Dev Blog: Into the Maelstrom

[FatsharkCatfish]

Devoted Rejects,

In this dev blog we are going to dive into three topics and upcoming changes that we will be making to them. The three topics are the Mission Board, Crafting, and Currencies/Resources within Darktide.

All the changes that we will be discussing in this dev blog have been in development, and are being prepared to launch in Patch #12 (1.1.20). These changes mark the next step in our support to the game, we will keep on monitoring feedback and evaluate future changes.

For clarity, these changes are not the only changes currently in development and being worked on by the team. We’re also still hard at work on Darktide for Xbox!

Mission Board

We’re making some key changes to how the mission board generates its missions, while also expanding upon the available content. We are going to cover the details further into the dev blog, but for those of you who want a high level summary here are the changes that will be made:

Maelstrom Missions

We will be introducing Maelstrom missions, which are a set of new Conditions with a mixture of new modifiers and existing ones in many different variations. Most of them will be explained through a string of modifiers. For example: waves of Specialists, hunting grounds, waves of mutants and players have 20% reduced ability cooldown.

These Maelstrom missions should be approached with caution as some of them can be quite challenging! As a reward for completing these challenges, both XP and Ordo Dockets will have a higher payout than usual. They will be accessible through a unique slot on the mission board, which is available at all times so that they are easy to find and try out.

Auric-level Operations

We are introducing an additional mission board for players that will consist of a set of high difficulty missions that will always have a condition applied to them. You must be level 30 to play these missions (sidenote: the numbers of missions available for Auric-level operations in the above screenshot could be subject to change). This board will also sport Maelstrom missions, a few of them will have unique conditions variations that are inherent to the Auric-level board.

With the changes we made to the dynamic system we have made the Auric-level operations favour High Intensity conditions, there will be no Low Intensity conditions active in these missions.

Quickplay Bonuses

We are adding bonuses through use of Quickplay as we want to ensure that you are rewarded, should you choose to lend a helping hand by filling an empty spot in a strike team.

Experience, Ordo Dockets, Diamantine, and Plasteel will be bonuses upon receiving these rewards when a mission concludes (sidenote: quickplay bonuses numbers displayed in the screenshot could be subject to change by the time we deploy this patch).

Matchmaking & Server Selection

For further flexibility with the matchmaking system we have added the ability to set the servers used to matchmake with. Darktide has always used the best latency servers you can connect to for matchmaking, however we realise that some players in the world may need to connect to different servers in order to find a larger pool of players. In addition, we regularly review and update matchmaking rules to provide an improved matchmaking experience.

Changing the servers can have an effect on the gameplay experience through the added latency, and we’ll present the latency values in the server selection so that you can be aware of them.

Changes to the dynamic system of the Mission Board

The mission board on the Mourningstar shows the emergent threats throughout Tertium Hive. Functionally these threats are uncovered by the board through use of two systems, a dynamic system and an event driven system. The dynamic system generates content based upon a set of rules, meanwhile the event system acts as an overriding system that will then substitute its ruleset over the dynamic one.

We have made several changes and added functionality to the dynamic system to give much more refined controls over the content generation. The dynamic system refreshes far more frequently (approximately every 10 minutes) and we can now set an individual weighting to each condition per difficulty level.

For you the players, this will mean a more varied amount of conditions available across the mission board. There is also now control for us to weigh certain conditions for certain difficulties differently. As an example, you will see much less frequent occurrences of Low Intensity conditions on Damnation, while lower difficulties like Uprising will have less frequent occurrences of High Intensity conditions. The intent is for new players to have a smoother experience at the start while also providing a challenge to advanced players with harder conditions.

Our aim in these changes is to refine the emergence aspect of the mission board with further variety and the ability to adjust the board as needed.

Crafting

Let’s now talk about crafting, and some of the upcoming changes you can expect. Item Refinement, or previously known as Perk re-rolling is the main focus of our changes.

