It appears Warframe‘s players are just as excited as the developers about the upcoming expansion, Warframe 1999. One of the expansion’s most crowning features (apart from the more humanized and prettier Warframes) is a new romance system inspired by Baldur’s Gate 3. Waframe 1999 will be adding six romance-able and playable characters so naturally, favorites are inevitable. It’s just that Warframe players might have outed themselves with the majority vote, and it’s something Warframe devs even acknowledged.
Earlier in the month, official Warframe content partner, Cephalon Vashka revealed the results of a 1000+ player survey about which Warframe 1999 character they want romanced. The surveyed Warframe players picked the weirdest of the bunch, and it’s something Warframe‘s lead designer, Pablo Alonso pointed out.
For anyone out of the loop, Eleanor is the humanized “Protoframe” for Nyx and the most recent devstream shows her harboring some kind of mutation or infection that’s turning her into a monster. Part of the mutation involves Eleanor’s tongue getting transformed into a spiky and monstrous appendage. Eleanor even unleashed the “tongue” in a sneak peek of the Warframe 1999 romance mechanic:
Despite the freakish change, it seems Warframe players are unfazed and unbothered. The majority of surveyed players will still pick to romance Eleanor. It’s worth noting that the survey came after the romance teaser above. The voters knew exactly what they were choosing.
It’s Somewhat Expected from the Warframe Community
You could argue that 1000 players might not be the best representation of the whole Warframe player community. However, given how some of the most popular characters in Warframe have their own buzzing fanfiction and ahem fan-art circles, it’s hard to dismiss the survey results as conclusive.
Some players did argue that they had chosen Eleanor before the romance teaser with the monster tongue came out. The tongue was merely a welcome “bonus” so it didn’t affect the player vote too much.
Outside of that, the Warframe community– devs included, are fully aware of their players’ preference for certain designs. You’ll find no shortage of comprehensive butt tier list videos and forum posts for Warframe. Every. Single. Year.
Even Warframe Community Director Megan Everett has acknowledged that Warframe fanfics have been a part of the community’s periphery for years now. Hence, one of the reasons why Warframe 1999 pushed for a romance system is to officiate things.
Perhaps the devs even want to show the players that they are also on board with whatever the community might be thinking regardless of how some of the Warframe‘s designs are mutated, alien, or dangerous.
