Most people who run out of ammo are people who play ranged as their primary. The skill tree will be set up to strongly favour ranged so when the bullets run out so does the fun IMO. I think there should be more plentiful ammo especially on damnation.
Running out of ammo is not fun and given that melee can’t “run out” it does seem quite unfair to a ranged player who’s dedicated their whole skill tree to the bullet. Some matches are different to others but sometimes there’s almost no ammo for half the map. It’s often extremely scarce on damnation despite infinite enemies.
Resource management isn’t a challenge that really fits well with non-stop intense horde gameplay and isn’t an element that makes the game more fun. The challenge on damnation is staying alive against an overwhelmingly huge wave of enemies. Having bullets doesn’t change that challenge.
Health stations could also offer/despense an ammo crate too.
Darktide is meant to be a game where you melee a lot. Even the Veteran, the designated shooty class, frequently gets into melee scraps. Melee weapons are still serviceable even when you don’t invest into them via talent tree - the Mk7 Folding Shovel is a great example of this, because it can reliably deal with hordes and mutants (who take triple melee damage, might I add) on its own.
If you’re running out of ammo constantly, shooting the chaff, then you’re playing the game wrong. You will need to learn to know when to shoot and when to chop. The ammo economy is fine and already plenty generous.
And I hate to break it to you, but resource management is a thing in Left 4 Dead, Deep Rock Galactic, and other horde shooters as well. Especially on the higher difficulties, managing your consumables (and health, that’s a resource too) is key to succeeding.
There’s an abundance of ammo only focusing on stuff that matters (and most huge groups of trash shooters you can scare into suppression state literally throwing a rock into a room). I routinely finish with near full reserves when Veterans are around and most games people throw ammo crates down in the Valkyrie because it was straight unneeded.
So yeah its mainly a shooting trash thing, which is fun and definitely a mainstay of other horde games, but here they want you to hack slash and bash the trash to death. Its like 50% of the combat, generally more because your defense options are wider.
I’m managing just fine and surviving, but running out of ammo simply isn’t fun. It’s just annoying.
As for “playing the game wrong” I have to disagree. I play melee often as hordes are so intense that you’re forced into close combat eventually. That is fine, it’s part of the game. Being forced into it because there has been 1 ammo tin within 20 mins of a match is just rubbish though.
My complaint isn’t being forced into melee, it’s simply that I think there should be more ammo.
I wouldn’t say you have more defense options considering how much more powerful dodging is in this game compared to blocking - seriously, how do I get cornered by a fleshbag with only enough room to wiggle from side to side and not take a single (even blocked) hit from it?
This says to me that you’re mismanaging your ammo or running a primary weapon with poor ammo economy, like the Rumbler. What weapon are you using and what are you shooting at? Do you NEED to use your gun for some of these targets? Ask yourself questions like these and then analyze your gameplay, see what you think you might be doing wrong.
It’s reverse - there should be less ammo and heals. Resource management is exactly that thing DT needs more. You already managing toughness, stamina and dodgelimits. But it’s a micro level. High difficulties should be stressfull and force players to master both range and melee to survive. Cooldown reduction farm is too high in some cases aswell.
Also I have no idea how are you running out of ammo. The only way if there is no survivalist aura and 4 players run shotguns/revolvers or spray non stop. If there is a vet with survivalist, then team has unlimited ammo. If there is no, but people run ammo efficient weapons, or there is psyker with staff, then you just need to loot and you will be fine.
resource management is a central part of the gameplay. You simply got Skill Issue’d. the game is stupidly giving with the ammo and boosts, if you couldn’t find any your teammates probably looted it all from you.
There are like a handful of guns you can reasonably run out of ammo with without incredible misplay. Guns are very strong and barely limited as is, I don’t think encouraging even more free use of them is the right call.
Furthermore, it’s evident that most firearms are woefully inadequate on Damnation. I’m talking about weapons that barely scratch the surface, making heretics chuckle until they keel over, compared to powerhouse armaments like the PG that obliterate anything in their path.
The crux of my argument is this: if you’re wielding a weapon that barely fazes heretics, then you shouldn’t be facing ammo shortages. Put simply, firearms that inflict significant damage should necessitate careful ammo management, whereas those that are less effective should come with an abundance of ammunition.
I love how the default response on these forums to literally any complaint or suggestion is “you’re playing wrong” or “you must not be good at the game” lol. As if your play style is the one and only true play style.
I have played an ungodly amount of hours and unlocked the vast majority of penances that less than 3% of the playerbase unlock, including both zealot and psycher. With psycher I ignore ammo altogether obvs, and as zealot I barely touch it. I generally have very successful matches on Auric and love playing as a team member. My “skill” is not what this is about.
But as vet or ogryn (which I have geared for range on skill tree) I just find that running out of ammo is simply not fun and does not add anything to the game. The game would still be just as challenging if everyone had infinite ammo - because on damnation there is simply no way to avoid melee much of the time (which is perfectly fine). I’m not calling for infinite ammo (obviously), I’m just saying I think there should be more available in general.
Or maybe if it was more consistent with the deployment. Some matches have loads of ammo but some matches have barely any. By your logic - the matches with loads of ammo should be less fun (because resource maamgement blah blah)… But they’re not. They’re damn fun! And no less challenging. Using a gun takes a lot of skill when there’s uncountable enemies charging at you.
Being overrun be shear numbers and forced into melee should be the real reason for a ranged character to don their lackluster melee weapon. My ogryn krouk clever has base dmg of about 185 and all the stats are really high… And it still takes 2 hits to down a single lowly groaner, so hordes take an age to clear.
Another reason that forces me into melee is that gun play has zero toughness boost skills (which I think sucks a bit tbh) but still a reason I need to enter melee is to top up toughness.
Vet’s really the only one (outside of psyker, of course) where you can reasonably expect to play ranged most of the time without having to worry too much about ammo AND not starve the rest of the team of it.
And you definitely can play that way, you just can’t do it with the big hitters like plasma or bolter. I routinely play 99% ranged with autoguns at T5 auric and, while I do have to make an effort to find ammo, I rarely get so low that I’m forced into melee for more than a minute or so.
I was making a point. Don’t pull it out of context like a cheapshot.
The matches that have loads of ammo (essentially infinite if you never run out) are way more fun and no less challenging. Auric forces melee regardless of ammo.
Read on to the point where I say that the matches that have loads of ammo (essentially infinite) are way more fun and no less challenging. The matches that have barely any ammo are not as fun when playing with ranged as primary. It boils down to that simple fact. I still complete the mission and we all win (yay) but it wasn’t as fun.
Some matches have oodles of ammo. These matches are fun and just as challenging.
The matches that have barely any are not fun.
Changing crafting so that you can endlessly change your weapon spec and no longer have to consider which traits to alter before bricking - that too is “part of the challenge” of the game and would likely alter balancing… Yet everyone is demanding it is changed.
The game should have far less ammo. Overabundance of ammo atm makes the game far less fun. I want a Tide experience, with melee being a part of it. If I wanted to play a brainless 3rd person shooter I would go play Helldivers.
The game simply isnt designed to have an abundance of ammo.
If you find it more fun to have more ammo thats fine, Im just not sure you will find much agreement from others with something that is so core to the Tide games: Ammo Management.