Artbies - Shotpistol+shield Reload while blocking?

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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Firstly, just want to say new class is AWESOME and all the updates/campaign have been a fantastic/refreshing change to welcome me back into DT! Thank you FS

Just wanted to make a quick suggestion after mastering the Shotpistol+shield with a small nuance I found dragging the weapon back a bit.

I know this is an “Easier said than done” feature, based on how all the mechanics in the game work right now, but essentially I want to ask if it’s possible to allow reloading to continue while the shield is held up.

Here’s why:
Because this game lacks passive blocking by the shield, effectively the shield itself is nearly useless except while aiming/firing the 5 shots of the shotpistol — while melee/bashing, doesn’t block, reloading (which is VERY often) cannot block (and also animation interrupted each time lifting the shield)

Just seems like it’s dragging the purpose/feel of this unique (and frankly awesome/fun) weapon kit.

The riot shield is not as strong as the Slab obviously, and I find it running out of stamina often if out of position (and fairly so), you cannot crutch on it for sure, so being able to hold it up while reloading (and for larger% of time) doesn’t really unbalance the weapon at all imho, but adds a ton of convenience and firepower/utility to the weapon.

If your stamina depletes/get stunned while lifting (and reloading) then the reload should be interrupted, but otherwise I want that shield to be up as much as possible to make it feel like something meaningful and valuable!

“Realism” wise, other weapons you can reload while being shot in the body, so while I get there is “bracing” in mind with holding the shield up, I’d say it’s pretty reasonable the Arbites would be able to fumble a quickload of shells while the shield is being held up and shot at.

If we want “balance” you could make the reload animation a bit slower while held up for “difficulty”, but I think that’s unnecessary work honestly.

Anyways, hope FS sees this, and anyone else who agrees (or disagrees!) please comments and join in below! All opinions welcome here, above is just mine :slight_smile:

Emperor Protect.

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So, while I get your point of view, allowing you to reload while also blocking would be far too powerful, since it would allow you to turtle behind the shield at all times.

There must be a tradeoff and a situation where you need to play somewhat strategically.

Another example is the special on the Ogryn’s shield. If you could move around while planting the shield, that would also be too powerful because you would no longer have any disadvantages to the weapon.

What’s great about Arbites, I play Shield + Maul / Shield + Shotpistol, is that the transition between weapons is so fluid, and you can also bash with the Shield + Shotpistol, removing the need to switch to your melee to push Poxbursters.

You can absolutely clutch with the Arbites shield and effectively block Gunners by investing in Stamina Regeneration and Gunner Resistance on your curious.

There are also other fun interactions, like Perfect Blocking and nodes, which reward you for doing so.

I also use the charge on my Arbites, which can be used to move around both offensively and defensively, and you can also dodge strafe behind cover (or a teammate) while reloading.

The Shotpistol reloads so fast that you should never have something to worry about.

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Yes and it’s also has multiple steps in the reload so you don’t have to start over if you get interrupted. It’s a great weapon already. Some extra ammo would be nice though.

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Thanks for the detailed insight; All very goods points! I do agree with you and I defiantly don’t want to lose strategic/rewarding gameplay.

That said, I’m defineitly biased because my Arbites has trash curios so the best build I can make is whatever is in the talent tree – Yes you can buff reload speed, yes curious can buff +9 stamina, regen, etc and I definitely see how an unwanted ‘meta’ could arise playing off of this.

That all said, personally (without curios), while the staged reload is veyr appreciated, and the shotpistol IS awesome and veyr strong when playing with it, I still feels weird to my.. like almost to say it should be a shotpistol without a shield (I don’t want that, exaggering here, bear witt me lol)

To try to find a middle ground, what if somethign simple was put in place where Stamina DOES NOT regenerate (except for exclusive talents) while being held and/or reloading?

Gunners absolutely eat up my stamina every time I get caught by one (even regular ranged for the most part, when not using the charge, and being low mobility), and the shield never felt powerful to “turtle behind” in almost any case to me (compared to the Slab for example), which is good I think, I like that as it makes it a bit unique compared to just being a “micro-slab”, which would be lame btw… but this is without curios and fairly unfinished builds, yes and I see you point.

I just feel like as a shield you should be able to turtle “a little bit” given a bad situation and not at the expense of simply having to swap weapon (as it’s intended as a sort of hybrid melee/ranges as is) because you keep having to lift your shield to parry/perfect block 8 times before you have those few seconds to finish the reload.

It also feel weird to walk into a bunch of ranged like a chad, but after 5 shots having to scurry away unprotected to reload, then try again (of if there is no cover, you sit still like a dummy doing no damage for your team, or simply swap weapon and the shield is gone at that point) … if there are 10 enemies, I’d like to shoot them/draw their fire for the team, all while and methodically slowly walking/closing distance to them (stamina permitting).

