This is me attempting to gather the things players have a problem with - what a soulless corporate exec might refer to as ‘pain points’. Small things that are lost in the overall shuffle of angry player shouting that results from Fatshark’s actions. Long-standing bugs, broken promises, failures of the company, et cetera. These are things that could be fixed, but have not been - after all, a Grudge must have a means of addressing it.
This is not for Crafting, for the Memorial there stands unbroken.
This is not for the Mourningstar, for there there is still joy and fresh ideas.
This is for the Grudges, so that they may be recorded.
Submit your own, with thread documentation, so I may add them to the Book.
SPECIFIC GRUDGES
Anything that’s a ‘single’ problem - a specific long-running bug, an exact promise that failed to be upheld, or a singular insult.
BUGS
What it sounds like. Unfixed, persistent bugs. Some of which may just be ‘undocumented features’.
~~'Close range’ setting is still broken.
UPDATE: As of 7-3-24, with Hotfix 42, this has been fixed. This is the first of the accumulated Grudges to be struck.
Psyker Staff blessings are often nonfunctional, or don’t work properly.
Trauma Sttaff
‘Overpressure’ Blessing on flamer doesn’t work properly. Fixed in Unlocked and Loaded.
Reddit - Dive into anything
Flamer's "Overpressure" blessing is bugged to not apply to burn damage - #3
The ‘Path of Redemption’ update added performance problems that, despite claims to have fixed it in Hotfix #38, are still not resolved.
KNOWN ISSUE: Performance Issues/Audio Stuttering After Path of Redemption Update - #47 by Eluandil
The ‘Point Blank’ blessing on revolvers is broken and only procs on killing with weapon bash. UPDATE: Fixed as of Hotfix 41.
The ‘Quick Work’ penance has been buggy for a period of at least six months.
Quick Work penance not working
Reddit - Dive into anything
"Quick work" penance not unlocking
The game’s crash reporter fails to close properly at random, leaving the game running on Steam unless force-stopped with Task Manager.
STILL bugged - Crash Reporter prevents closing of game
Bolter jank is a day-one bug that is either not properly documented as a feature (see: Close Range) or unfixed.
Reddit - Dive into anything - Fixed in Unlocked and Loaded
Despite a patch claiming they buffed chain weapons across the board, the Eviscerator’s Bloodletter blessing has been reduced in how many bleed stacks it delivers, and has gone unchanged despite multiple bug reports. This may, like Close Range, be an intended change, but was not communicated properly.
Eviscerator Bloodletter Blessing Stacks Reduced
Eviscerator Bloodletter bleed stacks
Bloodletter Blessing still bugged on Eviscerator
Ogryn’s XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather is still janky and doesn’t align properly with several Ogryn faces. Still broken as of October 2024.
XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather clipping through face/out of position
PC Steam - Ogryn - XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather - The XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather goggles are not properly aligned with the eyes on various Ogryn faces
PC Steam - Ogryn - XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather - The XXXXL Chem-Safe Rebreather goggles are still not properly aligned with the eyes on various Ogryn faces
XXXXL Chemsafe Rebreather Still Clipping Through Ogryn Faces
XXXXL Rebreather In store AGAIN. Clipping still awful
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Two talents, Iron Will and Confirmed Kill, were either changed or broken by a recent update.
Please Fix Before the Break -
The Lucius Mk2 has had broken stability since 2022. Please Fix Lucius Mk2 - Fixed in Unlocked and Loaded
Ogryn’s Ripper Gun bayonet doesn’t stagger crushers - this is probably just a bad change to stagger thresholds Ripper Bayonet poke doesn’t stagger crushers anymore (2)
Various bugged blessings on implementation in 1.5.1, after the hotfix for the itemization update.
A List of Blessing Bugs (as of 1.5.1)
MISSING FEATURES
This is a bit of overlap with the QoL thread, and some things will be understandably murky - the line between ‘fans want this’ and ‘this is a Grudge because it’s a ‘basic’ thing that isn’t included’ is blurry. I will attempt to limit this to the clearest-cut cases.
Level Selection
Level Selection and Freedom of Choice
Regular Fullscreen was outright removed without notice in Hotfix 1.5.4 in October 2024, and brought new bugs and jank with it.
Windowed Fullscreen is unplyable
Please bring back exclusive fullscreen
BROKEN PROMISES AND OUTRIGHT LIES
Unfortunately for Hedgey boy, no, it’s still a lie. That’s what this section is for.
