I am really afraid that my friend will not enjoy the game because of me, what do I do?
I previously tried many times to invite my friends to play Vermintide 2 when I was playing it a whole lot, and after 5 unsuccessful attempts(I had one success, we enjoyed the game a lot and I met a lot of cool people playing Vermintide with him) I pretty much gave up on trying to get people into the games I like.
With Darktide it happened only 3 times, so I am only a little worried
(I learned nothing from Vermintide )
Context:
My friend just bought Darktide and has experience with Vermintide 2 (700 hours).
I have 1000 hours in the game
I want to play with him through the levels
I really want him to enjoy the game, even with me in the party, and make him feel like he matters in the team and not just deadweight.
So what I did:
Created a new character
Not rushing ahead as much and try do be around him
Not babysitting him, as I am not that close to him
Also I don’t tell him what to do and try not to info dump him
I guess it’s obvious, but I don’t talk him down when he screws up a little.
I am thinking of taking more things back from me, like using weapons that I am not used to, and maybe playing a little less like a tryhard so there’s an actual risk of losing on lower difficulties.
Also, I am not as scared of him abbandoning the game, because it seems like he likes it and has some knowledge on what to do in the -tide games
So, what are your suggestions and ways to bring joy to your nooby friends?
Maybe I should participate in combat a little less?
Also, sorry for pretty much lying in the title , but I also wanted to know what to do in general
When I played with my two friends who just bought the game this year, we only played on malice below level 15 and heresy when above level 15. I also tried not to kill any of the enemies myself, only save them if they’re surrounded or downed (mostly because enemy density is much smaller). Some might say it’s boring to just walk around and guard dog your friends, but I wanted them to experience the game’s difficulty like I did and not just watch me kill everything. There’s no reason to learn to dodge, switch to melee and push attack if someone else is keeping enemies off you all the time.
When I started playing Darktide I had less than 100 hours in Vermintide 2 and less than 50 in VT1, so I didn’t have enough experience playing Tide games. I had a trial by fire learning how to dodge every type of enemy, thankfully DT is more forgiving in that sense because it’s 50/50 on shooting and melee. I had a rough experience climbing to Damnation, but I didn’t play on the highest difficulty until I started surviving in heresy without help from anyone.
They will never have the same experience, because they’re playing with someone very experienced, so they will never have days where they can’t win a single game (I had days like that when I just started playing DT, I only played solo with randoms and it was brutal sometimes…). I also want them to start playing Damnation with me as soon as possible not to get bored myself.
I didn’t ask him that many questions, and I guess I never did ask anybody how they would like to play the game, so I might give it a shot little by little.
He’s more calm yet vocal person. I think he does question me a lot about stuff, but not for advice.
What is their playtype?
Playstyle was more in the middle, none of the extremes, at least that was in Vermintide.
From what he was doing in character creation and how he chose weapons, I think yes, he likes learning details as they come.
I am actually sweating from just thinking of how I would ask that, but as I said, I will ask gently so I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
I guess the biggest advice i would give in my experience is to let your buddies actually experience the game themselves. Don’t just lay out all the answers to every problem unless they ask them specifically, like its really easy to get into the mode of telling people how they should play instead of letting them naturally learn it.
I agree! I also want him to experience the difficulty and joy of overcoming hard things!
That is the same in Vermintide, but there I was still impatient and I wanted to impress my friends on how cool I am “look at those green circles!”, but now I know that it doesn’t matter if my friends can’t have fun
I want to try that, because I still remember how I did my first ever clutch in Vermintide 2, I felt that I was invincible and a real big deal, that made me addicted to the game.
Simple @Geadly , give them some space to play the game on their own.
Got kids? It’s a bit like that*.
You’ve already done a couple of missions so he/she knows how things progress. Time to leave them alone for a week or two and see if they like it because they like it, rather than because you like it.
(* but actually, T4 is more like that because you also have to wipe bottoms, go pick them up when they get lost, tell the big kid not to bully them etc.)
Makes me smile reading about how much thought and consideration you’ve put into this. So it sounds like you’re off to a good start at least!
As others said, you should really ask them what they want and expect you to do, because it really depends so much on the person.
For me with most of my games & friends, some want to go in dark with no advice or help at all. Some want basic advice and tips but without being bombarded with an information overload. And then others want everything (until they really don’t xD). And I imagine there are at least some ppl out there who don’t mind being completely carried either.
But if it were me I’d just ask them. And whenever I got too excited I’d keep asking and making sure, just so they don’t stay quiet about being uncomfortable with something for fear of upsetting me or anything. I’d take the chance to play weak but fun builds, use the chance to train myself with weapons & builds I suck with to learn something new - however small - myself, and focus on letting them lead & take charge while saving my clutches & carries for emergencies only. Until they asked for help ofc.
Good luck OP! I hope you and your friend have fun!
If he is a VT2 vet, then I would crank up the difficulty as soon as possible. I would not worry too much. Levelling to 30 is fairly quick and gearing up should be quicker after 27th o Sept.
All praise the community action
When it comes to new, struggling players, sooner you explain the core combat mechanics and go over the basics, better. Then at least they can have tools to understand why they fail.
if he ain´t committed to learn the ropes or he´s not into the game, no amount of carrying, explaining, providing will ignite that fire.
ironically despite me buying diablo 4 on sale around the same time my gaming buddy did, i “noped out” quickly while he went on.
no amount of item support or power leveling got me into it, my heart wasnt in there.
likewise, he went into darktide with me until malice but under totally different expectations at the game.
so at one point both of us had a bad time, he for being overwhelmed at higher diffs and me bored out of my mind trying to teach him the basics.
at the end it was a mutual split and everyone´s happier for it.
enjoying playing with certain people doesn´t have to result in enjoying the same game together.
so in order to not strain each other both should agree on different tastes from time to time.
not how we both work, having the feeling of being the fifth wheel, neither of us would be happy for long.
like when sparring i expect to not to be taken lightly and get knocked out when making mistakes in order to learn, ingame same rules apply in order to feel valued.
It seems like you might be trying to protect your friend a bit too much from the pitfalls we all had to go through in playing this game. This is admirable but it doesnt make you a better player as we all know the absolute best teachers in life are typically our own mistakes we make as we go through it. Your friends gotta learn to adapt and adjust to things and while it will turn off some leave yourself as a open book of knowledge and only answer questions your friend might as of you. I did the whole starting a new character and lvling with my new friend as well. After having been stuck in auric damnation anything less is just a cake walk. You could also show your friend your high lvl char and play style too so they can see how crazy the game can get as well as prepare for the harder difficulties after they are lvled up. Basically give them a inkling of what to expect. Just remember to watch out for your friend and its always best to play all 4 classes to 30 before you settle down into the higher challenges that way you know how each is played and you can figure out which class checks the most boxes. Also make lvling fun laugh about going down and if all else fails go ogryn to be his guardian
Long story short, you need to take a knee and lessen your fun to increase Their fun. Overtime, both of you guys will be in damnation+ having the exact same fun. A good way to expediate things is to back seat game/teach him. But that might lead to adverse effects. Once he’s somewhat ready, throw them into the maelstrom pit of fire, see how he does and show him what the game really has to offer.
Seems you already know what to do.
)
So it sounds like you’re off to a good start at least!
