The difference is staggering.
Is DT’s peak much higher? Sure, but that was based on hype built up because of an advertising spree. People like the idea behind Darktide, they just don’t like the actual game that got made and which the devs refuse to improve.
Amazing, like half the people that bought the game still play it.
The mission board changes and wallet are massive MASSIVE improvements for me and most people imo.
Like, those two changes alone Thanos snapped half the complaints I see out of existence.
The remaining big issue is that nobody likes the weapon progression system.
If Fatshark can make a better weapon progression system then I think this game is ready for a soft relaunch alongside an absolute metric f*ckton of new content if they have the capacity to make it.
Xbox launch + 4 new classes + new biome type & maps + plague bearers + new story + new bosses.
We’re cooking with gas if FS can manage that.
Sure, more content would be great, but I can’t help thinking how dumb it is that there is so much content already in the game which is locked and buried under layers and layers of RNG, grindy progression “systems” and lack of balance with gear.
I’m talking about content such as different builds using different characters, different gear combinations etc.
Who cares if there’s a new subclass if I don’t have 1000s of hours to also get that new character to a state where it can not only finish all missions, but has multiple different loadouts/builds that make it interesting.
First, they tie your hands behind your back and then say “Look! Now we also have lobster on the menu!”
(I am assuming FS will add more content, but not 100% sure)
Is DT’s peak much higher? Sure, but that was based on hype built up because of an advertising spree. People like the idea behind Darktide, they just don’t like the actual game that got made and which the devs refuse to improve.
That is an important factor and there is no doubt about it. DRG also had a different release, it was in beta/early access which means, that there was no big release but a rolling release with steadily growing player count.
Still, Darktide has suffered a staggering drop in player numbers. It is really funny, as it covers my friends list pretty well, out of around dozen of people that got the game, you have like 1-2 dudes still playing occassionaly.
Out of this dozen, I was the only one that cared enough to visit the forums and post some feedback. Majority didn’t even bother to leave steam review, just branded the game as unfinished mess with no updates and trashy progression and left one-by-one within like 1-2 months.
I agree that DT needs more content, but Sharks will not be able to keep the playerbase stable with the current progression system. It holds players like a rusty bucket holds water. The RNG saturation and lack of meaningful choices in build creation (try to experiment with locked weapons or “unreachable” blessings that do not want to drop) are frustrating beyond reason. Only few die-hards got accustomed to it, as they have “beaten” the system by pouring hundreds of hours into the grinder until they got all what they wanted.
Essentially this. If you’re gonna use RNG for everything from weapon stats to special modifications, you need to either inject so much loot that it doesn’t really matter that it’s all randomly generated (aka the Borderlands method) or tie it down so that you can earn solid weapons through engaging with the content (the method of most RPGs whenever a quest gives you a guaranteed weapon reward, think Cyberpunk with its gun rewards versus the randomly dropped items from NPCs).
The ‘progression’ system is essentially ‘you have a set number of skills you can pick, your gear is both random and not given to you in high quantity, and we won’t let you modify most things’. This kills engagement. Steam achievements don’t lie and those Steam achievements say a third of players don’t even get to Level 11 on a single character (aka, unlocking the Melk shop). 97% finish the prologue, which is essentially the ‘actually played the game’ number, so…yeah.
Crafting locks will band-aid the solution, but the RNG remains soul-sucking even if you can pick the blessings and perks, since you’re still grinding for weapon types and getting the blessings to begin with.
There are ways to fix this, obviously.
Make modifiers editable by sinking crafting materials into them as an ‘upgrade’ system. This’ll encourage people to hold on to their old weapons - even better, if you link various customization bits and attachments like purity seals, camouflage, etc to the weapon, or let them name them like that one mod, you’ll get people down for the Your Dudes aspect of customization that every 40k fan loves.
Make maxed-out weapons in terms of modifiers and blessings (perks less so given recent patch notes) easily attainable, circumventing the random nature of the grind. Melk partially does this but if you could instead select attributes for a weapon you could acquire via fulfilling contracts, people would play just for that, and it’d tie gameplay into progression.
Junk the whole system and start over with actual modification, which is what the current system fairly transparently is given the ‘marks’ BS where we’re expected to buy that different marks of the same weapon are totally distinct and unique rather than just the bones of the original modification system where we were going to have bayonets, flashlights, scopes, and everything else.
