Warframe players outraged over ‘exceptionally egregious’ new Heirloom Collection

As Warframe celebrated its 10th anniversary with Tennocon 2023, the newly announced Heirloom Collection has drawn heavy criticism from the game’s community.

While the Heirloom Collection is marketed as a limited, exclusive offering to honor the bond between Warframes and Tenno, many players have labeled it as an exploitative and “predatory” practice that strays far from Warframe’s more generous roots.

The Heirloom Collection, as announced during Tennocon 2023, offers two distinct collections — Risen ($29.99) and Celestial ($69.99) — each with unique cosmetics, including new Warframe Skins, Account Accolade, and an all-new customization category known as Signas. Alternatively, players can purchase the Zenith tier for $89.99 to access everything from both packs and an extra 200 platinum.

These items are available only until December 31, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET, and according to Digital Extremes, they won’t return again.

And that’s just one of the reasons why the Warframe community is dissatisfied. One player took to Reddit, stating: “The Heirloom Collection is the worst, most predatory thing DE has done so far, and the worst thing they could do on their most important day of the year…”

The player further criticized Digital Extremes for betraying the community’s trust, locking new cosmetics behind a “high paywall” and creating a “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO) due to the limited availability.

One user pointed out that for the price of the Heirloom Collection, players could buy an entirely new game like Baldur’s Gate 3 and still save money.

Another posted on the official Warframe forums, labeling the collection as “much too expensive,” stating, “As truly beautiful as the skins and accessories are, locking it all behind such expensive tiers feels exceptionally egregious.”

Warframe has long been celebrated for its player-friendly approach, especially concerning cosmetics. Unlike other free-to-play models that often push players towards microtransactions, Warframe traditionally allowed players to earn the majority of items through gameplay. Players argue that the Heirloom Collection dismisses this generous approach in favor of a more monetized scheme.

As one concerned Warframe player wrote, “If this makes it through, if not enough pushback is made, then this will slowly start to become the norm.”

Tennocon 2023 should have been a celebration of Warframe’s 10-year legacy. Instead, Warframe’s Reddit community and official forum have been flooded with criticism of this new Heirloom Collection.