TennoCon is the annual Warframe fan convention that brings collectively as many members of the neighborhood as doable to rejoice the sport all of them love. Nonetheless, this occasion takes place in Canada, which is extremely far-off for a good portion of the 80 million-strong fan base developer Digital Extremes boasts for the sport.

For the longest time, I used to be on the fence about Warframe. I downloaded it when it first got here out, performed slightly, and determined to not contact it once more for years as a result of it wasn’t fairly doing it for me. I managed to choose it again up once more in 2023 with The Duviri Paradox and fell in love with the extremely unusual universe, its intense lore, and its welcoming neighborhood.

However regardless of how a lot I performed and the way a lot I learn and chatted concerning the recreation, I by no means felt like I might justify attending TennoCon. I actually didn’t really feel like a “actual” fan and, due to this fact, worthy of displaying my face alongside those that’ve spent hundreds of hours within the Sol System and past. Nicely, this yr, I obtained to attend TennoCon 2024, and I wish to dispel those self same ideas anybody else out there’s having.

TennoCon is price it for those who like Warframe, and that’s sufficient

TennoCon 2024 was themed round Warframe: 1999, this yr’s main upcoming growth, however it was about a lot greater than that. The day earlier than the convention formally began, it was opened as much as the press, content material companions, and VIP ticket holders, however this actually solely meant we obtained to see issues a day early and use a non-public part of the Vent Youngsters Membership Home.

It’s exterior of that VIP space that the magic occurs, although. The VIP night time is a time when you possibly can combine with the unbelievable improvement staff from Digital Extremes, together with Warframe‘s inventive director, Rebb Ford, and neighborhood director, Megan Everett.

One thing I observed as increasingly followers poured in was that there simply wasn’t sufficient room for everybody, so Rebb and Megan went exterior to do meet and greets within the contemporary air the place anyone might come to see them. I don’t find out about you, however there’s nothing higher for me than assembly the individuals who work on my favourite video games. Everybody, and I imply everybody, from Digital Extremes at one level or one other was at TennoCon 2024, they usually all had time for footage and chats with followers. That alone makes this occasion price coming to.

The VIP night time included a cracking DJ set that featured all kinds of Warframe music, together with a rendition of “We All Raise” which everybody sang and made me tear up. It additionally provides you early entry to the Vent Youngsters Membership Home, however all ticket holders get into it on the opposite two days of the convention.

This place was decked out with arcade machines that have been in free-play mode, so you would simply play recreation after recreation for gratis and win tickets. These tickets have been used to redeem unique goodie luggage stuffed with superb merch. Some folks I do know fully annihilated the economic system for this as a result of Warframe gamers min/max all the pieces. Sorry for those who needed to pay 1,000 tickets for a bag.

There was additionally an animatronic Necraloid asking followers extremely robust quiz questions and a sequence of gacha machines. Everybody obtained 5 tokens for these machines, which dole out a reproduction Relic from one of some rarities. Inside these have been pins, and the thought was that you need to commerce pins with others to get a full set of 5. Most individuals simply purchased extra tokens to get extra rolls on the machines, which I suppose is simply how gacha machines work.

However my level is that these have been actions designed to get Warframe followers to interact with one another. Even when your solely interplay is to take a seat within the buying and selling sales space and anticipate that pin you need, you’ve linked with somebody who’s probably from the opposite facet of the world.

All the convention was equipped for this, getting followers to attach. Inside the principle constructing have been replicas of assorted components of Warframe, such because the subway from Whispers within the Partitions, and even Arthur from Warframe: 1999, full with spinning sword. Each a part of the convention was made to make followers cease and admire one thing, possibly take an image of them with it, and craft reminiscences.

In fact, TennoCon is nothing with out a large devstream present and a tonne of surprises. This yr’s was notably particular, and never simply because we obtained information of an anime, a take a look at SoulFrame, and an Infested boyband.

Digital Extremes carved trip of its devstream, which is often reserved for discussing its video games and the content material packs it sells to assist maintain it afloat, to make somebody’s want come true. James Conlin, a younger man with a terminal sickness, was revealed as a voice actor in Warframe: 1999 as a result of the developer needed to make his dream of changing into one and having followers come true. Everybody within the room screamed and applauded, and I’m tearing up another time penning this as I recall that second.

Digital Extremes didn’t want to incorporate this in its dev stream. It might have been posted on social media or revealed throughout a normal devstream. As an alternative, due to what the Warframe neighborhood is and the way it comes collectively for anybody who needs to be part of it, this information got here earlier than even the gameplay demo for what may be probably the most highly-anticipated growth for the sport thus far.

It was this, mixed with how everybody reacted, that confirmed me the true worth of the Warframe neighborhood and why TennoCon is such a implausible occasion to attend. All people is, merely put, good. It’s extra than simply the Canadian niceness that comes with being in Canada. There have been folks from world wide at this occasion, and no one had a foul time.

It’s a spot the place you get to satisfy builders who don’t act like they’re above you, the most important reveals on your favourite recreation are proven proper to you, alongside all of the stuff you didn’t anticipate, and also you’re handled like part of the household.

I need to say, TennoCon is simply the beginning of TennoCon, for those who get what I imply. The positivity and friendliness of the neighborhood means which you can go and hang around with fellow gamers in London, Ontario, Canada, lengthy after every day is over.

A few of us ended up going to slightly TCG store to choose up just a few books and playing cards, others to play extra arcade video games, after which all of us met again up at our lodge simply to hang around. I feel I positively had a notion that recreation conferences all the time ended with going out for drinks and getting misplaced in an odd metropolis. Everybody at TennoCon simply needs to have enjoyable, although, and typically that simply means sitting down for a espresso within the night and taking part in Warframe in your telephones.

TennoCon is one thing particular

Twice that I do know of throughout TennoCon 2024, somebody proposed. The primary was on the VIP night time in entrance of the attractive neon wings photograph stand, the place the wings have been modified to satisfaction colours for the second. The second was on Saturday in the course of the cosplay contest, and I consider it was on stage in entrance of everybody.

This confirmed me greater than some other moments in the course of the occasion that that is one thing particular for followers. It means a lot to them that they need it and the folks at it to be a part of the most important components of their lives. I do know of only a few video games which have garnered the identical form of respect from followers, even fewer which can be free-to-play like Warframe.

To reply that query: Is TennoCon price it? I consider so, so long as you want Warframe. I didn’t have 100 hours after I went, however I nonetheless felt like I used to be finest buddies with those that had performed for 3,000 hours. Everyone seems to be on this recreation and at TennoCon for the neighborhood. All of us wish to get collectively to rejoice this factor that’s introduced us a lot pleasure over time, months, and even simply weeks that we’ve performed it.

There may be, after all, the topic of value. I can’t communicate to every particular person’s circumstances, however the precise tickets appear pretty cheap to me. I consider that the journey and lodge prices had been thought-about, although, particularly given how a lot free merch was on supply to all followers, not simply VIP ticket holders.

I like to think about TennoCon and Warframe like street journey. Identical to the street journeys many followers took to be there. They’re the journey, the expertise you might have in your approach between your start line and your vacation spot. Each second is private, even for those who share it with buddies. However each second can also be distinctive and particular in its personal approach. They’ll persist with you as a result of all of them, each step you’re taking, every mission you play, and each developer you meet, are constructive experiences that really feel real, and that’s such a tough factor to come back by.