Yeah, I hope the difficulty is more focused around smashing metas than just tweaking numbers.
But new modifiers could theoretically solve this problem.
I made a post awhile back that listed a series of example modifiers that would necessitate different teams/builds. Now not all these are gold, they’re just examples of ways modifiers could force people to play differently.
1.) Specialist Strike Teams: You’re restricted to specific operators. I.E. All vets, All Psykers, All Zealots and All Ogryns. This would force people who main a certain class to have competency with all operators, and it would encourage additional coordination to ensure that your teams’ builds are complementary and cover all the major threat-vectors.
2.) The Malaise: Combat Abilities have limited charges/No Longer Recharge. You kinda shot yourselves in the foot balance wise giving out CDR like candy, and now we’ve got a meta to squash. Now you gotta deal with not having infinite access to your “Press F to not die” solutions and have to come up with something else. This would force adaption like no other, and require folks to respec their builds to minimize CA/CDR nodes, because they’re now effectively dead (or dying).
3.) Firing Line: Brutal Shooters. You made shooters scary, good job! Now you can tune them back down a bit in base havoc so the melee mooks stop being jealous. But every nerf you make to bullet bros you compensate them for in this modifier. Every shooter is effectively a gunner, and every gunner is effectively an armored sweatshop spittin’ out nonstop molten lead at discounted ‘What-are-child-labor-laws?’ prices. Shooter spawn like salmon and every patrol is reapers, good luck! This is where the current meta can have its home.
4.) Munitions Shortage: No Ranged weapons, more stimms and grenades, maybe. No guns, no staves, just melee. No shooters, snipers or gunners either. This is one of those “Fun” modifiers, in the sense it’s goal is just to have a different play-experience, and not necessarily grind your face to bone. I mean, it ain’t easy, but you’ve got your CAs you’ll be fine. Still requires building around “Dead” ranged nodes in your trees. We can add enhanced blitz up to level 20 and remove or reduce the extra stimms and grenades for the 30+ versions. This can also be where you have your “Themed” missions.
5.) Munitions Surplus: Only Ranged Weapons, infinite ammo. Dukane says we gotta deplete our ammo stores or else the Militarum won’t send us as much next time. Another fun one. Still requires building around “Dead” melee nodes in your trees. This can also be where you have your “Themed” missions.
6.) Rigged to Blow: You’ve got a timer, when it hits zero, the whole level floods with GAS. Passivity is a common trait in competent squads, why rush ahead when you can let the enemies come to your killzone instead? This flips the script and gives something for those speedfreaks to play with. The “soft” punishment of a slow death by gas (As opposed to instant failure) provides a nice buffer zone, mainly for the sake of developers so they don’t have to precisely time out levels. And yes, this timer does get shorter as levels progress, making 30+ guaranteed to be a gas!
So it’s not outside the realm of possibility that new modifiers could change the meta. But the ones we have now? I don’t even bother reading them, the prescription’s always the same.
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