Ability to select the exact Perk when refining an item

You can now select the exact perk at any tier that you wish for an item (weapon or curio). There is one direct cost to be made for each refine action. This cost will remain flat throughout refining and will be reduced for lower level characters

As with the other actions at the Shrine, the amount of required resources will scale both depending on the base item rating of the weapon and on the tier of perk being selected to refine into.

Two Modifications for items

You can now modify two different aspects of your weapon (be it perks and/or blessings) locking out the other options, that being said, you’ll be able to change the two aspects you have selected as many times as you want. This means that you can choose to modify a perk and a blessing, or two perks, or two blessings. This increases the potential permutations of the item that you want to modify. The perks or blessings that you have chosen to modify will be indicated now in the item card.

Change to Curios

We have extended the ability to make two modifications to Curios, specifically you will be able to modify two Perks.

We are aware that the changes mentioned above do not give unrestricted freedom to all aspects of an item. To do so would have a big impact on item acquisition in Darktide, and we want to explore different paths further down the line.

Currencies & Wallets

And for the final chapter in this dev blog, we’d like to discuss the changes we will be making to the currencies & resources in Darktide.
In short, all character bound currencies are moving towards an account bound wallet where access is shared across all characters.

Migration of currencies

After careful consideration and review of how these systems are working and what value that you the players receive out of them, we decided to opt for moving everything to a single unified account wallet. Now you can choose any character you have created and with the currencies you get as rewards, you can now choose how to spend those freely.

With the next patch, after you login to Darktide you will go through an automatic migration process where the character wallets of Ordo Dockets, Ordo Ingots, Plasteel, and Diamantine will merge into one unified account wallet. These currencies will no longer have any character based wallet anymore.

An explanation of this process will be presented at the Main Menu / Character Selection screen, as well as a “Receipt” detailing the balance of the wallets for your characters and the total merged result for the account.

Additionally, the Account Wallet will now be displayed on this menu and show all the aforementioned currencies & resources as they are now shared.

The next Patch #12 - Into the Maelstrom (1.1.20)

All of the above changes are being prepared for our next patch to Darktide, which will release around mid-August. As part of this patch there will be a maintenance period in which you will be unable to log in into the game, we expect it to last 3 hours.

We will continue to iterate on these features and more, in part through community driven discussions and topics that are presented to us by sharing your thoughts and comments on both our Official Discord or Forums.

Thank you for reading, and watch each other’s backs down there on Tertium.

[Reginald]

I get to finally change my avatar icon!
Huzzah!

Becomes

I’ll comment on the rest as I go but Auric looks golden.

[janfon]

I still wish I could just pick any mission with any modifier I want, but the fact that high intensity modifiers will be more frequent and consistent + an entire new mission board is made for them is pretty nice

Also universal currency for all characters is super rad, good change

[Sidd]

Great changes all around, so exciting

the lock system is still a bit more restrictive than I’d prefer, but hey, its a step in the right direction

[kuli]

We are aware that the changes mentioned above do not give unrestricted freedom to all aspects of an item. To do so would have a big impact on item acquisition in Darktide, and we want to explore different paths further down the line.

This iteration of the crafting system is slightly better but still bad. If ‘further down the line’ means that we can bypass all this locked-in nonsense with red tier items, then so be it. Otherwise, please kill that designer’s baby of yours.

[adam.szitas]

Locking parts of the equipment is still kinda EH.
DRG doesnt need this system and it still works as a game.
BUT
This is DEFINITELY a good step forward.

Now, when do you improve blessing acquisiton system?

[IgnacM991]

We are aware that the changes mentioned above do not give unrestricted freedom to all aspects of an item. To do so would have a big impact on item acquisition in Darktide, and we want to explore different paths further down the line.

Yes, people would be able to play the builds they actually want. Terrifying prospect indeed.

Frankly, time for exploration is over. The crafting has been a pain point since November 22.

I need to say, that the fact that we are still dealing with blocks and half-random map selection is a big turn-off for me.

[freqlectic]

Better than expectes for sure. Why not communicate some of it earlier?

I see that we still want to keep the locks, although with a minor change. That’s a shame.

