I think that’s fair. Personally I’ve been hard stuck to using the sickle if I need more horde clear or using the scorcher if I want medium clear.
If I want to clear medium and light at range while keeping utility the eruptor is still good since you can clear bug holes and bot fabs.
Other weapons are good in niche situations or against specific factions like the plasma shotgun or the incendiary shotgun.
I think the reason the secondary shotgun is appealing to me is because a lot of times I need a secondary is when something is right in my face so I’m fairly hyped on that front.
Playing a game where the best weapon you get is a starting weapon and the weapon you get after thousands of medals is trash… oh wait that’s why they only got 30 hours out of me
This is clearly wrong.
the starting weapon is average on low difficulties, and simply trash on harder.
Perso, I use the scorcher. A great weapon that has an AOE damage effect (something that can hurt your teammates btw).
The scorcher is available in the main game, without even spending 1 €/$. But, you need 2015 medals to unlock everything in it… and the scorcher is on the last page and cost 150 medals.
Jar-5 dominator is great also… last page of the steeled veteran
And there are tons of weapons that are good. You just have to pay attention to the weapon stratagem you will pick.
Main problem of the game is that it is repetitive cause you tend to always use same equipment.
I actually play (yes again) DT with the build I like… mainly dagger and IAG MK5 (veteran and zealot, both). it was the builds (yes builds cause I have like 4 differents builds with these weapons on zealot, and 2 on veteran) I wanted to test intensively (cause really fun) before jumping to HD2. But before it was shotguns I was using a lot. before that was revolver. Before that was braced gun…
In fact, you can have lot of different gameplays in DT. And what you pick drastically change your game.
I can’t feel the same in HD2. Even if I like the game.
That, and the feeling that there is no community and that the game is far less on cooperation than is Darktide. In fact in HD2, I tend to play solo every times I meet someone that don’t pay attention to teammates (like the one that launched a 500kg bomb on us in the evac zone and killed all of us at same time when the super destroyer was about to leave 1 second later). You see them fast, theyn tend to do air strike directly on you, or help you killing these bugs by using the fire shotgun in your direction (and killing you by the same time).
When I met such player, I go away and explore the map in solo. Problem is… this is not rare, this is pretty common.
It’s subjective but I have found more need for communication, coordination, and cooperation in HD2 than darktide.
What are we doing next? Secondary? Base? Main objective? Does someone need help? Is someone going to throw a barrage and tell everyone to get out of the way or to do an assisted reload?
I feel like there’s tonnes of options there. Sneak/smoke builds. Lots of turrets and shields. High anti pen. Light armor speed. I tend to stick to certain builds per faction (automatons are auto cannon, sickle, deagle, stun grenades, mortar, air strike, shield deploy/orbital laser depending. And for bugs jar dominator (used to be eruptor before nerf), rover, eats, impacts, air burst, 500kg, )
But maybe the next balance patch will change that.
I think it’s objective to say that the team that coordinates and cooperates actively will do better than the team that doesn’t 100% of the time. That’s not to say it’s a hard requirement to succeed, but it undoubtedly, inarguably, unquestionably and doubtlessly helps. My favorite rounds with friends is where, instead of us all trying to kit ourselves to be self sustained, we kit ourselves out as a team, having everyone specializing in something different. Tends to work the best allowing for a greater variety of stratagems deployed and less overlap.
I think that’s more the difference between DT’s mechanics heavily reinforcing people moving and acting together (and actively punishing people going off solo very far from the rest of the group) whereas with HD2 the game is more about “get X/Y/Z done in 40 minutes, split it up and get it done!” often working most efficiently when the groups splits 3-1 or 2-2 for many maps.
For my part, I don’t play any of these games solo with total randos. I only ever play with at least one other friend I’ve known for a while, so my experiences tend to be a bit different from people who do play by themselves.
Splitting up or staying together also largely depends on the map layout and how easy of a time your team has with juggling multiple patrol spawns.
Basically splitting up generates more patrol spawns and overall “heat” on a mission whereas sticking together limits heat generation as it’s only spawning 1 set of patrols for a team that sticks together.
Even keeping this in mind it can be a benefit to have 1-2 people secondary / poi hunting while the rest work on objectives / bases. However some map generations like the 3 spoke island setup really makes splitting up not worth it since there is usually only one place to cross and the benefit doesn’t outweigh the the extra spawns as well as the potential to agro something like a shrieker nest or drone gunship spawner.
Not to mention concentrating firepower can more easily bring down large threats like factory striders or bile titans before they become a major problem.
I will always maintain that everyone staying together will always be the most effective and least risky. You could try and solo stuff to “save time” but you run a considerable risk of dying and ending up wasting time running back to where you were. Dealing with any objective as a team is always quicker than doing it alone, so if you maintain some cohesion and move through the map together it’s usually as quick, if not quicker, as trying to spread out and do everything at the same time. People default to thinking they should be running off on their own for some reason I don’t fully understand, effectively avoiding one of the core pillars of the whole game; the cooperative experience. Not to mention it takes a considerably skilled player to reliably and successfully solo your way through multiple objectives alone on Helldive but as usual, there’s plenty of people who don’t fit that bill that try it anyway and end up dying more than anything.
Usually with the friends I play with we will do 7s with a 2/2 split and if things start getting critical we will bunch up again.
Usually we will meet up for larger targets or objectives but sometimes one person will split to do something like knock out a propaganda tower, find the funny rock, or throw a walking barrage at a command bunker.
Keeping it 2/2 works since if one goes down we can call them in close to the other and if it’s not working can can abandon it and meet up.
Mostly try to keep it fluid depending on the mission and it works out fairly well.
What you’re saying kind of proves my point though. 2 and 2 is obviously better than anyone being completely alone, but as you say, when things get critical the best thing to do is to gather everyone up. The thing is, all this requires constant shifting and reshuffling of the team depending on what’s going on and there’s plenty of situations where there’s no time for that. My point is that that is all made redundant if you just stick to one cohesive unit and gun through the objectives with the confidence that you can handle whatever comes. There’s less retreating and kiting and stalling involved, which nets you a quicker and more efficient path to a positive outcome. It’s basically this point:
Four separate entities will never be sure to succeed, but a cohesive team that works together and stands as one will always be better poised to come out on top.
Force splits where we regroup for actual had content let us cover more ground. Part of the trick is using hit and run tactics to knock out small bases with strikes or heavy weapons, grabbing samples and moving on.
If you are lingering then sure you will be overwhelmed but using a strike and move strategy usually leaves us with an extra 20 minutes on the clock with all the objectives and most of the bases done.
I will say again it’s fairly map dependent. If the objectives are set up in a way where you need to follow a very specific path then we usually finish them and branch out after but if it’s more spread out we can smash and grab it pretty well.
In a public game or with randoms? Ehh, not so much.
I will also say it’s highly team dependent and everyone needs to be on their game. It’s not something I would do with a team that is not used to higher end content.
Sure, I don’t disagree with any of that so let me clarify my point because I think it may have gotten lost in the conversation a little; I’m not saying that splitting up is some guaranteed death sentence or failure or that it can’t and should never be done, but rather, if we were to speak in general terms, moving and fighting together as a team is the safest bet to guarantee success. There’s fewer stars that need to align for that to work out, you could say. In a game with complete randoms, with no actual communication or intricate coordination, sticking together will be more likely to work out than splitting up.
