On September 4, the Warframe community event 'Tenno VIP 2026' was held in the area around Sevit Island. What made this Tenno VIP particularly special was that it was the very first Tenno VIP hosted in Korea. Why did the Digital Extremes team suddenly visit Korea? The reason was revealed on-site at Tenno VIP, and it proved to be the ultimate gift for Korean Warframe fans.

Attending the Tenno VIP 2026 event were Warframe Community Director Megan, Creative Director Rebecca Ford, Soulframe Art Director Rosa Lee, and Soulframe Creative Director Geoff.

Before diving into the Warframe updates, new features for Soulframe were introduced. Soulframe Creative Director Geoff explained, "We've added three new features to Soulframe this time: pets that you can raise, ride, and travel with on your journey, a fishing system, and a dynamic weather system."

For the pet system, the pet's style varies depending on how the player raises it. If the player plays catch with it, it grows into a pet that collects items, whereas engaging in lots of combat develops it into a protective pet that guards the player.

Fishing serves as a recreational activity for players to pass the time in Soulframe; caught fish can be fed to pets or simply released back into the water for the pure joy of angling. The dynamic weather system introduces environmental variety while adding variables that affect combat. For example, during a thunderstorm, the elemental damage of lightning-based items increases, while enemies can also receive buffs from the weather.

Additionally, adjustments to combat were revealed. Players can now alter temper options on weapons at the blacksmith, input latency has been reduced, and the parry window has been made more forgiving.

Soulframe is targeting a free-to-play release in mid-September.

Next came introductions to new Warframe content. Megan stated, "It is time for Tenno to advance to Tau," mentioning that Epoch Operation: Tau will be added on October 15. In the event, Tenno must rally together to supply the required fuel for Pragasa.

Normally, Epoch Operation: Tau is accessible after completing the Hex and Old Peace mini-quests. However, the developers emphasized that they want both veteran Tenno and newly joined players to participate in this massive collaborative content together; for new players, after finishing the introductory Vor's Prize quest, they can head straight to Eris to gather event resources.

Regarding the event, Rebecca said, "While 'Epoch Operation: Tau' will remain accessible in-game, we hope all Tenno come together as one during the event period. Please join this event and show the strength of the community."

Rebecca continued to build anticipation, stating, "What we are introducing next directly concerns all of you here in Korea. We collaborated with a famous Korean voice actor for this trailer. We hope you enjoy it." As the stage lights dimmed and the video played, cheers erupted from every corner of the venue.

The debut of the Korean-inspired Warframe 'Narin' was officially confirmed. Narin is the first female ice Warframe, using a bow called Nunchasa and dual pistols named Axondol as her signature weapons.

Right after the trailer introducing 'Narin' ended, Digital Extremes Design Director Pablo explained Narin's mechanics via a pre-recorded video. As mentioned, Narin is a Cold-element Warframe that can freeze enemies, deal heavy Cold damage in that state, or absorb Cold status to strip enemy Overguard. Additionally, frozen enemies drop Cold-attribute ammo, allowing players to utilize that ammo to target other enemies.

A Banshee rework was also announced. Now, through augment mods, Banshee not only strips enemy armor but can also convert a portion of the stripped armor into her own Shields. Her passive was changed so that whenever the player casts an ability, it applies 5 stacks of Puncture status to increase critical damage even further. As for Sonar, when activated, it creates true weak points that land critical hits when struck, and her fourth ability was modified so that after triggering Sound Quake, Banshee can move freely while continuing to battle.

In addition to the arrival of the new Warframe 'Narin' and the Banshee rework, Tenno can visit Yuvan Peak, which has returned to the spotlight alongside Narin's addition, to play the new 6-player mission 'Glacial Defiance'. Successfully clearing Glacial Defiance will reward players with unique loot, and as a 6-player deployment mission, it is set to be challenging content. Introducing Glacial Defiance, Rebecca noted, "This content represents a newly challenged scale of mission for Warframe. We hope you enjoy playing it with friends or fellow Tenno you've met while playing Warframe."

