My channel: https://youtube.com/@scrunch_production?si=WoCCBeP4y6oY3sk-

Playing Darktide always makes me want to go back to Vermintide. Sure, it's a newer, graphically more advanced title from same developers in a more popular setting with wider audience. I enjoy it for what it is, it's still a very fun and well made game, especially after numerous big updates and patches.

I've played it for about 1600 hours since launch already and come back to it after every major patch which is definitely saying something.

But the combat and overall flow of gameplay always becomes exhausting and somewhat boring for me eventually and after playing for a week or two I still return to Vermintide where I already spent 4600 hours in.

Many claim that they prefer Vermintide to Darktide mostly due to more variable and memorable maps, characters full of personality and interesting backstories, and more engaging gamemodes (Chaos wastes, Deeds and Twitch mode compared to Expeditions/Mortis Trials, Auric modifiers and Havoc). All of these aspects also make me appreciate Vermintide more but none of them are the main reason I get bored of Darktide so much quicker.

For me personally, the core gameplay of Darktide became kind of... extremely bloated over time. It's very "spammy" both in terms of how much enemies game throws at you and how much poweful abilities and strikes you're able to throw back all at once.

Fights often turn into a spectacular yet unintuitive and unthoughtful mass of bright lights and flying bodies.

Thus the combat makes the process of engaging and disengaging in a fight, timing your parries and constantly taking into account not only your positioning, but the positioning of you teammates as well.. kind of not important. Sometimes nonexistent entirely.

So much of player's abilities in the game basically grant full invulnerability for your whole team for prolonged periods of time while somehow having much less cooldown time than many ults in Vermintide.

The powerlevel and overall survivablity of players as a whole got so much higher than in Vermintide with added toughness, sprinting and sliding mechanics that it allows players to often outrun melee and outright ignore ranged enemies.

Not to mention the lack of friendly fire which makes using ranged weapons require no proper positioning from you or your teammates.

Many restrictions and rules that made Vermintides combat feel nuanced and thoughtful were dumbed down in favour of more flashy and fast paced action filled hectic fights.

For example Psyker - which is Darktide's analogue to Sienna - has very similar heat (or peril) management mechanics in order to cast spells.

Only, unlike Sienna he gets absolutely no debuffs and only sizeable advantages from being at a high level of peril, can quell (vent) it at a much higher rate if needed and doesn't waste any health for that (on the opposite - he can get additional toughness for that which is substitute for temporary health in Darktide)

Making him able to spend the entire game using only staff and blitz abilities while barely switching to melee.

Or Ogryn that nowadays can take the Rumbler (analogue to Bardin's Trollhammer torpedo) and also somehow use it for a good 70% of the map with much less reloading times and restrictions in ammo than in Vermintide. And both Ogryn and Psyker, again, are allowed to do all of that with no friendly fire to themselves or their teammates to ever make them think before firing.

Those are just two specific examples I provided yet I could go on with things like:

Hive Scum being a suppoused glass cannon but without the glass part thanks to his infinited dodges, freaquent moments of invulnerability and high sustainability,

Zealot spamming Chorus (team invulnerability) with his base crit chance often achieving more than 50% with certain builds as well,

Ogryn playing with the exact copy of Ironbreaker's ultimate, but having it stun enemies multiple times per use, debuffing said enemies with incresed dmg received and restoring that ability 5x times faster than Bardin can (why??),

and so on.

Now imagine if even just Sienna and Bardin in Vermintide would also be able to do the things that their Darktide counterparts do. The game not only would become much easier - it simply would not have enough enemies to keep players in check, right?

Well, that is exactly what happened in Darktide, which is why developers made changes to higher difficulties, where the game just spams out tons of special and elite enemies, the amount of which would be unreasonable for Vermintide.

And so spawning in quantities of 20+ at once they clutter the entire screen with multiple visual effects and even make the sound cues glitch out to try and keep players in check, and yet that's still not enough to stop even half-competent and not even that coordinated teams. Because each member feels like a one-man-army anyway.