I think disabling stamina regen (its a heavy shield, arguably ‘relaistic’?) while the shield is up might be enough of a nerf to allow me to have my reload, and not make it imbalance as the shield will ALWAYS give out if held up after X number of shots eventually, so time is limited, but you’re not totally gimped if you have stamina left and want to keep pushing.

Again, this is based on my personal/specific vision/thought on how the weapon was intended/I desire to use it, but I recognize there are deifnitely areas to ‘git gud’ (equipment and skill use), and really build out that could potentially abuse this, yes, and Metas are lame when they become a crutch … my vote is there must be a better way!

I also recognize I could be simply “playing it wrong”, maybe it’s meant to be useful for a quick gap closer, fire 5 shots INTENDED to swap to melee once empty and finish up the job… a temporary engaging tool, “like a hit & run” or “hit & rush” weapon, not a “primary” weapon in a sense – with this mindset I’d see things very different for sure!

In any case you, and the other fellow make very good points, and overall I do love using the weapon as it is… it’ll just always feel a little “odd/limited” to me, but even if there is no change, I will of course learn to enjoy and use it best as it can be eventually, but I can’t help but pitch another view for it just in case I’m not alone (which I may very well be XD)

PS: If it helps for context, I was trying to build a sort of Ranged-focus Elite hunter (but instead of a Vet sniper, focuses on ingoring trash mobs mostly and fighting mid/close range with the shotpistol - the things is a beast on elites and the talents for it as well … Judge Dred dreams being fulfilled XD [even play without the dog to feel more like that law-abiding animal])

Cheers

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My only ask is for us to keep our shield up if both weapons have the same shield (when you weapon swap). Being able to block while aiming is already pretty tough!

The shield bash special ability is ment to get them off you so you can reload.

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Honestly, I would really like this, if only to remove the immense annoyance I get with this weapon a lot of the time with how it ‘finishes up it’s reload’. The amount of times I’ve ‘flicked the weapon up’ expecting the reload to be complete, held the ‘ads’ button, only to hold up the shield, go ‘wtf?’, then stop doing so and flip up the weapon again but ‘for real this time’ has just aggravated me to no end, and this would completely fix that issue.

I feel having it held up wouldn’t really be that big a problem either, I feel people over exaggerate the potency of being able to hold the shield up while reloading, even with stamina curios. If someone does that the entire game, they aren’t really being that effective, the weapons got an astronomically long reload speed on top of only having 5 bullets in the chamber. You drop a gunner in 1-2 shots and a special in the same, with 2-3 for Reapers/Bulwarks, so in essence you drop 2-3 out of the line of up 5-10 and now need to reload. But op, now you’re completely exposed, and need to, as you say, scurry away behind cover even though you have a massive slab of iron in your hand that’s intended to help keep that from being a problem.

The entire gun just feels like the shield might as well not exist, as you’re at best blocking a couple stray shots as you’re firing/suppressing/killing the enemies anyway, and the moment when you NEED the shield you just hold it off to the side like a dunce and just live off you’re Arbitor OP stat line anyway. I feel many are just sitting on the fact that the Arbite is currently extremely over tuned (being the new class they need to sell and everything) and if that wasn’t the case, you’d basically just be hopping cover point to cover point like every other weapon in the game anyway, but just holding onto a slap of metal for no reason as you do so. It feels like a stub revolver but with a slower reload, instead of, as you say, weapon I can push with while keeping myself relatively safe so long as I keep track of my stamina.

To that end, I personally say ‘let the weapon reload while guarding’, but maybe just slow down the reload even further or increase the stamina usage while you are doing so (since you’re only brazing it with one shoulder while focusing your efforts on pushing bullets into your mag). The ability to ‘cancel reload by aiming’ is useless anyway since the weapon isn’t a ‘reload one shot at a time’ weapon, so why am I able to frustrate myself by putting the hunk of metal in front of me if not to actually do something instead of just put myself back 1-2 seconds of reload time? The guy in the reload animation is even reloading while holding the shield, why is putting it in the path of bullets interrupting that process?

It just feels bad, and makes the weapon overall feel bad to me despite it’s potency. I’d rather just have a revolver/boltpistol and slide around between cover while reloading than pretend I have a shield for 2 seconds of firing then ignore it/push it to the side again. Let me be a proper riot shield having gunman dang it!

(That, or hay maybe if you ADS while reloading, you continue to reload but root yourself in place while guarding, like how the Ogryn can ‘lock themselves down’ but still draining stamina with every block. That seems like a good middle ground to me, you can’t push forward, but you can guard in place while finishing your reload, but subjecting yourself to further damage in need of guarding since you’re rooted in place).

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Have the shield up but not stable when reloading so it can only block a couple of blows would be fine to me.

I thing most players can observe the frustration around reloading being interrupted when right clicking, that part just feels clunky as it is.

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