I just went back through archive.org to check on this claim, and I cannot find any actual mention of “solo mode” or even language like “play alone or with up to 3 of your friends” on the Steam store page.
And I’m pretty sure that’s because that language never existed. What I think you’re referring to is that many months before release the game on Steam had a “Single Player” tag. But that tag was removed (and only “Online Co-Op” remained) on June 1st, 2022 when they started accepting pre-orders.
So it seems it was never falsely advertised on Steam as coming with solo mode. And honestly, I don’t remember it being promised otherwise. But of course, I’m open to being proven wrong. I just think the actual facts matter, when this stuff gets bandied about so often.
And, as far as I’ve seen, there were never any marketing materials advertising the weapon customization system that the blessed grasmann and company have devoted many hours to surfacing and polishing. I heard it was maybe partially implemented in the closed beta (?), and I know there’s at least one pre-pre-order article talking about the aspirations there (I recall the idea of “changing a scope”), but I don’t think it was ever sold to people. And I personally think that’s an important distinction.
I covered Versus mode above with an actual FS spokesperson’s word on the matter. It’s unfortunate, but it just didn’t work. And dedicated servers…well, I guess we can just put that in the Book of Grudges and take it to our graves.
Speaking on upcoming features and plans would all be seen as a ‘promise’ even if just discussing potential plans and be pointed at in the future, and is as such not going to happen. Unless they make a suggestion thread, or poll to gather data.
What CAN be communicated more on though is currently available features, such as if any of them are not currently fully satisfying neither the devs nor the players. And similar aspects of feedback that we provide on the forum and other media pathways. I enjoy those kind of exchanges and assurances that our feedback is actually being read by those to whom it matters.
It was something that some devblogs like the one shown above hinted at the intention to add, but you’re definitely correct to say that a weapon customisation system was never developed enough to be marketed as a feature in any trailers, and the hype was largely just the community running away with the possibility from small references like that.
Iirc the weapon customisation UI that fed the hype around such a system in the closed beta was essentially the current skin and trinket customisation tabs, which tbf could easily be tweaked to add more tabs for meaningful attachment slots. Technically you do spend dockets to buy weapon skins to modify their appearance, so they do deliver on their word in the devblog for anyone holding them to those ones in particular.
Considering all the assets the weapon customisation mod has to work with it wouldn’t surprise me if they were still developing an actual modification system as late as the closed beta stage before the crunch leading up to release forced them to shelve it, but from what I can remember and dig up they definitely didn’t market it as a major feature in any trailers or press articles.
If FatShark said something and you got your hopes up, that’s your own fault. They are just trying their absolute bestest and should be held to the same standard as a toddler doing a finger painting
The free features they dropped weren’t to complete a woefully incomplete game, they were to give YOU (the ungrateful consumer) free stuff. Nevermind that DT shipped with a third of the content their previous game had at launch. See statement above, it’s your fault you got your hopes up
When FatShark announces a new feature like Versus at E3. With a full trailer, AT E3, in front of millions of people. It’s perfectly fine for a buried post by a CM telling you “lulz, it was pretty hard so we probably won’t do it”. Again, your fault for believing them
This thread isn’t about content or value or whatever. The question is “Does FatShark’s lack of communication not bother anyone else?” and the answer is NO! Because they are trying their best! They had “Comms-Links” for ALMOST 6 MONTHS! That’s a huge commitment!! You wouldn’t go out and do your job for a whole 6 months right?
Again, the onus is on YOU, the consumer, to go digging through the forums or discord or tinder or facebook, where ever they decide to post about features that they will no longer be developing. If you’re upset about that, it’s your fault!
I remember getting back into VT2 because I was hyped for VS, then everyone went into cope anger and started getting mad at you for mentioning it or even wanting it. Now its in the same category as dedicated servers for that game I’m sure. Too bad no one even bothered making footage from the invite alpha, it they even lifted the NDA. Oh what could have been.
