Hey guys, tryheard sweatlord 9000 here running at ya with a dueling sword to tell you that:
Havoc Deranking is BAD and NOT A GOOD IDEA and needs to go like oh my DAYS.
Look, I play this game with 2 friends and my brother on occassion doing duos mostly, SOME trios, and the rare full squad if by some miracle all 3 were online at once. But now none of those things happen because none of them can be arsed to level up their Havocs when they actually want to play. One of my friends is more so in the 20-30 havoc skill bracket and thatās what he wants to play, but heās stuck with a havoc 9 and I really donāt want to derank mine because itās pain to level it up. This is such a huge inconvenience that none of them play Darktide basically at all anymore.
And Iām not saying this as an āooh you lost 3 valuable customers here today mister sharkā Iām just trying to set the stage here. I think Darktide is actively LOSING playercount with the way Havoc deranking and party finder is set up. Simplifying it would be a win-win situation for Fatshark and the playerbase that they need to implement a new system for playing Havoc tiers approximately 24 hours from now.
My friend logs on to play solo: Doesnāt want to level his Havoc, canāt find parties for his skill-range. Friend gets off.
Friend gets on when iām on: My Havoc is 35+ and respectfully Tim, Iām not deranking mine down all the way for your WEAK ASS because I really donāt want to level it all the way back up. Friend gets off.
Please Iām stuck in ELO hell in the 29-32 range please guys I swear Iām good please look Iām even using the dueling sword and plasma gun. Oh do you need a bubble flame staff psyker instead? Woof woof I can go that too! Please oh please let me join your Havoc 30, gracious one! I shall play whatever it is your liege asks of me!
Another thing: Map pool. Having a limited map pool makes the game more repetitive and more boring. Repetitive does not mean competitive. Expand the map pool of Havoc and potentially even add map voting. It could be a good experiment to let players curate their experience that way. Letting people do something like play Havoc 40 on the shiny new map would also go a long way in player retention and overall enjoyment.
In theory, it makes sense to gate-keep scrubs out, as Iāve said before. In practice, itās a much different story, because bad players end up in high-havocās regardless. More skilled players carry them to these levels. Iāve seen my fair share of players who donāt belong in Havoc. Like @Index said before, I believe, just let me play Havoc-40 whenever, instead of the pointless grind & waiting in purgatory hell that is the party finder to do so. Iām paraphrasing, but you know what I meanā¦ I obviously agree. I just want to play 40ās at my leisure, not grind a million times. If anything, not many people play this mode probably because of that, so Fatshark is ultimately shooting themselves in the foot. The only way youāre going to get to 40 again is with a pre-made of solid people. Not saying you cannot with pubs, but itās obviously going to take much longer unless you get lucky at the RNG gate to get good players. Iām in favor of getting rid of de-rank, but keep the penalty system still in place just in case some a-holes want to bail.
I could see the derank being made a thing with leavers in mind, but having derank only be a thing for people who leave would have the same result I agree.
Honestly? In my opinion, enough about admech and all that frivolous stuff people like to whine and talk about. If Havoc is becoming the future of the hallmark of balance, then make Havoc the best it can be. Smooth out the player power, the overabundance of enemy spawns, the lazy spawn tile and the overall flawed (and arguably artificial) balancing of Havoc. And I (selfishly) wish more people would make our voices heard in the matter because Itās the main problem I personally have with Darktide atm.
Also, one other point I MUST SAY that I forgot to mention in the post:
Having good balancing in any game is a MUST because that maximizes the amount a player can SELF EXPRESS themselves in your video game! Seriously, self-expression in video games is what keeps them going for so long and itās a huge way of keeping player retention.
Make as many weapons as possible viable. Tone down the overtuned weapons that Havoc is currently being balanced around. And at the same time, make Havoc ACCESSIBLE. People get to play in their skill range, with any wacky combination of cosmetics they want to show off to their fellow players and admire themselves in-game, along with using a build that can hold itās own despite being against the norm. You get what Iām saying? With so many different ways to SELF EXPRESS yourself in a game, the more youāre probably going to play that game! Darktide has such an elaborate combat system that it has so much potential It genuinely frustrates me thinking about how much of that potential could be reached.
Some weapons will naturally be better than others, thatās fine. Just donāt have it be to such a huge discrepancy.
Attempts within rank should be infinite. In havoc even well played team can lose because of some unfair crap or game just giving itās thousands errors to one or several people.
This game donāt have stability for existence of limited attempts.
yep lol me and @Antilus had to carry many people for my 40 last season and it wasnāt that fun towards the end. I could feel the animosity I had for players who didnāt take āmetaā skills. I did however have a ton of fun playing arbitrator while it was fresh but the novelty is done. That said, the bad players will get in regardless true, but I actually like the wall that stops you. It felt like I ā¦. achieved something.. even if it was for a small amount of time.
Deranking is idiotic but so is the ability to queue into brackets that are way above your own rank.
The āpunishmentā or the trade-off for losing is paying with your TIME and Energy.
There are brackets for a reason but anyone can queue in any bracket despite their havoc rank?
Also, Party Finder Inspection mod should be part of the main game. You SHOULD be allowed to inspect other people before inviting them, itās just common sense.
The inspect should also tell you on which character they got their highest Havoc Rank to avoid the āI got carried on my Ogryn/zealot while forehead tanking everything, therefor my scum is also goodā
Another thing that bugs me is that I canāt seach for specific characters/builds preference when Iām looking for members? As in example: I need a Bubble Psyker w a Firestaff or an Ogryn with a shield etc.
Currently Party Finder for Havos is not just barebones, itās just bones.
This mode is literally a niche that not many people play in the first place & when a 40 comes up, itās not often. Let us just play it whenever, itās a pointless grind. I play at a higher skill level & want to just play the mode, instead I have to wait around in the party finder just to get a 40 game, itās fking stupid.
Iāve been very VERY vocal about my hatred for the derank system and tbh, itās more a hatred for the 3 strike system. The whole thing encourages toxicity to the Nth degree but I believe a simple change could really open it up whilst retaining theā¦retainment that FS so desperately crave.
My solution would be to allow infinite tries per week.
You have to complete a mission equal to or greater than your current rank before the weekly reset otherwise you lose one single rank.
Thatās it. Thatās all the compromise thatās needed to open it up.
Also Iād like to see a H40 āexterminatus" difficulty above auric on the mainboard for quickplay sweats, but thatās a different subject really.
Edit: whilst I wish the whole derank would go away, I honestly donāt think FS will do that, hence my ācompromiseā suggestion.
I think your suggestion is fine. Also, I donāt see them getting rid of the derank, sadly. Iāve read that one of the mods acknowledged the massive dislike & pushback on derank & said theyāll look into it, but that was like months ago. Plus, I think theyāre just pandering to us just so they can humor the idea. Which is pretty patronizing, if you ask me.
Yes de-rank is currently completely bad. Although when havoc first came out there wasnāt enough difficulty so there was an argument to implement the de-rank system. However, currently yes, it just detracts from the game by actively disincentivizing large swathes of players, who either would consider starting to play it or stopped playing havoc singularly due to the de-rank system.
every season.