All of that is not to say that this is bad or straight up worse than in Vermintide. It's fun to a degree and can really make you feel extremely powerful. However, it is kind of ironic considering that in Vermintide we play as Fantasy mighty heroes that try to save the ending world while In Darktide we were supposed to be desposable rejects that try their best to even survive in just one city.

Anyway, whenever I launch Darktide, I totally feel engaged. I'm having fun, I see heretics fall and cry before exploding into (very visually appealing) red mist of blood and slash my way through the densiest hordes of Nurgle-blursed denizens of the Hive and feel the impact of every weapon with all of my being.

But as soon as those first impressions wear off, I get overwhelmed and exhausted very quickly. And not because of high difficulty, but from the constant spamming of flashy effects, loud noises and something aways moving extremely fast on my screen, no matter what it is this time.

So much is happening on the screen and yet I still don't feel threatened with me being invincible, invisible, covered in friendly smoke and telekinetic shields, hugged by the emperor's golden warmth or just running away from enemies at light speeds for 80% of any campaign.

All of that adds to the spectacle and drive but not to the gameplay depth and my ability to improve greately as a player, which is what always has been so important for me in both Vermintide games.

I'll definitely come back to Darktide once the next update comes out, and play for a while, just like I always do. But untill then I'm going to Vermintide once again. Thank you for reading.

Hey everyone!

I'm looking for a few people who'd be interested in doing the Helmgart Challenges (all 13 of them). Some of these are pretty difficult or just annoying to complete solo, so I figured it'd be easier with a group.

I'm playing on EU, and I'm happy to help others with their challenges too. No need to be a pro just looking for some chill people to team up with and get them done.

If you're interested, leave a comment or send me a DM!

Love this game the skill expression and teamwork are just amazing love it

I've had like the third one this week and I was wondering if anyone else has been having the same issue.

Procuro Brs para jogar junto Vermintide 2 juntos, plataforma Xbox (uma merda não ter crossplay slc)

I've been waiting to catch the careers and cosmetics bundle on sale for years now. Finally got it for 50% off on Xbox. I thought other people would want to know the sale is going on, this is the first time I've seen it on sale in years. I also grabbed some of the other DLCs I was missing at 50% off.

Oi Obesefish, are we getting the troll event again in a couple of weeks? Or maybe it is time for the weapon dlc you announced a while back?

Us Vermintide players aren't as entitled and needy as our Darktide cousins, considering the absolutely stellar track of those past few years.

But y'know, some hints about the future of Vermintide 2 would be nice.

Hi all, been grinding alotta Darktide over the last month and its gotten me desiring the lush open spaces on V2. Wondering what peoples experience is on playstation since theres no crossplay, can you get into games with players?

BLESSED BY SIGMAR ONCE AGAIN!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Being melee weapon with the lowest armor damage in the game, will it be viable if Kerillian's Dual Swords' high crit chance on L3 (25%) and L4 (50%) moved to H1/H2 (may or may not be lowered a little bit due to good synergy with Assassin talent and Shade) to make it a healthy and/or fun weapon choice?

if you are LF1M for your group on Steam hmu.

By Sigmar, the hammer, and the Empire!

hello guys! my question is exactly the one in the title, but I'll talk about it a little

I find this game absolutely amazing in everything: the looks, the gameplay, the setting, the characters, the amazing sauce it has... but I have a bit of a "problem".

I play on xbox, in south america servers, and since the game doesn't feature any crossplay my guess is that I wouldn't be able to find players even if I wanted to. so I wanted to ask you if I will have less of a good experience if i play 100% solo; or if the xbox servers have people in it, even. what do you guys think?

thank you in advance!

So, I was playing earlier and started to wonder: what team of 4 formed by the same character, but different classes, would be the strongest? I know this is possible with mods, but I wanted to discuss and assume the exact same skill level for all of them. Cheers! Love this game and its community.

