AstralCodex
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I think it's often super easy to focus on the negative, or to only raise your voice when the devs are doing something wrong. This causes most of the longform feedback on the forums to be complaints about various grievances that players have or demands for new features.
To remedy this, I'd like to talk about three things I think the DF devs do very well. Hopefully others can chime in on things the DF devs do that players appreciate as well!
Player-friendly Monetization: First up, I think DF has done a great job moving away from player-unfriendly monetization in the recent years. While other games expand their P2W aspects and never nerf paid content, DF has done the opposite.
First, DF hasn't been using powercreep to sell new DC/SO content. The team probably could have sold a lot more Chronomancer and Chronocorruptor armors if they gave the classes massive buffs, but the fact that they were willing to release them as is (and presumably rebalance them when they have more time), instead of tripling their numbers to sell them, is really a mark of integrity in my eyes. Instead of relying on P2W, recent monetization has been primarily about QoL features, Cosmetics, or small sidegrades for slotted weapons.
Verly has also significantly buffed Non-DC, Non-SO classes in the last few years - starting with Technomancer in 2018, but also with DeathKnight and Bulwark DragonLord in 2021. This means that players who only have a DA are now much closer power level-wise to players with all of the paid content (such as myself).
Verly has also demonstrated a willingness to nerf DC or SO Classes when they're out of line - for example, Chaosweaver and UWE both got (well-deserved) nerfs. He's also been willing to nerf DC/SO items for balance reasons as well, such as with the Hamsters/NSoD Inn nerfs. Despite my occasional complaints about too many balance changes, I think the willingness to balance all content is a really good sign for DF's longevity, as it means that any design mistakes (even with DC/SO content) will be caught.
Communication: I think the DF team has significantly improved their communications with their playerbase in recent years. I was here in 2014/15, when Ash would yell at players who disagreed with his balance changes, and also in 2017-19 when we got a bunch of unannounced balance changes with little justification. Though I still have some gripes with how we think about balance, Verly's communication on Twitter is a massive improvement over past eras of df.
Quality of Life Features: Finally, I really appreciate the massive amount of new QoL features that Verly has been implementing. From slotting weapons to loading saved equipment, these changes really help make DF more playable!
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