How to fix: Endgame, Gear Progression and Ressource Imbalances all at once

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
1

Common complaints about the game include:

  • lack of endgame and gear progression
  • too much RNG in itemization makes it near impossible to get the desired items
  • items can retroactively get bricked by balance changes that directly or indirectly affect the value of Perks and Blessings
  • Diamantine is effectively pointless, since Plasteel is always the bottleneck

As the title says, i think that these shortcomings can be solved all at once and potentially with relatively low effort.
All of them would be solved by removing diamantine cost from consecration and adding the following 4 functions:

  • ability to pick Perks from a catalogue (implemented in Patch#12)
    (like Reblessing, small cost every time a Perk is swapped)

  • ability to permanently remove locks from Perk/Blessing slots
    (2k Diamantine per lock; removing the 2nd lock could be more expensive)

  • ability to upgrade weapon modifiers (allow everything to go up to 80 or 100)
    price it something like
    → 100 Diamantine per 1% increase per modifier until 80%
    → 150 Diamantine per 1% increase per modifier 81-90%
    → 200 Diamantine per 1% increase per modifier 91-100%

  • ability to unlock a Blessing of choice for the library
    (5k Diamantine for T4)

There goes our diamantine.
Ressource imbalance, endgame and everything regarding itemization, solved at the same time.

Got excess diamantine? Spend it on the systems i mentioned above.
Improve the good items that you already have, or save up to buy that specific T4 blessing that you want to use, but could not get your hands on.

Got excess plasteel? Upgrade grey items.
Maybe you pop out an item that is better than what you currently have.
Maybe you pop out a new T4 blessing that you do not yet have.
(The diamantine cost for quality upgrades/consecration should be removed to make a more clear distinction between the RNG system and deterministic customization.)

Problems with endgame and progression would be solved.
Players could invest in the improvement of items that they already have and actually want to use, with the guarantee that no ressources are wasted to bad RNG.
A guaranteed and slow progression towards the perfect items, including the ability to play around with Perks and Blessings to adjust items to different builds and playstyles.

Itemization would no longer exclusively rely on RNG.
People would have the additional option to spend large amounts of diamantine to circumvent the RNG, while the option to hope for good RNG persists.

“bricked items” would no longer be a thing.
The player could choose to spend more plasteel, hoping to get a better “base item”, or decide to work with the “base item” they have, spending more diamantine to shape it into the item they want.

Both Diamantine and Plasteel would be valuable.
The two ressources would have different uses and would be the limiting factor for each use.
Both ressources would stay valuable and useful, basically forever.

——-
Edit: Updated for Patch#12

50 Likes
2

Send this to the top!

6 Likes
3

I think you’re price-gouging on the upgrades, but it’s not horrible idea-wise. I still think perk and blessing locks are just evil and need to be abolished for the good of mankind, and this is all just more bargaining to make substantive changes to a fundamentally bad system. Best case scenario is a complete overhaul. This would be an ok bandaid if the prices weren’t so steep. You’re never going to reel in any casual players with that wad.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: they already hit a good mark with the athanor. They just need to transplant that over to darktide and it would be fantastic. They’ll have to figure out what to do with the “crafting” stations that they built up, but it’s for the best to burn the forest so a new one can grow.

7 Likes
4

I agree, but at the same time I wouldn’t mind selling Flawless’ soul to the devil for this kind of bandaid :wink:

3 Likes
5

While I believe the prices are still a bit much, especially considering that we do not have shared resources, there is a few things I would add so that we reach a point, where you have a fully upgraded weapon and are not punished for trying out new stuff.

  1. FS should create a perk library for weapons similar to the one for blessings, because let’s be real nobody enjoys rerolling every time you want to try out a different build.

  2. Furthermore I’d make the re-bless and re-perk functionalities cost-free, because this would be the closest we could get to an Athantor-like system without having to redo everything.

4 Likes
6

There is always going to be someone who is unhappy because either it takes too long, or goes too fast, but i think you are probably right when it comes to the taste of a vast majority of the players.

