Future Vermintide/Darktide content

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Feedback
1

First up, this is not a complaint. This thread is for gathering informations, because i am highly confused now in regard to what i can expect from the game anymore.

Chaos Wastes seems to be a moderate success, which is obviously fine. I still give it the benefit of the doubt because the novelty effect is still in the game, but i am pretty sure that at least some people will stay in this mode for a longer time. Everything fine with that. But now, some people also want and expect new content for this mode and thats were my worries kick in. We now have at least two groups of people who expect content for their favourite mode and as far as vague informations go now, the group who likes adventure mode has very little to hope for.

These vague informations include: Maps take too long to develope, Map packs werent economically viable and the official statement that V2 is not a live-service game (even though releasing content for free and financing it with skins is exactly what a live-service game offers).

These are conflicting informations though, because CW offers many new map assets to a point that new adventure maps should have been a viable option to develope. Now, this content doesnt have to be free either. Its not like we are getting a massive amount of content each year and i am perfectly fine with paying 20 bucks for at least one map pack a year. I would also be fine to pay 40 bucks for two map packs. But i fear that this time seems to be over now and when map packs are already a problem for Vermintide, then Darktide will be plausibly affected by it too.

Now, i am not saying that new maps are out of the question now, but it doesnt feel good to what i can expect for the future. Chaos Wastes seems to be easier to support with content than adventure mode is and Fatshark isnt really the fastest in regard to content updates. But instead of focusing on one mode, the original mode that made Vermintide what it is now, the playerbase will be split in expectation to what exactly should get more content now.

I am sure that people will now say that we just got new content for free and i should be glad about it, but this content was not for me. Same as WoM was not for me. I am not the target audience, even though i am part of the core community since the beginning of the series. I know i am selfish, but i am slowly getting alienated from the game and even though it was a certainty that i would buy Darktide, i am now not so sure anymore. The time of expecting glorious maps like we got in V1 dlcs is almost over. I cant expect any big content update anymore this year.

What exactly is the goal for this game? It feels like Fatshark rather wants to implement modes from other videogame genres. The pvp mode is also still out there somewhere, again a mode that is not for me. Is the plan to just get as many people into the game as possible? How does Fatshark expect to properly support all of these different modes?

Or am i at fault here? Did i spent too much time and money into the game? Do you want me to stop playing? I am confused.

2 Likes
2

Game developers don’t owe you anything and it is entirely up to you to decide whether or not what they provide is worth your time and money. That being said, it’s probably reasonable to imagine that all developers want their games to succeed. Firstly, like all other human beings they have to live and pay their bills. Secondly, and again like all other human beings, they want to be proud of their work and feel that it is appreciated. Games cannot be frozen in time. If they are to remain successful, they need to adapt and change to wherever the market is going. If on top of that they manage to remain true to what made them special in the first place, I’d say that is a very big bonus.

I think these have been the game’s best days since release. The Chaos Wastes itself is an incredible foundation to build upon for the future, if it will turn out to be something that people want to play, and on top of it we finally have a pretty glorious Fashiontide going. Personally I would have supported this game regardless of direction as long as I felt that it remained true to what made it special, and I’m quite happy to support this model if this is what it takes to keep it going. I’m well past the point where I’m playing it to smash rats. I came along for that, sure, but what kept me staying was the opportunity to hang out with cool people, be it other players or the developers themselves. I never met the latter personally, but this game is an expression of their talent and dedication and I am proud that I’ve taken the time to learn and understand it.

All of this being said, I wouldn’t necessarily assume that the Adventure mode is dead. Variety is the spice of life, I for one will probably hop between Adventure and Expeditions, maybe even Weaves if they end up getting a rework some day. I probably won’t be interested in PvP, but I’ve nothing against the mode if it will keep the game alive and kicking. I can’t think of a downside to having more people play Vermintide.

2 Likes
3

I somewhat agree with OP. Chaos Wastes seems well-implemented, but seeing as I don’t have a regular group, somewhat erratic internet, and only occasionally QP, I haven’t gotten to do a single expedition.