We were promised ‘retroactive penance completion’ for the penances added by the Path of Redemption update. This has not materialized. In fact, some new penances are for things the game already tracked, but they never got completed properly.
Retroactive Penance Completion not working
This turned out to be a genuine error in communication on Strawhat’s part.
Solo mode is missing. It was last stated to be ‘almost done’ shortly after launch.
After that, we received little to no official communication. It eventually was revealed by @FatsharkCatfish that Solo Mode was ‘no longer a priority’, but this did not penetrate due to being a random forum comment and not an actual announcement.
It has now been two years since Solo Mode was ‘almost done’.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/community-comm-link-2nd-march-2023/76199/120https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/a-new-case-for-sp/84329/10
Day one of asking for an offline solo mode
Day two of asking for a solo offline mode, also, a small thank you to everybody
For the love of god release solo mode already, jesus!
S0l0 m0de
Finally time for single-player?
Add solo mode already!
Aquilas, used to purchase cosmetics, were originally going to be available through more than direct purchasing. This did not materialize.
'We don't want to be predatory'—Darktide devs explain why they switched to an in-game currency to sell cosmetics | PC Gamer
We were also promised a 100 Aquila pack in December of 2022. This also did not materialize.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - Community Update #5: Week 2 - Steam News
Brunt was originally slated to deliver specific weapons via a ‘contract’ system. This, again, never came to be, and was never corrected.
"You’ll still get some random gear as in Vermintide 2, but you can also buy weapons from an in-game shop or set a “contract” on a weapon you want and then earn it through a progression system.
Hands-on: Warhammer 40K: Darktide absolutely rules | PC Gamer
Crafting originally was going to involve weapon attachments: this was quietly scrapped for the current system.
Quarterly class release: While ‘technically’ fulfilled by the class overhaul - which converted things to the current talent tree system - this is apparently still an issue that others feel should’ve been addressed, probably by explicitly confirming that ‘new’ classes were folded into the talent trees. I personally think this is Fatshark’s lack of communication at fault: for further detail, see ‘Communication and Feedback’ below.
Classes in Darktide
During the leadup to the ‘Secrets of the Machine God’ update, Fatshark released a teaser that blatantly showed characters talking about radium weapons. Apparently they couldn’t get the weapons done in time, so they deployed the CMs to claim that the conversation about radioactive ‘Adeptus Mechanicus toys’ was about the already extant plasma gun. This was quickly memed.
LITERALLY JUST INSULTS
Claiming that adding more than one page would confuse users in an attempt to excuse blatant FOMO tactics - this is still regarded as a terrible excuse, and an insult to our collective intelligence.
Guys Please Help Me I am Scared
The ‘14k Aquilas’ controversy, an old one but one still generating annoyance.
To sum up: after the Xbox release, new Gamepass and Xbox players purchasing the game would receive a massive quantity of Aquilas in a promotion. This was seen as a very bad move by the PC player base, especially because it coincided with the most expensive cosmetic set yet (the Krieg sets) rotating in. The company attempted to douse the fire by releasing the ‘Vanguard pack’ - essentially just rejiggered cosmetics in the colors of the Moebian 21st, that some feel were going to be released to players anyway and were only reframed as for PC players due to the backlash against the Xbox player base getting free cosmetics.
- This ended up getting revived once news of the PS5 port dropped, showing it’s still a problem that people complain about.
XBOX got 14.000 aquilas - Steam got nothing (Fatshark responded 23/01/2024)
THE MEME, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND: THIS ISN’T CoD
In all honesty this comment was one I hesitated on including, due to the fact that 1) Hedge no longer works at Fatshark, and 2) apparently in context it was responding to a troll who was trying to bait out this specific response. Ordinarily I’d file it under ‘Fatshark needs to fix its comms practices’ and leave it at that. But it’s been pointed out that this is essentially the only official communication about weapon attachments (something that was promised, as you can see in the Broken Promises section). Thus, it ends up here, and it will remain until we find out more about attachments.
Referring to players as Rejects in all official communication: This is still something complained about by at least a couple users. I would not call it a major pain point, but this book collects fairly indiscriminately. People feel insulted being called Rejects or even ‘Devoted Rejects’, and it’s a needless thorn in the side of PR.
Small communication request
LONG RUNNING PROBLEMS
Essentially anything that is a long-running, multifaceted problem. These issues are interconnected, and big enough to earn their own subfolders. They’re in rough order of how much the player base hates/hated them.