@kuli

If ‘further down the line’ means that we can bypass all this locked-in nonsense with red tier items, then so be it.

I might revisit the game if we see that change. I doubt I’ll fire it up before that though. Some of us prefer playing the game instead of spending time on inventory management.

[Ragnarok101]

This is…honestly better than I expected.

Locks still need to be destroyed utterly, but this mitigates the problem - I know I often get better perks than I do blessings, and being able to pick perks without restriction is neat.

The mission board was never much of an issue for me, being a Malice/Heresy scrub, but an extra board for level 30s? Perfect, fits lore-wise, and would give me more stuff to do. Also like Quickplay being a thing.

Universal currency is completely unexpected but is enough for me to go reinstall in and of itself because FINALLY I don’t have to feel like I’m wasting time on my classes. Please implement merged contracts with Melk though.

[Havoc5015]

I’m excited to see where crafting goes in the future. OP said they wanted to explore more options to add more modify slots to a weapon. Probably a high-cost consumable you can earn that will add a new modify slot to an item (or something like that)?

Give it to me as a reward for completing maelstrom missions! (Love the idea of the maelstrom/auric missions as well BTW!!!)

[Ralendil]

Fine with everything…

I would have loved that they increase a little the rewards from missions like that:

• Uprising from 195 to 300
• Malice from 300 to 600
• Heresy from 600 to 900
• Damnation from 900 to 1200

Except than that… I was expecting that locks can’t be removed entirely as it would make useless resources, shops, crafting…
Tbh, I don’t think that the new system will really change anything for weapons. But for curios, the change is really welcome.
As I said, we can get what we want… by spending lot of time in the game.

I fear that these changes miss the most important problems:

• time needed to craft something (this is something that impact any normal player or casual)
• the possibility to get a 370+ weapon

I proposed a long time ago that, about this, this could be corrected like that:

• about weapons in shops
  • a minimum for weapons global modifiers of 340 for all shops when you’re level 30 (normal shop, Brunt’s armoury, Melk’ shop)
  • there should have a system that grant you a 360+ weapon after 5 purchases and a 370+ guaranteed after 10
• about the resources, the possibility to:
  • buy and sell plasteel diamantine with ordos
  • exchange plasteel and diamantine
  • dismantle weapons to get plasteel diamantine
  • upgrade a locked blessing (but not changing it)

I really don’t care of the method applied (= there are surely other ways to fix the problems I mentioned above)… but FS, fix this damned problem in your game. You have lost lot of customers, at least correct this to allow the player base to increase again.

[Reginald]

I’m not going to bother going line by line. I’m sure I could nitpick or whatever. My verdict is:

The changes are, all around, good
Key things that were asked for were delivered

It sets the stage nicely for the future of Darktide.

Thanks!

[JerryBeansMan]

Absolutely fantastic changes. Much more than I was expecting, especially on the mission side – amazing stuff there.

The only remaining point of annoyance that immediately comes to mind is Blessing acquisition remaining as near-fully RNG-based, everything else honestly seems like it will be more or less fine now and the game will become so much smoother to work with on the equipment side. Thanks for finally listening to all of the feedback.

[Xeliph]

I have not played this game for six months due to the horrible crafting system.

Very disappointed to see that locks are still being kept. They need to be gotten rid of entirely. It has been the community’s #1 issue since crafting was released and this feels like doubling down on it. Sure, it’s a step in the right direction, but what we need is an entirely different path.

I suppose I’ll check back in another six months…

[merc389]

lol. Good god just get rid of the locks. I don’t understand what’s wrong with you guys. The community has literally been begging for it and you’re just like, “Eh here’s a little teaser of that.” It makes absolutely no sense.

The rest of the update sounds okay though. Not enough to make me come back but I’m sure people that are still playing will appreciate it a little.

[Havoc5015]

Can we get a new class released? I would love to see a new class after all the changes to existing systems they’ve been putting out. The new maps are great, 10/10, but I want a new class to experience it all with.