Yes, obviously the fault is of us trying to hold Fat Shark to even the faintest no dartboard no date no indication of work goals that they set for themselves. Why would you ever assume someone is doing what they’re claiming to be working on anyway? Clearly we forgot we’re dealing with bottled farts and chaos.
Sorry to single you out, but your post is the perfect encapsulation of my original point in this thread.
As far as I can tell, FS never advertised a solo mode and never advertised slot-based weapon customization as a feature of the game. And yet, there are people who go hyperbolic and keep claiming they were LIED to about these things because they misconstrued a tag on Steam’s pre-pre-order page or because a feature was mentioned once by a dev long before you could even give them money in exchange for the “promise” of the potential idea.
So what is FS to do when the things they say at any point in time (jeez man Versus mode was yeaaaarrrrrrssssssss ago) is going to be for-e-ver chalked up as another malicious lie? Either only say things that are 100% going to happen (which means they are so far along in the pipeline that we’ve basically got them) or just stop talking.
Dude, I completely agree with you and I really don’t think you’re arguing in bad faith!
I totally said they lied, you didn’t just make that up from my post and I definitely singled out specific features, you’re absolutely right. I also definitely said that they lied maliciously about Versus mode (plus it was a long time ago, and it’s ONLY E3, who cares right? What multi-million dollar company doesn’t make a few mistakes along the way right?) So thank you for your solid good faith argument by putting inflammatory words that I never used in your reply.
The question of communication is simple: if you announce something at e3, you should probably be a BIT clearer than a discord post by a community manager (you know, appropriate level of response and all) when the feature gets completely scrapped.
You can’t announce something at e3, which a few million people will see and then sweep it under the rug with a discord post that a couple dozen people will see.
FatShark communications are bad. They are even worse when you compare them to other companies with successful games as a service and real-money cash shops.
It’s clear that the person you’re replying to is arguing in bad faith
And yes I agree, if you are going to advertise your product with, or even suggest that certain features will be included, it might be wise to let your fans know if things change. This is the internet, what you say will be remembered, and later you will repeatedly by asked if its coming. Is the nature of things like this.
I suppose it’s fair to get this response when I worded the opening of my previous reply very poorly. Yes, I’m still talking to others in this conversation (like directly above our replies), and others who aren’t directly participating, by making what I consider to be factual arguments (about things that we/weren’t promised) and more emotional arguments about how I just think it’s unrealistic to hold a company to releasing every project/feature they ever talk about (or even advertises at E3).
The portion of my previous response that was really directed to your point was that this has all been a conversation about FS’s communication style and why I think it is the way it is.
You’ve done this more than once in this very topic. Just dodging a totally normal question. If you think that something was advertised (and/or canned) and that FS should be held to it then…just give an example!
The dev blog that Aquamarine posted (and hell I can’t even find the waaaay-pre-release interview where scopes were mentioned…anyone got a link?) was delivered upon. You can use Ordos to customize weapons (both visually, although this is lacking, and via perks/blessings)…you just can!
EDIT: here, I’ll go first. Aqshy said there would be a 100 aquilas pack added to the premium store. It’s not there. It should be. I’m personally not purchasing any more aquilas until they add it, and I think everyone should take the same stance and make their voices heard in this (or any related) thread.
Look, you can dance around this as much as you want.
Clear communication is required from Fatshark
“We currently have no intentions of releasing Versus mode for Vermintide 2, while we do still test the features when we have time, at present the mode is not suitable for release.”
I saw a more recent post than the one you linked in this thread, in steam discussions which actually said its still in the works for V2.
No one has flatly stated that weapon customization (beyond skins) is not coming, instead we got some post by a CM somewhere.
Gods if they just answered things straight, this stuff wouldn’t keep happening.
You think I enjoy this? Sitting here wishing I knew what the heck is actually going on over there? I want some damned communication please thanks.
I mean its because theyve proven to be so bad with scheduling and delivering things as they describe them on time that Im glad they shut up and only talk about things when theyre at most a few weeks away from being shipped.