New skins and a new Prime are also being added. In addition to Banshee Deluxe and Qorvex Deluxe, Citrine, the Crystal Guardian, returns as Citrine Prime with enhanced stats. Citrine Prime comes equipped with the Steflos Prime shotgun and Corufell Prime heavy scythe.

Additionally, Warframe Mobile's launch on the Galaxy Store was confirmed. It will release on September 24 KST, and to commemorate the store launch, an in-game login event will run from launch day through October 4.

To summarize, Tenno will be able to enjoy the 'Iceblade of Narin' update starting September 24. 'Iceblade of Narin' features the 66th Warframe 'Narin', the 6-player mission 'Glacial Defiance', the new zone 'Yuvan Peak', 'Banshee Rework and Deluxe', 'Qorvex Deluxe', 'Citrine Prime', and '5 new TennoGen items'.

Quality of Life (QoL) improvements are also being introduced, including Riven system expansions, ETA/EDA changes, Operator & Drifter hair shader adjustments, Metal Tinting shader adjustments, and Cephalon Melica expansions.

What is the release schedule for the next Heirloom skin?

“ The release of the next Heirloom skin is planned for early 2027, and we expect to reveal it to the public around the end of this year. To give you a hint about that Warframe, he is 'a very cute male.'

Are there plans to improve abilities that cannot be recast while active, like Gara's or Chroma's, so they can be recast?

“ That is the very first thing we consider when working on reworks. For Gara, the dev team is well aware of what feels uncomfortable. While further specific discussions are needed, after speaking with Pablo, it seems very feasible to implement.

There is feedback from new players that as past events and Operations were removed, it became difficult to understand the early story and the context for boss fights felt disjointed. If there are plans to restore past story context, please let us know.

“ We are internally aware of the issue where older or reworked content gradually loses its meaning. If we were to restore story content, we would prioritize re-adding one or two of the most crucial storylines first and then analyze data to see if there is a positive impact on new player onboarding and retention. However, our current development schedule is quite tight, so further internal discussion is required.

Will new content related to Warframe 1999 and the Hex continue to be released in the future?

“ We plan to add Captura scenes and interaction systems for Hex characters. While a specific schedule hasn't been set yet, we are preparing ways to motivate players to continuously visit the area, such as adding Relic missions to 1999-related content.

Due to power creep, the progressive difficulty scaling and sense of progression from the past have faded. Are there plans to adjust balancing or add challenging content so veteran players can feel challenged even solo or in small groups?

“ Power creep and balancing are among the hardest issues to address in development. The dev team's top priority is ensuring Warframe first and foremost remains a comfortable, fun, and beautiful game. Providing challenging difficulty is discussed as a task to tackle once that foundation is solid. For now, please try the upcoming 6-player content and leave us your feedback on its difficulty.

While the addition of Z-axis coordinate adjustment for Signas is great, there are still awkward cases, such as Vauban's chest armor attaching to his stomach or Limbo's head detaching and overlapping with Signas. Are there any plans to add coordinate adjustment features to other cosmetics?

“ In Limbo's case, the animation itself overlaps with the cosmetic, making it very tricky to fix. Solving it would require redesigning specific animation code, so we'll check with our QA department to see the scope of work required. On the other hand, Vauban's armor positioning issue appears to be a simple offset setting error, so we will take note and fix it right away.

Recent elemental reworks have made status effects more useful, but elements like Impact or Radiation still feel somewhat diminished in value. Are there plans for a rework regarding these?

“ The dev team always strives to give renewed purpose to neglected or diminished elements. Since Quality of Life and system improvements are typically carried out about four times a year, it's hard to promise major changes immediately within this year. However, regarding reworks for specific status effects, Rebecca has proposed ideas to Pablo and is waiting for a response, so you can look forward to positive changes.