I don’t think there is coming back from this. I’m worried that Grim Dawn 2 gameplay won’t be much different from PoE, D4 or Last Epoch.
At least there is always an option to revert a game to 1.1.9.8 version, without all of “modern ARPG” features, which tries to imitate Dark Souls (which I didn’t play, and I don’t want to).
I literally just got me GD a few weeks ago,
and it was hella confusing at first that WASD just wasn’t there,
I have played PoE but not PoE2, and for me diablo died right with the diablo 3 release…
After some adjustment time, I’ve gotten used to it,
but the ability to simple move with WASD is definitely something I’d expect of most games.
I still play primarily 1.1.9.8 myself…
Save WASD movement for Grim Dawn 2 please.
That way you can start from the ground up and create animation systems for it.
I really don’t get all the negative comments. Mouse movement isn’t going anywhere, so if you don’t want WASD, you can keep using that. Game won’t change at all for you. Mouse will still be the default, they said as much.
Is it simple fear of change? I mean if you guys are still playing 1.1.9.8, what do you care what happens in future versions? I really don’t get it.
I am really baffled at all the NO’s in this thread and am still trying to understand where you guys come from. WASD will not change your favorite game into a PoE2 clone or something. You can relax, it’s okay. This is just an accessibility feature. It’s all there is - makes the game more accessible to different kinds of people. This is like saying “NO” to adding colorblind mode, because you’re not colorblind and won’t use it. WTF? So you don’t have hand pain? Great, I’m very happy for you. I do. Other people also do.
Maybe it’s the lack of newcomers in this forum the reason for the overwhelmingly negative answers. However, try to understand that making the game more accessible via WASD movement will attract more new players that might have skipped this game due to the lack of such features. Isn’t that a good thing? More players - more profits - more money for devs to make new features. So there goes the “optimizing dev time” argument. Devs can manage their time rather well themselves anyway, no need to do it for them.
Or maybe it’s the fact that “WASD is trendy now” and we must be hip and go against the flow? This is a stupid argument in itself, but I’m gonna also say that I personally have been wanting WASD in Grim Dawn far longer than PoE2 has been around - the fact that there are so many community scripts and attempts and questions for it throughout the years shows that other people have been wanting it for longer too.
And then there is the “strafing” argument. I admit, this one has a bit more merit, but this is already possible in the game by playing well and developing carpal tunnel in the process. So all WASD will do is lower the skill ceiling for ranged builds. What is the issue here? The game is primarily single player, there is no competition. If someone wants to strafe, let them. It’s not like they can’t make an AHK script for it and do it anyway.
A product like a video game has to evolve and keep up with features new players might expect from it, in order keep up player numbers and profits. I understand that you love Grim Dawn and only want what’s best for it, and that change can be scary, but WASD really isn’t the demon you make it out to be. It won’t kill the game. It will only help the game. And if you don’t want it, you won’t even notice it unless you go into the settings.
Okay, big rant over. Peace.
I like this
thank you i was thinking the same… most people did not read the question at all, thank you for expressing the same disapointment i feel…
Nah, it’s OK for a game to arrive at a “finished” state, so that team focuses on something else, while players keep the product they enjoy.
I haven’t heard of Crate scraping ideas because they’re not compatible with joystick play style, which WASD movement would be similar.
From what I gathered, most of the naysayers would prefer that Crate put their time and resources into finishing the FoA expansion. Also WASD already exists via mods, so people who really want it can have it right now, no need for an official implementation.
I’m in that same boat, but I wouldn’t mind an official implementation if it doesn’t take away from (in my opinion) more pressing issues.
A few more thoughts not directly pertaining to your post.
WASD was off the table since the very early days of development, now that it’s back on the table speaks volumes for Crate’s willingness to listen to the community. Which is awesome, even if the idea is ultimately scrapped (which could very well happen, not sure if there’s currently a majority for either side in this discussion).
I think it’s also a business decision. Programmers and gamedesigners need to get paid for their work, but if done right WASD could pull in new customers from the LE, D4 and PoE2 crowd.
What a lot of the naysaying crowd tends to miss is that different professions work on different parts of the game, and these parts finish up at different speeds.
