Killing Floor 2: State of the Game 2021

[Sarcy]

Not trying to be a 'Debbie Downer' but I don't think we need any more content, there's already a plethora of maps, weeklies* and weapons.

From my perspective a year focused on making everything function as intended and having the game as annoyance-free and, dare I say, balanced as can be would be preferable.
But I am just a lone voice, one who has sunk not only a significant chunk of time but also delved deep into my pockets for this game and I will no doubt do the same in the hopefully not-too-distant follow-up.

Having said that, I thank you all for staying with the game and continuing to support it not only for such a long time but through unprecedented circumstances.

*I hope the upcoming weeklies are prioritized because we're already at a point where it is months between them coming back round.
A playlist which has them on rotation or the ability to try/practice them privately would be a huge win imo - you could keep it so only the current one pays out but having the opportunity to enjoy the others whenever you desired would help replayability immensely.
Also incorporating as many as possible into Endless would be awesome as I can't be the only one wishing for improved variety.

 

[Arcames]

I look forward to bugfixes and QoL updates - anything that makes KF2 a smoother experience, especially for those low-end gamers.

 

[o2xVc3UuXp0NyBihrUnu]

All that new, typically of poor quality, as compared to what we had prior to roughly 2018, content is what makes up this game to 79GB of disk space and a cause of micro stutter which is super detrimental to the gameplay. I personally don't need any more of this and would actually appreciate cutting the garbage from this bloat.

I would appreciate as others mentioned bug fixes and QoL, but it's becoming hard to believe it's going to happen.

 

[halfmang]

I'm a casual KF2 player. Just over 50 hours. At least every perk to level 10, some level 15, some level +20. Nothing at level 25 yet. I only typically play Hard, and some Suicidal. Playstyle-wise, I prefer headshots because they are satisfying and require more skill. I don't want to just spam bullets all the time. Take all that into consideration while reading my opinion. There could be things I'm getting wrong!

The meta playstyle for higher difficulty seems to be run and gun. Basically, thinning the zeds down until you can run in a big circle without them doubling back on you.

General gameplay gets more boring as more people enter the game. There are only so many kills to go around. Often people go out on their own to take all the kills. This is especially true for when you have to protect a zone.

There could be more emphasis on ammo conservation / using ammo effectively. Perhaps limiting normal games to one of each perk while at the same time almost requiring that certain perk users are attacking certain zeds. Incentivizing people to work together and not just post up on their own like a turret. There would obviously need to be in-game tutorials to teach people the most optimal way to play a perk. For example, requiring Sharpshooters/Gunslingers to take down, say, abominations before they get too close and explode.

I feel like bosses are extremely lackluster. Patriarch and Abomination are both jokes if you are with people who know what they are doing. They just dogpile / corner them and spam and they die in under a minute. Matriarch is punishing, but if you know how to kite and line of sight, she's a joke. King Fleshpound is okay, but he's just like fighting a normal Fleshpound, but for longer. Hans Volter is probably the most in-depth boss, but that's not saying much. Basically every boss fight is attack, kite, and kill adds.

We could have environmental pieces to interact with the boss fight. Like standing in front of an explosive barrel so when the Abomination/Matriarch goes to grab you, you dodge out of the way, it grabs the barrel, pulls it close, then you shoot it. Or making King Fleshpound ram into a wall and be stunned. Kicking Hans' grenades back at him. Stuff like that.

The adds could affect the boss and vice versa. For example, King Fleshpound could enrage all other active Fleshpounds, so you would have to kill those adds quickly. Abomination you could maybe light the goop on fire and drag the Abomination through it to hurt it. There could be a slow, unkillable zed that you need to have the Patriarch gun down. And so on. Something to make the boss fights more interesting.

 

[Sarcy]

I'm a casual KF2 player. Just over 50 hours. At least every perk to level 10, some level 15, some level +20. Nothing at level 25 yet. I only typically play Hard, and some Suicidal. Playstyle-wise, I prefer headshots because they are satisfying and require more skill. I don't want to just spam bullets all the time. Take all that into consideration while reading my opinion. There could be things I'm getting wrong!

The meta playstyle for higher difficulty seems to be run and gun. Basically, thinning the zeds down until you can run in a big circle without them doubling back on you.

General gameplay gets more boring as more people enter the game. There are only so many kills to go around. Often people go out on their own to take all the kills. This is especially true for when you have to protect a zone.

There could be more emphasis on ammo conservation / using ammo effectively. Perhaps limiting normal games to one of each perk while at the same time almost requiring that certain perk users are attacking certain zeds. Incentivizing people to work together and not just post up on their own like a turret. There would obviously need to be in-game tutorials to teach people the most optimal way to play a perk. For example, requiring Sharpshooters/Gunslingers to take down, say, abominations before they get too close and explode.

I feel like bosses are extremely lackluster. Patriarch and Abomination are both jokes if you are with people who know what they are doing. They just dogpile / corner them and spam and they die in under a minute. Matriarch is punishing, but if you know how to kite and line of sight, she's a joke. King Fleshpound is okay, but he's just like fighting a normal Fleshpound, but for longer. Hans Volter is probably the most in-depth boss, but that's not saying much. Basically every boss fight is attack, kite, and kill adds.

