TL;DR: I believe some servers may be taken down if player population does not increase, especially for regions other than NA/EU. Player retention requires technical tweaks, not new game modes.
ISSUE:
The player population has been consistently low for a couple of years. NA and EU servers concentrate the majority of active players, while all the other regions struggle to maintain user numbers that are sufficient to barely justify server costs. This situation raises an obvious concern about the future of those empty regions, leading us to wonder if the devs have plans to bring Vermintide’s netcode to allow localhosting, or if servers are being merged or even shut down. The first option can be practically impossible, so it’s reasonable to assume that some servers will be shut down if player numbers do not increase in the near future.
It should be clear that the quality of the server providers is not in question. I 'm not saying that the game itself handles connections perfectly, but, personally, I rarely have had any issues in my region during most of these past years.
First, I would like to ask the devs if there are any plans to increase the player population. Next, I’ll present my own diagnosis and how I believe we could remediate this situation.
CAUSES AND SUGGESTIONS:
1. Performance, Enemy Density, Visual Pollution and Hardware Accessibility.
It’s evident that Darktide’s visual feedback was designed for a much lower enemy density level. This is especially valid for Havoc, where you can see multiple flamers, bombers and monstrosities polluting the screen with enormous flames, gas clouds and many other exaggerated visual cues. You simply can’t see what’s happening because somehow the rocky ground is burning with flames as high as your eyesight point.
Also, higher difficulties have increased density so much since launch that performance has become the largest progression barrier in the game, by far. Low framerates contribute to making the game harder, less enjoyable and frustrating at the same time. Additionally, increasing inflation along with a focused pressure on hardware prices, including in NA/EU, suggests that most of your target audience won’t upgrade their machines for a very long time. Good visuals have no value if users can’t maintain playable performance when they genuinely want to progress through difficulties. I personally love the crazy Havoc density, but bad framerate is the most common complaint I’ve heard from players that despise havoc or have completely abandoned the game.
Mods that change or turn off some visual effects have become very popular for increasing visual clarity and frame rate at the same time. VFX Swapper, Disable Screen Effects, Clean Force Blocking, I Wanna See, Impact VFX Limiter, LessDoT, Clear Smoke and CleanKills are some good examples. I’m sure most players would appreciate more native video options to improve their overall experience in the game. Less frustration from low fps and visual pollution would make people more comfortable when investing their time in it.
2. Repetition.
Darktide is a repetitive game. Players often ask for new maps as if it were something simple and cheap to make, but new maps wouldn’t fix how character builds also barely change in higher difficulties.
In theory, level modifiers should create opportunities for players to use different builds effectively, but this is not the case. Taking the average team as example, just the density in High Havoc makes any psyker build other than inferno/soulblaze a waste of time. Build variation is not just low, it has become undesired by players themselves in Havoc.
To remediate this, new modifiers planned around character build themes should be introduced: Enemy Resistance to DoTs, Reduced Golden Toughness, Enemies Detect Stealth if the Player moves too fast, Reduced Density but enemies are way faster and more dangerous offensively (emperor’s fading light is a joke), some blind enemies that can only detect players when they move, etc.
I’m sure you have a list of experimental things in the fridge. Bring it on as temporary modifiers and see the feedback.
3. Havoc and Beyond.
The players who will stick to the game for longer are not casuals. They make friends, form teams, organize strategies, complete challenges that you make available and produce media about it that attract casual players. To keep those guys engaged, we clearly need something beyond Havoc 40, but maybe separated from the main 0-40 ladder (so no one feels forced to complete it).
I suggest weekly rotating missions in three difficulties unlocked beyond H40, mostly unviable through stealth. Veteran players don’t care about materials, so, if FS is not distributing Aquilas, the rewards can be 3 different titles that only last until the next week reroll. When the player completes X number of missions in one difficulty level, he is rewarded with a permanent title related to that difficulty (until next season). Make the titles appear in different tones of orange-red to crown the best players.
Hope for the best. Thanks.
