I’d like to choose a “None of the above/Other” option to the Poll in the OP.
Before they do anything new, I’d like to see the devs fix what they already made with Grim Dawn by adding crossplay between GOG and Steam.
I also read a thread that said that expansion players cannot play with vanilla players. If that is true, then that is a terrible flaw that needs to be fixed as well.
IMO those are both by far the most important things that Grim Dawn needs. To do other things without fixing those extremely huge flaws first just wouldn’t be right.
Crossplay is a very low priority, if it even is. Zantai has said that only 10% of players multiplay so there’ll be even less than that percentage who want to crossplay.
So is “fixing” vanilla and expansion. You simply can’t have someone playing an Inquisitor or Necromancer in the base game because they’re only available if you have the expansion. This has always been the case for Titan Quest and Titan Quest Immortal Throne so I don’t know why you expect GD to be different since it uses the same gaming engine. The simple answer if someone wants to play with someone who only has the base game is to uninstall the expansion.
Crossplay being a low priority is a huge problem. It should be the #1 priority since it’s more important than anything else about Grim Dawn, and it’s long, long, long overdue.
If they made the multiplayer good, then lots of people would want to multiplay as a result of it being good. To say that few people multiplay is a skewed statement, since the main reason why most people don’t multiplay is because the devs didn’t implement good multiplayer in the first place. This game doesn’t need much to have really good multiplayer, just a little bit of effort.
As for the statement: “You simply can’t have someone playing an Inquisitor or Necromancer in the base game because they’re only available if you have the expansion” — that’s an arbitrary restriction that need not be there. There is no reason why they couldn’t patch the game so that the Inquisitor and Necromancer can play in the base game. They could still do that and restrict players who only have the base game from playing as the Inquisitor and Necromancer.
As for the Titan Quest games, those aren’t relevant to this discussion. Poor implementations in past games is not a good reason to continue poor implementations in current games. That would be an appeal to tradition logical fallacy.
The solution to “uninstall the expansion” is ridiculous. It’s not just a matter of playing with any one particular individual. Rather, it’s a matter of the playerbase should not be fragmented in any way, and every Grim Dawn player should have the ability to access multiplayer games with every other Grim Dawn player, period.
Edited* - Oh for fluff’s sake, you do know how much the MP is integrated the steam version is with the steam api and infrastructure right? Rhis would probably know the specifics, but I do know that steam id is used to provide access to Crate’s MP server for steam players to stop pirates from playing multiplayer. Since the GOG version lacks that particular feature, it required another solution.
As for implementing crossplay, that’s another [CITATION NEEDED] moment, because it’s rather fluffing apparent you know jack sh*t about the realities of game development based on what you’ve written. Basically Crate’s resources are limited and more focused on content, bug fixing, MP issues fixing, the xbox port and their other project that’s probably still in the planning stages. Doing what you want would require money and staff time that has to come from somewhere, all for the whims of one person on the forums for a mode that isn’t as heavily used by players by far as single player on the basis of steam stats.
/facepalm
Please then explain how that patch will be done then and show how it can be done vis altering the game and it’s resources with working examples?
Oh right, you can’t, because it’s becoming exceedingly obvious you’re talking about something you know nothing about. Namely, the specific quirks of the modified Iron Lore engine that GD runs on and the resources and time required to implement and debug this rather large feature. Not to mention either the money it would take and resources it would draw on, away from other work and the potential issues and player frustrations with loot drops and raised level caps etc due to the multiple itemisation changes AoM brings to even the core campaign.
As for the “But Diablo 3 did it!” argument - D3’s loot is easier to deal with simply because each class is fixed and basically siloed off from each other, where as in GD, multi-classing means each mastery has multiple points of interaction with all the other possible masteries it could be combined with. Which aside from adding depth, also means you can’t cut out content for one class without multiple changes resulting. And then there’s the increased level cap and the new gear that goes for it and the boosts in enemy stats that goes with the increased level cap etc.
Though of course there’s a really easy solution to all this - just buy your friends the expac. Sh*t I could afford it and I’m on welfare due to depression and NZ price is over $20, which is easily about 1/4 of my weekly money after board, but before I pay bills and groceries. Then again, I can actually budget (well, not so much when insomnia strikes) and put money aside for stuff etc. Sheesh, spread over a month the cost is pretty minimal for the expac and pretty easy to pay for, barring absolute poverty or being stuck in Venezuela etc…
*Missed they were talking about GOG-steam versions crossplay, rather than xbox-windows. Went on a rant. Derp.
I’m pretty comfortable with Crate doing other genres. I will buy it - though as my long list of unplayed Steam games shows - I may not actually play it.
I’ll have to out myself now as a TQ/GD addict. Over the past decade I have only really put these games down when my wife staged an intervention. Even then I replaced with either Bigfish games or Mass Effect 1/Dishonoured 1.
One day I intend to play something else but there are just so many characters to try out and so many legendaries to fail to get because as soon as I max one character I am starting the next.
Still I will try something other from Crate…even an RTS. Not my natural gaming style (started with platformers and Elite on ZX Spectrum back in the day) but I did play C&C for a long while and managed a nasty Civ addiction too.
What I would hate most of all is an ARPG by numbers because the Devs are bored and burned out. Given the quality of this game I genuinely trust they are a team that can bring something fun to anything they turn their hands to.
So people asking for a strategic game only want an XCOM like or Jagged Alliance like RPG but don’t want a town builder/RTS?
I love Turn Based RPGs like XCOM and love Jagged Alliance, but the lack of RTS love in this thread is troublesome :rolleyes:
Anyways, i’d love an XCOM styled game in Cairn as well. Sounds interesting.
) . Maybe by ARPG he meant “not quite hack and slash”