I really don’t agree with this post. A new class is the force multiplier to make the game fresh. You get to enjoy leveling up a new class from 0-30, getting cool class specific gear, and with shared account wide resources and the upcoming crafting changes I can easily craft up 2-3 good quality weapos to use in damnation+ and Auric as soon as I hit 30. I couldn’t care less about trying out the same knife I used on my zealot but this time on Psyker. there are some combinations of things that just hold no interest to me.
But a new class will be interesting even if I have to use the knife on it for a while because the class itself is the interesting component. It also heavily modifies the player interaction with other players, creates new synergies, creates new interactions with enemies and map terrain. Etc.
I just don’t understand this position that new classes just simply hold no value because I can’t craft some weapon with some other combination of blessings I haven’t tried yet. I don’t give a flying fart about half the weapons in the game. I’m not excited to try out new blessing combinations for them, or new feats or perk combinations. That’s not fun or interesting and there’s barely any complexity because the balance between blessings are so bad anyway. New classes are mechanically different in a big way and change both the aesthetic feel and gameplay flavor in big ways.
I just don’t understand this position that new classes just simply hold no value because I can’t craft some weapon with some other combination of blessings I haven’t tried yet. I don’t give a flying fart about half the weapons in the game. I’m not excited to try out new blessing combinations for them, or new feats or perk combinations. That’s not fun or interesting and there’s barely any complexity because the balance between blessings are so bad anyway. New classes are mechanically different in a big way and change both the aesthetic feel and gameplay flavor in big ways.
Balance is one thing, but there is only one way to find out what to play and it means giving it a shot.
Regardless of that, any new class or weapon released will come together in a single package with current progression system, like a wonderful cheesecake that has been spiked with raisins.
I would say that we can agree to disagree here Reginald 
Crap perk pools also is part of the problem, some perks are mandatory to have, some just useless crap.
Maybe they should even add +1 perk slot for weapon with pure utility pool, without +dmg vs modifiers in it (with some difficulty adjustments), so it would be 1/3 locked perk.
Range and melee weapon should have a bigger, better and more specific perks, so people will be more pleasant with rolls. Like for example:
Range pool
10% subpool: crit chance, weapon swap speed, taking ads/brace speed, moving speed while ads/bracing, reload speed;
12% subpool: effective range, ammo pool, headshot damage, recoil reduction, sprint efficiency;
15% subpool: +1 additional target pierce chance (not on full auto guns), stagger power (only shotguns and explosion gun/staves), crit damage
And for melee something like
10% subpool: crit chance, attack speed, dodge distance, more toughness on elites kill, headshot damage;
15% subpool: crit chance on special attack (mundane weapon), push cost reduction, more toughness on specials kill, sprint efficiency;
20% subpool: special activation speed (only for weapon with special), block cost reduction, crit damage, stagger power
Those +dmg vs enemy category need to be put inline with +dmg vs armor type, more like either you choose +25% vs armor type, or +15% vs category. They also should remove +dmg vs carapace type on those weapons which deal miniscual damage to carapce.
Reading these posts reminds me of reading youtube comments from russian troll farms. You are all over the place 
Although it shows the game is far from dead, i cant imagine more than a very small fraction of the players would bother writing on the developers forums.
Im happy with those numbers, no problem finding 3 other randoms to play with.
Really…probably after xbox release. After the port is finished and out either content will stop entirely, or pick up dramatically.
I for one will be making the switch pretty much the SECOND it drops 
Glad you are going to spend enough money to support devs so they will release more and more content on a regular basis and will not shutdown servers. You are a true savior.
At least im not actively trying to destroy the game like many in here, deliberately or not, who knows?
Ah, yes: criticism and addressing feedback to the devs are attempting to destroy the game. Good to know it’s so fragile that ‘hey this system needs improvement’ could break it, can’t imagine what would have happened without your words of wisdom to warn us.
Sure, give feedback, but many of the comments are on another level than normal feedback.
Criticism and adressing feedback are fine, important even but this forum takes it way further. Someone, anyone mentions anything positive about the game or provides any positive feedback in any way most of the time people decend on them like a pack of rabid dogs. Offering Criticism and feedback is not actively destroying the game. Silencing positve feedback and holding the belief that nobody can genuinely like anything about the game or calling anyone having a good time a “pay off” or “disguised dev” like people do IS
Exactly, who gains anything from that kind of behavior? Do they really think it benefits them or the game in any way? I dont understand it
The last time i complimented this game i secured generally high favor for my post. My compliment for the recent patch has one of my highest like counts here besides my post criticizing chain weapons. As a chad with enormous assets myself i am not intimidated by packs of small dogs. However i have not had such an encounter in the first place. People’s generally negative views around here are usually fair if a bit overdramatic.
