Going to party like it's 1999! Well, at least that is the goal for Warframe 1999 at least. Without going into a lot of the story, there is a bunch of activities to do! So strap in and let's get to it.
First and most importantly, the story. You need to get through this before you can access pretty much anything and everything in Hollvania. Depending on how fast you want to get through this storyline, I'd set aside about 1.5 hours (give or take). Just like any other major story quest, you won't be able to access anything else in Warframe until you've completed this, so be sure you are ready to dive in.
There's a bunch of new stuff to do in Hollvania. Besides the usual planet hub NPCs, like Cetus, Fortuna, and the Zariman, Hollvania has the Garage POM-2 PC and what is called the Backroom. The Backroom is essentially the Dormizone over on the Zariman, but here you have access to everything your orbiter offers as well. Yes, you can even decorate it. The POM-2 PC is your main focus in anything Hollvania related. This is where you control what missions you do, the relations built with the various Hex members, and checking out the calendar.
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| POM-2 PC Calendar |
The calendar is probably the most important part to understand here. It gives you what season you are in, along with how much longer you have in the current season before it progresses to the next. Seasons are important to note due to the end of the year reset with the Hex relationships as well as their overrides. Overrides are kind of like the boosts you choose in the Duviri Paradox. They just pertain to 1999 content, nothing more. The game does offer you the chance to keep or reset the romance/chemistry with them, so if you screw up a relationship, you're not completely at a loss. Each season lasts for 1 week, giving you a reasonable time to complete all 3 months of activities. I highly recommend that you check out where rewards are located, so that you can set a goal to get there before the week runs out. Personally, I go for the archon shards. The rivens are a close second. In case you didn't notice, the calendar progresses for you once you've completed the task. For example, if you need to kill 150 enemies with abilities, you will be stuck on that date until you have done exactly that. In theory and in practicality, you can complete an entire season within an hour.
I am the worst when it comes to in game relationships, so I won't be delving too deep into this part of the game. You work on your relationships with each Hex member individually. This can be done by doing bounties, which provide a +5 chemistry between the 2 of you, chatting with them on the POM-2 PC, and by giving them gifts on their birthdays or just whenever you feel like it. This is entirely all done via the POM-2 PC. Make note that if you want to gift them, you need to do so via your Backroom POM-2 PC.
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| Relationships via the POM-2 PC |
Along with almost every major update, we get our 59th Warframe: Cyte-09. Once you've completed the main quest, you'll be rewarded his main blueprint. Continuing the bounties within the Hollvania Mall (via the POM-2 PC), you can find the rest of his schematics. If you're RNG is horrible or you are wanting a second one to subsume to the Helminth, you can purchase everything from Amir. Be sure to level up your standing with the Hex in order to gain that second main blueprint!
To build Cyto-09, you will need:
- 70,000 credits
- 80 Efervon Samples
- 40 Techrot Chitin
- 2 Neural Sensors
- 1 Argon Crystal
- 200 Hollvanian Pitchweave Fragment
- 10 Experimental Arc-Relay
- 14 Techrot Motherboard
- 1,000 Alloy Plate
- 500 Circuits
- 1 Orokin Cell
Cyte-09
Let's talk about some changes to the missions we've grown to love. Overall, they're mostly the same. Be sure to have those extra parts done for the bounties, such as destroying x amount of vehicles or killing x amount of enemies via mercy finishers. If not, you won't be able to extract.
There are 3 new things that are a little new or different from other game modes. If you are familiar with the Zariman and the accolades (you find a key and bring it to Cephalon Melica for a Voidplume), then the Techrot safe shouldn't be too hard. The biocode item (aka the key) is hard to locate until you've seen it for the first time. There is a faint blue light that indicates where it is, but you have to be close enough to it for it to show up. Additionally, there is a sound it makes. If you've ever done a Sanctuary Onslaught mission, the sound that the golden helix items make is reused here. Listen for it first, then look for the light. This will not show up with the Orokin Eye air support charge nor the Golden Instinct.
NOTE: This does not show up in exterminate missions.
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| Techrot safe on the left + Biocode key on the right |
Another thing that has been introduced is a Efervon Cache. This shows up in almost every mission, in which the team is expected to locate Efervon Charges (however many people in the team +1 is the total amount of charges needed to be found). Unlike the Techrot safe, the charges are indicated with a green light and will show up with an icon when you get within a certain range. Deliver the charges to the cache before the time limit expires (2 minutes). Thankfully, there isn't a penalty if you decide to not complete this task or run out of time.
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| Efervon Cache on the left, the key is on the right |
Hex treasures are essentially the Voidplumes of this story. You can easily find them by a green outline and a particular sound that vaguely reminds you of The Ring tone. These do show up with the Orokin Eye and Golden Instinct, as well as appearing as a normal box that needs broken via the minimap.
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| Hex treasure |
Finally, the survival missions. These are essentially the same things we've grown accustomed to, but there's a twist. The life support capsules have been replaced by something called a Hell-Scrubber. These do the same thing, but they occasionally require a few smacks to knock off spores. If left unchecked, these spores infect the Hell-Scrubber and turn it into a mini boss. If you ever find yourself outmatched and you can't afford to lose the Hell-Scrubber, give it a few smacks to remove a few of the spores. This gives you more time to regain control of the area. Allowing the Hell-Scrubber to evolve into the Techrot mini boss provides you a chance at 3 rare mod drops.
References:
https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/1999_Calendar
https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Techrot_Babau