We could have environmental pieces to interact with the boss fight. Like standing in front of an explosive barrel so when the Abomination/Matriarch goes to grab you, you dodge out of the way, it grabs the barrel, pulls it close, then you shoot it. Or making King Fleshpound ram into a wall and be stunned. Kicking Hans' grenades back at him. Stuff like that.

The adds could affect the boss and vice versa. For example, King Fleshpound could enrage all other active Fleshpounds, so you would have to kill those adds quickly. Abomination you could maybe light the goop on fire and drag the Abomination through it to hurt it. There could be a slow, unkillable zed that you need to have the Patriarch gun down. And so on. Something to make the boss fights more interesting.

Interesting post, especially the 'certain perk users attacking certain zeds'.
In the beginning this was a key point in team diversity as some perks were virtually useless against some Zeds however over time with the addition of post-launch weaponry we are now at a point where this has effectively been rendered a moot point. Granted some perks are still more advisable, not to mention viable, on higher difficulties but generally speaking every perk is capable of dealing with any situation.
This coupled with 'user friendly' maps and Last Player Standing mechanics results in an alarming lack of co-operation - not to say it is non-existent but more-often-than-not you will find lone wolves or people spraying down everything in a bid to top the scoreboard.

 

[arcwarden]

Additional Maps - For next year's maps, we’ll be partnering with some of our favorite community mappers to deliver and enhance more community maps officially in the game that improve them for those that played them in the past and provide a spotlight for those that might not have ever played them before like our console community.

its 7 years and we still dont have the most iconic KF1 maps its finally time to port legendary maps as Mountain Pass Manor Wet London ... in to KF2 im playing on EGS so dont have acess to custom maps


also no more Armory Season Pass for 2022 ?

 

[LolzMan1325]

its 7 years and we still dont have the most iconic KF1 maps its finally time to port legendary maps as Mountain Pass Manor Wet London ... in to KF2 im playing on EGS so dont have acess to custom maps

i remember TWI said a long time ago that they don't have maps like west london because "the story has moved on from london" but like, I don't know why they're acting like killing floor's "story" is such an integral part of the game, if that were the case we'd have a lot more objective mode maps by now. it's more like there's merely a whisper of a story, it is there, but i don't think it's so integral that they can't bring back officially remastered classics

 

[s5yn3t]

i remember TWI said a long time ago that they don't have maps like west london because "the story has moved on from london" but like, I don't know why they're acting like killing floor's "story" is such an integral part of the game, if that were the case we'd have a lot more objective mode maps by now. it's more like there's merely a whisper of a story, it is there, but i don't think it's so integral that they can't bring back officially remastered classics

or the fact that story aspect has long been throw out the window, and we are just stumbling around Europe and some other god forsaken places with the only objective to kill.

But i'll be honest, straight porting old maps to kf2 wouldn't work, the game is too fast for those maps (as you can experience from workshop ported maps)
They would have to be remade to fit the kf2's speed... and imo only old lead level designer would be able to pull it off, as his old maps still hold up today while new ones with new lead level are not as fun to play on.

 

[Sarcy]

As someone who missed the boat with regard to the 1st game I'd be down for some throwback maps - whether they'd be canon or not - perhaps as a bonus alongside the featured map releases?

Btw I filled out the survey, not really any opportunities to give specific feedback - for example, thoughts on cross-perk weapons and how some perk skills leave something to be desired (High Capacity Mags on a Double Barrel to name just one)

Overall the franchise has almost limitless potential and I am really looking forward to what a 3rd iteration brings, just hoping we won't be attempting to 'balance' or fix stuff years after release.

 

[Dudmaster]

Cool to see you guys supporting the game for another year. I don't blame you guys at Tripwire and Saber for skipping the Spring update to take a break (burnout is definitely a thing). A question I do have is... Will there be like a "mini-event" for Spring? Like a 2x XP and 4x drop rate thing along with cyberpunk ticket drops?

 

[flashn00b]

In regards to the slowing down of updates being pushed out, I feel like this is relevant to the situation of Killing Floor. While it's pretty much widely known at this point that Saber Interactive has been doing the post-release support for KF2 since the Grim Treatments update, I think i should also mention that Saber is also working on Space Marine 2, which will most likely conflict with the supporting of Killing Floor 2.

spoiler tag because can we get a Primaris Bolt Pistol as a crossover weapon for Demolitionist/Sharpshooter?

 

[OnionBubs]

It says something that I'm still enjoying this game in spite of all the questionable ideas and mismanagement the game's gone through. KF2 has set a new standard for shooting mechanics in every FPS game I play going forward, and at its core, the game scratches an itch I can't quite get rid of otherwise. But I do feel as though the game has lost its way in the more recent years, and honestly, I don't need "more content" to find an excuse to play; as long as there's players in the game and servers are up and running, that's all I really need. I'm the lone holdout after my group slowly dropped off, so I take what I can get.