ITEMIZATION AND RNG
This has plagued the game from day one. Thankfully, I don’t need to source everything. Literally every single complaint about crafting and rng has been memorialized by @brosgw.
The Crafting Memorial; lest we forget
With the Unlocked and Loaded update, I feel this grudge is mostly done. The RNG is removed and itemization is so much more player-friendly. There is still the question of curios and upgrading them (link to it being discussed in this thread).
THE COSMETICS STORE
Cosmetics are near-universally agreed to be overpriced, especially regiment-specific ones. This is also accompanied by complaints about ‘reskins’ and ‘palette swaps’, where all that materially changes about a given cosmetic is the color, despite being sold at full price - OR AT A HIGHER PRICE. Bundles have had all their interesting bits stripped out while being sold at the same price as other, more complete sets.
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Free cosmetics, whether weapon skins or outfits, have a lamentable lack of variety as well. They typically go un-updated for new weapons.
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In addition to being overpriced, cosmetics often are cheaply and shoddily made to the point of not even having different body types to accommodate the two different body types offered at character creation.
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There also used to be weapon skin bundles for 800 Aquilas, that had skins for every single weapon. These have been replaced by individual skins for around the same price points, effectively something like a 2000% price increase.
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A single mod - For the Drip - uses the exact same tools Fatshark itself uses to recolor and resell cosmetics. For free, you can unlock far more variety and superior fashion than hundreds of dollars worth of cosmetic buying.
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The FOMO store element is, obviously, very irritating, and is still being complained about virtually constantly. I would personally consider it the most complained about element after crafting and game stability.
Which galaxy brain intern sets those ridiculous cosmetics prices?
Add more weapon skins to the commissary (or elsewhere)
Any plans to expand the Commissary? - #8
https://warhammer-40k-darktide.fandom.com/wiki/Commodore's_Vestures#Weapon_Skin_Bundles
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/for-the-drip-or-a-lesson-in-cosmetic-systems/95526
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/commissiary-has-cobwebs/96507
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fomo-tactics/98126
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/just-another-thread-complaining-about-cash-shop-rotation/98436
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/another-shop-rotation-another-grievance/98664
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fatshark-please/98812/
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/are-you-serious-cosmetic-price-complain/99109
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/am-i-the-only-who-thinks-this-is-bs/99181/
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/4x-witch-fingers-why-cash-shop-rebalance/99971
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/one-week-premium-shop-rotation/100172
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/premium-shop-function-disappointing/100463/
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/time-to-revamp-the-darktide-store/100467
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkTide/comments/1grzp3x/the_new_crafting_system_is_amazing_they_need_a/
This bundle cost 2400 collectively. It’s since been split off and no further bundles come with weapon skins or trinkets.
In November 2024, skin bundles returned to the store!
At 2900 Aquilas for five weapons, and a bunch of 400-900 individual skins. When the first skin packs cost 800 for EVERY WEAPON.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/new-commodores-rotation-is-a-disgrace/100978
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/new-day-new-low-by-fatshark/100980
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/new-weapon-skins-are-misleading/100992
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/battle-forged-weapon-bundles/101032
OUTPUT AND LACK OF FIXES
Every two weeks, like clockwork, a hotfix comes out. The hotfix will typically contain little to no actual fixes to the game beyond clear game-breaking bugs (usually introduced by a previous hotfix), and almost entirely focus on fixing stuff in the cosmetics store. It blatantly serves as a cover to add the next cosmetic rotation into the store. Fatshark produces little to nothing beyond this for months on end, with the rare ‘patches’ and actual fixes (aka, the ‘hotfix’ right after a patch usually, such as Hotfix 37) not providing enough content to justify the silence.
People have taken notice.
It’s actually quite alarming to also see how many minor, easily resolvable things and QOL features are missing. There’s an old writeup of many flaws Darktide had at launch - and a lot of these are still in the game to this day.
The lack of output is pretty comical given that they can spend a month saying they are working on a dev blog, and still not be able to give any concrete information on itemization beyond it only getting delayed until Fall (communicating this is an improvement over the usual tbh). Not being able to say what is happening with the game after that much time is not an acceptable level of output.
- UPDATE: This is slowly improving as of late June/early July. StrawHat, the only active CM, is working to improve communication, and keep it going even during vacations, and patches have been occurring much faster. If this is maintained I will keep you all posted.
