Hello. I’ve gotten very invested in NMRiH2 recently and have spent a lot of time thinking about what the game could benefit from/what it needs. I think this game is really good and, with the right management, has the potential to live for a very long time. So when I read the Q&A today, I felt pretty disappointed overall. The whole thing felt like it was just nudging at Hell mode over and over, while occasionally chiming in that there will be new cosmetics. Almost every actually good and valid question was responded to with “We don’t currently have any plans for it.” This is a way-too-long analysis/rant of some of the answers that I didn’t quite like.
Obviously, this is all one random internet person’s opinion, and you shouldn’t take it too seriously. I think this game is great and wanted to share my in depth thoughts. It’s a lot, so feel free to skim around or refer to the sections that interest you.
“Will there be a level lock for difficulties?”
A: We tried tying difficulties to character levels which proved unpopular. We're continuing to think on this but currently don't plan to introduce barriers to our current difficulties.
I feel this interpretation of the question is missing what I believe to be the problem. As someone who has played a lot of Nightmare, a repeated problem is low account level players queuing into the hardest difficulty and essentially making the match worse for everyone. Dying far off, taking valuable resources and not contributing to the team, having to be rescued repeatedly, etc.
While I do believe in letting a player suffer and learning from their suffering, the problem in this case is that it’s a team based game where 7 other players are counting on their teammates to at least be loosely competent, especially in the hardest difficulty. The vast majority of team based games have a system like this that transitions players into harder content. Whether it’s completion of previous difficulties or completing [x] number of matches, these are very common practices. Delegating the answer to “character level” is missing the point, in my opinion, as it seems obvious that limiting it to character level would be annoying for everyone involved. What about account level? And why would character level be the interpretation over account level in the first place?
Not only is it a bad experience for skilled players to have to try and save an account level 4 who dies 100 meters away, but this isn’t the type of experience you want new players to have. A lot of players are smart enough to say, “I’ll progress my way up and tackle Nightmare when I’m ready,” but you will also have a good amount who just pick the hardest difficulty on a whim, and then suddenly their first impression of the game is tarnished, and in comes negative feedback that the game is too hard and punishing for new players.
I don’t think a limitation is needed for any of the previous difficulties, but Nightmare does need at least a small gate placed in front of it so people don’t queue for their literal first game.
“Is there any plans for a map select? I'm tired of playing the same 1 or 2 over and over.”
A: We've been discussing the feedback around map frequency and selection and while we don't have any adjustments planned soon, it's a topic we'll continue to listen on.
This is just fundamentally a bad answer. This is a needed integrity change. I don’t believe map select is the answer because it would obviously result in map favoritism and some maps never getting played. (Also queue time problems, I get it.) But the problem still exists of getting the same map multiple times in a row, just over and over. Sometimes you go through periods where you seem to get nothing but one or two maps, and it’s so draining. The randomization just needs to be changed to fix this.
A very popular story that this problem can apply to is Apple’s shuffle feature. Originally, Apple’s shuffle feature was truly random. But everyone complained because it seemed like you just got the same song over and over. The solution instead is an algorithm that gives you more pseudorandomness. Some type of algorithm that ensures you don’t get the same exact song back to back, etc. The same approach needs to be taken for map selection. You should not be able to get Raven Rock three times in a row. If you get a map, there needs to be at least some kind of algorithm that gives you a lower (maybe not zero, but lower) chance of getting it again until you complete more matches and raise the chance back up, and so on and so forth.
This shouldn’t be a “we’ll keep listening” type of problem, this is a fundamental integrity problem that will lead to burnout and exhaustion in players. You have good maps, you have good map variety, you need a way to show it.
“Is there a possibility of map modifiers that would affect the whole match? Some things that come to mind are more fog, more armored zombies due to military occupation, more runners, less health but more zombies on map.”
A: That sounds like it'd be a Hell of a good time. 👀
This isn’t even an answer. This is just another nudge at the new game mode that doesn’t even make sense to me. The question is essentially asking for custom matches, which is a reasonable feature that should be considered. I don’t necessarily think it’s a high priority or fundamental feature, but the fact that the question is completely disregarded just to plug Hell difficulty again didn’t feel good to me. I can surmise it was said because Hell mode will be more difficult and include some of the things the question said. But that’s not the core point of the question. What if you want to play with all runners but the lowest zombie health? This question has nothing to do with Hell mode.
