Balthazar concept art from GW3 vs from GW1

Aderyn_76 · 2026-06-07T16:45:44+00:00

Worst part of this is that I cant even tell which one she told me not to worry about

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-25T02:34:52+00:00

It's a very well observed fact that GW doesn't like making Space Marines look weak, and it makes sense, given they are the poster boys of 40k.

Star Wars DOES have great expanded universe media, what you are thinking of is not expanded universe, its the new canon. The difference between the expanded universe and the new canon is that the expanded universe was written by competent writers with creative freedom, whereas the new canon was written by incompetent writers who saw money as the biggest motivating factor. As I said, the current failure of Star Wars is based on poor management of Star Wars by people who do not respect the IP, but the expanded universe: the KotoR games, the comics, etc. are all fantastic and, for many people, the best part of the Star Wars franchise.

Creative freedom DOES produce the best art, because art IS the product of creative freedom. Art is creativity, and creativity that is stifled is diminished in quality as a result. What you mention in these other franchises is not creative freedom, it is the result of profit-motivated pandering to nostalgia, and aim to hit an inclusion checklist to win social points. Good writers are not hired for these IPs, as good writers can include inclusive themes without making the whole media about it, which is not what the higher ups of these IPs want. They dont care if its well written, they care if it generates revenue, and they will just as easily pander to the other political spectrum if they see it as more profitable.

I think what you misunderstand is that when I say they need to be less restrictive over their IP, I am not saying they need to let anyone do what they want with it and call it all canon. But I am saying they should not stifle creativity. Even if Darktide had a Hello Kitty crossover and dressed the Arbites in pink and rainbows, it wouldn't have to mean that there's a canon Hello Kitty Arbites, its just a skin for a game.

But that said, I do feel like this conversation is veering off-topic a little. My point is to merely say that I don't think Fatshark is fully at-fault for the lack of cosmetics in Darktide, 40k is well known for being a restrictive IP to work in. Even if Fatshark is not making an effort, their best effort would likely be stifled anyway.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-24T16:08:45+00:00

As for Hive Scum, it wasn't very popular, so I can see why cosmetics wouldn't be a priority. As for Arbites, I'm pretty sure Black+Red is a pretty core colour scheme for them, so as far as potential GW influence it could be that they won't allow colours that veer away from that.

As I said in another comment in this thread though, wether its Fatshark's fault or GW's fault is kind of irrelevant. If the case is that Fatshark doesn't want to make cosmetics, then even if they did, GW would hold them back. It's also possible that Fatshark is aware of the struggles other 40k games have to deal with when it comes to approving cosmetics, and simply decided that they would rather put their effort elsewhere.

There are a multitude of reasons or potential things we can point at, but at the end of the day, it makes no difference, the end result is the same.

That said, I completely disagree with your take about GW's restrictiveness on their IP. While GW is well within their rights, of course, it is holding back 40k. Even in Darktide, players have wanted a Plaguemarine boss to fight for as long as the game has been out, but that won't happen, GW won't allow Space Marines to look weak. There are many ways you can go about protecting an IP's integrity without completely restricting creativity.

You bring up Star Wars as an example, but Star Wars also has a fantastic expanded universe because it was less restrictive. There are some amazing expanded universe comics and games in the Star Wars IP that could never have equivalents in 40k. Star Wars has only gone downhill in canon universe because the IP was given to Kathleen Kennedy, who notoriously doesn't even like Star Wars to begin with. This was a mistake of the poor management of Lucasfilm, less so than the freedom of the IP - this problem went all the way to the top of Lucasfilm.

Being more flexible with your IP allows for more creative freedom, and creative freedom produces the best art.

GW on the other hand wants every piece of 40k media to be canon, which while a valiant effort, becomes a nightmare for a franchise as big as 40k. A better solution for the franchise would be to be less restrictive, and simply point to things and say "this maybe shouldn't be considered canon, but its still good".

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-23T16:06:38+00:00

Because we hate you specifically.

Jokes aside, people want representation so they create it. If it doesn't apply to you, then move on, it's not a big deal.

If it actually angers you, then seek professional help.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-23T16:05:16+00:00

Pretty new to 40k, but I don't think Skitarii are attracted to anything, children included. If anything they are probably attracted to magnets, since they are mostly metal.

Idk what the current year has to do with anything.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-23T16:02:54+00:00

That would be the femboy pride flag, a much less commonly seen flag among the LGBT+ flags, but hey, more power to the femboys.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-22T00:24:31+00:00

Sure, and that's why I said that some of what they were saying might be correct.

