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First of all, thank you for the massive feedback on the roadmap update. Creating the endgame system for Deep Rock Galactic is a monumental task and one that we’re committed to making fun, engaging and challenging. Below we have addressed some of the questions you have posted in response to the roadmap.
Be aware that the details of the design are constantly changing, so the answers below reflect the current state of the Deep Dives. As we work through the design, things will inevitably change, so please keep this in mind.
How random will the Blueprints be? Will you be able to choose between several options when you finish Machine Events? It might be annoying to spend a week getting a lame beard.
Fran, Game Designer: You will be able to choose between 2 classes (Scout or Driller, for example). Vanity and Overclocks come from different events so you will never be rolling between an Overclock for a weapon and a beard. An important part of the system is that bad Overclocks won’t exist. You’ll always gather alternative weapon modifications with an interesting gameplay twist. And you will always get one that you don’t already own.
Won’t you be artificially hindering player progression by making the Deep Dives weekly? It seems like a timesink.
Fran: The endgame is made out of both Deep Dives and Machine Events. Deep Dives are weekly seeded missions that are meant to be exciting and challenging but not grindable. In other words, Deep Dives are the way to get access to the Blueprint rewards in the Machine Events. You’ll be able to search for events, collect Blueprints and craft them for the whole week. Be aware that there will be two differently seeded Deep Dives each week, one “normal” and one of higher difficulty.
Robert, Art Director: As Fran says, Deep Dives are not the only aspect of Endgame in DRG. Any mission you go on in the game will add to your Endgame goals as you will also need normal resources to craft the Blueprints.
If you spend Batteries on Machine Events and fail - will you get the Battery back?
Fran: We’re still designing this aspect. In the latest design, we’ve made it so you can activate the event without the Battery and won’t use the Battery until after completing the event. So, no, you won’t use the Battery if you fail the event.
Will the cave generations in Deep Dive be the same as in a normal mission? What will the differences be?
Fran: The different parts of the Deep Dives will use a similar cave generation to what you know. What spices things up are the combinations of mandatory objectives and the fact that you have to play one after another, which adds cross mission resource management to the mix. Also, Deep Dives will always feature Mutators, and we’ll be adding new Mutators to the mix.
How will Deep Dives scale in difficulty towards player count? Is it even possible to do on your own for solo players?
Fran: They will scale. Same as the rest of the game, it’s always better being four, but it will be playable by teams with other player counts, even solo, although it will be hard.
This Endgame update feels a lot like it is prepping for microtransactions. We have an exclusive limited currency, special events to get it and long grinds for specific Blueprints.
Fran: Periodic activities can be a lot of fun and allow people to make long term plans playing DRG. We don’t have microtransactions, every design decision we make has the goal to make the game more exciting and engaging, no hidden tricks.
Robert: The system is still going through major design discussions, but this is in no way prepping for microtransactions. The objective is to provide long-term and hard-to-attain goals for the players, not to let you buy your way through it.
Søren, CEO: DRG will never feature microtransactions for buying currencies.
If you fail a Deep Dive, can you try again? Or will you have to wait a week?
Fran: You can try as many times as you want. You can also play it again even if you succeeded (maybe to assist your friends or simply for the challenge), but you won’t get the special reward twice. Since the seed is the same each time, the Deep Dives might be interesting for speedrunners.
What is the scope of the unlocks? If there are almost 100 weapons overclocks and 52 weeks in a year, are we limited to unlocking 1 a week, not counting cosmetics at all?
Fran: It’ll greatly vary depending on the time invested, but you’ll be able to unlock more than one per week. We’re designing a system that should be playful and allow players to try plenty of Overclocks in order to find their favorite playstyle.
How will using Batteries work in groups? How will you figure out who pays or not? Will all get the same reward? There’s a lot of potential for trolling here.
Fran: In our latest iteration, an event can be activated by a promoted dwarf (no need of Batteries). Successfully completing the event, will give everyone a substantial bonus at the end of a successful mission. In addition to this, it will let each promoted dwarf use a Battery to get a choice of Blueprints. So you’ll only have to pay for your own blueprint, though you’ll have the option to open one for a teammate if you want.
How rare at the Machine Events? Will they be in every normal mission? If not, what stops people from jumping servers, looking for events?
Robert: This is something that’ll need a lot of balancing, as we want to find the sweet spot between the events being too common and too rare. It will very likely require lots of iterations and testing to find the right balance.
How similar will the experience for two teams be if they do a Deep Dive on the same week?
Fran: They’ll play the same seed, meaning the same cave structures, objectives, and warnings. They will also encounter the same types of enemies, but not exactly the same spawns.
Can you give an example of how an overclock would look like and how much they will affect the item?
Fran: In the current design, there are 3 kinds of Overclocks: Clean, Balanced, and Unstable. Balanced Overclocks will moderately increase a stat of the weapon (or add an effect) while introducing a small drawback. Clean Overclocks won’t have drawbacks, but their improvements are less substantial. Finally, Unstable Overclocks mean big improvements at the cost of significant drawbacks.
Mike, Game Designer: As an example, the M1000 might get an overclock that gives a 20% chance to electrocute enemies with a focused shot but has a drawback of 10% less damage. This would be categorized as a Balanced Overclock.
How long will it take to unlock all the new blueprints, if you complete a Deep Dive each week?
Fran: Unlocking all blueprints is a goal for completionist players and will, therefore, take a fairly long time. We will not try to stretch it unnecessarily, though, we want players to receive new Overclocks often and have fun playing around with their loadout. This translates into several blueprints a week if you’re a hardworking dwarf.
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