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The popular online game known as Warframe, an experience where you might encounter bizarre cosmic entities and drive a motorcycle in the year 1999, has launched a major update. The Vallis Undermind showcases the creative flair that has come to define Warframe in recent years.

This expansion, made available this week, adds a fungus-inspired character that performs a unique animation, along with a whole new explorable fungal area. However, it also revisits core concepts, with another quest aimed at making sure this complex, vast 12-year-old MMO is accessible for new players.

A Quest Called "The Teacher"

Titled “The Teacher,” this is the long-awaited quest that educates Warframe players on how to use one of the game's fundamental yet complex systems: modding.

In Warframe, mods are augments that can be equipped on your warframe or arsenal to improve their stats. They range from the straightforward (boosting power or shortening reload times) to the devastatingly complex. Dedicated players often produce extensive guides about idealized builds that use synergistic enhancements to create overwhelming power.

“I think a lot of people were maybe getting into the early game, seeing mods, not really understanding it,” noted a lead narrative designer. “I think it was really important, upon completing the mission, for players to think, ‘Hey, modding is cool. I want to try more of this.’”

A Collaborative Effort

“The Teacher” was created through a partnership between the original developers, who provided the narrative sauce, and an external team, who crafted the gameplay, which will appear early in the game.

In the quest, the player is tasked with obtaining a component for their ship, but they’re confronted by a formidable foe called Teshin, who takes away the player’s abilities and close-combat arms, and forces them to engage with the mod system to effectively show its potential.

Several developers were already fans of the game, but others had never played before, according to a lead designer. This fresh viewpoint that was essential.

“The first thing we did was basically sit behind them and go right play through the tutorial and take prodigious notes on everywhere they fell out,” the designer said. Introductory tutorials introduced players to modding. But the team noted that they didn’t work on everyone.

“Some people didn't see basic instructions where the game highlights it saying put the mod in the slot,” he said.

Filling a Significant Gap

Warframe’s mods allow players to create stupidly powerful synergies that fill the display with damage values. But "The Teacher" isn’t really about that. Veteran users who wish the quest was geared more towards their needs, like optimizing for endgame challenges. But it became clear that “The Teacher” is filling a real and significant gap for early players — and that executing this is quite complex.

“Numerous subtle adjustments and little subtle things in the background there to just sort of show you what it can do rather than explain it outright,” the designer said. For example, one of the goals of “The Teacher” is to show how mods can create elemental damage types; in this case, a magnetic effect that depletes protective barriers.

“We had to change the weapon to be a burst-fire weapon, because it shows off the proc rate more,” the designer said. “But you don’t want to say to people, 'with a basic modification, you only got a low probability to proc an elemental effect.' How can you teach this mechanic effectively?”

Veterans will instinctively look for that kind of weapon effect and understand how it works, but new players have to be taught to notice these details.

“This type of design work that we've had to worry about as much just because that hasn't been our focus,” said a narrative lead. “But part of it not being our focus that players weren't properly taught the modding system.”

A Labor of Love

“A tremendous amount of work is required for just making a really simple mission that — frankly — you can complete quickly,” said the designer. “Yet it represents extensive development for many team members.”

The designer was visibly glowing with excitement over being able to work on a game that he loves — and to design content featuring a preferred figure.

“I'm a huge fan of Teshin,” he said. “He's my 8-year-old internal self's idea of what's cool.”

Streamlining the Beginning

In the decade-plus since launch, Warframe has been in a ongoing struggle with its own new user introduction. There are many intricate mechanics that players don’t need to worry about — and won't encounter until hours into the game. And others, like modding, that scale in complexity depending on how much time you want to invest. An update earlier this year streamlined the early game so that players could reach Warframe’s complex narrative arcs with less time on the grind up front.

With “The Teacher,” it’s clear that the developers are reinforcing their dedication to make sure Warframe’s early game experience doesn’t stay locked in 2013. New players can get their foot in the door — even if they miss the menu prompts.