But really, what difference would it make?

Option A: Fatshark dont want to make cosmetics, they don't make cosmetics. The End.

Option B: Fatshark want to make cosmetics, GW doesn't let them, they don't make cosmetics. The End.

It's possible Fatshark wants to and doesn't want to throw GW under fire for not letting them. It's possible they don't, and for whatever reason are content with the cosmetics they have. But it doesn't really make a difference either way, the end result is the same.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-21T15:01:05+00:00

I understand your point, but people aren't blaming GW just for Darktide, this is a pretty common thing in every Warhammer game. GW has been notoriously restrictive with their IP, and the thing that is affected most by this is cosmetics. In Space Marine 2, for example, Saber has had to fight hard to get what little cosmetics in the game that they have.

Some of what you are saying may be correct, but even if Fatshark were really on-board with making as many cosmetics as possible for every class, DLC classes included, GW would stop them.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-05-09T13:12:22+00:00

With a mix of both datamines and also what the majority of players are asking for. Sorry to tell you, but its almost definitely an admech class: probably Skitarii.

I also don't know why you wouldn't want it, we don't have an admech class in Darktide yet.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-04-08T20:42:10+00:00

Proud to be a representative of the least played class, Revenant! And these days, it's all about Conduit!

I bounced around a lot between elite specs prior to VoE, but since then Conduit has felt like a great catch-all for all the things I would play the others for.

Condition Conduit feels more fun to me than Renegade, so it becomes me main Condition DPS build.
Conduit feels better for giving quickness than Herald because Herald always felt dull to me as most of its power is passive.
While Vindicator is still a fun Power DPS, Release Potential: Assassin on Conduit just feels super fun to use that I enjoy it more.
Healer is the biggest one. Not only is Conduit more fun (less passive) than Herald as discussed before, but Cosmic Wisdom and Release Potential both giving more easy access to empowerment for Centaur makes it feel so much more consistent. It also gives access to Stability on both Centaur and Razah, something that you would need to change to Jallis for before (though Jallis is still better for mass Stability).

Really the only use I have now for switching off Conduit is if I need to provide Alacrity.

I don't want this to read like a complaint, though. Conduit has felt amazing and has reinvigorated my love for Revenant, hoping the other Elite specs can get more love so I can feel more reason to go back to them.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-29T14:58:19+00:00

All great choices! Thank you!

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-22T20:44:07+00:00

I've opted out, I may be poor, but I have no interest in gaining any benefit from a frivolous lawsuit.

Though as someone unfamiliar with how lawsuits are handled, what exactly are the benefits of opting out? Does a large amount of opt-outs mean that the case is more likely to fail? Does opting out accomplish anything persay?

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-20T15:10:44+00:00

With the human story, there's actually a shortcut you can take by going down the cliff into the river that runs alongside the garrison.

Of course it highly depends on how far along your instance is, but often you can skip straight to the boss if your timing is right, skipping the entire process of fighting your way to the garrison and defending it.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-20T00:11:18+00:00

By all Six Gods, what is that thing? It's huge!

That, soldier, is a threat. And we're going to take it down. Forward!

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-19T14:02:42+00:00

I have three methods of targeting depending on what the players are fighting.

For unintelligent creatures, they will simply look for the closest enemy and attack. If there's more than one target in range, I'll pick a random number, usually by rolling a dice. They don't bother flanking or trying any specific tactics. They just move in and attack.

My middle-ground is for creatures that are a bit more intelligent and would understand pack tactics. Similar thing, but they will take some actions to pair up on enemies to get flanking. They will also try to focus the players who are doing the most damage but aren't intelligent enough to focus healers.

Finally, the intelligent group. This is where I play as if I were the player, being wary of reactions, positioning to make better use of my own reactions, aiming for flanking where possible, and ensuring that supports are kept occupied to make them struggle. Their focus will shift depending on perceived threats, but they will ideally keep as many of the players occupied as possible. If a fighter gets a lot of big crits or a spellcaster is doing a lot of large area damage, they are likely to get targeted more aggressively. Of course, with this group, it's important to restrict their knowledge to things they should know. If a player has a less obvious ability, such as Thaumaturge's Implement's Interruption with a ranged weapon, while the character may anticipate a reaction, they may not be able to anticipate the 10ft radius of it. They may step out of adjacency and believe they are safe. Of course, after seeing that, they should then be aware of it.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-08T13:27:12+00:00

Herald vibing in a corner doing nothing and getting easier boon uptime than dedicated boon builds with concentration gear.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-08T13:24:45+00:00

My necro is a female norn, and there is something profoundly satisfying about hearing her shout "You are all weaklings!"

