Dante Unbound has been out for practically two whole weeks in Warframe and has been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. From Dante himself practically becoming a community favorite. To two new Incarnon weapons and an awesome revision being done to Disruption. It was a great update to the overall content offerings in Whispers in the Walls. But, there was something missing from the update overall. That being Deep Archimedea, the new endgame activity that was unveiled in Devstream 177. Its addition has been interesting and somewhat to say the least. Seeing that it was added after the initial launch date of Dante Unbound and having some issues.
There is a lot to talk about when it comes to Deep Archimedea and to talk about the criticisms in general, I would like to talk about what it is, and what I like first.
What is Deep Archimedea?
Well, for starters, it is a new endgame activity that can only be accessed by players who are rank 5 with the newest syndicate, The Cavia. This really is not a chore for players considering everyone wanted to rank up with them. Considering you unlocked cutscenes that delved into their character dynamics and backstory. Rank 3 especially had an amazing cutscene that tugged at the heart strings. But that’s enough about The Cavia in Warframe. Deep Archimedea is an activity made up of three random missions in the Entrati Labs.
These random missions have a multitude of set modifiers for them. For instance, this week, there is an Alchemy mission that requires you to throw the elemental modules at select Eximus units to remove the invulnerability they give to every foe. Last week there was Disruption mission that would summon two Necramechs to try and destroy the conduits. Its intense, and doable, but requires precision, focus and teamwork. The array of modifiers every mission has is also joined by optional rules that are offered to the player. Such rules can include not being able to use your Tenno, Gear, or lose energy when near enemies.
Put all of this together with enemies being over level 300 with nearly quadruple health, shields and armor, and it becomes a very hard activity. Even to veteran players such as myself. But there is a lot to love about the activity in general.
It Requires Teamwork and Knowledge of Your Arsenal
Last year when The Duviri Paradox launched, it added The Circuit. Where if you played the Steel Path variant, you could get a lot of amazing rewards. One of the core philosophies for Duviri and The Circuit was forcing the player out of their comfort zone with randomized loadouts. While also encouraging teamwork to overcome the escalating difficulty. Deep Archimedea follows this same philosophy. Where you have a selection of different weapons and warframes to choose from. These are not forced, however. But they do give you points towards your overall loot gains.
The same can be said for the rules, but not the modifiers. So, you can customize the difficulty, and if you got all the reward for the week, you can help friends or other players without being limited like they are. This is forgiving, and a great decision overall. In fact, the way the rewards are set up allows you to get so much every week by accepting the challenge. While revisiting your arsenal to make touch ups and ensure you can conquer the activity. I also like the intense nature of three mission structure that needs to be done in one go. Choose carefully and go in with reliance on your skills and builds and teammates. Another cool mechanic is the fact a Void Angel spawns that you can kill to revive teammates who die during a mission.
It is a raid-like activity, with an elite version that increase the difficulty but also offers more rewards. All of this is something I wish they would do for other endgame areas like the Zariman, the Void and Sedna. While adding some lighter versions to existing early game planets like Earth, Venus, and even Uranus. So newer and older players can have set activities to engage with every week. It is clearly a lot of work, and there is definitely a lot of kinks to iron out. Speaking of which.
The Rewards Amongst Other Things Need Improvement
I mentioned before there is a lot of rewards you can get from Deep Archimedea in Warframe. You can get a lot of Archon Shards, with a chance at Tauforged ones, and Legendary Arcanes unique to the Entrati Labs. Such as Arcane Duplicate, which is highly sought after. Overall, you can in Elite Archimedea, gain five of these. But there are three other set rewards that either need to be replaced by more chances at the random rewards or overhaul it entirely to respect the players time. Three Entrati Lanthorns which can be a random drop from the Gruzzling, and only 70 Vosfor, which is only around a third of what is needed to buy an Arcane pack, in my opinion is very underwhelming. Also, it seems as though players can still receive normal Arcanes from this, that shouldn’t be happening either.
I would rather see another legendary drop at the final reward pool to go alongside the one near the end. With the Entrati Lanthorns being replaced with 100 Vosfor, and the 20 Vosfor offering bumped to a 100 as well. This would give people at least more reason to challenge themselves. Considering Arcane packs are very lucrative, and a chance at another Arcane Duplicate or Tauforged Archon shard will entice people to push themselves.
But there are other issues that need ironing out also. Such as the fact players can be asked to have a weapon or warframe they do not have. Which is very questionable to a lot of players. Certain mechanics should also be hinted via the HUD if players forget. Also, I would love to see the structure for the activity be a little more consistent. This week, at the time of writing, there was an assassination mission against the Fragmented One and it felt incredible to take it down and get my final batch of rewards. I know it would start to feel redundant but having either a big boss at the end of the activity, or an equivalent would go a long way.
Final Thoughts on Deep Archimedea
Overall, this activity in Warframe, is very good. The challenge presented is great and is something I would love to see more of. But the rewards do need some improving to make sure it always respects everyone’s time every week. I also hope a lot of the criticisms people have regarding the loadout options also get addressed so everyone can enjoy it.
I can only hope they do more with this type of activity in Warframe. As this can be a new addition to everyone’s weekly rotation.
