So this is going to be a bit all over the place, but I recently tried some Darktide again, and wanted to compare a bit of what FS has done, with how that might work in V3 (if they’re even planning on making it). This post is specifically on the buttons mentioned in the title, but I’ll probably make others, so the discussions stay on topic.
Shift:
In Darktide sprinting is absolutely necessary due to the amount of spammed enemies, and spammed ranged damage from enemies.
On V2, however, that’s not really a problem. Furthermore, the use of your Dodges and melee positioning is a huge part of the gameplay. The fights are a lot more static, with only a small amount of kiting. With the exception of Disablers turning up (yes even with a lot of kiting, it’s way less movement than Darktide).
There’s also a lot more useful CC in VT.
So, while Sprint-Sliding feels good on Darktide, I’d probably be against it in a newer version of VT.
Do we need Weapon Move Tech/Sprint? I personally don’t mind the Move Tech.
So what could we use the Shift key for then?
Stances:
Changing stances isn’t something we’ve seen much in V2, with the exception of GK (who inspired this suggestion a bit), whose Bret Longsword can Block while doing a Heavy Attack.
These may have a timer or some other way of stopping spam changing depending on what’s decided to be the use.
- Stance changes could be held or toggled
Use of stances:
-
Held = Parry, and if you attack after the
DING , your attack is buffed somehow -
Held = Killing blow. E.g. You have 1H Sword Lights and Heavies - Something (Class/Talent/Weapon) decides the stance you can swith to by holding shift and then left clicking, which could be an overhead that does a lot of ARP damage
-
Held = 1H Crossbow or Pistol. E.g. Rapier and Pistol
-
Toggled = Different moveset
-
Maybe even two changing buffs or debuffs that have nothing to do with attacks
Class/Career/Character specific Mobility/Utility:
Instead of Sprint, which has a lot of uptime and can be abused a bit, if you have a lot of stamina, maybe Mobility can be tied to it.
It could be good on a specific Career though. I could imagine it suiting BH very well, due to his low THP generation, but not much else.
It could also be a small utility or power up, like a rage buff, poisoned attacks, AoE buffs on a CD.
CTRL:
Crouching to escape high density, while dodging, already works kind of well. Maybe something more can be done with it, but I’m not sure. Any ideas, manlings?
Special Attacks:
In Darktide, obviously it’s very heavily used to add more versatility to Weapons, which will probably end up being the same as V3 (if it happens). I would likely have no problem with that being the case, as long as the melee doesn’t end up as OP as it is in Darktide, as it’s a but nuts (but obvs works due to the amount of enemies).
But lets explore some ideas anyway.
Kerillian can use Special Attack to zoom, which even though I’ve barely ever used it, is a really immersive touch. Could this be the way to go? It would probably be a lot less work.
Giving Careers more tools, would allow you to nerf some Career Skills.
Some ideas:
- Necromancer could have used Special Attack to Tag specific enemies, instead of the Skull (which would have been smoother for gameplay imo)
- It could be used for specific Tags with different colours. E.g. WHC has a super Tag, every ‘x’ seconds
- Buffs/Debuffs Poisons/Fire/Necrotic/Holy damage applied to weapons, etc
- Any other immersive ideas
- MUSOU MODE IF I WAS GOOD AT EDITING SOFTWARE I WOULD GIVE BARDIN SLAYER TWO BRAIDS JUST BECAUSE I TYPED THIS
Finally, how do these buttons translate to Controller, and how many buttons do they have total?
It seems to me that some of the limitations for Careers come down to button amounts on PC and Console. E.g. If you stuck with PC, you could have loads more buttons - Warrior Priest being able to F1, F2, F3, Alt F4, for Shields, rather than having to 180, while frontlining.