a skill 6 quickplay mode would be what i’d play pretty much exclusively, yes.
actually, that would be how i would have designed a harder mode from the start and streamlined the mission board, instead of introducing havoc as a separate mode, because it seems more like reinventing the wheel to me and it also splits our already not that large community.
my take on today’s state of the game as i said a few times:
and
so take monstrous, add mutators like brutes and moebians, perhaps let them do more damage and limit the available meds and there you go.
now we have havoc already, what about that?
yeah, it has some issues, for me and many others: a) gatekept by party finder, b) deranking under 40, and c) 40s vs varlets, and d) reinforces the meta
a) i know not everyone is such a grumpy cat about it, for example @anon73549677 seems to enjoy it, in which case the party finding works as intended, and this is good for the game.
actually i consider the PF a useful tool and would definitely keep it as such, just not as a strict requirement to even enter a game.
i guess it depends on what one considers fun. you like playing up to mid havocs because they’re harder than auric but not too crazy? and you don’t care about going up and down a rank or two? well then there’s not much to go wrong. but:
b) deranking - yes it adds stakes to the game, and more often than not it leads to angry words and the carefully assembled party scattering after a loss. actually many feel cheated after having fought hard to get to 39 for example and then dropping back to 35 because the game says “now you lose” and there’s not much you can do.
c) no more deranking at 40. this separates havoc into 40s vs all the varlets below. so the ultimate goal is to get to 40 because only then you’re free to play as you want without the fear of losing valuable progress. and then deranking becomes frustrating, and assembling a party a chore when you just want to quickplay and relax at the end of a day.
this isn’t the fault of the players, but is rather a result a fatshark’s pervasive principle to limit player agency and use hamster wheels for more “engagement”. the old rng crafting system was a perfect example of this. now with havoc you have a given map pool and mutators, and you can’t even get into a game without somehow gaining the favor of others in the party finder. so limited agency. and when you derank, well there’s your hamster running.
d) lastly, havoc reinforces the meta instead of creating variety by throwing more enemies at you than the game can reliably handle.
but you can use non-meta stuff too? yeah… after reaching 40… hehe.
and here you’re back at a), because people tend to reject non-meta builds just to be sure they don’t risk demotion, and also try to police other’s builds, and depending on others to be allowed to play a game is a big no to me.
to sum it up, quickplay is the standard in darktide, it’s fast and easy if you just want to be able to go, bash heretics hard and also to leave the game without any “stakes and tension” many don’t like.
and with auric having become too easy with a competent team, darktide needs a skill 6 for the large player base, especially as it should be easier to add than investing into havoc with its hurdles and small player numbers.strong text