I believe there are some serious changes that need to be made and features that need to be added to allow a smoother, more enjoyable loot progression system. Many of the points I am going to make are expressed in other threads and replies by other people; I agree with these and am compiling them with my own opinions.
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More things need to be account-bound, rather than character-bound. All currencies and materials, even dockets, especially. However, I think it would also be wise if Curios and certain weapons are also account-bound. Even if currencies and materials become shared, it would be an awful experience to grind for the currency, the materials, and the blessings to make the three perfect Curios just to have to do it all over again on a different character. Charms and Trinkets were shared in VT2 - why can’t Curios be shared in DT? It felt good to invest into a Charm and get the perfect rolls, because I knew it could be used on all of the characters I worked hard to level up. This can also be translated to some weapons. Many melee weapons and ranged weapons can be used by three of the classes, like the axes or infantry lasguns, for example. However, this could break the trust progression in place, but could be circumvented if they have some kind of level requirement.
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More items should show up as mission rewards, especially at higher rarities. Right now, the best way to get better loot is the shop that resets every hour. I have found myself just waiting until the new hour strikes until new items are available, to either look for an upgrade or just something new that I unlocked access to. I have also seen hordes of players also do the same in the lobby. Maybe if a player reaches a trust level to unlock a new weapon family, they should be given one of a random rarity immediately. Then after a player has unlocked all families, they are given a random weapon or Curio every single or every other mission. Emperor’s Gifts could also be tacked onto optional objectives, rather than just giving dockets and experience. It would be nice to get a gift almost every mission, as well as additional ones if we manage to successfully complete the optional objective(s). This might prevent players from just counting the minutes until the next hour for something new and will provide players with a stream of loot to mess around with.
I didn’t think the loot systems in Vermintide 1 and 2 were perfect, but it allowed a unique risk/reward to run less healing and potions at a chance of getting better rewards when the mission was over. However, it still felt like I was gathering a lot of loot to either use or deconstruct into materials to craft or upgrade items later. As it stands, it’s just money and experience.
Additionally, many features will need to be added to the crafting/upgrading system to make it feel great to use for us players. Right now, it’s extremely lackluster compared to VT2. I also didn’t think the crafting and upgrading systems in VT2 were perfect, but it’s still a several steps backwards by comparison.
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I think consuming blessings on items you already have to store and use later is a good idea - but that blessing should be able to be used an unlimited number of times. There are a lot of blessings in the game, some rarer than others, even with varying stats. If we have to extract it every time we want to use it, that will raise the grind astronomically due to players needing to buy every single item they see from the shop.
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Players should be able to improve the overall rating of the weapon, which seems to allow a bigger diverse pool of stats for the weapon. This could allow a player that finds a weapon with extremely good perks or blessings to slowly upgrade it to the highest tier available and give it better stats. We should also be allowed to reroll the stats to fine-tune a weapon we want. Maybe someone wants an LMG with low damage but a lot of ammo, or a knife with a lot of mobility and low cleave. This extends to the perks and blessings as well, as they seem to have variable stats. Allow us to reroll those stats without having to reroll the entire blessing/perk.
It seems with every iteration of Tide games, there are steps forward in terms of core gameplay, but significant strides backward when it comes to quality of life, progression, and ease of use when it comes to crafting/upgrading. I understand we are still in beta and the game has yet to be officially released, but I would rather voices be heard now and implemented sooner rather than months or even years down the line like with VT1 and VT2.
The actual gameplay of Darktide, while needs tweaking, has been extremely fun and engaging. It’s atmospheric, it looks and feels incredible. It is the best 40k experience I’ve ever had, after many attempts of experiencing it from other games. As an avid player of over co-op PvE games, I understand that there needs to be some kind of grind to allow a sense of replayability and earning the power fantasy players want. It’s also in the grimdark 40k setting, where everyone is struggling for survival. However, it’s still a game at the end of the day. Without providing consistent access to items or currency to players, it will draw players away rather than in.