Everyone in Warframe should know Baro Ki’teer. He makes bi-weekly visits with select items to buy with credits and ducats earned from relic runs. He is a very “routine” styled vendor, with a lot of good items to get. From Primed Mods, special weapons, and even cool cosmetics. The best part is that he requires no currency that uses real money purchases at all. This makes him a very player-friendly vendor to veterans and newbies.
But what if I said somehow, Baro became even more generous and player-friendly in Warframe? This is because in Isleweaver, Digital Extremes added a new and very generous lootbox to Baro’s offerings. While this could be cause for alarm, and if its current implementation is changed for the worse, it should, it is a very nice touch with some improvements they could make.
Enter the Void (Surplus) in Warframe
Baro visits a relay in Warframe every 2 weeks, and in the most recent update, they added to his offerings a guaranteed purchasable lootbox. The “Void Surplus” costs 50k credits, which, if you play the game a lot, is not a hefty sum at all. The Void Surplus is only purchasable once per visit, which creates an artificial and player-friendly restriction.
Considering lootboxes have taken a new form in the gacha game sphere. With almost no restrictions on how many you can buy with real-world money. The choice to go in the opposite direction, and make a singular purchasable one with easy currency to hoard is very Digital Extremes in behavior.
That is due to the fact that at one point, players could buy patterns for Kubrow fur randomly from the in-game marketplace. They could then resell that pattern to players for the “Platinum” premium currency. Digital Extremes actually removed this item as explained in a documentary from No Clip in 2018, after seeing how often people bought it. Most developers would not do this due to the fact that “free money” that preys on addictions from people is being harvested more and more these days. But they still refused to do so, even now, as the offerings of the Void Surplus below is very lucrative to new and veteran players.
Fully built forma, a Legendary core, day-long boosters, and a new Signa up for grabs at a low cost? That is a very good pitch to many people, myself included.
A Thin Line to Walk
To be upfront with my concerns. If the purchase limit for the Void Surplus is increased at all, it could be problematic. This would depend on what new limit they would change it to. Obviously, I would like to try my hand more to get the signa for fashion purposes. But I also feel like there should be a pity system of sorts, to ensure that so many purchases can guarantee a rare or legendary item from the loot pool. To hopefully prevent fomo or disheartening pulls.
Overall, given Digital Extreme’s track record, this is just a fun new addition to the game in my eyes, similar to their free-to-earn battle pass in Warframe, the “Nightwave” that gets updated every 6 months. Past rewards are offered in a rotating store with ways to earn currency for those rewards. Not to mention that any challenge for progression is not hidden in content behind a paywall. Digital Extremes is responsible and fair to their players in regards to trendy reward ideas.
While this was announced a while back in a Devshorts stream. I did want to try it out myself. As well as wanting to see what the reception would be from the community, and it seems very positive. People posted getting a legendary core and the signa somehow, which I am very jealous of. Others shared not-so-fortunate pulls, and if it is only available once every 2 weeks, that can be disheartening. But one thing is for certain, Baro is a “must-visit” vendor now more than ever.
