Since publishing my review, I've been replaying Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters on ironman mode, on Hard. It's been a lot of fun. I've learned new strategies, figured out how to stack AP via executions, found better uses for the ranged Purgator. Fifteen more hours flew by. In that time I've also strongly recommended the game to several friends and written a glowing Steam review.
Yet I awoke this morning to see the new patch was deployed. A number of bugfixes, plus the removal of the stupid autopause feature whenever you tab out. Great! Daemonhunters just keeps getting better! I loaded the game up, started a mission, and...
Realized then what I hadn't glancing at the notes, which were the multitude of balance changes.
Deploy Nerf Guns
I mentioned in my review that I was worried the developers wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to 'balance' the game retroactively, most particularly in regards to nerfing the Interceptor + Justicar combo. So they have. In their own words:
We have made a number of balance changes to resolve a couple of exploits which affected the intended use of certain game mechanics. We are continuing to monitor feedback and performance to ensure that difficulty levels are tactically challenging but fair.
"Exploits," huh? Apparently the developers consider "exploits" to include the fact that Interceptors exist, that the Honor the Chapter ability on Justicars exists, that there were weapons that were good, and that it was possible to stun normal enemies before killing them outright. These "exploits" have been thankfully rectified, and now anyone who has specialized into the rather reasonable assumption that using the abilities on their weapons or the abilities on their Knights was how the game was intended to be played--well, you're going to have to start over and find a new strategy. Good luck using Honor the Chapter and Teleport Strike when both cost 4WP and you can never regain more than 1WP per turn.
Take that, exploiter!
Beyond class-specific changes, the cadence of the gameplay feels completely changed. Encounters last longer. Executions are much harder to land (actually I didn't manage to land any in the two missions I played). Afflictions matter more. Everything is slowed down. The core experience has been significantly altered, all in the name of "balance."
I would like to remind everyone at this junction that Daemonhunters is a singleplayer only game. Why are there balance patches for a singleplayer only game? Bugfixes, okay. Changes to some mechanics that nobody likes, maybe. But I specified--and plenty of other players had as well--that the game was fun precisely because of how outrageously powerful Interceptors and Justicars could be. This is a game about playing transhuman supersoldiers in power armor with magic who are immortal and fight demons, in case you've forgotten. Why are these characters being nerfed into the ground? Why is this SINGLEPLAYER, OFFLINE GAME that I paid $55 for being permanently changed, against my will, into something else, retroactively? I feel like my Steam account is being molested.
Stop it. Stop fucking my library. Take your hands off or I'm calling the cops.
Perhaps Complex Games felt the game was too easy on harder difficulties. I ask: who cares? Are people enjoying the experience? If the answer is yes, why would you increase the difficulty? What's the logic? If the developers think the game is too easy, that's excellent data for their sequel, or an expansion pack, or even a new game mode. But it isn't any justification for fisting the current experience out of existence--the experience we paid for.
I need to stress that this was one of my fundamental concerns about Daemonhunters when I wrote my review, as I realized the balance was imperfect--even though the game itself was brilliantly enjoyable. A title with an uneven experience is tremendously vulnerable to small shocks introduced via schizophrenic developers who are insistent that players are "exploiting" their systems because they've found an enjoyable, optimal experience for higher difficulties. More competently designed games like XCOM are less prone to this complete destabilization.
Yet I would point out that even the hilariously overpowered combination of the Chosen sniper and Death From Above on the Sharpshooter was never nerfed in XCOM 2. Do you know why? BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING AWESOME. You earn it, you play with it, and you love it. It's fun. It's the sort of thing that makes you want to come back for more. The Interceptor was just the same way in Daemonhunters.
But not anymore. At least the game is harder, though, right?
Enough
I used to love Heroes of the Storm. I'd play with my internet friends for hours every day after class in high school. My favorite hero was Sylvanas. But one day, Blizzard announced Sylvanas was too overpowered. They decreed that she would receive a rework. Just like that she was completely changed, her playstyle removed, turned into something else entirely.
Old Sylvanas is gone forever. I'll never get her back. I've hardly played HotS since.
I'm still pissed off about this. I'll never forgive Blizzard. But it was true that Sylv was OP (and practically braindead to play, which is why I liked her). Some argument existed that she needed to be reworked, considering that HotS is a competitive-only online game.
Singleplayer and cooperative games are not competitive. They do not need to be balanced. They only need to be fun and engaging. I know that among many in game criticism circles the 'f-u-n' word is tantamount to a swear, far worse than any number of other words that start with 'f,' but I maintain that it's tremendously valuable in so far that games exist to provoke feelings. Feelings are subjective, and nothing is more subjective than fun. Yet when fun is achieved--is there anything better?
Unless something is abjectly broken, a singleplayer experience should never receive a balance patch. Ever. If people are utilizing some "exploit," who cares? If the game is too easy, who cares? Better luck next time. Try again. Stop fucking with the established experience.
It's bad enough that we have to deal with online experiences that are continually shifting, that can be yanked out from under us at any point. But I refuse to accept that this is something we must accept for singleplayer games too. When I buy a game, I want the game. Stop fucking with it. Leave it as it is. Fix bugs, fine. Add content, maybe. Produce expansions and sequels, sure. But don't change what's already there. I paid for it. Keep your goddamn hands off of what I paid for.
No doubt future patches will come for Daemonhunters. Over the months that follow some less idiotic compromise will be reached by the developers and the game will be left in a decent state re: balance. But I don't actually care. They've shown their hands. An extraordinarily important principle has been violated and I can never trust Complex Games again. If they can ruin the Interceptor with a patch, what else can they do? What else will they do? And what will other developers do?
Enough. Don't put up with it. The ship has sailed on live service games being fucked over with patches, but I won't let them get away with molesting singleplayer experiences too out of concerns for "balance." Write a bad review on Steam. Tell them you won't put up with it. Demand they remove their hands from your anus. Otherwise there will be no end to this idiocy.