After this update, both online numbers and active players have clearly been trending downward. It’s pretty clear now that this update was a failure. Don’t tell me the balance is good — if it were, the player count wouldn’t keep dropping. That already proves that most people who said the changes were fine are wrong. If a game update is a good thing, the player count should be going up, not down like this. We really need to think about nerfing some things. With these nerfs, buffs, and the new mode, all I’m seeing is fewer players and a more dead game.
You might be onto something. The last noticeable player spike was in December, most likely driven by the free-to-play period rather than No Man’s Land, and before that, all the way back in June with the Arbites DLC drop.
These double spikes in 2025 mark an improvement compared to the single December spike in 2024, which coincided with the Grim Protocols (Havoc) update.
I expect the new Clanky class update will provide another spike for this year, and they are probably keep gonna releasing new paid dlc and then nerfing it, given enough sales and hype is generated.
Consume DLC then get excited for next DLC!
Hey buddy, speaking as a regular player, would you rather see more new weapons, new classes, new enemy models, new maps, new storylines, and better optimization — or just watch the devs keep nerfing the popular stuff over and over while “buffing” old weapons that still feel like wet noodles?
Hey, so the new class got nerfed because of “Pickpocket,” and now ranged builds like SMGs and pistols are basically half-crippled. Meanwhile, the poison gun is super versatile and doesn’t rely much on ranged talents, so it’s pretty much become the go-to offhand for melee builds. But with this update, the left branch of ranged builds is pretty much dead, which just makes the Scrap poison gun even more popular. This just proves that releasing a new class and then immediately gutting its core mechanic is a terrible move. If next time they add another new class with some cool new core feature and then nerf it again, won’t that just kill the players’ passion? Before this, the Scrap poison gun wasn’t even that popular because the other two ranged options were in the way. This whole change feels like they’re just picking the tallest dwarf in the room.
In my opinion, there’s plenty of weapons/talents/builds that don’t get their time in the spotlight due to underperformance. Buffs could help remediate that and create the impression of “new things.” This happened with the power maul during the Ogryn rework last year. The developers just need to stop under-buffing and over-nerfing things out of the game (and the opposite applies too, though I can’t pinpoint an example). The pickpocket nerf probably did little to boost the popularity of the game or the Hive-Scum DLC, which was already subpar at best, balance issues aside.
I think asking for yet more tree reworks is counterproductive, but I can’t shake the feeling that what we have now is essentially smoke and mirrors compared to the VT2 skill distribution system. There’s too much illusion of choice and too few practical “real” options that perform as expected, with only a handful of outliers. So while I don’t think this should be a priority, I do believe it could be a net positive for variance and player agency if done right .
At this point, I really want to see the story move forward if nothing else. We’ve had enough “filler arcs”, it’s time for stakes and drama to build. Let us know what happened after Dark Communion . Follow up on the Zola/Wolfer storyline. Do something with the newly introduced NPCs beyond having them stand around the Mourningstar. What role is Proctor Zorin playing in the battle for Atoma? What’s going on with Brahms and her grandpa/Grendyl? There are so many threads waiting to be pulled.
Yeah bro, you want more story, more weapons, more intense action — but have we gotten any of that? We’ve been waiting forever. Barely any new enemies, barely any new weapons. Kinda heartbreaking, isn’t it?
Yes, but won’t stop compulsive ppls from buying the next dlc whenever it releases, unless it’s something boring like “scribe” (sorry scribe truthers), as long as they don’t screw up the marketing monumentally like they did with HS, them they are gonna print money with it, even if they nerf it out of the meta 3 months or so later.
I’m thinking about whether I should post on the forum about how we need more weapons. I’ve got a pretty good idea of most classes’ current weapons, but I haven’t finished writing the post yet. Maybe you guys could throw me some ideas for new weapons?
Yes, and I don’t think people hold Fatshark accountable enough for the neglectful way they handle their development cycles. The only thing the community seems to care about is balance discussions, and those are highly divided. When you have a community fighting amongst itself, the developers don’t need to put much effort into their work. This dynamic isn’t unique to Darktide; or gaming for that matter.
I get it. Right now the balance discussions on the forum are basically everyone yelling their own “truth.” Honestly, it’s not even a fight — more like everyone’s right… but only at the difficulty they’re playing at.
Some say balance should be based on N3, others say N5. Some swear by High Intensity Shock Gauntlet, others by Havoc. Do I know which one’s correct? Nope. All I know is this mess just makes the forum stink to high heaven — because nobody agrees on what difficulty we’re even balancing for.
Meanwhile, those of us just hoping for new weapons, new maps, and new enemies feel like total outcasts. Guess the game’s got a long way to go. If the devs don’t clarify which difficulty they’re balancing around, most of the “discussion” is just hot air. You can’t have a solid argument without a solid baseline, you know?
Also… Ogryns and Zealots can’t possibly have only this few weapons, right? Ogryn melee has like… six? That’s just sad, isn’t it, bro?
Bingo.
Now I know how to write my next post. Thanks, bro. Really hope the game gets better.
I want to enjoy the expeditions mode. I want to enjoy it. But it is infuriating to the point I rage quit the game for days, which I have never done like this in my entire 2k hours. The mode requires great teammates and I’ve been getting anything but. And since you get zero rewards for a failure, it means that 20-30 minutes could be completely wasted. Repeat that for 2 weeks solid (I’ve not had a successful mission on the far right node in that entire time) and it not only makes me not want to play expeditions but it also makes me want to quit the game from pure frustration.
That goddamn never ending hounds modifier is pure fxxxing nonsense. Cannot believe that got past QA.
You kinda suppose to find friends in a coop game. But FS made so many bad things with social interraction in this game that it’s almost impossible. I’ve found 3 friends through V2. I’ve found 0 in DT, despite a bit more time invested.
As sad as it sounds I don’t really have many gamer friends and the ones I do don’t play DT.
Tbh I play game mode for escapism than socialism and can’t use a mic anyway when I play. I’m a freelancer who’s also a dad so my spare time is spontaneous and can’t be planned for so the normal DT formula works for me. Expeditions seems to require even more team coherency than havoc which is insane.
Most other extraction shooters can be played solo but expeditions pushes team play super hard where it is a survival requirement…which would be fine if casual players didn’t constantly try and play auric missions with 5 zones…I’m guessing quickplay allows it. Imo quickplay should only you offer maps you have already unlocked.
But yeah, back to mini painting for me. The main missionboard has had zero love for years so it’s beyond stale. I’ve been asking for new missions for so long now but 
Its such a denial.
Player count drop not bcs balance but slow update drops.
You and others can denay obvious but balance is needed; both nerfs and buffs.
Isntead of crying about it adapt and learn to play.
Or go play Warframe if you need to play with OP/broken stuff.
Chat is still could be enough. DT just doesn’t create any environment for a player to try. In V2 you stay in team after a mission by defalut. Then you being put in a hub where you can do jump puzzle, steal training dummies when someone is testing their damage, throw bombs at each other while waiting someone afk, training you aim or meme on each other with emotes. People have time to talk about builds, previous run, and overall have a time for bounding.
In V1 there was a drunken brawl pvp, lol.
But in DT there is nothing.
I don’t think it depends on the balance, it’s just that expedition wasn’t interesting enough to new and old players.
I for once don’t care about expeditions and other game modes but I returned a bit and I’m enjoying the changes, for how minor they have been.
Makes me think why they even bother putting emotes in darktide, literally no reason to use them because all everyone really does in the morningstar is go to upgrade or the mission board, waste of animation time tbh (bar the dog pet emote) sad to see that they even bother to put up “social features” on the the latest survey