Changes to Havoc - Derank - Comms

Hey Everyone,  As promised, I’m here to give some details about Havoc and the derank system. 

In Nightmares & Visions, we changed how derank worked in Havoc. Previously, only the owner of an Assignment would lose a charge if they lost with a team. After the update, we made it so everyone faced the same risk. 

We read the feedback and how this feels punishing, especially how it prevents players from wanting to assist others or accept randoms into their parties. 

Here is what we decided to do. 

Players will only be eligible to derank if they stand to gain something from it. 

• A player of higher rank will not lose a charge upon being a participant in a lower ranked mission that failed.

Dev Note: We want to promote higher ranked players helping out in the lower ranks. 

• Rank 40 players will not be able to lose a charge through gameplay means at all.

Dev Note: The only way a 40 player will be susceptible to charge loss is thus by manually using the demote button, rank decay, or during a Campaign reset. We want players to be able to experiment with things without the fear of punishment. 

If a player is helping a player with a lower Assignment, they have nothing to gain from it. Therefore, that player will not lose a charge if they fail the attempt.

For those at Rank 40, they do not stand to gain anything by attempting their assignment again. Therefore, we’ve made it so they can continue to try different builds and challenges to keep it interesting. 

We want to ensure we keep the stakes and tension of climbing the ranks in Havoc, meaning all other aspects of ranking and deranking will remain.

These changes are currently being worked on. While we have the backend sorted, we’re working on some UI tweaks to make sure they’re aligned. Pending how these fixes go, we should be on track to implement the changes with our hotfix next week™️ (Hotfix #66). 

— The Darktide Team