It is becoming increasingly common to join a game with a Loner zealot who runs 30% faster than you and is just going to sprint ahead, ignoring all threats and leaving you to play with 2 or 3 people.
This is a frustrating experience. It’s not the Darktide that I want to play and I don’t enjoy myself whenever somebody in my group uses the Loner aura in the way that it was designed for.
This patch is absolutely amazing, but every game I join is now a gamble of whether or not I’ll get to play Darktide or whether I’ll get to play “try to catch up to the hopped up Rambo while fighting off every threat in tertium by yourself”
But also, I shouldn’t have to be kicking people for playing the game in a way that the developers incentivized. The loner aura doesn’t belong in Tide games
It sucks that you’ve had to deal with multiple bad zealots, but the cure IMOP is a more punishing AI director. In the meanwhile, if you’re not already playing on high-int shock, I recommend it. It does a better job of shutting down that behavior, and playing a speedy zealot is super fun there as well. Locking down the ranged chaff, giving the team room to kill the endless specials and Ogryn is super satisfying.
If the Zealot gets trapped or downed, it’s a problem. If the team gets overwhelmed, it doesn’t matter what the Zealot might be doing on the outskirts of the engagement.
Both of these potential problems can be much more easily, if not completely, avoided if the Zealot just stuck with the team.
Teamwork makes the dream work. And teamwork is a huge aspect of the fun in this game. I’ll be pleasantly surprised on the day I see a loner Zealot doing anything impactful enough to be worth the risk and excess stress they’re imposing on the team.
There is no problem with Zealot move spd as long as he/she knows to deal with enemy backline to release range pressure. If a person isn’t good, doesn’t matter what classes they play, they’re gonna bring your down anyway. A front-line solo zealot should be more vulnerable than you 3 in the back.
I know that barking ‘Skill issue lmao!’ is hardly a useful piece of advice, but it genuinely is one. A knife zealot is supposed to break away from their team, but not by a significant amount. What they incentivized is them being able to break cohesion and bolt out real quick to counter gunnerwaves/snipers/shotgunwaves and keep them from engaging the rest of the team - Then hurriedly sprint back, where you can’t be punished by trappers/dogs/mutants/being surrounded. Give it time, the ‘haha I funny go fast zoom’ will wear off, and the people you see using it will be the people who have learned to use it for the benefit of the team.
I haven’t seen this once on damnation, I think loner / movespeed is great for zealots who are going to focus on the back line dive, but I wouldn’t be upset if those two nodes were removed or changed either since they aren’t necessary to do it.
Loner is great. I use it for one of my “assassin” templates. I must admit I prefer the one oriented toughness reduction, but loner has something great.
Got one of those one time, he got grabbed by a pox hound and nobody moved a muscle to rescue him.
He typed sarcastically in the chat “thanks guys” and everyone replied that he got what he deserved. He stuck close to the team after he was freed.