Why, when so much new content was added, was none of it (besides Old Relics, a separate DLC) added to the base game? We got so many things that I, in particular, have wanted to see in Adventure maps for so long! New potions, items, modifiers - I’m pretty sure I even suggested side-events like the boss chests at some point. And I definitely suggested the idea of just letting us find currency in maps to encourage exploration. We even got Chain Lightning, which (in my Skink character idea) was a main staff idea. And it looks just hilariously fun.

I get this feeling that the devs don’t even want us to keep playing the Adventure mode maps, when honestly those are still the best part of the game.

1 Like
4

Indeed, they dont owe me anything. But, like you said, they want to make money out of the product they deliver and i am one of the people who invested into their game since the beginning. Having a regular customer is usually something quite significant for the establishment, so significant that the regular customer eventually even gets special treatment. Now i do not want special treatment, nor do i need it, but i am still a regular customer and one of the reasons why Fatshark is even able to make more content to begin with. Alienating the core community is not a good idea and even though it might not happening with the majority, it is still happening.

I do understand your optimism, but we are already 6 years into the series. One of the most important questions have yet to be answered. How do they want to support so many different modes properly? Fatshark needs a lot of time to develope content and they are splitting the game more and more with an ever increasing need to support the splitted game modes. Not to mention other content updates like new careers and new skins. Variety is nice, but it doesnt do much when all of it starts hollow. The original game was still in dire need of QoL updates that were luckily developed by third-parties, but these mods have to be updated for every new version by those third-party people and i cant expect them to do that, because they actually do it for free.

I do not have the feeling that Fatshark knows what the game should be. It feels more like an experiment.

5

Vermintide 1 is my favorite game ever and if I had to choose a single title between the two, that would be it. But I don’t feel alienated at all by the direction of the 2nd title. If they find a formula that keeps it going while maintaining the game’s original voice (from my subjective perspective, naturally), I’m happy for their success and more than happy to support them. Sure, there’s clearly a lot of experimenting that’s been going on as they’ve tried to make it successful. You can’t really go anywhere unless you take risks and try new things.

6

The game currently has 18000 people playing right now.
Thats the highest its been since launch. This game was lucky to even crack 6000 pre Chaos Waste. I’d say its doing a lot better than “moderate”. This DLC brought life back to this game, if they need to expand on it for this game to continue, I’m fine with it. We’ve been playing the same game for the last 3 years, it was getting a bit stale.

1 Like
7

I think it’s just one of those situations where we’re gonna have to wait and see which turn development takes. I agree that it’s a shame that we got no adventure mode maps this time around, when some of the new ones could have probably been retrofitted to function in that mode as well, but I don’t see that as some sort of indication that adventure mode won’t see any updates in the future and that all focus is going to be on the Chaos Wastes.

Keep in mind, Fatshark probably wants to continue the storyline in some way, and since the Chaos Wastes gamemode is tied to Chaos Wastes the location, I don’t think there’s much they can do there outside of adding more boons, traits, a new faction maybe, etc…

There’s a Deed rework that’s in some stage of development. A Weaves rework that’s supposed to bring the skins in the base game in some stage of development. The crafting system rework is also in some stage of development. All are ambiguous, but Chaos Wastes doesn’t utilize any of these systems. If they plan to go through with any of these things, then it doesn’t make sense for them to not bring any new content to adventure mode as well.

8

The novelty of the update is still in effect and its plausible that many people would come back to try out the new free content. Thats standard procedure in the videogame industry. Whats important is how many of these people will actually stick to the game and that we will see after a month at least. Thats why i am saying its a moderate success, because it was able to bring back some players, but its only a great success if most of them actually stay, which i heavily doubt. As usual, most people just want to try out the new content and eventually leave again. One full month should be a good enough timeperiod to see how successful the mode really is.

We have been playing the same game for at least three years for a reason and that reason was not variety in game modes. I do understand that you like variety now, but still, this variety can easily be a shot in the foot. Again, the most important question is: How will Fatshark support several game modes properly?

9

I don’t think that the people who play this weekend or a week from now need to be around for a month or more. Maybe they want to play something else or have other things to do after all. But if they’ll come back whenever there’s new stuff that sounds interesting, I think that’s good enough. They came back for this so probably they’ll return again. It’s probably safe to imagine that the “hardcore” player base is a very small percentage of the game’s total audience.

1 Like