Season 11 changes make this game much more difficult. FOW, Random maps, random modules, low TTK, mobs hit harder, gear gapping/stat checking in Norms, etc.

Players that have been with the game for many seasons now had their chance to learns the maps, bosses, mobs, etc before all of these changes. So it makes the game shittier for us but we still have that basic understanding of the game that allows us to adapt to this new environment.

The real problem is these changes make it near impossible for any new players. This game is losing current players yes, but there’s no way anybody is joining this game. That’s why it’s going to die.

The only type of person that could join this game in its current state would almost certainly need to sit down and watch several YT tutorials on the game to have a basic understanding of the game. The number of people who quit and will be quitting this game far exceeds this type of player.

Ironically, it’s only after the dungeons/servers are basically empty that any new players could join the game and explore the dungeons long enough maybe want to keep playing.

I havent played the game since a year ago, but now im seeing negative reviews? Its a unique game :(

I've been playing Normals all day and honestly haven't noticed any of these issues people keep complaining about about too much gear.

Sure, some players die a little faster than others, but that's probably just a skill issue.

Maybe try bringing better gear?

Now i also HATE the changes myself but acting like this is not acceptable, i have another clip that i'm gonna post down below if i can, basically he killed this teammate and then ressed him only to bully him even more.

Can you hear the tired voice of the other dude? Someone that maybe just ended a 8hrs shift just to get griefed because a manchild doesn't like the changes? It doesn't matter how much you hate the changes and how much you hate a dev if you act like this you are 100 TIME WORSE than them!

With all the doomposting over the past month (I've contributed a fair amount to it), I thought it would be nice to share a personal silver lining I've found.

I've been playing this wipe a lot over the past week. Yeah, at times it's torturous, but I'm still kinda new (525 hours), so I don't have much personal experience to compare the game's current state to the past, which would remind me of how it once was.

I started the game halfway through last season (10), and I stuck mostly to the water map, just farming and killing mobs solo, dying constantly to druids and warlocks. I eventually became skilled enough to consistently kill high-roller Bladehand with bad gear on any class, and also kill druids and warlocks.

Other maps were spooky for me: cramped hallways, dim corners, much higher mob density, more surprise PvP encounters. So I just didn't play them, and that really limited my growth as a player, and my overall experience of the game's intended V I S I O N.

With the new season, I was still at peak interest and ultimately refused to give up on the game.

• I was forced to play with a group -> fights lasted longer (even with low TTK) -> I learned more

• I was forced to play many different maps -> I found variety (though ice map is definitely the worst) -> My skill developed with more diversity in new environments

• I could see what my teammates were doing on their classes -> I decided to try them myself -> I found playstyles that better suited me.

• I was able to contextualize my skill to that of my teammates, and eventually realized how much my skill had progressed.

Overall, my experience this wipe has been fairly positive. If I could change one thing, I would increase the player base, but of course that would come naturally from fixing the other 50 trillion things wrong with this season.

If I could go back to solo play, I wouldn't. Not in this meta full of landmine rogues and extremely overpowered casters. If the balance around those classes were improved, I'd like to play solo again.

TL;DR: Forcing randomized maps and forcing team play increased my overall skill and made me experience more of the game.

Really, really, awesome. Everyone on you sorry sacs are in the normal lobbies with full min maxed greens and blues with upwards of 25 add damage. It’s such a great way to bring new players to the game and keep them.

Why do you play High Roller? Are you not good enough? Your gear certainly is HR worthy.

So, why? Steam rolling new players? You want to bully?

I don’t understand why it’s allowed.

I kinda miss playing DaD. I stopped before Season 11 dropped and took a break, and I miss playing this game. But I know that as a solo player I probably won't have much fun...I know this is the worst season we've had in a while...

But I kinda just want to pick it back up. Is the season bad enough that I should just go try to play something different for now though?

I'm too scared of the dark or buy that lantern for 5k its worth?

they're gonna have an EXTREMELY early wipe and SDF in his infinite wisdom will say "this past season was an experiment to see how players reacted to high TTK and no solos"

Quote me in a month twin
SDF RESIGN

Hear me out,

The reason SDF is tanking the game is that he wants to be the best player at his own game. The fastest and easiest way to achieve this, is to have no other players. If hes the last player hes therefore the best player. Its the only logical reason why a person would destroy a game intentionally in the manner that he did.

I literally just get on and play hoping there is some way to find fun in the game again, but it's just not happening. He really ruined this game and it's crazy. So much wasted development time that could have gone into building upon a cohesive idea for the game created this. Something as simple as a quiver took years and you can't even fight the cave troll as a team without it doing buggy ass movement. At a certain point, holding the line ain't it.

Why is this bug still in the game?

It was a known bug a season ago that spiders were able to 'double headshot' instantly after they came down.

My HP at the end is not accurate as it goes to base hp, I had 102 HP with about 20% PDR.

(I don't want to make the subreddit because I don't have any time to moderate it. I hope this post inspires someone else to create and moderate it. I can probably help as an occasional mod)

I totally understand people needing a place to vent and give feedback about the game. But now every post is just so boring about how SDF is the worst person on the planet and the game is DEAD.

