It’s pretty clear that armour is almost meaningless in this game.
Far too many weapons and skills just remove it with ease. With power creep being one of the problem causes of this.
Skills for the veteran like Onslaught that strips armour by the bucket load, which means autoguns can flatten crushers in seconds resulting in these enemies being a trivial matter at best.
Therefore, I politely ask FatShark to do the right thing and make armour a thing again.
So that big tough and/or heavily armoured enemies, are the nightmares they are supposed to be.
The problem is two fold:
First: Yes, we have too much armor penetration (Rend, Uncanny Strike) and reduction (Brittleness).
Second:
The game is pretty much “balanced” around this. When that 20 Crusher/Bulwark patrol pops, you need to get rid of them quickly, and for that you need these, otherwise you’ll kill them way slower.
So by solving the first problem they’d need to address the other one. At this point I don’t think it will happen.
One possible solution could be to introduce a new unit that doesn’t care about armor penetration but still durable and poses a threat OR it provides buffs to other units that makes them way harder to kill, so it has to be dealt with first.
These one-eyed Daemons appear as frail, wasteu humanoid bodies with bloated stomachs, long gangling arms, and broad mouths full of broken fangs and dripping with infectious spittle. Their foreheads are peaked with a single ivory horn, crusted with dried blood, mucus and pus. In their gnarled hands, they carry thick, rusty cleavers known as Plagueswords and broad slashing blades which they use on the battlefield to spread their virulent infections. Surrounded by a thick cloud of enormous black flies, they are a horrific foe, even from across the field of battle, as their host buzzes with the wings of the flies and rumbling with a dolorous dirge. The body of a Plaguebearer appears weak and fragile, but their constant exposure to the vilest concoctions of Nurgle’s cauldron has made them unnaturally resilient. Inured to pain, ignorant of the idea of injury, they fight on, even laughing at the sight of their own dismemberment.
Plaguebearers:
-Grant Cranial Corruption to allies in proximity
-Slowly heal themselves overtime
-Apply corruption on heavy overhead attack
-Are exceptionally resilient to ranged attacks, as the flies that swarm around them absorb most of the ranged attack damage.
right now its like indiana jones just walking by swastika flags with no nazi in sight.
likewise we hear nuuuuuurgle everywhere and only see paraphernalia.
an oven here, some slime&tentacles there.
for me that aint working atmosphere wise, i want full snot exposure.
open maps with the silhouette of a great unclean one faaaaar in the distance, wibble and wobbling of untold legions to its feet.
doesnt even need to be “our problem” at the moment in terms of engagement targets, still if a chaos god is a sponsor i expect his trademark usual suspects in plain sight.
while you’re at it, let nurglings spawn from airducts or sewer lids…
i could understand the “experts” seeing these enemy types as problematic in terms of power creep, but to me i’m already past the point of disbelief.
if a power scale was in place, ogryn or no, advanced material/steel or no, i see no way whacking at thousands of enemies for half an hour and not succumbing to lacerations, infection, drained stamina, weapons going blunt etc.
all considering we are in the realm of “reject powers”
so if ( and dont get me wrong, i tremendously!!! enjoy the flow and pace of the game, to the point of getting “fps-horny” like its quake/ut back in the day ) we take our current “abilities” at face value,
i see no difference to beating actual lesser or middle demons.
way i get it beast of nurgle, chaos spawn in the realms of tabletop are considered low tier cannon fodder.
and right now they drop in less than 10 seconds of engagement.
i see no contradiction then stepping up the game and give us some “real bosses” that might take 3-5 minutes of combined efforts (or maybe less, i’m no game designer, the engagement shouldnt overstay its welcome) so we actually “feel” ‘chaos god is wanting to get us dead’-vibe
cool as the designs are, right now it rather feels like space-vietcong are fighting hobo-chaingang that for some reason goes super sayan…
I really don’t like armor influencing weapon choice by itself (because everything bad at it just goes into bin tier by default) but it should definitely regain its classic tide series advantage of stopping cleave and taking next to no damage from DoT. Massive cleave weapons and some blessings/nodes take away that stuff entirely and literally make them into horde trash. About the only thing I wanna see cleave armor are power swords for muh lore.
Exactly! The asset already exists, it needs a slight cosmetic makeover and to be ported. Done! Probably oversimplifing a bit but adding Plaguebearers using Bile Troll asset is not a completely unreasonable request.
maybe we’d be better off if fatshark somehow would implement a “destructible armor” damage model.
(like the parts flying off of fallout 4 power armor when reaching 0 durability, only visually up to date of course)
i mean the crusher’s gonna die anyway in a few seconds, so having some weapons that visibly tear chunks from his armored parts and leave the fleshy area distinct might help change the engagement pattern for the whole group and make the majority accept and appreciate the then dialing back on enemy numbers to make the killing feel much more rewarding.
this way one could chose to pick weapons that deal with the actual armor and the other cash in on it by poking the exposed parts.
like the shield of the bulwark is rather punched out of the way to expose the chunky torso or head already, this would bring the “can” back in can-opener.
then again it could go to ranged attributes too, so everyone has a combo at disposal to first soften up before the kill if noone else around seems capable or willing.
right now i dont really change my pattern of engagement depending on whats in front of me.
makes for a rather bland chunk of heretics with few being a bit taller and taking 3 more hits.
i’d be curious how the game would play of one had to actually “peel” heavier enemies
Because there are not enough variety and non armored enemies aren’t dangerous. And becauce rend is a universal damage buff.
Imagine if there was some kind of randomization or just a diversity for enemey armor - crusher with infested body, but flak helmet. Carapace body armor, no helmet mauler. Etc. And no universal rend. Players would think more about perks on weapons, aswell as weapons would be more specialized.
thing is, are “people” smart enough to see the concept and pattern or just swing at it anyways and yell for “nerfs” in frustration ?
you, the rest of the forum users, me, we actively engage with the game and give “proper thought”
what would an actual fatshark game designer say to the idea given the “intellect of the masses”
things sounding good in my head, well it might not work for the playerbase sad as it is.
thats why bethesda games bloom years after release due to mod variety and options that go far beyond the grasp of your average “consumer”
i wager if you assemble a test group, 90% wouldnt realise why they ingame die of hypothermia for example if proper survival features were active in skyrim.
honestly, right now i’m really intrigued about a developers perspective @FatsharkKitefin
was such an approach to “armor” ever a point while in development or maybe a future mind-map part to tweak the power creep?
i can visualize their growths burst past the plate armor, even space marine armor doesnt keep them in why should a ragtag breastplate be more durable, hence offering an unarmored spot to prioritize
sad as it is.
