farming in Warframe is most popular.

He still looks good, too. I personally prefer the giant arthropod look of his original design, but Hydroid Prime's more piratical bent isn't too shabby. Just as long as I can still equip him with the helmet that gives him a cute little anglerfish dangly, I'm happy. More importantly, he looks cohesive with his new kit. All those wiggly tentacles and blubbery protrusions communicate his lurking, scheming nature before you've even taken him for a spin.

It all works in concert to make a warframe that feels different to inhabit than any other—one that will hopefully open up new cracks in the Warframe formula. The biggest reason I've been able to devote more than 800 hours to the shooter is precisely because it can feel so different from login to login. Warframe will likely never stop bolting flashy new systems onto its existing skeleton. However, if Hydroid is any indication, it seems the game can just as deftly improve the subtler, more common ways I shake things up between sessions.

Digital Extremes has released a new teaser showcasing some of the environments and action from the upcoming Warframe expansion Plains of Eidolon, which will see the launch of the game's first large, open-world "landscape." Players on the Plains will be confronted with new and old creatures and enemies, a brand-new Warframe, a day/night cycle, and "a gripping story told through interactive NPC characters who inhabit the bustling scavenger city of Cetus." 

Warframe: Plains of Eidolon will also see the introduction of the Ostrons, who scavenge biomechanical tissue from Orokin Towers, and new mission types that will enable the discovery and construction of new weapons, Warframes, and other items. "Experience a bristling new world where the wind rustles across your Syandana and the age and size of giant Orokin structures ominously looms in the background," the studio promised. "Earth will be more alive than ever before." 

We took an up-close look at Plains of Eidolon back in July, and spoke with the studio about what it has in mind for the expansion and how it expects the game will be changed once it's live. More recently, we got the details on the monstrous Eidolons that give the expansion its name: "Ten-story-tall behemoths that emerge at night to stomp across the plains." 

Today was also the day for Warframe devstream 98, which includes details on the upcoming changes to focus and a hefty chunk of Plains of Eidolon pre-release gameplay. You can watch the whole thing below, and catch the follow-up AMA on Reddit.

Later this year Warframe is getting an update that looks to fundamentally shake up the endgame. Players will head out onto the Plains of Eidolon, an open-world zone full of quests and enemies to kill. Among the most intimidating of those are the Eidolons—ten story tall behemoths that emerge at night to stomp across the plains.

We spoke with Digital Extreme's live ops and community producer Rebecca Ford to get the details on what these things are and how to kill them. Swapping between your operator and warframe, players will need to juggle between the two to create opportunities to open the Eidolon's up for some damage. While they could theoretically be soloed, you're better off bringing a team to help you in the fight.

Check out the video to get more details on the Eidolons and check out the rest of our continuing PAX West 2017 coverage here.

Warframe's second annual TennoCon convention is today, and developer Digital Extremes had some exciting news about its next big update. Titled Plains of Eidolon, it will add the game's first large, open world area called a Landscape. Unlike Warframe's regular procedurally generated levels, Plains of Eidolon will be a hand-crafted environment complete with a day-night cycle and an NPC town called Cetus where players can take on quests.

In a similar style to the first Guild Wars, an instance of Cetus will support up to 50 players, before you then venture out in the usual groups of one to four. Even still, this is a massive shift in the typical gameplay loop of Warframe. Staying loaded into an area to take quests wasn't possible before, making the game closer to a traditional MMO than it's ever been.

You'll even be able to seamlessly equip your Archwing and fly around to support allies from above, which you'll likely need to do come nighttime. While you fight the more traditional Grineer during the day, enormous creatures called Eidolons roam the plains at night—another first for Warframe. There's a lot going on in Plains of Eidolon (including a brand new weapon crafting system, as well) and Digital Extremes tells me more Landscapes could come if players end up liking them.

I put some questions about both the intent and the specifics behind this update to Digital Extremes' Live Ops and Community Producer, Rebecca Ford. Read on to hear more details about Plains of Eidolon and the new direction Warframe is heading.

PC Gamer: How large is Plains of Eidolon relative to other Warframe maps?

