The change from Recruit to Veteran feels like it stacks a bit to much into one level of increase, so that Recruit doesn’t seem to prepare you for it, i would like the difficulty to either be split between enemy power and resources, or to at least have them more slowly evolve, with stronger enemies then a change to resources, and so forth so you can more naturally adapt to it,
I just feel the jump to veteran is to much to force it like it is, you have to do it to maintain loot value, but the change is so much that you feel unprepared and caught out by it, you just can’t have learned to handle things the way they are on veteran enough to make the leap feel comfortable,
While I understand the desire for a slower difficulty progression be informed that later gaps are an even starker increase in difficulty. So in order to make the progression slower you would have to implement like 10 different difficulties which is rather inefficient. FS should keep the number of difficulties as low as possible.
And like said, the “problem” of not being prepared for the next difficulty is present over the whole game. But the community knows this and the most effective tactic is jumping into the cold water. Keep playing 5-10 games and you will get used to it.
Other than that, you can slightly circumvent the stark increase by playing deeds (if available), Weekly Events or Twitch on Recruit difficulty. They are more difficult than vanilla Recruit but easier than Veteran. So they can let you learn a better handling of the game. But they partially play very differently to pure vanilla game. It may help nonetheless.
It can be harder for some of us here with thousands of hours to remember, but I thought that getting to 100 power weapon, feeling a bit better off and then jumping to Vet only to get stomped flat was a bit brutal. The Jolt from Veteran to Champion isn’t so harsh (IMO) as you are probably 300 power weapons when you hop up to champ so it’s the enemy hitting power that needs addressing. From Recruit to Vet you’re still chugging through the grind to even get to max power. The difference between a 100 power weapon and 300 power weapon makes a big different to how fast you demolish enemies.
Getting higher power weapons will make things feel better, and all the while you’ll be learning. It’s not the best advice, but just grit your teeth and keep going!
If you haven’t already, I would also recommend playing some quickplays. In all likelihood, you will be matched with people comfortable in the veteran difficulty that can help guide you through it. You may even run into the occasional 500 hour vet, helping out a friend who is new to the game.
As a final option, add some of the guys here on the forums who are normally keen to help new players progress through difficulties. If you play on PC and are looking for a hand then give me a message and I can add you on steam if you want. Dont claim to be great at the game but I consistently play legend.
Starting off each of the difficulties is quite difficult, honestly, but you are right to believe that the transition of Recruit to Veteran is quite the change. One of the things you will want to consider for all difficulties is that if you never take a hit you cannot lose.
What the question is for all difficulties is “how can I survive this entire level?” but a shorter term question is “how can I never take damage?” If you can master that short term question and attempt to go through every fight and not take a hit, you will find that you survive every level without question. Practice mixing in dodges, blocks, and pushes in melee and you’ll become infinitely more durable
My connection speed isn’t great, but I’d be happy to play with you if you’re in the United States of 'mrrca; much like Argonaut, you’re welcome to PM me and we can play!
Thank you everyone for the advice, it turns out to have been true, as i accidentally went into a mission with it set to Veteran as a relatively weak career and didn’t even notice until late into when i realized how scarce supplies were, it really is just about getting more reserved with your risk taking and taking better care of your health,
And to the kind people who offered to help thank you but i play Solo offline on Xbox, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation if i had been playing with other people because my anxiety would have caused me to uninstall the game and spend the next week hating myself for dragging others down,
I do still think some means to stagger the difficulty would help players overall, like an option to have the game adjust just your gameplay to have the next level of enemy HP and damage while still getting the same resources as the actual difficulty,
Like a simple box you can tick to make enemies hit like veteran and reduce your own damage to reflect that, but still playing on recruit with it’s resources and spawns,
Hey, my man, just know that you aren’t dragging anyone down you’re a war hero for facing off against the pactsworn! A champion… nay, a LEGEND, for aiding us in our battle!
We are so happy to have you on board, my guy. Please know that there are a great many of us who are here to help and nothing more; losing a battle means something epic must have occurred to bring us down… it means the battle is all the better so long as you fight to conquer our foes and become a leader of heroes in your own right, I don’t think anyone will complain, chief!
Additionally: I think difficulty customization will become less necessary for you as you realize the magnitude of the difficulty curve. While I know it’s a jarring experience, I highly encourage you to battle on for 2-3 more days and then look back and ask why those days prior were harder/easier as you grew as a combatant. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you look back at veteran and laugh… just before screaming war cries into Rasknitt’s face on Cataclysm!
EDIT: I really just mean to give those spikes a moment to set in before you pass to harsh a judgement. It’s not a great argument for me to make, but I really do believe that an “acquired taste” is best for Vermintide. You’ll come to love it, I’m sure!
I have seen a topic or two on the forums where people complain about new players trying out new difficulties and “bringing the team down”. From my experience, people who complain about these things tend to not be super confident in their own abilities and place an unreasonable portion of the blame on a new player, rather than considering their own areas for improvement.
The majority if us like a challenge and helping out new players who want to learn the game. Some of the most fun I’ve had has been with 3 new players and everything is going wrong at all times. Those are the fights that get your adrenaline going .
Dont worry about “bringing the team down”. Runs generally don’t fail due to 1 player (unless that 1 player is actively killing everyone else). Everyobe should be welcome .
This is really important.
I love games where players announce they’re new to this difficulty but assure us they will do their best and they’re willing to learn.
Some people might be rather… blunt, when pointing out things you can improve. Just try to look past that and take in the useful information.
Although the game can certainly be frustrating at times, try to stay positive and learn from each defeat.
After all, every time you get your rear kicked is an opportunity to learn how not to get your rear kicked.
In my opinion Twitch is the best gap-closer between difficulties. Deeds are rare if you don’t have a lot of friends. And judging by the fact that you are playing offline on Xbox, you won’t be doing a lot of them. You don’t need to be actually streaming in order to play on twitch. Just type in the name of a random 24/7 twitch stream and you are set. You don’t need to worry about setting your game to private as it is automatically done for you, as long as you are launching a map from the twitch menu and not quick play or custom game.
You can change vote time limit and time between votes in Options->Gameplay. So who will do the actual voting during you run you ask? The game will randomly choose an option when the twitch prompt shows up on.
you’re a war hero for facing off against the pactsworn! A champion… nay, a LEGEND, for aiding us in our battle!