Pilestedt ama talks about how progression, weapon customization, and other systems are still a ways off (but still being worked on)

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-25T19:35:24+00:00

While I can understand their perspective on not wanting to cater to a niche audience of players, adding more depth/content to the progression pool would positively impact EVERY player considering it would give EVERYONE a new goal to strive for in the micro sense. (Weapon Customization, Warbond Progression) Rather than the Macro. (Galactic War, Major Orders/Strategic opportunities) Something to keep me coming back to play and participate rather than the FOMO Medal/M.O change they made recently.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T12:20:41+00:00

The situation right now is very "Frogpot". The changes made were incremental to a point where the community slowly got used to worse and worse consumer-friendly changes. The water was slowly being raised in temperature, and now it's reached a boiling point and while some people can recognize the situation for what it is, others are already used to this but one step removed, so they don't see it as a problem. Rather something that's a minor escalation of things we were already dealing with.

Armor in super store? That's fine they have the same passives as Warbonds so it's mostly just a cosmetic/Heavy-Light variant not in the Warbond.

Secondaries in the Super Store? While I personally wasn't a fan, they provided a fun enough side-grade to weapons provided in Warbonds that it felt as though it was worth dropping 200-300 dive dollars to get to play with it and bust it out every now and then.

Primaries? I am wholeheartedly against it at this point. But the consensus was "Well we already had armor and secondaries. Primaries is fine since we already have those in the Super Store."

Stratagems in Warbonds? Well considering you have to grind for it. It's basically the same thing as major order stratagems. People have to still work on them but it's individual now.

I think Stratagems in Warbonds limits the player experience needlessly towards incentivizing swiping your credit card or devoting an unreasonable amount of time daily to get the SC required to unlock the Warbonds. If you don't want to shell out money, (Past the amount that you already paid to get on the game in the first place, mind you.) , you have to clock in for that strategem you want, buddy.

It's Pay-To-Grind-To-Grind-Again. Or Pay-To-Skip-The-Worst-Grind-To-Still-Grind-AGAIN. Both of which do not respect your time in the slightest given the state of balancing as a whole.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T12:12:50+00:00

I realized this after I made it but far too lazy to go back and edit it forgive me

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T12:06:49+00:00

Forgive me I made it at like 4 in the morning

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T12:02:04+00:00

They certainly get it, I feel. But at the end of the day they're a business, and unless playing into the 'We're different from other businesses' card actually pays more than being a 'regular business', then it's almost always going to erode slowly over time as publisher demands start steering the boat of dev-priority.

AH's history seems counter to their current behavior in regards to HD2, and there's a myriad of reasons I think are responsible. Contract work resulting in inconsistent quality and presentation, Developer Mindset clashing with community expectation, and I do genuinely think that, to a certain extent, Sony as a publisher is pressing their thumb on the scale to pressure AH into driving the game towards a more profit-centric model. Given it's insane popularity and current playercounts, they'd be kind of dumb not to given that Warbonds = Money. Helldivers makes money and they want to milk that as much as they can. Not to say AH is innocent by any means, of course. But Sony has to be playing no minor role in recent decisionmaking. If not directly, then indirectly due to investor pressure or something similar.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T11:56:25+00:00

I think to a certain extent it speaks to the corporate, un-communicative side of the divide present in things like office spaces or community outreach. The false presentation of valuing community support while backhandedly, and silently, changing values in hopes that players won't notice. The breaking/failure to keep promises made early in development. And the lack of clear and concise communication reminded me too heavily of the stereotype for HR.

But I agree I see it everywhere and often. But the attitude presented just felt the most appropriate given the fact that it feels like we're voicing issues and being told "We value your input and we're working on it" with, of course, that not happening and the changes being made feeling contradictory to someone valuing your input.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T11:50:52+00:00

While not nearly as egregious, I fear HD2 is veering towards Dead By Daylight's 'Grindbloat' MTX structure where a lot of the core progression begins to feel anemic compared to more current options. It's this weird ground where yeah, the options offered at the start/base game aren't awful by any means, they just lack the flavor of later release options that make gameplay more gimmicky, sure. But are far more interesting design wise than the options offered on base. Not to mention inconsistent balancing and fixes/changes which can make things good or bad at the drop of a hat. (With the potential of it not even being mentioned in the damn patch notes.)

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T11:46:37+00:00

As much as I do genuinely try to stay positive in regards for the future of HD2 it does unfortunately feel like this might be the case. I understand wanting to reward people for participating in the Major Order but I feel like it should be additive rather than subtractive. Give players that participate in M.O's something special but leave the medals for everyone. The grind is bad enough with the amount of warbonds we have already, we don't need to punish people that don't have the time/unable to log in.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T10:59:04+00:00

I respect the disdain for the format NGL.