Rebecca Ford: Something we worry about constantly is how to keep things fresh after four years, not fall into a comfort zone, and to continue to take risks. We built Warframe with a procedurally generated map system that encompassed indoor and outdoor closed environments to help elongate play and keep players entertained while we continue building new content.

Now, we're introducing Landscapes for the first time and in its first iteration in Warframe. Landscapes is what we call an open zone, not quite the size of what you'd expect of open world in other games but still sizable, that offers a new kind of player freedom through interaction with NPC characters, flying over the plains using your Archwing, encountering new enemies during the day and at night. It's our first introduction of this new mechanic so we're nervous but really excited to see how players react and will continue to build on it as it grows.

This sounds a lot like Warframe is becoming more like a traditional MMORPG, at least in part. Was that the intent behind it?

If I were to hop into a time machine and travel back to 2012 to tell my younger self that we'd be at a point of introducing content like this to a game that started out as a third-person shooter with cool parkour—well, I'd say you're just crazy! And sure, creating an open landscape like this could be compared to a lot of genres, adventure games, open-space action games, MMORPGs. But the intent since day one was to take leaps, create and add to the game in an organic way where we listen to and surprise our players, so in a way the game has evolved into a mash of genres that we didn't necessarily plan specifically but so far we've managed to make sense of. 

What sort of missions or quests are there to complete, and what kind of rewards do they give?

Right now we are filling out the Landscapes with quests and mini-quests through NPC characters that you meet in the village of Cetus. There's a continuous day and night cycle, where you'll see the sun gradually go down at night and slowly rise in the morning, so it creates a feeling of being there, that’s also new to Warframe. 

In the day, you will experience the Warframe you know and love—kill Grineer, get resources, build awesome stuff, get stronger. This could be an endless loot experience if you aggressively upgrade and customize and look to trade off your finds with others. But we’ve added something much deeper, surprising—we’re adding weapon crafting to Warframe’s first Landscape. While we've had great customization before, using our Mod system, this is an entirely new system where you build Ostron weapons from components! Each component allows you to create a new style of weapon—and of course, you'll get to give it your [own] name for once!

And that’s just the day. At night, this is when even the Grineer flee. This is. what we want to be, some of the hardest content in Warframe. At night, the Plain comes alive with massive, five-story high monstrosities that ascend from the water and roam the landscape in search of Warframes to destroy and consume. Where before you've battled one against many, these Eidolons will require a sustained, coordinated team approach if you have any hope of bringing one down at all. 

Does it have any procedural generation, or is it all pre-made and the same each time you explore it?

Good question. There will be random combat encounters in Plains of Eidolon with the geographical layout remaining consistent. To give you a better sense of what I mean, enemy encounters and combat are randomized every time you play as well as a continuous day and night cycle that affects how enemies operate—adding even more variety and excitement to Landscapes. 

How many players can be in an instance of the area at once?

The Ostron Town of Cetus is introduced to players in Plains of Eidolon and this first introduction can have 50 players in an instance. This town then leads to the Plains where combat and quests take place where you continue with your standard one to four-player squad.

Are there any load screens or other transitions when exploring or switching to the Archwing? Similarly, will players be able to see others flying around in the sky above them?

There are no load screens or transitions when calling on your Archwing to equip it to your Warframe. It’s a seamless process. Equip and fly! And, yes, absolutely, other players will see their fellow Tenno above them as they provide air support, or just fly off to investigate something! 

Are Landscapes something you've been wanting to do for a while?

Very early this year there was a collective understanding we wanted to try something different. The fact that this has come together the way it has speaks to the craftsmanship among our extremely devoted team. Doing it now was important because Warframe has been developing a world with characters and experiences that matter through our previous lore-driven updates, and we needed to build up areas that speak to that. A town full of civilians is something that we have only heard about in the storylines, but never seen. 

Is this a sign of things to come for Warframe updates? Should we expect open world exploration areas to become the norm from now on?

If our players like our Landscapes as much as we do, then YES, you can expect more!

Publishers including Blizzard, Riot, and Perfect World have in recent months revealed the drop rates for their games in order to comply with Chinese law. But none have gone to the extreme, you might say, of Warframe developer Digital Extremes, which has posted an incredibly detailed list of the drop rates for what appears to be nearly every single item in the game.   

