FIRE MODE SELECTOR - Separate Fire Mode From ADS

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
1

PREFACE - APPRECIATION
I would like to start by making an observation - a lot of the feedback on the forum, mine included, has only covered the gripes, the annoyances, the small frustrations.

I want to make the point loud & clear that Fatshark have delivered what is already an excellent gaming experience. The sound design, the score, the visuals, lighting, environment art and map design, the enemy variety and distinctiveness, are all excellent. I have played this game to the total exclusion of all others since the beta began.

Their rate of iterative improvement in fixing technical and gameplay problems has also been deeply impressive. Hat’s off to you Fatshark, keep up the great work.

RANGED WEAPON FIRE MODE
Currently, the fire mode (semi-auto, burst, full auto) is coupled directly with whether the weapon is being fired from the hip, or from ADS. This doesn’t make any sense, and I think this is detrimental to the gunplay. It’s reminiscent of an arcade shooter, and feels out of place for the gritty setting.

It also takes away control from the player to play how they see fit, and use a weapon in a versatile way depending on the situation. Now that the Tide series is boldly stepping into the arena of the modern shooter, it would benefit from taking heed of design cues from other successful shooters.

It seems clear as day to me that we should have a dedicated keybind for ‘Fire Mode Select’, that would allow you to toggle between the available firemodes of your weapon.

EXAMPLES

  • AUTOGUNS
    I feel this keenly when trying to fire semi-auto from the hip. There are times I don’t want to be forced into ADS to fire a steady stream of reasonably accurate semi-auto at targets that are closing from different directions. You might say “Well just click rapidly it’ll do the same thing” - but it doesn’t quite work. It feels stilted when you try this, the weapon doesn’t always fire, as if it’s waiting for the previous firing animation to finish - even if the fire rate of the weapon is very high on full auto.

  • BOLTERS
    This is worse for me, because I adore the bolter. If you fire from the hip, you have no choice but to discharge a 2 round burst, while in ADS it is semi automatic. The second round is often wasted - if you want to nuke a hard target, you will usually go full auto (hold LMB down), while if you want to pop a lighter target, it will usually be blood misted by the first round anyway.

It might not sound like much, but you have a 15-round mag, and if you waste 5-7 of them involuntarily, that’s actually a huge nerf.

Going full auto with a bolter is immensely satisfying, Fatshark has done a phenomenal job on the sound design and visuals. But regardless of it being inefficient, being forced to fire 2 round bursts on a single click doesn’t feel good, and doesn’t meet the standards set by modern FPS. Especially when the alternative is to use the floaty and cumbersome iron sights on this weapon, which others have already mentioned in other feedback threads.

It’s hard for me to remember a FPS I played in the last 10 years where I didn’t have X set as change firemode.

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I’d appreciate this for the Rippergun aim ability, i.e. being able to fire one shot at a time.

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