They clearly dont have smooth or predictable development pipelines, and thats besides other things like them going on hiatus for government mandated holidays for the better part of a month (looking forward to that in the next few weeks).
When their internal project management is in that kind of state asking them to lay out anything long-term is asking for sweet little lies and misunderstandings. They could give us a road map sure, but id be willing to bet money on it constantly shifting and even if it had a disclaimer like the one below id still expect to see people saying theyre breaking promises when it happens.
If content is slow for a while thats fine, it gives me time to go and enjoy other games that capture my attention for a while, and then when theres actually new stuff to engage with I can come right on back to put another few hundred hours in. I dont need to know months in advance when that stuff is coming, especially if they cant even guarantee its accurate.
wich wouldn’t have been a problem if they acutally, said prior to purchase, “hey guys, you know the thing that we talked about? yeah no longer gonna be a feature”.
wich they convieniently didn’t.
(btw EU law clearly states that you’re advertisment must be true BUT ALSO:
not ambigious /unconfusable
so the whole “yeah but technecally they never said x/y specifically blah blah” is insufficient
and that simply wasn’t the case,
They literally claimed attachments in an interview
They featured Indications supporting it, I.E for example what @Aquamarine posted
They never made any large enough effort to clear up the confusion.
its impossible to lose this case… if you were desperate enough for damages…
and to top it off, the preorder beta, was an enclosed enviroment, wich meant that there was no way to tell if its going to be a feature once the “release” dropped.
next thing on the list, after release phase, we had a month of radio silence without any clear up of what was shelfed, why or why not,
all this together so all those claims from FS convienently could outrun the Returnphase of steam twice.
maybe they knew most people wouldn’t make a case for a refund if the steam automation rejected and you had to go to the lenghts of proving. . .
(THIS IS WELL KNOWN AND ABUSED BTW)
sure maybe FS is just oblivious but is incompetency so much better than malice?
This is exactly my point. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Better that they don’t in my opinion.
I love sassy Tragic from Gunfire Games because he’s got Hedge Edge and passionately talks directly with the community about his hopes, dreams and plans for the game. But he doesn’t make all the calls, and if people started holding him to literally every interpretation of everything he’s ever said, I wouldn’t blame him for clamming up like FS has.
There’s a lot of back and forth in this thread (even in the last 10 replies) about appropriate avenues for communication. I guess we disagree that one interview (and lordy can ANYone find it?) months before release constitutes a legally-binding promise and that FS mentioning it in that interview means they should reasonably be held to implementing it.
And the one sentence in the dev blog…here it is again:
Ordo Dockets: Can be used to buy new weapons and apply modifications to them.
I just don’t agree that saying this ^ is a promise (edit: or even a nod honestly) of a slot-based weapon customization system.
Nope, but it might be fair to say that a rather large number of people have been asking, since beta, if attachments are still planned for the game. Or questions like “Can we get attachments”, or “Can Ogryn have some kind of flashlight attachment for a weapon”.
Seems like it could do with addressing.
Or how about the Premium store? Hey, can anyone tell me the last time this was mentioned by someone at Fatshark? Maybe back around the time they removed the timer right? Was it the famous “To avoid confusion” post from one of the CMs?
Anybody at Fatshark said anything about it since? Lot of topics asking if the store can be changed, improved, opened up as a full catalogue. Lot of talk by people on this here and elsewhere, not much… you know… communication from Fatshark.
Or what about my personal favourite. People on reddit asking whats happening, and other users posting screenshots of Discord messages from CMs so that Reddit users can be kept updated.
Just friggin top tier work from Fatshark all round in this department, but fear not, our hero Badwin will explain why they are justified in this.
Y’know, I’d really appreciate it if you could try to engage with my arguments without continuing to be rude and treating me like the “vile scum” (that’s a direct quote from you in case you’ve forgotten) you think I am.