** FURTHER UPDATE: A PS5 port has been confirmed to be in development.
I guess we know where that dev time went.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/hotfix-39-1-3-11-patch-notes/95185
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/hotfix-38-1-3-3-patch-notes/94595
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/hotfix-36-1-3-1-patch-notes/93530
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/hotfix-35-1-2-34/93111
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/quick-update-on-latest-rotation/95736/
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/it-is-almost-time-for-the-bi-weekly-hotfix-patch/95687
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/oh-good-theyve-provided-us-our-bi-weekly-ration-of-pointless-recolored-slop/95763
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkTide/comments/102demo/darktide_feedback_essay_or_smt/
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/an-update-on-itemization/95942
COMMUNICATION, FEEDBACK, AND ISOLATION OF THE FORUMS
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Fatshark fails from a PR perspective, rarely communicating. They also outright lie: see ‘delayed for technical reasons’ from last year’s Skulls, and the entire ‘Broken Promises’ section. This failure to communicate reaches the point that unpaid Discord moderators have to clarify that, no, the statement that itemization would be part of an update on the 25th doesn’t mean that itemization will be part of an update on the 25th. This also apppears to be driven by the fact that they don’t have enough PR workers: they have seven or so PR ‘managers’ but the only full-time CM dedicated to Darktide is Catfish, who’s been out sick for weeks. It’s bad enough that they’re designating non-employees as moderators as of the 31st of May, 2024.
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Fatshark’s PR problems continue as of June 12th. They’ve apparently decided that posting a singular emoji once a week on Twitter is how best to build hype. Unfortunately the emojis are of things they already teased, so it comes off as tone-deaf at best and lazy at worst.
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There was a recent development where a Spanish-language gaming magazine either leaked content or screwed up, and published a discussion about a WIP system for replacing crafting. Fatshark was abnormally quick to address this, and explained that the system presented is not what they’re working on currently. In addition, they revealed that locks WOULD be broken. All good news, so why is it a Grudge entry? Because it took a journal leaking this information for Fatshark to tell us anything good at all, and they would’ve remained silent otherwise.
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As of the Secrets of the Machine God update, they pushed a massive across-the-board increase to enemy lethality without telling anyone. This was eventually fixed as StrawHat, the only active CM, hunted down the devs and got the rest of the patch notes released, confirming the change was intentional.
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Communication is slowly improving under @FatsharkStrawHat as of July. More activity in the forums rather than Discord, more prompt communication, more devblogs. Only time will tell if this keeps going, but signs are positive.
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Things appear to have reverted to form as of October 2024 - vox logs, side stories, and everything else are getting posted with no attention paid to the forums, once again.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fs-please-say-something-or-rethink-your-pr/94565
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/the-future-of-darktide-is-vague-a-transparency-issue/94580
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fatshark-lets-talk-the-state-of-darktide-and-comms/95527
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/huh/95465
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/we-still-know-nothing-abou-new-update/95578
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fatshark-listen/96000
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fs-comms-again/100862
Fatshark seems to rarely take feedback or read the forums, often abandoning them for weeks or months at a time. They instead rely heavily on Discord for their ‘core community’, including playtesters. This also includes electing Discord members as moderators for the forums on a volunteer basis, as discussed in the previous section.
*UPDATE: As of early July, just as with communication, this seems to be somewhat improving. StrawHat, the only active CM, is more active on the forums, posts more information, and has repeatedly confirmed pieces of feedback being internalized from the forums. If this holds this bodes well.
*UPDATE 2: As of November, we’re kinda back on our bs - Fatshark seems to have learned nothing from previous games and dropped a teaser for a game mode highly-similar to the nearly-universally-hated ‘Weaves’ system from Vermintide 2. The outcry was quite loud (multiple links). This does not seem to reflect internalizing feedback at all - though Strawhat is doing their best to collect information.
Images spoiled
Context: this screenshot concerns a user who has a history of trolling, invading other threads with bad takes, and abusing the report tool. Nemy123 called him out. The unpaid Discord mod apparently thought it was a good idea to go to DMs to threaten him with a suspension.
He then walked into this thread, and when called out on biased moderation for a different incident, responded with threats of banning more people.
JANK, LAG, AND SERVER ISSUES
Audio cues, and audio in general, remain broken to varying degrees. After the Path of Redemption update, this became intertwined with performance problems. This is still occurring after Unlocked and Loaded.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/audio-issues-most-consistently-with-poxbursters-and-other-specials/94468
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/missing-audio-cues-for-specials-and-elites/86251
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/audio-periodically-cuts-out-in-game/95638
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/sound-cues-are-deteriorating/97368
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/silent-specialists/100200
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/enemy-audio-cues-issues/100507
Phantom hits and input problems also remain consistent, alongside disconnects and crashes. This seems to be a serverside problem. We also have issues with weapons ‘losing’ their attacks or attack chains.
