I think it would be a fantastic if we could have a developer Q&A with the lead Devs. What do you think @FatsharkJulia ?
Feels like it could be a nice gesture and a genuinely fruitful experience for both player and developer alike. The future/roadmap of Darktide from here is very unclear and a rockbed of diehard passionate players would love a bit of insight I’m sure.
It could help to clear the air and invigorate the player base.
Perhaps people could submit 3 questions each below and we figure out how to skim the cream.
The last time the developers spoke on something it caused a huge karkstorm, so I doubt FS will be willing to try it again anytime soon. In fairness, however, it was a joke in poor taste and a streamer that fueled the fire.
I remember an old FAQ before UL&L dropped where they answered questions verbatim from the forums, and it was pleasing to see that FS actually is paying attention, and I’d like to see something similar again.
My main questions, of course, is what are the priorities in development right now, and why are some major issues not being fixed yet? Are there technical problems or not enough manpower? Anything would be better than silence, which feels like simply ignoring the problem and wishing it to go away.
Looking back, overall Unlocked & Loaded was the best update we’ve had ever for DT. FS didn’t get everything perfect, of course, but the communication and previews were genuinely enlightening and exciting, and I’m bummed we haven’t gotten the same level of comms from FS.
they dont have answers for 80% of the hot button questions people will ask, not gonna happen unless the questions are heavily vetted (read: cherrypicked) and nothing of value gets answered
I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see if there’s something we can do. Even if we can’t make a straight up Q&A happen, I wouldn’t mind collecting your burning questions and have a better list of what you guys are looking for and want to know.
① Balance and Improvement Direction
How does the devteam currently evaluate the game’s balance, and what are the plans for future improvements?
In particular, Uprising, Auric, Maelstrom, and Havoc 1–40 lack consistency in difficulty. How does the team view Havoc’s difficulty adjustments, which often only offer modifiers or metas that slow down combat, as well as performance differences between weapons and classes?
② Player Dropouts
Player dropouts have long been an issue, but recent matchmaking bugs have extended the problem even to players who didn’t consider it an issue.
While penalties are applied in Havoc, in regular missions most players still abandon the game when downed or killed. What are the team’s thoughts and plans for addressing this?
③ Future Vision
I realize this question may not get a full answer, but any hints would be appreciated.
In an interview, Magnuson mentioned wanting to add new enemy factions to Darktide, are there plans to implement this? He also mentioned adding new classes; what can be expected next year in terms of preparation or plans, even if only in broad terms?
It might be a good idea to have a thread on this forum where everyone can summarize the questions they want to ask, so it’s easier for the devteam to respond.
Amazing thank you Quickpaw! I think it would be really good to clear the air and have a bit more of a connect between Devs and players.
My 3 top questions would be:
Why do you not keep the special event modifiers in rotation after the event? Some of them are so great and they would add a huge amount of variety to the mission board. After almost 2k hours played, I have had my fill (and some!) of the same snipers or dogs.
Please can you give us some details to better understand the abilities and limitations of your studio? Ie. How many full time creative roles do you have on DT? Are there plans to expand the staff? It’s no secret your release schedule is somewhat on the slower side but you’ve made one of my favourite games ever and the best realisation of the 40k world ever…so I’m hoping things can ramp up now that the character classes are more or less aligned!
Please could you give us a vague roadmap? It doesn’t have to include timelines or intricate details (as I know that can sow unrest when not met) but it would be great to know what to look forward to. I’m desperate for new maps, biomes and penances but would also love to see some new cosmetics and colours in the commissary and reasons to use the in-game currencies ( a respray shop for melk bucks etc). But zero details from the studio can be frustrating. I think most people should be fine with waiting if we knew vaguely what was coming next!
I have loads more questions of course but keeping it to my top 3 otherwise things will get messy and over-egged.
“if you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there is no hope"
~ Noam Chomsky - on the likelihood of a Fatshark Q&A, probably.
The whole point of a Q&A is get that direct response from the Devs so that we don’t have to read between the lines or second-guess.
And really a game like this, the Devs should be engaging with the community a bit more imo. With a licence like 40k it’s kinda important.
And without a q&a we might get an answer for one or 2 things with an update but with one, we get lots of questions answered and can get a’ ‘feel’ for the kind of output we can expect.
I get it, man. That’s why I said it’s valiant. I agree we should get more comms of many types.
The community problems happened before I came back, so I don’t know the ins and outs of what went down. I haven’t seen anything since I’ve been back that is more egregious than any other random game community, so maybe FS is a little sensitive. Maybe I’m not terminally online enough to see the actual problems.
They also don’t have to talk to us. Double edged sword being that we don’t have to like that and can swear off future spending on their products, like I have.
It never ended. Some people are only here to cause trouble. Just yesterday there was someone posting how the devs who worked on the plasma gunner should have their hands chopped off and let to bleed out in the street. Any public Q&A is going to brigaded by a few poopy people.
I’d love any info we could get. On where solo mode is these days (been touched recently?), any sure things they could tease with zero hint of a time frame, anything that can be shared about what’s next on the general balance plan, etc.
burning questions 
