This is going to be a long one, so let me give you a little context. I have been playing since a quest called The Sacrifice was released and Limbo Prime was a new addition. It's been *years*, with a fair share of extended breaks here and there, and I've reached not only Mastery Rank 30, but Legendary Rank 2 (Think Prestiged) and I want to do my best to give you an... almost* unbiased opinion, and a fair bit of advice.

I believe this game is worth--if not your money--then at least a considerable amount of your time.

Across my 3 accounts, I've played vastly more hours than Steam will show, and I started out with a simple Magneto ripoff, a bow, some throwing knives and a metal stick to hit people with. I found that in early missions, the game was actually easier if you played it alone--barring perhaps boss fights (assassinations) or some of the longer lasting missions like Defense or Survival.
Playing with random teammates early on can make the game feel rushed; people who aren't actually interacting with one another want to just get their resources, hit the objective and go. Take your time early on, complete all the available nodes on a planet if you can, get a feel for the mobility options you have available and stock up on the unique resources each planet will give you.
The most important thing in this game is mods--which they're working on a quest to teach you about at the moment, but early on, you can find an 'auto mod' option that will do a perfectly fine job for now. I recommend working on leveling up your health and damage mods before anything else, and learn how they actually affect you.

Please also remember that while it's probably tempting to pick a 'main' character, this will actively sabotage you in the long run. You need to level up as many pieces of equipment and characters as possible to increase your Mastery Rank. This will make the game SIGNIFICANTLY easier over time. You will quickly run into inventory clutter--which leads me to my next two points.

One, I strongly recommend spending your starting platinum on INVENTORY SLOTS. They are a precious commodity and no amount of good looks will help you when you have five cheap weapons building in the foundry and only two inventory slots to put them in. Pick a weapon, level it to completion--go to relays and you can get free boosts from other players to speed this up--and if you don't like it, sell it in your inventory menu. you can always get it again, but if you're worried about it, there's very helpful videos detailing what will be the hardest to re-grind and shouldn't get sold. I know I regret some of the things I got rid of.

Two, explore your menus. You can learn a LOT of neat stuff just from looking around at your Codex, your menus, you mod console, your foundry, all kinds of stuff. Many menus also have tutorials tucked away in the corners, waiting for you to click on their prompt to tell you all kinds of useful details.

Perhaps most importantly, look for a clan, even better if it comes with an alliance. These will have weapon and warframe blueprints in labs, but more importantly have people that are often willing to give you advice. Not all clans are meant for all players--some are casual and chill spaces, often quiet and relaxed while people focus on their grind. Some are built around streamers and their communities. Some are more competitive, focusing on a shared passion within the game itself like dojo decorating, meta-hunting, trading for platinum, hunting rare materials, etc. Often clans will have 'login requirements' asking you to be active enough in the game or surrender your spot in the clan for a more active player. These range wildly. Ive seen some that require almost daily logins, and I've seen some that allow months. I, to the confusion of many, allow up to a full year of inactivity, but that's because I built my clan around taking a few months away from the game and preferably NOT finding myself without a clan to return to.

The last bit of advice I can think to give: take. your. time. This game has SO many things to offer if you are willing to approach it with patience. Every system within it, from mods, to parkour, to gunplay, space combat, melee, fishing and mining--everything can be mastered separately. However, once you master one, it will work with everything else you've learned. Mobility makes combat easier and more engaging, modding makes your weapons feel better and take down heavier targets, while also allowing you to make your warframe even more agile than before, fishing and mining allows you to build weapons and tools that can be found in open world factions, which can provide things that you probably wouldn't have expected--do you want to be able to deploy a heavy weapon that would normally only operate in space? level up the open world faction on Venus. Want to deploy a mech that's taller than you are and carries those same giant space guns? Open world factions on Deimos. Want to build a custom gun or melee from various parts, making something unique to you and some of the strongest weapons in the game? you'll want to visit all three open worlds currently available.

This game is vast, and will leave you with choice paralysis at first. But unlock all your planets, use the codex to tackle quests, and find other players that can help you learn better techniques, and you'll have--for the most part--a rewarding experience with a community AND dev team who care.
I would say that's all the time, but. like. Look the resource drop rate on Tyana pass still sucks, DE, my friend needs his Citrine.

Happy hunting, Tenno. I hope you enjoy.

dude i wish i could translate my dating sim skills to irl

The grind is addicting