Because Warframe is free to play, "our drop system is designed to maintain a balance," the studio said. "Our free players can earn the game's content, and our paying players who support us with purchases usually get first dibs on the content by using Platinum (which can be traded to free players)!" 

The data is automatically generated and will be updated automatically (and manually when warranted), and is broken down into categories including Missions, Relics, Keys, Non-Location-Specific Rewards, Sorties, and Mod and Blueprint Drops. Despite how long the list is, Digital Extremes warned that because of Warframe's complexity, it is not "comprehensive" and comes with no guarantees. Some of the data is also apparently in flux: "Beyond Legendary" items currently have a .09 percent drop rate, but are also marked as "Under Review," suggesting that the rate is up for change. 

That said, I think the list about as detailed as anyone could ask for: Hell's Chamber, for instance, which increases the multishot percentage of shotguns, has a rare (6.45 percent) chance of dropping in Rotation C of the Kuva Fortress/Pago (Spy) mission. That's one item that could drop in one rotation of one mission in one location, which should give you a hint as to just how big this list is. As such, I won't be posting it, but you can lay your eyes on the whole thing right here. 

Earlier this month, Tom teased some then never before seen screenshots of Warframe's completely revamped Earth maps. They've now arrived as part of the free-to-play shooter's latest 'Chains of Harrow' update, which also brings with it a new lore-based quest, new weapons, and a neat Void power-harnessing priest playable character, among a host of other things. 

From front to back, new Warframe Harrow is Lotus' newest Warrior who relies on four main abilities: Condemn, which casts a wave of energy and chains foes together; Penance, which sacrifices shields to boost reloads and fire rates; Thurible, which channels Harrow's energy to generate buffs; and Covenant which helps protect nearby allies by way of an energy-powered force. 

Here's a wee look at Harrow in action: 

On the weapons front, the Chains of Harrow update adds a new pistol named the Knell which increases Critical Chance for a limited time by virtue of headshots. Harrow's spear blasts targets with "corrosive plasma projectiles", which sound like a nightmare for the dry cleaner. 

Nox is a new Grineer Enemy that wields a toxin-fuelled gun and explodes upon defeat, whereas Digital Extremes describes the latest lore-based mission thusly:

"A disturbing transmission from Red Veil's spiritual medium leads to an abandoned Steel Meridian vessel adrift on the outskirts of Earth. Inside, strange whispers echo throughout the lifeless vessel. What force unleashed this evil and how can it be stopped? (The Chains of Harrow Quest will appear in the Codex for those who have completed The War Within and unlocked Mot in the Void.)"

Warframe's Chains of Harrow update is live now. The game's fan festival TennoCon is also around the corner—July 8—so keep your eyes peeled for more updates around then.

This month Warframe will be getting its next major update, bringing a new playable Warframe named Harrow, new items, and a complete visual overhaul of the Earth maps. While Harrow has already been shown off a bit, we've got an exclusive before-and-after look at Earth's sweet new remastered terrain.

You can watch the trailer above to see the differences in motion, or use the slider images below to compare some screenshots side by side. While much of the actual layouts of the levels seem to be staying the same, they've been given improved lighting, extra foliage, better textures, and a whole lot of other improvements. Frankly, the difference is stunning, with some scenes almost looking like an entirely different game.

Click here to see the full size comparison.

Despite this upgrade, developer Digital Extremes says players shouldn't notice any difference in performance. Digital Extremes art director Mat Tremblay told me that developing Warframe for both high and low end PCs has been in their mind since the very beginning of development. "Even though we have done a lot to add lushness to our Grineer Forest locations," Tremblay said, "we have also taken steps to improve performance within systems that would have been negatively impacted by such changes." 

Warframe is also still bound to its PS4 and Xbox One versions, so even as PC technology gets better, the game can't stretch too far past its initial performance floor. But Tremblay doesn't think that limits them from doing what they want. "In the time since we first released the set there have been numerous updates to our engine," he said. "We try to push ourselves, and our technology, beyond those limits but sometimes we have to get creative in the way that achieve our intended goal."