I just picked a few numbers that i thought would be pretty high, but still acceptable for me, and would lead to a relatively long time required until weapons are fully maxed.

I have suggested this as well, a while ago.Perks should be selectable from a list. Let us pay some ressources every time we swap them, like reblessing. Just do not make us use a mod that rolls 500 times for us, so that we can use the perk we want.

I would agree with that. At least it could be cheap. This is probably the most important feature for many, since they would like to try out different perk and blessing combinations.

I guess if unlocking Perk and Blessing is free or very cheap, the „upgrade modifier“ and „purchase blessing“ options can have a relatively high price, since the actual need to use these systems would be limited to T4 exclusive Blessings and Modifier upgrades to hit breakpoints.
Anything past that is just upgrades to higher tier blessings, and small power increases for the weapons.

2 Likes
7

I get that. I simply think that the numbers are a bit much considering that we don’t have a shared resource system and therefore severly lack incentive for playing different characters. Upping these numbers under the current circumstances is probably ill-advised.

That I can wholeheartedly agree on.

2 Likes
8

That’s a big like from me friend.

2 Likes
9

That would be a good thing to test for sure.

10

Bump for visibility

3 Likes
12

A system like this would solve literally every problem I have with the game right now and I sincerely hope the game moves in this direction.

8 Likes
13

@FatsharkCatfish I will personally give you $20 if you take this post, print it, and hang it in the game dev’s offices and tell them this is what pretty much everyone wants, and has been screaming that they’ve been wanting since the updated crafting announcements have been made.

7 Likes
14

We all already gave them 40+ bucks for a game that should have had this since release. :smiley:

4 Likes
15

… True

But I’d contribute to the catfish bribe that’s how much I hate the current progression/crafting hah.

5 Likes
16

I’d be right behind you with fistfuls of cash.
My group has picked the game up again so
I’m tolerating playing it with them but
I just don’t engage at all with any of the loot systems it’s just
not worth my time

3 Likes
17

I don’t think we’re quite at the bribing point yet… Are we?

2 Likes
18

That’s where I’m at as well. I have a few friends who were interested in playing again, so I went back just to play some missions and hang out. I don’t bother with the crafting at all anymore because it’s just disrespectful of my time and I don’t want to engage with this RNG fest.

2 Likes
19

I’d match that.

1 Like
20

I support these ideas! On my Psyker I’ve got like 4,000+ diamantine sitting in the bank, and I’m sure as heck not using it for anything else.

Right now Sire Melk’s is the only reliable way to get T4 blessings with any regularity, and that’s if I happen to have the currency for it that day. The rest of the time I’m buying whatever greens are in the shop and upgrading those, hoping I’ll roll something I don’t already have.

I know it’s basically a meme to bring up Deep Rock Galactic at this point, but even that game’s semi-random system for unlocking overclocks never gives you one you already have. I didn’t play DRG for 400+ hours trying and failing, constantly, to put together a particular build. I played it that much for how much freedom it gave me to try new builds. It got me excited to hop into the next mission and see how how I could push the limits of the game with whatever weird concept I’d cooked up.

5 Likes
21

That’s the part here that Fatshark just doesn’t seem to have understood when designing this system, and choose to stick by it. Freedom to play how you want, when you want, keeps players playing because it allows for experimentation and trying new things.

In Darktide, you don’t get to do this. You have to grind and hope you find something decent. For every character since resources are silo’d. Instead of wanting to try new weapons, I look at how it’s 100% random for me to get something decent (not even perfect) to get a feel for the weapon to see if I like it or not. Because a low powered weapon is going to give me a bad impression. This doesn’t make me want to try new things, so when I get bored, I look elsewhere.

OP’s solution at least makes it so things are grindable and I would feel like there’s actual progression to putting in the effort. Right now it’s nothing. Roll 4 dice and hope that at least 3 of them are 5 or higher.

9 Likes