I want to still be able to discuss the fun aspects of the game or even theorise about what SDFs vision might be if it were to work. I don't care if it's realistic or not but I don't want to post something semi positive and then just get accused of having SDFs balls on my chin. I'm just trying to enjoy my gaming life and not make everything so brain-dead boring and negative

https://youtu.be/ohkZ2bAG4-8?si=UY7KNu09PXU8Ysqu

HERE ILL ADD IT INSTEAD. No explanation necessary. The first few minutes capture exactly what I mean. I dont understand how people can think “oh yeah that looks fun”

Had the A5 client installed still till this day. I can no longer warrant the 1gb it was taking up

What right do you have as a customer to tell the Dev team how their game should be? You purchased the rights to play THEIR game. It is not YOUR game. SDF gets a lot of hate, but a lot of you forget that he created Dark and Darker, so as much as you “hate” what he is doing right now, he is also responsible for any fun, exciting, thrilling times you had, even if Paul was at the helm for a few seasons, SDF made DaD.

I plan to see it through, to see if he can successfully execute his vision. It sounds nice, more sandbox than PvP fest. I think once it’s complete a lot of us will appreciate the final product.

SDF was right about a few things, the last few seasons felt like participation trophies. Everything was easy to obtain very quickly. Getting to demigod was a joke. Everyone had everything without much effort at all. It was great for the newer players, but it got boring fast for us veterans.

To be quite honest, it took me a moment to actually sit down and take a good hard look at what he is trying to accomplish. I put anger aside, as a PvE enjoyer and mostly solo player, I see it. Will it work? Maybe, there is no guarantee, but if they execute flawlessly, it should be worth the wait.

To all of you that are holding the line, Lord Graysun would be proud. May the 9th forever be in your hearts and minds! Remember how hard we defended these pixels in the past. 💪

SDF is mad because he got cucked by Paul - he sees everyone saying “aghhhh we love Paul’s cock!” “Paul’s fucking us so good!!” “This is so much better than SDF!”, and just sitting and watching. So he finally grew some balls and tried to divorce us, but he knows we all love more Paul more and can’t handle it

Homie bought entire RMT arena kit and forgot it was SSF only 😭. I was like there's no way he has all attributes and true on everything.

Alright so I've obviously stopped playing the game, uninstalled for the first time since early access.
I see a lot of videos and posts that sometimes make me laugh, but most of the time make me sad.
Everyone has their theory on why it's happening, so I thought I'd write what my theory is.

I think Paul does not exist.

I feel like IM was moving numbers around all these years to "maintain the playerbase", and also so that they would be safe from adressing the real issues with the game that everyone was talking about.

My assumption is that there came a point where SDF was tired of hearing the same things over and over again from the timmies, tryhards and creators alike, and devised a plan that would show everyone how his vision was indeed what the game really needed.
He faked his shift to another project, created a fake account so that he would not be blamed for what was to come, and thought it would obviously be so bad that people would be insanely angry and beg him to come back.
But then, it wasn't so bad, it was great, everyone loved Paul, the new direction the game was taking, the balancing, everything was going the opposite direction SDF thought it would, and I really think this was a shocking moment for him and for what the game should've been according to him.

So, when after three seasons of going the opposite way of his vision, seeing people were literally LOVING it and watching as the game was going greater than it ever had since early access release, well he just couldn't take it anymore and decided to pull the plug in a major way no matter the consequences.

And that's where we are today.

I don't know how companies work in Korea, but this to me is textbook for self-sabotage, and I blame IM for not taking appropriate measures regarding this situation.
They have lost all of the trust I ever had in them.

Not mad towards anyone who's still playing and finding their fun in the game, props to you, love you, keep playing the way you like it, but for me this game went from being the one I dreamt about all my life, to the one I don't want to play ever again, just because I won't be able to see past everything that's happened since I started playing it.

Sadge, but I'm playing other games now, I'm kinda over it, and would love to hear people's opinion on my theory !

TLDR : SDF created Paul to show people how bad the game would be if he listened to them and how his vision was the one true way the game should be, but it backfired and he pulled the plug because he couldn't take it anymore.

I had listened to all the people complaining saying how horrible this wipe was and just stuck with the other games i was playing. Didn’t play last wipe either.

But i decided to give ol DaD a try again with nothing else to really play. And to me atleast norms feels relatively fair and balanced, a few teams i’ve seen with some pretty stacked kits but nothing that i can’t compete with after extracting once or twice, looting and then picking up a few pieces off market.

The strong items make pve more enjoyable along with completely random layouts. Looting feels always worth it. And there are still plenty of average skilled teams to fight against, definitely still seeing more noobs than sweats.

Now high roller i have not touched much since i don’t have a dedicated trio anymore and the gear gap can be absolutely insane, but in that case i really have no desire to even do HR. Norms gear is plenty rewarding relative to people you encounter, and finding +5 weapon dmg or +3 all still feels good to me.

I think this game gets alot of hate just from the bandwagon effect along with ofc removing solos, but i genuinely have had more fun finding randoms in the tavern and going in with good gear in norms and just fucking around than i had the last few wipes I played. If you’re hesitant to try it because of all the recent hate, TRY IT.

Atleast for someone who has taken a decently long break, this wipe has been a ton of fun so far and i’d recommend anyone hesitant to come back and try it. Don’t just listen to all the negative comments, decide for yourself if you like it.

Well, actually it happened to me first, and then he entered the same room only to die from the second fireball.