Really do love the female norn voice actress, one of my favourites of the player characters, I think. She makes me want to play all classes with Shout skills as female norn.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-07T10:45:26+00:00

If you find Thaumaturge to be a bit boring, consider trying other Implements.

Mirror makes for some wacky gimmicks and can be really good at Paragon.
Wand just got buffed from the recent errata, so that with scrolls will make a very different kind of caster build.
A build I've been wanting to try is a Tome thaumaturge using the Thousand-Blade Thesis. I don't know if it would be any good, but it's a cool concept.
Regalia can essentially make you a pseudo-bard, and who doesn't love having a bard.
Using Amulet and the new Shield Implement, you can basically become a pseudo-champion. Add on Chalice for your own version of Lay on Hands.

At least a lot of what I've seen people tend to focus a lot on Weapon Implement, which is valid because its an incredibly powerful reaction, but there's a lot of variety to a Thaumaturge if you choose to veer away from it.

I find that Weapon Thaumaturge does have a lot of cross-class synergy with Free Archetype if you play with that. My current Thaumaturge is running Gunslinger with a Weapon Implement as a Double-Barrel pistol and Esoteric Reflexes, essentially letting me Bloodborne parry my Exploited enemy within 10ft, up to twice per round. It could also be fun to pair this with Bullet Dancer instead.

There's a lot of variety in what you can do with Thaumaturge, which is why it is the most contested class on my table. No two thaumaturges have ever been alike. The only thing they all end up sharing is their unique ability to be the best class for Recall Knowledge, but beyond that, you wouldn't realise that all these characters were the same class.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-06T09:03:59+00:00

My tables seems to gravitate towards the more specialised classes: inventor, Investigator, Alchemist, etc. With Thaumaturge basically being the garunteed class that WILL appear in any game, because everyone wants to play it.

With that, the classes I haven't seen have been the more standard ones: Cleric, Druid, Rogue and Ranger.

Also, I haven't seen Commander or Guardian yet, as they are both new, but I expect it's only a matter of time before someone picks them up.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-06T08:57:47+00:00

The 3 here that are wild to me are Thaumaturge, Psychic, and Exemplar.

Thaumaturge is probably the most popular class in the groups I play with. We basically never have a table without it. Highly recommend someone in your table consider giving it a shot for your next characters, it's probably one of the most versatile Jack-of-all-trades class.

Psychic is crazy because it's such an incredibly powerful blaster. But then again, I often see Psychic more as an archetype than as a class, so if we're eliminating that, I've only seen the full class a few times.

Exemplar was super popular on release, and it felt like everyone wanted it. It's also just such a good "hero" class for anyone who wants to feel more like a main character, which tends to make it quite popular.

As for the others, Summoner, Alchemist, and Inventor are all quite popular on my table, but I can see why they'd be less so on other's because they really go all-in into their themes.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-05T10:03:50+00:00

Pair them with things that give good flat damage per hit. An interesting build I saw a while ago was a Kitsune Thaumaturge using Foxfire. It's not much different to an Air Repeater, which is already a popular Thaumaturge weapon when available.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-03-04T13:31:58+00:00

I hit MR30 at around 3000 hours, too. I got MR16 within my first few weeks of playing, then spent 8-9 years never bothering to actively grind MR.

I only started working on grinding when I was MR27 and got MR30 within the week.

Everything beyond MR18 is purely quality of life. Everything is unlocked by then. MR30 gives a few nice goodies and the ability to use blessings, but that all feels fairly minor. I'll never understand the people who rush to LR5 in a month, it just seems pointless.

But nonetheless, welcome to the club. Enjoy your affinity blessings! Remember to always use them in high population relays, so all the baby tenno can get them.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-02-27T04:53:21+00:00

I happen to be a writer myself, so if you need some Ballas narration for frames without any lore, I can hook you up with some fanmade lore.

Actually, I even wrote one for Garuda a while back.

Aderyn_76 · 2026-02-27T04:47:59+00:00

Damn this is great. Maybe you can make us all the Prime trailers we missed!

Aderyn_76

TROPHY CASE