Checklist of “Minimum” Improvements to make Darktide Rock! (and be the game it should be)

[Mezmorki]

Alright. This is my current check-list of “must-haves” for the game to get where I think I should be and to have a solid base to start building future content from. Most of this has been stated countless times before, but I felt it was important to take stock of where things stand my own sanity.

Wishlist of Minimum Desired Improvements to Make Darktide Rock

Item progression and Reduced RNG

• (Done v1.0.3) Implement planned crafting system but with…
• NO PERK & BLESSING LOCKS!!
• (Done v1.0.3) Implement planned weekly challenge improvements
• (Done v1.0.3 needs refining) Implement planned improvements to the basic item shop (e.g. always having one of each basic item type available)
• Have basic item shop rotate after each completed mission
• (Done v1.0.3) Fix balance between supply of crafting materials and across mission difficulty

Reduce Character Siloing

• Make all resources (dockets, melk money, crafting materials) and curios shared between characters
• Make weekly challenge progress shared between characters

Missions & Core Gameplay Loop

• (Partly-Done v1.0.3) Implement planned improvements to mission rewards (e.g. always get some reward, with reward value based on difficulty, etc.)
• Change mission terminal to allow difficulty to be selected for all the randomly rolled missions
• Implement solo queuing option
• Add bot commands so bots can pick up scripts/grims
• Have bots use your other characters
• Implement a scoreboard (having your own stats vs. team averages would be a great compromise solution)
• Add a benefit for leveling up after 30 (my dream would be that it adds a few % points to the stats of your currently equipped weapons until they eventually max out at 80%)

Quality of Life

• (Done v1.0.3) Add character configuration slots so you can switch between builds
• Add ability to switch characters in Hub without reloading.
• Add ability to favorite items and have favorites placed at the top of the list
• Give option for players to merge / stay in strike team at the end of a mission
• Give option for strike team to immediately quick play into the next mission
• Add options to the test chamber to spawn enemies that will attack you (so you can test defensive abilities, practice dodging, etc.)
• (Partially Done v1.0.3) Be able to preview cosmetics, especially premium ones, on your character to see how it will look.

Balance, Bug Fixing, Technical

• Continue to address crashes, network drops, and performance issues
• (Improvements Made v1.0.3) Adjust Blessings so there are no “dead” choices. Improve blessing descriptions.
• Assess under-performing class feats and make improvements.
• Make the most egregious penances less toxic to complete, and add many more penances with basic cosmetic rewards (recolors, etc.)

Content: Maps, Classes, Weapons, * Cosmetics

Obviously from here, we can talk about adding more character classes, mission types, maps, mutators, cosmetics, penances, seasonal content, etc. But we really need to get the basic worked out first.

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February 24, 2023 - State of the Game
Reflections (v1.0.3 / Patch 4 Blessings on the Omnissiah)

The reflections below build on the Wishlist of Minimum Desired Improvements to Make Darktide Rock thread. Check out that thread for the full list.

• (-) The crafting system was implemented as planned, but the item/blessing perks remain locked. That stinks. Hopefully they will address this in the future.
• (++) The rewards and level of involvement needed to meet the weekly challenges feels much better. Ironically, given how quickly you can burn through them now, it may achieve the goal of getting people to do the challenges on multiple characters, which is great.
• (-) The improvements to the item shop feel like a bust. Variance on grey items you purchase is way too high (280? to 380?) so it’s only worth throwing money at it if you’re swimming in $$$.
• (+) Melks shop items seems better and more accessible given increase in Melk money.
• (-) I don’t like that the Exchange’s green/blue items have much lower tier level blessings on average
• (-) The interfaces for tracking blessings are a mess. You can only see what you already have at the time you to go re-bless an item, so it’s a ton of menus to jump through. Instead of having a separate tab for each tier of blessings, would’ve been better to just have one that just shows the highest level you’ve achieved.
• (-) Menu sorting is also obnoxious because it resets all the time.
• (+) Supply of crafting materials feels better balanced and paced as well.
• (-) Previewing cosmetics implemented for many things, and views enhanced in the premium shop, but you still can’t preview premium cosmetics on your actual character.
• (++) Great to see the build slot system added! Makes it really easy and fun to track multiple builds! Great job there.

[dragomusic]

@Mezmorki

Add options to the test chamber to spawn enemies that will attack you (so you can test defensive abilities, practice dodging, etc.)

While I agree with most of these, I would not consider this a “minimum” requirement for the game. The Meat Grinder, while certainly not perfect, is a lot better than most games have. While that would be nice to have imo it is probably the lowest priority of everything on this list.

@Mezmorki

add many more penances with basic cosmetic rewards (recolors, etc.)

Still suprised how seemingly accepting everyone is about how egregious the earnable cosmetics in game are compared to the buyable options. One of the worst things in the game to me and everyone seems fine with it. Not saying no shop or anything but its a bit over the top.

[dragomusic]

Also something I personally would really like to see and think is important is showing weapon skills alongside the other buffs.

[CommanderJ]

In the “Reduce Siloing” headline I’d add something about greatly enhanced XP gains for character number 2 and onwards. If FatShark ever get this game to a half-finished state and actually starts producing new careers, I have absolutely no desire to spend countless hours grinding missions at a beyond-boring difficulty for the umpteenth time. The careers are not dramatically different from each other, and most of the learning can only come when you have unlocked all the talents and can try talent combos anyway. Leveling a character after the first should take a few hours at most. Not 30.

Otherwise it’s a good post and lists most of the pain points.

[Makkro]

Just as the current Meatgrinder let’s us test offensive traits/blessings/talents, having an environment that let’s us test defensive features is quite important.

1 - It helps us find bugs in the game faster, reduces the chance that we join a game with a build that accidentally performs horribly/is bugged (wastes the player’s and teammates’ time)
2 - It respects the time of the player trying to test things quickly to their own liking without tons of loadscreens, network delays, queue times, etc.
3- It gives people the ability to practice in an environment that is more meaningful (dynamic enemies) without causing losses for your team because you were trying to do “science”

While I agree with you that it shouldn’t be at the top of the current list, I think it would go a long way to helping onboard new community members and would accelerate bug fixes/balancing for the devs. Tide’ games can be pretty punishing mechanically and socially, so reducing the barrier to entry sounds fantastic to someone who recommends the games to people. Not to imply that you didn’t agree about its importance, but I did want to highlight how much I like this idea in reference

[Rocker_Fox]

I would say included in the performance section should be:

-Take a look at ghost hits since they become way more common on higher difficulties for some reason

-look at what the fell the game director is smoking at hover difficulty beca I think it’s actually losing track of what it’s spawning due to server desync.

I’m not kidding I really do think everything being shunted on servers that at times can’t handle the sheer number of enemies is causing problems like spawning 4 or 5 pox bursters in a row like it forgot what it wanted to actually spawn followed by a room full of nothing.