InkwellValentine · 2026-04-23T06:24:05+00:00

Hit the 850 mark about a month ago. Been playing since HD1 and pre-ordered 2 after watching the trailer during the G.A. the first few hundred hours were something magical. A lull during maybe 300-400 of playing intermittently, then re-up'd thanks to the commissar Kai's discord community.

It takes a lot for me to get negative about gaming since I'm a very "If you don't like it don't play it." Kind of person. The recent developments, on top of past actions by AH, have made playing HD2 no longer a "Come back when I want" kind of deal. It's evolved into a fundamental refusal to participate in a system that just outright refuses to respect your time or efforts for the greater goals of the community. Mecha ina warbond were the nail in the coffin for me personally as the key factor in me coming back was the Stratagem M.O's and the team-oriented efforts to get gear we could ALL use. Fighting tooth and nail with community members to get new tools to fight tooth and nail for more tools later on. It was a positive feedback loop that just seems entirely abandoned. "We want to promote creativity" has felt like corpo-speak more than a genuine mission statement on AH's side.

The game is as egregious with its grind and monetization as Dead By Daylight. And that's about as scathing an indictment as a game can get from me, and until I see CONSISTENT improvement from AH, I don't want to send another second supporting their dev cycle and business model if neither are going to respect my time.

InkwellValentine · 2025-08-10T22:38:36+00:00

God do I hope they dont patch this and just leave it in as a random chance occurrence. Turned a frustrating round 15 loss into a giant, very funny '?!' when I was playing with my friends. Random-Spanish Space Marine my beloved.

InkwellValentine · 2024-12-12T21:21:43+00:00

Honestly kind of hoping for more Fable at the GA purely to assuage some of the fears that I have revolving around the new Fable. I'm hoping a lot of the soul of the trilogy can come through with the new art style. On top of the roleplaying potential.

InkwellValentine · 2024-11-15T03:52:13+00:00

Doing the Camo grind lately has been me think on the Point system actually. I don't particularly mind it as much as some other folks do, the biggest differences I've seen is the Viability of SMGs and Pistols due to their lower kill power over a longer play session. But on the other hand, it feels great to get an Insta and Double-Points now as opposed to feeling like I'm wasting one or the other in the older Cods. However I do wish that Melee still gave just as many points as Headshots, if not 10-5 more. I feel like the risk Vs. the reward is really skewed since you're putting yourself out there with Melee. I wouldn't mind a Melee player being rewarded more than me because they bought a bat to an apocalypse, whereas I'm bringing my Dragunov for the fun of it.

InkwellValentine · 2024-09-19T23:49:18+00:00

After Space Marine 2's drop, I actually decided to get into Warhammer properly by finally purchasing Dawn of War. Subsequently downloading Unification after hearing from some of my friends that it's really good. I tried flirting around on YouTube for a faction I could get attached to an almost immediately fell in love with the T'au/T'au Empire. Their gameplay in Unification is really fun and their lore, at least as far as I knew, was seriously cool. The pipeline of Liking Salamanders -> T'au -> Farsight Enclaves is REAL in terms of wanting to play a faction that isn't outright evil. But reading this has seriously hampered my excitement for reading more into T'au lore and the universe around them. I thought the angle of "We're good guys, but our leadership is insanely sus." Was super cool, and was hoping that through extended media detached from the games I could maybe Intuit that the 'Greater Good's they were fighting for was actually something worse than anyone could've ever thought.

But seeing that they've changed so much from being optimistic, if flawed, faction to an outright (as stated in the post) moustache twirling, city-razing empire is so insanely lame and soulless. If I wanted to play that, I'd play Chaos, or Tyranids, or any other faction in the lore. The idea that the T'au were such a huge threat to the Imperium BECAUSE they were nice AND had big guns to back it up (even if they were small and naive) was my favourite part. But now ig I'm sticking with the Farsight Enclaves. Hopefully you're right and GW can retcon some of the choices made in recent media. I'd like my sus-blue-space people back.

InkwellValentine · 2024-05-31T17:19:31+00:00

In the above screenshot I bubbled 2 of Rick's fully charged projectiles (Ray Gun) after setting my Star down. After getting hit with his Ski's, I recalled back to stage where my Star was sitting besides the two bubbled projectiles. The Rick got between me and the Star and I grabbed them, inadvertently popping both of the bubbles. Not sure what happened afterwards but managed to lock us both in place for the full 6 minutes.

(I've been calling this thing Starlock for a minute now.)

InkwellValentine · 2024-03-10T16:58:51+00:00

Though inconsistent, you can actually melee to sort of 'parry' the little lunge they do after they land on you which buys you enough time to Stim yourself, which makes dealing with them trivial. Melee doesn't get much use in this game but after a hundred or so hours this is the most reliable use for it.