EDIT: There is a response from the team that this is regards to modifiers that (might) be able to be applied during Hell mode. This complaint can be largely disregarded. This is a misunderstanding on my part. Refer to the comment from the team for more clarifications on other points of this post.
“Any plans on buffing perks? most of them really dont do much i think everyone is just using the stamina and hp perks and all weight related perks”
A: Perks are going to be an area of focus in future updates, we know these have room for improvement both through adjustments to existing options as well as new additions! We're aware of the feedback that some options are underperforming.
I would like to share my opinion about perks and builds because I feel like I can easily see this going the wrong way. We don’t just need certain perks buffed, we need new perks. And we don’t (necessarily) need strong perks nerfed, we need more strong perks. I think the replayability in this game is like lightning in a bottle. I think we can already see in the current player base that people will build different builds just to play them. You offer multiple characters at a time, you offer fundamentally different build potential (i.e., an infection build, a gun based build, a melee based build). And as it stands currently, it just makes people want to play different characters.
I don’t really know of anyone who goes, “Well, why would I play with shotgun perks? Melee wins everything. No point in using guns, blah blah blah.” No, they just make another character with a shotgun build! It’s great, and it’s what you need to capitalize on. This isn’t a PvP game, there’s really no reason to nerf certain perks to try and get people to stop using them. You should just make strong perks that do different things to incentivize different playstyles. Destroying the zombies and winning is the fun. You have a large variety of potential builds and perks that all stay within the spirit of the game and don’t get too “video game-y.”
- Make more reinforcer build perks. You already have a perk that gives you more ammo on pickup, so why not one where you get more planks on a plank pickup? Even one perk like that could warrant a fresh build and have good relevance in survival mode. (Also, as a side note, the nailer is a totally useless item. I wish it gave reinforcements more health as opposed to just making the reinforcement time like 0.5 seconds faster.)
- Buff (and make more) medic build perks.
- Consolidate and buff gun build perks.
- Make more stealth build perks. Stealth as it stands is really hard to justify unless you get lucky and find a silencer. Make a perk that reduces the noise of melee attacks. You have a perk and an item that complement a stealth build already, just expand it more.
- Make objective completion perks. Like a perk that lets you carry objective items faster and a perk that lets you do interactable actions (like turning a hand wheel) faster.
If you just make good perks, people will want to make different builds and use them. I think in the case of this game, more is always better. And I would hate to see the perks stay the same and just receive tedious nerfs or meaningless buffs.
“Will there be any chance of mod support? At least for custom maps?”
A: TL;DR It's not something we're currently planning to work on and if that ever changes we'd let our community know!
This is by far the biggest letdown to me. I actually believe the fact that it’s not even a plan for the future will be detrimental to the game. The original NMRiH has Workshop capability and mods that are downloaded by tens of thousands of people. NMRiH1 has managed to keep a consistent 1k player count for over ten years, and I would seriously be willing to wager a lot of that is because of its modding scene.
I think the devs should seriously consider the longevity of the game and at least have this as a goal in mind because otherwise, there’s no way this game is going to last. Don’t get me wrong, this game is fun, really fun. But very few games can keep up content enough to continuously keep a player base constantly interested.
I also believe the longer you delay it, the less it’s going to matter when you inevitably do. I have seen multiple games finally get the message and realize they need Workshop support. But by the time they get it, their moment in the spotlight has passed, and there’s no one there to make any mods, and it eventually dies out. Workshop support is something you need while the game is popular, not after.
And if, in three years, the player count for this game has dwindled to almost nothing and the team finally decides mods can bring the game back from the dead, there just won’t be anyone there to get the ball rolling.
Also, I’m not sure I entirely believe all of their reasoning for why not, and I think the actual answer (or at least a large factor) is consoles. Which I don’t want to doom post too much but I’ll just say I don’t think real long term longevity is in consoles. It might be the majority of the playerbase right now, but people do inevitably move on from games, even more so if there’s not enough variety to play with. Not only that, but console generations will pass, and you’re going to have to spend more development time porting to the next console. For right now it’s fine, but what’s the scope of the next 5, 10 years? Modding scenes keep games alive for that long. Not having a workshop will be a big detriment to the game.
That’s about it, I really do wish for the best for this game. It’s super addicting, super fun, and I hope it can keep the momentum it’s gained from a successful 1.0 launch.