The <<PROGRAMMER>> that would work on WASD in Grim Dawn has likely already finished the programming needs of FoA. I can’t speak to the current expansion of course, but historically, programming has finished up a lot sooner than asset creation/level design. And a programmer is not then going to assist with asset creation/level design, because…well, a whole hell of a lot of reasons. 
While it’s not likely the <<PROGRAMMER>> would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs with nothing else to do, I’d wager the possibility being described above by Zantai hints that the time-resource allocation within Crate would allow for the <<PROGRAMMER>> to work on WASD without negatively impacting the development schedule of Fangs of Asterkarn.
Yeah I get that part of game development, but are you sure this fabled programmer is already done?
I could be wrong, but I’m under the impression that they have still enough work to do with the upcoming features, bugfixes and whatnot. On the other hand, if WASD implementation isn’t too complicated, they might be able to do it inbetween the (imo) more important work. And Crate has expanded, so maybe there is now more than one programmer working on GD, or they could temporarily assign someone from another project to this task.
Also, since I’m already defeating my own arguments… I said programmers need to get paid, but I found this old post from 9 years ago 
The programmer (Rhis at that time?) implemented GD’s controller support on the side, which I think means not in his official work capacity? So maybe he’s gonna do WASD support just for fun as well 
No, but whether they are or are not wasn’t really the point.
The point was
Regardless of when they finish, the point is they’ll likely not be the last person working on FoA.
Definitely not. The last person will be Zantai, tweaking numbers till eternity 
I’m waiting for season 2 in LE and the wave of criticism towards WASD which is not as good as in PoE 2. You’ll see what mill will be… We don’t mind it being introduced in GD, but it is to be done very well and is not to prolong the release of the xpack which has already started to be delayed anyway. More new players would be attracted to the game by the graphics update than by the addition of the WASD movement option.
Besides, I do not expect significant development from GD, because it is already an old game with technological limitations. I expect significant development in a continuation of the series, not in a game that has almost a decade on its neck.
I echo what Ceno said earlier. I don’t think the WASD discussion will have any (or a lot of) impact on the FoA release. Considering the nature of the change, they’ll likely try to introduce WASD as a major post-expac patch.
Anywho, my main concern is the ROI. As you already said, the expac itself will likely attract way more players than WASD controls. Plus, this enhancement won’t be consumed by any other project based on my understanding of things. Quoting myself here -
If for Crate the introduction of WASD will be a small pimple and it will be well done then I do not see any counter indications that they will not introduce it, because some players will use it (I do not care). Otherwise, it’s a shame to bother with it.
And yes, nothing new will be built on the GD engine 99% anymore, and whether investing more time and $ in it is profitable is a question that should be asked of the developers.
On the other hand, let’s assume, as you mentioned earlier, that it won’t take them long to introduce this feature, and thus it will be a fairly simple “operation” to do it, then financially they are unlikely to feel it so much.
No it’s reasonable for people to disagree based on development time when the company could be making the expansion and GD2 faster. I obviously have no idea how much effort it would actually take, but reading Zantai’s first post makes me think it’s considerable.
No one is making WASD a demon as you claim; obviously we know that it’s optional. Generally, having more options is a good thing. But in this case, I’d rather have the expansion quicker…
Hey i can only address it based on my friends that play ARPGs (we are 6 and only 2 of us play GD) and its like pitching them an FPS that does not have mouse aim
I think you underestimate how much i (and everyone i know) value the change in game play (and i dont want run-and-gun POE style all i want is the proposed addition) its like going back from 4k to 720p.
WASD is like looking in a pond your whole life and then raising your head for the first time seeing the Stars for Real
i don’t want to go back and since we have an actual Expansion in the works the game should expand and not be constrained by fear of perceived lack of implementation scope
Very disappointed by some of the responses in this thread. As someone who experiences arm and wrist pains from playing ARPGs, GD’s controller support is a godsend. I can’t really play Diablo 3 or PoE1 for extended periods anymore due to the excessive clicking required. If GD did not have controller support I would not play it.
Controller-style WASD support is a massive accessibility boon for people like me, or those who have even more serious problems than I do. There is no need for it to be the default or anything, so I don’t understand why so many people are saying no… Do you also think games should remove colorblind options just because you do not personally benefit from them?
I absolutely think this needs to be added to the game.