First of all, gotta say I’m loving the game for what it is right now. I have a few opinions on what I think could be modified to make for a potentially better experience. I have all characters (except mage) to level 30, and am at 600 Power Level, so I’ve experienced a lot so far. These are just my opinions, and not to be taken as complaints. I’m sure I may repeat what some have said already, but here goes!
Note: Studies show that hearing an opposing viewpoint causes no real harm
—Pain Point - Host Migrations—
Problem: We’ve all been at the end of a Champion or Legend mission ~20 minutes in, after having a rough but successful run, only to have the host have their game crash, or disconnect, or rage quit - leaving the other 3 party members lose all their progress. Missions can take up to 15-25 minutes to run (especially when using difficult Deeds), and it can really discourage a player from progressing through or coming back to the game if it happens enough, especially if the person doesn’t have a lot of time during their day to game. This, compounded with losing a few missions here and there - yields no loot and no real reward - and takes up a ton of time.
Suggestion: I play another game - Warframe - that seems to use host-based servers too, and when the host leaves we all reload into a new host - but the mission continues and our progress remains intact, and the mission continues where we left off. I don’t know the specifics of how it works with Warframe or Vermintide 2, but it would certainly help everyone I’m sure if progress was even periodically saved … maybe like a checkpoint in case of a host migration, or something. Even restarting a few feet back would be better than restarting everything during host migrations.
—Pain Point - Legend Spawns—
Problem: I’ve been running Legend a lot now and with a good team we can make it through. I’ve even quickplay’d a few without a pre-made team and succeeded with all tomes and grimoires. Boss missions like Rat Warlord and Princess Bubblegum are still super hard, and I like the difficulty of Legend with the tougher enemies. However, there are certain moments in Legend it seems that no matter how well you do - the stars align and everything happens all at once. A mini-boss will echo it’s scream - the horde-horn will sound - 2 pack rats will drag half our team into the horde - a plaguestorm will begin conjuring - and a chaos patrol will pop out of the bushes … you get the idea, I could go on. The difficulty curve is nice, but when that happens, it feels like no matter how well you do, or how geared you and your team are, it’s just hopeless when that happens. I personally hate this more than host migrations.
Suggestion: I can’t just say “make things easier” because I like the difficulty, but maybe a suggestion for this can be to implement a mechanism to be able to free yourself from a packrat/leech/assassin. Maybe pressing a certain random key combination, or just clicking really fast, to free yourself to lighten the load - rather than being fully disabled until someone helps you.
Or, maybe the damage on weaker mobs could be a little less, but not by much though, just enough to make the impossible situations more bearable methinks. Or maybe certain weapons can get an extra stamina shield perhaps? I’m kind of just rambling right now because this is a tough subject where you want the impossible to become possible but you don’t want the rest of the game to be stupid easy either.
After all, We’re the bloody Ubersreik 4! - not 5! - it does matter (sorry Kruber), especially when half your team gets pulled away and there’s nothing you can do about it.
—Pain Point - Boss Preparations—
Problem: There are 3 act-bosses. Before fighting the end bosses of Act 1 and Act 3 - you are presented with a feast of healing potions and medkits nomnomnom. It really helps against the bosses, especially on Legend if you actually make it all the way to the end and get to the boss. However, what’s up with the Act 2 boss preparations? He’s definitely the most difficult next to the Act 1 boss (opinion), however I played a Legend mission where we made it to the end but 2 of our teammates were greyscreen (1hp) and 2 had half health, and when we actually made it to the end, we found a purple potion, and incendiary bomb, and no medkit or healing potion in the rubble (where we’d normally see one). Also, when teammates die in that fight - they sometimes don’t respawn in the arena (unlike other bosses), but instead at the end of the mission after the boss is defeated - so they can no longer contribute. Almost every time I Quickplay a Legend mission, if it’s Skittergate or either of the Act-Boss missions, my team defaults to finding the nearest cliff and just end it there - and I agree with them.
Suggestion: This is more of a question and a suggestion — I understand there are less healing items to find on Legend, but how come it prepares you so much for the Act 1/3 bosses, then leaves you to dry against the Act 2 boss? Or have I just been getting super duper lucky with healing items before the Act 1/3 bosses every game?
As for a suggestion, maybe put in at least 1 scripted healing item for the team before that boss … and maybe allow teammates to revive in the Arena.
—Boss Mission Rewards—
Problem: This happens especially on Legend difficulty - we start a Quickplay - get an Act-Boss mission - jump off a cliff - and restart until we don’t get an Act-Boss mission. There’s absolutely no incentive to play an Act-Boss mission, other than to say “I did it”. You don’t get more experience, or loot chest experience, and it’s harder than other missions (mainly because of the boss at the end).
Suggestion: Like Quickplay bonuses, I recommend implementing a “Boss Mission” bonus equivalent of what a Quickplay bonus would give you, for doing a boss mission. Don’t bother with more experience for levelling though - experienced/veteran/tryhard players wouldn’t go for that. They want reds (presumably), and high-tier loot, and cosmetics. Having a more rewarding boss-mission experience would lessen the quit-rate on those missions and make them bearable (especially on Legend).
—Solo-Play Bots—
Problem: This is a quick one - I want to collect tomes and grimoires, but I want to be a loner for a day and relax with my bots. However, my bots prioritize healing items and have a phobia of grimoires.
Suggestion: Maybe a button or setting to manually toggle tome/grimoire priority for bots so that we can tell them to pick up those items as we target them with “T”.
—Quickplay Bonus—
Problem: Another quick one - during a Quickplay (because we want that sweet loot mhmm…), my friend may crash or disconnect - so he’s gone, but wants to come back when he reloads the game. Almost instantly someone else will join and we have to kick them for my friend to rejoin - however now my friend has lost the Quickplay bonus - almost ensuring he won’t get an Emperors Chest - unless we find 2 Loot Die and Ranald doesn’t forsake us.
Suggestion: Maybe having some sort of way to save “who originally joined via Quickplay” so that when they rejoin they don’t lose their loot chest Quickplay bonus.
—The Fabled Green Dust—
Problem: I have a 1:4 ratio on green-blue dust. I have 100 green, and 400 blue right now. I usually end up with Generals or Emperors Chests, and if it wasn’t for me keeping my mage at a low level (5-10) I doubt I’d ever see a green item again until Vermintide 3. Plus, nobody wants to farm crappy items just to get green dust. They want tomes and grimoires all the time for those delicious reds.
Suggestion: Maybe having some sort of material conversion system - trade 5 blue dust for 1 green dust, or 1 orange for 3 green, or 5 green for 1 orange … etc.
Anyhow, those are my thoughts for now! I tried to consolidate everything I’ve experienced, and read what other people have posted into a single post that I agree with. Like I said above, I love the game for what it is now, and feel those changes above may make things better for everyone as a whole (opinion). Thanks for listening.