Hopefully the devs learn the right lessons from this exercise and use them going forward in their upcoming projects, whatever those might be.


But all that aside, I need to get this off my chest:

we’re especially interested in exploring expanding the defensive capabilities of players

This right here has me nervous.

The one thing players absolutely don't lack for in this game is defensive capabilities; all the perks--all of them--have guns and the vast majority of the Zeds don't. There's enough tank options for players that are allergic to straight-shooting and there's multiple perks catering to those who want close-range fare that literally serve the tank role.

There's even unnecessary tank options for perks that didn't really need it but players kept clamoring from them, which in my ever-so-humble opinion has been unhealthy for the game, but they're there.

So when I read this line I start to get real worried, real fast. Did we finally crack and start brewing an automated turret gun/sentry drone or something awful like that?

I know the shrink ray's becoming a thing and that's probably going to be another item on top of the ever-growing list of "things that make precision players misanthropic," but for the love of whatever deity you may or may not worship, please don't start adding in auto-sentries.

Playstyle-wise, I prefer headshots because they are satisfying and require more skill. I don't want to just spam bullets all the time. Take all that into consideration while reading my opinion.

Generally speaking, you have a pretty good grasp of things so far. Given the above statement, I have hopes for you.

Just as a heads-up: Suicidal and Hell on Earth get spicy for headshot-oriented players and much of the playerbase doesn't care much for precision perks, and those non-precision perks have the side effect of making life harder for precision perks by simply doing their jobs.

The meta playstyle for higher difficulty seems to be run and gun. Basically, thinning the zeds down until you can run in a big circle without them doubling back on you.

Yes, but no.

The actual meta for precision perks is parking the collective team bus, so to speak, and shooting the Zeds in the face before they reach the team. Most of the time this is done by splitting the players into lanes to watch over, with the lnes being occupied by proper player pairings (trash cleaners with heavy-hitters, so to speak).

Kiting in most maps presents an unnecessary risk in that the game will frequently cut you off with spawns and sandwich you between a group in front and the group you're running from, which is almost guaranteed to lead to deaths in any area that isn't somewhat forgiving with its kite routes (the big circle on Nuked, for example). That, plus the Zeds are fast and twitchy enough that you don't want to waste the ammo trying to spray them down.

Having said that, many teams will opt for the kiting approach by picking perks that don't have to aim along with Medics using weapons like the Healthrower which not only don't have to aim but can also kill trash for little effort, effectively forming a cloud of damage that refuses to die barring a particularly savage spawn group that outpaces a Medic's kit.

There's also some maps (such as Farmhouse and Prison) that fall victim to a particularly tedious camping playstyle where players pick chaos perks and funnel spam into a small corridor or opening while the Zeds just die. The best you can do with these is to simply refuse to play.

There are only so many kills to go around. Often people go out on their own to take all the kills. This is especially true for when you have to protect a zone.

This is true for some maps moreso than others.

Usually the "protect the area" objectives go ignored because the trouble to complete them in HoE is more than it's worth, unless the spot happens to be in a holdout.

In some cases, Sharpshooters and Commandos will take separate lanes to maximize their kills because it also gives the rest of the team Zed-Time benefits. In short, if they're not killing, it's not benefitting the team.

 

[JoseTZAL]

servidores de epigamer cayeron no puedo dentra ni unirme a las partidas esperon que lo arreglen

 

[YamiMarikVL]

Thank you for this update. I really enjoy the game and it's updates. Looking forward to more seasonal events. I have been enjoying the grind to get all of my perks to "Max Prestige" and I really like how you guys added the skins for each time you prestige a perk. They are by far my favorite weapon skin in the game.

If there is one thing I would like to see, I would like to see on console how many hours we have played, overall how many kills we have gotten in the life time and how many rounds/ survival victory's we have gotten in a lifetime.

Other then that, keep up the great work! Back to the grind!

 

[juliandworrell]

Honestly I feel like you've pushed the game as far as you could as far as quality of life and mechanics are concerned. I personally think it's time for a killing floor 3. And I know Saber Interactive is working on space marine 2 which I'm EAGERLY waiting for (playing through the first one right now) but honestly it's time for a next Gen upgrade if tripwire and Saber Interactive could make that their next project that would be beautiful. Don't get me wrong the game is still amazing (been playing since 2016) and I love it and it still scratches that itch. But I feel like there is a "stiffness " to gameplay compared to more updated shooters like doom eternal.

 

[flashn00b]

Additional Weapons - As a core pillar of our updates, more new weapons will of course be coming to Killing Floor 2 of both the Weapon Bundle and HRG Variety. Our goal for the new weapons is to continue expanding the ways you can engage the enemy leveraging both entirely new functionality and expanding existing projectile types and incapacitation effects into different combinations for a variety of perk types. As a tease for Summer, we’re especially interested in exploring expanding the defensive capabilities of players as well as weapons that will help bring bigger zeds down to size.

Judging by the wording of this post, I feel like the the Piranha Pistol's success is going to lay the groundwork for future DLC. Hopefully, the HRG guns will also be free alternatives?