Lag and ‘jank’ continues to be an issue, starting to be one with the increased enemy counts of Patch 13 and continuing to get worse.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/phantom-hits-are-still-a-problem/94854
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/multipe-compounding-ongoing-mechanical-and-or-server-issues/95025
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/error-2001-2014-every-game/96996
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/my-personal-review-and-opinion-on-the-state-of-darktide-after-1800h-ingame/97048
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/worst-lag-ive-ever-seen/97306
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/has-there-been-more-than-usual-amount-of-desync-input-lag-in-recent-week/97433
video evidence
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/worst-lag-ive-ever-seen/97306
BALANCE
Weapons go unbalanced for long periods of time, with significant portions of the blessings and perks being borderline useless. The same holds true of abilities and classes.
While this list is, by definition, somewhat subjective, it shouldn’t be completely ignored.
Standouts include:
- Thunder Hammer, unable to hit necessary breakpoints on enemies in Damnation while carrying significant drawbacks No longer the case judging from patch notes!
- Infantry lasguns, outcompeted by other options
- Autopistol, nerfed into the ground and a generally inferior option
- Some specific marks like the standard-issue shovel on vet, the Graia infantry autogun, etc tend to suffer compared to contemporaries. Somewhat alleviated by Unlocked and Loaded - with the changes to marks, this is basically immaterial.
- Veteran in general, between smoke grenades, a hostile spawn environment, and gimmicky keystones, suffers overall, most prominently when trying to specialize in ranged combat.
- Psyker shield - the bubble is a must-pick on higher difficulties and the walls don’t offer enough to justify it.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/fatshark-should-add-weapon-balance-to-its-biweekly-patches/94706
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/ever-since-the-vet-ammo-aura-nerf/95346
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/the-usual-inter-patch-shotgun-request/95161
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/annual-lasweapon-qol-request/95154
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/why-do-force-staffs-still-have-a-useless-melee-attack/94762
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/are-you-satisfied-with-smoke-grenades/97019
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/thunder-hammer-rework-when/97245
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/why-the-current-veteran-skill-tree-is-bad/97595
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/the-hammer-does-not-feel-right/97801/25
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/is-the-bolt-pistol-just-misunderstood/96788
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/thunder-hammer-crucis-mk-ii-special-rework/98417
LACK OF STORY
Darktide was promised an evolving story written by Dan Abnett. In the years since its launch, it has transparently not delivered on this. At launch, this was even more laughable of a claim, with an almost completely absent narrative.
https://www.wargamer.com/warhammer-40k-darktide/character-creator-revealed
The 18-page interview, printed in Edge 372 on Thursday, also reports that, unlike Fatshark’s previous Warhammer co-op titles, “Darktide’s storyline and missions will expand and develop after launch, almost as a live service”
“At release, they’ll reflect the warband’s arrival at Atoma Prime, with reconnaissance missions and dialogue that establishes the setting,” Edge explains. “But in the weeks following, the narrative will change as the warband discovers more about the Chaos threat.”
“Darktide’s missions… reflect what’s happening in the Inquisitor’s campaign when you play – gathering information, killing targets, and preventing sabotage – all alongside your personal story of raising your rank from ex-con to a valued member of the warband,” the magazine adds.
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/they-lied-about-the-story-stop-denying-it/71090
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/that-was-the-story/58248
https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/will-we-actually-be-getting-a-story/65072
Missions get dynamically populated on the Terminal according to either predetermined narrative or emergent events that happen inside the world.
However, with the co-op nature of the game, it was essential for us to allow the possibility to play missions together, even if players are way apart in progression."
https://www.playdarktide.com/news/dev-blog-mission-terminal
VERSION CONTROL
Fatshark has a persistent problem with keeping old bugs from coming back and issues with keeping everyone using the same version of the game that dates back to Vermintide 2. Gunner pushback in particular for DT seems to be an ongoing problem.
Currently (7-04-24) we haven’t seen any major rollbacks, but there had been an issue with the Secrets of the Machine God update that eventually turned out to be intentional enemy buffs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkTide/comments/19487cb/basic_shooters_and_gunners_pushing_you_back_is_a/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1361210/discussions/0/6689601154224026552/
https://medium.com/@timewarriorslps/fatshark-forged-a-community-that-gave-them-3-million-in-a-month-then-burned-it-to-the-ground-a47e0c5d130b
