There are five separate polls below, answering five relevant questions.
(Yes #3 was added later on)
There already are a few polls about this topic, but there are a few problems.
There are multiple aspects to the topic, and people might answer individual questions differently, depending on what they assume about the context to which their answer is being applied.
With that in mind, please answer the questions as they are asked, without making any assumptions about the context. The context is provided by the other questions.
Here is my attempt at covering the most relevant aspects as well as possible, within relatively short questions and answers:
Assuming that the new crafting system is great and that you love it,
what is your opinion on the migration from the old to the new system?
I am fine with getting all progress wiped. (Everyone loses all items and all ressources.)
I am fine with losing a little bit of progress. (Your current weapons stay intact, keeping their stats, perks and blessings. You keep your ressources. Some blessings might be gone from your library, but you can unlock them guaranteed, within a short time.)
I would hate to lose any progress at all, no matter how small it is and how little time it would take to get it back. (The loss of a few unlocked blessings would be terrible, even if you can unlock them again, within an hour or so.)
0voters
Assuming that you are a new player, what would your preferred item progression system look like in regard to time spent?
I do not even want to have to level my character. Give me access to all items, talent points and mission difficulties immediately.
After reaching lvl 30 as a new player, I want to have access to everything. I do not want any item progression system at all.
After reaching lvl 30 as a new player, I would like another ~10 hours of progression per character, until i have access to max power and all customization options for all weapons available to that character.
After reaching lvl 30 as a new player, I would like another ~10 hours of progression per weapon set (1 melee +1 ranged), until i have access to max power and all customization options for that full loadout.
After reaching lvl 30 as a new player, I would like another ~10 hours of progression per individual weapon, until i have access to max power and all customization options for one individual weapon.
0voters
Assuming that the game provides a progression system, where it takes 10 hours to max out an item, what kind of pacing would you prefer?
I prefer linear progression (5 hrs from 0% to 50% and 5 hrs from 50% to 100%)
I prefer progression that is fast early on, and slower towards the end (5 hrs from 0% to 80% and 5hrs from 80% to 100%)
0voters
Assuming that we have a crafting system, how much RNG would you like in that system?
I want no RNG at any point anywhere in the system. Even RNG that can be mitigated by grinding some extra mats, is unacceptable.
Some RNG is fine, as long as it can be mitigated via deterministic ways and as long as i am guaranteed to get what i want. (Example: Weapons drop with random base stats, but you can upgrade any weapon to max stats anyway. Maxing a worse base weapon will simply cost more.)
I am fine with quite a lot of RNG. I do not need any deterministic way to get around it.
Please randomize everything.
0voters
Assuming that we get a system where weapon families have to be leveled up in order to progress them (which it seems we are getting), which option would you prefer?
I am fine with having to use a weapon in missions, in order to earn progression for it.
I would like to be able to progress weapons, without having to use them. (example: boost weapon xp with diamantine)
If we’re talking an ideal, dream scenario, then I would want flat, unvarying stats for all weapons. They’re mass produced factory items for the most part and the kind of variations we see now are arbitrary and only there to create a grindy gameloop that artificially extends the time needed to get what you want. HD2 does this way better. Unlock the gun, you have the gun and the gun is a gun is a gun. However, I don’t expect for a second that this will ever become a reality in DT.
The system they’ve showed so far seems “fine” to me. It’s not what I would design, but it’s certainly a lot better than what we have now. Knowing FS, I’ll begrudgingly accept this as the best we’re likely to get.
I’m unwilling to be badgered into acceptance, or become so used to how awful FS is that I won’t complain when they spend 2 years to make yet another terrible system. YMMV of course, but I’ll never just sigh and throw my hands up when it comes to stuff like this.
Nah. I ain’t taking this like some dog. I’m going to keep yelling until I get an actual system that respects my time with no RNG bs and no grind crap.
