I love the dangerous domains with mutators, but think its fine the way it is.
I know what youre talking about with the “raid style” stuff. Ive always played GD as though its an awesome, offline capable, MMORPG. Multiplayer is my favorite way to experience the game, but i am definitely in the minority here.
Whenever people mention multiplayer on these forums, there seems to be an automatic response that can make it seem as though multiplayer should be ignored and forgotten about. Thats absolutely the sense youll get, reading some of the statements people have been known to make across many many threads. Its my opinion it doesnt get the credit it deserves.
Back in 2016/2017 i played multiplayer for the first time, thats how i learned about the steps of torment, and the dungeon there. I didnt know about any forums at the time. Ill never forget the experience. It was late at night on a weekend, probably 1 or 2 am on a friday or saturday. I had a red bull. All the lights were off, and i was recording video of the game session. I was using my first attempt at a Blademaster. Alongside me was a mage of some kind- arcanist and some other class- a 2 hander melee fighter, and this ultra bad ass Commando tank who used a shield and a pistol. Then you had me, being rogue-ish- mind you this was back when Riftstone components enabled a Chaos damage Shadow Strike type skill. I was dual wielding blades with Riftstones, so I had 4 mobility skills (1 from each riftstone, blitz, and SS).
As we crept down into the Steps of Torment, I remember thinking “oh man, this is awesome!!! How deep does this damn place go?! I never even knew this was here!!!” And when we got to the end of SoT, it was my first time seeing the locked entrance (i had totally missed the side quest while running through Arkovia).
One of the players explained it to me, and gave me a skeleton key so i could do the honors. I remember everyone saying “are you ready?” And “make sure youve got enough potions and stuff”, and the thrill began to take hold. I didnt know if i was ready. I didnt know what to expect!
As we entered we crossed a bone pit which exploded with skeletal foes, and i noticed these guys were tougher than usual. I held back and let the tougher builds take the frontline, then dashed about to backstab (imagination) the target priorities.
As we delved deeper into the maze, i started to feel the adrenaline fueling my experience. I was high on it man! We went into some room at the foot of the stairs and everyones like wait wait wait, so i stop. We have a quick group huddle, and i learned when you walk into the room far enough it will lock behind you, and begin spawning very difficult enemies, including multiple hero monsters. We establish a game plan, and triggered the spawn.
Oh my god, this single battle was such a defining moment for me. We lost one of our party in there. Dead. Locked out now. The rest of us had a hell of a time defeating those enemies, the commando hurtling grenados and laying down suppressing fire with pistol and mortar, while the 2 hander facetanked, riding a fine line between life and death, and I hung back by the Commando, eliminating any enemies that got too close to him, while using my mobility skills to dash in, strike the largest threat, then dash out using some lesser threat as an anchor for a mobility skill.
None of us could have done it on our own. I dont know if much has changed with the roguelike dungeons, or if it was due to my inexperience and the difficulty (was Veteran), but it felt like an impossible task for any of us to accomplish on our own.
I think the roguelike dungeons specifically are a great example of the multiplayer potential this game has to offer, if were talking about MC content. You gear up for it and prepare just like in an MMO. Its an exciting and unique experience.
To that effect, the same can be said about Crucible and SR, multiplayer. And self-imposed rules on how to play multiplayer (only white items allowed, only 1 of each class in the party, HC PvP tournaments). There are a ton of ways to play this game, and it just seems limiting to present multiplayer as something that isnt relevant, when someone new to the community (by the way, welcome @Menroth) is asking about it or presenting an idea/sharing thoughts about it.
No these changes likely wont happen in GD, but in reference to your “player raids” perspective, multiplayer is awesome, particularly the roguelikes, crucible, and SR, but theres so much more you can do with multiplayer in this game if its an aspect you like about the game.