[Ronus]

Might I suggest better rewards for those missions? flat % increase to materials/dockets is rather dull
why not cosmetics that cost dockets or discounts for your “premium” shop(in limited quantity 2-3 per account as to not frustrate the player)

[dragomusic]

@FatsharkCatfish

We are introducing an additional mission board for players that will consist of a set of high difficulty missions that will always have a condition applied to them. You must be level 30 to play these missions (sidenote: the numbers of missions available for Auric-level operations in the above screenshot could be subject to change). This board will also sport Maelstrom missions, a few of them will have unique conditions variations that are inherent to the Auric-level board.

With the changes we made to the dynamic system we have made the Auric-level operations favour High Intensity conditions, there will be no Low Intensity conditions active in these missions.

This is awesome, really happy to see this change and hope the Maelstrom missions are insane! I do think Maelstrom missions should have increased crafting rewards, as most players won’t find the increased XP that useful.

@FatsharkCatfish

We are adding bonuses through use of Quickplay as we want to ensure that you are rewarded, should you choose to lend a helping hand by filling an empty spot in a strike team.

Experience, Ordo Dockets, Diamantine, and Plasteel will be bonuses upon receiving these rewards when a mission concludes (sidenote: quickplay bonuses numbers displayed in the screenshot could be subject to change by the time we deploy this patch).

A change I suggested awhile ago, I’m very happy to see it finally implemented.

@FatsharkCatfish

You can now select the exact perk at any tier that you wish for an item (weapon or curio). There is one direct cost to be made for each refine action. This cost will remain flat throughout refining and will be reduced for lower level characters

As with the other actions at the Shrine, the amount of required resources will scale both depending on the base item rating of the weapon and on the tier of perk being selected to refine into.

While this should’ve been implemented with the launch of the crafting system or at least sometime earlier it’s good it’s making its way into the game. Thank you reroll until rarity for your service.

@FatsharkCatfish

You can now modify two different aspects of your weapon (be it perks and/or blessings) locking out the other optio

@FatsharkCatfish

You can now modify two different aspects of your weapon (be it perks and/or blessings) locking out the other options, that being said, you’ll be able to change the two aspects you have selected as many times as you want. This means that you can choose to modify a perk and a blessing, or two perks, or two blessings. This increases the potential permutations of the item that you want to modify. The perks or blessings that you have chosen to modify will be indicated now in the item card.

RIP Perk selection, you were fun while you lasted. While its a better change overall, I still wish there was something MORE. Even a ludicrous Diamantine cost to be able to change 3 out of 4 would have been nice. I won’t say this is a bad change and I’m happy to see it, but hopefully we see more changes in this direction in the future.

@FatsharkCatfish

After careful consideration and review of how these systems are working and what value that you the players receive out of them, we decided to opt for moving everything to a single unified account wallet. Now you can choose any character you have created and with the currencies you get as rewards, you can now choose how to spend those freely.

As a person who likes to switch between all 4 classes, thank you for this. I am very happy to finally see this change come in and I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Now I won’t feel like I’m “wasting time” on classes where I already have gear I want.

While I believe most of these changes should’ve come far sooner, I am happy to finally see them. I am especially excited for the Auric level mission boards (when do I get my special ammunition?) and a unified account wallet. Crafting is taking a baby step in the right direction. While not everything I wanted to see this has me overall feeling a lot better about the game in it’s current state.

[Ragnarok101]

I would bet money the current RNG system is the product of some idiot manager who insists upon it remaining in the game and only after months and months of arguing and dropping player count is he bending even slightly, cultivating some adversarial relationship with the player base and viewing them as entitled.

Maybe Ralendil’s the guy’s alt account lol

[CitizenKhaine]

@FatsharkCatfish Question, since the currencies are going to be account based and not character based does that mean the cap for each currency is going to be increased? Right now melk point cap is 100k and ordo docket is 5kk, don’t know about the plasteel and diamantine cap. That mean that people still playing are going to lose a lot of their currencies if the cap is not increased… could we have info on that? or are we gonna need to spend our currencies before the patch so we don’t lose them? because of the cap?