Another poorly beaten horse and one I personally don’t have interest in because I find Deeds as whole rather uninteresting. Still better than Twitch though. But since it is something which is asked repeatedly, I thought a bit about it and want to suggest the following rework here.
As a small pre-text. Design decisions in Vermintide 1 & 2 have shown over and over that Fatshark doesn’t want to give the player complete control in what he gets. There is most often some kind of RNG involved. This can be seen for weapon upgrades in Vermintide 1 (both rarity and percentage of trait triggers) as well as for rerolling traits and properties in Vermintide 2. It can also be seen by obtaining hats for the longest time only in commendation chests by RNG and Deeds are still only obtainable by chance. As such I think any suggestion to replace the current system should consider this aspect of game design, even if the player doesn’t like it. But I also think there can be a compromise of both.
In this sense, witness the awesomness my mad Paint skills:
Here we have my rough idea, copy pasted from different menus. For explanation:
Main Screen (yellow frame):
Mostly for flare, however here you can chose the number of Deed Modifiers. Will influence the cost of Scrap, Weapon Parts, Toolkit. 1 Modifier costs 100, 2 Modifiers cost 110 and 3 Modifiers cost 111.
Modifier Chance - Section A (green frame):
In here, the probability of the different modifiers can be changed. Upon chosing the number of modifiers the starting value will switch. Let’s say there are 8 possible modifiers and a Deed with 2 Modifiers is chosen in the main section. Then all probabilities will start with 25 % and the game will RNG through them (random order) until it has two successful rolls for a modifier. The probabilities can be changed either increasing them (up to 100 %) or decreasing them (up to 0 %). The total value of 200 % (in this example) can’t be changed though. By this the player can target specific Modifiers or remove those he doesn’t like. However, the further the probabilities are moved from the starting value the more green dust has to be paid. So with all on 25 % for example it would cost 10 green dust, increasing two modifiers to 100 % and the rest to 0 % would cost 200 green dust. This way, there is the chance for customization, but the more specific you want it the heavier the price (like really heavy)
Map choice - Section B (blue frame):
In here, the probability of the map by DLC can be changed. Same as before the different DLC’s start with equal chance and can be changed. The more from the starting value it differs the higher the cost in blue dust. It could be discussed if players can synthesize Deeds for DLCs they dont have. This would give them the chance to experience a random map of this DLC (by setting the value of that DLC to 100 %) at the cost of a lot of blue dust.
Difficulty choice - Section C (orange frame):
In here, difficulty is chosen. This is fundamental, so no RNG. The higher the difficulty, the higher the orange dust cost.
Total synthesis costs will be listed in the down section.
Reward (not shown on the image):
Reward will be decided by difficulty and number and type of modifiers. As some modifiers are more difficult than others they should be rewarded slightly more. However, the greatest influence factor on reward will be allowed RNG. This means the more the probability is changed from the starting values the lower the given reward will be. This is simply to prevent one modifier set becoming the new meta farming. If you want to have Vanguard/Seek & Destroy on a Drachenfels map with 100 % probability your Deed reward will be far lower than letting RNG decide.
With the suggested system in place, it would give players the chance to create Deeds at their own expense, independent from loot boxes. It would also give purpose to the ressources players have gathered over the years. At the beginning Deeds would be limited since orange dust is rarer. At the end players would have more choices to specify their Deeds at the expense of very high dust costs and lowered rewards.
It can be discussed if existing deeds can be “dragged into the fire” as starting point which will then be shown as modifiers with 100 % probability but without costs (as the deed already existed). So it could also be used to change Deeds with unwanted modifiers.
It can also be discussed if Deed modifiers have to be “unlocked” first by “dragging found deeds into the fire” to give some sort of progression or early-game lock (for whatever reason).
There was probably other stuff I wanted to say. For now, be in awe of that totally artistical coherent image.