"Gasrats" feedback

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Gameplay Feedback
1

I like Legendary to be “hard”, but there are some things that I find super annoying, mainly the gasrats. I understand their purpose, but sometimes the random factor in the game creates situations that kill the group in a very unfair way. The game being “hard” is one thing, the game being “unfair” and “outcome sealed” is a totally other.

Now ofc all the “elite” players are tempted to start the replys “play better”, you need to do"this that or the other thing"… but before you post stop for a second and think about what’s actually wiping you, or starting the path to wiping.

Like for example: You are in a tight spot/narrow passage, you get a hord, a few specials and/or a boss. You are fighting for your life already - even these odds are “hard”. Now ofc, the game spawns a gasrat that throws a gas cloud where you stand and its game over. You cant move since tight spot and surrounded. Or if you could move, and have to move again, you cant since the gascloud is still there for way too long. I strongly dislike situations where the outcome is 100% = you die (if not this second, then 20sec from now since group is so hurt there is no recover), because of RNG. If I’m 100% doomed, whats the point of playing?

Suggestion:

  1. Change “gasrat” to a “bombrat”. The bombrat throws a bomb, you get a detonation circle warning, 1-2 sec after impact the bomb detonates for HIGH damage - but don’t leave “environmental DoT’s” that prevents you from using that part of the map. Ofc the “bombrat” can spam bombs with short cooldown untill killed - so it’s a big threat and needs to be handled fast.

I don’t really see “how” you can balance the gasrats on certain maps. I want to keep it hard, but at the same time also “fair” - even in a very difficult situations you can win if played extremely well.
NOW: on some maps, in some situations (and this happens alot tbh) if you get bad RNG you die, you can’t really do anything “better” to change outcome. This I hate with a passion, and this is a kind of thing that can make me uninstall when enough frustration is built up over time.

2

The Gasrats are balanced in 1 Point:

They kill their own Mates… and you could go for Area-DMG-Reduction on your Items…

Like you told in your Example: “surrounded” That´s a thing that should never happen. If it happens, the Gasrat is not a problem -> every enemy is a problem.
Last time i saw premates cuddle in a tent with a Kruber sitting and blocking in front of Kerillian and Sienna. Good teamplay idea, but in the other way extremly dumb. They died to a Blightstormer…

Some Games before i had a random IB who wanted to do the same… i told him: NOPE

Never cuddle so hard in this game and don´t get surrounded… if you hear a horde incoming, melt them down with range and dodge to their flanks for melee… If you´ve got a tight spot, run back to a bigger Area or the tankier mates need to facetank the enemies meanwhile someone stays back and just wait with the rangeweapon for specials in a save area…

It´s hard on some spots yeah, but that can be every gasrat, blightstormer, gatling, gutter runner, warpfire and surely every boss, if your team don´t know how to react on it…

EDIT: the hookrats of doom provoke more wipes, then a gasrat could do

3

If you cannot do something better right now, it means something went wrong slightly earlier. Part of good skills are predicting what is to come: “this spot is not defensible, we need to push through”, “no space to evade a gasrat here, we need a better location”, “It’s time for a horde, and a possible boss location is up next, let’s wait”.

On a personal level, bad timing, bad positioning or simply not paying attention, to friends or enemies. On a group level, nearly always bad positioning, being too widely spread. Being overwhelmed by a horde because you’re surrounded with very little space to move is on you and possibly your friends for not communicating well, not helping your friends and not paying attention to your surroundings beforehand.

True, a gasrat might well cause the party to split. That’s when you need to pay attention to your surroundings even more than usual, and regroup quickly, especially if everyone split to different directions. Never stay alone.

I don’t see that as a good idea, not for teamplay or otherwise. While it allows the ranged chars to shoot freely, there is no way to escape a blightstorm (as you say happened), a gascloud or even a disabler. A hookrat gets through enough to grab Kruber and he doesn’t have space to dodge, and it all falls apart, even if the ranged people snipe the hooker as soon as its grabbed him. Always keep some space to dodge, always have an escape possible.

And of course, the point someone is bound to make: Globadiers are a strong point in the lore, and suddenly changing them to bomb-throwers wouldn’t make sense. I don’t know the exact lore outside this game that well, there might well be bombardier rats in another clan, but they make sense as a separate enemy, not a sudden change. Besides, area denial is a thing. I just wish we could do a bit more of it.

5

Yeah just i told, in the other way extremily dumb… They played like this the whole game… Just range the enemies down and Kruber just sit around and def… I mean it´s really great teamplay, but in this game, like i told, dumb. ^^

I told the same to them… Kruber switched from Shield to Executioner in the next game… it worked better. ^^

Well i guess they were quite new to the game and even higher dificulties…

6

The solution to this is better positioning. Even in the event of horde+boss+??? scenarios, you have a lot of control over where you fight them.

  1. You get audio warning cues for hordes: the skittering chattering sounds for rats, the horn for chaos
  2. You get audio warning cues for bosses

When you hear these, you have 15-30 seconds (give or take depending on map and RNG) to get your behind to a better position. Falling back to a better position drastically raises chance of survival in almost all scenarios.

BUT you may say, what if we’re already in the tunnel/really horrible area and you hear the cues when you don’t have time to evacuate? Well, then you need to learn the danger areas of each map, and pay attention to spawn timers. If you haven’t had a horde in awhile, or a boss the entire map, then before jumping in that tunnel “Hey lets hold up here and wait for the horde” or “Let’s have the Handmaiden go ahead alone a little ways to see if the boss triggers, they have high mobility and stealth and can ninja out of there while we fall back.”

Or even before you get to the really tough spot, “ok we’re about to enter , so here’s the action plan if we get jumped in there, we’re gonna hook left and hug the wall until we get to x place to make a stand.”

I do agree with you that if you get pinned down under boss + horde and get a gasrat, you probably are DOOMED… the key is, don’t get pinned down. If you’re about to be, get your kite game on and GTFO ASAP.

7

Buddy System!

8

Ha!

9

While I still think they should make the gasrat work exactly like L4D2’s spitter, since they tweaked it, I think it’s fine. You have a fighting chance to avoid the gas, it is now rather skill-based if you get hit or not.