Click here to see the full size comparison.

And Earth is just the beginning, with more visual remasters on the way. "We want to remaster all of the art sets, eventually, to fix some of the issues that have resulted from updating our tech but also because we have evolved as developers," Tremblay explained. I asked him if there were any assets in particular he had his eye on improving, and he said "nothing is sacred." 

"The re-mastery is not our primary focus but we do have teams of developers working to update each set starting with the earliest released sets. The ultimate goal being that we bring them all up to our new standard." And it's been clear recently how much Digital Extremes and its tech has improved since Warframe's initial launch—all of its latest additions to the game have outshined its early work graphically. "We are still very proud of the game we have created, but we all evolve, and so should our game."

Click here to see the full size comparison.

Tremblay says one of the reasons they started with Earth is because they "wanted to improve one of the first planets players see." Everyone who starts fresh will now be immediately introduced to the game with these upgraded visuals, but Tremblay also hopes it will pull long time players back to a planet they maybe haven't visited in awhile. "Above all, our hope is that players who have been with us for so long, but perhaps have not visited a location like Earth recently, are drawn back to see what we have done."

"With improved lighting, a conversion to PBR materials and workflow and a new vegetation system, we’re able to create mood and atmosphere in a much more significant way than when we first released the Grineer Forest set back in January 2014." This gives Digital Extremes a chance to really show what it and the Evolution Engine is capable of now, experimenting with techniques they simply didn't have access to at the time. 

Click here to see the full size comparison.

Tremblay told me that "even after four years now, we still have a big list of To-Dos!" That's certainly in the style of Warframe, as Digital Extremes is always working on or updating something. So while revamping art assets may not be the main focus of their team, it's not unreasonable to expect more of the game's familiar faces get a makeover before too long.  

The free-to-play section of Steam is getting crowded, particularly with competitive shooting games. Yet despite not being part of our general gaming conversation the way the other competitive shooters are, Warframe, which originally released in 2013, has found an audience alongside Team Fortress 2 and the other residents of Steam’s most-played lists. We spoke to Digital Extremes about how they’ve managed to keep their fans happy for three years and counting.

PC Gamer: You guys are a regular fixture in the Steam most-played games list, but being free-to-play is no guarantee of a continuously engaged audience. After three years, why do you think people are still playing Warframe? 

Rebecca Ford, live operations and community producer: If you compare Warframe from three years ago and Warframe now, you’d see a lot has changed along the way. That’s the key for us to keep players interested: an unabashed fearlessness to mix things up if we feel like it’s needed. Warframe is an ever-evolving experience, so there’s always something new to try or do. We as devs have our hands on the game every single day, so we’re constantly aware that if we’re getting bored of something, players are too. 

Even looking at this past year, two major parts of the game have gotten a rework, with other facelifts along the way. It’s a balance between adding the really alluring parts through quests and new content, while ensuring that the basic aspects of gameplay are rock solid and addicting enough to keep players coming back between updates. 

PCG: You guys debuted Star Chart 3.0 for Warframe in July—what was the reaction to that? 

RF: Whenever we make a change, people will always react in a multitude of ways. It’s pretty jarring to be playing with one system for six months, or a year, or more, and to log-in one day and feel like you have to relearn everything again. But I think we accomplished what we set out to do: to create a more streamlined, easy to navigate, and visually stunning experience for players. After the expected “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” reactions died down, I think that players agree with us on that part as well.

PCG: You’re obviously aware that when you revamp something in the game, it won’t please those players who prefer things the way they are. Do you find these players eventually adapt in any case? 

RF: There will always be those “oh God why” responses to change. It’s going to happen, there’s no helping it. Saying that all players adapt well, or that they all adapt poorly is too much of a blanket statement. Some will like it, some won’t. Them adjusting to it depends on how well we can do our job at making something better but still making it feel like Warframe—while also ensuring it addresses the wants and needs of our fans. I feel like we’ve succeeded in this regard, from day one of these updates, but also in every day after where we are constantly listening and improving these systems to make sure they deliver on what they are supposed to do: make Warframe better. 

