So, i did it. I started playing Warframe, and i gotta say, im pretty addic-impressed with it. I thought i'd make this comparison for anyone else considering leaving Destiny for Warframe to let you know what youll be getting into. I will be comparing Destiny (D2 specifically) and Warframe in various aspects, such as replayability, grind, customization, etc. IMPORTANT EDIT: I would like to point out that you can actually play Warframe without paying a cent. Players are actually allowed to trade platinum with eachother just like any other currency or resource, which means if you know business, you can trade for plat and get whatever you want. This is an amazing system because it allows impatient people like me to just buy things, but also gives the financially troubled alternative ways to obtain cosmetics. GRIND: The entire reason Warframe is free to play is because it completely revolves around BS grind. However, unlike Destiny, the grind doesnt make the game less fun. In fact, some people LOVE grinding in Warframe so if you love spending thousands of hours gathering resources this is the game for you. MICROTRANSACTIONS: D2's micro system is BS as far as im concerned. Several of Destiny's gameplay elements have been absolutely throttled to make room for more microtransactions and other greedy practices (secret XP caps, lack of loot, resource cooldowns) Warframe on the surface has an even WORSE microtransaction problem. I mean take a loot at any item in the game, chances are you can just buy it instead of having to get resources and craft it. HOWEVER, i actually rather appreciate the freedom this system gives me. In Warframe im allowed to spend money on pretty much whatever i want. Colors, weapons, speeding up crafting, cosmetics, a familiar, the list goes on. Currently ive purchased 3 frames and a metric ton of cosmetics, which comes out to around 100$ (i went on a huge shopping spree, most things wont cost you near that much) and i feel it was absolutely worth it. You can make the argument that Warframe is pay-to-win when it comes to Frames, because frames arent locked behind levels like alot of weapons are. This can allow you to buy frames that seem impossibly out of reach, such as Saryn and Mesa, or diversify your early-game loadout by getting a new frame that looks cool. EARLY GAME / LEARNING EXPERIENCE Destiny 2 is pretty damn simple, assuming youre a D1 vet. Mechanically it is absolutely identical to D1 which allowed me to jump back into the game after several months with no issues at all. Most of the instructions on how to do things are common-sense and given in tutorials, or are clearly listed in wikis. Warframe... oh lord almighty. I must say, this game is so unfathomably complex and has virtually nothing in terms of a clear tutorial. They teach you basic combat, and throw you into a horde of mobs. have fun. If you want to make ANY progress at all in Warframe, you have to rely almost entirely on the community to guide you. This, oddly enough, has made an extremely supportive and helpful community where its super easy to make friends. Maybe this approach is actually better than Destiny's... FRAMES VS CLASSES/SUBCLASSES In Destiny, even D2, its pretty darn easy to get your subclasses, upgrade them, and pick which ones you like most. The simplified skilltrees make it pretty obvious which attunements are best used for different activities, but it can cut down drastically on customization. One of my gripes about Warframe is that its very difficult to play how you want to in the early-game. Wanna play a supportive role? Google how to get Trinity and pray you can craft her within the first month. I bought Saryn, Mesa, and Valkyr because i love their abilities and fighting styles, and didnt want to wait to craft them. If you desperately want to play a specific frame, chances are youll be forking over the cash to do it immediately. On one hand it has a nice feel of achievement when you can finally craft a frame legit, but dammit i didnt wanna play the entire campaign as Mag. Another minor complaint is if you like the abilities of a frame but like the look of another (and can only get one of them) youre S.O.L. whereas in Destiny appearance and abilities are not integrally linked. ENEMY AI I... i feel bad saying this but holy hell the Warframe AI can be bad at times. I thought Destiny's low-level enemies were hilarious when you stood there and stared at them, but even when youre actively fighting enemies in Warframe they can do really stupid stuff. This is especially obvious when using a mind-control frame such as Nyx, since her puppets seem to lose a few chromosomes in the conversion process. PROGRESSION D2's progression is rapid, logical, and