Before anything else let me express that I like this game. It’s easy to get into at the low difficulties and somewhat hard to master when you’re trying to reach for higher difficulties.
I like the variety of playable heroes and careers and I like (mot of) the weapons they have, even though some of them are (still) left forgotten. I like how fluid the combat is and how challenging it can get at higher difficulties. When I first got my hands on the game a year ago when it was launched I loved how challenging the game felt back then. I never enjoyed playing games that are too easy, but Vermintide 2 wasn’t anything like that. It was so hard and challenging to learn those small combat tricks that helped you to survive on higher difficulties and the feeling after each completed mission was so worth it. The game truly gave you the feeling of “pride and accomplishment”.
Playing alone with random people from time to time is decent, but most of the entertainment that I get is when I’m playing with friends. This game is simply made to be played with group of friends.
Most of the maps are awesome, but there are few maps that I dislike and I would rather avoid playing them like the maze type map, the Pit. (the pit was really confusing and annoying to navigate in at first)
(warning, from here on it’s mostly negative. you’ve been warned)
But the game does have few problems and disappointments, more than few actually.
First of all the game has some issues with the network and connectivity. It doesn’t happen to me often, but couple of my friends are constantly having issues with the network and they get disconnected from 1/6 of the missions. That’s way too much for a game that’s been out for almost a year now. I’ve read from the Steam forums that the developers were supposed to deliver dedicated servers to the game, but they failed to keep that promise and they even swept that promise under the rug like it was never there. Granted I don’t follow the forums and discussions all that much, so I can’t tell if this is actually true or not. But if this is then all I can say is that shame on you and don’t make promises that you cannot keep, because it will only bring your company unnecessary negative PR.
The game also has a serious problem with the pace of content updates. It took almost 6 months for Fatshark to bring the 1st content DLC which only offered 2 new maps and some weapon tweaks and nothing more that’s worth mentioning. (it did bring challenges, cosmetics and dailies, but I don’t view them as content).
Then the players had to wait for another ~5 months for the 2nd content DLC. This time they added 3 new maps and couple new weapons, but all those maps are recycled content from the original Vermintide game and the weapons are decent at most (plus it took me a while to realize how to actually get those weapons. clever but annoying).
I don’t mind waiting half a year for each new DLC if they had decent amount of content in them. But giving only 2-3 maps (and several new weapons) on each DLC is simply not decent, not even close. And again, personally I don’t view cosmetics, challenges and dailies as a content. At the most they’re additional side stuff that you can do/acquire while playing the actual content.
Then there’s the current state of the game, it hasn’t really evolved or moved forward. Yes, the game has received multiple updates that fixed/tweaked things and 2 new DLCs, but we have yet to see new heroes being added to the game. We have yet to see new careers being added to the game. We have yet to see a new enemy faction being added to the game. It’s been almost a year since the game was launched and I was expecting to see at least new enemy types such as specials and bosses being added, but nope. Nothing.
The only content that we’ve seen so far (that are worth mentioning) are 5 new maps and that’s it. And to make matters worse, 3 of those 5 maps are recycled resources from the original Vermintide game. Seriously?
The game also has some other minor issues that keeps driving me insane from time to time:
- Item property rerolling - Why can’t we lock 1 property that we don’t want to be rerolled? Getting the right 2 stats that you want for an item can take a loooooong time sometimes, even with Veteran items.
- Item trait rerolling - Why do I get the same trait over and over again with each reroll?
- Loot box distribution - Why can’t we skip the loot box distribution? I don’t want to spend minutes on watching which loot box I get after completing a mission, because I can check that from the Spoils of War.
- No Private Quickplay option - Why can’t we select Private session prior starting the Quickplay matchmaking? Why do we have to wait until the mission begins to switch the session to private?
At this point let me remind you that I don’t “hate” the game. But any other game it does have it’s own share of things that I don’t like.
What I do like:
- Combat mechanics
- Heroes and careers
- Difficulty curve
- Extremely fun co-op game with friends
What I don’t like:
- Lack of (actual) content on each DLC
- Item property/trait rerolling
- No private Quickplay option prior to matchmaking
- Inability to skip loot box distribution screen
What I’m disappointed at:
- Slow pace in content updates
- Recycled content in one DLC
- No new enemy types (specials, elites, bosses) over the past year
- No new heroes or careers over the past year
(- Devs promise things, but if they can’t keep them they go silent and even try to hide promises under the rug that they couldn’t keep.)
Suggestions:
There are few things that I’d like to list here, but I’ll ignore the minor ones to keep this short and only list the major ones.
1. New enemy types or even a new enemy faction
The game could use some new enemy types to spice things up or even a new enemy faction like Orcs for example. Fighting the same enemies over and over again gets stale as you grow accustomed to their abilities and tactics how to take them down. Basically the more you face them, the more “no brainer” they become. New specials, elites and bosses would be freshening.
2. New heroes and/or careers to the old ones
There’s nothing wrong with the current hero roster, but playing with the same heroes and careers for a year is slowly getting stale. New careers or even an entirely new hero would definitely spice things up and bring some fresh breeze to the game.
3. No more lackluster DLCs
Personally I wasn’t happy with the 2 DLCs that Fatshark released in the past year. From customer’s point of view 8€ (~8$) is too much for just 2-3 maps (+ few weapons) and the value ratio is way off. I get it that Fatshark is a small indie studio and they have limited amount of time and resources, but as a customer I have to view this from customer’s perspective and 8€ for only couple maps is a bit too much.
4. Content Expansion
Personally I wouldn’t mind paying ~20€ (~20$) for an expansion, if it added at least dozen new maps, new heroes/careers, new weapons, new enemy faction (orc for example) and dozen new enemy types. You have an audience that will give you money if you just bring new valuable content to us. (Make it happen!)
5. QoL improvements
Tweak the item property/trait rerolls, so that players wouldn’t have to spend hours on getting the right properties/traits that they want, depending on how lucky they are.
Add an skip option to the loot box distribution screen, so that players wouldn’t have to watch which loot box they get after completed mission, because they can check that from the Spoils of War.
Add Private Qucikplay option, because there are times when players want to play privately with bots and still get the Quickplay bonus.
6. Over delivering is not a bad thing and be transparent
The way I see it the problem with the modern gaming industry is that companies don’t over deliver content anymore like they used to, you know like CDPR did with the Witcher 3. Again, I get it that Fatshark is a small indie development studio and they have limited time and resources. But over delivering content could give them some positive PR, it would bring them some goodwill, people would talk about them and it could bring even more players to buy their products. Staying on good terms with the community is as important as the actual profit is.
Conclusion:
Let me get this straight, I’m not trying to badmouth the game or Fatshark. I’m just sharing my concerns with the state of this game, because the premise for it a year ago looked so promising, but during the past year almost all my expectations were broken.
Even though the past year was a rocky one and there were disappointments on every corner, I’m still hopeful that Fatshark will do the right thing. They have acquired a solid ground in the marketplace and there’s no limit of what they can achieve with the game if they only put their mind and effort to it and make it happen by moving forward.
Overall, I’m (still) enjoying the game and I’m hopeful to what the future brings to the game and to us.
edit. fixed some typos
I disagree that their DLC model has been lackluster, though. Two or three maps with some new weapons is how many major games work.
Those are going to be released this year (perhaps in March, my guess), and with those players will be able to make custom maps, enemies, weapons, careers, heroes . . . pretty much anything the devs can!