PCG: You’ve talked to us before about the difficulties new players might face playing the game, because you’re focused on keeping your existing players interested with updates. Do you have plans to look at that in future? 

RF: Improving new player experience was a large motivator behind the recent Star Chart and Fusion System reworks, and is something that will drive future changes as well. The goal here is to make things easier to understand and to introduce transparency into the game, not to make the game easier as a whole. There are so many facets to Warframe that can be overwhelming to new players, and we want to ensure that whatever we implement in the future will be easier to digest, but still as challenging and engaging as things we’ve done before.

PCG: Longer term, what are your larger plans to evolve or change Warframe? 

RF: Last year we released a cinematic quest (The Second Dream) that evolved and changed the meaning of Warframe’s lore. Just under a year later, the War Within aims to repeat that shift in meaning. As for what’s next, it really depends on player reaction. We invest a lot of time into these cinematic moments. This is the second year we’re aiming to deliver an evolution of lore. Player response to this will determine our next large move. Which means at this time, we don’t know. 

PCG: TennoCon seems to have been a big success for you guys—do you find that super-dedicated audience who wants to talk with you directly growing each year? 

RF: Our community team was just talking about the sheer amount of personal messages we receive on our official forums the other day, and I think that’s a perfect example of how much our player-base has grown. I remember being able to take the time to answer each and every single one, but now that task has grown to astronomical proportions. 

I’m a bit melancholy for the early days, because I do miss being able to reach out and talk to each fan personally, but there’s also something really amazing about how many people we’ve impacted now over three years. Hosting our very first TennoCon was a result of how large our dedicated player-base has grown and while we were nervous that we might be throwing a party no one would attend (with it taking place in our hometown of London, Ontario), we were overwhelmed by the attendance at the Con and now realise there’s no limits to the extent Warframe could grow in years to come.

Tom Marks caught up with Rebecca Ford back in September to discuss the game's future, you can watch that interview here.

Joe sat you down and spoke to you about Warframe's The War Within update a few weeks ago, and he made it through the whole thing without confusing it with edgy Prince of Persia sequel 'Warrior Within'. It's all I can hear, now that I've made the connection, but I'll bravely carry on to bring you the news that Warrior...Sorry, The War Within is live now. Developer Digital Extremes describes it as "the year's most anticipated Cinematic Quest", and because 'Cinematic Quests' are a thing Warframe has seemingly invented, no one can take that claim away from them.

You can find all the details about The War Within on Steam here, but the short version is that this mahoosive update bungs in that aforementioned quest, one that involves the Grineer Empire, and that takes place in a friendly sounding place called The Queen's Fortress. There are also some new set design elements, weapons, enemies and customisation parts, along with a new map to squabble on.

The War Within is "available to all Tenno who have completed the Second Dream and have unlocked the planet Sedna", and here's what's in store if you've done all that:

Considered a "rogue success story" by Digital Extremes' Rebecca Ford, Warframe has went from strength to strength over the past four years by way of continuous iteration. First teased at this year's inaugural TennoCon, the free-to-play third-person shooter's latest major update named The War Within will launch on November 9.

Following on from last year's The Second Dream, The War Within requires you to have played its forerunner quest and to have unlocked the planet Sedna by way of completing the Pluto-Sedna Junction.

"Digital Extremes is also encouraging players to ready their loadouts and don their best-dressed Warframe and Operator prior to the update as both will be incorporated into the cinematic journey, personalizing the experience," reads an update which accompanies the following trailer:

As for the quest itself, here's the official word from Digital Extremes:

"The War Within Quest, will have players embark on a chilling journey to the Grineer Queens' Fortress, where both their Warframe and Operator will be pushed past their limits as they slowly unravel mysteries about the Tenno s past and their true capabilities. In addition to the cinematic quest, The War Within update also includes new weapons, enemies, and a few secrets that will be revealed closer to launch."

Ahead of The War Within's release two weeks from today, Digital Extremes plans to run bonus weekends which will offer players double resources, credits and affinity. More information on all of that can be found via the game's official site.

Warframe's The War Within quest is due November 9 check out Tom's conversation with Rebecca Ford at PAX West in the meantime.