arguably oversimplified. Ignoring the fact that level doesnt matter at all, weapons have clear tiers and (with a few exceptions) the next-tier-up weapons are better than those below. Maxing out 3 characters can be done in a month if you play alot. Playing Warframe several days, even with a massive headstart of buying 3 Frames, i still feel like i havent accomplished much. Warframe is a humongous time-investment comparable to climbing Everest. The real payoff is in the journey, not the destiny- destination. HOWEVER, alot of the time its really unclear where you "belong" so to speak. Im still not sure what level i am, unless lvl = mastery rank. This makes doing any void-related missions a b*tch-and-a-half because if you go into a level that massively outclasses you youre gonna get slaughtered immediately. CUSTOMIZATION The only edge D2 has over Warframe in this aspect is that youre able to choose what armor you wear and mix-and-match sets. Its easy to understand why this is not possible in Warframe, as every character has a completely different bodyshape. Despite this minor grievance of mine, Warframe has insanely in-depth customization (if youre willing to fork over tons of platinum) that makes you feel like a true individual. Combine this with their brilliant mod system, and you can PLAY like an individual too. PVP / LORE These are two things i have not had the chance to really experience in Warframe yet. I suggest you check them out for yourself. PROGRESSION(weapon balance / tiers) As i said before, in Destiny tiers of weapons are clearly and logically organized. Better weapons are harder to get early on than weaker ones. Its a simple system that does the game well, and is probably one of the few advantages D2 has. In Warframe weapons geeeeenerally fall into tiers marked by their mastery ranks, but from reviews ive seen there are countless weapons that make absolutely no sense in when they are made available. Halikar, Akbolto, every fist weapon, every glaive, are all super useless despite the time it takes to make them. If you see a weapon in Warframe you like, WATCH A REVIEW ON IT FIRST because theres no worse feeling than making a Hind with the last of your precious neurodes then realizing its absolute crap. Seriously Warframe devs, rebalance your weapons because there are so many terrible ones that look really cool. ENEMIES: Destiny enemies have very in-depth lore, diversity, and a certain charm that, at least for me, makes them a joy to fight. I love the Fallen and Hive, their aesthetics are amazing, and i dont think ive ever found cooler species in a video game. Warframe has their own list of pretty cool enemies, but i really need to read into the lore more before i can accurately describe them. For now, i will focus on their aesthetics. Weapon-wise the Grineer could be compared to the Fallen, with their smooth rounded weapons and absurd quirks. Their armor, hilariously, reminds me of Crab People. The Corpus have an almost Dead-Spacey vibe to them and their weapons are all sleek and minimalistic, but alot of them are absolutely useless. Maybe its my graphics settings, but the Infested are the worst-looking enemies ive seen so far. Everything else in the game looks stunning, but most infested are just pixelated globs. I wonder whats going on. PERSONALIZATION In Destiny its incredibly easy to make your characters stand out. Shaders, armor pieces, mods, all are readily available for you to pimp out your Guardian and show off in the Tower. Unfortunately, because its so easy, there isnt much to strive for once your Guardian looks awesome. POWER-FEEL In Destiny youre pretty weak, especially in D2. All your abilities are on hard cooldowns, forcing you to rely heavily on guns for the brunt of your damage. Dont like guns? Well youre screwed. Simple as that. In Warframe youre powerful. Oh yes, youre powerful. If youre not stuck as Mag for the entire campaign. Different frames have vastly different abilities, but MOST of them are around the same level of "power" with a few notable exceptions such as Nidus (super strong), Mag (super weak), and Trinity (super ugly). The issue with them being all relatively equal in strength is that some are WAY harder to get than others, so sometimes youre forced to go "why should i waste time grinding for Nyx? I already bought Saryn, and shes way more deadly" A good work-around for this is to get the prime variants of frames, but i almost feel this is kinda cheaty because they are WAY easier to get than their vanilla counterparts sometimes. The worst example of this issue is Necros, where his vanilla parts are only from specific random alerts while Necros Prime can be obtained any time in Void missions.