Grandfarters Gifts Event Feedback

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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(Yes, the misspelling was on purpose. Yes, I am a child at heart)

Another Event completed, and as customary, here are my notes.

Firstly, I am glad to see Fatshark finally incorporating community event feedback! This one didn’t feel too grindy and we finally got a unique reward for total event completion. I can safely say that if the devs were looking for the minimum, they found it. I am satisfied with no major complaints.

And I think that’s worth celebrating! If that was the end goal, you’ve achieved it. :tada:

That said, I still have a few thoughts on this specific modifier. While I enjoyed it, the new exploding enemies didn’t seem like much of an added threat. In fact, it made the game much easier since you could 1-tap Crushers and Bulwarks if they happened to be afflicted. The consequences for being within explody-range were negligible. Now event modifiers don’t need to make the game harder, but I would personally have liked for the explosion to cause at least a little corruption damage. Maybe next year? Or if this sucker ends up in the upcoming Havoc mode.

Also, it seems like the Beast of Nurgle spawns were cranked up to 11 in this modifier. Not a bad thing, but I would like to request that this be noted in the modifier’s description.

Those nitpicks aside, you could probably rest on your laurels here if need be, make this the standard for events moving forward. I don’t know how the resource allocation of these events impacts your standard operations, but if you wanted to further improve future events I do have some suggestions.

First, consider adding cosmetic map changes that appear alongside the modifier. They needn’t be major, for example: reusing the green fog from the Pox Gas modifier, maybe changing the shade a bit, would have added a lot for a little. For more narrow modifiers (those affecting only a limited number of maps) I think you could go and tweak the lighting or cover of areas to make them feel fresh, if you are able to spare the manpower. This could also be a non-committal way to experiment with potential map changes.

You could also consider adding decorations to the Mourningstar, although I feel like you could do that separate from events similar to how you have had (and currently have) sections that are “Under construction”. I’m personally a big fan of those kinds of details.

Another way to level up events might be remixing an existing music track that plays during the modifier. This would improve event atmosphere and (hopefully) be easier to make than a full new track.

Lastly, I would recommend reconsidering “Community” quests, where everyone contributes to progress a large goal collectively. I believe it’ll be received much better now than the last time you tried it.

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I don’t have too much to say on the event myself as it largely felt unnoticeable, but the turbocharged BoN spawn rate is two things:

  1. Annoying; I would’ve preferred if all boss spawns had been boosted instead of just beasts, as they do get very repetitive during a mission.
  2. A blessing in disguise for the broader playerbase. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it–the vast majority of players I’ve met are, quite simply, total ass at fighting beasts. I have encountered players in auric maelstrom missions who did not know a beast can only eat you if you’re slimed. I have had countless players with aggro run directly towards me and other teammates, making it turn around and block its weakspot. I am constantly forced to be wary of my own teammates when playing a thunder hammer zealot, because there’s a high chance my full-thrust charged heavy ult attack will be ruined by someone else dipping into melee range for one small melee attack, triggering the beast’s tailslam, and knocking me back. All of these things are due to players simply not understanding the beast’s mechanics, and I’ve noticed definite improvements in the wider community over the course of this event as the absolute flood of beasts has essentially forced everyone to actually learn this stuff instead of running away and letting one competent teammate do 95% of the legwork.
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The best part about the event is how fast the Auric one swaps maps.

That 15 minute timer makes me play way more Darktide than having to check and wait for a fun Mael modifier. Having something like I-E running for another 50 minutes when you log in is a gut punch. Even if it is something nice, like a no ammo run, having to play that one three times in a row on the same map becomes tiresome. That timer is way too long.

When that event is gone, it is gonna be back to the old trot.