Well sure, but what am I supposed to do about this exactly? I don’t know that we can do anything more to push FS into creating better systems than we already have. Not like I’m going to go over there and started shaking my fist at their office building.
I don’t like this system. People have proposed better ones. They don’t listen. It is what it is.
I’ll play this game until something I enjoy more comes along to my attention away “fully”. Just a lesser evil at the moment compared to other games.
After 6 months from release playing RNG - I only crafted when there was true choice if weapon drops stats and 2 perks/blessings already on it I want.
So I’ll use their “online only” servers without additional cost.
I bought key from legit seller 2 months after launch for 15 bucks. That’s how much it should of really cost.
I never have or will buy cosmetics.
Truth is - If noone bought cosmetics they would have to actually focus on game elements more so the game can actually sell well based on it’s own merit alone.
I don’t object to having to work to unlock better stuff. That adds meaningful progression. What HD2 does better is that it doesn’t ask for more grinding once you’ve unlocked something, which DT most definitely does.
Ehh, kind of. You need Reqs to buy them, sure, but it still ends there and it’s deterministic and not in the hands of chance.
In DT it’s level up → get ordos → get weapon → grind for resources → grind for blessings → get a good roll and hope the locks don’t cuck you.
I’d say one is certainly a lot more reasonable than the other.
I would like a similar system in darktide.
You get weapons unlocked at level xy.
You buy a weapon from the store (or get it as mission reward).
You play missions, where you earn ressources.
You use the ressources to upgrade your weapon to max stats (and get the option to choose perks and blessings).
When a new weapon is released, you can use the stuff that you farmed in order to buy and max it right away.
Essentially the same thing as with stratagems.
Except the initial stats could be somewhat random (which does not really matter a lot if you can quickly upgrade them up to a certain point).
That’s true, I forgot about the samples. Nevertheless, the difference between a non-upgraded stratagem vs a fully upgraded one is generally not that dramatic (the flame DMG boost might be the biggest exception) whereas in DT the spectrum is far wider and also not deterministic in the same way it is in HD2. HD2 still does it better.
As for random stats, I still think it’s not a net positive. It’s just removing player agency needlessly. It is also plainly arbitrary and transparently made up to serve a gamey purpose. I’d rather they were just fixed.
I do not like RNG. But i still think that it would be absolutely no problem to have randomized rewards with slightly randomized stats.
As long as the system allows the player to upgrade ANY item to perfection.
Random stats as a starting point are fine for me.
Random stats in the end result are not.
I think as with all polls there is problems here too. In many options I feel like the gap between some of the options is huge or doesn’t go far enough.
For example:
Not just some, but a lot of RNG is fine as long as it can be mitigated in some way. The 2 options with “lot of RNG” and randomize everything is basically the same options here.
10 hour of progression/weapon set is too fast. This would actually translate into something like 2-3 hours of real progression in my mind. 10 hour to get to 90% power + have 1-2 desired combo unlocked with another 20-30+ hours progression on top of that for the completionists to actually unlock every useless thing is far closer to what I would consider proper.
Not true.
One would include the current state of the system. The other means that you have no control over your item stats at all.
Covering every detail of this aspect is not possbile, if you want to do it in a somewhat concise way.
10 hrs of progress for 1 set of weapons could theoretically mean 1000 different things. I am aware of that.
It could mean
grind 10 hrs with no progress and then jump to the end point after those 10 hours
grind for 2 hrs to get maxed modifiers and 2 blessings that you want, then 8 more hours to unlock all other blessings that you do not care about
I should probably have said
“until i have access to max power and your preferred perks and blessings”
instead of
“until i have access to max power and all customization options”
I was thinking of a system, where you get access to 70-80 stats and T3 blessings relatively quickly, but where most of the time grinding would be spent to get from there to 100% stats and T4 blessings.
I’d agree that this would be better, but what purpose would the RNG even serve in this case? Then it’d just be random to make you spend resources/points/what have you on making it what you want? Why not just go for flat stats then?