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Pre Season 1, we rocked our rocks and stoned our stones. We chuckled at the programming bugs, shot the enemy bugs, mined the minerals and drank the beers. Salutes for all.
Season 1, everything was the same, but MORE. Guns and Cosmetics and the Free Battlepass, and everything was manageable.
Season 2, the Rival Threat repulsors and turrets had to be nerfed down and spread out, the Nemesis got some nerfs, and the Caretaker is kind of a drag, but we got past it and a lot of people skip Caretaker Missions Now. Like, A LOT.
Throughout all of this, the community thrived. The vibes were immaculate.
Now, take a second. Pop open a new tab, and go back through the subreddit to the start and middle of Season 3.
The vibes drop as the mobility obstacles increase. We have tools for traversal, a key synergy feature that inspires a cooperative Zeitgeist, but now rockpox slows you down, can trap you, can get you killed. It isn't like the Ice biome, where you know you can just find a hot tub oasis and warm up while you fight -- to keep playing the game you have to go INTO the mobility reduction mechanic.
As soon as the "you're playing a maid simulator" mechanics went in, the clips of cool gameplay oddly never include them. The hype, the exciting times, none of them are part of being a maid. The vibes diminish even more.
Now, here we are at Season 4. The mobility reduction is up. The maid sim is still a focus. The Vibes Are Down. There's a creature that can just kill you without warning and seemingly infinite range.
Now, we all know that correlation is not causation, but I have to wonder if the overall feeling in-game is not as fun as it was two seasons ago, and that's leading to more unhappy players who can't move, can't shoot, can't mine, can't salute because they're busy trying to use sound cues to dodge enemies while in a permaslow domestic service simulator.
I can say that I have bought every DLC for seasons I enjoyed, to be supportive because I liked the game. I haven't bought any since Season 2, because frankly the mechanics and reduced agency have crapped on the zeitgeist, the ambient atmosphere is kinda toxic now, and I'm a mercenary space dwarf not a maid so I'm not bothering with anything rockpox oriented at all... so I haven't played more than 6 hours in the last season and this one combined.
The "pretend you're a maid and don't shoot or salute or mine" gameplay isn't fun, the "you're constantly slowed so the infinite range grabber can yank you around" gameplay isn't fun. The people around here are more and more toxic as time passes, and I can no longer say that this is the most positive and encouraging community because it isn't anymore.
I think the reduction in player agency and mechanics that belong in your silly gnome game (and NOT in a badass space dwarf shooter) have made people feel like it's less fun to be here, or that this is a place to be a jerk in the comments to each other -- after all, the values you present in the games you make translate to your community.
GSG, are the values you want to translate those of reduced ability to enjoy the advertised game? Values of "don't play how you want, don't move around a lot, don't shoot in a shooter or mine in a mining company, but play Powerwasher Sim instead of this."? I'm not sure what your goals are with the development direction, but I think you might want to consider what impact it's having on the player base who came here to shoot bugs, mine rock and stone, and feel like a badass space dwarf -- not a maid with sticky shoes and no guns in a hostile environment.
This isn't the DRG I played for 1200+ hours, this isn't the DRG I said was my favorite game, and this certainly isn't what I paid for when I saw "badass space dwarves in a co-op shooter". Do you see the words "domestic servant sim" in there anywhere?
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