The problem with the changes was how they made it harder. Not that its harder. When the game turns into a soupy mess of inaudible or missing sound queues combined with massive overlapping spawns of some of the most dangerous enemies in the game the bulls* exceeds the fun and people find that unpleasant. I mean im a fiend for difficulty and am playing monstrous duos but some of the stuff that killed me was just dumb.
The problem, to your point, is definitely that the hardest difficulty is simultaneously too hard and not hard enough depending on demographic and its not being communicated well to the player what the expectation of the experience is intended to be.
It’s partialy cause all tide games are awefull how they teach players about the game.
Back in the days 90% of people didn’t know how slide works, cause noone cares about optional extended tutorial (and it doesn’t explain exactly how slide works), and even when someone beat it he forgets mechanics immideatly after leaving the turotial. Meanwhile the prologue teaches nothing, but lmb/rmb for attacks. So the fianl result was insane ammount of cries for shooters nerf.
Like wtf, put all mechanics in the prologue, not in optional tutorial, show some video clips to demonstrate how and why things work. Add some training simulations with bronze/silver/golden aquila medal.
Average casual player always blames a game, not himself. And when game explain 0 things, devs can’t oppose.
100% agree with this, I was baffled when they just blanket nerfed all shooters. It made the game so easy that they then had to start with the special + elite spam balance design which completely breaks certain passives.
Pre auric damnation missions felt harder than current auric maelstrom, partially because the former didn’t give you infinite CDR and ammo via survivalist and psyker aura and other talents because it’s throwing literally 700 specials+elites at you. Old damnation had like what, 70 elites and specials so even before the nerf survivalist wasn’t that OP and didnt let you shoot 24/7. Meanwhile on auric maelstrom thats exactly what happens while the vet gives everyone free ammo and everyone constantly has their ult up to spam and every psyker constantly procs soulblaze all over the map and every ogryn has permanent 15% rending up which coupled with bleed makes every melee wep kill armor, just to name a few interactions, AND shooters arent as dangerous anymore… the game got extremely powercrept in just a couple patches unfortunately.
It’s still fun in a different, more hectic way due to the absurd special spam, but at the same time I also liked the methodical old gameplay that didn’t completely rely on just spawning specials at you in a conga line to create difficulty.
Yeap, that’s another thing i don’t like too. Game feels like moba. Ultimates currently not a panic button, but a regular spam thing. On vet i rarely even shove bursters, i just use VoC cause i’m lazy, lol. Like who cares, it will be farmed on the next mobs pack. Same with ogryn taunt, it’s almost like if it was a passive ability, cause you can farm it’s easily, taunt is always ready.
Resource management is completely not there right now.
Can’t say on numbers, but average auric/maelstrom run is probably ~30 mins. I remember when Damnation was ~40-45 mins.
It just changed the non specialist spawns. So your point about noise isn’t valid ESPECIALLY if it’s bugged since 4 ish months it is A ENTIRELY DIFFERENT YISSUE The sound.
Hardest difficulty should be hardly any room to breath constant fighting constant danger…
I was thinking of overlapping burster conga lines. Rager spam doesn’t bother me on a gameplay level and i still run into hilarious conga lines, but see:
I totally agree but i think spamming gunners and other elites is thematically bad. Like…i want to enter into a duel to the death with one or two elites and barely scrape by. Not monster mash 40 of them all at once. They don’t feel elite in that case.
Because it’s not the same. We have constant fights right now, but not like it’s a constant threat. Sometimes it’s even reversed - you can farm mobs for resources.
Aswell as just increasing ammount of elites/specials will bring no longevity to the game. Cause there is nothing to learn, it’s just a dopamine spike till your reflexes will adapt.
If you will think about it, there is no big difference between 4 specials and 10 specials. All mechanics are the same. And where will be the final destination? Like if there will be 100% stats weapons? Should it be 1000 ragers per run? It’s like a doomloop.
Instead it’s better to make the game more complex, less forgiving in every second - tight parry and dodge windows, smarter enemies, more complex interactions between enemies, so to put some pressure not only on your reflexes, but also on tactical thinking and cooperative aspect, etc.
Just increasing numbers is lazy and boring way that doesn’t bring much in the long term.
Based. What i expect from tide combat is to evolve towards Dying Light, Dark Messiah and Dishonored enemies (for human alike), just with modern approach and unique tide features.
Yes. Enemies always attack and never defend. I’d love a mission where there is just a huge horde defending a stronghold instead of a slow trickle of random mobs from all directions. It’s not conducive to any tactical approach.
I think longer games are better because i am here to game and not here to enjoy the loading screens and waiting rooms. But a simple solution is to add a more maps and missions that are designed to be quick sorties vs what we do now. That way you can just pick your poison.
Ragers have been silent since launch and only (relatively) recently had audible noise cues, same with crushers. And it was fixed after the mixed horde spawn changes and the horde rate changes.
There’s such a thing as too slow in the *Tide games and it’s almost as bad as rushing ahead too fast, many groups eventually lose due to attrition. Those 35 minutes slogs mean something is not right, a sign that there’s either a proper pace being maintained or lack of sustainable and adequate DPS.
There’s a natural pace to a match with a bit of leeway either way, but very often the greenbeards just go into turret mode when they should be moving i.e. “waiting” for mobs when you should make them chase you. Worse still some players run backwards to chase mobs they don’t need to.
e.g. Had 1 such new player like that tonight, dude ran far-ish back for no conceivable reason,dies, then gives the rest of us crap for not helping (never mind he blew himself up 3x).
In a hairy area he did it again, got himself killed and the other rando ran to try to help him even though he was beyond it and eventually causes a cascade wipe.
Yeah it is wrong just look back attack and dodge backwards. At one point you can just start sprinting forward till then you hit a new room or area with patrolling enemys or gunners where you will move slower than just trash horde.
The horde will come to you essentially just standing still is the worse outcome than to do what I described above.
There’s a pacing there too and you have to judge what’s ahead if you can before making decisions.
You can clear some of the wave and “bring the rest with you” to the next sections of elites and whatnot, depending on the situation. Often times you can make forward progress, at least in between waves and a some of it can vary depending on group strength and experience, director intensity etc.
The “bring them with you” mentality can apply to many situations and allows for forward progress and smoother overall matches, don’t sit there and wait for mobs that you don’t have to.
“Waiting” for too many horde waves or specials is a good way for it to turn into slog and eventually lose. Clearing absolutely everything in a given section before moving falls flat as a strategy at the higher diffs.
Well, I have a somewhat different experience I guess.
The 35 minutes games I play usually end up with the party finishing the mission with full health and no death. Covering each other’s back and never leaving someone behind works well. It’s also very satisfying when you get that sweet 700+ plasteel as a reward.