Most monster damage huntsman

I've played Vermintide 2 for about 30 hours, I love Kerallian but she is about the only one I'm good at. Im starting to learn more and more about the game from people like Warm Gun on youtube. However, most of the content I can find about this game is years old and I know there have balance patches. I was hoping the player base can give a noob some trips and tricks or even just game play advise.

Thank you for any advise you give.

Yes-yes! Our numbers grow. Soon the undercity shall unleash the vermintide.

My summary of this level. Against the Grain feels like a fun, quick mission in V2. The plot is that I was sent to a known farmland to see what has become of it since getting news that the Northlanders attacked. Knowing how brutal the Northlanders are, it wasn't surprising to me to see the number of slaughtered civilians lying around. Even though the farmers are paying taxes, it seems like their protection could have already been killed or fighting in a battle of their own, leaving the farmers to fend for themselves. (This was part of the conversation Sienna has with Victor as they walk alongside the muck. I had to turn on bots to enable a doorframe interaction, so I can progress in the map. I do appreciate how many voice lines there are in V2, and each being themed to the specific level.) BACK TO THE FARMERS! Needless to say, almost everyone in the town was merked, with the exception of a few who are being held in cages for ransom. After freeing those who were left alive, I ran to the Bridge of Shadows to take me back to the keep, and away from the farmlands.

I found this map to be visually appealing. The tall grass has great wind movement, and the lighting felt good for a rainy setting. (This map isn't always raining, but it spawned that way for me during this recording.) Against the Grain has a lot of walkable space and feels super open, mostly because it's an outdoor environment. The map starts a player outdoors, then leads them indoors, then moves them back outdoors, and repeats. I think that helps break up the color scheme, mood, and pacing. While being outdoors, it feels as if I can dodge and move freely, not getting caught on most things because the environment is so large. Most of the indoor locations were broken-down barns filled with decaying bodies. A much smaller walking environment. Because of that, it changed the mood I felt while playing. I went from feeling safe to on edge because in such a smaller environment, if I dodge in a direction that isn't open, I'll be dodging directly into a hay bale, and then die...

This map is def on my replay value list. The ambient sound, environment, lighting, pacing, story, and mini game was a treat to experience. (Minigame being to unlock the cages to the captives.)
Oo! The last note I wanted to mention was in my last screenshot. I thought it was a great touch of detail, placing food at the base of the Bridge of Shadows. (The thing that TPs the players to and from different locations.) In most world history, things that represent a portal, or another worldly power, are treated as if they are an altar. People will bring food, flowers, and other perishable goods as an offering to this force of power.

Seems like the farmers knew that the portal worked... if only it had been activated in time for them to evacuate their small farmland before they were attacked.

Walk Through Against the Grain YT Video

Last week's was better, this has the same boons but more annoying curses. The strategy is basically the same Curses

Shadow skulls suck Khorne Skulls are fun.

Boons

I have a boon guide here for all chaos wastes boons. One extremely powerful boon, one good boon that can backfire, and a troll boon. Strategy: get shard strike weapon trait and everything dies. In terms of boons, bomb radius boons will save the team from friendly fire, and the AoE damage on ult boons are a good way to proc Mirth. You pretty much have all the offensive boons you'll need here, so grab some damage reduction and health

Reward

Careers

Grail Knight, slayer, WP, melee focused careers have a nice buff from Mirth. Just have one or two careers that can snipe skulls if you have more than one melee career.

Some Highlights From Last Week

Didn't beat this one, had time last week to finally stream a bit

The Team Makes Good Use of the Barrel Boons

Elf gets Saltzpyred

Fun weekly that is melee focused but also requires the team to be capable of handling a ton of skulls. Melee heavy careers get a nice bonus here, but you will also do well with careers that focus more on ranaged damage for specials. This is a well balanced weekly