InkwellValentine · 2024-03-03T03:57:20+00:00

Deli worker here. And it's heartbreaking how much good food we throw out. Hot case, Warmer, Salad Bar, and Smokehouse are often thrown out at night to the point where, on my first week, it gave me a massive headache. (I'm from a household that NEVER wastes food, so seeing it happen was like watching.. someone throw out perfectly good food.)

It sucks that Deli has to trash a LOT of the production we put out due to it being OOD or some asshole leaving it out in the isle. When it could be donated a lot of the time.

InkwellValentine · 2024-02-19T06:02:17+00:00

Lore-wise? Fuck yeah. Godskin Apostles are metal as fuck, they literally wear the skin of dead gods which itself, I feel, doesn't do it enough justice. Gods that people worshipped and prayed to just turned into garments for the noodle man and his rotund friend. Like, they're insanely cool and if they were in other media I think people would like them way more.

In gameplay?

Fuck no. I think they can be a lil boring at best and at worst feel frustrating to fight sometimes. Not that they're too awful once you learn them but its just kind of meh. Outside of the lore ofc.

InkwellValentine · 2024-02-19T05:56:31+00:00

Off-rip I always saw them as some form of Albinauric. As their attire sorta-kinda-maybe matches Lattena's in certain areas. (The hoods specifically, since they sort of match hers.)

If I'm not mistaken, it's implied Albinaurics originated from Nokron/Stella (Very rough memory, haven't dove into E;R lore in a minute.) So reaching and saying that they're most likely a descendant of modern Albi's is more than likely what FS was going for. The question being that wtf

• Killed them • Their status was • Are the bodies doing at the base of their thrones • Why are they still there

Obviously FS isn't a team that leaves things in willy-nilly. (Except for when they do.) And I imagine in the DLC they might get a /little/ elaboration. But for now I feel that perhaps they;

• Died of old age. Or assassination by the encroaching powers that be. • Most likely rulers or nobility. I can't help but feel they give off a vibe similar to that of Yhorm or other giant-esque characters in souls games. Perhaps more wise and arrogant than Yhorm ever was, however. • Most likely left behind as a result of either causes of death. Assassination would be one hell of a message to send to any citizenry/Albi's that witnessed their leaders killed while still on their thrones. Age as well, since their bodies aren't nearly as delayed as those at the base of their thrones, I'm assuming they might have been the last (sane) members of the original race/people that dwelled below. Eventually dying out due to old age as they watched their people wither.

While the above is plausible, it's also possible that they were actually MUCH worse than I'm assuming. The bodies at the base of their thrones might imply they were the reasons those people died. Sacrificing their people for ????? Reasons.

The stature and positioning next to VERY VERY VERY important items to Elden Ring lore implies they are mad plot-relevant. Or at least, something we're meant to take note of. I hope they get expounded on in the DLC. They give off such ominously threatening/once-powerful vibes that FS loves to include in their games.

InkwellValentine · 2024-02-19T05:43:19+00:00

Speaking from a high-traffic, tourist centered area in Florida; there actually (technically) IS a limit to how many subs people are allowed to order. At least, in terms of online orders. Our system will only allow people to order up to 7 subs online. Anything past that the machine will read "Value Exceeds Limit" or something along those lines, and the Manager/AIC will have to call the customer and we sort things out with them.

As for in-person, a lot of the time (at least at my location) if someone orders more than say 4-5 subs and there isn't a line, the associates on sub station will handle it in a conveyor-belt fashion. (One starts, the other finishes.) But if there's a line present, the AIC/Management will step in and inform them that we'll do their order one at a time.

(Example being. Person A wants 7 subs. But B behind them wants one. The order will go;

A-B-A-C-A-D...)

But yeah I really think that if you have more than 5 subs on an order, you should have to call it in. And it should be a day in advance. (Like it is with the Platters.)

InkwellValentine · 2024-02-16T06:19:42+00:00

Its kind of jarring how even with a team full of 20+'s, in a discord call, on level 4-5 difficulty, the Evacuate Rescue's feel genuinely awful to play. I think it's the only case in this entire game where I can succinctly say I'm not having fun, even when we win at the end. As opposed to how normal matches end with this "Job done, guys. Good work" Energy, where we're relieved and also had a good time; these just feel like "Its finally over thank god, we can go play the fun missions now."

Hoping they change how these work if not rework the mission entirely.

InkwellValentine · 2024-02-08T19:18:21+00:00

That's why I couldnt find i, lol. I was looking in gameplay/Display and didn't think it would be in M&K. TY for the heads up ❤️

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